Chapter 1: The Online Love Rival Becomes a Charmer (1)

Chapter 1: The Supporting Female Character in Online Romance Becomes the Heartthrob (1)

Tang Qing opened her eyes, greeted by warm sunlight and a sea of pink, signaling the arrival of a new world.

The system in her mind was still chattering incessantly, "Tang Qing, we were never willingly bound! We must unbind immediately!"

"This is forced bonding—you’re not my rightful host!"

The white light sphere seemed furious, its voice piercing and annoying, making Tang Qing frown in irritation.

In her past life, Tang Qing had been the most dazzling star in the entertainment industry, meticulously building her career with smooth success, on the verge of claiming her throne as an award-winning actress—until Gu Xiaoman came out of left field.

The two had battled for years, with Tang Qing trying every trick in the book, yet she still lost to Gu Xiaoman.

On the night of the Best Actress awards ceremony, both Tang Qing and Gu Xiaoman were in a car crash. Just as Tang Qing thought she was about to die, she caught sight of an eerie white light emanating from Gu Xiaoman.

Driven by a bad girl's gut feeling, Tang Qing went for it without hesitation...

Everything went spinning, and Tang Qing found herself bound to an unknown entity, finally understanding why Gu Xiaoman—who seemed inferior in every way—had triumphed. It was all because of this system!

This white light was scientifically known as the Heartthrob System, with a core function summarized as: every man would fall in love with Gu Xiaoman...

Even if Gu Xiaoman was nothing more than an ungraceful swan, she could drive men wild, making them lose their minds to defend her, showering this fool with lavish resources...

Now, the system, forcibly bound to Tang Qing, was freaking out. Tang Qing spoke up, "If you had a way, you’d have unbound already, wouldn’t you?"

"Being tied to an idiot like Gu Xiaoman must've made missions hell. Aren't I a better choice for you?"

The system: "I won’t let you insult my master!"

"Hmph! If you hadn’t taken advantage while I was healing my master, we’d never have been bound!"

"You vile, wicked woman—give my master back to me!"

The thing in her head started screeching nonsense again, and Tang Qing, unable to tolerate it any longer, cut off the chatter.

Based on the information Tang Qing had gathered, this Heartthrob System resembled a series of interconnected story arcs, each with its own clear mission line. To escape these mini-worlds, Tang Qing needed to win over the men in these tasks.

This world was set in a university campus, where the original female lead shared the same name—Tang Qing. Currently attending University A, a mid-tier university she had worked hard to transfer into.

Originally just an ordinary college student, Tang Qing was burdened with a draining family that demanded she send home 6,000 yuan every month for her younger brother’s wedding.

With no special skills and relentless pressure from her family, Tang Qing turned to scamming men online for money.

Just as she felt the timing was right and the money sufficient, Tang Qing was planning how to break up with each of the men in her contact list—when her web of lies collapsed.

It turned out the photos Tang Qing had been using all belonged to her high school classmate, Jiang Yiyi. One day, someone who knew Jiang Yiyi in real life noticed something off, and after verifying the details, Tang Qing’s online scams were fully exposed.

Jiang Yiyi herself was furious and exposed Tang Qing on University A’s forum. In an instant, a flood of insults followed:

"OMG, seriously? Our school has a scammer like this?"

"This Tang Qing is from the Chinese Literature Department, Class of 2021. Disgusting—playing with feelings is bad enough, but judging from the comments, she also conned people out of money..."

"If I were Jiang Yiyi, I’d be pissed too. Someone impersonating you? That's messed up."

...

Even the victims Tang Qing had scammed came back demanding payback.

"May photo scammers' whole families drop dead."

"Give me back my money! You damn catfish, I’m calling the police!"

The original female lead’s phone kept buzzing incessantly. Tang Qing had to grit her teeth through all the messages. "Tsk, the original female lead’s taste is just awful!"

Being someone with relatively low moral standards, Tang Qing had no problem with the female lead’s catfishing. In her past life, Tang Qing had spent nearly all her time dealing with men.

But Tang Qing had standards when it came to relationships. The "fish" in the original female lead’s pond were such bottom-feeders that Tang Qing couldn’t stomach them.

"Just an inexperienced small-town girl with terrible taste—nothing but trash fish in that pond."

"Date me? In their dreams." Casually scrolling past the furious rants in the contacts, Tang Qing did the math—she had scammed them out of around 270,000 yuan in total.

For the superstar Tang Qing of her past life, 270,000 yuan might not even cover the cost of a single bag. But for the current college student Tang Qing… it was undoubtedly a fortune.

What made it worse was that, not long ago, she had given her brother 220,000 yuan in one go to buy a car. After deducting rent, she now had only 16,000 left across all her accounts.

Tang Qing sighed. "Between both lives, this is probably the poorest I’ve ever been…"

~~~

"Author’s note: I’ve always written boys' love angst novels long-term. This is my first time writing a female-centric story in six years, so I’m not quite used to it. The pacing in the first arc isn’t great. If you feel the first arc seems too simplistic, you can start reading from the second arc. No unsolicited writing advice, enjoy the story, thanks~"