A vicious female is trapped in a beastly hell.

Chapter 15 Unexpected Person
The system's mechanical voice echoed in my mind.

[Please do not trust anyone in the shelter. This is a city of sin and exile. These desperados will betray you for profit. Females with S-rank mental strength will become easy prey for various factions if they cannot protect themselves. City Lord Shi Lun harbors ill intentions; you must not let him know your true level.]

Shen Tang realized that she had indeed been too rash. This was not a place where the red flag could protect her, and she had to be wary of everyone.

"So you deliberately concealed my mental strength level?"

[Yes, but the mental forensic expert is right. The host does not currently possess S-level mental strength. I can modify the display results of the mental testing stone, but I cannot hide the host's test data. You currently only possess mental strength equivalent to C-level.]

"Why?" Shen Tang thought of the little seedling in her spiritual sea and vaguely guessed the answer.

[The host's mental strength has been abnormally damaged. The system is helping to restore the foundation, but the growth of the mental tree will take a long time; currently, only 1% has been restored.]

“Abnormal damage…” Shen Tang muttered to herself, “From what you’re saying, could it be that my mental power wasn’t a consequence of accidentally entering the contaminated area a year ago?”

The system prompted, "[Does the host still remember the main quest?]"

Shen Tang remained silent. When she read the system manual, she learned that the main quests issued by the system would be updated and advanced according to the current plot.

Her current main task, besides increasing the male lead's favorability, is to leave the polluted land and return to the empire.

Upon returning to the Empire, Shen Tang knew she would inevitably encounter the female lead from the original story, a situation she had always been reluctant to confront.

The original owner's memories were only from the past year. Since she came to the polluted area, her past memories were like being shrouded in mist, and Shen Tang had no way of knowing them.

"The female lead and the original owner of this body have never gotten along. Could it be that she was the one who did it?"

[Yes and no. 】

Can you stop keeping me in suspense?

[The host will receive the answers they seek upon returning to the Empire.]

"..."

Shen Tang was too lazy to discuss the issue anymore. She was thinking about how to recover her mental strength as soon as possible so that even if she really had to face the original female lead, she would at least be able to put up a fight.

The system paused for a moment before replying, "[The method for efficiently restoring mental energy involves privacy concerns; please explore it on your own.]"

[Ding! Congratulations, host, on successfully completing the side quest: Help the male lead, Xiao Jin, overcome his mental breakdown. Reward: 1 slimming pill. The reward has been automatically sent to your system inventory. Please check it yourself.]

After taking the slimming pills, her body will excrete a lot of oil, so she needs to take a shower.

The armored vehicle was equipped with a simple bathroom. When Shen Tang went there, he encountered the female who was traveling with him.

"Shen Tang, you're back! We were just thinking of going to see you."

"Yes, it's so good to see you're alright!"

They reversed their previous attitude and became extremely attentive and affectionate towards Shen Tang, their tone even subtly revealing a hint of flattery.

Shen Tang forced a smile, finding it all hypocritical.

Seeing that she had regained her senses, these females were afraid that she would bring up her past mistakes after making a comeback, so they came to win her over.

But in private, Shen Tang had heard these women belittle her quite a bit.

Shi Yin walked over from a short distance away. Seeing these lackeys fawning over Shen Tang, she rolled her eyes, feeling disdain and sneer, "What's so arrogant about your mere trashy C-level mental strength? You just got lucky this time!"

Shi Yin was almost driven mad with jealousy, but after asking her father, she learned that Shen Tang's mental strength test was only at level C, far inferior to hers. This time, it was just a lucky break!

However, Shi Yin immediately became even more furious and resentful towards Shen Tang.

It's all that ugly freak's fault for ruining her plans; otherwise, Xiao Jin would have been hers!

"Shi Yin, your words are too harsh. We are on the same side, how dare you call us trash?" Xiong Rong and the others also had C-level mental strength and were outstanding females in the city. They were always fawned over, but Shi Yin insulted them as well, and their faces turned ugly.

Shi Yin scoffed, "The trash I'm talking about is someone else. If someone wants to take it personally, there's nothing I can do." "You!"

Fox Flower's pretty face turned ugly. She tugged at Xiong Rong's hand and whispered, "Don't bother with her. Let's go."

They all needed to make a living in the shelter and didn't want to have a conflict with the city lord's daughter. But after this experience, the group of females also realized that Shi Yin was not someone to be trusted, and they would stay as far away from her as possible in the future.

Shen Tang wasn't interested in dogfighting; she went to the armored vehicle's shower room and took a weight-loss pill.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have lost 41 pounds! Charm value +6!]

I lost 45 pounds the first time I took the slimming pills, and this time I lost 41 pounds. Although the weight loss was not as much as the first time, the change in my figure was actually more obvious from a visual perspective.

My waistline has noticeably slimmed down, and I still have a lot of excess fat on my stomach and thighs, but at least it's not as exaggerated as before, almost bursting out of shape.

However, due to rapid weight loss in a short period of time, the skin's elasticity cannot keep up. When Shen Tang looked in the mirror, she found that the skin on her arms and stomach had become very loose, and those ugly stretch marks had become more obvious.

[Host, after the male lead Shen Li's favorability towards you increased significantly, he also rewarded you with a skin repair cream. It's very effective at fading loose skin and stretch marks, and it can also greatly enhance skin elasticity. There will be no rebound effect afterward.]

When Shen Tang remembered this reward, she thought it was a godsend. "System, I love you so much!"

Please do not tease the system's AI assistant.

Shen Tang happily took out the skin repair cream from the system backpack and applied it to her loose skin with stretch marks, covering almost her entire body.

The repair cream's effects are short-lived.

A few minutes later, the loose skin became firm again, and the stretch marks on the body faded to almost invisible.

[Congratulations, host! Your appearance value has increased by 5!]

[The host's personal information has been updated. Would you like to view it?]

"Check my personal information!" Shen Tang couldn't wait.

Host: Shen Tang
Age: 19
Appearance: 37 (Unremarkable appearance)
Skin: Poor

Weight: 239 pounds, severely obese
Skill: Mental Strength (1%)

Overall appeal rating: Very poor
Recommendation: Improve skin condition, forcefully lose weight.

My appearance score increased from 26 to 37, and the system evaluation was updated to "unremarkable appearance," finally getting rid of that harsh evaluation.

My skin condition also changed from "poor" to "fairly poor".

The new figure update includes a specific weight reading: 239 pounds. Shen Tang's lips twitched slightly; the road to weight loss is long and arduous.

I've gained another skill: mental strength.

Shen Tang was fairly satisfied with her current situation, but her weight of 239 pounds was still too clumsy. She complained, "System, could you give me a few more weight loss pills as a reward?"

[Please strive to complete the task and earn more rewards.]

[Ding! A new side quest has been activated for the host: Raise the relationships between all 5 male leads to the [Normal] stage. Quest reward: Hair growth potion!]

Mission duration: 30 days. Please act as soon as possible; failure to do so within the time limit will result in mission failure!

As the saying goes, hair is a woman's second face. Shen Tang's hair was thin, soft, and sparse, and you could vaguely see her scalp. She had long wanted hair growth tonic, but when she heard that this mission had a time limit, her lips twitched slightly. One month?

Xiao Jin wished he could kill her!

How am I supposed to beat this?!
Regardless, she had to bite the bullet and go for it; Shen Tang would take action tonight.

She tidied herself up and went out, only to bump into someone she never expected.

(End of this chapter)