Chapter 1: Resign! I Must Resign!
“Ugh, I can’t believe I’ve transmigrated as a villain!”
Lin Tian looked at the imposing desk before him and sighed softly.
Just a moment ago, he had found himself transmigrated into this mindless urban fiction, becoming a villain sharing his own name. A few days back, when he was reading that cliched novel, he had scoffed at the idea that the villain might share his name with him. But now—he had actually transmigrated into that world!
“At least I still activated the system.”
Indeed, like many other transmigrators before him, Lin Tian had also awakened a system—its name was blunt and straightforward: the Survival System! As long as he survived long enough, he would receive various rewards.
In a sense, this system was rather humane.
After all, the most important thing for Lin Tian right now was survival…
Lin Tian knew the plot of this cliché urban novel all too well. As a villain, he was the investment manager of the publicly listed Xinghai Group, but more importantly, he was a pawn planted by Zhao Dongyun, the chairman of Xinghai Group.
And who was he supposed to monitor?
Naturally, Shang Chan, the stunning CEO of Xinghai Group and Zhao Dongyun’s eldest daughter.
Don’t ask why Zhao Dongyun’s daughter had a different surname—apparently, it was some high-level secret. Unfortunately, by the time that mystery was revealed, Lin Tian had already dropped the novel out of sheer frustration.
As for Shang Chan, she was the undisputed queen of the business world—born into the Zhao family, raised with privilege, and blessed with both stunning beauty and ruthless intelligence. She was the definition of a high-caliber CEO: cold, elegant, decisive, and incredibly sharp.
With a setup like that, how could she not be the female lead?
Based on the timeline Lin Tian had transmigrated into, Shang Chan would fall into a corporate scheme in just a few days, leading to the bankruptcy of Xinghai Group. Desperate, the Zhao family would be forced to “offer their daughter for survival” and turn to the male lead, Jiang Yifeng, for help.
And just like that, Shang Chan, the first female lead, would become one of Jiang Yifeng’s harem members.
To be honest, when Lin Tian first read this part of the novel, he found it utterly infuriating.
A billion-dollar corporation collapsing within days due to a single scheme?
Jiang Yifeng just so happened to predict Xinghai Group’s downfall and conveniently showed up at the perfect moment to “save the day”?
And Zhao Dongyun—the same father who was later portrayed as deeply loving his daughter—would just hand her over like that?
The whole setup felt way too forced, as if the entire plot existed just to make Jiang Yifeng look good.
However, now that Lin Tian was living in this world himself, thinking about what was to come made him pause in deep thought.
“Ice Eye Group is the company plotting against Xinghai… isn’t that the second female lead’s company?”
“If I remember correctly, the second female lead only decided to secretly target Xinghai because she was manipulated by Jiang Yifeng.”
“In that case… Jiang Yifeng is the mastermind behind it all?”
“Of course! The Heavenly Sacred Body!”
Suddenly, Lin Tian had an epiphany.
The novel’s protagonist, Jiang Yifeng, was a direct disciple of a legendary medical sage. On top of that, he possessed an extremely rare Heavenly Sacred Body, a physique that could only be fully unlocked by collecting twenty of the most stunning women in the world. Once fully awakened, he would become unstoppable.
Lin Tian couldn’t even begin to comprehend the sheer stupidity of such a setting…
But one thing was now painfully clear—Shang Chan was Jiang Yifeng’s first target. And he wasn’t acting alone—he was using the second female lead to do his dirty work.
This particular detail had never been explicitly revealed in the original story.
Lin Tian had only just connected the dots now.
As a trivial villain, Lin Tian was nothing more than a disposable pawn in the struggle between Zhao Dongyun, Shang Chan, and Jiang Yifeng.
According to the original plot, he would end up as a meaningless casualty, dying in some vague and unimportant way—his death wasn’t even explicitly described in the novel.
But now that he had awakened the Survival System, there was no way he was going to follow that script!
“Resign! I must resign!”
Lin Tian was a man of action. Without hesitation, he stood up, pushed open the Investment Department Manager’s office door, and marched straight toward the CEO’s office.
On the way, a few gossiping female employees immediately perked up when they saw him.
“Look, look! Manager Lin is going to see the CEO again!”
“Didn’t she already reject him a few days ago? Why is he still clinging on?”
“Tsk tsk, Manager Lin is hopelessly devoted, but unfortunately, our CEO is a cold and untouchable ice queen!”
Lin Tian ignored all the whispering and chatter.
Standing in front of the CEO’s office door, he took a deep breath and knocked firmly.
From inside the office, a cool and distant female voice rang out.
Lin Tian pushed the door open and stepped in, immediately spotting a woman seated behind a large desk. She was reading a book on investments, and her expression was calm and focused.
The woman wore a sleek black blouse, her long, silky hair cascading down her back. Her delicate features, high-bridged nose, and flawless, porcelain-white skin made her look stunningly refined.
Even without makeup, her clear, icy gaze and perfectly proportioned figure made it undeniable—she was a 99/100 beauty, at the very least.
Even Lin Tian, a seasoned transmigrator, found himself momentarily dazed by her presence.
“Manager Lin, do you need something?”
Sitting behind the desk was, of course, the novel’s first female lead—Shang Chan.
Her voice remained cool and distant, her gaze never lifting from the pages of her book.
This was true cold aloofness—not the kind where someone glares at you with furrowed brows for no reason, but the kind where they simply don’t care enough to acknowledge you.
Shang Chan’s cold demeanor wasn’t about being hostile—she simply didn’t see anyone as important. To her, everyone was irrelevant, which only made her feel distant and unapproachable in daily life.
Lin Tian snapped out of his daze, cleared his throat, and spoke in a firm tone.
“President Shang, I’m here to resign.”
Shang Chan finally lifted her gaze from her book, her beautiful brows knitting together slightly.
As the legitimate daughter of the Zhao family, she was well aware that Lin Tian was a pawn her father had placed by her side.
And now, this pawn wanted to resign?
Was this her father’s decision?
Did that mean this decently good-looking Lin Tian had been faking his so-called secret crush on her all along?
Shang Chan’s lips barely moved, about to nod in agreement.
After all, her father never cared about her feelings.
However, at that moment—
A voice, filled with deep resignation, suddenly echoed in her ears.
【I really hope nothing goes wrong. In a few days, Xinghai is going under, and I don’t want to get caught in Jiang Yifeng’s crossfire. That guy’s literally the son of destiny… But I bet Shang Chan has already signed off on that investment plan. Sigh, what a pity—such a stunning woman, only to end up in Jiang Yifeng’s harem!】
Shang Chan’s expression froze for a split second.
“You… what did you just say?”