MTL - Picked up by the Protagonist of a Tormented! MC Novel - Chapter 1 chapter01

“Block him.”“He's technically still my boss.”“Then block him with dignity.”The call ended again.And then started again.I let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a sob, then finally answered with the enthusiasm of a snail crawling through salt.“Yes, Mr. Walton?”“Have you changed your mind yet?”I collapsed onto the towel and gazed at the sky as though it might consume me entirely if I pleaded sweetly enough.“Do you ever take a break?” I asked, shielding my eyes with one hand.“You're avoiding the question.”“Because it's a dumb question.”He exhaled, the sound sharp and irritated even over phone. “It's not a dumb question. It's a business offer.”“It's a weird offer-one that I already said no to.”There was a brief pause, and I could practically hear him clenching his jaw through the speaker.“You are acting unreasonably.”“ Unreasonable?” I sat up. “I'm not the one drafting fake girlfriend contracts like it's a normal Tuesday.”“Isabella-”“Certainly not, Mr. Walton.” I mimicked his tone perfectly. “I told you I'm not doing it. You need to find someone else to play pretend with.”SYNOPSISIsabella Miller thought saying no to her boss’s fake dating offer was the end of the story.But Adrien Walton doesn’t take no—especially not when he’s convinced she’s a gold digger.Suddenly, her student loans are piling up, her father’s vet clinic is on the brink of eviction and her brother is about to be kicked out of college. Coincidence? She thinks not.Adrien Walton is calm, calculating—and he's just pulled every string to corner Isabella into the perfect position.Now she’s stuck choosing between pride and survival.So she agrees to his offer: be his fake girlfriend.No feelings attached. No drama. Just business.Or so she thought.“Conference Room B. Fifteen minutes,” he said, passing by without a glance.The folder he pushed across the table landed with a thud.I opened it. The contract. All of it.---Enemies to lovers? Check.Slow burn? Hmmnyea.Banter so sharp it might file your nails? Yes.Delicious workplace tension? Of course.Tension that could melt steel?Absolutely.Smut?? Wanna find out?Welcome to corporate romance warfare. There’s no escaping this contract.

Passerby-A is increasingly dissatisfied with their small part in the drama. By chance, Luo Ran was born because of this one sentiment. Her purpose is only one – to add scenes!

If you want to add scenes, you have to be with people who have more scenes. And those who have the most, are the male lead!

In the imperial harem, she is the second-class maid-in-waiting who died early beside the female lead.

In the immortal world, she is a flower demon who was mistakenly killed by the female lead before she was transformed.

In the CEO world, she is the smart secretary of the President.

In the entertainment world, she is a singer who has nothing to do with the male lead.

Luo ran uses these identities to attack the male lead and fulfill the desires of passers-by A; to add more scenes!

TN:

Passerby-A = Anonymous person, someone unimportant with a tiny role.
Add scene = to add value to a role with more scenes.

- Description from Novelupdates

When Xu Ying woke up in the post-apocalyptic world, she found herself back at eighteen years old in her previous life!Luckily, her portable space was filled with spoils from raiding supermarkets, including clothing, food, shelter, and various weapons and medicines.This made Xu Ying ecstatic.In an era of scarce resources and poverty, she had enough to ensure her family lived a good life.While other families favored sons over daughters, Xu's family had always cherished Xu Ying as their precious jewel. Having squandered a good hand in her previous life, she was determined to do better this time by kicking scumbags to the curb and tearing down the 'green tea' women, all while protecting her family and incidentally snagging the toughest man in the village!Huo Chen had a solitary nature and fearsome appearance, causing children to cry at the sight of him, but Xu Ying, who had honed her skills during the apocalypse, was not afraid of the notoriously fierce man at all.Xu Ying: What do you want to do? We're just partners.Huo Chen: You think you can seduce me and then run? No way.

[Ding!][Cashback System Activation Requirement Met!][System Binding In Progress...!][System Successfully Linked!][Spent $1,000. 10x Critical Hit. Earned $10,000. The money has been transferred to account XXX-XXX-XXX][Spent at least $1,000 on a beautiful lady. Received 1 lottery ticket. Do you want to use it?][YES][NO]Kyle was a man that has never had any luck in life and he was on the verge of ending it all after being fired from his minimum wage job due to a customer's complaint which turned out to be a lie but due to the customer being an attractive lady, no one believed Kyle.To make matters worse, he had to pay for the damages that was caused by the customer.Beautiful people, they had it easy, didn't they?This was his last step and he knew that he wouldn't see tomorrow as he searched for a river to throw himself in.He thought his mind finally broke as there was no explanation for the Cyan Screen that popped up as he clicked the [YES] button.[You have drawn Charm!][Charm: There is nothing the user can't charm his way out of or into! The universe has blessed you with charisma!]“Hahaha! I must have lost my marbles...” Kyle muttered to himself but his phone soon rang out to show that he had a notification.And to his surprise, he saw $10,000 sitting in his account and his jaw dropped.“THIS IS FOR REAL!!!”