Being Nice To The CEO Cost Me Points, Insulting Him Earns Points

1 After transmigrating into a cheesy CEO romance novel, I found myself bound to a husband-hunting mini-app alongside another transmigrated girl. Whichever one of us managed to woo the almighty corporate tycoon, Dominic King, would win the ultimate clearance key to go home. I threw myself into the task with the desperate hustle of a burnt-out tech engineer. I stayed on call twenty-four hours a day, pulling all-nighters for him. Yet the app kept savagely deducting my points. System Notice: Stayed up all night brewing stomach medicine for the male lead. Favorability points deducted: 10. Reason: Deeply scheming; shameless attempt to curry favor. System Notice: Walked six miles in a torrential rainstorm to deliver an urgent file to the male lead. Points deducted: 100. Reason: The billionaire CEO saw right through your pathetic sob story. I originally assumed Dominic was just an impossible man to satisfy. That was until I caught a accidental glimpse of the other transmigrated girl's status panel. Her name was Zoe. System Notice: Called the male lead a useless dog. Favorability points added: 500! Reason: What a fierce, thorny rose! I watched in total disbelief as Zoe slapped Dominic square across the face. His favorability points skyrocketed on the spot, while Zoe stood there crying out of sheer frustration. In that exact moment, enlightenment struck me like a freight train. "Girl," I whispered, leaning over to Zoe. "Forget this trash CEO. What do you say we team up and burn this whole system to the ground?" … "It worked! It actually worked!" "Miss Harper's risk-control model is an absolute masterpiece! If not for her, King Enterprises would have lost at least three billion dollars today!" Ding! Host Harper worked through the night to patch the cyberattack on King Enterprises' risk model, saving the male lead three billion dollars. Favorability points deducted: 10. Current favorability score: Negative 90. Reason: Showing off professional talent; attempting to capture the male lead's attention through work performance. Highly manipulative. Warning: If favorability drops below Negative 100, the host will face immediate physical annihilation! What on earth? I just saved his family empire billions of dollars, and he penalizes my favorability score?! The Chief Financial Officer was still raving, "Miss Harper is the undisputed hero of this crisis! Mr. King, I strongly propose the board award her a special bonus..." "Enough." Dominic slammed the report onto the marble desk with a loud bang. The applause in the boardroom died instantly. The executives, sensing the lethal shift in the air, quickly filed out of the room. Dominic raised his icy gaze, fixing his eyes on me. "Don't flatter yourself just because you did a little bit of work for King Enterprises," he sneered. "Harper, put away your pathetic little tricks. I will never love a woman like you." I almost laughed out loud from sheer rage. In this twisted fictional world, a woman doing her job exceptionally well wasn't called competence; it was called seduction. "Are you completely out of your mind, Dominic?!" I froze for a second. I hadn't opened my mouth. Who said what I was thinking? I turned around to see Zoe, my rival for the conquest spot, bursting straight into the executive office. Dominic's face instantly lit up with arrogant delight. He stood up and strode toward Zoe. "Did you come all this way just to see me?" Zoe took a step back, grabbed a heavy jewelry box, and hurled it directly at his face. "I told you already! I don't like you, and I don't want your stupid gifts!" Zoe shouted. "Dominic, stop having your security goons stalk me!" Dominic's eyes darkened dangerously. He grabbed Zoe's wrist in a vise grip and yanked her hard against his chest. "Let go of me!" Dominic leaned in close, his gaze dropping to her lips. "The harder you fight me, the more fascinating I find you." Zoe's arm swung back and landed a brutal slap across his left cheek. The crack resonated through the office. A bright red handprint bloomed on Dominic's face. Zoe ripped her wrist free and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Dominic, you absolute trash! When I say I don't like you, I mean I don't like you! Can you not understand basic English?!" Based on my agonizing experience of losing points for doing good deeds, I was certain Zoe's violent outburst would trigger the system to erase her on the spot. Ding! Zoe insulted the male lead and slapped him across the face. Male lead favorability skyrocketing by 500 points! Reason: She is so terrified, yet she uses sharp thorns to protect her fragile heart. A woman's rejection is truly the ultimate expression of overwhelming love and self-preservation. She is so pure, so untamed, utterly unlike those gold-digging sluts outside! My hands trembled so hard that the neatly stacked files in my arms spilled all over the floor. What kind of unhinged, masochistic logic was this?! Hearing the system announcement in her head, Zoe stood frozen for a second. She turned around and darted out the door, running past me in total distress. Dominic reached up, slowly tracing his swollen left cheek as he watched her retreating figure with a dark, satisfied smile. "Zoe," he murmured to himself. "You really are unlike any other woman." 2 The sound of rushing water echoed inside the executive restroom. Zoe stood in front of the sink, desperately scrubbing the palm she had just used to slap Dominic, her skin turning raw under the hot tap. "Disgusting..." she sobbed softly, cursing under her breath. I leaned against the doorway, waiting until her breathing steadied before walking over. "Let's make a deal." Zoe spun around, her guard immediately going up when she saw me. "A deal with you?" she scoffed, wiping her eyes. "With the pathetic lapdog who spends all day groveling around that psycho? My favorability score is almost maxed out. I'll be going home soon. Why would I ever team up with you?" I sighed, stepped forward, and reached out to turn off the running faucet. "Who told you that reaching maximum points lets you go home?" Zoe froze. "What do you mean?" I leaned in close, lowering my voice to a whisper. "Did you ever actually read the fine print at the very bottom of the app's terms and conditions?" Zoe's breathing hitched. "The ultimate clearance reward isn't returning to the real world," I revealed quietly. "The final reward is being permanently locked inside this book, marrying Dominic, and giving birth to eight of his heirs to achieve a happy ending." Zoe's face turned deathly pale. "No... That's impossible..." She shook her head in sheer denial. "If you don't believe me, open your app panel right now. Scroll all the way to the bottom and read the tiny grey text." A few seconds passed in agonizing silence. Zoe opened her eyes, her knuckles white as she gripped the marble edge of the sink. "How could this be..." she gasped, her voice breaking down. "I'm just a glorified breeding tool trapped in this hellhole? I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life tied to that repulsive freak?!" I extended my right hand toward her at the perfect moment. "Zoe, fighting against each other is completely pointless. We are both victims of this insane system. Instead of letting a husband-hunting app ruin our lives, let's team up." "Let me hack this world into pieces." Zoe stared at my open palm, the panic in her eyes slowly hardening into fierce determination. "Fine." She gripped my hand tightly, her teeth grit. "Screw this pathetic male lead. I wouldn't bear his children if my life depended on it!" Warning! Warning! Anomalous alliance detected between hosts Harper and Zoe! Status: Severe Out-Of-Character violation! Executing Level One High-Voltage Shock Penalty! "Wait, what? Shocks?!" Before we could react, an invisible bolt of raw electricity slammed down from above. Zoe and I screamed in unison, our bodies convulsing violently as we collapsed onto the cold tile floor. "Damn it, this thing is for real!" Zoe groaned, cold sweat pouring down her forehead. The system voice continued its mechanical assault: Mandatory Directive Issued! Harper: At Mrs. King's charity gala tonight, fall to your knees and beg Dominic to marry you! Zoe: At Mrs. King's charity gala, reject the ten-million-dollar hush check offered by Dominic's mother, and offer your body to the billionaire CEO! Failure to comply will result in a tenfold voltage increase until brain death occurs! This system was an absolute monster. I was in too much physical agony to even curse out loud. Zoe and I had to support each other, limping out of the restroom step by agonizing step. The moment we stumbled out, we ran right into Dominic. He looked back and forth between Zoe and me, his mind constructing some bizarre narrative as he let out a cold, arrogant smirk. "Harper, you act so innocent on the surface, but you actually dared to bully Zoe in the restroom behind my back?" Before I could even open my mouth to explain, Dominic grabbed me by the collar and shoved me hard onto the floor. "Are you blind?!" Zoe shrieked, rushing to pull me up. "Which of your eyes saw her bullying me?! Can't you see neither of us can even stand properly?!" My vision swam from the painful impact, yet I still caught the expression of pure delight washing over Dominic's face. "Zoe, you two are fighting over me?" he purred, stepping closer. "Don't worry, my heart belongs only to you!" He reached out, attempting to wrap his arms around Zoe. Facing a creature completely incapable of processing human speech, Zoe gave up on words entirely. She swung her arm back with everything she had and delivered a thunderous slap right across Dominic's right cheek. Now his face was perfectly symmetrical. I was so terrified for her that I forgot my own physical pain. I genuinely feared the system would erase Zoe on the spot, destroying my only ally. Instead, Dominic closed his eyes, an expression of twisted ecstasy spreading across his face. "Zoe... You're jealous because I spoke to her, aren't you? Does your hand hurt from hitting me?" Watching Dominic's spineless, masochistic act, I genuinely wondered if his brain had been replaced with sludge. Zoe wiped her hand on her dress in disgust, stepped back, and spat out a single word: "Get lost." Dominic withdrew his hand with a deeply devoted look. "Zoe, whatever demand you make, I will grant it." With that, he actually turned around and walked away. Once he was out of sight, Zoe wiped her palm against her skirt again and muttered, "Total creep. I swear I'm going to find a hacker to wipe this stupid app off the face of the earth." Her words hit me like a lightning bolt. Could this app actually be hacked? If it was structured as a mini-app, with tasks, UI panels, and a backend server, then there had to be a data entry point somewhere! I just needed to get my hands on a terminal. Just as I outlined my hack plan to Zoe, a group of suit-wearing bodyguards surrounded us. "Miss Harper, Miss Zoe, Mrs. King requests your presence at the gala. The limousine is waiting outside." 3 We were escorted to the grand ballroom of the King estate, where the entire high-society elite of the city had gathered. Dominic's mother, Victoria King, sat at the head table like a queen on a throne. Sitting right beside her was David, my fictional father in this story world. As we approached, Mrs. King pulled a check from her designer handbag and tossed it straight into Zoe's face. "Here is a hundred thousand dollars. Take the money and never show your face in front of my son again." Zoe raised her wine glass, clearly tempted to splash the red wine across Mrs. King's face. The system's shrill warning blared inside our heads: Maintain your character persona! Out-of-character behavior forbidden! Reject the check immediately and profess your passionate love to the male lead! Prove that your love cannot be bought with money! Otherwise, face immediate physical annihilation! Zoe's hand froze in midair. Having just endured an electric shock, she had no desire to experience it again so soon. Dominic, observing Zoe's defiant posture from across the room, felt the flames of obsession burn even hotter in his chest. Ding! Zoe maintained her stubborn pride in the face of financial humiliation. Male lead favorability +100! Reason: That stubborn, enduring look in your eyes makes me want to possess you right this instant! Zoe's face turned completely green. I had no doubt that if she wasn't worried about Dominic creeping over to lick her hands, she would have shattered her glass and ended the narcissist on the spot. Seeing Zoe stand silent like a mute, Mrs. King sneered in contempt. "Common girls from lowborn families. Show them a bit of cash, and they lose their ability to speak." After humiliating Zoe, Mrs. King turned her sharp gaze to me. "Harper, dear, I have always favored you. As long as your father signs this investment agreement tonight, Dominic will agree to get engaged to you next month." She pulled a thick document from her folder and slid it across the table. It was a predatory contract designed to bleed my father's business completely dry. David looked at the agreement, his jaw clenched as his knuckles turned white. "Sweetheart," David whispered, looking up at me with fatherly concern. "Do you really want to marry him? If you truly want this, dad will sign it." I looked at the contract in Mrs. King's hands, then met Zoe's eyes. We both knew the system wouldn't give us a peaceful way out tonight. We either followed its pre-written script like puppets, or we smashed the table to pieces during the chaos. The irritating system clock began chiming: Force your father to sign the agreement within ten minutes using threats of self-harm! Failure will result in immediate physical annihilation! A blood-red countdown timer flickered in front of my eyes. Zoe glanced at her phone screen, leaned in, and whispered to me, "When the chaos starts, find a way to make your move. Don't worry about me." Right on cue, the double doors of the banquet hall were kicked open with a loud bang. Leading the intruding gang was Toby, Zoe's useless, debt-ridden younger brother. Knowing what was about to unfold, Zoe gave me a swift signal. I nodded, leaned down, and whispered to David, "Dad, wait for me to come back. Whatever you do, do not sign that paper!" Using the sudden commotion as cover, I darted toward the grand staircase and headed straight for Dominic's second-floor study. I had repaired his laptop once before. During that repair, I had spotted a strange, hidden background process running inside the terminal root directory. Looking back now, that process was almost certainly the data port left by the system inside this world! If I could breach his personal computer and trace the data port back to the system core, I would have a real chance at rewriting the operational rules of this entire universe. Dominic's laptop sat right on his executive desk. I locked the heavy oak door behind me and sat down. My fingers flew across the keyboard in a blur of motion. Outside the door, security guards began pounding frantically. "Miss Harper! Open the door! Mrs. King is still waiting for you downstairs!" I tuned out the noise entirely, my eyes glued to the terminal code streaming across the screen. World Core Anchor: Dominic King. Plot Maintainer: Victoria King. Hosts are required to complete conquest tasks surrounding the anchor point. System Backend Breach Progress: 10%... 30%... 50%... System Backend Breach Progress: 99%... Access Privilege Takeover: Failed. Damn it! Downstairs in the hall, the thugs dragged Zoe to the center of the room, demanding money. Zoe's face was pale, but her voice remained cold as ice. "I don't have any money! You built up those gambling debts yourself, so pay them off yourself!" The thug leader's face darkened. "Bitch, you're doing this the hard way." Several thugs lunged forward, pinning Zoe firmly to the ground. As Zoe fought back with everything she had, Dominic stopped the security guards from stepping in. Holding a glass of red wine, he stood nearby, watching her struggle with a cold, superior smile. "Zoe," he purred. "Beg me." "Promise to become my woman, and I'll save you." Zoe's dress strap snapped during the struggle. She spat directly toward his shoes. "In your wildest dreams! Dominic, I would rather sleep with a toad than let you touch me!" Dominic's eyes narrowed maliciously. "You'll regret this." When I rushed back downstairs, Zoe was still pinned to the floor, while Mrs. King forced a pen into David's hands. "David, everyone here knows how deeply your daughter loves my son," Mrs. King coaxed smoothly. "She won't survive without Dominic. Sign this paper, and Harper becomes the future mistress of the King family." David held the pen, the veins on his hands bulging under the pressure. He understood nothing of high-society traps; he only cared that without this marriage, his daughter might lose her mind. "Dad, don't sign it!" I roared. I vaulted over the mezzanine railing, landed on the floor, and snatched the pen straight out of his hand. Warning! Hosts Harper and Zoe have failed their mandatory tasks! Annihilation countdown reached zero! Punishment protocol activated! Executing maximum directive: Immediate physical annihilation! A sickening electrical hum vibrated through the air overhead. A massive pillar of lightning ripped through the ceiling, descending straight toward us!