The contestant sleeping in the basement was naturally Mo Jiao.
Because his beastification was a snake, the original host both feared and hated snakes. Worried about one day encountering Mo Jiao slithering ominously on the ground, she only allowed him to sleep in the basement.
Xiao Jinsheng looked at Mo Jiao, whose murderous intent had been dissipated by her brazen manipulation, now shrouded in confusion. "You don't have to sleep in the basement anymore. You can pick your own room."
Mo Jiao's violet eyes narrowed slightly as he sneered coldly, "So should I thank you for that?"
"Of course, it's your honor," Xiao Jinsheng replied smoothly.
Given that all five men had developed murderous intentions toward her,
she knew a simple attempt to ingratiate herself wouldn't ease the tension.
It might even make these five men suspect she was plotting something sinister again. Could her gestures of goodwill be a deliberate smokescreen to sell them out?
Feeling so aggrieved, Xiao Jinsheng concluded it would be better to just go crazy.
After all, she was playing the role of the vicious supporting character. Why not fully embrace being a vile woman?
Step one of being a wicked woman: instead of letting these five men unite in the plot to stab her to death, she decided to turn them against each other first.
Xiao Jinsheng raised her chin, casting a disdainful glance over the handsome faces of the five men. Her voice was frosty yet taunting, "I realize I've done wrong and I'm working to change, but it's pointless if I'm the only one trying. You all need to cooperate with me, don't you think?"
"So, here's the deal. The six of us are here to help each other grow. I'll fix my flaws, and you'll try forgiving your grudges against me. Whoever does the best job, I'll divorce them first."
After speaking, Xiao Jinsheng smugly observed the five men, who had frozen in place, stunned by her words. She pulled out a chair to sit at the dining table, only to be assaulted by the noxious smell of burnt food wafting from the pot of stir-fried spicy rabbit heads.
The spicy rabbit heads she had specifically asked for turned out to be nothing more than a pitiful scattering of bone fragments and meat scraps buried in a scorched pile of chili peppers.
This dish was more heartless than a con artist bottling air and calling it perfume.
"Su Ye, I realize I was wrong. Since you're clearly not skilled in cooking, you don't have to prepare meals anymore. Just stick to washing the dishes," Xiao Jinsheng apologized with an extremely sincere expression.
Su Ye could see right through her. Under the terminal-enforced marital symbiosis rule, they couldn't do anything to her arrogance.
Apology?
Not a shred of sincerity in sight.
"Thanks, I guess," Su Ye said curtly, his face dark with irritation.
"You're quite welcome. It's something for which you should indeed thank me," Xiao Jinsheng responded with a light chuckle, waving her hand dismissively. "So all of you better work hard. The best performer gets my divorce certificate."
"Is she losing her mind by the day?" Yu Yunxiao muttered under his breath.
Que Zelian turned his gaze toward Yu Yunxiao. "Aren't you the one to ask that? You've been hanging around her all day."
"And you're always the one who keeps yammering about divorce," Su Ye interjected.
If it weren't for Yu Yunxiao's constant talk of divorce, this vicious woman wouldn't have been inspired to use it as bait to manipulate and threaten them.
The thought that he might've unwittingly given Xiao Jinsheng the idea to blackmail them left Yu Yunxiao so furious that his feline ears drooped in resignation.
Oblivious to the mounting tension, Xiao Jinsheng nonchalantly began eating her meal, satisfied as she watched the five men show the first signs of starting to quarrel among themselves.
Mmm, mmm, mmm!
Step one for a wicked woman was to shatter this fragile alliance among the five men.
As long as they fought each other, she could gain more time to repair her relationships and avoid the plotline's fate of getting stabbed to death by five knives.
Beyond repairing relationships, she needed to strengthen her own abilities.
Although females in Mist Continent lacked combat power, their spiritual power, which could link to the terminal, gave them incredibly high status among males.
Only females could awaken spiritual power, while males could only acquire strength-enhancing Star Stones by completing tasks from the terminal, which required venturing to the other side of Mist Continent.
The corrosive Poisonous Fog blanketing Mist Continent was deadly. No matter how strong a Beastman was, touching it would turn them into a pile of bones.
Mist Continent was split in two. The eastern side was the human habitation zone, filled with threats from zombies and mutant beasts.
Defeating zombies and mutant beasts yielded crystal cores, but they couldn't enhance superpowers.
The western side of Mist Continent, cloaked in Poisonous Fog, was the only place where strength-enhancing Star Stones could be found.
Equipment to resist the Poisonous Fog could only be obtained as part of the terminal's task assignments.
Before marriage, males could temporarily receive tasks to enter the western side of Mist Continent.
After marriage, males could only access the western side through tasks accepted by their wives via the terminal.
In her six months of marriage with these five men, Xiao Jinsheng, out of sheer resentment, had refused to accept a single Star Map Task for them.
Lacking upgrade resources, the five men's powers had stagnated.
This was another reason for their strained relationships and mutual disgust.
So this was something Xiao Jinsheng could change.
After finishing her meal, she set down her bowl and chopsticks and noticed the five men either sipping tea or munching on meat. She suddenly announced, "Tomorrow, I'll accept a Star Map Task for you all."
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Some of the men choked, while others froze mid-bite, all staring at her in shock as if she had suddenly grown a second head.
"Are you really that kind?" Yu Yunxiao, having already been fooled once today, trusted her less than he trusted a feral stray. "Ever since we got married, I've almost forgotten what the western side of Mist Continent looks like."
"Then you have a pretty poor memory," Xiao Jinsheng smiled sweetly at him. "So stop staying up late gaming at night, little kitty. Even cats can shed fur."
"Xiao Jinsheng!" Yu Yunxiao exclaimed, practically bristling in anger.
"Are you serious this time?" Even Que Zelian, normally the least inclined to talk to her, spoke up.
His beastification was as a Dragon Sparrow, the only one among them with awakened mutant beast bloodlines.
He craved power more than anything else.
If it were up to him, he wouldn't have wanted the terminal-arranged marriage at all. Being single would have let him continue accepting tasks freely from the terminal.
But there was no choice; the terminal, invisible and untouchable, controlled the life and death of Beastmen.
"If you don't believe me, then I won't accept any task for you," Xiao Jinsheng responded indifferently, unwilling to explain further.
Sure enough, even Mo Jiao—who had murderous intentions toward her—responded, "I believe you."
No matter what schemes Xiao Jinsheng was plotting, as long as they could get a Star Map Task, he'd endure it!
"Great. Since everyone agrees, see you tomorrow morning," Xiao Jinsheng said with a graceful smile as she rose from her seat. She waved brightly at the five men, "Goodnight, little kitty, goodnight Mr. Very Competent."
The named Yu Yunxiao and Su Ye gnashed their teeth in fury.
Xiao Jinsheng then waved at the other three men. "Goodnight Huaiqing, goodnight Mo Jiao, goodnight Que Zelian."
"Why do they get called by their full names?" Yu Yunxiao protested.
Having predicted Yu Yunxiao's outburst, Xiao Jinsheng bounded upstairs at lightning speed after bidding goodnight, locking her bedroom door securely behind her.
Sitting on her bed, she simultaneously browsed through Mist Continent information on the terminal and inwardly cursed the Divine Gold System that had flung her into this dystopian transmigration story.
That annoying Divine Gold System had mistaken her for its host.
After compensating her with five butchers and tossing her into Mist Continent, it had quickly fled.
Thankfully, before vanishing, it had provided her with the original plotline, allowing Xiao Jinsheng to learn how the story was supposed to end for her.