The Return of the Cannon Fodder Trillion Heiress - Chapter 756

Chapter 756: Chapter 756 Hidden Variable
Now that Hera was certain about Liz’s character, she felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. But why had she even gone to such lengths just to test Liz?

“Athena, are you sure there’s a hidden variable lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike during this peaceful time?” Hera asked the moment her call connected.

“Yes, I’m sorry,” Athena sighed heavily on the other end. “I just can’t remember who it was. And because of that, you’re forced to test so many people’s character and allegiance just to be sure.”

Frustration laced her voice as she clicked her tongue. “Tsk! This is all my fault! If only I hadn’t read from a pirated site! I didn’t even realize that the version there was different from the official one of ‘Thin Line Between Love and Lust’!”

“If I hadn’t been blacklisted from the platform for trash-talking the second female lead, the second male lead, and half the other characters after they killed off so many people while romanticizing it, I could’ve checked the real storyline! But nooo—I had to go off because I was fed up with their stupidity!”

“Who said I was harassing the author? I just have zero tolerance for stupidity, that’s all!” Athena huffed. “But whatever—I’ll admit, I loved the R18 scenes in the book so much that even after I got blacklisted, I went looking for another platform to read it. That’s how I ended up on that pirated site. But ugh—only now do I realize that parts of the story were missing!”

She grumbled nonstop, venting every bit of her frustration. Hera, who had just learned about all of this, felt her expression darken—so dark it might as well have been the bottom of a pot—as she continued listening to Athena’s self-reproach.

“A-T-H-E-N-A!” Hera ground out through gritted teeth, her entire body trembling with rage. She had assumed Athena had simply forgotten the details, but now she realized the truth—it wasn’t that Athena didn’t remember, but that what she read had been incomplete.

Hera clenched her fists as she pieced it together. Athena had always recalled the novel with perfect accuracy, down to the tiniest details. It was completely out of character for her to suddenly forget something so crucial.

The real issue? Athena had read the novel on a pirated site, which more often than not is notorious for missing chapters, jumbled text due to copying errors, and a complete disregard for quality. Their only priority is driving traffic for profit, regardless of how much of the original story gets lost or distorted.

And because of that, Hera had spent all this time testing people’s loyalty over a gap in Athena’s memory that shouldn’t have even existed.

Earlier, when Hera decided to give Liz a tip, it had been purely to make her happy. But then Athena had sent her a subtle hint through a text, prompting Hera to turn the gesture into another test of Liz’s character.

Since she had already tested Liz before, there was no reason to feel guilty about it—especially if it reassured her that Liz wasn’t the type to be swayed by quick profit.

Of course, there was always the possibility that Liz recognized Hera as the real gold mine after seeing her Black Dragon Card.

Even if that were the case, she still could have easily kept the entire $5 million for herself instead of sharing it with her team. The fact that she didn’t only proved that Liz wasn’t the hidden variable Hera was looking for.

First, Liz had no clear motive. Second, she couldn’t be swayed by profit and had a strong sense of right and wrong. Third, Liz seemed to have an upright character, a little too straightforward, yes, but ultimately a good person.

In fact, her personality was so similar to Athena’s that the three of them naturally got along. Hera was convinced that Liz valued relationships more than anything else.

With all this in mind, Hera officially took Liz off her list of suspects. The only clue Athena had given her was that the hidden variable would get close to Hera. Technically, this was supposed to happen to Alice, the original female lead.

But since Hera had been stealing Alice’s female lead halo, they couldn’t assume that all the drama and danger would only center around Alice anymore. Instead, it seemed like trouble was now being drawn to Hera—like a magnet.

This hidden variable was someone who would put the female lead’s life in danger, serving as a catalyst for the male leads to realize just how much they loved her—and that they couldn’t live without her.

This event was meant to deepen their emotions and strengthen their relationships with her.

If, before, their connections were mostly physical with little emotional depth, the presence of this hidden variable would change everything, causing their emotional attachment to the female lead to grow by leaps and bounds.

The real problem was that this hidden variable wouldn’t just be a mere obstacle—they would resort to psychotic means to harm the female lead. They would come dangerously close to killing her, kidnapping her, and keeping her hidden for months.

During that time, she would be subjected to relentless torture, just like in any other novel where dark, dramatic events are used to highlight the female lead’s mental resilience and determination, as well as to showcase the depth of the male leads’ love for her.

But Hera—why would she sit back and wait for this to happen to her? Why should she allow herself to be caught off guard, abducted, and erased without a trace?

No. Instead of letting this hidden variable get close enough to lower her defenses, she would find them first—before they had the chance to strike.

This was supposed to be the female lead’s only major stumbling block—but also the most dangerous one. That’s why Hera needed to stay vigilant. However, unlike Alice in the novel, Hera didn’t rely solely on the male leads for protection.

She now had the power to defend herself and even safeguard those around her. After all, each of them had their own trials to overcome before their happily ever after could unfold.

Now, what Hera needed to do was prepare thoroughly—to ensure none of this ever happened in the first place.

If Hera’s calculations were correct, they should now be at the midpoint of the storyline—where Alice’s career was supposed to be thriving effortlessly. After all, she had been a well-regarded actress in her past life before her untimely death, so acting didn’t pose much of a challenge for her.

On top of that, with Rafael and Xavier supporting her, everything should have been progressing smoothly. At this stage, the plot was meant to focus primarily on the mature content, with Alice balancing her time between the five male leads.