Chapter 5: The Vicious Fake Rich Young Master · 5

Hearing they would be living together, 520 was also quite happy.

[Living together is great! It’s so much more convenient to bully him that way!]

520 eagerly pulled up one hundred and eighty different ways to abuse a Male Lead from its database and started reading them off to Su Wenyu one by one.

The list included, but was not limited to: verbal abuse, humiliating pranks, slandering his reputation, mocking his past, framing him, physical assault, destroying his most cherished possessions, and more.

[These are the basics of bullying someone! If you can manage these, you’ll absolutely be a perfect Villain!]

520 was already fantasizing about Su Wenyu graduating as a Villain; it, too, could then acquire a large sum of points, find a body, and roam freely through the various Small Worlds!

Su Wenyu gnawed on a crab leg, not listening very attentively.

His mind was currently filled with the dilemma of whether to eat the Sweet and Sour Ribs first or the Sweet and Sour Shrimp.

[Host, Host? Su Wenyu, are you listening to me!]

Detecting Su Wenyu’s distraction, 520 immediately raised its voice to call him.

Su Wenyu snapped back to reality, only then realizing what 520 had been muttering about in his head for a while.

[Just call me Wenyu.]

Correcting the System’s form of address for him, Su Wenyu curved his eyes in a smile and said:

[Got it. I’ll study hard on how to be a Villain.]

520 was instantly relieved. It knew it hadn’t bound the wrong host.

With Su Wenyu’s talent, he could certainly lead it to a points-based fortune and achieve System freedom!

[…But…]

Su Wenyu’s tone shifted. He felt those ‘Villain Cram School Basics’ 520 had just proposed weren’t quite suitable for him.

[Actually, judging by Zhou Xu’s reaction, he doesn’t like me at all. I just need to persistently get in his face, and the Villain Value should rise.]

Su Wenyu guessed the Villain Value was something akin to an ‘Annoyance Value.’ The more Zhou Xu disliked him, the higher the score would be.

Those villain basics 520 mentioned… perhaps he didn’t need to do them.

[Ah, that’s not up to you~]

520 explained dutifully.

[The previous two increases in Villain Value—one was from my teaching demo, the other was your own spontaneous action. Neither counts as a Mission.]

Su Wenyu was puzzled: [Huh?]

520 decided to just let Su Wenyu understand what a ‘Mission’ was through practical demonstration.

【Mission Issued: Please splash the red wine in your hand onto the Male Lead—alias ‘Zhou Xu’—to make him lose face at the dining table.】

A mission directly issued by the System’s backend appeared like a giant poster, suddenly broadcasting repeatedly inside Su Wenyu’s brain.

Su Wenyu: “…”

Right now? In front of all these people? Splash wine on Zhou Xu?

That was way too deliberate.

Su Wenyu momentarily couldn’t tell who this was supposed to embarrass more.

520 explained considerately: [This is the simplest Villain mission, statistically collated from the System database. In countless Small Worlds, villains deliberately splash red wine on the protagonist to humiliate them publicly.]

Su Wenyu had read this type of novel before, but he’d always thought the villain committing this act was just… intelligence-lowered by the author.

He never expected the tables would turn, and it would be his turn to play dumb.

520 intoned in its official System voice: [Please have Host Su Wenyu complete the Villain Mission within one minute. Mission failure will result in a deduction of ten Points and Electric Shock Punishment.]

[Calculated using the Villain Value to Points exchange rate, the Host currently has only six Points in the account.]

Su Wenyu was a bit surprised. The two times he’d earned weren’t even enough to cover a single mission failure deduction?

520 had explained before: If the current world’s Points were insufficient for deduction, he would immediately be removed from the world.

Since he hadn’t completed missions in any other world yet, returning to reality now meant instant death. So, this mission had to be done.

520 loudly announced: [Mission deadline: final thirty seconds. Please act quickly, Host.]

System 520 was giving him no choice. The countdown timer beeped like an alarm inside Su Wenyu’s head.

Hearing he could die, Su Wenyu immediately put down the crab, quickly removed his gloves with the fastest speed, wiped his little hands clean, picked up his wine glass, and stood up abruptly.

“Today, gathering here together is fate! Brother, allow me to toast you!”

As he spoke, Su Wenyu’s foot ‘accidentally’ caught on a chair leg, causing him to stumble. The wine glass in his hand tilted accordingly—splash! Over half a glass of leftover red wine drenched Zhou Xu’s neck and shoulder.

The red liquid trickled down Zhou Xu’s neck into his collar, quickly soaking his white T-shirt. The clean white fabric instantly became sticky and dirty, clinging to his body, shocking everyone around them speechless.

“Ah! I’m so sorry!”

Steadying himself with the table, Su Wenyu saw the mess on Zhou Xu and immediately grabbed a napkin in a panic, pressing it against him and wiping haphazardly.

“I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to.”

Su Wenyu’s eyes were helpless as he looked at him. His slender fingers clutched the napkin, now soaked with red wine, rubbing back and forth across Zhou Xu’s body.

Through the shirt, he wiped from the chest muscles all the way down to the abs.

Honestly, no one could tell if he was helping or just taking the chance to cop a feel.

Zhou Xu leaned back in his chair, his hand still holding the wine glass he’d been lifting to return the toast. He just felt a slightly cool hand, through the thin fabric, touching all over his chest. Finally, he grabbed the meddlesome hand.

His fingertips had accidentally brushed places they shouldn’t have. The back of Zhou Xu’s scalp tingled. Probably just disgust from being touched by a man.

“Oh dear, why so careless?”

Shi Pei quickly called a servant for a clean towel and came over to personally wipe the wine from his collar.

“It’s fine, I can do it myself.”

Zhou Xu smiled, blocking Shi Pei’s hand. He took the towel himself and wiped the wine from his neck, tilting his head to glance sidelong at Su Wenyu, who stood nearby looking utterly innocent.

Su Wenyu’s sudden toast and stumble had come abruptly, and the way he’d tripped seemed rather deliberate.

Zhou Xu couldn’t help but suspect Su Wenyu had done it on purpose.

“If it won’t come clean, just go change into a fresh shirt in the guest room next door,” Su Duanhong frowned, looking at his soaked shirt.

“No need,” Zhou Xu looked down at the mess on himself, then up at his ‘brother’ with the Oscar-worthy performance. An almost imperceptible scoff escaped him.

He knew even if Su Wenyu did it purposely, he couldn’t prove it right now.

Not to mention the entire dining room was full of Su relatives. Questioning Su Wenyu now wouldn’t benefit him.

Zhou Xu handed the towel back to the servant behind him and smiled at his parents. “Let’s finish eating first. This bit of wine will dry soon anyway.”

Then, lifting his gaze to Su Wenyu, he curved his lips into a deceptively gentle smile. “Have a seat. I know you didn’t mean it.”

The word ‘mean’ seemed to carry a subtle, deliberate emphasis.

Su Wenyu, being quite innocent, didn’t catch Zhou Xu’s sarcasm and thought he genuinely didn’t mind.

He looked at the mess he’d made on Zhou Xu’s clothes and inwardly apologized again before sitting back down.

520 immediately reported in giant, bolded letters inside his mind:

[Congratulations to Wenyu on completing the first mission of the Small World!! Reward: ten Mission Points!! Su Wenyu—a bright future ahead!!]

The previous two Villain Value spikes had only netted six Points. This single mission was worth ten Points.

It seemed actively issued missions from the System granted much higher Points. He should try to do more missions in the future.

It just meant… he would probably have to frequently wrong Zhou Xu. Su Wenyu felt a bit guilty about that.

Monitoring Su Wenyu’s mood, 520 came to reassure him after the celebration: [You don’t actually need to feel sorry. Because the things you’re doing now… you’ll get your comeuppance for them in the future.]

Su Wenyu: [Huh? Comeuppance?]

That wasn’t mentioned when I bound with the System.

520 said matter-of-factly: [That’s just common sense. In every Small World, just as good people eventually get good karma, bad people will also eventually get their just deserts.]

[You had no choice but to bind with the Villain System, but from the moment you agreed to the binding, there’s been no turning back. Doing bad things is inevitable, sooner or later. Under the arrangement of the missions, you’ll walk towards the ending you’re destined for in this world.]

Su Wenyu asked curiously: [What’s my ending in this world?]

520: [A tragic end.]

Every world’s Villain’s ending was a tragic end.

[You just need to follow the missions: insult and trample the Male Lead, make him resent and hate you, as he climbs step by step. When he achieves the status he’s supposed to have in this world… that will be your time to leave.] 520 said ruthlessly.

Su Wenyu blinked, then nodded in sudden understanding.

[…If that’s the case, it does make the psychological burden a bit lighter.] Su Wenyu thought of the phrase ‘tragic end,’ and a chill ran down his spine. That feeling of death lurking at any moment resurfaced.

520 promptly softened its voice to comfort him: [Don’t worry! You’ll still be living in this world for quite a while!]

[As long as you work hard, do more missions, travel through a few more Small Worlds to accumulate Points, you’ll soon be able to return to the real world and live a happy, healthy life until old age!]

Su Wenyu was comforted by the big-picture fantasy 520 painted and nodded: [I understand. I’ll do my best.]

—

After the lunch banquet ended, Su Duanhong had business to attend to and wasn’t available to entertain guests further. The other Su family members tactfully went home.

Shi Pei had a servant take Zhou Xu’s backpack and gently patted the distracted Su Wenyu. “I’ll take your brother to your place to settle his room. You might as well come back with us.”

Whether for the mission requirements or to earn Villain Points, Su Wenyu couldn’t say no. It was just that when his gaze fell on the wine stain on Zhou Xu’s shirt, he still felt a bit guilty and wondered if he should compensate him with a new shirt.

Sensitive to Su Wenyu’s stare, Zhou Xu followed his gaze down to his own chest and immediately recalled the sensation of that person’s hands groping him earlier.

He instinctively wanted to cover himself but felt the motion would be awkward and strange. His just-lifted hand had to drop back down.

Only when Shi Pei wasn’t paying attention, Zhou Xu looked down at Su Wenyu and asked, “Like what you see?”

Su Wenyu looked up blankly: “Huh?”

Wanting to test him, Zhou Xu tugged the wine-stained fabric at his chest, revealing a large expanse of skin around his collarbone. “You’re staring without blinking. Do you like it that much?”