I Became the Most Popular Character by Acting as a Villain in the Manga

Chapter 1

The top-floor intensive care unit of Shoukang Private Hospital.

I lay on the hospital bed, a pristine white blanket covering my chest, revealing the blue-and-white striped hospital gown I wore.

I had my eyes closed, my mouth and nose covered by an oxygen mask. My skin was as pale as snow, and strands of my snow-white hair were scattered on the white pillow. My long, white eyelashes were like two snowflakes, and my lips, too, were slightly pale from the loss of blood. I seemed to have sunk into a vast expanse of white, my entire being fading of life's colors.

Suddenly, the instrument by my bedside emitted a beeping sound. Not long after, doctors hurriedly filed in and began resuscitation.

I could vaguely hear the doctors' voices. They seemed to be right by my ear, yet also as if from the edge of the sky. I couldn't hear clearly, only managing to make out a few words.

“...respiratory failure... endotracheal intubation...”

I didn't want to die. I had promised that person I would live well, happily spending every day.

But my ears felt as if they were blocked by an invisible membrane, the doctors' voices gradually turning into a blurry hum; my consciousness grew increasingly hazy, as if my whole person was sinking into a silent abyss.

Just as my consciousness was about to return completely to darkness, a cute, gender-indistinguishable voice sounded in my mind.

“Ahhh save me! I know you're about to die, but don't die just yet!”

...The way it said that, was dying something I could control?

I actually found it a bit funny.

Was this an auditory hallucination before death?

“Hello? Hello hello hello? Can you hear me!”

Receiving no response, that voice continued to speak incessantly, chirping away, which I found a bit noisy.

“Help, didn't it say there's still half an hour before he passes away! Bai Xuechao! Bai Xuechao!!”

“I know, you must not know how to respond to me, right? Just concentrate your thoughts and talk to me! Can you hear me? Huh? Huh huh?”

Annoyed by this voice, I tried to focus my mind and speak to it: “I can hear you.”

It was strange. Just a moment ago my consciousness had already begun to cloud over, yet now it had cleared up a bit.

The other party's chattering voice stopped instantly. After a few seconds of silence, it spoke excitedly.

“Wow wow wow you finally responded to me! It's a long story, and since you don't have much time, I'll make it short!”

“Hello Bai Xuechao, I am a system from a higher-dimension world manhua website. The world you live in is a serialized manhua. Unfortunately, an important villain died unexpectedly half an hour ago. After this system's frantic calculations and checks, you are the most suitable person to take over the villain role!”

Bai Xuechao: “...”

The world I lived in was a manhua?

I felt like I was going crazy before death, actually fantasizing that my world was a manhua.

“Say something!” The system's tone was anxious one second, but the next it abruptly started singing, “Am I the one you love the most~ why won't you speak~”

It was confirmed. Such a nonsensical system, I wouldn't be able to fantasize something like this even if I were going crazy.

So, there really was a so-called higher-dimension world?

“Bai Xuechao, don't you want to live? Hurry up and agree to bind with me!!”

“As long as you can complete the villain's plot missions in this work, once your villain scenes are wrapped up, I can arrange a death feign for you and let you obtain a healthy body! There's no time like the present, not 998 today, not 98, not even 9.8! Bind for free, take the system home!”

I did want to live, but I didn't trust this system that suddenly appeared in my mind, claiming to be from a higher-dimension world manhua website. I planned to test it. I remembered the system saying just now that I still had half an hour before I passed away, which was enough time.

I said in a casual tone: “Can't you just resurrect the villain directly?”

Hearing this, the system seemed about to cry, and said with a sob: “If I could resurrect the villain, would I need to find someone to play the villain role? If the villain hadn't died, even if he was so severely injured that he only had one breath left, I could find a way to save him, but he just died directly! Wuwuwu wah!”

I asked with feigned doubt: “You can't even resurrect a person, but you can let me feign death and get a new body?”

This system was like a big sieve, foolishly unaware that I was deliberately trying to get information out of it. It answered whatever I asked: “You can think of the manhua author as the 'god' of this world. The god created all sorts of characters, gave them different settings, and let them live in the manhua world according to their own personalities. The actions of these characters are 'observed' by the god, and 'drawn' for publication, but the god has no right to interfere with the manhua world.”

I was inexplicably reminded of a movie I had once seen, called The Tru● Show, which had a striking resemblance to my current situation.

At this moment, I profoundly understood what was meant by a “higher-dimension world.”

The world I had lived in for many years was merely someone else's entertainment.

However, the situation in this manhua world was slightly better than that movie's, as the manhua author had no right to interfere with this world. So it seemed my life had not been manipulated or guided.

The system continued: “My task is to maintain the manhua's plot operation and handle bugs.

I have some permissions in this world, but I can't violate the world's rules. In this world, the dead cannot be resurrected, but creating a substitute for your death feign and a healthy body is still doable.”

The dead cannot be resurrected, huh... I was a little disappointed.

Hearing my silence, the system began to urge me impatiently: “Dear, any more questions? If not, hurry up and bind with me!”

I pondered for a moment, then asked: “How can you guarantee that after I complete the villain missions, you will let me feign death and obtain a healthy body? What if you break the contract?”

The system patted its non-existent chest and said: “Rest assured! When we systems bind with a host, there is always a contract, honest and fair! If the contract is breached, there will be very severe punishments!”

I asked: “For example?”

The system said in a very frightened tone: “Formatting! Destruction!”

Alright, for a system that was just data, this was indeed a very severe punishment.

After the system finished speaking, a contract appeared before my eyes, filled with various clauses. The death feign and healthy body the system had mentioned earlier were also written on it as a reward for completing the villain's plot missions. Furthermore, next to the healthy body, it was specially noted that the special ability I possessed would be retained.

Having the reward for completing the villain missions written in the contract put me much at ease.

I read the contract carefully.

The contract stated that, as the host, I needed to complete not only the villain's plot missions, but also side missions.

The villain missions were the most important and had to be completed. Failing one mission would result in a red card warning from the system. Failing two missions would result in my direct death, just like dying from illness now.

Although the side missions were also stated as mandatory, there were no rewards for completion and no punishments for failure, only that the host might face survival risks.

I asked: “What is the survival risk of the side missions?”

The system picked at its code claws, explaining a bit embarrassedly: “Side missions are generally for increasing the manhua's popularity. This world's 'god' is rather... slightly... uh, a little bit sensitive. If the manhua's popularity is too low, the 'god' is very likely to become disheartened. When the 'god' gives up on observing this world, this world will be sealed away, or even destroyed, and then everyone in the world will perish.”

Bai Xuechao: “...”

You might as well just say this manhua author is a glass heart.

There was another clause in the contract that interested me. It stated that the host could log into the manhua website through the system to view the manhua and forums to gather information.

I quickly scanned the contract one more time, and after confirming there were no issues, I said: “No more questions. How do I sign this contract?”

The system first scrawled its name in the bottom right corner: 8666.

Those numbers were even sparkling with golden light.

The system said: “Still with your thoughts, just sign next to my ID!”

I focused my mind on the lower right corner of the contract. Soon, next to 8666, the three characters for 'Bai Xuechao' slowly appeared, written in a fluid and flamboyant cursive.

The contract transformed into a ball of light and split in two. One part rushed towards me, while the other disappeared into the darkness. Rows of code glowing with a faint blue light flashed in the darkness and vanished.

I only heard the system say happily: “Yay, binding successful! Host can call me Xiao 6 from now on, I wish us a happy cooperation!”

I said: “Alright, Xiao 6, happy cooperation.”

System Xiao 6 said impatiently: “Then, now to issue the first main mission!”

Bai Xuechao: “...”

Bai Xuechao: “If I remember correctly, am I not still being resuscitated right now?”

Xiao 6 explained: “Missions don't have to be completed immediately after they're issued.

The system will display the remaining time to complete the mission!”

After it spoke, a few lines of text appeared before my eyes, and Xiao 6 read the mission out loud.

【Main Mission: The Villain's First Appearance】

【As a villain with a very important role, your entrance must have style, it can't be too low!】

【Countdown: 3 days 8 hours 42 minutes 12 seconds】

Bai Xuechao: Okay, I'll definitely be low. (not)

Under the system's influence, my resuscitation ended smoothly, and I successfully survived this critical illness.

I only felt a wave of dizziness in my brain, as if my soul had been viciously thrown back into my body. I began to regain my senses. Beneath my fingertips was the familiar touch of the bedsheets. I could hear the sound of the instruments around the bed running, and the doctors' footsteps were gradually moving away from me.

The ward door was gently closed. A moment later, my snow-white, thick eyelashes trembled, and I slowly opened my eyes.

Feeling that I was being watched, my eyes shifted, and I saw an extremely tall young man pressed against the glass window of the ward.

The young man was handsome, with fair skin. His platinum-blond long hair cascaded softly behind him, as if condensing a handful of brilliant sunlight. His eyes were the pale blue of a frozen river, icy, as indifferent and cold as the aura around him.

But at this moment, he was gazing at me inside the ward with those pale, icy blue eyes, his expression focused.

System Xiao 6 put on a cybernetic mask of pain and wailed in my mind: “Duan Xingzhi! Ahhh! I get code-aches just looking at him! It was him who suddenly went crazy and killed that important villain character, causing this world's plot to almost fail to run and collapse! To clean up the mess he made, how much of my code died, waaaahhhhh...”

Seeing me awaken, Duan Xingzhi's thin lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something.

But in the end, he only gave a smile, then immediately turned and left.

That smile was very faint. Because he didn't smile often, he seemed to have forgotten how. The corners of his lips just lifted a tiny bit. If I weren't extremely familiar with Duan Xingzhi, I wouldn't have been able to tell he was smiling at all; it looked more like he had slightly pursed his lips.

Xiao 6 asked curiously: “Are you very familiar with Duan Xingzhi?”

I felt that Xiao 6's question was quite absurd: “Didn't you already check that I'm the most suitable person to take over the villain role? You don't know my identity?”

Xiao 6 took out a code handkerchief and wiped its non-existent tears: “The system program could only detect that you are the most suitable person to take over the villain role, with a compatibility of up to 99%. The compatibility of the next candidate plummeted to 80%. You were about to die at that time, I was in a hurry to bind with you, where would I have the time or mood to check. Now that you are my host, according to the system rules, your identity and past are your privacy, which even the system has no right to view.”

I said: “Oh, then you'll find out later.”

Out of a mischievous impulse, I didn't plan to tell Xiao 6 right now, waiting for it to find out on its own.

Xiao 6 speechlessly displayed a row of ellipses before my eyes.

I logged into the higher-dimension world's manhua website through the system, intending to first look at the manhua and forums to understand the situation with this manhua.

Perhaps due to the different dimensions, after I logged into the higher-dimension world's manhua website, all the manhua covers were pixelated into blurry masses. Only one manhua's cover was clearly visible, hanging in the most prominent recommendation spot on the manhua website's homepage. It was precisely this world's manhua.

The manhua was called 《Special Ability × Food Chain》, a full-color manhua, with the author called Bai Guzi.

Lying on the hospital bed, I roughly went over the plot.

The manhua began by telling the story of a youth named Zhou Chenhao. During the summer vacation after his third year of high school, he suddenly developed a high fever one night. He wanted to go to the hospital's emergency room, but on the way, he was attacked by a strange person—judging by the other person's behavior, they actually wanted to eat him.

Although he had a fever, he was still a "tough guy" and fought back without fear, punching for several pages of the manhua, and finally subdued the opponent.

Then, Zhou Chenhao met people who specialized in dealing with such strange individuals.

Only then did he learn that the strange person who attacked him was a special ability user, and the person before him belonged to an official special ability organization.

His fever was not an ordinary one either, but the awakening fever of a special ability user.

Zhou Chenhao awakened as a rare omnivorous special ability user, and his special ability was the unheard-of Invalidation. If nothing unexpected happened, he would be the only Invalidation special ability user in the entire world.

From then on, Zhou Chenhao stepped into the world of special ability users.

I read very quickly, just skimming through the plot. I kept flipping forward and soon reached the latest chapter.

In the manhua, the platinum-blond-haired young man wore a black trench coat, making his figure appear even more slender. That face, even drawn as a manhua, was incredibly handsome. After being flamboyantly and deliberately provoked by the black-haired youth, he actually killed the other party cleanly without even blinking. The manhua even dedicated a panel to his gaze.

Icy blue eyes looked down, as if looking at trash.

Xiao 6 started wailing in my head again: “Wuwuwu don't make me recall this painful scene! According to the plot, Duan Xingzhi should have shown mercy here to test the villain's strength, paving the way for the villain to join the organization later...”

While listening to Xiao 6 wail, I pressed the translucent circular icon next to the manhua that displayed “Danmu 99+”.

The manhua readers' danmu popped up one by one.

【I'll say the dirty stuff first! I want him to step on me with his feet!】

【Ahhhhh new husband is so handsome!】

【This look is so Alpha, quick, supermarket me! Olive me!】

Hiss, it was simply unbearable to look at.

Bai Xuechao: “...”

You readers from the higher-dimension world, do you all speak so unrestrainedly.

Xiao 6 noticed me silently looking at the manhua's danmu comments, as an endless stream of lewd remarks popped up on the page.

It skillfully lit up a cybernetic code cigarette, took a world-weary puff, and said in the tone of an experienced person: “Sigh, once you've seen enough, you'll get used to it, Host.

The readers' underpants are often flying all over the sky, maybe one day they'll get thrown in your face.”

Bai Xuechao: “...”