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

Chapter 15

I spent some time briefing Duan Xingzhi on their current relationship and identities, then set off with him.

We stored the tote bag with clothes in a locker on the first floor. I looked at the map on the app and led Duan Xingzhi to the “Underwater World Shuttle” attraction, then—

We first used our Express Pass cards to enter the fast lane and rode it once.

Hmm, it was indeed quite fun.

Xiao 6: “???”

Xiao 6: “Host, weren’t you going to meet the male lead?!”

“Don’t rush,” I said.

I hadn’t just gone to play. The fast lane was right next to the tourist queue. As I walked through the lane, I found the protagonist group among the diverse crowd. The protagonist group had already reached the front, probably two batches after his turn.

I unhurriedly walked to the nearest beverage shop outside the attraction and bought a cup of juice for myself and Duan Xingzhi.

As I expected, before long, tourists from the Underwater World Shuttle were all coming out, and the long queue had dispersed.

Some tourists were still complaining: “How many is this today? If Kunpeng Park isn’t repaired, don’t open for business! I paid such an expensive ticket and only queued; I didn’t get to ride a single attraction!”

“You need to leave for a bit,” I saw Duan Xingzhi walking straight to the side, seemingly just planning to stand further away, so I pulled him and pointed to a snack shop with a long queue in the distance, “How about you go buy me a grilled sausage?”

“Okay,” Duan Xingzhi replied, walking towards the snack shop.

I went to sit on a nearby bench for tourists, watching the constantly emerging crowd, slowly sipping my orange juice, and asked, “Xiao 6, can you contact the author?”

Xiao 6 held up a whiteboard with “QAQ” written on it: “The System and author cannot communicate. Only after the work is finished can the author unilaterally write comments; the System can’t even reply.”

“Then we can only use the old method,” I sighed softly, looked up at today’s clear and clean sky, and whispered, “Dear author, please keep my identity a secret, that would be more interesting, wouldn’t it?”

Last time I completed my debut, I had “pleaded” with Bai Guzi, and she updated it as I wished with the second version. So I thought, as long as I didn’t distort the plot, for the sake of the story’s interest, Bai Guzi should agree to my request.

What was the point of only acting for the protagonist group? It was more fun to act with the manga readers too. I was quite interested in people from the higher-dimensional world.

Actually, my temporary concealment of my identity was secondary for adding interest. The main reason was to become “friends” with the protagonist group, to facilitate my “assistance” in completing the plot. My villain identity would only be clearly revealed in the mid-to-late stage of the plot, so I could still disguise myself in the early stages. After all, if I immediately showed my enemy stance, it would needlessly increase a lot of unnecessary trouble.

And… I also didn’t want to expose who I was early on because of one person, thus having to face that matter.

Xiao 6 curiously asked, “Will Bai Guzi really keep your secret?”

It felt like its Host always seemed calm and confident.

“Who knows,” I sipped my orange juice.

After all, Xiao 6 had once said that Bai Guzi would edit entirely according to her personal will. However, even if Bai Guzi didn’t keep my secret, it didn’t matter to me; it would just be a little less interesting, as it was the manga readers who knew my identity, not the protagonist group.

Just then, I saw the protagonist trio walk out and deliberately released more lure-pheromone to attract their attention.

“Hey? It’s you!” Zhou Chenhao didn’t seem very surprised. He walked up to me and smiled, “I thought I saw you walk past when I was queuing just now, but I thought I was mistaken.”

When queuing earlier, he suddenly smelled two faint floral scents: a somewhat cool plum blossom fragrance and a white musk scent from the Vitaceae family.

As a special ability user, he could naturally distinguish that it was the scent of lure-pheromone, not perfume. But when he looked over, he only briefly saw a small part of a profile, fleeting, so he couldn’t confirm.

I pretended to be unaware and chatted with them, “Why did you come out?”

“Don’t even mention it… the Underwater World Shuttle’s electrical system had an issue and needs repairs.” Zhou Chenhao said, somewhat dejectedly, brushing a talisman paper that was blocking his cheek because his official’s hat was askew. He glanced at Xia Xiaoxi and Ling Feng beside him, “This is the fourth time today. Are we ‘Power-Off Man’?”

Xia Xiaoxi also looked dejected: “It never used to be like this. I don’t know what’s wrong today.”

“Yeah, I even came once during the summer holiday,” Zhou Chenhao was even more dejected, muttering, “It wasn’t like this back then.”

Ling Feng stood aside without speaking. After hearing their conversation, his eyebrows slightly raised, as if he had thought of something.

But he glanced at Bai Xuechao and didn't say it aloud.

Zhou Chenhao asked, “Why are you by yourself?”

“My brother went to buy me grilled sausage. I’m waiting for him here,” I said, pointing to the snack shop in the distance, “The one with light golden hair.”

The trio followed the direction of my fingertip. The tall young man in the distance had broad shoulders and light-colored golden hair tied in a high ponytail.

He had already reached the front of the queue. Perhaps he sensed someone watching him, or perhaps he was checking on me after buying the grilled sausage. Just as the trio was staring at him, he looked back, and a face somewhat similar to mine in both contour and appearance was revealed to the trio.

“You and your brother look quite alike,” Zhou Chenhao exclaimed.

I said with a hint of amusement, “Biological brother, what else?”

Xia Xiaoxi praised, “Both you brothers are very handsome!” One could tell it was genuine admiration, without any other hidden meaning.

“Thank you,” I smiled.

Ling Feng still didn’t speak, his eyes, blue as the sea, watched me. His quiet demeanor gave off a cold and distant feeling, making him appear somewhat aloof.

“My brother is done buying,” I said, standing up from the bench. Even with the unsightly red eyeshadow under my eyes, my refined and handsome face still held a faint smile. I waved to the trio, saying, “I’m leaving now, hope to meet again.”

“Okay, hope to meet again,” Zhou Chenhao said with a chuckle. “Maybe we’ll run into each other tonight.”

He saw the wristband on my slender wrist, indicating I was a tourist participating in the Great Escape event. The Great Escape required running around the park, so they might run into each other again somewhere.

I walked towards Duan Xingzhi. Duan Xingzhi had been walking towards me, but seeing me come his way, he stopped.

Xiao 6 asked, “Why aren’t you playing with the protagonist group?!”

My tone was somewhat helpless: “Didn’t you notice that Ling Feng is very wary of me?”

I noticed that he secretly looked at me at least twice. Although Ling Feng’s facial expression didn’t reveal anything, the emotions in his eyes couldn't escape me.

I continued, “I ask you, if a strange special ability user with an unknown identity and stance wanted to play with you, would you agree?”

Xiao 6 was silent for a moment, then hesitated, “I would…?”

I almost choked on my orange juice. I said expressionlessly, “So you’re silly.”

Xiao 6 sent a crying emoji: “Boo-hoo, why are you attacking the System now?”

Perhaps Xiao 6 was truly too talkative normally. I had adapted to talking with it, and had even developed true dual-tasking ability, able to concentrate on speaking with Xiao 6 while simultaneously maintaining awareness of my surroundings without disconnecting from Xiao 6. Both tasks were done with focused attention.

At that moment, I was walking and talking with Xiao 6, while also paying attention to my surroundings.

I walked up to Duan Xingzhi and took the grilled sausage from his hand.

I turned around and saw that the protagonist group was still watching me. I gestured for Duan Xingzhi to wave back at them with me, then we left.

But would they really separate so easily?

Of course not.

After I had walked further away, Ling Feng turned to Zhou Chenhao and finally spoke, “When did you come during the summer holiday? Before or after your special ability awakened?”

…

I blew on the still-hot grilled sausage, carefully took a bite. The skin was crispy, and as I chewed, my mouth was full of meat flavor.

It was a bit greasy, though, I couldn't eat too much.

I ate about a third of it, then handed the sausage to Duan Xingzhi. “I’m not eating anymore.”

Duan Xingzhi caught the grilled sausage I gave him, and quite naturally brought it to his mouth, continuing to eat, as if he had done it countless times.

They had known each other since childhood, grew up together, and often shared food.

However, I was naturally sickly and had a sensitive stomach, yet I was a bit of a glutton. I would buy whatever I wanted, eat a few bites, and then stop. To avoid wasting food, I often gave the leftovers to Duan Xingzhi. Duan Xingzhi was used to it and didn't think anything of it.

I looked into the distance at the Jiangshi, Taoist priest, and Black Wuchang in the crowd.

Actually, we didn’t walk too far from the protagonist group. After all, guessing which amusement ride the protagonist group would go to next was definitely not as convenient and accurate as simply following them.

Both had been trained in the Dark Organization; tracking was child’s play. Only this time, neither of them had taken the X8 pills that temporarily stopped the secretion of lure-pheromone, so they needed to try their best to rein in their lure-pheromone and maintain a distance so the protagonist group wouldn’t notice.

I was actually carrying X8, but had no intention of using it now.

The protagonist group’s next chosen attraction was still 4D, but this one was gentler, just sitting and watching.

I bought a string of potato twists from a roadside snack shop. My snow-white, slender fingers peeled off a few spiral potato chips from the top, then I handed the rest to Duan Xingzhi.

As I ate, I watched the protagonist trio almost reach the front of the queue, then took Duan Xingzhi and used the Express Pass to enter, creating the illusion that “they had played another attraction and just happened to run into the trio again when they came to this one.”

When Zhou Chenhao reached the entrance, he smelled the floral scent he had smelled not long ago, and turning back, he saw Bai Xuechao and Duan Xingzhi walking from the fast lane next to them.

He widened his eyes: “We meet again!”

Xia Xiaoxi was also a bit surprised; they had clearly seen Bai Xuechao go in another direction earlier. Her jade-like green eyes widened as she looked at the two, exclaiming in surprise, “We’ve run into each other twice already, what a coincidence!”

I had just told them “hope to meet again” not long ago, and unexpectedly, we met so soon.

“What a coincidence,” I smiled.

There was no such thing as coincidence, only elaborate planning.

This amusement ride didn’t have problems due to Zhou Chenhao’s nullification. After watching the 4D presentation, the few people parted ways again.

Zhou Chenhao asked, “Do you think we’ll run into each other again later?”

“Maybe,” I said, smiling at him. I waved to them and then pulled Duan Xingzhi away.

Xia Xiaoxi watched their retreating figures and couldn’t help but say, “They really are fated.”

“If we meet them again next time, should we invite them to join us?” Zhou Chenhao suggested, clapping his hands. However, he didn’t make the decision alone, but looked at Xia Xiaoxi and Ling Feng, asking for their opinions, “Is that okay?”

Xia Xiaoxi enthusiastically agreed: “I agree! Fate is something you have to grasp yourself! If they turn out to be good people after we get to know them, maybe we can recruit them into the bureau.”

“Mm!” Zhou Chenhao replied.

Both looked at Ling Feng. Ling Feng felt a bit uncomfortable under their gaze and averted his eyes: “Whatever you want.”

As it turned out, in the next two amusement rides, they didn’t encounter Bai Xuechao and Duan Xingzhi again.

In fact, the two were watching the protagonist group from a distance.

If they met too frequently, there would be no surprise, and it would instead feel a bit too coincidental, making it strange.

Xiao 6 curiously asked, “Host, what’s the point of creating these coincidences?”

I was sharing a dolphin-shaped ice cream with Duan Xingzhi. Hearing this, I answered with the ice cream still in my mouth, “There’s a theory that when you coincidentally meet the same stranger more than twice in one day, you’ll develop some fondness for that stranger because you feel a sense of destiny.”

“Never heard of that,” Xiao 6 said.

“Of course you haven’t heard of it,” I said righteously, “That’s my twisted logic.”

Xiao 6: “…”

Got tricked by the Host again, darn it.

Wait, why did it say “again”??

***

After 5:30 PM, dinner time.

Xia Xiaoxi suggested going to the highly-rated Underwater restaurant for dinner, then strolling around the Underwater Park to digest, which would be just about time for the 6:30 PM Great Escape event. Although they were special ability users and needed to eat mutated creatures, it was still common to eat some ordinary delicacies when not hungry.

Wasn’t I doing just that? Always eating.

Her suggestion was approved by the two, and the trio headed straight for the Underwater restaurant.

It was dinnertime for most people, and there were many tourists eating at the Underwater restaurant. They took the only remaining empty table.

As they were looking down at the menu, they smelled a faint floral scent wafting through the air, then heard a somewhat familiar, clear and cool voice like a spring.

“Can we share a table?”

The three looked up, and sure enough, it was Bai Xuechao and Duan Xingzhi again.

Zhou Chenhao’s eyes showed surprise: “We meet again!”

“Of course you can, sit down,” Xia Xiaoxi ran to the opposite side to squeeze with her two teammates, making space on the row she was sitting on.

I nodded, “Thank you.”

They sat down.

The five of them finished dinner at one table.

Seeing the two getting up to leave, Zhou Chenhao spoke up, inviting, “Would you like to come stroll around the Underwater Park with us?”

“Sure,” I replied.

Exiting the Underwater restaurant, going down the stairs led to the Underwater Park.

Although it was an “Underwater” park, for the safety of tourists, it was located about twenty meters below sea level, between the maximum depth of 18 meters for OW diving and the maximum depth of 30 meters for AOW diving.

The Underwater Park had multiple glass tunnels, crisscrossing like a huge underwater maze, allowing views of the ocean outside through the clean, transparent glass. At the same time, the Underwater Park was connected to the Eco-Tourism Park, where tourists could take underwater sightseeing boats to deeper parts of the ocean for close-up views. If one had an AOW diving certificate, they could also free dive here.

The few just continued walking along the glass tunnel. Because the sun was setting, sunlight couldn't reach such depths, and the seawater appeared a serene deep blue.

Below the glass tunnel, coral reefs of various shapes grew on the settled sand and gravel.

Starfish lay on the sand and gravel, and colorful fish swam in schools around the coral reefs.

Xia Xiaoxi’s eyes widened, her expression amazed, as if no matter how many times she saw it, she would be captivated by the ocean’s charm.

Just then, she heard me say, “Your eyes are very similar to my sister’s friend.”

“Huh?” Xia Xiaoxi realized I was looking at her when I said it, pointing to herself and asking uncertainly, “Me?”

“Yes, your eyes also droop slightly at the corners, just like his,” I said, tapping my fingertip twice at the corner of my eye as I spoke. I then added, “Such eyes are quite rare; I’ve only seen you two, but he’s a male, and also a special ability user.”

Originally, Xia Xiaoxi just thought it was a coincidence, but hearing me say that person was a male special ability user, she couldn’t help but ask, “Are his eyes reddish-brown?”

“Hmm…” I pretended to recall. “Yes.”

Xia Xiaoxi’s expression instantly became agitated. She moved closer to me and continued to ask, “Then do you know his name? Can you tell me where he is? Can you take me to see him?”

I gazed at the girl before me, meeting her slightly drooping eyes, and my breathing suddenly became a little rapid.

Seeing this, Duan Xingzhi supported my shoulder and answered for me, “We only met Su Zhao a few times, we’re not close, so we don’t know where he is. Last December, he took our older sister out, and then we lost contact.”

I steadied my breathing and also said, “Yes, our older sister also went missing.”

Hearing this, Xia Xiaoxi released my sleeve, her expression showing unconcealed sadness.

Then she said apologetically, “I’m sorry, did I make you uncomfortable just now?”

“No, I just thought of my missing sister, and my emotions got a little agitated,” I said. “I’ll be fine after I calm down; don’t worry about it.”

Xia Xiaoxi sniffled and mumbled, “That bastard, it’s one thing for you to disappear alone, but you even took someone else’s sister with you. Where did you hide…”

Although she was cursing, her eyes were slightly red.

She truly missed her brother.

Zhou Chenhao, perhaps seeing their atmosphere was too gloomy, ran to a nearby glass panel and spoke loudly to attract their attention: “Wow! Are those jellyfish over there?!”

Ling Feng even cooperated and looked, saying, “They seem to be moon jellyfish.”

He turned back and called, “Xia Xiaoxi, come look.”

What a clumsy way to distract and comfort someone.

But Xia Xiaoxi still rubbed her reddened eyes, cheered up, and responded, “Coming!”

She also invited Bai Xuechao and Duan Xingzhi to come look, and then pulled out her phone from the small shoulder bag inside her Taoist robe: “Can we add each other as friends? If I get any news about your sister, I’ll tell you, and I hope you can tell me if you get any news about my brother.”

Because both their brothers and “sisters” knew each other and were in a “missing” state, Xia Xiaoxi’s attitude became friendlier towards Bai Xuechao.

“Okay,” I said, taking out my phone and adding her as a friend.

Zhou Chenhao made space for the approaching people.

At this point, the five people had reached the end of this glass tunnel. The end of the tunnel was not glass, but a pristine white wall with no decorations.

After Zhou Chenhao moved aside, he said to the others, “Look, there are quite a few over there.”

Several translucent jellyfish floated in the ocean, appearing faintly blue in the seawater. Their circular bells pulsed and contracted like breathing, with fine, short tentacles trailing from their edges, resembling lush hair.

“So beautiful!” Xia Xiaoxi exclaimed, pressing her phone against the glass, trying to take a picture.

“Right?” Seeing that much of the gloom had faded from Xia Xiaoxi’s face, Zhou Chenhao smiled, casually resting his hand on the wall next to him.

With Zhou Chenhao’s exclamation of “Oh my god,” the white wall instantly disappeared. He nearly fell to the ground but quickly steadied himself with extremely fast reactions, looking forward with a bewildered expression.

Everyone looked over at the sound.

After the white wall disappeared, a glass tunnel was revealed. It had a slight incline and continued to extend deeper into the seabed.

“This is… a special ability?” Zhou Chenhao looked at his hands, then at the long, quiet tunnel ahead. “Someone used a special ability to block this place.”

This was the end of the tunnel, and there were only the few of them, all special ability users, so they decided immediately to continue forward.

After walking about twenty meters, the tunnel no longer sloped, but its width expanded.

Transparent, thick glass walls appeared in the ocean on both sides, as if holding back something in the sea.

They continued to move forward and finally reached the end.

The end was a rather large rectangular glass space, offering a full, unobstructed view of the ocean outside the glass. When they clearly saw the creatures in the seawater, the protagonist group collectively showed somewhat astonished expressions. I showed no reaction, likely having anticipated it, while Duan Xingzhi maintained his usual expressionless demeanor.

In the seawater, frightful-looking fish swam everywhere. Each was thirty to forty centimeters long, somewhat resembling an anglerfish, but sharp, dense teeth protruded from their lips, and each jaw had a pair of sturdy tusks.

Just then, a shark swam by, and this group of strange fish swarmed it, devouring the shark in a few seconds!

“They’re mutated creatures!” Xia Xiaoxi exclaimed.

Zhou Chenhao watched the fish, which were again aimlessly swimming in the ocean, in shock, saying, “The park owner is secretly raising such aggressive mutated creatures underwater. Isn’t this a violation?”

“It is a violation,” Ling Feng observed the fish, frowning slightly. “If mutated creatures above Level 2 are found, it needs to be reported; they cannot be privately kept. These mutated creatures, judging by the aggression they just showed, should be higher than Level 2. But whether they are above Level 2 or not, with so many of them, it should be reported to the bureau.”

As they talked, I secretly took a photo of the fierce fish outside the glass, and also caught the trio’s backs in the picture.

I carelessly sent this photo to Qiao Zhanpeng, along with a text message: [Oops, your little pets have been discovered.]

I mockingly referred to these mutated creatures, which Qiao Zhanpeng had secretly raised behind the organization’s back, as “little pets.”

The photo and message would be automatically destroyed after being read.

The protagonist group was already sending messages to the SAIDB, reporting the discovery of a large number of mutated fish in the park.

And I, as a Level 8 special ability user, had undergone more physical enhancements and had better eyesight.

I saw something the protagonist group hadn’t discovered—

Deeper in the sea, a bit further down from their current position, there was a huge, jar-like reef.