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

Chapter 9

Bai Xuechao walked out of the main gate of Shoukang Private Hospital, glanced back, and lamented, "If this wasn't the organization's property, I'd really like to blow it up."

"If you want to, you can." Electric sparks flickered between Duan Xingzhi's long, fair fingers as he asked earnestly, "Do you want to blow it up?"

"No." Bai Xuechao spread his hands and teased, "Do you know how expensive this building is? I really don't want to see the finance department hanging themselves at the door of your office."

Duan Xingzhi thought for a moment and replied, "I can take care of it before you see it."

Bai Xuechao: "..."

This was the inconvenient thing about joking with Duan Xingzhi; sometimes, the other party couldn't tell if he was joking or being serious.

Bai Xuechao grabbed the sleeve of Duan Xingzhi's trench coat and led him towards the black sedan parked not far away on the side of the road, saying as he walked, "Let's go, no more nonsense."

After subconsciously taking two steps with Bai Xuechao's pull, a look of sudden realization appeared on Duan Xingzhi's handsome face, as if he had just realized that Bai Xuechao had been joking with him.

Bai Xuechao pulled Duan Xingzhi into the back seat. There was a driver in a black suit in the driver's seat, sent by the organization to drive them to D City.

Just as the driver stepped on the gas, Duan Xingzhi's phone started vibrating.

Duan Xingzhi took out his phone from his pocket. Bai Xuechao saw "Jiang Yunyi" displayed on the screen and let out a low, mocking laugh.

Oh my, the impotent rage has arrived.

Duan Xingzhi answered the call but didn't speak. He didn't know what was said on the other end, but he grunted "Mm," and after a while, another "Mm," quite perfunctorily. Then came "I'll listen to him," and finally, he finished it off with "The leader has permitted it," before hanging up.

Even through the phone, Bai Xuechao could imagine Jiang Yunyi's smile barely holding up after punching a cotton ball, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud at the side.

Duan Xingzhi put his phone away and looked at him in confusion: "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Bai Xuechao rolled down the rear window, and the wind rushing into the car lifted his snow-white hair. He smiled, "Good answer."

The hair on Duan Xingzhi's forehead was also blown by the rushing wind. His light blue eyes were like a clear, bright sky, pure and radiant. He answered seriously, "I listened to you."

Hearing this, Bai Xuechao was taken aback for a moment. He looked at Duan Xingzhi and thought for a moment before remembering—

He had told Duan Xingzhi a few years ago that if he didn't know how to communicate with Jiang Yunyi, he should just answer with "Mm" and "The leader has agreed, has permitted it."

Hiss, he seemed to have been joking with Duan Xingzhi back then. If he remembered correctly, Liu Jingchun was also there, and she had laughed heartily at his method and even echoed, "Yes, yes, yes," but her attitude didn't seem serious at all. It should have been obvious that it was a joke. He didn't expect Duan Xingzhi to have silently remembered it until now and even found an opportunity to use it.

However, given Duan Xingzhi's personality, it was normal for him to remember it until now.

He probably didn't even know that this was meant to choke Jiang Yunyi up and thought he had found the correct way to communicate with him.

Bai Xuechao thought for three seconds and decisively decided not to correct him. He patted Duan Xingzhi's head like he was petting a big dog and coaxed, "Good, keep it up. You're great."

Jiang Yunyi deserved it!

"Okay." Duan Xingzhi's clear eyes reflected Bai Xuechao's figure. He blinked, and his long eyelashes fluttered along with it.

Meeting those light blue eyes that became exceptionally peaceful and warm when they looked at him, at this moment, Bai Xuechao strangely felt like he was deceiving a child, even though this guy in front of him was already twenty years old.

He coughed lightly, ignoring that bit of guilt.

Hearing the cough, Duan Xingzhi immediately asked, "Are you not feeling well?"

As he asked, he reached forward. Only then did Bai Xuechao notice that Duan Xingzhi had placed a small first-aid kit on the front passenger seat.

Usually, no matter what Bai Xuechao requested, Duan Xingzhi would agree directly without needing a reason from Bai Xuechao; he just needed to be told what to do. So this time, when Bai Xuechao said he wanted to leave the hospital, he did as he was told. But now it seemed that he was still worried about Bai Xuechao's health and had specially prepared a first-aid kit.

"I'm fine." Seeing Duan Xingzhi looking at him with doubt, Bai Xuechao knew he liked to get to the bottom of things and quickly thought of an excuse, "It's just that my throat is a little dry."

Duan Xingzhi nodded. Then, his peripheral vision caught something, and he said to the driver, "Pull over."

His tone of voice was always relatively calm and indifferent, as if he had no emotions, which always gave people a cold feeling.

The driver immediately pulled over upon hearing him.

Duan Xingzhi opened the car door and got out before the car had even come to a complete stop. He returned shortly after, holding a bag in his hand.

He got back into the car and handed the bag to Bai Xuechao. Inside were mineral water, yogurt, coconut milk, and orange juice, all things Bai Xuechao had drunk in front of him before.

"...Thank you." Bai Xuechao casually took a bottle of mineral water from the bag. He couldn't possibly say that he had just made up the dry throat thing.

Xiao 6 was extremely moved, scattering little red hearts everywhere, covering the bottom of Bai Xuechao's vision: "I was wrong, Duan Xingzhi is the one who's truly good to you! Compared to Jiang Yunyi's purposeful kindness, this kind of sincerity is the most touching, sob sob sob. I declare, I'm leaving the Yun Sect, from now on, I'm joining the Xing Sect!"

Bai Xuechao speechlessly twisted open the bottle cap and took a sip.

He had seen through it now. He shouldn't pay attention to Xiao 6's love-brained tendencies.

This system fell in love with anyone it saw. If he took it seriously, he would lose.

Xiao 6 was frightened by his silence and asked with trepidation: "Could it be that Duan Xingzhi also has a purpose?"

"Not really," Bai Xuechao replied in his mind while taking a drink of water, "He's a relatively... simple person."

Xiao 6 was overjoyed: "Then I'm relieved!"

After Bai Xuechao finished the water and put the bottle aside, Duan Xingzhi then told the driver to continue driving.

At this moment, Bai Xuechao's phone vibrated twice, indicating a new message.

Bai Xuechao took out his phone and lit up the lock screen. As expected, it was a message from Jiang Yunyi. It seemed that he had realized that it was impossible to reason with Duan Xingzhi, so he had come to communicate with him instead.

The lock screen message only showed Jiang Yunyi's first sentence, saying that he knew he had left the hospital and asking where he was.

Bai Xuechao didn't even bother to read the rest, directly turning off the screen.

He could guess what Jiang Yunyi would say next. It would be nothing more than saying he had been in emergency care the day before yesterday, had a fever yesterday, and hadn't fully recovered today, making him unsuitable for a long trip, and persuading him to go back to the hospital to rest—after all, the old leader had already agreed to let him leave the hospital, so to get him back, he had to do it voluntarily.

Jiang Yunyi seemed to be concerned about his health, but in reality, he was probably somewhat dissatisfied with him ordering Duan Xingzhi to intercept the mission. As for whether he was dissatisfied because the mission was intercepted or because he had found a way to leave the hospital, it was hard to say, perhaps both. Jiang Yunyi had been gradually undermining his authority in recent months, and perhaps he felt that he was losing control.

Before this, Jiang Yunyi probably thought that the old leader would assign this mission to him, and only just now found out that it was given to Duan Xingzhi. Otherwise, with Jiang Yunyi's mind, he would have guessed that he would use this to leave the hospital and would have taken measures in advance.

"If only sister Jing Chun was here," Bai Xuechao murmured.

Liu Jingchun was the biological daughter of the old leader, Liu He. She had been abroad for half a year to expand the organization's business territory.

If one were to say who in the Dark Organization, besides the old leader, could be unscrupulous towards Jiang Yunyi, it would be none other than Liu Jingchun.

Sometimes, when Liu Jingchun was annoyed with Jiang Yunyi, she would use her special ability to beat him up. Because she was the old leader's daughter, even though Jiang Yunyi was the old leader's most capable assistant, the old leader would not punish her for her actions, only verbally reprimand her a few times.

If Liu Jingchun were here and knew that Jiang Yunyi was taking advantage of his hospitalization to gradually undermine his authority, she would definitely use her special ability to beat him up.

Duan Xingzhi heard Bai Xuechao's murmur and said, "Sister Jing Chun can come back this month."

"Hm?" Bai Xuechao turned his head to look at him, "Which day is she coming back?"

Duan Xingzhi shook his head: "It's not certain yet."

"Alright," Bai Xuechao said.

Y City was nearly four hundred kilometers away from D City, which would take more than four hours by car.

After twenty minutes in the car, Bai Xuechao got carsick. He felt very uncomfortable, extremely dizzy, and nauseous in his stomach. He told Duan Xingzhi and then closed his eyes to try to sleep. When he woke up, they had just arrived in D City.

The car stopped in front of the gate of a hotel under the Liu Group, which was a property belonging to the Dark Organization.

Bai Xuechao got out of the car. His carsickness hadn't eased even after a nap. He frowned uncomfortably and followed Duan Xingzhi into the hotel.

He and Duan Xingzhi checked into a suite on the top floor. The suite had two bedrooms, both with private bathrooms, so he and Duan Xingzhi each had one.

The first thing Bai Xuechao did upon entering the bedroom was to lie down on the bed to recover from his carsickness.

Duan Xingzhi knew he wasn't feeling well and didn't disturb his rest.

By the time Bai Xuechao had fully recovered, it was dinnertime. Duan Xingzhi had someone send up a meal.

Because it was a property under the organization, the hotel knew their identities, so the food sent up was for special ability users (mutated species). Duan Xingzhi was a carnivore, and Bai Xuechao was an omnivore who could eat anything, so this meal had more meat.

The two had dinner in the suite's dining room.

After dinner, Duan Xingzhi contacted Qiao Zhanpeng to confirm the meeting time for tomorrow. The location, naturally, was the Kunpeng Marine Floating Island Park.

Bai Xuechao, on the other hand, was looking for a suitable clothing store locally on a social app.

To do what?

Of course, to participate in the park's Halloween Month event tomorrow.

While looking at stores selling Hanfu, Lolita, and cosplay costumes on the app, he chatted with Xiao 6 about the manga's male protagonist.

Bai Xuechao said, "Zhou Chenhao's special ability level is 3, and his nullification special ability can at most be used on special ability users two levels higher than him, right?"

In other words, Zhou Chenhao could at most nullify the special ability of a level 5 special ability user. Beyond that level, his nullification would be useless. This was stated in the appendix at the back of the manga.

In fact, most special ability users' abilities had some limitations or weaknesses.

Xiao 6's tone was giddy: "That's right~"

Bai Xuechao asked, "What is Qiao Jing's special ability level?"

Xiao 6 replied, "Level 5, almost level 6."

Although Qiao Jing was young, he had already awakened his special ability for five years, while the male protagonist had only awakened for less than two months. Even with the shonen manga male protagonist's halo, Zhou Chenhao had only reached the level required to graduate from the SAIDB's training—a requirement of level 3.

In fact, this leveling speed was already very fast. Zhou Chenhao's two teammates, both of whom had been special ability users for nearly a year, were also level 3.

Moreover, the setting of being able to nullify abilities two levels higher already allowed the male protagonist to fight special ability users across levels, which was already a cheat.

For example, the special ability user who was caught in the maritime transaction in the previous chapter was a level 4 special ability user, which was just within the male protagonist's nullification range.

"Level 5, what a delicate level." Bai Xuechao sighed, whether sincerely or not.

At this moment, he came across a highly praised four-pit store.

The so-called four pits referred to Hanfu, Lolita, JK uniforms, and cosplay costumes. This store indicated that only children make choices, and they wanted them all, selling everything.

The store was divided into four major sections.

Bai Xuechao decided, "This is the one!"

He held his phone and went to find Duan Xingzhi. Duan Xingzhi had already hung up on Qiao Zhanpeng and was sitting on the sofa watching a variety show. The people on the TV were laughing loudly, but he remained expressionless.

"Duan Xingzhi," Bai Xuechao came to his side, "let's go buy clothes."

Duan Xingzhi's pale blue eyes turned to him and he agreed, "Okay."

Twenty-five minutes later, in the largest four-pit store in D City.

Duan Xingzhi held a gothic-style black cloak with a confused expression, then Bai Xuechao handed him a white stand-up collar Lolita shirt with ruffled sleeves, followed by a black vest.

Bai Xuechao had often been dressed up by Liu Jingchun since he was a child and had worn clothes from the four pits countless times, so he was quite familiar with them. He clapped his hands and said to Duan Xingzhi, "You can take this set to the fitting room and wait for me. I'll go get some accessories."

"Oh, okay." Duan Xingzhi obediently walked towards the stairs with the clothes. The fitting rooms in this store were all upstairs.

"Awooo, Duan Xingzhi will definitely look so handsome dressed as a vampire!" Xiao 6 then asked, "Host, why haven't you picked out your clothes yet!"

It was so excited, after all, the host was the real god-tier beauty!

"In a moment, no rush." Bai Xuechao chose a gothic-style thorn rose necklace, then picked up a military Lolita set, ready to go upstairs to find Duan Xingzhi.

Just as he reached the stairs, he smelled a faint mixed fragrance of flowers and fruits. It was the scent of a special ability user's Lure-pheromone.

Bai Xuechao and Duan Xingzhi had both taken medicine before going out, so they temporarily had no Lure-pheromone scent. Therefore, this was the only mixed scent of flowers and fruits in the store, and as Bai Xuechao slowly walked up to the second floor, the scent became stronger. The people around were ordinary people and were completely unaware of it; only Bai Xuechao could smell it.

Relying on his sensitive sense of smell as a special ability user, Bai Xuechao identified the scents of lemon, grape, watermelon, and jasmine in the fragrance, and it seemed there was also—

He realized something.

These scents were exactly the same as the main characters' group in the manga.

Just then, the military Lolita clothes and accessories he was holding were numerous, and the peaked cap, fur collar, and medal slipped off the smooth surface of the packaging bag and fell to the ground.

He held the entire set of military Lolita, the thickness of the clothes making it a bit difficult for him to slowly bend down to pick up the accessories that had fallen to the ground.

Just as Bai Xuech-ao picked up the peaked cap and tucked it under his arm, the scent of grape and lemon quickly approached him. A hand helped him pick up the medal and fur collar and handed them to him.

"Here." The speaker's voice was clear and full of vitality.

At the same time, Bai Xuechao raised his red, vibrant eyes, and his breath hitched when he saw the person in front of him.

Xiao 6 shouted in Bai Xuechao's mind: "It's the male protagonist!"

Standing in front of Bai Xuechao was a tall boy dressed in a Qing dynasty official's robe, wearing an official's hat, and dressed as a Jiangshi.

A yellow paper talisman was stuck to the brim of the official's hat on the boy's head, with charms drawn on it in vermilion ink. The talisman hung down, covering most of the boy's face.

At this moment, the other person was holding the fur collar and medal and smiling at him.

Probably in order to see him, the boy tilted his head slightly, facing him with half of his face.

His dark brown eyes looked at him from the gap between the talisman and his face, and the corner of his grinning mouth was revealed from the side of the talisman.

With the boy's breathing, the lower half of the yellow talisman was slightly blown up and then fell back down.

Bai Xuechao: "..."

He really hadn't expected this first meeting.