The Cold and Ruthless Supporting Male Lead

Hearing Zhuoye Xingchen’s words, Hai Ku unexpectedly felt a sense of relief.

From the very beginning, he had thought Zhuoye Xingchen was a decent person. However, that had only been a passing thought in his mind. Now that he truly witnessed Zhuoye Xingchen’s actions, there was an entirely different feeling; one of genuine pride in having made such a great friend.

A sudden sense of accomplishment surged within him, and Hai Ku straightened his back.

“I wasn’t planning to agree to her anyway, was I? You’re the one who suggested agreeing to her,” he teased with an unintentional smirk. Zhuoye Xingchen’s attitude had made it easy for Hai Ku to regard him as a friend.

Hai Ku cautiously added, “Although she’s like that, the amount of tolerance others show toward her is surprisingly high.”

Even if Zhuoye Xingchen was willing to help him, Hai Ku didn’t want to make things too hard for him. The female lead’s golden finger was useless in some ways, but in other ways, it was genuinely effective.

Even if he replicated her golden finger, he wouldn’t be able to pull off the absurd stunts she did.

Hai Ku had copied her “tolerance” ability purely to ensure that his fans would forgive him when his cross-dressing secret was inevitably exposed. Without that, if he were to confront the female lead head-on, he feared he wouldn’t stand a chance.

But judging by his usual behavior, Hai Ku couldn’t bring himself to act as shamelessly as the female lead did. So even though he had the “tolerance” skill, he would undoubtedly use it far less than she would.

“That’s fine. I can test her intentions first. Honestly, I’ve never encountered someone as bizarre as her, and I’m curious to see just how far her absurdity goes,” Zhuoye Xingchen said, his mind filled with curiosity. As he thought about how close his place was to Hai Ku’s, he suddenly had an even better idea.

“You have such a twisted sense of humor. Aren’t you worried this might spiral out of control later?” While Zhuoye Xingchen’s willingness to help was great, Hai Ku still felt a little bad for troubling him so much.

“What’s there to worry about? There’s no way it’ll spiral out of control. We live so close to each other. When I’m playing games with her, you can come over to my place. That way, you can see what she’s up to and hear what she says behind your back,” Zhuoye Xingchen said, feeling like a genius. He eagerly sent Hai Ku his address. “Come over! My place is huge, and I’ve never met a gaming streamer who lives so close to me. Let’s meet up!”

He was determined to solidify things. Although he didn’t mind Hai Ku’s cross-dressing, Zhuoye Xingchen couldn’t help but grow curious about Hai Ku’s appearance.

It was truly a strange kind of curiosity.

“Meeting up isn’t a problem, but shouldn’t we avoid testing her? If you intentionally lead her into badmouthing me while playing games with her, then wouldn’t that make us just as bad as her?” Hai Ku thought meeting in person was inevitable sooner or later, so it didn’t make much difference whether it was sooner or later.

However, when it came to secretly observing Mu Xiaoya’s comments about him, Hai Ku felt it wasn’t the right thing to do.

Even though Mu Xiaoya was awful, Hai Ku felt that if he and Zhuoye Xingchen acted like that, they wouldn’t be much better than her.

Acknowledging that Hai Ku had a point, Zhuoye Xingchen reflected on himself for a moment.

“All right, then I’ll just play games with her properly. But if she can’t keep up with my skill level, that’s not on me, right? She’ll realize the gap between us and probably go practice on her own,” Zhuoye Xingchen said optimistically.

Hai Ku wanted to warn him that things wouldn’t be that simple, but he figured his words wouldn’t carry much weight. It would be better for Zhuoye Xingchen to experience it himself.

After all, it was Zhuoye Xingchen who had agreed to take on Mu Xiaoya in the first place.

It had taken Hai Ku months of genuine effort and heartfelt guidance to see even a tiny improvement in her skills.

There was no way an impatient and disdainful Zhuoye Xingchen could manage to coach her effectively.

“So, should I call her tomorrow and tell her you’ve agreed to take her on?” Hai Ku asked as he reclined in his chair.

Zhuoye Xingchen thought about it before answering. “Let’s finish this game first, and then you can get back to her. I’ll also post an announcement about my next livestream. I’m sure she’ll be keeping a close eye on both your channel and mine over the next few days.”

Given Mu Xiaoya’s personality, that was entirely plausible.

Hai Ku nodded, then remembered they were on a voice call. Feeling a little awkward, he said, “Given her personality, she might even keep both our streams open at the same time. She’s been asking me to coach her for days now, so she’s probably pretty desperate. Do you think we should wait half an hour after the stream ends, pretend we discussed it, and then call her?”

“Exactly! You’re so smart,” Zhuoye Xingchen replied, finishing his announcement.

***

Moments after Zhuoye Xingchen posted the announcement, Hai Ku’s phone buzzed. He couldn’t help but marvel at Mu Xiaoya’s speed.

“Wow, I just got a message from her,” Hai Ku said in amazement.

“I knew she’d be watching our channels. She’s probably keeping an eye on our Weibo accounts too,” Zhuoye Xingchen said with a hint of smugness. “What did she say?”

Hai Ku felt a mix of amusement and helplessness; Mu Xiaoya seemed genuinely anxious to the point of being desperate.

[Mu Xiaoya: “I saw Zhuoye Xingchen say he was going to play a game with you?”]

Hai Ku took a screenshot of the message and sent it to Zhuoye Xingchen. Rubbing his forehead, he wondered how someone with Mu Xiaoya’s personality could possibly become the female lead. “What do you think I should say to her? Since she wants to play games with you, I figured I’d ask for your opinion first.”

His words sounded polished and proper on the surface, but the truth was that Hai Ku had no clue how to reply to this oddball. No matter what he said, he’d feel annoyed.

Zhuoye Xingchen, however, seemed to find this whole situation fascinating. His mind worked at lightning speed, and an answer popped out immediately, “Oh, this is easy! Just tell her you’re taking this chance to play a game with me first, and then after the match, we’ll talk about her request.”

“Got it~” Hai Ku’s fingers danced quickly over his phone screen as he typed out a perfunctory reply to Mu Xiaoya.

After getting repeated assurances from Hai Ku that he’d definitely discuss the matter with Zhuoye Xingchen after their game, Mu Xiaoya finally calmed down a little.

This multiplayer game series with Zhuoye Xingchen had only cleared the first level so far; the upcoming match was to clear the second level.

Even though this had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, the two of them still did a bit of planning before jumping in.

Several hours of live streaming passed by again, and the results were much better than last time. Their follower count had surged, leaving Hai Ku quite satisfied.

Perhaps the “golden finger” he had copied from the female lead was starting to take effect, as the fans coming in this time didn’t send him any hate. Instead, his private messages were overflowing with praise.

The results were beyond Hai Ku’s expectations, but he didn’t mind; it felt pretty good.

Timing it precisely, Hai Ku made a voice call to Mu Xiaoya after half an hour. As per Zhuoye Xingchen’s suggestion, he even turned on his computer’s voice chat.

Although eavesdropping on someone’s call wasn’t exactly a good habit, this was a special case. After all, Zhuoye Xingchen was directly involved, and it was about him. Hai Ku didn’t mind accommodating him this once.

“What? You’re saying Zhuoye Xingchen really agreed?” Mu Xiaoya’s voice was filled with excitement. She almost screamed. It was completely unexpected for Hai Ku to actually get Zhuoye Xingchen to agree—it was beyond her wildest imagination.

“I asked him about it today. He said he’s willing to play with you, but it has to be in a private game room of his choosing. Additionally, the sessions can’t be made public, nor can you secretly record or live-stream them.”

The reason for such conditions was to prevent Mu Xiaoya from exploiting Zhuoye Xingchen, so Hai Ku had added them himself.

Hearing these terms, Mu Xiaoya hesitated a little. But after thinking it over, she figured the other party wouldn’t be able to catch her even if she did something, so she agreed right away.

Suppressing her excitement, Mu Xiaoya eagerly asked, “So, when will he play with me? And what’s the game room number? Did you get all the details?”

“The room will be decided by him, but he said it would be tomorrow afternoon. At 6:00 PM tomorrow, he’ll send me the room number, and I’ll forward it to you. Sound good?”

“Alright, but make sure you don’t oversleep and miss it. Keep an eye out for me!”

With her questions answered, Mu Xiaoya finally relaxed. However, just before hanging up, she suddenly added, “By the way, the pictures you posted on your social media are so misleading. How can a guy not have any leg hair? I think you should stop editing your pictures before posting them. Wouldn’t it be better to just show the real you?”

Hai Ku: “…”

“And look at all those people in the comments groveling over your pictures. It’s disgusting—one guy worshipping another guy like that… Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. But honestly, your pictures are so fake that it’s no wonder people get the wrong idea. You should just keep your cross-dressing hobby to real life. Your secondary account already has seventy to eighty thousand followers. If it keeps growing, it’s going to become a problem. You should just delete it—it’s safer that way.”

Hai Ku: “…”

After speaking so much without a response, Mu Xiaoya couldn’t help but ask, “Are you even listening?”

“Ahem…” Hai Ku let out a symbolic cough. He really shouldn’t have expected any pearls of wisdom to come out of her mouth. “I’ll think about what you said. I’ve been staring at my computer for so long that I’m tired. Let’s talk tomorrow, okay?”

“Alright, but don’t oversleep, okay~?” Her voice was full of excitement, her tone even lilting as she spoke. Mu Xiaoya hung up only after saying her goodbyes.

Hai Ku sighed and placed his phone aside. “She’s hung up.”

“Wow, you’ve got some patience…” Zhuoye Xingchen clicked his tongue in disbelief. “If it were me, I’d have exploded into a firework listening to all that. Good thing I muted my mic earlier. Otherwise, my curses would’ve carried over. This girl is way too bossy. Even if her words are supposed to be advice, the way she says them feels more like accusations.”