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

Chapter 88

As Yuan Lan's voice fell, the surroundings fell into a dead silence.

The dim room was filled with the cold air produced by the air conditioner. The human specimens smiled stiffly, silently watching them. The atmosphere grew more and more oppressive with each passing second.

"How interesting," Bai Xuechao spoke softly amidst the silence.

Behind him, Yuan Lan made a sound of curiosity, "Hmm?"

Bai Xuechao was not flustered at all, his face full of calm and indifference. His clear, spring-like voice was calm as he said, "Weren't you the one who hinted for me to come in and look?"

"Hey? How can you turn the tables on me like that?" Yuan Lan pushed Bai Xuechao into the room, yet remained silent. Only Bai Xuechao's footsteps could be heard.

Bai Xuechao lowered his eyes, finally figuring out the truth behind Yuan Lan's silent steps.

An extremely thin puppet thread hung an inch above the ground, and Yuan Lan's feet were on it, as if he were walking on flat ground.

Moreover, because the puppet thread was too thin and the light coming in was too dim, only the naked eye could see the puppet thread's extremely faint glow as it was enveloped by light. The ground did not reflect the shadow of the puppet thread, or if it did, it was too thin to be seen clearly. Coupled with the fact that a level 9 special ability user's movement speed was too fast to be captured, it made Yuan Lan seem like a ghost as he approached.

This kid really knew how to play with his puppet threads.

After both of them had completely entered the room, Yuan Lan kicked the door with his leg.

As the slowly closing door blocked the only bit of light, the room fell into darkness. Only the screen of the standing air conditioner displaying the temperature emitted a faint light, allowing one to barely see the outlines of objects, but it made the atmosphere here even more terrifying.

Human-shaped dark shadows stood in the darkness. Although there were only two living people present, it felt as if they were being watched by many people, as if invisible gazes were falling on them.

Xiao 6 was defeated by this atmosphere that was comparable to a horror movie. Its code trembled as it worriedly said, "Host, Yuan Lan isn't going to silence you, is he?"

Bai Xuechao was much calmer, "He won't."

"Little Xuechao, I clearly said 'absolutely, absolutely do not go in and look,' right? But you did, and I caught you red-handed," Yuan Lan's palm caressed Bai Xuechao's neck, and he sighed regretfully, "It seems I can only turn you into a collector's item in advance. What a pity, I haven't had enough fun with you yet."

Xiao 6, who had just been comforted by Bai Xuechao's words, was shocked, "Host, listen! Isn't this silencing you! What do we do!"

Bai Xuechao retorted calmly, as righteous as a bandit, "If you really didn't want me to see, you should have locked the door when you left. You told me absolutely not to go in, but you didn't lock the door. Isn't that just asking me to look?"

Yuan Lan said, "I was just hoping you would be a little more self-disciplined."

"Then I've disappointed you," Bai Xuechao chuckled, "I'm quite curious."

Yuan Lan also smiled meaningfully, "That's why curiosity killed the cat."

Bai Xuechao felt something flying towards him from all directions in the darkness, making an almost imperceptible sound of breaking the air.

"Waah—!" Xiao 6 performed a live rendition of the famous painting "The Scream," its code almost cracking. It saw the attacking object through the system's night vision mode. "It's puppet threads!"

But as Xiao 6 screamed, Bai Xuechao's eyelashes merely fluttered slowly as he remained standing in place.

The puppet threads suddenly stopped, suspended around Bai Xuechao at the height of his throat, but they didn't touch him at all.

On the contrary, if Bai Xuechao had dodged just now, he would have run into the puppet threads like he was committing suicide, and would have had his throat cut.

Perhaps at that moment, Yuan Lan really wanted to kill him. Or perhaps, Yuan Lan wouldn't have cared if Bai Xuechao had died just like that. Just as he once said to Lin Changqing, "A-Qing is not the kind of trash that can be killed so easily," in other words, those who can be easily killed are trash, and of course, there's no need to feel sorry for trash when they die.

Bai Xuechao flicked the puppet thread in front of his neck and asked calmly, "Are you done acting?"

Yuan Lan used the puppet thread to turn on the room's wall lamps.

The European-style black wall lamps on the walls lit up, casting a dim yellow light that illuminated the surroundings. Under the dim yellow light, the originally grayish-yellow skin of the human specimens was covered with a layer of warm yellow, making them look like wax figures from a distance.

"Why aren't you afraid?" Yuan Lan's smiling face appeared in Bai Xuechao's field of vision.

"I can cooperate with you if you want," Bai Xuechao said, "But I prefer to be the one scaring people rather than being scared."

Yuan Lan smiled, "Alright, next time I'll take you to scare others."

Bai Xuechao neither agreed nor disagreed. His gaze swept over the human specimens in the glass display cases.

He asked, "Are they all my 'predecessors'?"

Yuan Lan was amused by his humorous way of referring to the human specimens. He laughed a few times before answering, "It's not wrong to call them predecessors. All you see were once my toys. I collect them, just like some people collect figurines."

Bai Xuechao nodded, not commenting on Yuan Lan's perverted hobby of collecting human specimens.

Bai Xuechao thought to himself: This is troublesome.

Then, Yuan Lan smiled and looked at Bai Xuechao, "But little Xuechao, you're different! You're more interesting alive, I can't bear to let you die."

"Oh, thanks," Bai Xuechao said perfunctorily.

The way he said it, it was as if he wasn't the one who almost cut his throat just now.

Yuan Lan paid no mind to Bai Xuechao's obvious perfunctoriness and continued to introduce, "Only the toys I like more are qualified to be collected here after they die."

Bai Xuechao said with a straight face, "You probably never asked them if they were willing to 'be qualified' to be collected here by you."

"Dead people are not qualified to raise objections!" Yuan Lan said.

Bai Xuechao said, "You should find a special ability user who can manipulate corpses and let him give you a thrilling 'return of the dead,' so you can experience what it's like to be beaten up by the dead."

"Haha, are you a genius!" Yuan Lan's eyes lit up, "That sounds interesting, it's a good idea! I hope there is such a special ability user~"

Bai Xuechao said, "There's an even more genius idea."

Yuan Lan asked excitedly, "What is it?"

"Put some makeup on them to make them look more like living people," Bai Xuechao's lips curled into a slight smile. "Then, during our party tonight, while everyone is not paying attention, you can use puppet threads to make them walk out and pretend to be vengeful spirits coming back for revenge. Let them experience what it's like to be beaten up by the dead first."

Yuan Lan applauded enthusiastically, "Wow! Little Xuechao, what a great idea!"

Xiao 6 couldn't help but say, "Host, you are truly a devil..."

Bai Xuechao's conscience didn't hurt at all, "Anyway, it's the people of the Apocalypse Society who will be scared. Doesn't Yuan Lan like to have fun? Let me have some fun too."

Xiao 6 thought silently: Who can have more fun than you!

"Some of them are very afraid of ghosts, they don't even dare to watch horror movies. They'll definitely be so scared they'll be scrambling on the ground," Yuan Lan seemed to be able to imagine the terrified look on certain people's faces. He clapped his hands happily and said, "It's settled then!"

Bai Xuechao suddenly asked, "Where are my clothes?"

Yuan Lan said, "I've already sent A-Qing a message. He should be here with them soon."

Bai Xuechao understood, "So you didn't even go get the clothes, you just ate an X8 and came back to scare me?"

He had noticed earlier that the scent of the lure-pheromone on Yuan Lan was gone. It must have been that after he left, he went to eat an X8 tablet to hide the scent, and then quietly came back to prank him.

Yuan Lan said "mm" with a smile, "And I came back at just the right time."

"Very good," Bai Xuechao nodded, mentally noting this down. "You can continue to admire your collection here. I'm going out to wait for Lin Changqing."

Yuan Lan held his shoulder, "Wait!"

"What is it?" Bai Xuechao asked.

Yuan Lan walked a few steps to the large coffin in the center of the room, turned back and smiled at Bai Xuechao, "Let me formally introduce to you, this is the luxurious bed I've prepared for you—"

Bai Xuechao showed a friendly smile, "Say that again?"

Is he crazy, making him sleep in a coffin!

Yuan Lan repeated with a bright smile, "This is the luxurious bed I've prepared for you~"

After he finished, he turned around and opened the coffin lid.

It was a flip-top one.

"See, the mattress is already laid out for you inside," Yuan Lan saw Bai Xuechao walk over, bent down and pressed the mattress to show him how soft the thick mattress was.

Bai Xuechao smiled, quickly pressed the back of Yuan Lan's neck, and pushed down hard—

Yuan Lan, either caught off guard or letting Bai Xuechao do as he pleased, plunged his head into the coffin and into the soft mattress.

"You sleep in it, I won't," Bai Xuechao said as he lifted his knee and quickly pushed Yuan Lan into the coffin.

As Yuan Lan fell into the coffin, he grabbed Bai Xuechao's arm with his backhand, pulling him into the coffin with him.

The coffin was over a meter wide, more than enough for one person, but a bit crowded for two. What's more, the two were pushing each other into the mattress, it was unclear what they were competing for.

Bai Xuechao's physical strength was not much enhanced, so he was at a disadvantage, but he refused to admit defeat. He raised his legs high, trying to wrap them around Yuan Lan's neck.

On the other side.

Lin Changqing was taking a shower when he saw Yuan Lan's message.

He quickly took a simple shower, washed off the bloodstains on his body, changed his clothes, and then came to the door of Yuan Lan's bedroom with three brand new sets of clothes for Bai Xuechao to choose from.

He found that the door to Yuan Lan's room was open and there was no one inside, but the air still held the faint scent of cool plum blossoms and a very light creamy fragrance. This meant that the two had been here not long ago, at least Bai Xuechao was still here, otherwise the scent would not have lingered so much.

Like a beast sniffing the scent of its prey, Lin Changqing followed the lingering scent in the air to find where Bai Xuechao had gone.

He suddenly heard a very faint sound coming from behind the wall on the side of the bed.

"Huh?" Lin Changqing realized that Yuan Lan had taken Bai Xuechao into his collection room. He walked over to open the door, muttering in a low voice, "Bringing him here on the first day, aren't you afraid of scaring him... to..."

He was scared.

The wall lamps in the collection room were on. Under the dim, warm yellow light, two people were "wrestling" in an open coffin.

Bai Xuechao was being held by the throat by Yuan Lan against the edge of the coffin, his originally pale face was slightly flushed, as if he was a little hypoxic. But Yuan Lan was not much better off. The teenager's ligaments were extremely flexible, his legs were raised high, and he used the bend of his legs to clamp his neck, his two knees exerting force, forming a neck-clamping and strangling posture.

It seemed that both of them were trying to kill each other.

"What are you two doing?" Lin Changqing asked.

Bai Xuechao was being choked and couldn't speak. All he could hear was Xiao 6 cheering him on, "Go, Host! Strangle this pervert! Let him sleep in the coffin!"

Yuan Lan's situation was a little better than his. He managed to say, "Wrestling... for little Xuechao's... luxurious bed..."

"Luxurious bed?" Lin Changqing approached them, "Which one?" Read complete versıon only at novel•fire.net

Bai Xuechao gestured with his eyes for him to look at the coffin.

Yuan Lan smiled calmly, but the veins on his forehead were bulging. He continued with difficulty, "It's... this one..."

Lin Changqing: "..."

It's no wonder Bai Xuechao wants to strangle you.

Lin Changqing looked left and right, and finally found a spot on the edge of the over three-meter-long coffin to sit down. He persuaded them euphemistically, "You can continue wrestling, I won't stop you, but I'll remind you that it's less than ten minutes until two o'clock. If you don't change your clothes, you'll be late."

The two tentatively and slowly loosened their hands and legs. Seeing that the other also intended a truce, they let go of each other.

After being suffocated for a long time, Bai Xuechao suddenly inhaled air and began to cough violently and uncontrollably, his eyes becoming moist and red.

Xiao 6 fanned Bai Xuechao—of course, it was just a display of a moving fan in front of him, there was no actual wind—and praised, "Host, you're awesome!"

Lin Changqing smiled, "Boss, you're going to choke the new member to death on his first day."

Yuan Lan was rubbing his neck and taking deep breaths. Hearing this, he said pitifully, "A-Qing, I almost died too."

"You made him sleep in a coffin, isn't that a given?" After Lin Changqing finished speaking to Yuan Lan, he turned to Bai Xuechao. He handed the clothes he was holding to him, "These three sets are all brand new. See if there's anything you like."

Yuan Lan said loudly, "I think this bed is super great!"

"If you think it's great, then you sleep in it," Bai Xuechao said as he took the clothes from Lin Changqing. "I want a new room."

"No, you have to live with me," Yuan Lan crossed his arms in front of his chest and then said, "I can sleep in the coffin, but why?"

Bai Xuechao looked at the clothes Lin Changqing gave him. They were all traditional style, just as Yuan Lan had said. There were long robes, Tang suits with front plackets and frog buttons, and the most modern one was a Hanfu-element shirt.

"Let's play cards. The loser sleeps in the coffin, how about that?" Bai Xuechao asked Yuan Lan as he picked out the Hanfu-element shirt and a pair of loose wide-leg pants, returning the rest to Lin Changqing and saying, "Thank you."

Yuan Lan said, "Sure!"

Lin Changqing said, "You're welcome."

He was impressive, talking to two people at the same time.

The three of them walked out of the collection room.

Bai Xuechao went to the bathroom to change his clothes, and Yuan Lan also went into the walk-in closet. Lin Changqing couldn't help but sigh for some reason, maybe he was mentally tired.

In less than five minutes, the two of them came out in new clothes.

Yuan Lan was wearing the white suit he had shown Bai Xuechao earlier, with a white shirt underneath, all in white. The top button of his shirt was undone, revealing a thin gold necklace around his neck. A sapphire brooch was pinned to his suit as an embellishment.

Bai Xuechao was wearing Lin Changqing's black Hanfu-element shirt. The placket was on the right side of his body, a factory-shaped placket like that of a round-neck robe, with silver bamboo leaves embroidered from the left shoulder to the chest. Because he was much thinner than Lin Changqing, the already loose-fitting shirt looked even looser on him, but it wasn't sloppy, instead it had a bit of an ethereal quality. His pants were also loose-fitting black nine-tenths wide-leg pants, revealing his slender ankles.

After the two had changed, Lin Changqing said, "I'll be going then."

"Mm-hmm~" Yuan Lan replied as he opened the laptop on his desk. It was two minutes to two o'clock.

The laptop started up in just ten seconds. There was only a black letter M icon on the desktop.

Yuan Lan clicked on the black M, the software started, but the screen turned completely black.

He called out to the black screen, "Mortar."

A few seconds later, Bai Xuechao saw a young man appear on the screen.

The young man had the appearance of someone from country Y, with a pair of cool-toned blue-gray eyes and deep, charming features. His golden hair was combed back into a slicked-back style, but a strand of hair fell in front of his forehead, breaking the neatness of the hairstyle and giving him a somewhat unrestrained look.

"Boss," the young man Yuan Lan called Mortar said.

Yuan Lan pulled Bai Xuechao over and introduced him to the blond young man on the screen, "This is our new member, Bai Xuechao~"

"Hello," Mortar raised his hand and gave a lazy greeting. He spoke fluent Xia Country language, "Congratulations on joining the Apocalypse Society. From now on, your life will be more bitter than bitter melon juice, because the boss is an unreliable guy."

Yuan Lan knocked on the table with his knuckles and smiled, "Mortar, we're meeting today. Are you sure you want to say that?"

Mortar was silent for two seconds and then decisively changed his tune, "I take back what I just said. Actually, I've always respected the boss."

Able to bend and stretch, his proficiency was heartbreaking.

Yuan Lan introduced to Bai Xuechao, "This is Mortar, a shut-in."

Mortar did not refute Yuan Lan calling him a shut-in and nodded, "I believe that humans will eventually die, but they can live forever on the internet."

What kind of cyber-immortality is this.

"Hello," Bai Xuechao said, "Your words have quite the personality."

Mortar said, "Actually, it's not personality, it's a fact."

At the same time, the blond, slicked-back young man on the screen disappeared, replaced by the computer desktop.

Although Yuan Lan did not operate the mouse, the computer automatically opened a certain meeting software, automatically entered the password to log in, then searched for the room number, and then entered the room password.

The operation on the screen stopped before entering the room. A clock with a moving second hand was displayed next to it, and it was twenty-something seconds to two o'clock.

"This is my special ability, the internet," Mortar's voice sounded again. He explained, "I can project my consciousness into the internet to control it, and I can also survive on the internet, which is equivalent to having a second life. And, in the internet, my lifespan is unlimited."

My apologies, so it was real cyber-immortality.