Chapter 2: The Scheming Protagonist, Lin Ming Makes His Entrance
"System, show me my status."
Wang Haoran: "Villain's Counterattack System" Host
Fate Points: 0
Ability Points: 0
Martial Strength: 70
Physique: 90
Mental Strength: 200
Charm: 90
Skills: Appraisal (able to identify anything and everything);
Seize (a certain chance to seize an item from the target, cooldown period of 7 days, upon the host killing the protagonist, there's a 100% chance to seize one of his Golden Fingers);
Ability Shielding (spend a certain amount of Fate Points to nullify someone else's special ability for a duration);
Items: None
"Ugh… pretty average… But I've killed the protagonist so many times now, and with the system's help, I'm not scared of him!"
"This time, I aim to kill Lin Ming before the third female lead makes her appearance, achieving the fastest speedrun!"
However, Wang Haoran, remembering the original story's plot where Lin Ming defeats him, still wants to complain.
Wang Haoran doesn't understand why the rich villains in urban novels are always in real estate, probably because it makes the plot progress more easily.
After all, the protagonist always manages to find evidence of accidents at the villain's construction sites or violent demolitions, and then uses it to overthrow the villain in one fell swoop.
In the novel's plot, Wang Haoran ends up in prison for this reason, and Liu Yunshuang takes the opportunity to unilaterally announce the dissolution of their engagement.
But later, he finds a chance to escape from prison.
Sadly, escaping wasn't a blessing the author bestowed on him as a major villain; it was arranged to completely finish him off.
After escaping, Wang Haoran, growing more incensed by the minute, sneaks into Liu Yunshuang's dormitory to vent his inner rage.
And just then, the protagonist Lin Ming happens to come over to "comfort" a "heartbroken" Liu Yunshuang due to the broken engagement, leading to their encounter.
The result is Wang Haoran being no match for Lin Ming, killed on the spot.
Since he's an escapee committing additional crimes and trespassing, Lin Ming not only avoids punishment but is praised for his heroic action.
Moreover, this scheming protagonist could easily overpower him but deliberately sustains a minor injury, which "accidentally" gets discovered by Liu Yunshuang, moving her deeply and prompting her to drag the protagonist into her room to apply medicine.
"Ugh… now that I've cut ties with Liu Yunshuang, the female lead… it's time to cut off the cancer within the Wang Corporation…"
Wang Haoran, following his memory, fires the key personnel in Wang Corporation who would have caused issues in the future and replaces them with more reliable people.
Although these dismissed employees haven't caused trouble yet, their actions are not clean, and Wang Haoran easily finds their vulnerabilities.
After being busy all afternoon, when evening arrives, Wang Haoran drives to the entrance of S City's First High School.
Since it's on the way from Wang Corporation to the Liu family, he decides to check on the protagonist as well.
School has been out for a while, and only a few students sporadically pass through the school gate.
Leaning against his Rolls-Royce, ignoring the admiring gazes of surrounding students, he waits quietly.
Soon enough, he sees Liu Yunshuang walking by, accompanied by a cute-looking girl with a pure aura and an ordinary-looking boy with his left hand in a bandage, all laughing and talking together.
The early-stage protagonist and female leads are all present.
Recognizing the familiar face with short hair, tanned skin, and a robust physique, Wang Haoran identifies him as Lin Ming, the protagonist.
After two and a half years of mixing around, he finally wakes up just before the final sprint, resolves to make a change, and decides to strive for success.
However, Lin Ming's so-called "awakening" is just using "X-ray vision" to cheat during exams, and his "struggle" is merely taking the opportunity to tutor lessons to get close to the class monitor Xia Xinyan and the English teacher Liu Yunshuang.
Otherwise, why wouldn't he go ask the balding math teacher for help?!
Although Lin Ming looks average, with a rogue air from fighting and a grin that stretches to his ears when he laughs, he surprisingly has good relationships with Xia Xinyan, the school beauty of First High School, and the beautiful teacher Liu Yunshuang, making the male students passing by green with envy.
"System, show me his abilities!"
[Okay.]
Lin Ming: "So Strong, So Romantic" Protagonist
Protagonist Halo: 1000
Martial Strength: 120
Physique: 100
Mental Strength: 80
Trust: -10
Charm: 50 (doubles for female leads, halves for various villains)
Golden Finger: X-ray Vision (Low Level), King of Assassins Legacy (Progress: 27%)
According to the original story, Lin Ming's X-ray vision not only allows him to see through objects but can also zoom in and out on distant scenes like a telescope, and it will even upgrade later on.
However, Lin Ming may be a bit of a playboy, but he never uses his X-ray vision to peep at the female leads; after all, the protagonist isn't inclined towards women, opening a harem is just to give all the girls a home, right?
Perhaps, it's also possible the author thought, since the protagonist would eventually see them with his own eyes, why bother with "peeping," which is sleazy? So, add such a setting to make the protagonist appear noble.
As Wang Haoran is checking Lin Ming's abilities, the trio walking towards him also notice Wang Haoran.
Since Wang Haoran often came by to show concern, the three of them are not surprised.
Xinyan first looked at him disdainfully, then said goodbye to the two people beside her before getting into a car that had been waiting by the roadside for quite some time and left.
This girl, still a student, couldn't control her emotions.
Wang Haoran knew why she behaved this way.
In the novel's plot, it's written that Xinyan initially misunderstood Lin Ming had gotten into another fight and went to complain to the head teacher, resulting in Lin Ming being criticized.
After Liu Yunshuang learned about this incident, she personally went to clarify the misunderstanding with Xinyan. Knowing the truth made Xinyan feel extremely guilty, so she doubled down on helping Lin Ming academically. At the same time, she harbored intense anger towards Wang Haoran, the instigator of this mess.
Upon seeing Wang Haoran, Lin Ming's eyes flickered with an inexplicable meaning, then timidly said to Liu Yunshuang,
"Teacher Liu, I'll be leaving first."
Meanwhile, Liu Yunshuang, who was originally looking at Wang Haoran with a "just as I expected" expression, appeared smug.
After hearing Lin Ming's words, as if understanding something, she replied with a firm tone,
"Be careful on your way."
"Lin Ming, rest assured, I won't let him hurt you again!"
Watching the profound teacher-student relationship between the two, Wang Haoran's mouth twitched uncontrollably.
Tch!
With Lin Ming looking like he just got released from prison, how could he dare to adopt a "I'm so scared, comfort me" attitude?
Wang Haoran was about to vomit from watching this, and Liu Yunshuang actually fell for it?
After Lin Ming left, Liu Yunshuang was about to speak when Wang Haoran interrupted her.
"I came over to remind you not to forget to go home tonight."
"I'm afraid you'll be tutoring your favorite student again, losing track of time just like before!"
"Alright, goodbye!"
After saying that, Wang Haoran slipped into his car and drove off.
Leaving Liu Yunshuang standing there, stunned.
Wang Haoran mainly came to check on the protagonist Lin Ming and didn't mind giving Liu Yunshuang a ride on the way. But seeing such a scene, he thought it better not to.
And the left-behind Liu Yunshuang, after being stunned for a moment, began to gnash her teeth in anger.
She stomped her foot in frustration.
"Wang Haoran! Do you think your 'playing hard to get' will work?!"
"Don't think I don't know, you say you want to break off the engagement, actually, you want to complain to my dad, making him pressure me!"
"If it's breaking off, then let's break it off! I won't give you this bastard another chance!"