The Cold and Ruthless Supporting Male Lead

Not daring to waste too much time, they quickly stepped through the opened exit. Fortunately, they were only 2 hours behind the first group, and no matter what, they could still make up for the delay.

Once the transmission ended, they finally saw their surroundings clearly. A vivid emerald gemstone appeared before them as soon as they entered the fourth level.

Before they could react, the emerald gemstone emitted a green glow. Hai Ku only felt a warm current surrounding his body. Then, their clothing began to change.

Their outfits transformed into elegant formal wear, predominantly green with white accents. Their once jet-black hair turned golden, and even their facial features underwent slight changes, becoming more refined and delicate.

Looking at his teammates’ pointed ears, Hai Ku found it unbelievable. “Could this be an elven world?”

He had mostly forgotten the storyline, and there wasn’t time to flip back through it. Fortunately, after the emerald seed finished glowing, it transformed into a map.

The world of the fourth level was the Elven Kingdom.

Every player who entered this level turned into an elf, becoming citizens of the Elven King.

However, something terrible had recently happened in the Elven Kingdom; the Elven King’s crown had gone missing. This caused the King great distress, which in turn brought suffering to his people.

The entrance to the fifth level was located beneath the roots of the sacred Elven Tree. The citizens of the Elven Kingdom would gather under the tree to pray every month. But due to the crown’s disappearance, the entrance under the Elven Tree had been sealed for 6 months.

The storyline had made this clear, as had the mission for this level; find the King’s crown.

The fourth level was a critical point because there was only one crown for the King, making it impossible for two groups to clear the level simultaneously.

If one group completed the mission first, the other group would be forced to start over, wasting even more time.

“We have to seize this opportunity. Whether we surpass her depends on this level,” Hai Ku said, his mood growing tense. After reading the mission briefing, his palms were already slick with sweat.

“Let’s head to the temple first. That’s the last place the Elven King was seen with his crown. I think Bing Jingxue and her team will be there too.”

“Alright.” Hai Ku nodded. He was thankful that in this world, they could all fly.

Having inherited elven traits, their bodies had become lighter, allowing them to travel much faster.

Though Hai Ku disliked combing through scripts, the system had read the entire book thoroughly. Letting the system locate where the crown was hidden, Hai Ku led his team onward.

Initially, he planned to progress step by step, but after some thought, he decided it wasn’t necessary. Since he was already equipped with a system and had Lan Bai with him, he was practically a walking cheat code.

Why not use a cheat if it was available? If the female lead could use one, so could he.

He wasn’t here to play the game but simply to complete the mission. Hai Ku felt no need to follow the rules of this world too rigidly. It was better to take things easy and act as he wished.

***

“What’s the meaning of this? We lost a few team members, sure, but at least we made it to the fourth level. I think that’s a pretty big accomplishment,” Bing Jingxue said, cradling the child they had brought up from the third level. Ever since she learned he was the mayor’s son, she felt she had excellent foresight.

Picking up a random child only to discover he was the mayor’s son? Incredible.

However, some of the people who had cared for the boy on the third level had become infected. Strangely, the antidote had no effect on them.

Bing Jingxue also found it odd. Still, her group originally had ten members; losing three meant they had seven left, which she didn’t think was a big deal.

Besides, when infected, they didn’t die but were simply sent back to the first level. It wasn’t the real world, where infection meant death.

She thought her teammates were taking the game too seriously. Stroking the child’s head, Bing Jingxue smiled sweetly. “Sometimes, success requires a bit of sacrifice. Those three teammates just went back to the first level. They’re not suffering as much as we are. The first, second, and third levels already have detailed guides. They can just follow them step by step. Meanwhile, we’ve been blazing the trail ourselves.”

“Don’t you think you’re going too far?” One of her teammates glared at her.

“We’ve already reached the fourth level, yet you’re still dragging that child along. Can’t you see we’ve all turned into elves while he hasn’t? This will expose us easily!”

If they didn’t enjoy this game, they wouldn’t have entered it. While the thrill of victory brought great satisfaction, if it came at the cost of their comrades, it made them feel disgusted.

Bing Jingxue sneered at the teammate. “Oh, please. Without me, would you have made it this far? Don’t overestimate yourselves. If it weren’t for me, you’d still be stuck down there.”

Bing Jingxue knew they harbored resentment, but whose fault was that? If they lacked the ability to clear the levels themselves, they had no choice but to rely on her. And if they relied on her, they had to listen to her.

“Sis… why are we here?” the child asked timidly. He didn’t understand why he had been brought to this place. “Didn’t you say you’d take me to my Dad? My Dad doesn’t seem to be here.”

Even though he was an NPC in the game, he had been programmed with certain memories. The boy remembered he was the mayor’s son, and the city he came from looked nothing like this.

If Bing Jingxue hadn’t promised to take him to his father, he wouldn’t have followed her here.

“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely take you to your dad,” Bing Jingxue reassured him.

She felt this child was exceptionally talented. Maybe he was a real child from the outside world, or perhaps the mayor was an actual figure in reality. If she had the chance to meet him, it would be fantastic.

The boy’s extraordinary appearance and demeanor suggested he held many secrets.

Her other teammates, seeing her attitude, couldn’t help but complain to the team leader. “Leader, don’t you think you’re spoiling her too much?”

“What’s the big deal? Our goal is to clear all seven levels. The rewards for being the first team to do so are huge. Let’s just ride her coattails and gain experience. Don’t concern yourselves with other matters,” the team leader said. Though he found Bing Jingxue annoying, it wasn’t enough to kick her out.

He was just a low-level employee at this gaming company in the real world. However, he had somehow heard about the generous reward for clearing the seventh level, which was a cash prize of 10,000 yuan.

To him, as long as he could get that ten thousand yuan, even if he had to team up with a pile of garbage to clear the seven levels, he would still find it acceptable.

The team members he had gathered were a mix of high school students and college students who hadn’t yet stepped into society. They weren’t particularly savvy, making them easy to control.

“Heh, Xiao Xue, where do you think the crown might be hidden?” The team leader grinned at Bing Jingxue, putting all his hopes on her.

“What’s the rush? With me here, we’ll definitely find it.” Casually opening the map in her backpack, Bing Jingxue secretly took a look.

After spending time studying and observing, she had roughly mastered how to read the map. While she wasn’t entirely accurate, she could manage about seventy to eighty percent.

But before she could fully examine the map, a red exclamation mark appeared on it. Immediately after, a message was broadcasted across the world.

[Following a player’s report, we have detected the use of cheats in the game. The XX game will be shut down for 2 days to inspect player data. Please remain in place and wait for the server to go offline. For detailed updates, please refer to the official announcement.]

“W-what?” Bing Jingxue’s face turned pale.

***

The world chat channel exploded with chaos. Even Hai Ku was stunned. “What’s going on?”

Lan Bai, lazily lying on his shoulder, rolled over and said, “I reported her. I couldn’t stand her pretending to act cool with my map!”

Hai Ku: “…”

“It seems we’ll have to wait 2 days before we can log back in. Tsk, I was hoping to clear the game during the weekend,” Dong Hai said, sounding frustrated.

“Sigh…” Longde Chuanren sighed as well. “I have to work overtime on Monday, so I probably won’t be able to log in. Should we exchange contact information?”

Hai Ku nodded and exchanged contact details with them.

It wasn’t a big deal, but they soon discovered that they all lived in the same city.

A flash of insight crossed Hai Ku’s mind, and he said, “Bing Jingxue is from XX University. I saw her there last time when I attended a lecture.”

The Four Seas paused for a moment before saying in unison, “We’re from that university too.”

“But I don’t think I’ve ever seen this girl before. A girl this pretty would definitely be the topic of conversation among the guys,” Xi Hai said, frowning.

“What’s the big deal? Aren’t you also way more handsome in the game than you are in real life?” Bei Hai rolled his eyes. “It’s obviously just a beauty filter!”

“This world really is small,” Longde Chuanren said with a shy smile. “I’m not from that university, but I work nearby.”

Hai Ku: “…” Sure enough, every supporting male character had to be close to the female lead.

Why? To make in-person meetings more convenient!

But this way, the plot was already starting to deviate from its original development. Taking a 2-day break wasn’t so bad. It would give the system enough time to search for the walkthroughs for the remaining levels. Even though the details were scarce, there had to be some key clues.

“Let’s log off for now and plan to log back in together later.”

“Sure. Let’s chat, maybe even meet up in person. No problem.”

Men were always more straightforward. After a few words, they logged off.

***

When Bing Jingxue exited the game world, she was visibly irritated, throwing her VR headset to the ground.

“What’s wrong with you now?” her roommate asked, her voice muffled as she applied a face mask.

“This stupid game is driving me crazy!” Bing Jingxue glanced at her roommate’s “Little White Rabbit” brand face mask, her eyes turning red with envy.

This mask cost 200 yuan per sheet…