The Cold and Ruthless Supporting Male Lead

Never in his wildest dreams had Hai Ku expected the plot to progress that quickly. For a brief moment, he was at a loss for words. Even though he knew that every element of an NP smut novel existed solely to serve the erotic content, he had barely been here for a day; how had things already escalated to the indescribable parts?

When he had read these stories before, it hadn’t seemed like a big deal. But now that he was experiencing it firsthand, everything felt way too fast.

“Uh…”

Pressing a hand to his aching forehead, Hai Ku hesitated before looking at Lan Bai. “If I call the police for Ji Xiaomei, would that help even a little?”

“Heh…”

Now that they were trapped in this world, Lan Bai shot him a sideways glance. “See for yourself; this is how the world is set up.”

Even though he was a clean romance system, his data collection abilities were top-tier. Within just a few minutes, Lan Bai had gathered all the relevant information about this world. After filtering out some of the indescribable censored content, it found that this world had only one top-tier hospital; one completely controlled by the three male leads.

That was why, when the original male supporting character had fallen into complete ruin and collapsed at the hospital’s entrance, no one had come to save him.

The idea of doctors being compassionate didn’t apply in a smut novel. Let alone the police.

From beginning to end, neither the original owner nor Ji Xiaomei had ever reported anything to the authorities. They had endured everything in silence. Even when the original owner had died, it hadn’t caused the slightest ripple.

Hai Ku: “…”

“But aren’t some things supposed to be fundamental parts of the world? If I call the police right now, the call should still go through, right?”

Hai Ku frowned. Many of the settings in smut novels existed purely for indulgence. Readers never approached them with a sense of morality.

He hadn’t either, at first. After all, anyone who tried to read these novels logically was just looking for trouble. But now that he was inside the story, it was different; especially since one of the male leads had already become his enemy.

“I can’t say for sure. Some smut novels do have systems, but they operate in a completely different field from mine. I’ve never had any contact with their systems. However, based on what I found, the police here are probably like NPCs; we most likely can’t report anything.”

Even as Lan Bai claimed not to know, it diligently continued investigating.

“If the female lead were to call the police herself, it might have some effect. But the real issue is; do you think she will?”

Hai Ku fell silent.

That’s true. What she had experienced was a form of harm.

But the problem was; she had been drunk, had entered someone else’s room of her own accord, and Yi Hao’s place definitely had security cameras. If the footage was retrieved, the blame could easily be shifted entirely onto her.

“Besides, the plot here is constantly being driven forward. In 2 days, the female lead will start filming, and Male Lead #2 and Male Lead #3 will both enter the picture. I’d advise you to lay low and avoid them. Once the story runs its course, we can leave.”

Since this wasn’t his own domain, Lan Bai didn’t dare to be reckless. Everyone had their own jurisdiction, and a clean romance system barging into a smut novel was already ridiculous enough. Of course, it couldn’t say that out loud; it didn’t want to add more stress to Hai Ku. Instead, it simply offered a neutral suggestion.

“What you’re saying isn’t wrong, but these three men practically control half the world. If they all team up, there’s nowhere I can hide.”

His mind cooled down in an instant, and Hai Ku began analyzing the situation with Lan Bai.

“But right now, only Male Lead #1 sees me as an enemy. What if I can get Male Leads #2 and #3 to work together and disrupt this NP plot?”

NP plots might not require much thinking, but Hai Ku had to consider his own survival. He wasn’t about to accept some tragic fate.

“Hmm…”

After hesitating briefly, Lan Bai pulled up the original script. “Read the novel again yourself. In my system, 80% of the text is replaced with censorship markers, so I can’t read it properly. And I refuse to watch the visual version… If you want to stop the upcoming developments, you need to act within the next 2 days. Look at the key events that bring Ji Xiaomei together with Male Leads #2 and #3.”

“In smut novels like this, as long as the female lead has one appealing trait, she can make all the male leads fall hopelessly in love. Figure out what exactly they like about her.”

The text document was instantly transmitted to Hai Ku. Along with it, Lan Bai also sent him the female lead’s WeChat contact.

“At this point, you are her white moonlight. She’ll probably still listen to what you say. And keep an eye on her movements; she’s just too…”

Lan Bai hesitated, trying to find a polite way to phrase it. “…naïve and adorable.”

Not wanting to use any harsher words, it settled on a mild description.

Hai Ku had no choice but to pull an all-nighter to catch up on the plot.

Smut novels were fun to read, but trying to extract a plot from one was painful.

Still, he had brought this upon himself. So no matter what, he would crawl through this if it meant getting him and the system out of here.

****

When Ji Xiaomei woke up, she felt like she had been run over by a truck. Every inch of her body ached, and there wasn’t a single spot that felt unscathed. Seeing the unfamiliar person next to her, she jumped in fright.

Her clothes were nowhere to be found, and her entire body felt uncomfortable.

Glancing around at the unfamiliar surroundings, she finally realized…

This wasn’t her home.

Memories of the previous night flashed through her mind. Biting her lip, Ji Xiaomei carefully picked up her clothes and fled in a panic.

She had gone to the wrong floor. Her apartment was on the 12th floor, but last night, she had mistakenly stopped at the 11th floor and entered the wrong room. Tears streamed down her face as she looked utterly devastated. She couldn’t believe she had made such a mistake. Just yesterday, she had finally met her idol; And yet, today, something like this had already happened.

The next 2 days passed in a daze. It wasn’t until the second night, when she was added to a film crew’s group chat, that Ji Xiaomei realized two whole days had gone by.

[[Director] Director Chen: Alright, everyone, please note your names. It’s too much trouble to contact each of you individually, so I created this temporary group chat. Let’s all introduce ourselves. We’ll be working together for the next 3 months.]

[[Female Lead’s Older Brother] Hai Ku: Hello, everyone. I’m Hai Ku, playing the role of the female lead’s older brother. I look forward to working with you all over the next 3 months.]

[…]

[…]

The others also introduced themselves one after another, but Ji Xiaomei’s eyes were completely glued to Hai Ku’s first message. She never expected that her idol would be acting in the same drama as her; and that he would be playing her older brother.

She was so shocked that she couldn’t say a word. It wasn’t until the director @’d her that she, with tears streaming down her face, finally introduced herself.

[[Female Lead] Ji Xiaomei: Sorry, sorry, I just saw the message! I’m Ji Xiaomei, playing the female lead. It’s a pleasure to meet everyone.]

[[Director] Director Chen: Alright, tomorrow we start with costume fittings, so everyone, please arrive early; especially the male and female leads. I’ll notify you if anything comes up, so make sure to check the messages.]

After seeing this message, Hai Ku finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This world had many loopholes, but at the same time, they could also take advantage of them.

Director Chen’s project was just a small web drama. The plan was to film and release it simultaneously over 3 months, airing two episodes per week and adjusting based on audience feedback.

So, at least for the first month, they needed to shoot four episodes in advance before making further adjustments.

Fortunately, this web drama had a small budget, and most of the filming would take place in a single building; which, in fact, was Director Chen’s own home.

Director Chen was actually the third male lead. He was incredibly wealthy and was only filming this web drama out of boredom. His real goal was getting close to the female lead and making her famous.

However, no one expected that the top-tier celebrity, Nan Shan, would also take an interest in the female lead, which eventually led to the dramatic developments that followed.

Hai Ku’s role was entirely forced into the script. Originally, Director Chen’s screenplay didn’t include such a character. But Hai Ku exploited a loophole in this world, where plot served only as a vehicle for explicit content, and had Lan Bai forcefully insert this role into the story.

At the very least, the first month of filming would be safe. Yi Hao was still naively waiting for the female lead to call him. Until the first episode of the web drama aired, he wouldn’t realize that she had never even thought about him.

“You clearly know that the female lead also attracts the other two male leads, so why are you jumping into the fire?” Lan Bai was completely speechless. Even though he had helped Hai Ku manipulate the situation to get into the crew, he still couldn’t understand what Hai Ku was thinking.

“Fortune favors the bold.” Hai Ku had spent an entire night analyzing the plot. “The first male lead, Yi Hao, is only interested in the female lead’s body. The top-tier celebrity, Nan Shan, likes her acting skills and gentle personality. As for Director Chen, he fell for her at first sight. Of course, after certain passionate events, they all end up liking her body. Since this is an R18 novel, all the male leads think with their lower halves. We can’t exactly pull meaningful character depth out of this.”

Lan Bai nodded in vague understanding. “Even if that makes sense, I still don’t get what you’re trying to do.”

“Yi Hao and Director Chen are both forceful types. Only Nan Shan has a shred of humanity left. So if I want to form an alliance, he’s my best bet. My guess is that since Director Chen didn’t get his way at the beginning, he’ll wait until the female lead becomes even more famous before making his move.” It was mostly guesswork, but with his life on the line, Hai Ku had no choice but to gamble.

Luckily, the female lead was still his little fangirl. That meant she would at least listen to some of what he said; like avoiding Nan Shan’s ‘gentle trap’ and definitely not going to Director Chen’s room late at night to ‘discuss the script’…

Feeling quite pleased with himself, Hai Ku immediately packed his things, ready to start filming.