Cheating Backfired

Sunday, five o'clock.

With the English exam over, the Joint Mock Exam had officially come to an end.

Chu Bai walked out of the exam room, his face full of disappointment.

Evening Self-Study would proceed as usual that night, but there was still over an hour before it began.

In a bad mood, Chu Bai planned to take a walk by the river not far outside the school.

But the moment he stepped out of the school gates, he ran into the Old Principal.

"Young man, why do you look so lost? Didn't the exam go well?"

"Hello, Principal." Chu Bai respectfully greeted him, then nodded.

"It was only a mock exam. So what if you didn't perform well? It doesn't represent your future grades." The Old Principal comforted and encouraged him.

"You're right, Principal." Chu Bai forced out a smile.

If it had merely been an ordinary mock exam, that would have been fine.

The key was that doing poorly this time meant his plan to make Xu Muyan his girlfriend had fallen through.

One could imagine how frustrated Chu Bai felt.

But there was no way he could tell the Old Principal about that.

"You seem to be heading out. Aren't you going to eat dinner?" the Old Principal suddenly asked.

"I'm going out to clear my head. I won't be eating."

"Young people who don't eat on time can easily develop stomach problems. You have to eat your meals regularly. How about this? My home is nearby, and I was just about to go back for dinner. Come with me." The Old Principal invited him.

Naturally, Chu Bai had no objections upon hearing that.

For the Principal to invite a student to eat at his home was an enormous honor.

Even the school's teachers might not get such an opportunity.

He absolutely had to go.

Maybe he could even get closer to the Principal.

Still, despite wanting to go, Chu Bai put on a show of politely declining before finally agreeing.

The next morning.

The mock exam results came out.

During the break after the second class, the homeroom teachers distributed score sheets to the students.

The atmosphere in Wang Haoran's class immediately became noisy.

Their class was a humanities class.

The top scorers in the class were Xu Muyan and Wang Haoran. They were tied, with a total score of 682.

To the students, this was somewhat unexpected, yet perfectly understandable.

In previous exams, first and second place had always gone to Xu Muyan and Wang Haoran. Their grades were close, and who ranked higher depended entirely on their performance.

It was just a little too coincidental that they had tied exactly.

A score of 682 in the humanities stream was already extremely high. If they scored that on the college entrance exam, they could choose any university in the country.

Wang Haoran and Xu Muyan truly deserved their reputations as Top Students.

The students ranked below them were also mostly regulars in the class's former top ten.

When Xu Muyan saw that Chu Bai was not among the top ten, the knot in her heart finally disappeared.

"You owe me a milk tea." Wang Haoran appeared beside Xu Muyan.

"Don't worry, I won't forget." Xu Muyan smiled especially brightly.

This had been their agreement: if Wang Haoran stopped Chu Bai from cheating, Xu Muyan would treat him to milk tea.

"Where did Chu Bai rank?"

Out of curiosity, Xu Muyan searched the class score sheet, wanting to see where Chu Bai was ranked.

But she searched from top to bottom for a long time and still could not find him.

"Look from the bottom," Wang Haoran reminded her.

Xu Muyan quickly found him.

"Last from the bottom?!"

Xu Muyan opened her mouth in surprise.

Chu Bai had ranked in the lower-middle of the class last time. Even if he did not improve, he should at least have maintained his position. Yet he had actually reverted to his old ways and become the infamous bottom-ranked student again.

"I'm guessing he relied on cheating during the last monthly exam. These results are probably his real level." Wang Haoran twisted the knife.

"So that's how it was. I thought his grades had improved so dramatically last time because I tutored him, and because he was naturally smart himself." Xu Muyan suddenly understood.

"Did studying ruin your brain? He told you that, and you actually believed him?" Wang Haoran said disdainfully.

"W-Why are you insulting me?" Xu Muyan pouted.

She was a girl, after all. How could he say her brain was broken?

"I'm not insulting you. I'm reminding you to see Chu Bai for who he is. Don't let his lies deceive you again. Stay away from him."

"Do all boys like lying so much?" Xu Muyan muttered, then glanced at Wang Haoran as if casually. "Then would you lie to me?"

Wang Haoran looked at her.

Xu Muyan's gaze burned brightly, and deep within her watery eyes, wisps of affection seemed to stir.

This girl had indeed fallen for him.

But Wang Haoran felt that was still not enough.

"Boys usually lie to girls for one of two reasons: money or sex. Do you think I need to lie to you?"

Xu Muyan was a little confused, seemingly not quite understanding.

Wang Haoran smiled and continued, "I have money, so I obviously wouldn't lie to get your money. As for sex, hehe, I already told you before, but you forgot again. Do you need me to repeat it? I really have no—"

Xu Muyan finally understood completely, and her face turned red.

But it was not from embarrassment. It was from anger.

"I know. You're not interested in me. I remember." Xu Muyan finished what Wang Haoran had not said.

"It's good that you remember." Wang Haoran walked away with a smile.

Xu Muyan watched his retreating back and stomped her feet in anger. She wished she could ignore that awful boy forever, yet his face kept lingering in her mind.

Ding! The host has stirred the heart of one of the Female Leads, Xu Muyan, and received 200 Villain Points.

"!!!" Wang Haoran.

Once affection was high enough, flirting with the female lead could earn Villain Points too?

Then he would have to flirt with her more often in the future!

"Don't look down on me! The joint entrance examination is coming soon. When the time comes, you'll find out who the poor students really are! You bunch of trash, just wait for my grades to slap you in the face!"

From another part of the classroom came a burst of student laughter. Several students kept repeating those words.

Chu Bai's face darkened like the bottom of a pot.

The words being repeated around him had originally come from Chu Bai himself.

A few days ago, Chu Bai had pretended to study diligently, shouting and making a fuss during morning reading, which had greatly annoyed the students around him.

At the time, Chu Bai had snapped back at them and made a bold declaration.

That declaration was precisely what everyone around him was repeating now.

Ding! The host manipulated events behind the scenes and prevented the protagonist Chu Bai from showing off during the joint entrance examination, receiving 300 Villain Points.

Having received his reward, Wang Haoran watched the lively scene in the classroom but did not mock Chu Bai.

As a major villain, personally mocking the protagonist was too low-level.

Wang Haoran could not be bothered to do it himself.

If he really wanted to mock someone, he would have his lackeys do it.

But there were already too many people around mocking Chu Bai.

There seemed to be no need for it.

Wang Haoran opened his panel and looked at the Villain Points section.

Villain Points: 1800

He was already this rich? Wang Haoran immediately spent 1,000 Villain Points to exchange for "Movie Emperor Acting Skill."

With 800 Villain Points left, he could still draw the lottery once.

Ding! The host's luck is at its peak and has drawn the X-ray Vision Ability, worth 5,000 Villain Points. Use it immediately?

"Obviously! Should I save it for New Year's?"

Wang Haoran was so excited he nearly jumped three meters into the air.

This had originally been Chu Bai's Plot Device, yet now he had it too.

And it had only cost him 500 Villain Points.

What a huge profit!

He had to test its effects quickly.

What should he test it on? Wang Haoran swept his gaze across the classroom before it landed on Xu Muyan.

He began concentrating as he looked at Xu Muyan.

Very quickly, Wang Haoran's breathing grew heavy.

Only after a long while did he reluctantly withdraw his gaze.

Xu Muyan usually wore a school uniform.

The school uniform was fairly loose and easily concealed her figure.

You really never knew until you looked! Xu Muyan had been getting plenty of nutrition during puberty! Wang Haoran had previously given Xu Muyan a score of 95, but now he felt he could add another 2 points and give her a 97.

Wang Haoran was pleasantly surprised, but soon felt somewhat bothered.

He should be the second person to know this about Xu Muyan, right?

"System, has the protagonist Chu Bai ever used his ability on a female lead?"

The host is attempting to query information about the protagonist. This requires 100 Villain Points. Proceed with the query?

"Check."

The protagonist Chu Bai has not used his ability on any female lead.

Wang Haoran immediately felt much better.

But thinking about it, that was normal. Aside from a few sleazy types of protagonists, most protagonists tended to be lofty and self-righteous.

It was normal for Chu Bai not to do such a thing.

Unlike Wang Haoran, a villain who got curious and simply looked.

Still, looking too much felt bad for the body, so moderation was necessary.

The constant ridicule and mockery from the students around him left Chu Bai humiliated beyond measure.

At last, he could not endure it any longer, and the anger he had been holding back erupted.

Bang! "Fuck, all of you shut the hell up! If anyone says one more word, don't blame me for getting nasty!"

Chu Bai slammed the desk in fury, startling the people around him.

The voices mocking and ridiculing Chu Bai immediately fell silent.

Chu Bai often fought with delinquent youths outside school and had rarely suffered any losses. He carried the aura of a ruthless street thug.

The moment Chu Bai got angry, the ordinary students around him were intimidated into silence.

Wang Haoran was not pleased to see this.

He patted Fan Jian beside him and whispered a few words into his ear.