Great Villain System

PS: For various reasons, all characters from the original work mentioned in this book have had their names obscured or changed. The author didn't make a mistake on purpose, so please understand.

Inside the dilapidated little house, dim lamplight cast a hazy glow. A small figure could just barely be seen, curled up beside the table.

Su Xin'er carefully held half a moldy steamed bun, swallowing again and again.

"No! I can't eat it. I have to save it for my brother."

Su Xin'er forced down her hunger and put the steamed bun back in the bowl.

Looking at the boy lying on the shabby bed, Su Xin'er's eyes immediately reddened.

"Boohoo! Brother, you have to wake up! Xin'er is so useless. I can't do anything, all I know how to do is cry. I tried to steal some medicine from the pharmacy, but the old shopkeeper caught me. They even took the bracelet Mother left us."

After crying for a while, Xin'er wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and calmed down.

She climbed up onto the rice jar and counted the grains left inside. There were only a few dozen.

Carefully counting out thirty grains of rice, Xin'er began making a fire to cook.

Though she was only seven, poor children had to grow up fast. She had learned to do these things when she was five.

The damp firewood turned her once-fair little face pitch-black with smoke. After a great deal of effort, she managed to cook a bowl of rice water that could hardly be called porridge.

Sipping the rice water in tiny mouthfuls, Su Xin'er's eyes reddened again. Big tears rolled into the bowl, and she gulped them down along with the rice water.

Just then, the boy who had been lying on the bed stirred. Xin'er immediately dropped the rice water in her hands and threw herself into his arms, sobbing.

"Boohoo! Brother, you're finally awake! Xin'er was so scared. Mother is gone, Father is gone, and Xin'er was so scared you would leave too!"

Su Xin slowly opened his eyes. The memories in his mind seemed to still belong to his previous life.

In his previous life, he had been a mid-level manager at a machinery manufacturing company. He wasn't exactly part of the upper crust, but his annual salary was over a hundred thousand, and he managed several hundred people. And since he was still under thirty, he could be considered a promising young man.

While traveling in the mountains, the bus he was riding had been robbed by three bandits. They hadn't been content with just taking the passengers' money; they had even planned to assault a beautiful female passenger.

Of the more than thirty people on the bus, Su Xin alone had stood up to stop them. In the end, the three bandits had beaten him to death!

More than thirty passengers had watched him die with blank expressions. Not one had stepped forward to stop them—not even the woman he had just saved.

In Su Xin's final memory, his blood had gradually grown cold. His heart had grown cold along with it.

Looking at Su Xin'er in his arms, Su Xin's icy heart gradually warmed.

He had actually awakened three days ago, but he had spent all this time familiarizing himself with the memories of this life. He hadn't been able to control his body.

But he could feel the seven-year-old girl's attentive care, and her helpless loneliness.

In this life, Su Xin was still called Su Xin. He was a minor member of the Flying Eagle Gang, one of the Three Gangs and Four Associations in Changning Prefecture of the Great Zhou Dynasty. His parents were both dead, leaving him to live with his seven-year-old younger sister, Su Xin'er.

Three days ago, while the Flying Eagle Gang was fighting its old rival, the Green Bamboo Gang, over territory, his own people had set him up. The Green Bamboo Gang had surrounded and wounded him, and he had died of his injuries. That was what had led to Su Xin's transmigration.

As he stroked Su Xin'er's head and looked at how the girl who had once been like a porcelain doll had become a little beggar over these past three days, Su Xin felt as though needles were stabbing his heart.

"Be good, Xin'er. Your brother isn't going anywhere."

With red eyes, Su Xin'er climbed out of his arms and handed him the half a steamed bun. She said proudly, "Brother, look. I saved this especially for you."

"Mm, Xin'er is such a good girl."

Su Xin stroked Xin'er's head and forced down the steamed bun, which was as hard as wood chips. Only then did his utterly weakened body recover a little strength.

Seeing her brother eat the bun, Xin'er finally closed her eyes and dozed off in Su Xin's arms.

For the past three days, she had barely slept while caring for Su Xin. Now that she had seen him finally wake up, she could finally put her mind at ease and get some proper rest.

After laying the sleeping Xin'er on the bed, Su Xin gave a faint, cold laugh to himself. In my previous life, I died trying to save someone. In this life, I was betrayed because I trusted my brothers. Do good people really die young while evil lasts a thousand years? If that's how it is, then in this life I'll be the cruelest, most wicked villain of all!

Boom!

A thunderous crash rang out in Su Xin's mind.

"The host has met the requirements for the Great Villain System. The system is now activating. Fusion in progress: 10%, 30%, 70%, 100%. Fusion successful."

Su Xin's consciousness entered a boundless white world. White mist surrounded him on all sides. Only a large screen stood before him, and it was completely black.

"Host No. 01, Su Xin. Hello, and welcome to the Great Villain System." A voice with no trace of emotion, like a robot's, rang out.

"Host No. 01? Does that mean I'm the first person to use the Great Villain System? Why did you choose me?" Su Xin looked around with a frown, a familiar feeling welling up inside him.

In his previous life, when he read novels, the word "system" hadn't been unfamiliar to him.

The system replied in its emotionless voice, "There are two systems within the host. One will activate once its requirements have been met."

"What is the other system?" Su Xin asked curiously.

"The Great Hero System."

Su Xin: "..."

"So, swearing to be a bad person is enough to meet the Great Villain System's requirements?"

Su Xin gave a wry smile. "Fine, then. A great villain it is. Good people die young, while evil lasts a thousand years. I played the hero in my previous life, but it didn't exactly end well."

"So, what does this Great Villain System of yours do?" Su Xin asked.

The large screen in front of Su Xin suddenly lit up. A lottery wheel appeared on it, with six options: martial arts, one-use consumables, pills, weapons, miscellaneous items, and blank.

"What do all these mean?"

The system explained, "The Great Villain System contains everything owned by villains from all the martial arts worlds.

"Drawing martial arts will randomly produce a villain. Each villain will randomly possess one or more martial arts techniques and skills, and the host may randomly select one to cultivate. The default proficiency is 5%, and it can increase as the host cultivates.

"One-use consumables are drawn in the same way as martial arts. However, one-use consumable techniques require no deliberate cultivation by the host. Their default proficiency is 100%, but they can only be used once.

"Pills draws various pills, weapons draws various weapons, and miscellaneous items covers random objects from all the martial arts worlds. Blank means drawing nothing.

"Also, please note that every item in the Great Villain System is assigned a star rating. There are ten levels, from half a star to five stars. Beginner draws can only produce items rated two and a half stars or lower."

"Lottery draws have different levels?"

The system replied, "Draws come in three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Beginner draws can only produce items rated two and a half stars or lower. The system grants the host one beginner draw per day.

"Intermediate draws can produce any item rated below four stars, and the host may remove one unwanted category. The host can save up ten beginner draws to exchange for one intermediate draw.

"Advanced draws can produce any item rated three stars or higher, and the host may specify a category. The host can save up ten intermediate draws to exchange for one advanced draw."

"An advanced draw takes that long to save up?" Su Xin frowned.

The Great Villain System was easy to understand. Su Xin grasped the key points after hearing it just once.

Beginner draws were pure luck. There were six options, and the odds of drawing nothing weren't small.

Intermediate draws had the highest possible rating but no minimum. In other words, even an intermediate draw could produce something worth only half a star.

Only advanced draws were somewhat reliable. They had a minimum rating, and the host could choose a category.

The system replied, "The host can also accumulate Villain Points through missions. Ten Villain Points can be used for one beginner draw, one hundred for an intermediate draw, and one thousand for an advanced draw. Villain Points can also be spent in the Exchange Mall."

"Where's this Exchange Mall?"

"The Exchange Mall cannot be opened until the specified mission has been completed."

Su Xin asked, puzzled, "Then what are these missions?"

"Missions are generated randomly by the system. They have no specific objectives."

Su Xin immediately had a bad feeling. "You mean...?"

The system replied, "It means the missions depend on the system's mood."

Su Xin was speechless. This thing was way too damn capricious!

The system said, "Since this is the host's first fusion, the system is granting the host one additional intermediate draw. The host now has one beginner draw and one intermediate draw. Would the host like to draw?"

"Draw, of course! Give me an intermediate draw first, and remove the blank option."

The wheel on the large screen began spinning. As Su Xin watched expectantly, it finally landed on martial arts.

A tall, slender young man with three scars across his face appeared on the screen. He held a sword in his left hand, and his ashen eyes sent a chill through anyone who looked at them.

"Congratulations, host. You have drawn the character Jin Wuming, who comes with the martial art Jin Wuming's Quick Sword. No further selection is required. Martial art rating: two and a half stars."

"Why is Jin Wuming's rating so low?" Su Xin asked, puzzled.

He was an expert, the second-in-command of the Money Gang under Shangguan Jinhong. He had once killed Iron Sword Guo Songyang, who ranked fourth on the weapons list. His sword was peerless in speed, bizarre, and vicious.

Yet this expert had only received a two-and-a-half-star rating, putting him in the middle tier. What kind of people were rated five stars?

The system explained, "The host has misunderstood one thing. Jin Wuming was able to kill Guo Songyang because Guo was testing his sword at the time and hadn't fought at full strength. Shangguan Jinhong was also nearby, affecting Guo Songyang's concentration.

"Besides, Jin Wuming's sword has a strong personal style. No one but Jin Wuming can master it to 100% proficiency, so its rating has been lowered by half a star.

"It's like Li Xunhuan's flying daggers. Only in Li Xunhuan's hands are Little Li's Flying Daggers guaranteed to hit their mark. Someone else could obtain his dagger technique, but even then, they couldn't train into another Li Xunhuan."

"Fine, I'll accept that. Let's do another beginner draw."

The wheel spun again. Perhaps newcomers really did get a luck bonus, because the beginner draw also landed on martial arts. This time, a handsome young Taoist appeared.

"Congratulations, host. You have drawn the character Yin Zhiping, who comes with the martial art Quanzhen Sect Basic Internal Skill and the technique Quanzhen Sect Basic Swordplay. Martial art rating: half a star. The host may choose one at random or spend five Villain Points to select one."

Su Xin was exasperated. He couldn't believe he'd drawn Yin Zhiping, the man who had once become a dragon knight.

To be honest, the man hadn't done anything especially wicked. He'd just become a dragon knight once, and that had made everyone denounce him, wishing they could tear him limb from limb. He'd sure had rotten luck.

But the biggest problem for Su Xin was that this guy came with two martial arts. That Quanzhen Sect Basic Swordplay was useless to him. He already had Jing Wuming's Fast Sword, so what did he need it for?

The internal skill, on the other hand, would be useful. After all, he was just an ordinary person right now, and he urgently needed an internal skill to strengthen his foundation.

He could spend Villain Points to choose, but Su Xin didn't have even a single point.

"Choose one at random."

"Congratulations, host. You have successfully drawn one manual of Quanzhen Sect Basic Internal Skill."

Su Xin was stunned. Did he really have a luck bonus?

With the martial arts and techniques now in hand, Su Xin asked, "How do I get out?"

The system replied, "The host only needs to think the word 'leave.' No matter how long the host spends inside the system, only an instant will pass outside. There is no need to worry about leaving the body unattended."

Su Xin silently thought, Leave, and his consciousness returned to his body.

Looking at Xin'er beside him, fast asleep and still sucking on her finger, Su Xin swore he would never let his little sister suffer a single grievance or endure the slightest hardship again.

Leaning against Su Xin'er, Su Xin began to doze as well.

He was still very weak, but because he had cultivated the Quanzhen Sect Basic Internal Skill, a faint thread of qi was already circulating inside him.

Taoist martial arts were balanced and gentle. They might not be fast to cultivate, but they were well-rounded in every way. Even as he slept, Su Xin could slowly recover his strength.