I Became the Most Popular Character by Acting as a Villain in the Manga

Chapter 19

Previously, when the event was about to begin, Bai Xuechao had assigned several tasks to Duan Xingzhi.

The first task: find Qiao Jing's location.

Bai Xuechao used the fact that the Marine amusement park was discovered secretly raising mutated species, intentionally revealing the information that Zhou Chenhao could invalidate Level 5 special abilities, guiding Qiao Zhanpeng to use the Special ability energy crystal on Qiao Jing. This way, by finding Qiao Jing, one could find the Special ability energy crystal.

Looking at the situation now, where Zhou Chenhao couldn't invalidate the Marine amusement park's special abilities, his plan had succeeded.

It was just that I didn't know what kind of crazy fit Qiao Jing had that he attacked ordinary tourists on such a large scale.

The Marine amusement park certainly couldn't be saved. The value of the second task he assigned would be discounted, and the third task would also have to be used.

The second task: go to Qiao Zhanpeng's office and find the contract documents related to Jiang Yunyi.

Qiao Zhanpeng had secretly defected to Jiang Yunyi; this was an unexpected delight of this trip.

Since Jiang Yunyi's leverage was delivered right before his eyes, how could he not seize it?

He guessed a portion of it would be in the safe next to the office desk, but another portion would be hidden elsewhere, requiring some time to search for it.

But something unexpected happened. Now that the Marine amusement park's situation had escalated so much, the SAIDB would definitely handle it.

Originally, the leverage was very threatening to Jiang Yunyi, but if the Marine amusement park ceased to exist, the threat of that leverage to Jiang Yunyi would also decrease. It was equivalent to having all human and physical evidence originally, but now half was missing.

The third task: if the Marine amusement park's situation was exposed, clear all documents and traces related to the Dark Organization, especially the contract signed today.

This task was pending. If he judged that the Marine amusement park was doomed while following the plot, and he didn't have time to deal with it himself, he would send a message to Duan Xingzhi to execute it.

Now, it seemed he had to send the message.

The last task: investigate the giant, ceramic-pot-like reef in the Underwater Park.

My intuition told him that there was something there, very likely also a mutated species. It could coexist with so many mutated fish, and its enormous size likely meant its level was higher than the fish.

This task was also pending, to be done only after the previous tasks were completed and if there was free time. This was because it was possible that he might encounter that thing before Duan Xingzhi investigated, as he was following the protagonist group, and anything could happen.

After Bai Xuechao received the message, he glanced at the time.

Seven thirty.

An hour had already passed since the event began. Duan Xingzhi had only just started the second task? Given Duan Xingzhi's strength, entering Qiao Zhanpeng's office should have been easy. Moreover, Duan Xingzhi hadn't told him Qiao Jing's location. He was a little confused, what had Duan Xingzhi been doing this past hour?

Bai Xuechao quickly replied from behind the crowd: [Why are you only starting to look now? Where's Qiao Jing?]

Everyone entered the Magic Horror House.

Bai Xuechao quickly lowered his phone screen brightness, enabled dark mode, changed his phone from vibrate to silent, and tucked it into the leather belt tucked into the small of his back.

Two female staff members huddled behind the Magic Horror House's front desk. They had just witnessed the horrific scene of ghostly NPCs attacking tourists outside the window, and were terrified. When they heard Xia Xiaoxi say they wanted to play the horror house, they looked at them in surprise.

"You want to play this?"

"We have no choice," Zhou Chenhao tapped his wristband against the front desk, making several solid, crisp sounds. "We're wearing this, and if we don't play, we'll be caught by the ghosts."

Hearing this, the young lady at the front desk cast a sympathetic look at them. Fortunately, they were staff and were not participating in the Halloween event.

　　But—

"We just heard strange noises inside; are you sure you want to play?" one staff member asked worriedly. "All the monitors are out. We tried to contact our colleagues playing NPCs inside with the walkie-talkie, but there was no response."

Zhou Chenhao grinned: "Then we definitely have to play. If possible, we'll help bring your colleagues out too."

While they were talking, Bai Xuechao stood at the very back of the crowd, replying to Duan Xingzhi's message.

[Stars: Waited a while. He was downstairs.]

Waiting for what?

Sometimes Duan Xingzhi was frustrating in this way. When asked about something, he wouldn't proactively explain the cause and effect; he needed to be asked a question before he would answer.

If it were Jiang Yunyi, he would probably be explaining what happened to him and why it was delayed for so long.

However, everyone had their own personality. Bai Xuechao felt that Duan Xingzhi's way was also quite good; at least Duan Xingzhi was honest and didn't lie. He would rather ask Duan Xingzhi question by question than deal with Jiang Yunyi, where he always had to judge whether the other party was telling the truth.

Bai Xuechao replied: [Waiting for what? Was Qiao Zhanpeng in the office before? Is he out of the office now or did you knock him out?]

The questions covered all aspects, so there was no fear that Duan Xingzhi would miss the main point.

The staff at the front desk gave the protagonist group a walkie-talkie, saying that if there were any problems inside, they could use it to contact them. They also provided some protective gear, all for protecting tourists from getting injured by bumping into things while being chased by NPCs. Whether it was useful now was unknown.

Everyone opened the door of the horror house and formally entered.

This Magic Horror House had four floors and could accommodate four groups of tourists playing simultaneously, but now there were only seven of them.

They walked along the dim path in front of them. Only faint lights allowed them to see the way. Many horror houses were like this, deliberately creating a dark environment to scare people.

Zhou Chenhao asked Xia Xiaoxi for her phone and turned on the flashlight.

On the ground, a mouse squeaked and darted away.

"Ah!" the girl among the tourists, wearing a black Lolita dress, couldn't help but scream.

Then she apologized, "I'm sorry, I'm afraid of mice... They weren't here before."

Xia Xiaoxi comforted her: "It's okay, it's okay."

Behind the crowd, Bai Xuechao was looking at the message Duan Xingzhi had sent, his expression confused, as if a huge question mark hung over his head.

Xiao 6: Let me translate: subway old person looking at phone.jpg

[Stars: Waiting for Qiao Jing. Hmm, he's there. Dead.]

Qiao Zhanpeng died in such a short time?

Bai Xuechao inexplicably recalled the scene from the manga where Duan Xingzhi killed the original villain.

Could it be that Duan Xingzhi killed him? Was he in his way?

Bai Xuechao quickly typed a reply: [Waiting for Qiao Jing to do what? How did Qiao Zhanpeng die?]

"Stop here for a moment," Xia Xiaoxi said.

Everyone stopped.

In front of them was a long picket fence, blocking the entire path, leaving only an open picket gate that tourists could not go around. Beside it was a fake dead tree, from which hung a modern lamp designed to look like a kerosene lamp. The light bulb emitted a warm yellow glow, illuminating a black crow perched on the branch.

Behind the picket fence was a wooden house, built inside the haunted house. Only a part of the wooden house's roof had eaves; the rest was connected to the ceiling. To create a terrifying atmosphere, the wooden house looked very dilapidated on the surface, thick spider webs hung from the eaves, and two skulls were placed in inconspicuous spots on the edges, seemingly hinting that the owner of the wooden house was a killer.

Suddenly, the crow perched on the branch moved, shook its wings, and let out a mournful and unpleasant caw.

Zhou Chenhao was a little surprised: "It's actually alive?"

"I can confirm, when I played before, this crow was a fake prop," the girl in the black Lolita dress hid behind Xia Xiaoxi, her face pale with fear.

The other two tourists were male, and their faces were also looking unwell. The one with glasses said: "I saw online before that this horror house has many fake venomous snakes, lizards, spiders, and such props... They won't turn real, will they?"

"They will," Zhou Chenhao laughed heartily.

Three tourists: "?"

If they turn real, why are you laughing so happily??

"Cough." Xia Xiaoxi slapped Zhou Chenhao on the back, signaling him to shut up, and said to everyone, "Let me explain the upcoming plot."

The Magic Horror House wasn't a simple haunted house that ended after walking through it. There would be interactive plotlines with NPCs, and different interactions would occur based on the tourists' different performances.

Xia Xiaoxi explained: "The wooden house in front is the Witch's house. After we go in, the Witch will warmly invite us as guests and then go out to pick flowers for us for five minutes. During these five minutes, we can explore the Witch's house and look for prop blind boxes with the Kunpeng Marine Floating Island Park logo. We can find up to three, and the props will be useful later."

She continued: "After five minutes, the Witch will return and brew a magic potion for us with the flowers she picked, which is actually poison. She will invite us to drink the poison. If we choose to drink the poison, we must hand over a prop blind box when leaving; if we choose not to drink, the Witch will chase us all the way to the staircase leading to the second floor."

At the same time, Bai Xuechao received a message from Duan Xingzhi.

[Stars: Waiting for Qiao Jing to eat Qiao Zhanpeng. I watched him die.]

Bai Xuechao: "??"

He replied: [You just watched?]

"It's worth noting that the previous poisons were actually just drinks. I don't know what the current poisons will be, so I suggest not drinking them and initiating a chase," Xia Xiaoxi said. "We'll run together towards the staircase, needing to pass through the 'Witch's Back Garden,' which has many fake... uh, now possibly real venomous snakes, lizards, spiders. Anyway, don't be afraid, just run blindly, and the three of us will protect you."

She gestured towards Zhou Chenhao and Ling Feng.

The girl obediently agreed: "Okay."

The other two tourists also agreed, but the one without glasses, his eyes flickered, as if he had some plan.

The group opened the picket gate and walked towards the wooden house.

Zhou Chenhao walked at the very front, pulled open the wooden door, which let out an old 'creak' sound.

"Oh, are you guests from afar?"

The Witch speaking conformed to everyone's stereotype: she wore a black robe and a witch's hat, her face was full of freckles, and she had a fierce-looking aquiline nose. Despite looking like she was in her thirties or forties, she spoke like an old hag, her voice very ancient.

"You must be tired from your long journey, right? If you don't mind, rest here for a while. My magic potion will eliminate your fatigue."

Everyone's gaze swept past the Witch and landed diagonally behind her—

There lay a corpse, disemboweled and with eyes wide open in death. An extremely horrified expression was fixed on its stiff, cold face. A witch's hat had fallen off its head and lay to one side. Dark red blood spread out beneath the corpse, forming a pool of blood-red liquid, staining the ground.

Clearly, after the special ability witch appeared, she killed the staff member who was playing the Witch here.

The three tourists were seeing such a scene for the first time. The girl covered her mouth before she could scream. The tourist with glasses almost vomited. The last tourist's face turned ashen.

At this moment, Bai Xuechao received a message from Duan Xingzhi.

[Stars: Ah, did I need to save him? Sorry.]