How to Be a Good Villain

Lan Dengqing's dream was to live a plain, unremarkable life as a laid-back, principled couch potato. Even after accidentally transmigrating into a dark cyberpunk sci-fi movie set in the future, he stayed true to that goal.

Until one day, while Lan Dengqing was buying a watermelon by the roadside, he suddenly heard a System notification.

System: I'm here, dear Host! The Great Director System is now online. You are the most despicable villain boss in this world. Come, let's turn this world upside down together and give the protagonist a profound emotional shock!

System: Oh my God, you're the villain I handpicked! How could those wicked, bloodstained hands of yours touch something as lowly and insignificant as a watermelon?

Lan Dengqing was dumbfounded. What the heck? I don't...

System: To put it simply, we're short on villains. The story of this world will be made into a series of movies and shown in other worlds. Once it becomes a hit, I'll send you back to your original world and pay you a performance fee of one hundred million dollars.

Lan Dengqing: ...Not doing it would make me less than human!

With no choice but to take the role, Lan Dengqing was forced to become the villain who drove the plot forward, creating obstacles for the protagonist and making this world's story more exciting.

According to the System, this world was seriously short on villains, so Lan Dengqing even had to play several roles himself.

He was the terrifying killer known as the Painter, roaming the dark streets; the omnipresent consciousness ghost called Code Three; the supreme decision-maker of the evil tech company that monopolized the world, Mingguang...

He was the world's dark side, the very definition of twisted horror, the nemesis the protagonist hated to the core, a trapped beast howling in places untouched by light.

Lan Dengqing: ...I'm really just an actor who clocks in every day. You have to believe me! I'm not actually some deranged villain!

After work, Lan Dengqing would shed his secret identities and go back to his laid-back life, raising cats, playing with dogs, growing flowers, and shopping for groceries. He would do the occasional good deed when he could, even becoming close friends with the protagonist of this world, since they shared the same values. He also found himself in a love-hate relationship with this world's hidden boss, betraying each other along the way.

Unexpectedly, the first movie in the series became a box-office sensation as soon as it was released, and Lan Dengqing's secret identities became wildly popular villains. Audiences also went crazy for his laid-back couch-potato persona.

Lan Dengqing: ...I don't know why they call me Qingqing, their little angel, while also calling me an artistic madman and a deranged painter, and saying they want to be my dog. But it looks like I'll get my performance fee in full. Will you pay me more for the next one?

Core message: For a better tomorrow!