A Guide to Leveling Up as a Little Villain

Spire is an idle life-simulation game.

The game company promises that while the game is running, players can spend money to support characters in the virtual-fandom rankings. When the game ends, the character at the top of the leaderboard will become a real person and meet their player.

Countless players spend money to get their favorite characters to debut. But every time they think their character has secured the top spot, the great villain kills them off.

Chao Jing, the game's ultimate villain, is cruel and violent, powerful and clever, and drives the righteous characters into desperate straits.

In the game, the righteous characters fear her and live in her shadow. Outside the game, players hate her, and the forums are full of threads condemning her.

When Spire opened its servers for the last time, furious players decided to try a different approach: monitor the villain and clear the way for their favorite characters.

So many players chose Chao Jing that the game suffered its first-ever bug. The screen flickered with static, and then the players saw... an adorable little villain?

The players made their position clear: a little villain is still a villain, with a wicked heart and nothing but underhanded tricks. She has to die!

The next second, the little villain's eyes sparkled as she said in a childish voice, "I want to study, and I want to cultivate. I want to become super powerful, so I can do more things."

The players said, just as expected. A villain is a villain, always thinking about causing trouble. People like her deserve to disappear!

The next second, the little villain took down her enemy and bandaged her own wound. Her voice calm, she said, "I want a warm, spacious house and clean clothes. And then, power."

*

As the little villain's story unfolded, the players' comments changed from:

[Villains are evil and deserve to die. They shouldn't exist at all!]

[Hah, the developers gave her cheats. No way anyone can be that strong.]

[I'll clear every obstacle for my son, no matter what. Villains can all go die!]

to:

[Ahhh, Chao Chao, look at me! Auntie has ten million yuan. If you don't work hard, Auntie will take care of you!]

[You give a hundred million, I give a hundred million, and our baby will debut tomorrow!]

[The little villain is clearly the hardest-working, most optimistic character in this game. I won't even get started on those so-called righteous characters. If any of them worked even half as hard, would they still be losing so badly?]

[Our baby says not working hard means falling behind. Oh my god, what a grindset! I don't even want to compare our baby to those privileged elites. That would be insulting to the baby.]

[There's no effortless cheating here, just our baby's steady progress, one step at a time. Our baby deserves this!]

*

1. Ambitious baby protagonist / livestreams + comments + in-story comments / unconventional child-rearing story / career-focused plot

2. Entire text revised on May 17. Original title: Raising a Little Villain Through Virtual Fandom

3. Thanks to all the lovely readers for adding this to your collections, leaving comments, sending gifts, and giving rewards!

4. For specific content warnings, see the author's notes in Chapters 1 and 12. Thank you for taking the time to read them.

Core themes: Love, justice, equality, freedom