The Beautiful Idiot Is Forced To Play The Villain [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“It still hurts so much… Can you be a little gentler?”

Lan Zhen’s voice was as tiny as a newborn kitten’s. If he hadn’t been so close, Pei Ran might not have heard what he said at all.

“So delicate it’s killing me.” Pei Ran’s hand, which was pressing on Lan Zhen’s arm, paused. With a sour expression, he said, “If you know it hurts, don’t do things like this. It would be better for everyone if you just went home early.”

“Oh.” Lan Zhen blinked at him, feeling a strange sense of cognitive dissonance compared to the Pei Ran he first met. It was as if he’d transformed from a grumpy high schooler into an old nag worried about him running around.

People really shouldn’t be judged by their covers, Lan Zhen thought. Pei Ran was actually a pretty good guy; he didn’t even say anything after having his face sat on, and he was even applying medicine for him.

Pei Ran looked up and saw that innocent, naive gaze. He knew immediately that Lan Zhen hadn’t processed a word he’d said. He reached out, pinched Lan Zhen’s chin, and said fiercely: “If you cause us any more trouble, I’ll throw you out of here.”

Lan Zhen nodded obediently. Pei Ran instantly felt as if he had punched a ball of cotton.

And this cotton came with its own glue—once it stuck to him, it didn’t plan on letting go.

Turning his head to see the “constipated” expressions on the other players’ faces, Pei Ran knit his brows and asked, “Are your faces cramping or something?”

The person pushed forward to answer was the tattooed man again. He said somewhat helplessly, “Pei-shen, could you maybe pick a different place to show off your love? It’ll be trouble if the teacher comes back.”

Show off love? Pei Ran’s face turned green at the phrase. Without a word, he turned and walked away.

Lan Zhen didn’t understand what was wrong with him again—his mood changed like the weather—so he just followed behind like a little tail.

The archive storage room was at the end of the hallway, its closed doors shrouded in murky shadows.

A player with long hair skillfully pulled a wire from his pocket, knelt in front of the door, bent it slightly, and began to wiggle it in the keyhole.

The expected sound of the lock clicking open didn’t happen. Instead, faint footsteps came from inside, followed by the sound of the doorknob turning.

In just a few seconds, the storage room door slid inward, revealing a slender figure standing inside.

“It’s after school. What are you doing here?”

The voice was incredibly familiar. Lan Zhen focused his eyes and saw it was Xu Gu—the “lackey” who had been missing for two days.

Xu Gu also saw Lan Zhen behind the crowd, and a look of surprise and joy crossed his face: “Lan-ge, why are you here?”

“I just suddenly felt like coming here to take a look.” Lan Zhen pushed past the two players in front of him and stepped forward. He arched an eyebrow and imitated the original owner’s impatient tone: “What about you? What are you doing here again?”

When they first discovered someone was in the room, Pei Ran had instinctively blocked Lan Zhen. Now, Lan Zhen had to push him twice just to get him to move.

Lan Zhen kept shooting him meaningful looks, telling him not to mess things up.

Pei Ran glanced at Xu Gu, then back at Lan Zhen, and frowned as he stepped aside.

His intuition told him the person in front of them wasn’t a “good sort.” The way Xu Gu looked at him was filled with obvious gloom and dissatisfaction, but the moment he saw Lan Zhen, his expression changed—like a mad dog seeing its master.

Even if Lan Zhen had somehow managed to leash this mad dog, once that chain snapped, what awaited Lan Zhen would likely be endless trouble.

“The teacher asked me to help organize the files. There’s too much material; I’ve been sorting it for the past two days.” Xu Gu was covered in dust from who-knows-where, and unfinished documents lay behind him. His story was highly credible.

Lan Zhen nodded casually and said, “You go out first. I want to look around in here.”

The players behind him used every ounce of strength to maintain a calm expression, but their pupils still contracted in shock.

Is it really okay to be this blunt?

This NPC clearly isn’t simple; what if this triggers some high-difficulty plot event?

Lan Zhen himself felt a bit guilty, but in the original owner’s memories, he always treated his lackeys like this—summoning them and dismissing them on a whim without giving a single reason.

It should be fine, right?

Xu Gu smiled and nodded. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to urge: “These files are dirty. Lan-ge, don’t touch them yourself. Just let them rummage through. If you can’t find something, remember to call me. I’ll be waiting outside.”

Players: “…”

Understood. Lan Zhen is the treasure everywhere he goes, and we’re just the trash in the background.

“You…” Pei Ran frowned, wanting to say something.

“I didn’t cause trouble, did I? I even helped you guys out big time.” Before Pei Ran could finish, Lan Zhen cut him off, happily hovering in front of him. His eyes sparkled as he spoke, like a puppy seeking its master’s approval, his tail practically wagging in the air.

“If it weren’t for me, you’d be finished,” he said proudly.

Pei Ran: “…”

Heartless, but somehow expected.

Unlike Pei Ran, the other players didn’t dare waste a second and immediately began searching.

Cabinets and drawers were opened in order and then restored; even locked items were easily bypassed.

“There’s something here.” The long-haired man flipped through the documents, feeling more and more that this dungeon might be harder than imagined.

Hearing his words, everyone crowded around. Lan Zhen tried his best to squeeze to the front, but lacking the physical advantage, he was pushed back and forth like a tumbleweed. Pei Ran eventually had to wrap an arm around him to protect him from the throng.

Standing at the very front, Lan Zhen was inwardly smug.

He really was clever. This way, he could stay updated on the dungeon’s progress and make the protagonist find him annoying at the same time. Two birds with one stone!

The information in the long-haired man’s hand was simple: one set was the old school rules of No. 1 High School, and the other was student files from the first three years of the school’s founding.

The old rules were no different from a normal high school, aside from more rigorous study hours. There were no issues and no connection to the current simple yet eerie rules.

Among the files, the long-haired man pulled out the most problematic one: a student named Xie Ningqing.

His grades were exceptional, consistently holding the Rank 1 spot. All teachers gave him high praise, and he had been recommended for admission to a world-renowned university. His future was bright, yet one day, he suddenly leaped from the rooftop.

It was from that point onward that the rules of No. 1 High School changed abruptly. The campus fell into chaos, yet society seemed indifferent, as if this were a trivial matter.

Countless parents continued to send their children to No. 1 High School for the sake of grades, and for some reason, the disappearing students didn’t cause a single ripple.

[370, there aren’t ghosts in this world, are there?] Lan Zhen was so scared his teeth were chattering.

“I suspect this person became a vengeful spirit and affected the order of the school,” the long-haired man concluded before the system could reply.

Seeing him about to say more, the tattooed man “accidentally” bumped his shoulder and looked toward Lan Zhen.

The dungeon NPC is right here; is it appropriate to say this?

Moreover, if they followed this deduction, they likely couldn’t bypass the “pretty girl” in front of them. While Xie Ningqing’s cause of death wasn’t explicitly stated, based on the school rules, it was likely due to school bullying.

This “girl” was the current school bully; how could she not be related to school bullying?

Realizing this, the long-haired man’s gaze dimmed slightly.

Although they hadn’t known each other long, he felt Lan Zhen the NPC was quite cute. Why did her role in the dungeon have to be the bully?

Lan Zhen roughly understood what was happening and was so scared he scrambled into Pei Ran’s arms.

He was squeezing so hard that Pei Ran could barely hold him. Pei Ran eventually had to grab him by the scruff of the neck from behind to pull him out, his tone carrying a gentleness he hadn’t even noticed: “It’s okay. It’s all a lie. How could there be ghosts?”

“Are there really none?” Lan Zhen poked his head out cautiously.

He was most afraid of those things; if he actually saw one, he might faint on the spot.

“If there were really ghosts, would they let you run rampant here for this long?” As Pei Ran spoke, he didn’t forget to threaten the surrounding players with his eyes.

The players could only force fake smiles and say, “Yeah, yeah, we were just talking nonsense.”

Lan Zhen finally felt relieved and crawled out of Pei Ran’s arms a bit.

His arms suddenly felt empty. After Lan Zhen was standing steady, Pei Ran frowned and withdrew his hands.

“Time to go,” he said suddenly.

“But we haven’t finished searching everything yet.” The long-haired man was clearly anxious, his tone carry a hint of blame, as if he were dissatisfied with the two of them wasting time being “lovey-dovey.”

Pei Ran shot him a look, said nothing, and pulled Lan Zhen away.

Lan Zhen said nothing and followed obediently.

The tattooed man checked the time and said, “We should go. If we don’t, there’ll be trouble.”

They had snuck in while the teacher was away; if they were caught, who knew what trouble would follow.

Xu Gu had been guarding the door. Seeing them come out, he checked that the storage room hadn’t been messed up and asked proactively, “Lan-ge, do you need me to walk you back?”

“I brought him in, so naturally, I’ll send him back.” Pei Ran’s voice was very cold, returning to the metallic, impersonal quality from when he first met Lan Zhen.

Only then did Xu Gu deign to give him a glance. “What kind of thing are you? Lan-ge followed you in because he thought it was fun; don’t think you’re actually someone important.”

“And you? A dog acting so arrogant?” A mocking smile tugged at the corner of Pei Ran’s mouth.

“Yeah. At least I’m Lan-ge’s dog. What are you? A stranger he just met?” Xu Gu glared at Pei Ran, his eyes full of provocation.

Even if he was a dog, he was the dog closest to Lan Zhen, the one who had been by his side the longest. Not just anyone could question that.

Lan Zhen was caught between the two, looking from one to the other, unsure of what to do.

Sob… He really hadn’t seen a scene like this before. No matter what he said, he’d probably offend the other person.

Pei Ran’s eyes darkened. A current of air began to swirl around his right hand as if he were gripping something invisible. Seeing this, the players hiding behind him rushed out to hold him back.

If this ancestor draws his sword here, it’s over! If the building suddenly collapses, who’s going to explain that?

The commotion they caused was so loud that Lan Zhen couldn’t help but peek over there.

Why aren’t you looking at me? Why do you keep protecting those people you just met? Why…

Xu Gu lowered his eyes to suppress the madness within them. Blood trickled from his palm; at some point, his rounded fingernails had dug deep into his skin.

“It seems you transfer students don’t have rankings yet.” A breath of turbid air escaped Xu Gu’s lips as he said slowly: “Kneel down and apologize.”

“For tricking Lan-ge into opening the way for you and bringing him to such a filthy, messy place. Now, kneel and apologize to Lan-ge.”