The Beautiful Idiot Is Forced To Play The Villain [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The standoff lasted for a while. Pei Ran seemed to realize that his current action contradicted the words he’d just spoken. He frowned, deep in thought.

“Stay close.” A few minutes later, he gave Lan Zhen a firm nudge forward. The furrows between his brows gradually smoothed out, and after a long pause, he added, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Oh,” Lan Zhen responded mopingled, still looking a bit upset on the surface.

Talk with your mouth; why do you always have to grab and push people?

It was as if he were terrified people wouldn’t realize he was a hypocritical “bad guy.”

Lan Zhen hadn’t forgotten that his arm had hurt earlier specifically because Pei Ran grabbed him. Even though Pei Ran had applied medicine later, it didn’t change the fact that it hurt at the time.

And now he was shoving people around—he really seemed to have a terrible temper.

Xing Shixi smiled behind them like a cat that had successfully stolen a treat, but the moment Lan Zhen turned around, he swapped back to an innocent expression. The transition between the two states was seamless.

Pei Ran remained silent for a moment before choosing to reopen the bullet-chat (Danmu) he had previously disabled.

He was very bad at dealing with people like Xing Shixi. Previously, his understanding of the man was limited to the “smiling fox” described by other players. He had thought that even if they met, he could use sheer strength to make the guy shut up, but he hadn’t expected Lan Zhen to suddenly appear between them.

His usual habits didn’t seem to work with Lan Zhen at all. One wrong move and the “delicate ghost” would be dissatisfied, or he’d even make the boy cry.

The bullet-chat should be better at romance than he was. Even if most were useless, with so many people in the stream, one of them had to have a usable suggestion.

Yo yo yo, look who it is! “I don’t fall for that stuff” (sarcastic tone). Now that you’re being snubbed by the little sister, you remember us? You were so cool when you turned the chat off earlier!

Seeing Xing-dog is like seeing a high-level green tea “white lotus” IRL; my head hurts from anger. But seeing Pei-dog suffer is also very satisfying. How on earth have you been treating our little sister?!

My suggestion: tolerate him for now, then take him out directly when the little sister isn’t looking (smile). A good love rival is a dead one.

How can you tolerate it? You absolutely cannot! Otherwise, your image in her eyes will plummet! You need to show “Warm Man” affinity. Do you understand “Warm Man”? Forget it, a moron like you probably can’t understand.

Pei Ran selectively ignored the comments he didn’t want to see, deciding that the suggestion to “take the person out” was the most suitable one to execute right now.

Lan Zhen followed suit and glanced at the chat. The sea of “little sister” comments made him look away after just a few seconds.

He lowered his eyes, his thick, upturned eyelashes fluttering nervously.

While being praised made him happy, if he kept looking, he was going to get sick of the word “sister”!

The three of them had their own private thoughts, making the walk very silent. Before officially entering the secret room, there was a short corridor. The lights surrounding them seemed neglected and broken; they were dim and flickered intermittently, barely illuminating the walls.

The walls were covered in peeling paint and patches of mold. The damp smell of lime and soil filled the corridor—all signs that no one had been here for a very long time.

At the end of the corridor, the legendary “secret room” turned out to be nothing more than a dark, unfinished concrete room. Outside was a rusted iron door; inside stood a table, a fax machine, and a bookshelf. If the environment weren’t so decrepit, it would look like a normal office.

As players, Pei Ran and Xing Shixi possessed basic professional standards. The moment they entered, they began searching for information.

Lan Zhen followed them, looking around curiously. He was surprised that such a small lab hid secrets. Just as he walked toward the table, a loud bang echoed from the entrance—the iron door had slammed shut on its own.

He stepped forward and pushed the door. It had looked as flimsy as paper a moment ago, but now it wouldn’t budge no matter how hard he tried. Instead, the rust on the handle rubbed his palms red.

The fax machine suddenly made a bizarre noise, as if someone were sending them a document. The sound was incredibly eerie.

Lan Zhen reacted instantly, scurrying behind Pei Ran like a frightened rabbit. He gripped Pei Ran’s clothes tightly, his palms seeping with thin sweat.

This situation definitely screams “ghost” no matter how you look at it! I’m really scared of ghosts; please don’t let this happen!

[370, come out and block this for me!] He didn’t even know what he was blabbering, but he instinctively wanted to lean on something or someone nearby for a sense of security.

What nonsense is he talking about? What can a system “block”?

Despite that, 370 responded: [Don’t be afraid. I’m here.]

The old fax machine creaked as it spat out a slip of paper covered in dense print.

In an Infinite Flow dungeon, such creepy items could be clues—or life-ending curses. Lan Zhen only caught a glimpse with his peripheral vision before squeezed his eyes shut.

Pei Ran went over and pulled the paper out. His face instantly turned extremely ugly.

Seeing this, Xing Shixi’s brow furrowed. He used a clever bit of force to snatch the paper from Pei Ran’s hand. After a careful look, a forced smile tugged at his lips.

[I am male, 188cm tall, weight 76kg. My physique is quite good. I have a simple and kind personality. My grades have been Rank 1 since childhood. I own a house and a car. Both parents are deceased.]

[I am a few years older than you, but I’m old enough to dote on my wife. Whether during dating or after marriage, I will handle all the housework. I’ll hand over my entire salary. I will absolutely never argue with you; no matter what happens, it will be my fault. I promise to be single-mindedly good only to you.]

[The photo hasn’t been sent yet. Please wait a moment, wifey.]

After they finished reading the marriage-proposal-like note, the fax machine started up again. This time, its noise was deafening, and the transmission speed was much faster, as if it were angry about something.

[Hurry up and hand the paper to my destined wife! Don’t keep holding it with your filthy hands! :)]

Pei Ran almost ignored Lan Zhen’s presence and used a skill to burn the paper, but fortunately, Xing Shixi stopped him just in time.

Not only did the two men who saw the message look strange, but the audience in the live stream was also stunned.

Infinite Battle Royale is officially over; next up is “Speed Dating: Nowhere to Hide.”

Holy sh*t! That’s a ghost, right? It has to be. That’s so shameless! How does an anonymous ghost dare to dream about our pretty sister? I don’t even know where he gets the nerve!

Heh, smiles don’t disappear, they just transfer to my face. Xing-dog’s expression right now is hilarious, like his wife just got snatched. Who told you not to move faster? Stop dawdling!

Am I the only one who cares that this guy mentioned a photo? If we find the person via the photo, won’t we find the culprit instantly? Maybe everyone was wrong—Lan Zhen is a key NPC, but he’s actually helping the players.

Xing Shixi showed the first piece of paper to Lan Zhen. Lan Zhen pursed his lips and said, “It might not be me. You guys are quite good-looking too.”

What if this ghost just likes a more robust “wife”? We have to respect different preferences.

Xing Shixi’s gaze fell on Lan Zhen’s lips, which were pressed into a thin white line. Thinking about the photo mentioned on the paper, he had no choice but to hand over the second slip.

Lan Zhen’s eyelashes trembled incessantly.

Oh no, it’s over. There’s no one left to shift the blame to. The “wife” this ghost is talking about is him.

A ghost’s wife… can that even be a living person?

The fax machine rang again. This time, judging by the rhythm of the shaking and the sound, it was in a very cheerful mood—it was practically humming a tune, delighted that its “wife” had finally seen the note.

Photos began to appear one by one. To fully showcase his looks and physique, many photos were printed on the paper. Some focused specifically on the face, others on the abdominal muscles. The angle of every photo seemed meticulously designed, and even the lighting was perfect.

It was clear the owner of the photos really wanted to show himself off.

Lan Zhen only stole a brief glance, and it happened to land right on the photo of the abs.

The dim lighting perfectly highlighted the well-defined muscle lines, creating a sense of being “close yet distant.” The background looked like a school shower room; there were water droplets on the white tiles. A white bath towel was wrapped below the abs, emphasizing an inverted-triangle waistline. The intense aggression of the image seemed to surge through the paper toward him.

There were photos of the face too, but after seeing that high-impact body shot, Lan Zhen only gave them a shallow look, feeling that the person looked somewhat familiar.

“Some of these photos are too revealing. I don’t like frivolous people,” he said, his voice so quiet it was almost inaudible.

The fax machine seemingly panicked. Within seconds, it spat out several more sheets.

[I’m usually very conservative!]

[This is just an accident! Wifey, let me explain! You are the only person who can see me like this!]

Lan Zhen blinked. “Now there are two more.”

Pei Ran and Xing Shixi beside him were technically people, and they’d seen it too.

The fax machine went quiet for a moment, then suddenly began to shake manically. A buzzing sound echoed through the entire room, so loud that echoes appeared in the corridor.

Lan Zhen hurriedly scrambled back behind Pei Ran. He only peeked out once the noise stopped. “Has it finally short-circuited?”

It looked so old and shook so hard; short-circuiting would be the normal outcome.

Pei Ran wanted to go forward to check, but he was held back by Lan Zhen’s grip. Consequently, it was Xing Shixi who stepped up and tapped the fax machine.

No movement. There was a faint smell of burning in the air.

It had likely short-circuited out of sheer rage.

“…”

Is he afraid of ghosts or not? If you say he is, he stays hidden behind someone. If you say he isn’t, something feels wrong; every word he says is more outrageous than the last.

“You don’t seem surprised by what we’re doing at all.” Pei Ran, with his clothes still in Lan Zhen’s grasp, suddenly asked with his back turned: “You always find exactly where I am. That can’t be explained just by you ‘liking to follow me,’ can it?”

Xing Shixi’s eyes were full of mirth as his gaze traveled back and forth between them.

Pei Ran usually acted on a whim; even the other players were likely dragged along without knowing anything. As for Xing Shixi himself, he had simply wanted to look around and happened to bump into Pei Ran searching for items.

So how did the “little school bully,” who hadn’t been near them, find them so unerringly?

Furthermore, according to Pei Ran, this had happened more than once.

“If I said… it’s because I like you so much that we developed a ‘spiritual telepathy,’ would you believe me?” After saying this, even Lan Zhen felt his skin was exceptionally thick. His ears turned bright red.

Pei Ran went silent. He had thought of many reasons, but he never expected the other boy to brush him off like this.

Before he could do anything, the bullet-chat was already more anxious than he was.

Are you really going to bully our sister? This dungeon has ghosts now, and a fax machine can talk in its own way. What’s so strange about our sister having telepathy with you?!

While it is indeed weird, you never report your location to Zhenzhen-baby before you go anywhere. To put it bluntly, aren’t you the one in the wrong?!

Wah wah wah, stop talking, you dog man! My baby is about to be moved to tears by your questioning!

“I didn’t even do anything, and I helped you guys a lot.” Lan Zhen’s voice was muffled. He felt truly aggrieved; he had been doing good things, yet he was still being suspected.

His skin was fair and sensitive to emotional changes. In no time, the corners of his eyes and the tip of his nose turned red, making him look as if he were truly about to cry.