MSCRB Chapter 1: Raising the First Villain (1)

“Lin Shi, go to hell!”

The vicious voice sounded beside his ear. Before Lin Shi could react, his body was already being pushed toward a speeding car. The violent impact made Lin Shi’s head spin. Warm liquid dripped down his forehead into his eyes, blurring his vision. A voice choked with tears drifted in and out of his hearing, unclear.

“Sob… brother, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me, sob… sob…”

“Brother, why are you so stupid? Even if you’re angry with me, you can’t run into the road! Hurting yourself and others… sob… brother…”

Bone-gnawing pain swept through his entire body. Beside his ear were ‘heartfelt’ cries. Lin Shi struggled to open his mouth, but the rusty stench of blood gushed forth, swallowing his questions.

Why?

As blood flowed and body temperature dropped, Lin Shi felt nothing but pitch black before his eyes, as if falling into an ice cave. Overwhelming pain pierced his fragile nerves like sharp spikes. Pitch dark, utterly despairing.

…

[Beep… beep… Master, Mas…ter, beep… wake up quickly, what’s… wrong? Sob…]

004 never expected that the moment it entered the small world with its master, it would be attacked by a virus. Only just now had it successfully fought off the virus that could have sent it into a crash state. Just as it was about to press the advantage, it sensed that in its master’s consciousness sea, mental energy was violently churning.

At that moment, it no longer cared about its own abnormalities; it only wanted to wake its master as quickly as possible. 004 knew that only by waking its master could this mental storm be stopped. Otherwise, not only would it suffer from the indiscriminate attack of this storm-like mental energy, but its master would also be in danger. 004 anxiously called out to Lin Shi again and again, with a hint of tears in its voice.

“Xiao Si?”

A hesitant voice sounded in 004’s mind, stopping its cries.

[Master, sob, you’re finally okay? I was so worried I could die.]

The confusion in Lin Shi’s eyes gradually faded. His consciousness returned, slowly clearing. Recalling what had just happened, Lin Shi’s brows furrowed slightly, a flicker of darkness passing through his eyes. How long had it been? He had actually fallen into a nightmare again, enduring the despair of that death-approaching moment. Even though brief, the feeling was truly unbearable!

“Xiao Si, what just happened?”

Every time a task-taker entered a small world, their soul body would be briefly weakened. And just now, he had actually fallen into a nightmare; this was absolutely not a coincidence.

[Master, I don’t know either. I was just poisoned.]

004 didn’t hide anything, guiltily explaining its situation.

[Master, it’s all because I’m useless. If I were stronger, I definitely wouldn’t have let it escape.]

Lin Shi stared at the white kitten materialized in his consciousness. Those gem-like emerald eyes were filled with tears, ready to overflow at any moment. Was his condition really just caused by the system being infected by a virus?

“Alright, alright, stop crying. Once I complete more tasks, I’ll upgrade you.”

Hearing this, the originally dejected 004 was instantly replaced by excitement, waving its cat paws, full of fighting spirit.

[Yes, Master, let’s go!]

Once it upgraded to a high-level system, it could take human form, and then it could eat all kinds of delicious food. Looking at the cute system, the gloom in Lin Shi’s heart instantly dissipated. After upgrading it to a high-level system and completing high-tier world tasks to become a gold-medal task-taker, he would have the chance to return to the real world.

“Xiao Chi, stop sleeping in, hurry up and get up for breakfast.”

The calling voice, coming from near to far, filtered through the door crack into his ears, interrupting Lin Shi’s thoughts and making him focus on this small world he had just entered. Looking around, Lin Shi then realized that he was still in his soul body state, and on the big bed lay a young boy. Thinking about the abnormality encountered when entering the world, Lin Shi approached the headboard and looked down at the sleeping youth. The strength of his own soul allowed him to easily sense that within this body, there was a soul in deep slumber. What was going on?

Normally, when he entered a world, he would directly enter the body of a supporting male character. But now, the facts were right before his eyes. The character before him – possibly the supporting male lead – was not yet dead, yet he had entered the small world. This contradicted the facts!!!

He clearly knew that his task was to take over after the supporting male character in the small world died unexpectedly, to replace the supporting male’s identity and complete the established plotline, and finally retire successfully; not the current situation. To put it plainly, he existed to patch plot BUGs, not to become a BUG himself as he was now.

What to do now? Without a body, how could he complete his task?

Seeing the footsteps getting closer, Lin Shi was uncertain whether the people outside discovering that the child on the bed was ‘dead’ would affect the world plot and his tasks. With no other choice, Lin Shi had to materialize his soul body, then have the system adjust it one-to-one. The process was sour and painful.

But the process was also quick, in just an instant. After checking the other’s memories, Lin Shi used the system’s space to hide the sleeping youth within it. With everything done, Lin Shi’s anxious heart finally settled temporarily.

[Xiao Si, import the world plot, let’s see what this task is about.]
[Okay, Master, please wait.]

As 004’s voice fell, a line of golden text appeared in Lin Shi’s mind:

[World Task: Prevent the villain Qin Xing from killing Pei Le. Complete the task to earn 20,000 points.]

[Wow, Master, 20,000 points! Before, we only got 10,000 points for completing a task. This time the points are actually this many. We’re rich, we’re rich!]

Lin Shi nodded in agreement, his beautiful peach-blossom eyes curving, in a good mood. He then urged:

“Alright, Xiao Si, hurry and give me the world plot.”

[Huh, Master, the world plot is frozen! What do we do?]

“What’s going on?”

[Master, wait, let me ask the other systems what’s happening.]

Half a day passed, and Lin Shi didn’t get a reply from 004, but instead got the original body’s stepmother pushing the door open.

“Xiao Chi, didn’t you say yesterday you wanted to go to the park today? Why are you still sleeping in?”

Lin Shi dodged to the side, avoiding the hand reaching for his head, and spoke with the same impatient attitude as the original body: “None of your business! I suddenly don’t want to go anymore. I’m going to eat.”

He wasn’t the real original body – a thirteen-year-old brat. Zoos and such held no attraction for him whatsoever. Although the world plot couldn’t be opened, comparing the world task with the original body’s memories, Lin Shi had a bad feeling. The stepmother’s son, seven years old, had the same name as the villain in the world task, and over the past year, the original body had bullied him quite a bit.

Thinking of the task in the world plot, Lin Shi’s hair stood on end. He felt that before preventing the villain from killing that Pei Le, whose whereabouts were currently unknown, he should first think about how to protect himself. Since starting his tasks, he had never underestimated any villain. That was how he had successfully completed every task. But when holding a bowl, eating mutton-filled dumplings, and watching Qin Xing– who sat across from him with a timid expression, sipping white porridge in small mouthfuls– Lin Shi somewhat doubted his judgment.

That bruise on his face, that thin and frail little body; was this really a villain?
Was he sure it wasn’t just someone with the same name?
If his memory served him correctly, that obvious bruise on the fair face was precisely “his” handiwork.

“Big… big brother, you eat.”

Perhaps Lin Shi’s gaze was too obvious, or perhaps the impression the original body had left on the other, causing Qin Xing to misunderstand. Pursing his lips, he reluctantly pushed his bowl forward toward Lin Shi. Qin Xing thought Lin Shi had taken a liking to his porridge. Although he was hungry, if he didn’t give it, he would be beaten. It was always like this. Whenever the other took a fancy to something of his, if he didn’t give it, he would be hit. He had grown used to this kind of life. Looking at the white porridge pushed toward him, and the grievance the other couldn’t hide in his eyes, Lin Shi was stunned. He hadn’t stooped to snatching food from a seven-year-old child. Forcing down the risk of breaking character, he snatched the white porridge the other had pushed over with an unhappy face:

“Smart of you to know what’s good for you.”

After glaring fiercely at Qin Xing, he pushed the bowl of meat-fragrant dumplings in front of Qin Xing.

“Eating dumplings every day, I’m sick of them. You eat all of it, don’t tell your mom, hear me?”

At the end, the same threatening tone as usual made Qin Xing instinctively lower his head and shrink his shoulders. What was the use of telling his mother, even if he did? His mother wished he would die; how could she possibly scold the other over such a small matter?

His mother didn’t care about him the way the other thought. Even though he was the biological child, he was still someone who could be discarded at any time. But when the meat fragrance reached his nose, looking at the plump white dumplings in the bowl, Qin Xing couldn’t help but swallow. He hadn’t eaten meat in a long time.

“Hurry up and eat it all, hear me?”

The urging beside his ear made little Qin Xing dazed for a moment. The temptation of food left him no time to think deeply. He ate the dumplings in big mouthfuls until only the last one remained, then looked up at Lin Shi. Unexpectedly, he saw the other smiling at him, only to hide that smile in an instant. The other seemed a little different, like a changed person! This thought circled in Qin Xing’s mind, but in the next moment it was shattered by a shrill voice.

“You little brat, you actually stole Xiao Chi’s breakfast.”

“Get back to your room! No food for you today. If I’d known you’d turn out like this, I should never have let you be born!”

Qin Xing’s ear was pinched painfully, but he didn’t dare resist at all. His eyes dimmed—he wasn’t surprised at all by what was happening. His thin body was pushed and shoved out of the dining room. He fell for it! All of it was his illusion. How could the other have kindly given him dumplings? It was all for this moment. He had been schemed against by the other again. For the rest of the day, he could only go hungry, stuck in that dark attic. This was the other’s real purpose.

Lin Shi was very puzzled by the sudden situation before him. He had clearly meant well, but caused the child to be misunderstood by the woman before them and treated so violently. This made him doubt whether the woman before them was really Qin Xing’s biological mother. But the similar facial features couldn’t lie. So what exactly was going on? Watching the child’s trembling body from the pain yet not daring to resist, Lin Shi’s heart felt like it was being pricked by needles. He stood up and impulsively pushed the woman away, pulling the silent child behind him. But then 004’s reminder sounded in his mind.

[Master, steady, you absolutely must not break character.]

Once detected by the world consciousness, he would be treated as an outsider and absolutely could not escape being erased.
This was the world consciousness’s protection mechanism for small worlds. Even though their purpose in entering small worlds was to maintain the small world’s operation—they were ‘allies’—to the small world, it was better to kill wrongly than let someone go. Outsiders were to be exterminated without exception, not to mention that at this moment, he was using his own ‘body.’ At present, he was not yet strong enough to contend with the world consciousness.

Author’s Note:
A new beginning, sweetness and doting as always! Let’s raise a little villain cub together.

PS: In the setting, the protagonist initially enters the small world and due to an accident, uses his own soul body materialized, while Shen Chi’s body and soul are stored in 004’s system space being nourished.

[Bold reminder]: Neither the top nor the bottom is a saint!!! If the protagonist hadn’t entered the small world early, the character ‘Shen Chi’ would be a cannon fodder setting. He couldn’t have abused the villain and still lived well.

Enjoying the story? There’s more where this came from. Patrons get to read the next chapters early, before they go live on the site, so you never have to wait on the cliffhanger. If a subscription isn’t your thing, a one-time tip on Ko-Fi or PayPal works just as well. Either way, every bit keeps the late nights and coffee going. Thank you for reading. 💙

▶ Read ahead on Patreon