The Cold and Ruthless Supporting Male Lead

Originally, Lan Bai thought the host was just joking, but when Hai Ku actually pressed the button to enter the world, Lan Bai realized he was serious.

Having already bent the rules once, Lan Bai didn’t dare to mess around again this time. Begrudgingly, he sent Hai Ku into the next Mary Sue world.

After briefly skimming through the beginning, Lan Bai found the content so unbearable it stung his eyes.

He couldn’t comprehend how Hai Ku, as a man, had managed to enjoy this type of story before…

This was a novel about gaming streamers.

The male and female leads were both gaming streamers, following the same familiar tropes. However, the twist here was that the female lead had a “bestie,” who wasn’t just any ordinary bestie; it was a male bestie.

This male bestie was also a gaming streamer, and his in-game ID was “Haiku Shilan”

Haiku Shilan wasn’t ordinary. In addition to being a gaming streamer, he was secretly a cross-dressing enthusiast, so he had another account dedicated to his cross-dressing persona.

His gaming account and his cross-dressing account were entirely separate. During gaming streams, Hai Ku only used his voice and never revealed his face, so no one knew these two accounts were controlled by the same person.

Of course, in classic trope fashion, Haiku Shilan had already confessed his love to the female lead, Mu Xiaoya, 2 or 3 years ago.

Although Mu Xiaoya was touched by his confession, she turned him down and insisted on treating him as just a best friend.

Only Mu Xiaoya knew about Haiku Shilan’s cross-dressing hobby. Despite being rejected, Haiku Shilan buried his feelings deep in his heart.

Although he enjoyed cross-dressing, he was very much a man at heart. Cross-dressing was merely a hobby and had no impact on his sexual orientation.

But as with all male supporting characters, he was destined to be cannon fodder.

In the beginning, Haiku Shilan could still play games with Mu Xiaoya and occasionally carry her in matches. However, once Mu Xiaoya started getting close to the male lead, her mouth started spilling secrets, including Haiku Shilan’s private matters.

The male lead had known Haiku Shilan longer than Mu Xiaoya. Initially, hearing these secrets made him think less of her.

Afterward, he discreetly warned Haiku Shilan about it, but Haiku Shilan refused to believe it was Mu Xiaoya’s fault. After all, how could the girl he loved possibly do something so terrible?

This led to a brief argument between him and the male lead.

Although the male lead felt uncomfortable, he endured it.

Later, Mu Xiaoya seemed to realize she had said too much and quietly adjusted her behavior. Adopting a shameless approach, she started hosting dual live streams with the male lead, eventually developing feelings for him over time.

Haiku Shilan, the popular male supporting character, was, of course, destined to be cast aside.

Once again, it was due to Mu Xiaoya’s loose lips. She “accidentally” revealed Haiku Shilan’s cross-dressing hobby, which led to widespread attention.

What had originally been a private interest known only to himself and one other person suddenly became public knowledge. Now, countless prying eyes were fixated on him. Unable to bear the pressure, Haiku Shilan decided to move abroad.

During this period, the incident naturally caused arguments between the male and female leads.

But arguments only served to deepen their relationship!

Mu Xiaoya even called Haiku Shilan overseas, asking him to explain things to the male lead.

This was yet another blatant instance of Haiku Shilan being reduced to cannon fodder. The woman he loved had exposed his secret and then asked him to clean up the mess… The humiliation was unbearable.

The author initially seemed to want to create a lively, innocent, and lovable female lead, but somewhere along the line, they overdid it.

Back when Hai Ku first read this story, he had been utterly frustrated. However, every long review he wrote was ignored. Considering the novel already had plenty of negative reviews, it was no surprise his critiques were overlooked.

***

He had almost forgotten about the existence of this book, but to his surprise, it had resurfaced now.

Staring into the mirror, Hai Ku observed himself wearing a cheongsam. He couldn’t help but feel… breathtakingly beautiful!!!

There wasn’t a more stunning beauty in the world than the one reflected in the mirror!!!

Of course, the person in the mirror was Haiku Shilan. Even though Hai Ku had transmigrated, the reflection bore only a slight resemblance to his original body.

Haiku Shilan was 1.75 meters tall; not surprising that he couldn’t compete with the 1.85-meter-tall male lead. His frame was relatively small, and as a gaming streamer who rarely went outside, his skin was fair and flawless.

The blue floral cheongsam he wore fit him perfectly without any sense of incongruity. Although his bare legs felt a bit odd, Hai Ku had to admit it.

I look so good!

Even without a wig, just wearing a cheongsam, his fair face already surpassed the female lead by seven or eight points. Hai Ku couldn’t understand why Haiku Shilan would fall for Mu Xiaoya. After all, aside from her pleasant voice, she didn’t have many notable qualities.

If it was because Mu Xiaoya was tolerant of cross-dressing enthusiasts…

Uh, he had to admit, that might actually be a possibility.

Lan Bai kept covering his eyes. The way his host twisted and turned in front of the mirror was just too much for him to bear!

[I say… you’re not seriously into this kind of thing, are you?!] Lan Bai couldn’t even bring himself to look at him, nearly taking all the blame upon himself.

Is this because I had abused my authority for personal revenge? Is this karma falling on my host?

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, what are you thinking about?” Hai Ku waved his finger dismissively, looking carefree. “People, you know, always need to try new things. Besides, I look pretty good in this, don’t I? Don’t worry, I’m still very upright!”

Lan Bai: “…” This is complete nonsense!

Ding-dong!

Just as Hai Ku put on the wig, a message popped up on his WeChat.

[Mu Xiaoya: Xiao Hai!!!!! I found a super fun game. Want to play together tonight?]

Hai Ku raised an eyebrow but didn’t rush to reply.

The timing of his arrival in this world was perfect; it was just the beginning of Mu Xiaoya’s story.

Haiku Shilan, as a gaming streamer, had been active for over 2 years. His fan base on the platform wasn’t massive, but it was far from small. His gameplay skills were solid, and combined with his pleasant voice, he had no trouble attracting fans.

Of course, his fan count couldn’t compare to the male lead’s. The male lead was ranked third in the gaming category on the platform, with a fan base several times larger than Haiku Shilan’s.

Still, gaming streamers like them all had their own large fan groups. While the main group wasn’t always active, smaller subgroups often emerged.

According to the timeline, Hai Ku was supposed to be added to one of these small groups tonight; the same one that the male lead was in. Tomorrow afternoon, he was scheduled to have a lucky dual live stream with the male lead, paving the way for introducing the male lead to Mu Xiaoya later on.

At the start of the story, Mu Xiaoya was portrayed as a complete newbie in gaming. After uploading her first gameplay video, it didn’t even get a single click.

That’s why she was desperate for Haiku Shilan to help her out.

Mu Xiaoya’s style leaned toward playing the ‘cute and clumsy’ card. It took Haiku Shilan over half a year of effort to barely get her past 10,000 followers; and even then, who knew how many of those were just friendly pity follows?

During those 6 months, Haiku Shilan had already formed a solid friendship with the male lead. When he could no longer help Mu Xiaoya grow her following, he had no choice but to hand this “mess” over to the male lead, thereby advancing the romance plotline.

Everything else that followed unfolded naturally.

“Sigh…” Hai Ku looked at himself in the mirror, his face filled with admiration. “I’m so beautiful…”

Lan Bai: “…” Oh no, my host has really lost it!

“I feel like Haiku Shilan has done such a disservice to the male lead. This female lead isn’t even worthy of him. She’s not bad, but she’s definitely not suitable,” Hai Ku said, offering a serious analysis, noticing how shaken the system was.

“Take off those clothes before you start talking…” Lan Bai, who had finally regained his physical form, sat on the edge of Hai Ku’s bed. However, he still didn’t dare to open his eyes and look at Hai Ku in such an overwhelming outfit.

He could handle descriptions in writing; those were just words, after all. But seeing the image in reality was an entirely different matter.

Lan Bai wasn’t prejudiced against men who cross-dressed. He had seen plenty of men in women’s clothing before, but the results were usually mediocre. He had grown accustomed to Hai Ku’s usual appearance as a man. Suddenly seeing him in women’s clothing, and with no sense of incongruity whatsoever, gave him goosebumps.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that this was somehow his fault.

“This is just a character setting. Is it really necessary to make such a fuss?” Hai Ku sat boldly in the computer chair, tugging off his wig and crossing his legs. “You’re an NPC, a system! Haven’t you seen all kinds of storms and waves before?”

Only then did Lan Bai reluctantly lower his hands.

To be honest, Hai Ku really did look stunning; so stunning it was almost criminal. But the more enchanting his appearance, the more Lan Bai felt there was something wrong with Hai Ku’s mind.

It took Lan Bai quite a while to adjust before he finally let out a long sigh.

Once his goosebumps subsided, Lan Bai hurriedly opened the character panel. He wanted to leave this world as quickly as possible, fearing that Hai Ku might truly lose his sanity. “The female lead in this world has a golden finger; tolerance. You need to be careful about that.”

This so-called tolerance meant that no matter what mistakes she made, she would always receive forgiveness from others.

In this world, the female lead did everything noisily and recklessly, making plenty of mistakes. Yet, others treated her with an unusual level of tolerance; whether it was the male lead, the supporting male characters, or even her online fans.

Logically, for a gaming streamer as terrible as she was, who had also exposed several of Haiku Shilan’s secrets, she should have been publicly shamed a long time ago.

But every time she made a mistake, the situation would inexplicably turn around. She was always forgiven, which kept elevating her to new heights.

After she revealed Haiku Shilan’s secret about cross-dressing, even he forgave her. The male lead forgave her too, and so did her fans. It was as if no one cared whether it was good or bad; everything was simply forgiven and brushed off.

“Tsk tsk,” Hai Ku clicked his tongue and cast a glance at the pale-faced Lan Bai. “Why don’t you show me some tolerance too?”