The Cold and Ruthless Supporting Male Lead

Lan Bai rolled his eyes, wishing he could reforge his host.

Hai Ku didn’t care about Lan Bai’s expression. After admiring himself, he plopped down on the bed, crossing his legs with a big boss attitude.

If there was anything inconvenient about being a girl, it was that sitting in a skirt wasn’t comfortable, especially in a qipao. His legs couldn’t spread at all; Otherwise, the side of his thighs felt like they were going to burst.

Hai Ku couldn’t help but admire girls. The dress looked great, but it was such a hassle to wear.

Thinking that he’d have to change into a different one next time, Hai Ku analyzed seriously, “If you ask me, the female lead in this world is always getting into trouble. If she just focused on being a game streamer, she might still have a chance at success. But the appearance of the male supporting characters and the male lead gave her a shortcut, and she got a taste of the sweet life.”

Now that the internet was so developed, being a game streamer didn’t necessarily require top-notch skills. Other aspects could also work; like playing simple 4199 mini-games, where you could rely on bizarre or funny voices to gain followers.

(T/N: 4199 = Author’s version of ‘4399 Game Box’; a famous mini-game site in China, full of mobile puzzle games, gameplay video and the likes.)

As long as you weren’t hopeless, fans would slowly accumulate. But the female lead had turned to celebrity gossip marketing, using scandals one after another.

People became lawless after being forgiven for so long. A little hardship was about all it took to snap them back into reality.

***

[So, what’s your plan now?] Lan Bai, unable to stand his host’s eye-popping appearance anymore, transformed back into his data form and entered the system space.

“It depends on what the female lead wants to do. If I just blindly torment her, I might end up suffering in the end. I can only deal with things as they come. Anyway, I won’t let myself be someone’s stepping stone,” Hai Ku replied as he changed into comfortable athletic clothes and opened his live stream.

As for his phone, it had long been thrown aside.

He wanted to create the illusion that he was streaming and not checking his phone!

The company Hai Ku was signed with had no fixed live-streaming hours, so when he had free time, he would stream.

His voice was the type that was clear and youthful. It didn’t have that magnetic quality, but it was pleasant to listen to. Because of this, his fanbase was split into two main groups; one was made up of working adults who called themselves “Mama Fans,” and the other consisted of students with little financial means but high fighting spirit.

Just with his pleasant voice and fair hands, Haiku Shilan had gained a decent following. Plus, he was very easygoing, so he hadn’t stirred up much drama, steadily gaining fans without any major scandals.

He had been a game streamer for over 3 years. In this fast-paced era of game updates, Hai Ku had streamed a wide range of game types.

Yesterday, he had just finished streaming a 4199 mini-game, but the video hadn’t been edited yet, so he couldn’t upload it. He had no choice but to go online and find another mini-game to stream.

His streaming hours were fairly regular, and there were always a number of fans waiting for him to go live. As soon as he logged in, the number of fans in his channel started growing steadily.

Habitually giving his usual intro, Hai Ku waved his mouse and joked, “You guys always call me a little kid, but today, your little kid is going to be a daddy!”

The comments exploded immediately.

[Holy crap! How old are you, little kid?]

[Ahhhh! Are you tricking me?]

Glancing at the exploded comment section, Hai Ku grinned. He had intended to laugh in a lecherous way, but his youthful voice sounded too straightforward. “Hehe, alright, I’ve successfully caught your attention, so the game we’re playing next is the Chinese version of ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’”

[You scared the hell out of me!]

[Hahahaha, I knew it was going to be something like this.]

[…]

[…]

The Chinese version of ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ was a simple 4199 simulation game. You could finish it in about 2 hours. It wasn’t the kind of game he was really into, but when he had to stream, Hai Ku would choose these types of mini-games.

“Alright, everyone, look, this is my daughter. Although she only has three strands of hair and didn’t inherit my thick locks, I still believe she’s my biological child!” Maneuvering the mouse, Hai Ku spoke as he played the game, effortlessly chatting while gaming.

He had to admit, it was pretty fun…

A game that was supposed to take two hours ended up taking 2 and a half. Although many fans left, Hai Ku didn’t mind.

“I’ll edit this video later. For those who came in late, don’t worry. Your big brother Hai Ku is as productive as a mother pig, and I edit videos at lightning speed!”

(T/N: mother pig = derogatory slang term for someone who does nothing but eat and work; in this case making content. Similar to a “no-lifer” worker.)

After finishing his banter, Hai Ku logged off with a look of lingering satisfaction.

***

When he started his livestream, he had set his phone to silent mode. Now, picking it up, he saw several unread messages from the female lead, as well as three missed calls.

Feeling like he shouldn’t push things too far, Hai Ku decided to read the messages she had sent, and he found them somewhat amusing.

[Mu Xiaoya: Hai Ku, are you there?]

[Mu Xiaoya]: I found a super fun two-player game, will you play it with me? [Game link]]

[Mu Xiaoya: Are you still busy? I’m thinking about becoming a game streamer too! As a senior, won’t you guide me?]

The following messages were all nonsense, but the last one caught his attention.

[Mu Xiaoya: If you help me, I’ll buy you the latest loli dress, how about it?]

Hai Ku found it amusing and, with his clearly defined fingers, tapped a few times on his phone without giving a direct response.

[Haiku Shilan: Sorry, I was livestreaming just now, didn’t see the message.]

Mu Xiaoya probably wasn’t glued to her phone either. After Hai Ku sent his reply, he didn’t get a response for a long time.

He wasn’t in a hurry, instead, he immersed himself in the large streamer group.

He still had to fish.

After traveling through several worlds, Hai Ku had roughly figured out the method to deal with the female lead’s golden finger. He would never confront her directly, but someone else could.

That someone was the male lead.

In a way, the female lead’s golden finger could only succeed because of the male lead’s halo. Especially after the male and female leads got together, the female lead’s halo grew stronger.

So as long as he could get the male lead in position, Hai Ku wasn’t worried about the other problems.

Fortunately, the male lead in this world had solid principles. He seemed like an upright person!

If it hadn’t been for Haiku Shilan’s help, the male lead would have had no interest in Mu Xiaoya at all.

Based on that, Hai Ku was somewhat confident in the male lead’s character. As long as he, the “male supporting character,” didn’t cause any trouble, everything else would be smooth sailing.

Fishing for information wasn’t the right thing to do, but Hai Ku was enjoying it at the moment.

After chatting aimlessly in the group for a while, Hai Ku was pulled into a smaller group.

This smaller group had only eight members. The person who invited him was the group owner, a member from the horror game section. He was just an ordinary member, and his main contribution to the group was pulling Hai Ku in.

Sure enough, not long after he joined, the male lead spoke up in the group.

The male lead’s game ID was ‘Zhuoye Xingchen’. The people in this small group had all grown up together, but only he had become a big shot, while the others were just average, sloppy types.

The relationships in this group were good, but their biggest flaw was laziness. They weren’t like Zhuoye Xingchen, whose game videos were produced at a mind-blowing rate.

[Xingchen: Anyone up for a scary two-player game?]

[Ding Dong: No way, if I play with you, you’ll steal all the spotlight. I’m going solo!]

[Xingchen: …]

[Da Niu: Yeah, yeah, didn’t a new guy just join? You should trick him into playing with you.]

[Hai Ku: Uh… is it really that scary? Playing games with a big shot should help me gain followers, right?]

[Da Niu: We don’t want followers for the sake of gaining them. If we get more followers, we’ll have to make videos, alright? We’re not like Zhuoye Xingchen, the big shot who can produce videos like crazy. Ugly reject!

[Hai Ku: …]

This was completely different from what he had imagined. The description of this group in the story wasn’t much, and Hai Ku hadn’t expected the group’s atmosphere to be this ridiculous.

Despite having a big shot who could lead them to success, one by one, they were all unwilling to rise, content to be salted fish who would never flip.

The atmosphere in the group grew more and more amusing, and then Zhuoye Xingchen messaged him privately.

[Zhuoye Xingchen: Want to join in? This game isn’t that scary, even beginners can play. [Game link]]

Hai Ku smiled knowingly. He thought Zhuoye Xingchen was really “out of options.” After reaching his level, finding someone to play games with became much more difficult.

If the level difference between two players was too large, the comparison would become more pronounced. If their levels were similar… well, no one would want to, since it would lead to comparisons between them.

Also, Zhuoye Xingchen wasn’t the type to get along with everyone. Besides the small group of eight, he didn’t like hanging around in other places. As a result, he had a lot of time to play games and edit videos, truly living the “high-output like a mother pig” life.

With a tap of his fingers on his phone, Hai Ku quickly replied to this big fish.

[Hai Ku: If you don’t mind that my skills aren’t great and you don’t mind me clinging to you, of course, no problem.]

The reply came in the form of a friend request from Zhuoye Xingchen, and Hai Ku accepted it without hesitation.

[Zhuoye Xingchen: I’ve sent you the link, hurry up and download it.]

The game’s installation package wasn’t that large, but with the time spent turning on the computer, it took a little while. Hai Ku used this break to chat.

[Hai Ku: When do you plan to play this game?]

[Zhuoye Xingchen: It’s up to you, do you want to get familiar with it first?]

[Hai Ku: If we’re choosing to livestream, we might as well go all in. It’ll make the broadcast more interesting, don’t you think?]

[Zhuoye Xingchen: That’s what I was thinking too. How about 8:00 tonight?]

[Hai Ku: No problem.]

To avoid suspicion of clinging to the big shot, after confirming the time with Zhuoye Xingchen, Hai Ku stopped talking and quietly sat in front of his computer installing the game.

At that moment, Mu Xiaoya’s message came in.

[Mu Xiaoya: Hehe, so that’s how it is. I thought something happened. Did you check out that game?]

[Haiku Shilan: Sorry, I’ve got a livestream scheduled for 8:00 tonight. Let’s watch it next time.]

[Mu Xiaoya: Oh, who are you with?]

[Haiku Shilan: Secret ^_^]

***

Seeing the emoji Haiku Shilan sent, Mu Xiaoya was displeased. She had worked hard to sign up, but her popularity had been low. She had originally hoped Hai Ku could help boost her…

“Tsk!” Annoyed, she tossed her phone aside, rolled around on her bed, and couldn’t resist opening Weibo. She clicked into Haiku Shilan’s secondary account.

This secondary account only posted a few pictures regularly, with only dozens of posts in total. All of them were selfies, and the “girl” in the pictures always had a cold expression.

Even so, no one could criticize “her” looks. The gender listed on the Weibo account was male, but no one believed it, because how could someone this beautiful possibly be a boy?

Apart from the pictures, there were no trivial words in this account. The account owner hadn’t even replied to anyone, but this still couldn’t stop the fans from licking their screens in admiration.

This secondary account had a considerable number of followers, and one could even say it was impressive. Mu Xiaoya looked on with envy; the number of followers on Haiku Shilan’s secondary account was even greater than her own.

She flipped through the comments of the fanboys, finding them amusing. What would these men think if they knew they were fawning over a man?