I Became the Rich Second-Generation Villain

【Ding! Host successfully hijacked the verification credentials. Gained 900 Villain Points. Lin Chen’s Protagonist Halo -45. Host’s Villain Halo +45!】

The account Lin Chen registered using Qiu Qianwei’s identity now belonged entirely to Wang Haoran. The username and password were unchanged, but everything published under that login from now on would be credited to him.

“So many system notifications…”

He blinked at the feed. Apparently, Qiu Qianwei even managed to get jealous of a laptop.

Meanwhile, she had been practicing her dance for a while, feeling she’d polished it enough. Seeing that Wang Haoran had finally pulled his eyes away from the screen, she immediately began performing what she’d just learned.

Wang Haoran stared, caught completely off guard.

In his mind, Qiu Qianwei had always been the epitome of elegance—graceful, poised, with an air of refined dignity. But now, she was dancing… and not in the way he’d expect. It was awkward, clumsy even, with a touch of internet sleaze that didn’t fit her at all.

He was stunned into silence.

“Was it… that bad?” Qiu Qianwei asked nervously, picking up on the look on his face.

“I’ve never danced before…” she bit her lip, flustered. “I just saw it on Douyin and thought maybe you’d like it. I wanted to try something different. I—I won’t dance anything so vulgar again.”

“It’s not that I didn’t like it,” Wang Haoran said after a beat. He smiled faintly. “You just… surprised me, that’s all.”

“Really?” Her face lit up. “Then I’ll learn more, and next time I’ll perform for you again!”

“If you’re that bored, knock yourself out,” he said with a smirk. “But for now, let’s focus on something a little more serious.”

“The lights… can you turn them off for a bit…”

By the time it was over, Wang Haoran had reaped another 2,000 Villain Points and 100 Halo Points. He took a quick glance at his attribute panel—14,800 points now. Plenty to burn.

Out of curiosity, he used his X-ray vision to sneak a peek at Lin Chen, who had holed himself up in a corner of the ship, typing furiously on his laptop.

It looked like he had just finished writing a scientific paper—one focused on marine biology—and was uploading it to the Global Discovery website.

Wang Haoran couldn’t really judge the quality of the paper, but based on Lin Chen’s style and the content, it was clear he’d used a system perk to replicate the knowledge of some world-class marine biology expert.

Not that it mattered. Everything Lin Chen published would be credited to his stolen account anyway.

Still, that didn’t mean Wang Haoran could afford to slack off. Sooner or later, Ji Shuiyao might ask questions he couldn’t answer, and he’d blow his cover if he wasn’t ready.

So he opened up the system shop, searching for something useful.

After a minute or two, he found what he needed.

Rather than being a standard skill boost, this was a template enhancement—each one modeled after a historical figure in the scientific world. For 1,500 Villain Points, he could download everything a particular scientist knew straight into his own mind.

Based on the style of Lin Chen’s paper, it was easy to guess he’d chosen a marine biology template.

Wang Haoran didn’t need the same one.

No point in wasting resources when Lin Chen’s hard work was already being funneled under his own name.

After browsing for a bit, he settled on the Alexander Fleming template—a pioneer in bacteriology, biochemistry, and microbiology, most famously known for discovering penicillin and revolutionizing modern medicine.

Once he made the purchase, a torrent of knowledge filled his consciousness. Wang Haoran just transformed from a clueless layman into a first-class scientific genius.

The knowledge was there, but reputation? Not yet.

Fortunately, Lin Chen had just shown him the perfect path forward.

Publishing a paper on Global Discovery.

Wang Haoran wasted no time. Within an hour, he had completed a biochemistry research paper and submitted it under the same account.

By then, it was nearly midnight.

He returned Ji Shuiyao’s laptop to her cabin and slipped back into his own.

—

The next morning, the research vessel’s deck buzzed with excitement. Scientists and crew members gathered around, animated and loud.

And all of it stemmed from a new article that had just hit the front page of Global Discovery—a piece on marine biology.

Ji Shuiyao, ever the science fanatic, checked the site daily. When she saw the paper first thing in the morning, she had been so floored by its brilliance she’d immediately called her colleagues over.

Now everyone was pouring over it, thrilled and awestruck.

“There aren’t many experts in the world who specialize in this field at such a deep level,” someone said. “I wonder who the author is.”

“Definitely a foreign scientist. Nobody in our country has this level of marine biology expertise.”

“Hold on… look at the author’s pen name.”

“Lin Xiaobao. Doesn’t sound foreign at all.”

“Damn, you’re right.”

That got Ji Shuiyao’s attention. She leaned in and took a closer look at the pen name.

Until now, she hadn’t thought much of it. But hearing her colleagues discuss it, it suddenly struck her: that name was far too localized to be some Western pseudonym.

She remembered—the Global Discovery site translated every article into English, regardless of the original language. 

“But who the hell is Lin Xiaobao?” one person asked. “I’ve never heard of him. And I know every big name in this field.”

“Maybe he’s not one of the old guard,” Ji Shuiyao offered. “Could be a rising star who just hit a stroke of genius and knocked it out of the park.”

She would know. Something similar had happened to her once, though that was a year ago.

In the past twelve months, she had submitted multiple papers to Global Discovery, but none had made the front page.

Suddenly, one of the researchers monitoring the site gasped. “Wait—another one just dropped! Another front-page article!”

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