All The Villain Wants Is Money - Chapter 13

The system was confused—utterly confused.

Its points were calculated based on the degree to which Xie Gu humiliated the original protagonist, Xu Yucheng. So even though Xie Gu had been expanding Gu Fei however he liked, with his social status and wealth skyrocketing, the progress bar remained stagnant. Unless Xu Yucheng took a hit to his pride, the system’s counter wouldn’t budge.

Right before the progress bar had suddenly jumped up to 10%, it had been stuck at less than 1%. If you rounded it off, it would be zero.

The system almost thought its detection program had malfunctioned. But after examining its entire coding and double-checking its detection program, it confirmed that nothing was broken. Xu Yucheng had indeed just experienced the humiliation of having his face slapped.

With its superior AI-level intellect, the system concluded this must be related to the saying ‘kill the heart, not the body’ that Xie Gu mentioned earlier. As an outstanding system that diligently supplemented its knowledge in order to refine its programming, the system swallowed its pride and asked what it meant.

Xie Gu replied, “AI-level? You’re a disgrace to all AI.”

Before the system could explode into a mess of garbled code, Xie Gu cut in, “Sure, you don’t have an emotion module, but you’ve at least eaten pork even if you’ve never seen a pig run, right? Let me ask you: if someone you had always outclassed and looked down on suddenly shows up in front of you, poised and dignified, while you’re in dire straits looking like a complete clown—wouldn’t you feel humiliated or furious?”

“…” Suppressing the garbled output, the system muttered back, “It’s ‘never eaten pork but have seen pigs run’.”

“Times are changing and people are making advancements. These days, it’s harder to see a pig run than to eat pork,” Xie Gu said with undisguised disdain. “And you really need to fix your habit of missing the point. At this rate, forget AI-level, you’re about to fall behind the level of a 3-year-old child.”

The system went momentarily speechless. It felt that if it had an emotion module, it figured it would be crying from anger right now.

“But Xu Yucheng…”

“But Xu Yucheng is the protagonist? Because he’s strong, confident, fair-minded, and would never look down on the original villain or feel humiliated over something so petty?” Xie Gu scoffed. “The fact of the matter is he did look down on the villain. And now that I’ve risen above him, he is feeling humiliated.

“Who decided he’s the protagonist? Wasn’t the task you gave me to break the protagonist’s halo? As far as I’m concerned, other than having a bit of luck, Xu Yucheng is no different from the average person. He loves and hates, he judges right and wrong, and for the sake of his own interests, he’ll destroy anyone who gets in his way, even while preaching about justice. Self-interest—that’s the weakness of human nature.

“Once you’ve seen through all his behavioral patterns, isn’t it easy to tear him down?” Xie Gu continued, “Strike the heart rather than the body. It’s much better to destroy their will – even their character – than to harm them. That’s how you win cleanly.”

The system fell silent again. So Xie Gu concluded cheerfully, “I truly am a kind-hearted boy, passionately devoted to childhood education, nurturing the future’s high-quality systems.”

“… You’re just tooting your own horn,” the system said. It finally hit the nail on the head.

Unfortunately, it not only forgot to refute that it was a child, but also failed to realise that criticism had no effect on Xie Gu whatsoever.

“I am tooting my own horn,” Xie Gu beamed. “So what?”

… Truly, a person is invincible when they are shameless.

The ancients hadn’t lied to the system.

Xie Gu’s radiant smile was aimed at the system—but the ones actually staring directly at his expression were the four nervous restaurant supervisors seated across from him.

They really couldn’t understand it. Waving at Xu Yucheng was one thing, but why was President Xie still smiling so brightly even after Xu Yucheng had clearly lost his composure?

Was it because he hated Xu Yucheng that much? Or was he biding his time, intending to raise difficult questions during the discussion?

It was the flagship store’s manager, ranking slightly higher than the others, who finally summoned the courage to ask, “President Xie, would you like us to begin the summary report?”

Xie Gu’s smile didn’t waver. He withdrew his gaze from Xu Yucheng’s direction and nodded.

“Go ahead.”

He’d already said it—strike the heart, not the body. It was enough to let Xu Yucheng catch a glimpse of him. Disdain and indifference was precisely what stirred up the deepest resentment and sense of injustice in a person.

The four supervisors immediately scrambled to speak first.

Xie Gu absent-mindedly listened to the report. Although his gaze was fixed onto whoever was speaking, he wasn’t actually paying much attention to the content. He already knew their business philosophies and nothing being said right now was new or interesting.

What he was observing closely was the manager’s and supervisor’s actions and expressions as they spoke.

Choosing the café as the location wasn’t just to provoke Xu Yucheng. Xie Gu also wanted to see how these people would react to his decision.

The first to speak was the manager. He outranked the other three, so it was understandable. His report was generally well delivered, though he held back slightly at the end. The whole thing lasted ten minutes, during which he glanced out the window three times.

He had some substance and knew how to present himself, but obviously left parts unsaid to let the others fill in the gaps. He noticed Xu Yucheng’s presence but wasn’t thrown off by it. A solid upper-mid performer, worth developing further.

The second one scrambled ahead of the others to speak. Words kept pouring out of his mouth for fifteen minutes, which made the other two tense up. He looked out the window eight times.

Overly competitive and driven by self-interest. He clearly does not have the virtue to match the position and was trying to curry favor with the boss by leveraging Xu Yucheng’s appearance. Might be better reassigned somewhere else.

The third speaker was very brief, finishing in under five minutes. He was noticeably hesitant but didn’t look out the window at all.

An honest type with lacking knowledge. Unclear whether the honesty is genuine or stems from insecurity. Needs more observation.

The fourth had initially stepped back to let the third speak first. His report lasted about eight minutes, but it was insightful and delivered with confidence. He only glanced at the window once.

A genuine talent. Worthy of promotion. As for his earlier show of humility and refrain from glancing out the window, it still remains to be seen whether it was strategic restraint or his true character. However, he’ll be a powerful asset if used with precision.

The manager and supervisors finished their reports, taking forty minutes in total. By then, Xie Gu already had a clear picture in his mind.

He nodded, but didn’t make any comments on their presentations. Instead, he briefly mentioned some of Gu Fei’s current operational issues, then shared his thoughts on relocating the company’s headquarters. He stated plainly that the HQ would be moving to the capital within two months and expressed his hope that everyone would perform well.

Each of the four had different thoughts upon hearing this, but they all voiced their agreement.

It was already past 5 p.m., and Xie Gu didn’t want to take up more of their time. After dismissing the group, he called out to the manager.

“Feng Xuesong, I remember you’ve had some contact with companies in the entertainment industry, right?”

Feng Xuesong nodded. “Nothing big, but I’ve got a few connections.”

Previously, Xie Gu had instructed him to reach out to those companies with the intention of building ties with a few marketing accounts. Partly to write advertorials about Gu Fei when the time came for it, but also as a contingency should unexpected situations arise.

“Good,” Xie Gu said. “Get back in touch. Find two marketing accounts and have them repost Xu Yucheng’s performance from today. No need to bad-mouth him, just be objective.”

Feng Xuesong didn’t really understand the intent, but still nodded and agreed.

Two days later, Xie Gu wrapped up his inspection and returned to Hanyun. At the same time, negative press about Xu Yucheng began to spread. Most of it were rumors, but after repeatedly issuing clarifications, Xu Yucheng’s fans on the internet and Wu Borang were starting to feel exhausted.

Wu Borang didn’t know who was targeting Xu Yucheng, but if things kept going this way, it would inevitably drag down both the artist and the company.

Still, he was reluctant to give up on such a promising talent. Fortunately, just when things seemed bleak, Zhang Shi brought him some news.

“Is that true?” Wu Borang asked.

Zhang Shi looked a bit ashamed, but the swelling ambition and dissatisfaction in his heart won. He nodded.

“Tonight’s dinner party, right?” Wu Borang stood up immediately. “Excellent.”

He never expected that a major investor would take an interest in Xu Yucheng!

The heavens left him a way out. He just knew things would turn for the better!