My Mission Was to Befriend the Protagonist, So Why Is the Crazy Second Female Lead Obsessed with Me? - Chapter 2:

Chapter 2: Am I Supposed to Be an NPC?

Fortunately, at the critical moment, Lin An seized an opportunity and bit Zhang Long hard.

“You fucking… bitch!”

“Hiss!”

The sudden pain made Zhang Long instinctively loosen his grip. Almost at the same moment, Lin An hurriedly stood up and slammed the top of her head into his chin.

Thud!

Caught completely off guard, Zhang Long’s vision blurred from the impact, and he quickly released his other hand as well.

Lin An was finally free.

However, she wasn’t finished. She immediately raised her leg and kicked Zhang Long in retaliation.

“F-Fuck…!”

With a strange cry, Zhang Long, who still hadn’t recovered from the blow to his chin, was kicked backward and landed heavily on his backside.

Only after doing all this did Lin An hurriedly pick up the drink she had dropped and flee.

As she turned into an alley, she happened to run straight into Xu Ming, who had been searching for her.

“Ah! Sorry, sorry…”

Realizing that she had bumped into someone, Lin An hurriedly apologized.

Xu Ming was just about to apologize as well when an enraged voice suddenly came from up ahead.

“Fuck you, Lin An, you bitch! You can’t escape! I won’t let you get away with this!”

Hearing the voice, Lin An trembled. She immediately started running again, rushing deeper into the alley.

Lin An…

Isn’t that the name of the second female lead in the original novel?!

Wait… I found her!!!

That’s her!

The instant the girl rushed past him, Xu Ming finally realized who she was.

Without hesitation, he immediately turned around and chased after her.

Tap, tap, tap…

The rapidly approaching footsteps behind her made Lin An’s heart pound faster.

The next moment, someone suddenly grabbed her arm again.

“Help… Mmph!”

“Shh… Don’t scream. It’s me…”

Seeing that Lin An was about to shout, Xu Ming quickly covered her mouth with his hand and whispered an explanation.

The fear in Lin An’s eyes gradually faded, replaced by confusion and vigilance.

She didn’t say anything. She merely stared warily at Xu Ming.

Xu Ming said, “Follow me.”

Seeing that she had calmed down, Xu Ming removed his hand from her mouth. He then pulled her into another alley and slipped into an empty courtyard.

Leaning against the wall, Xu Ming and Lin An quietly listened for movement outside.

Tap, tap, tap…

Rapid, heavy footsteps soon echoed through the alley again. Along with them came Zhang Long’s furious, frustrated curses.

“Fuck, that bitch… She’s damn sneaky!”

The maze of interconnected alleys left Zhang Long at a loss. For a moment, he couldn’t figure out which direction Lin An had taken.

“Fuck! That bitch got away again… Ptooey!”

Zhang Long stood there blankly for a moment, looking around. Then he gritted his teeth, spat on the ground, and reluctantly left the alley.

Tap, tap…

Only after the footsteps gradually disappeared did Xu Ming and Lin An slowly emerge from the courtyard.

[Ding! Preliminary Mission completed. Points have been issued. Host, please check your rewards.]

Xu Ming ignored the system notification. At that moment, his attention was entirely focused on Lin An, the second female lead of the novel.

She had a tall, slender figure, with smooth black hair cascading down like a waterfall. Her face was small enough to fit in a palm, while her skin was fair and delicate.

She was a little over 1.6 meters tall and wore an ordinary white T-shirt with blue jeans. She looked lively and youthful, yet there was also an inexplicable aura around her that warned strangers to keep their distance.

However, the feature that best matched the original novel’s description, and the one that stood out the most, was undoubtedly her eyes.

Her narrow, fox-like eyes always seemed to carry the faintest hint of an alluring smile, yet they were paired with an innocent and pure-looking face. Together with her delicate, pointed chin, there was no denying it.

She was beautiful. Seriously beautiful.

In summary, she looked like a female lead at first glance.

Heh…

No wonder she could serve as the female lead during the early part of the novel…

To be fair, her looks really are impressive…

While Xu Ming secretly studied her, Lin An suddenly spoke, “Have you held my hand long enough? Can you let go now?”

Seeing Xu Ming still holding her hand, a trace of disgust abruptly flashed through Lin An’s eyes, and her tone became noticeably colder.

Xu Ming released her and replied, “Hmm, sorry. You seemed to be in trouble, so I thought I’d help you out as an apology for bumping into you earlier. All right, you’re safe now.”

Faced with the girl’s cold and wary gaze, Xu Ming calmly made up an excuse. Then, without another word, he turned around and walked away.

The mission was already complete. Therefore, Xu Ming had absolutely no intention of becoming unnecessarily entangled with this controversial second female lead.

He simply made his escape.

Huh?

He’s just leaving?!

Seeing Xu Ming turn around and leave without the slightest hesitation, Lin An’s attitude suddenly changed.

A hint of curiosity entered her eyes as she studied the unfamiliar young man she had never met before.

After a while, she smiled in mild surprise before turning around and leaving as well.

Heh… That’s fine too…

Now I don’t even have to thank him…

That saves me the trouble…

…

Xu Ming emerged from the alley beneath the evening glow.

System, exchange my Points for money…

Now that the mission was complete, Xu Ming didn’t hesitate. His first decision was to convert all his Points into currency.

There was a simple reason.

School started the day after tomorrow.

What he needed most right now was money, not Combat Mastery.

[Ding! Exchange successful. Host, please check your funds.]

As the system notification sounded, one of Xu Ming’s previously empty pockets suddenly became slightly fuller.

He immediately noticed the change and reached inside to check.

Yep, the withdrawal went through!

Nice!

Xu Ming nodded in satisfaction. Following the road home, he soon arrived at the house where he currently lived.

The moment he opened the door, a middle-aged woman sitting in the living room looked over and said, “You’re back from work, Xiaoming. Dinner’s ready. Go wash your hands, then you can eat. Xiaohui and Xiaoyue are already inside. We’re just waiting for you.”

Xu Ming smiled and replied, “Oh… okay.”

After washing his hands in the bathroom, Xu Ming quickly entered the kitchen.

In this life, Xu Ming still possessed one of the standard protagonist templates: both his parents were dead.

However, there was one difference compared with his previous life.

This time, he had an uncle.

It could be said that without his uncle’s family taking care of him, Xu Ming might have ended up begging on the streets from the age of nine.

While Xu Ming was thinking about this, his younger cousin Xu Hui handed him a bowl of rice and said, “Brother, I already filled your bowl. Here.”

Xu Ming accepted it with a smile and said, “Heh… okay. Thanks, Xiaohui.”

…

After dinner, Xu Ming rested in the living room for a while. Afterward, he took a shower and returned to his room.

He pulled out his phone and was just about to play an online game with his younger cousin when the system’s cold electronic voice suddenly sounded again.

[Ding! Main Mission issued. Host, please make your choice.]

Xu Ming immediately put down his phone and summoned the system interface with his thoughts.

[Main Mission 1: Befriend the protagonist and female lead, help resolve the problems they encounter, and promote the development of their relationship.]

[Main Mission 2: Win over the second female lead, resolve related problems for the protagonist, and promote the development of the protagonist and female lead’s relationship.]

[Choose one of the two missions. Host must make a choice before school begins the day after tomorrow. If the time limit expires, the system will make a random selection.]

Huh???

Wait, what?!

Holy shit! So I transmigrated here just to become an NPC?!

Fuck! I…

Xu Ming was completely dumbfounded.

However, the system showed absolutely no reaction to the storm of curses raging through his mind.

After issuing and explaining the Main Missions, it quickly fell silent again, leaving Xu Ming alone in his room to contemplate his miserable life.

Fuck me…

How the hell am I supposed to choose?!

Neither side is easy to deal with!

System, are you trying to get me killed?!

Xu Ming stared at the missions displayed on the panel, his expression turning as ugly as if he had swallowed something disgusting.

He collapsed into his chair and stared helplessly at the bookshelf in front of his desk.

The Prodigal Son Returns.

Looking at the novel as a whole, almost none of its major characters were easy to deal with.

The title alone was enough to tell what kind of person the protagonist was.

Considering the protagonist’s background, following him around certainly wouldn’t leave Xu Ming starving nine meals out of ten over three days. However, there would definitely be no shortage of troublesome bullshit, especially during the early part of the novel.

Damn it, forget it…

I’d rather follow Bear Grylls…

Wasn’t the system basically ordering him to clean up the protagonist’s messes?

This was ridiculous.

No way!

Absolutely fucking not!

But Mission 2…

Holy… shit…

This one is just as difficult!

Recalling how fans of the original novel had described the second female lead, Xu Ming immediately felt another headache coming on.

Suddenly, Mission 1 didn’t seem quite so terrible anymore.

Xu Ming wasn’t making this up. There was evidence.

Fans of the original novel had described the second female lead like this: pitiful yet hateful, crazy, spoiled-princess syndrome, scheming, two-faced, inexplicable, selfish, a social butterfly, obsessive, world-weary, delinquent girl… and so on.

Among that long string of labels, nearly 90% were negative.

Moreover, aside from the so-called “world-weary” description, practically every other label fit her frighteningly well.

Looking at it this way, forget about winning her over. Xu Ming suspected that simply figuring out how to get along with her would already be a serious problem.

After all, her entire character was designed around being crazy, sensitive, suspicious, and absurdly calculating!

Damn it…

Are you trying to force me into a dead end?!

You’re not giving me any chance at all!

I… Sigh…

Lust is truly a knife hanging over a man’s head…

I’m never reading erotic… I’m never reading those explicit romance novels again…

After thinking it over carefully, Xu Ming ultimately chose Mission 1.

The reason was simple.

This was reality, and unlike the protagonist, Xu Ming was nothing more than an ordinary person.

He could still tell the difference between an accident and a story, between living in color and ending up as a black-and-white memorial photograph.

Xu Ming made his decision.

System, I choose the first one.

[Ding! Main Mission confirmed. Related Side Missions are now being generated.]

[Main Mission: Befriend the protagonist and female lead, help resolve the problems they encounter, and promote the development of their relationship.]

[Completion Reward: 1 million Points, distributed in stages.]

[Failure Penalty: Relevant memories will be erased, and Host will become a perfect NPC of this world.]

This…

Holy shit!

There’s a punishment for failing too?!

Fine, fine… So this is how you want to play, System?!

Fuck! I…