Segment 1
Consciousness returned to Yi Lang not as a gentle dawn, but as a thunderclap inside his own skull.
A symphony of discordant sensations assaulted him. The oppressive throb of a bassline vibrated through the plush leather beneath him. The cloying, mixed scents of expensive perfume, spilled champagne, and human sweat formed a thick miasma in the air. His mouth tasted like a forgotten battlefield—dry, bitter, and utterly defeated.
What in the nine hells…
He forced his eyes open, his vision swimming before focusing. He was slumped in a semi-private booth of what was unmistakably a high-end nightclub. Opulent, dark wood, soft golden lighting, and a sea of gyrating, beautifully dressed bodies. A kaleidoscope of pulsing lights strobed across the scene, illuminating faces locked in expressions of vacuous euphoria.
This was not his bedroom. This was not his penthouse. This was… decadent. Wasteful. Familiar.
A torrent of memories, sharp and fragmented, slammed into his mind. A lifetime of struggle—clawing his way up from the gutters, building an empire with his bare hands, becoming a name that inspired fear and respect across the globe. A lifetime of power.
And then, another set of memories, softer, more spoiled, yet tinged with a profound sense of impending doom. A life of unimaginable privilege. A grandfather whose shadow stretched across the nation. A father who was a pillar of the state. A mother who commanded a financial empire. His name… Yi Lang. The sole heir. The young master.
The destined cannon fodder.
Reborn? Transmigrated? The concepts, once the stuff of fictional entertainment, now felt as real as the headache pounding behind his temples. He had read about such worlds. Worlds stitched together from countless stories, where ordinary men rose to become kings, blessed by fate itself. And in every one of those stories, there was always a villain. A privileged, arrogant young master who existed solely to be humiliated, crushed, and stripped of his wealth and women by the rising protagonist.
He, Yi Lang, was that villain.
A cold, familiar smirk tugged at his lips. It was the same expression he'd worn decades ago when a rival corporation had tried to bankrupt him. They had failed. Miserably.
So, this is the new game board, he thought, his mind, the mind of a self-made titan, already whirring into action, analyzing the variables. The pieces are different, the rules are twisted, but the objective remains the same: domination.
Just as the grim amusement settled in, a voice, cold, mechanical, and utterly devoid of emotion, echoed directly within his consciousness.
[ Ding! Host's soul resonance confirmed. Destiny is rejected. The path of defiance is chosen. ]
[ The Destiny Villain System is now activated! ]
A translucent, blue-tinted interface materialized before his eyes, superimposed over the chaotic nightclub.
— Destiny Villain System —
Host: Yi Lang
Age:20
Constitution:18 (Peak Human Fitness)
Charm:98 (Supernaturally Alluring)
Destiny Villain Value (DVV):0
Skills:None
System Backpack:Empty
[ Core Principle Acknowledged: This world is a stage for 'Sons of Luck' (Protagonists). They are favored by the World's Will, possessing 'Luck Points' that grant them plot armor, serendipitous encounters, and loyal followers. Your objective is to identify, confront, and systematically plunder their luck, derail their destinies, and claim all they were meant to possess.]
[ Primary Functions Unlocked: Character Panel, Lottery Center (Cost: 100 DVV), System Mall (Locked).]
Yi Lang's smirk widened. A system. A cheat. In his previous life, he had conquered the world with nothing but his wits and will. Now, he was being handed a divine tool specifically designed to break the so-called "chosen ones." It was almost too generous.
Plunder their luck, you say? His internal monologue was a sharp, calculating thing. I didn't need a system to do that in my last life. I just took what I wanted. But if it makes the process more… efficient, who am I to refuse?
"Yi Lang! Yo, man! You alive in there?" A voice slurred beside him.
He turned his head slowly. A young man, dressed in a garishly expensive shirt, was slouched next to him, a half-empty bottle of cognac in his hand. His face was flushed, his eyes glazed over.
— System Identification —
Name:Wang Lei
Age:21
Gender:Male
Appearance:72/99
Status:Useless Sidekick / Cannon Fodder Comrade. Son of a provincial real estate magnate. In the original trajectory, his family's assets would be seized by the 'Mercenary King' protagonist in 6 months, reducing him to a beggar.
Cannon fodder, Yi Lang labeled him instantly. Expendable. But even expendable pieces had their uses.
Before Yi Lang could formulate a response, a shift in the atmosphere prickled his senses. It was a subtle thing, a change in the air pressure, a slight hush that fell over a section of the crowd near the VIP entrance.
His eyes, one molten gold, one storm-grey, narrowed and focused like a predator's.
There she was.
A woman glided into the club, and the very space seemed to rearrange itself around her. She was tall and poised, wearing a simple but devastatingly elegant black dress that contrasted with her pale, flawless skin. Her hair was like a waterfall of midnight silk, framing a face of such cold, classic beauty it could have been carved from jade. Her eyes, the color of a winter sky, scanned the room with an expression of utter disdain, as if she were examining a particularly uninteresting insect colony.
— System Identification —
Name:Mu Wanyan
Age:22
Gender:Female
Appearance:96/99
Status:Ice-Cold CEO Fiancée. Chairwoman of the rising Sky-Glance Corporation. Your officially betrothed, a arrangement made by your families. In the original destiny, she is fated to despise you for your wastrel ways, eventually falling for the 'Genius Entrepreneur' protagonist and helping him dismantle the Yi family's commercial empire. She is a key 'Heroine' node.
A key node, Yi Lang mused, his gaze drinking her in. She was magnificent. Precisely the kind of extraordinary beauty that captivated him. And she was his. Or at least, she was supposed to be.
Her eyes met his across the room. The disdain in them deepened, crystallizing into pure, unadulterated contempt. It was a look he was apparently used to receiving from her.
In the original script, the Yi Lang of this world would have wilted under that gaze, or worse, drunkenly stumbled over to make a fool of himself, further cementing her loathing.
The new Yi Lang simply held her gaze, his own expression unreadable. A slow, deliberate smile spread across his face. It wasn't the lecherous grin she expected. It was calm, knowing, and utterly unnerving. It was the smile of a man who had just identified his most valuable asset and his greatest strategic challenge, all wrapped in one breathtaking package.
Mu Wanyan's flawless composure flickered for a fraction of a second. A faint, almost imperceptible line appeared between her eyebrows. This… was not the reaction she had anticipated.
[ Ding! Host has successfully caused an emotional fluctuation in Heroine 'Mu Wanyan' (Confusion + Annoyance). Destiny Villain Value +50! ]
Fifty points for a flicker of confusion? Yi Lang thought, his inner voice laced with dark amusement. This is going to be more entertaining than I thought.
He leaned back into the plush booth, the ghost of that unnerving smile still playing on his lips. The game was afoot. The first move was his.