I am a Gao Fushuai Villain

I initially planned to give this a 5-star rating, but I found the story a bit slow. Some chapters barely qualify as chapters, consisting of just a few words and sentences.

On the bright side, it is quite entertaining.

What hooked me the most in this novel is the main character's genius in planning, especially when he corners the 'main character of the world' and manipulates scenes from behind the scenes.

However, the aspects that turned me off are how viciously he manipulates the heroines, particularly the ice-cold female president and the half-blood beauty. If it were at Ayanokoji's level (as seen in *Classroom of the Elite*), it would have been better, but his manipulation is excessive.

From another perspective, I do appreciate his decisiveness.

The main issue, and the one that annoys me the most, is the inconsistency in his skill leveling within the system. Sometimes, when the plot demands it, his skills will suddenly upgrade to god-like levels, only to be downgraded to advanced or master levels a few chapters later. Additionally, when he pays points to upgrade his skills using his assets or money, there’s no deduction reflected in his status checks afterward.

While the accumulation of counterattack points can be considered plausible (since he might ignore the notification sounds for these points or gain them through interactions with heroines that aren't always reported), the overall inconsistency remains a significant drawback.

I agree with most of what the Translator said about this novel. However, I want to add a few points. The original main character (MC) is an arrogant, petty scumbag. Apart from his medical skills and martial arts, there's nothing redeeming about him. While the new MC isn't exactly a saint, he looks a lot better in comparison. As you read the novel, you'll start to think that the original MC deserves everything the new MC does to him. He's a mentally unstable moron with serious anger issues.

Imagine a scenario where the arrogant main character has women falling for him left and right, thinking he's invincible, and using powerful allies to protect him as the story progresses. In this novel, however, that guy isn't protected by the protagonist's halo and gets what he deserves. The new MC's role is to gradually strip away that halo and plot armor, ensuring the story doesn't unfold as it was originally intended.

The original MC was a mercenary who considered it an honorable profession. He's rude, overly loud, and extremely arrogant, essentially seeing himself as a god. He's also a rapist and an all-around scumbag. His first ally is someone who runs the underworld, which speaks volumes about his character. He's petty and so arrogant that he thinks a top-level beauty from one of the four noble families in the city would like him just based on his looks. If you even slightly insult him, he'll go to extreme lengths to get revenge.

Despite these flaws, the story is entertaining. The heroines are a bit bland but have their own personalities and interests. You'll feel really bad for how the new MC treats his ex-fiancée later on. The plot is engaging, and I'd give it a 4/5. The only reason it's not a 5/5 is because both the new and original MCs are scumbags, and their treatment of those around them can be frustrating at times.

Another thing to note is that trying to make sense of the story's events is futile. Many developments are highly unrealistic. For example, imagine you're outside throwing rocks, and a rich person comes up and chats with you for a minute. Suddenly, you get a call that your company is almost bankrupt, and stocks are plummeting. The rich person, because of that single conversation, would risk life and limb and spend millions to save you. That's the kind of unrealistic development you can expect in this novel. Don't try to understand the logic behind it; it will just give you a headache.

It used to be decent junk food, but now it can't even manage that. The chapters are so short and lack content that you'd need to stack at least five or six to equal one chapter of another junk food novel.

For example: the group approaches a cat shop and walks in, one chapter. The main character (MC) pets a cat, and the women around him swoon, one chapter. The MC adopts one of the cats, one chapter. The group walks home and decides to go swimming, one chapter. The MC goes to a changing room, and the women around him swoon at the thought of him removing his clothes, one chapter. The MC comes out of the changing room, and the women around him swoon at his torso, one chapter.

This pattern continues for the last 200 or so chapters. I think the original author has run out of ideas and is just milking it to buy time.

I typically lower my standards for urban/fantasy/romance novels because I enjoy reading fun and entertaining stories between more serious ones. However, this novel made me reconsider indulging in the genre. Specifically, it shows how an author can portray a manipulative and sociopathic character—not just as a selling point, but with the narrator justifying his actions. Seriously?

This novel starts delivering the fun from the first chapter and kept me hooked until the last available chapter. It’s very fast-paced, and the main character (MC) becomes incredibly powerful and skilled very quickly. While I’m here for that kind of gao fushuai villain, it still left a bad taste in my mouth.

I’ve read my fair share of novels with hypocrisy, racism, rape, etc., and I can appreciate them for what they are. But this novel’s twisted portrayal of rooting for an MC who rewards goodwill with manipulation, love with emotional dominance, and expects total submission, was particularly unsettling.

I wouldn’t mind if these actions were directed at characters who deserved it, but he does it to everyone. It’s often justified as necessary to prevent the main female characters from getting close to the "protagonist," requiring him to be ruthless. The turning point for me came when we’re "rewarded" with the MC’s inner thoughts, as if the author was afraid we might think the MC felt guilty about treating people like disposable rags. He does it out of necessity, but also because he enjoys it.

I can handle this, but the real issue is that the face-slapping and showing-off scenes are mediocre, outlandish (which can be fun at times), or the author relies too much on telling rather than showing (the most critical flaw). Even my suspension of disbelief, honed by years of reading both good and bad novels, was broken multiple times due to characters not reacting appropriately to the MC’s god-level skills. I can understand strangers, but the parents too!?

There are some good moments, but while reading, you get the nagging feeling that the MC must have a hidden debuff aura draining IQ from other characters. Smh.

Incredibly dull. The main character (MC) is a Mary Sue who encounters no challenges or setbacks, leaving the story devoid of tension or suspense. It’s not engaging at all, and it's the worst Modern Era System novel I've come across. Perhaps it improves later on, but from the start, I could tell it would be similar to "Omniscient Reader," where the MC knows everything and the supposed problems aren’t really issues. This makes the story extremely tedious.

I enjoy knowing the MC will ultimately succeed, but it’s more interesting when they achieve victory in unexpected ways, keeping the narrative fresh. Even better if the MC suffers a defeat and then achieves victory through revenge.

It really is an interesting twist on the Urban genre where the main character (MC) plays as a villain and counter-attacks the protagonist with the help of a system. Essentially, the MC’s job is to eliminate the protagonist, but he cannot do it directly; instead, he must gradually strip away the protagonist’s halo, luck, and plot armor. Since the MC knows the entire story of the novel he is in, his strategy involves stealing the protagonist’s harem, support, and opportunities, effectively reversing the narrative to harm the protagonist.

The most intriguing aspect of the story is how the MC begins his journey before the protagonist is even introduced. He meticulously plans and counters every move the protagonist might make, and the system rewards him for these actions. Having read up to chapter 385, I can say that the story primarily revolves around the MC stealing what would have been the protagonist’s harem.

The narrative is very linear and easy to follow, and even the raw text is quite readable. It follows a similar structure to other urban novels, but with the unique twist of the MC having a specific mission (to steal everything the protagonist would have). So far, the story hasn’t delved into themes of racism or overt nationalism.

However, there are a few aspects I don’t particularly enjoy:

- It seems too easy for the MC to upgrade his skills to god-like levels.
- Despite being the villain, the MC doesn’t really come across as one, and the protagonist doesn’t act like a traditional hero.
- Although the concept of the butterfly effect is mentioned, the story doesn’t significantly deviate from the original timeline, even after the MC changes many major events.

**Spoiler:**
At first, based on the system named "Villain Counter-Attacking System," I assumed this was a world-hopping novel. However, it became clear by chapter 1+ that it isn’t. The novel features multiple protagonists, each introduced as the current one is defeated and the system is upgraded. As of chapter 385, we are still dealing with the first protagonist. I’m curious to see how the author will handle the second, third, and subsequent protagonists, and I hope the story avoids too many plot holes.

Awarding a low score just because it's a harem or because the main character (MC) acts like a villain is utterly ridiculous. Read the damn tags and title. It shouldn't be surprising that the MC treats the women as targets to be tamed, unless you have an IQ at room temperature. It also shouldn't be surprising that women act a certain way to please the man they like, except perhaps to a specific reviewer who seems to be the pot calling the kettle black.

This is a frustrating novel to read, not because of a lack of plot—although there is barely any to begin with—but because it wastes so much time on filler content. Sometimes, a single uneventful day can span 60-80 chapters.

The story follows Lin Yuan, a person from Earth who has been transmigrated into an urban romance novel he once read, a novel he must have enjoyed immensely given his detailed recall of its events. He finds himself in the body of Lin Yuan, one of the villains of the novel, who is the heir to a powerful conglomerate. His fiancée, who despises him for being an annoying simp, will eventually be stolen by the protagonist, Ye Feng, a super mercenary who returns to China after years abroad.

Lin Yuan is equipped with a system that allows him to increase his attributes and skills by using points. These points can be acquired by stealing from opportunists, obstructing Ye Feng, or increasing the favorability of the heroines in the novel. This system essentially encourages him to engage in notorious behavior, which aligns with his inclinations. Additionally, he can convert money into points, which is particularly useful since he starts with billions in his account.

Don’t be misled by this premise and assume the original protagonist will play a significant role; he is barely present and never poses any real challenge to Lin Yuan. In fact, nothing truly challenges Lin Yuan. Whenever he needs to accomplish something, he boosts his skill level to a divine level, ensuring he performs at a superhuman standard, often better than any human has ever achieved. He does this even in situations that are not critical, and if he lacks points, he simply converts money into points to achieve his goal.

A typical day in the novel involves Lin Yuan engaging in 2 to 3 different scenarios where he interacts with heroines or important characters from the novel. Each scenario can take anywhere from 8 to 40 chapters to resolve, and the next day follows the same pattern. This repetition becomes tedious, especially when an important plot point is promised to occur in a month, yet more than 150 chapters pass without even a week elapsing. No wonder the novel has over 1200 chapters and is still ongoing.

On a side note, there are too many heroines. By the point I dropped (chapter 463), there were around 12 of them. Only one has reached complete favorability, and Lin Yuan has only engaged in intimate relations with two, including the one with full favorability. So, if you're reading for that kind of content, be forewarned.

The novel has a unique charm. If you're looking for a peak wish-fulfillment harem fantasy, nothing beats this. It’s not a novel with deep settings or complex characters; it’s simply a "feels good" novel. However, I can confidently say that among all the "feels good" novels I’ve read, this is one of the best. Here’s a disclaimer that might be a deal-breaker for some:

- The main character (MC) is a scumbag. His motives are not much different from those of the "MC" (the protagonist of the world he transmigrated to). He does several things that are outright despicable and, in many ways, is even worse than the "MC."
- Despite his flaws, the MC is respected, loved, and everyone wants to be close to him. What makes this work (at least for me) is that he doesn’t gain recognition through petty acts like slapping people.
- The MC is overpowered.

If you can overlook these aspects, it’s an enjoyable read.

The heroines are well-crafted. Each has her own distinct personality and desires. The best part of the story is how the MC wins their affection. Regardless of how it’s framed, the romance is solid compared to other urban/harem or shoujo stories on the site.

Of course, not everything is realistic, but here’s my defense:

The protagonist is in a fictional world, not a real one. And the world he inhabits is a typical urban/harem setting. It would be odd if the characters had a lot of depth in such a context.

It's not terrible, but it certainly isn't good either. Compared to "I Became the Rich Second-Generation Villain," this novel doesn't offer anything better. The main character isn't as candid about his flaws, and everything seems too convenient for him. The writing often treats the readers like they're not very smart, and the plot is overly simplified. There's barely any challenge; it's just about watching a guy get everything handed to him. The genre is meant to satirize protagonists with golden fingers, but this one seems to have missed the point. The main character here has it even easier than the typical protagonist. , don't bother; go read "I Became the Rich Second-Generation Villain" instead.

Sure, here is the rewritten content:

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Just pure MC picking up girls. And I f*cking love it. There’s no face-slapping bullshit; it’s just the MC day by day planning how to raise Favorability with the girls. The main goal was to get counter points, which he could earn through interactions with the girls, but it ended up becoming the main plot. The part about him beating up the original MC turned into a subplot, which I don’t mind.

The MC also gets super overpowered. With his counter points, he can basically master any skill and increase his Charm, Fitness, Speed, and Strength.

It’s great for me (an incel) because I just want to see s*x, but I don’t want to see s*x without any effort. It takes a hundred or two chapters for him to unlock the H scene with a girl.

It’s all-around great for people who like harem but are sick and tired of the face-slapping prevalent in most Chinese novels.

The MC’s handsome face and amazing body are often mentioned, which could get annoying, but not for me.

The translation isn’t perfect, but it doesn’t melt your brain.

(This review is based on the raws as a whole, specifically the Chinese version, not taking into account the translation after chapter 200.)

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At the start of the story, I found it pretty good as it was the first villain novel I read, and it was entertaining to see the story of an average urban character from the opposite side. It’s a casual underdog story of a person who is destined to lose everything, but he decides to change his fate and approach, making himself the center of the story and slowly pushing the actual main character (MC) out of the narrative, giving a glimpse at some of the clichés that we often take for granted.

However, the novelty of the story became less entertaining for me, and I started to notice that the new MC—or villain, to be precise—seemed robotic. His rather normal treatment of Wanxi gave me hope to continue.

**Spoiler**

I found the way he treats his arranged fiancée, Ruyan, to be rather too harsh. He agrees that his previous self was an idiot, and Ruyan agrees with him and doesn’t want to marry him, so I don’t see the reason for his ego to be hurt that she didn’t like him. (Some of the initial slaps were acceptable, but it soon became too much and childish.)

There are going to be spoilers (past the current translation), so read only if you are okay with spoilers up to around chapter 750.

The most effective way of gaining counterpoints is to win over the heroines, but after Wanxi and Mei Yuxian, the rest of the heroines become too bland. Here’s what I mean:

To get Ruyan, he just keeps ignoring her, and she automatically wants to love him more, until she becomes a flat character, and he gets her.

To get Shaying, who is proud, he embarrasses, disrespects, and brainwashes her into liking him.

For Chi Qiyan, he is better than her at everything to gain a little affection from her—chess, fighting, shooting, music, drawing, scriptures, and more. Some of these, I could just ignore, but later he stoops so low as to use his cheat to make cats like him more, so he can childishly claim another victory over her. The author makes her like him more for that...

Ning Mei (a character not yet introduced) is blackmailed into liking him, and while she is S-type, his actions are way too much.

...

...

While there is clearly an attempt at creating unique characters, the simple, repeated method of winning their affections makes it too two-dimensional for me.

He claims to be better than the MC, yet he exclusively follows his path and no girl who wasn’t originally part of the MC’s harem joins his. He pretty much replicates the MC’s moves, going into the same business, medicine, mask-making, and more. For all the criticism he directs at the story and the MC, he just follows the same path, only being a tiny bit better than Ye Fang, getting there ahead of him by one step.

While I can see his reasons for being ruthless to enemies, you notice that he also treats others who are not his enemies with the same ruthlessness, which makes the story less likable.

The story goes downhill as he uses the same moves repeatedly to win the affections of the girls. He keeps beating them in everything they are good at, keeps humiliating them so they can like him more (it reads like one of those videos where a mouse learns to press a button to get food). With Chi Qiyan, you can guess the next 5-10 chapters will be him beating her at something else, and her affection increasing by 5-10 points. Shaying will get humiliated, Mei will get forced, and so on and on.

In summary, the action element gets quite boring as the enemy, Ye Fang, has no room for growth; he is always one step behind, so there is no real tension. In other overpowered (OP) MC stories, you get stronger and stronger enemies to create an illusion of tension, but here it seems like he just keeps hitting a person who is already down. There is no satisfaction in his victories after a point.

The girls become boring as there is a cycle of the same repeated moves that slowly move the romance progress bar in the MC/Villain’s favor. The MC seems obsessed with Ye Fang’s plot and girls, and he uses Ye Fang’s moves to get them, making the process rather dull. He doesn’t really make anything of himself, apart from brief moments at the beginning of the novel. (Large harem, but all are Ye Fang’s girls; best knowledge of medicine, but just uses it to defeat Ye Fang—he could do so much more with that knowledge, given his wealth.)

So far, for me, the beginning of the story was rather interesting, but later on, it felt like 80% repetition of the same plot with only 20% new things. I can’t rate it higher than 2. However, the translation is good, so I’ll add 0.5 points for that, bringing the rating to 2.5.

Edit: Also, the filler words describing the heroines take up a majority of many short chapters, which gets boring and annoying.