Surviving In This Filthy World As A Novel Villain

Alex himself had a reputation for being straight-laced, following the law to the letter.

His businesses stayed clean. In fact, there was that story about him personally discovering a drug deal going down in another one of his clubs and immediately calling the cops, handing the narcotics division a major win.

That kind of action earned a lot of respect from the officers.

Building factories, running real businesses, giving real money to charity, obeying laws, not acting like a reckless rich kid racing his car or ignoring traffic rules, even buying the station new cars...

Looked at from any angle, Alex seemed like a model entrepreneur for the city.

And yet... something felt off to Jed. He had this nagging gut feeling that the squeaky-clean image wasn't the whole story. That maybe there were some less-than-legal things happening behind the curtain.

"You must be Mr. Alex, right?"

Jed quickly walked forward, slipping past the other officers until he stood beside Lane. He put on his most harmless, friendly smile.

Alex instantly tensed up inside. As he mentally activated the [Red Alert] skill, his fingers discreetly tightened around the [Bad Luck Talisman] hidden in his hand.

If this crime-solving, System-using Protagonist tried anything, Alex was ready to hit him with the same kind of bad luck that had tormented that 'Doctor' guy.

'Don't trust the innocent act or the handsome face,' Alex reminded himself. 'That's Protagonist 101. Only an idiot falls for that crap.'

"Hello, Officer," the young cop said, introducing himself with that same easygoing smile firmly in place. "It's really great to finally meet you, Mr. Alex."

Alex met his gaze and asked flatly, "How great?"

[The Protagonist 'Jed' has a Mentality Crack. Congratulations! You've earned 90 Critical Points.]

Jed nearly choked. 'What's wrong with this guy? Why can't he just react normally?'

"Real... real great, I guess," Jed stuttered out, completely thrown off. He'd never felt so lost for words in his life.

"You're getting happy a bit early," Alex said, offering a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

[The Protagonist 'Jed' has a Mentality Crack. Congratulations! You've earned 50 Critical Points.]

'Are you crazy?!' Jed wanted to yell. 'You're a rich boss! If you've got issues, go see someone!' He felt his chest tighten and had to fight to keep his cool. He managed another tight, awkward smile.

The friendly warmth was completely gone from his face now.

"Just messing with you, don't worry about it," Alex waved a hand casually, though inside, he was full of disdain.

'What a loser. A Level 7 Son of Luck? He barely gives off any Collapse Points compared to Level 5 Eric Vaughn. He's not even generating as much as Eric Vaughn did after his level dropped.'

Useless!

"Mr. Alex, you really have a unique sense of humor," Jed said, his smile now totally fake. "Anyway, do you happen to follow the news much?"

Alex calmly looked at Jed's serious but kinda clueless face. "What do you think?"

[The Protagonist 'Jed' has a Mentality Crack. Congratulations! You've earned 50 Critical Points.]

Jed felt like his head was splitting. 'Seriously? I ask if you follow the news, and you just toss the question back at me?'

'Think you're being clever? It's just plain awkward!'

Jed forced another smile and pushed ahead, feeling stuck. "Okay, well... whether you follow it or not... I was just wondering what you thought about it?"

'What do I think? I think I use my phone to read news...' Alex complained silently. Talking to this detective Son of Luck, Jed, meant keeping his mouth shut as much as possible. These protagonist types were way too good at picking things apart. Say one wrong thing, and they'd grab onto it and never let go.

So incredibly annoying.

"I heard about it," Alex said cautiously. "I've already asked the cancer experts at Reid Hospital to check on the situation. I'm covering all the medical bills for those students involved. Right now, we're just hoping the police can wrap up the case soon."

"You've got a real sense of justice, Mr. Alex," Jed said, his friendly smile back in place. "Speaking of things happening lately, after Logan, the CEO of the Kleinberg Industries, vanished, his company was a total mess. Things only calmed down because you stepped in and took over the Kleinberg Industries, right?"

'The Kleinberg Industries, huh? So that's his angle...' Alex became even more careful. He actually thought about just slapping the [Bad Luck Talisman] on this guy right then and there.

"Officer Jed, you shouldn't spread rumors," Alex corrected smoothly, casually putting his hands in his pockets. "I never 'took over' the Kleinberg Industries. I was simply helping Miss Sera."

"Sera is one of the few friends I have," Alex went on calmly. "When her family ran into trouble, she asked me for help. I couldn't just ignore her, could I? You'd do the same, right, Officer Jed?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Jed mumbled, knowing full well Alex wasn't giving him a single straight answer.

'Something weird is definitely going on here.' Alex was much more wary of this Protagonist Jed, than he'd ever been of Eric.

Sure, Eric had those three incredible masters, but even their skills couldn't match how wild and unpredictable a System could be. Who knew what strange abilities or show-off moves Jed's System might give him?

Meanwhile, Jed felt sick to his stomach. Before meeting Alex, he'd imagined him as some cool, mysterious, distant CEO, maybe with a dark secret or two.

He never, ever dreamed the guy would be so shameless and slippery with his words.

Jed instantly regretted even starting this conversation. But just walking away now felt wrong, unsatisfying. It had been more than half a month since Logan and his family were taken by the Gang after getting off their plane, and there had been zero news.

Jed secretly feared they'd already been... silenced.

What really bothered Jed was how someone knew Logan's exact flight information, they even knew which gate the family would use. It was as if they were lying in wait specifically for them.

It wasn't a random attack; it felt carefully planned.

But why would Logan have enemies, especially since they were based way over in another country?

There was no obvious connection.

The only possible link... was Alex.

Jed had looked into it after the family vanished.

The whole reason Logan was frantically trying to sell his Kleinberg Industries shares, even dumping his houses and fancy cars, was because right after his father's funeral, Alex had personally promised Sera he would help her "deal with" Logan.