“What?! Everyone Except Me Is a Villain (GL) - Chapter 15

The driver fell silent, as if the situation had suddenly become too complicated for him to handle. Ning Jin could tell he was flustered, but at this point, she couldn’t find anyone more reliable than “Uncle Hat.”

“Miss, why don’t I call a Didi for you instead? It’s perfectly safe, don’t worry!” he added hastily, trying to sound reassuring.

Ning Jin felt a little guilty. Realistically, the drive to her current villa only took ten minutes. But in ten minutes, anything could happen kidnapping, assault, a car crash. For a daughter of the Zhen family, danger was as routine as breakfast.

From what she remembered, she’d been kidnapped over a hundred times in her life. Seventy percent were due to the Zhen family’s enemies, twenty percent were from greedy criminals who thought the Zhens were an easy payday, and the last ten percent… well, no one ever found out what happened there.

If this “Five-in-One” world truly was a game obsessed with death, then all her experience points were earned through dying.

“Miss, are you still there? Don’t wander off wait until I.”

“I’m here,” she replied slowly, still thinking.

Should she call for Uncle Hat, or should she trust this man who had been her driver for five years? A flat tire like this never happened by accident it was always the prelude to something bigger. She had to treat every detail as a possible threat.

Warning: Hostile intent detected!

The message from her system flashed before her eyes. By the time Ning Jin made her next move, she already sensed the hostility closing in. She walked quickly toward the guard booth, seeking what little safety she could.

“Miss, do you need us to call a car for you?” one of the guards asked.

“I think someone’s following me,” she said quietly.

“What?!”

The driver’s panicked voice came through the phone. Even he couldn’t stay calm. Everyone in the city knew what kind of family the Zhens were, and that Zhen Batian, her father, had made a public spectacle of her transfer to another school. Outwardly, it was an act of fatherly devotion—but really, it was bait, meant to lure out the enemies who wanted to harm “the Zhen family’s daughter.”

“Don’t be afraid.”

The driver went quiet again. He wasn’t even sure who should be more afraid at this point. But given how often Ning Jin had been kidnapped, maybe this was all just… normal for her.

“If you can’t get here, it means someone doesn’t want me to go home,” Ning Jin continued calmly. “Uncle Liu, can you guarantee you’ll find a trustworthy driver?”

She paused, then added, “And make sure it’s a decent car. Preferably one with a few bodyguards inside. I really don’t want to spend my first night of the school year sleeping in some cold, dark basement.”

The other end went silent. What she was asking for wasn’t easy no one could pull that off without involving the main Zhen family. But that wasn’t her concern. The Zhens would never let her die before Zhen Xier officially reclaimed her “real daughter” title. They’d squeeze every last drop of usefulness out of her first.

“…All right. I’ll handle it,” the driver finally replied. Oddly, his tone carried a new firmness that made her uneasy. Maybe the “flat tire” had been part of a plan all along. But whose plan? Zhen Batian’s? Or her stepmother Pei Fuliu’s, the true power behind the family?

“Miss, what brings you to the guard station?” one of the guards asked, interrupting her thoughts. They all stood a little straighter, nervous but attentive. She was clearly not someone they interacted with every day.

Ning Jin smiled, putting her charm to good use. “Nothing serious. I just wanted to ask where you all trained. I’m looking to learn some self-defense but haven’t found a reliable teacher yet.”

That one sentence made the guards instantly friendlier. They were all solidly built and clearly well-trained whether or not they could actually fend off real attackers didn’t matter. What mattered was that danger always shrank in the presence of numbers.

She chatted easily, asking questions about martial arts and defense moves. The malicious presence behind her flickered in and out of detection, circling like a vulture that didn’t dare swoop down.

About ten minutes later, her phone rang again. The driver informed her that the new car had arrived. Ning Jin looked toward the gate and froze.

A bright red sports car idled by the curb. And stepping out of it was the one man she least wanted to see, aside from Zhen Batian himself Zhen Wangzi.

Of course, he was a villain too. The kind who enjoyed forcing what wasn’t his, though compared to the others, his evil came off more like stupidity.

“Heh, aren’t you lucky? Big brother came to pick you up,” he said with a smirk. He was dressed casually, like he’d just come from college, a few textbooks tossed onto the passenger seat. Even his sunglasses couldn’t hide the sneer curling his lips.

When Ning Jin approached, he stiffened slightly, like he half-expected her to attack him.

They had grown up in the same house, but Zhen Wangzi had always hated her for not being the sweet, docile sister he wanted. She, on the other hand, had been trained in every skill imaginable and knew how to fight. He couldn’t beat her, couldn’t outtalk her, and eventually helped convince their father to send her away.

They barely saw each other over the years, and only recently had things calmed a little. But in this life, something was off. Why was he here?

“What are you doing here?” she asked flatly.

“Came to visit her,” he said lightly, jerking his chin toward the school. “Didn’t expect to get mobbed by fangirls on the way out.”

“Her” obviously meant Zhen Xier, the real daughter. Zhen Wangzi had always known the family’s secret and adored his younger sister. Their father’s strict orders forbade him from seeing her too often, but clearly, he hadn’t been listening.

Ning Jin’s mind spun. Each of her 138 rebirths had been full of hidden traps, and this one was no different. Every corner was a locked diary, every page filled with secrets she had yet to uncover.

“Oh,” she replied simply, glancing around for the car her driver had supposedly arranged.

“What are you looking for?” Zhen Wangzi frowned, taking off his sunglasses.

“The car I called for myself.”

“You? Call a car?” He snorted. “You’re the Zhen family’s young lady. Shouldn’t your driver be picking you up? Or did you sell him out for pocket change?”

His disdain was written all over his face.

At that moment, the system flashed another alert someone was still following her. But with Zhen Wangzi here, a weak and arrogant liability, she couldn’t predict what might happen next.

Her gaze slid back to his car, and an idea formed.

“This your new ride? Wow, it’s gorgeous,” she said with a bright smile.

Zhen Wangzi, completely oblivious, basked in her praise. For once, she was acting like a normal little sister.

“I can’t really tell how amazing it is just by looking,” she added innocently. “Why don’t you let me try the driver’s seat?”

He hesitated but only for a second. Her tone, her smile, her eyes he fell for all of it. Before he realized what he was doing, he was sitting in the passenger seat while she slid behind the wheel.

“This really is a beautiful car,” Ning Jin said softly, running her fingers over the steering wheel. Through the rearview mirror, she spotted a shadowed vehicle in the distance inching closer danger approaching fast.

The driver her old chauffeur had sent was nowhere to be seen. Dead, most likely. Or maybe just a test. Either way, she couldn’t afford to gamble her life away.

“Pretty cool, right? My car’s the best,” Zhen Wangzi said proudly.

“How do you start it? Is it hard to drive?” she asked, feigning inexperience.

He leaned over and pointed to the ignition. “Just press ”

Before he could finish, the engine roared to life, and Ning Jin slammed the gas pedal.

“AHHH! What are you doing?!”

Zhen Wangzi went pale, fumbling for his seatbelt.

“I don’t know,” she said calmly, lifting her hands from the wheel. “The car just… wanted to go.”

“ARE YOU CRAZY?!”

But her driving was flawless, steady, sharp, intentional. Every move calculated. Her lips curled into a faint smile.

If they were truly going to kill her tonight… well, taking Zhen Wangzi the precious son of the Zhen family, with her would make things interesting. Maybe she could finally survive these cursed twenty-four hours.

“Ning, you’re insane! Brake! Brake, damn it!”

He was trembling now, realizing this wasn’t panic, it was precision. Just like when they were kids. Every time he thought he had the upper hand, she’d prove she was always three steps ahead.

“Sorry, dear brother,” she said sweetly. “But someone’s chasing us.”

Her tone was light, almost cheerful, even as the car sped faster. She maneuvered like a professional racer because she was.

After all, in one of her past lives, she’d been killed by this exact car.

She couldn’t break the law like the villains did, but collecting a little interest? That was fair game.

For example, making sure Zhen Wangzi never got behind a steering wheel again.