America's Greatest Villain: I Defeat Magic with Magic

Chen Yuan parked the Corolla in a secluded alley in the southern district.

After leaving the old man's car dismantling plant, he took Ivanov for several drives around the area to make sure there were no tails before finally stopping.

According to Ivanov, this area is the Blood Hand Gang's stronghold.

Ivanov, sitting in the passenger seat, looked at Chen Yuan beside him and asked in a low voice:

"Rick is dead, and the rest of them haven't returned. If I go back unharmed, the remaining leaders will definitely become suspicious."

"Don't worry, you get out of the car first. I have a plan."

Ivanov was at his wit's end, and seeing Chen Yuan's confident demeanor, he had no choice but to obey and get out of the car.

However, as soon as he turned around, he saw a dark gun barrel.

His hair stood on end, and he instinctively reached for his waist, only to find nothing.

Because at that moment, Chen Yuan was holding Ivanov's own pistol.

When Ivanov got out of the car, he was in a daze and didn't notice that Chen Yuan had silently taken his weapon from his waist.

"Suka..."

"Bang!"

Before Ivanov could even utter a curse, gunshots rang out.

The force of the impact caused him to fall to the ground with a thud, and he was in excruciating pain in his left shoulder near his collarbone.

However, because the shot was fired at close range, the bullet passed right through the body and did not damage the internal organs or arteries.

"What are you doing?!"

Ivanov, clutching his bleeding wound, questioned him through gritted teeth.

He didn't understand why Chen Yuan had waited until now to kill him if he wanted to.

Then Chen Yuan said calmly:

"You were ambushed by the Sinaloa gang at your father's auto dismantling plant; a bullet pierced your shoulder. You lay in a pool of blood and pretended to be dead, which is how you escaped."

Seeing Ivanov's astonished expression, Chen Yuan continued:

"As for Blackjack, he wasn't as lucky as you; his throat was slit. Afterward, the Bloodhands and the Sinaloa were caught in the warehouse and wiped out, while you miraculously survived."

After speaking, Chen Yuan showed a satisfied expression and asked:

"What do you think of this reason? In the East, it's called a 'bitter ruse'."

Ivanov never expected that Chen Yuan would use such a ruthless method to clear his name.

Although the shot didn't hit a vital spot, he looked truly miserable at the moment, and if he went back like this, most people probably wouldn't suspect anything.

So, gritting his teeth and enduring the excruciating pain, he said, "You're that confident? What if I had missed?"

Chen Yuan shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Then you can only blame your bad luck."

Ivanov cursed under his breath, pressed his wound, and walked into the depths of the alley without looking back.

This Asian man is crazy, it's best to stay away from him!

-----------------

When Chen Yuan returned to his apartment to wash away the smell of gunpowder, the sky outside the window was already beginning to brighten.

He lay in bed, but couldn't fall asleep at all. The electronic voices echoing in his mind excited him.

[Ding! Host threat detected and a gang member shot and wounded. 30 Villain Points awarded.]

[Ding! A large-scale gunfight has been detected between the Bloody Hands, the Sinaloa Gang, and the Los Angeles Police Department due to the host's guidance.]

[Outcome: The incident resulted in the death of one LAPD agent and serious injury to another. Five gang members, including Rick and Mad Bear, were killed on the spot, six were seriously injured, and the rest were arrested. The Southern District's underworld is facing a reshuffle.]

The impact of this incident was extremely negative, and the methods used were utterly cold-blooded. Villain Points Reward: 600!

This three-way battle ignited Chen Yuan's villain value, which resulted in him gaining 630 points in one go.

After removing the 50 points that previously increased his power consumption, he now has a total of 890 villain points!

Just as Chen Yuan was pondering how to use this huge sum of money, he suddenly heard another prompt in his ear:

[Ding! The system has detected that the host has repeatedly used despicable means to steal others' property. The skill "Basic Theft Mastery" has been automatically unlocked and mastered. Your thefts will be much harder to detect.]

Chen Yuan was slightly taken aback. System skills could be automatically mastered through repeated daily practice?

Looking back, he had stolen the wallet and car keys of the unscrupulous lawyer David Chen, the cell phone of Black Brother Barney, and just now he had also stolen Ivanov's pistol.

Unexpectedly, I got a [Beginner Thief Mastery] skill for free without even realizing it. This was quite a pleasant surprise.

So, if we continue stealing like this, is it possible to get a higher level of [Intermediate Thief Mastery] for free without consuming villain points?

As Chen Yuan focused his attention on the [Intermediate Theft Mastery] skill on the system panel, a cold, impersonal notification appeared in his mind:

[Note: Automatic mastery is limited to some basic life skills. Skills above basic must be obtained through villain points.]

It seems that automatically mastering a simple life skill is just a "newbie perk" given to him by the system; it's impossible to become a god by grinding proficiency.

Then, he turned his attention to the combat skills section.

Chen Yuan's frequent contact with gangsters during this period made him deeply aware of the treacherous nature of the American world.

If you encounter a completely unreasonable brute, intimidation and verbal attacks alone won't always be effective.

Now that I have enough villain points, I need to strengthen my self-protection abilities.

However, when he looked at the [Basic Combat Mastery] skill, he found that this skill, which was priced at 500 villain points, was still locked!

Strange, I clearly have enough balance, so why can't I redeem it?

Does it mean that, like with the "Beginner Thief Mastery" skill, you have to go out and fight someone on the street to unlock it?

Just as Chen Yuan was feeling surprised, the system suddenly popped up a detailed explanation:

[The system detected that the host engaged in close combat with the target "Ivanov," triggering a "Sin Scan" and successfully unlocking the "Combat Mastery" skill tree.]

Subsequently, the "Basic Combat Mastery" option in the system panel became unlocked.

[Would you like to spend 500 Villain Points to make the exchange?]

Chen Yuan suddenly realized!

Unexpectedly, the skills provided by the system not only have a clearly marked price, but also have prerequisite unlocking conditions!

For example, the previous "Driving Proficiency" skill was mostly unlocked and mastered by default by the system because he drove to deliver food every day. Later, he was able to directly spend 200 points to exchange for the intermediate level.

The unlock condition for [Fighting Mastery] is to fight against an opponent with fighting abilities and perform a [Sin Scan] on them.

Not long ago, he was ambushed by Ivanov at close range. After dodging the attack with his 1.2 agility, he scanned his opponent.

As one of the leaders of the Blood Hand Gang, Ivanov is undoubtedly skilled in killing. By obtaining information about the other party's criminal acts through [Sin Scan], the prerequisite for unlocking [Combat Mastery] is also fulfilled.

However, since Chen Yuan lacks a fighting background, he still needs to pay an expensive tuition fee of 500 villain points if he wants to master this skill.

In other words, the system is by no means an omnipotent wish-granting machine.

In addition to having enough villainous points, he must approach targets who possess top-notch skills and even actively endure their hostility in order to unlock the corresponding skills.

Fortunately, a skill tree only needs to be unlocked once.

For example, after unlocking [Fighting Mastery], you can upgrade the corresponding beginner, intermediate, and advanced skills simply by spending the corresponding villain points.

After hesitating for a moment, Chen Yuan still chose to exchange for [Beginner Combat Mastery].

As the villain value was deducted, a massive amount of fighting techniques, power exertion methods, and even military Krav Maga and deadly usage tips for cold weapons flooded into Chen Yuan's mind.

This knowledge was forcibly etched into his muscle memory by the system, eventually becoming part of his physical instincts.

When Chen Yuan opened his eyes again, his entire demeanor changed.

Despite being labeled "beginner," the killing techniques produced by the system are far superior to the fancy moves found in gyms.

If he were to encounter Ivanov's sneak attack again now, he would be absolutely confident that he could snap the other man's neck in a single exchange!

After experiencing the sense of security brought by power, Chen Yuan looked at another locked skill on the panel: [Basic Hacking Techniques].

He then gave a wry smile.

He originally planned to accumulate enough villain points to immediately exchange for hacking skills, try to crack Crazy Bear's phone, and obtain the shocking secrets inside.

Unexpectedly, simply "unlocking" this skill became a difficult problem.

Moreover, Crazy Bear's phone is the new iPhone 17 Pro Max, which is impossible for ordinary hackers to crack.

It seems the only way to succeed is to wait until the university semester starts, go to the computer science department at USC, find a true genius who understands hacking techniques, and find a way to provoke their hostility and trigger a scan.

Currently, there are only 390 villain points left, which is not even enough to pay the tuition for next semester, and exchanging for skills is a bottomless pit.

It seems I need to earn more villain points before school starts.