I genuinely think ling Chen has a bulshit excuse to become a villain. If your friend helps you so many times and can't help you the one time which leads to your aunts death, you're allowed to kill innocents while trying to kill your so called friend? I just can't seem to wrap my head around around his mindset. He tries to come off as an intellectual, but he's just a jerk who can't handle his own responsibility. He lost most of his loved ones because of his own actions, the deaths of his friends and family had nothing to do with ye zi mu. And hat does he mean by he needs to protect Ling Chen, by becoming pan lou si? The author writes the mc to be really cringe and gives him the mindset of prepubescent kid.