Inside the abandoned factory.
The masked man placed the last chess piece into its box.
Click.
The soft sound of the piece landing echoed unnervingly through the empty space.
He slowly closed the lid.
"It's about time."
No sooner had the words left his lips than a deafening crash erupted.
Not an explosion—more like something solid being violently torn apart.
BANG—!
The rusted rolling shutter let out a metallic groan of protest.
Then, the entire door caved inward before collapsing at a twisted angle, kicking up a choking cloud of dust.
A figure stood bathed in the sunlight flooding through the doorway.
His face, slightly weary, came into view.
Jiang Xia, the Guardian of Jiangxia.
His gaze swept across the dilapidated factory interior before locking onto the masked man, who stood unfazed beside the chessboard.
Dust still swirled in the air.
Jiang Xia didn’t strike immediately. His eyes narrowed in scrutiny.
"I’ve been looking for you."
The masked man didn’t answer.
He didn’t even turn toward the entrance.
Instead, he calmly raised a hand and set the chessbox aside.
"I’ve been waiting for you."
His voice, muffled by the mask, carried an eerie serenity.
This wasn’t an intruder kicking down the door—it was an expected guest.
Jiang Xia’s eyes flickered imperceptibly.
The man’s composure was unexpected.
No panic, no threats—just an unsettling… calm.
"You knew I’d come?"
Jiang Xia took a few steps forward.
Finally, the masked man turned, the demonic visage of his mask now facing Jiang Xia.
Through the slits of the mask, his eyes gleamed with an indescribable amusement.
"Of course." The masked man chuckled, a hint of delight in his tone. "A fish taking the bait is always something to look forward to."
"You leaked your location on purpose?"
Jiang Xia’s voice darkened.
They’d paid a steep price tracking this lead—if this was just a trap…
"The bait must be tempting to lure a big catch." The masked man spread his hands in a mockingly inviting gesture.
"A little ‘surprise’ to keep you busy, to keep the city on edge."
He paused. "And to sift through which pieces are worth keeping… and which to discard."
A chill ran down Jiang Xia’s spine.
This man’s way of thinking… it wasn’t right.
"What do you really want?" Jiang Xia demanded. "The martial exam attacks? The chaos? For what?"
The masked man tilted his head slightly, as if hearing an amusing question.
"For what?" His voice softened suddenly, laced with strange nostalgia. "For the ideals of the past, Jiang Xia."
"We once believed so fervently in a brighter tomorrow."
Jiang Xia’s body tensed as he caught the implication. "You know me?"
The masked man took a step forward. Then another.
He moved into the light, letting Jiang Xia see the demon mask more clearly.
"More than know." A trace of laughter colored his words. "We were… classmates. Roommates. Old Shen."
Hum—!
A surge of energy erupted from Jiang Xia.
His pupils constricted as he stared at the masked man.
"You—" His voice was thick with disbelief.
The masked man didn’t respond. He simply stood there, silent.
Jiang Xia’s mind raced.
Same academy. Same class.
Only one person had the capability to go this far…
"Old Shen?"
The masked man’s voice remained steady, but the sarcasm in it deepened. "That’s right. Has it only been ten years since graduation? Have you already forgotten your old friend’s voice?"
"Surprised?" he continued. "That the diligent, idealistic youth who dreamed of protecting the future would become the ‘Harbinger’ before you?"
"Yes…" Jiang Xia’s jaw clenched, unwilling to accept it.
A memory—a voice, a face—overlapped with the masked figure before him.
"Remember those late-night talks in our dorm? Discussing humanity’s future, how we’d defend it? We were so pure back then."
"But after graduation? What did we see?" His tone turned icy. "The higher-ups sacrificing ordinary lives for power struggles."
"Resources hoarded. ‘Fairness’ just a pretty lie for the masses. The Source Realms? Tools for profit and control."
"And us? The ‘hopes’ of the academy? Shoved into their pre-designed roles. Pawns on their board."
"Look at this city. At those lofty figures. Do they care about the people? No. They only fear losing their grip. Fear their precious ‘order’ crumbling."
"The martial exams? Just a stage to pick obedient, talented pieces. Mold them into new pawns to prop up this rotting system."
He gestured at the chessboard.
"My goal? To flip the board."
"To show everyone how fragile their ‘order’ truly is."
Jiang Xia’s voice burned with restrained fury. "You weren’t like this before."
"Before?" The masked man chuckled again. "And you? The Jiang Xia who buried the scandal of that gifted student’s shattered soul sea—just to protect the academy’s reputation? To protect your own?"
"Because back then, powerless as you were, you were just another pawn. Unable to defy the academy’s will. A mere ant beneath the wheel of fate."
"All you could do was offer him some private compensation. Nothing more."
Jiang Xia had no rebuttal.
That was exactly how it had been…
"Jiang Xia, remember when my thesis was rejected?"
"Yes… but you never said why."
The masked man sighed. "Then let me tell you now."
"I wrote…"
"One man plays Go. Another plays Gomoku. Before even seeing their strategies, someone declares—"
"The Go player is smarter."
"See? Everything is assigned its ‘expected’ value."
"And so are we, from childhood."
"If we stray from those expectations? We’re the fools who only play Gomoku—the ‘mediocre’ ones."
"I refuse to live caged by those rules. I have my own judgment."
"If we don’t tear down the old framework, we’ll forever live in the shadows of the past."
"The ancients said, ‘Scholars are the most useless of all.’"
"Yet they also said, ‘All trades pale beside scholarship.’"
"Two contradictory sayings, both passed down through ages."
"So why can’t I, living now, choose my own path?"
"Sacrifice is noble. Flight is shameful."
"Is such meaningless, foolish sacrifice still noble? Is enduring humiliation to survive still shameful?"
"So, it got rejected."
"The reason? The ideas were deemed heretical, incompatible with mainstream values."
"On the contrary, I believe my thesis succeeded. Since when are 'mainstream values' the benchmark?"
"Are they the values of the professor who failed me?"
"Or—?"
"So I dropped out. I’ve found the path I’m meant to walk."
"The world is blind and ignorant. I don’t need validation from fools."
Jiang Xia cut him off: "That’s utter nonsense!"
"Aren’t you just deluding yourself into thinking you’re enlightened?"
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
