"Think you're awake?"
The masked man lifted the chess box again, picking up a black piece and rolling it between his fingers. "Awake? And who defines what that means?"
"Going along with you counts as being awake? Opposing you means deluding yourself?"
"Jiang Xia, tell me."
"What’s the real state of the 'Abyss' on Great Xia’s frontlines?"
Jiang Xia remained silent.
The masked man seemed to have anticipated his reaction. "No comment, right?"
"It doesn’t matter if you won’t say it."
"Because I already know."
"We have many like-minded comrades. Secrets like these can’t be kept from us."
"The Abyss was established 362 years ago. Twelve twelfth-tier predecessors used their souls as torches and their bodies as barriers, erecting twelve layers of defense."
"Before this line, all invaders faced an insurmountable chasm, as if plunging into an abyss."
"Ever since, whenever an unsolvable Source Realm appeared, its entrance could be drawn into the Abyss."
"For 340 years—until 21 years ago—the first barrier was shattered."
"Fifteen years ago, the second."
"Ten years ago, the third."
"Six years ago, the fourth."
"Three years ago, the fifth."
"Two years ago, the sixth."
"One year ago, the seventh."
"This April, the eighth broke. Now, in June, the ninth is already half-gone."
"Tell me, can the remaining four and a half barriers last three more years?"
"Barring unforeseen circumstances, humanity’s defeat is inevitable."
"Jiang Xia, you chose to become a guardian of order."
The masked man raised his head, his gaze piercing through the mask to meet Jiang Xia’s eyes. "You cling to the fortress they built with lies and hypocrisy, deceiving yourselves."
"The fortress will crumble." He slammed the black piece onto the ground with a sharp clatter. "Rather than waiting passively, why not give it a push?"
"Only when the old is utterly destroyed can the new be born."
"This year’s Martial Exam is just the beginning." The masked man’s voice brimmed with fervor. "I want all of Jiang Xia—no, all of human society—to witness the... beautiful spectacle when the order they’re so proud of collapses."
"And I, along with my like-minded comrades, will seek refuge under my Lord’s protection."
"To preserve..."
"Humanity’s last hope."
Jiang Xia sighed. "You’ve changed..."
"I haven’t changed," the masked man corrected. "I’ve simply seen more clearly. It’s all of you who are still lost in your self-spun dreams."
"Reforming the Martial Exam?"
"Do you really expect these children to step up in three years and resolve sins that have piled up for over three centuries?"
He took a step forward, his aura turning dangerous.
"Old classmate, let’s end the reminiscing here."
The masked man cracked his neck with a soft pop.
His spiritual energy surged, clashing against the soul force radiating from Jiang Xia.
The visible shockwaves rattled the already dilapidated factory walls, sending more debris crashing down.
Two once-like-minded classmates, now sworn enemies.
Standing at odds in this ruined factory, tension thick enough to cut.
Jiang Xia shook his head. "Shen Qiheng, you talk too much."
The masked man mirrored the gesture. "That person died when his thesis was rejected."
"My name is now 'Yu Hui.'"
"I respect your choice to call you Jiang Xia. I hope you’ll extend the same courtesy to me."
"As the earthly emissary of the Lord of Embers."
"And as the final flicker before humanity burns to ash."
"My sins are momentary, but my benefits eternal."
"In three years, humanity will fall."
"It is I who have preserved the last spark of hope for mankind!!"
"The weak should submit to the strong!!"
"You’ve waited long enough. Your people must be here by now. Why not make your move?"
Yu Hui’s voice echoed through the empty factory, laced with manic excitement.
His gaze swept over Jiang Xia.
Yes.
He himself was the bait.
Nothing else could have drawn Jiang Xia away from the Martial Exam grounds.
All he needed was to buy time with his life—until the Source Realm sealed shut.
Then, no one could interrupt the ritual within.
Jiang Xia didn’t immediately refute Yu Hui’s ravings. "I’m waiting for people. What about you? Why stall?"
Yu Hui paused, then burst into wild laughter. "Because I’m here to die!"
At that moment, outside the factory, two vastly different auras surged forth like tidal waves—one after the other.
Reinforcements had arrived. Jiang Xia spoke no more. "I leave it to you both."
One aura was ancient and immense, carrying the weight of mountains. The very dust in the air seemed to freeze under its pressure.
The other was ethereal and elusive, yet brimming with the flexibility and unpredictability of water—like mist, formless yet pervasive.
The factory, unable to withstand the combined pressure of the four, disintegrated into a cloud of dust.
One figure stood—short but solid as a boulder.
His hair and beard were white, his skin like gnarled bark.
Clad in a plain gray tunic, hands clasped behind his back.
"Shan Cheng," the old man said softly.
Another figure appeared almost simultaneously on the opposite side.
A woman in a pale green dress, tall and graceful, her features delicate, her demeanor icy.
"Yun Cheng."
Her voice was clear, like jade beads striking a plate.
Yu Hui showed no fear. "How kind of two Guardians to travel so far just to suppress me."
"You can’t hold it! The Abyss can’t hold, Great Xia can’t hold, the entire human world can’t hold!"
"Rather than rotting in despair, embrace my Lord! Find rebirth in destruction!"
He stomped his foot, and a black ripple exploded outward.
The scattered rubble and metal fragments around him trembled as if alive, their surfaces crawling with eerie black patterns.
They coalesced into a flying sword.
"Kill!"
...
It took only two minutes.
Under the combined assault of the three Guardians, Yu Hui was already riddled with wounds, his clothes stained red.
Yet he didn’t evade Jiang Xia’s direct strike—he charged forward!
Ducking under Shan Cheng’s fist, he took a slash from Yun Cheng across his back.
He kept moving.
The tendon in his right calf was severed.
A punch landed near his left temple.
After paying such a price, he finally stood before Jiang Xia.
Unexpectedly—
He didn’t attack.
He only removed his mask.
Tears streamed down his face. "Jiang Xia... humanity is beyond saving..."
"I can take off this mask easily."
"But can those in power remove the masks in their hearts?"
"Clutching at straws..."
"There’s no shame in it..."
Shan Cheng’s fist struck his back. Yun Cheng’s dagger pierced his heart.
He could no longer hold the mask.
"Let time be the judge."
"Someone will..."
"Weep for me at my grave..."
"This dream... was never a mistake..."
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?"
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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...
