"Roar!"
The bear-like Origin Beast was forced back half a step as Chen Yuan struck it head-on.
A flash of surprise flickered in its eyes, quickly replaced by even more savage fury.
With a deafening roar, its other paw tore through the air with a gale-force wind, slamming toward Chen Yuan once more!
A surge of adrenaline rushed to Chen Yuan’s head, his heart pounding wildly in his chest—not just from fear, but from something deeper.
Damn it!
He’d just stepped outside and seen this scene, acting on impulse without thinking of the consequences.
Now, retreat was no longer an option.
Gritting his teeth, Chen Yuan’s blade erupted with an unprecedented radiance. Instead of dodging, he swung upward to meet the massive paw head-on!
"Schlick!"
The blade severed the entire paw in one clean strike, splattering black-red blood everywhere.
But the sheer force of the impact sent Chen Yuan stumbling back seven or eight steps.
A metallic taste filled his throat—blood threatened to spill from his lips, but he forced it back down.
Leaning on his sword, he staggered back to his feet.
For a fleeting moment, Old Wang’s venomous face flashed through his mind.
"My wife and son died…"
Yeah. His wife. His child.
They’d been heroes, fallen on the front lines against the Origin Beasts.
So why the hell was Chen Yuan sitting safe and sound in the command room?
Bullshit!
Sure, he was afraid of death.
But that didn’t mean he was too cowardly to fight.
It was just that, as a tactical officer, his strength wasn’t usually needed on the battlefield.
Now, though, something far more overwhelming consumed him.
Chen Yuan charged again toward the enraged bear-like Origin Beast.
Meanwhile, at the breach, more Origin Beasts poured in like sharks drawn to blood.
Seventh-tier, eighth-tier—even two ninth-tier beasts had already shattered the hasty defenses of the initial security team, storming straight into headquarters.
The battle instantly escalated into chaos.
Explosions of energy, the clash of metal, the tearing of flesh—screams and roars intertwined.
An engineer clutching a backup energy module sprinted toward a damaged barrier node when a panther-like Origin Beast lunged at him like lightning from the side.
"Look out!"
A security officer threw himself in the way, shielding the engineer with his own body.
"Thud!"
The beast’s razor-sharp claws tore through his armor, leaving deep, bone-exposing gashes across his back.
The officer grunted in pain but locked his arms around the beast’s neck, roaring with his last breath, "Go… fix it!"
Tears welled in the engineer’s eyes, but he didn’t hesitate. Jaw clenched, he kept running toward the node.
Scenes like this played out everywhere near the breach.
Fighters held the line with their own flesh and blood, buying precious seconds for repairs.
But the situation was far from stable.
Not far away, Su Muxue was desperately holding off a ninth-tier flying Origin Beast, preventing it from assaulting headquarters.
Yet the other ninth-tier beast rampaged unchecked, pushing the battle to the brink of disaster.
This one was a wolf-like monstrosity, its body armored in dark cyan scales.
Every pounce left another soldier dead.
Ordinary attacks barely scratched its hide, sparking harmlessly against its impenetrable scales.
Blood and gore painted the cold ground.
In mere moments, it had breached the second makeshift defensive line, now advancing toward the engineering team working on the repairs.
If they fell, the breach would never be sealed—and the consequences would be catastrophic.
"Stop it! Someone stop it!"
A few security officers, eyes bloodshot, rushed forward, trying to block its path with their bodies.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
The cyan-scaled wolf tore through them effortlessly, reducing them to mangled remains in seconds.
It was too fast. Too strong.
Seventh-tier fighters might as well have been made of paper before it.
Chen Yuan’s heart clenched as if gripped by an invisible fist.
He scanned the battlefield.
Right now, Su Muxue was the only ninth-tier fighter in the entire Origin Zone.
So… who the hell was going to stop this ninth-tier monster?
Him?
He could barely handle an eighth-tier bear—how was he supposed to fight something even stronger?
Logically, he wanted to run.
But as the commanding officer, this gap was his to fill.
And damn it, he was the one in charge right now.
"Goddammit…" he muttered under his breath.
With a sudden motion, he drove his sword into the ground and summoned a blood-red card shimmering with ominous energy.
On its surface, a hazy, blood-formed wraith snarled silently.
This was his trump card—a card with devastating side effects. Using it would cripple him, maybe even kill him.
He hesitated, staring at the card.
But in those few seconds, the cyan-scaled wolf closed in further.
A single tail swipe slaughtered four more men.
If he didn’t act now… who would?
Someone had to hold the line.
The card’s energy surged into his body.
The wraith on its surface seemed to come alive, unleashing a wave of bloodthirsty fury.
Chen Yuan’s body visibly withered slightly, his skin cracking with crimson veins.
The wolf-like beast sensed the threat. It halted, turning its icy gaze onto Chen Yuan.
Then—it moved.
A blur of cyan, faster than before, lunged straight for him!
From the card, a colossal blood-red specter roared into existence, meeting the beast midair with a clash that shook the earth.
The sheer force of their collision cracked the ground beneath them.
Chen Yuan’s blade ignited with dark crimson flames, leaving faint red trails in the air as he struck.
The attack seemed almost effortless.
Yet it carved a wound across the wolf’s left foreleg.
Dark, unnatural blood oozed out, tendrils of red creeping beneath its scales.
Chen Yuan had hoped this would slow the beast down.
But the wolf didn’t even flinch.
Instead, it attacked with even greater ferocity—each strike unleashing gale-force winds, shaking the earth beneath them.
It was enraged.
Chen Yuan dodged and weaved, narrowly avoiding the relentless onslaught.
But no defense was perfect.
As he spun away from one attack, the wolf’s tail lashed out from behind, smashing into the back of his knee.
Payback for that earlier wound.
Staggering, Chen Yuan nearly collapsed—but in that split second, he drove his blade into the wolf’s back.
The sword barely pierced three inches before lodging in the beast’s dense scales.
Chen Yuan’s jaw tightened.
He was already at a disadvantage. Now, with his knee injured, this might be his only chance.
If he missed it, he wouldn’t get another.
With sheer brute force, he detonated his weapon.
"BOOM—!"
The deafening explosion reverberated through the entire headquarters!
A violent shockwave of energy radiated outward, flinging nearby source beasts and combat personnel into the air.
Dust and debris filled the air.
As the shockwave subsided slightly, everyone hurriedly looked toward the aftermath.
There, the cyan wolf-like source beast stood with large patches of its scaled armor shattered, blood dripping from its wounds as it let out a pained growl.
Clearly, Chen Yuan's desperate strike had dealt it significant damage.
But it was still standing!
Meanwhile, Chen Yuan lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath, drenched in blood, his energy depleted to the brink.
The crimson phantom shrouding his body had already dissipated.
"Cough… cough…"
He spat out mouthfuls of blood, his vision beginning to blur.
The cyan wolf-like source beast struggled for a moment before barely managing to rise from the ground.
It shook its head, its ferocity only intensifying.
Though grievously wounded, the vitality of a ninth-tier source beast was tenacious…
It knew it was dying…
But before death claimed it…
Step by step, it advanced toward Chen Yuan, who had lost all ability to fight back.
Some brew time into tea, watching the froth rise and fall until clarity is restored.
Others steep their years into poison, drinking deeper, thirstier, until consumed by desire’s flames.
Yet in the end, all arrive in this world empty-handed, and leave the mortal realm the same.
Perhaps Chen Yuan was the latter.
The longer one lives, the more one accumulates.
And when death comes, the harder it becomes to let go.
Even if he knew—nothing could be taken with him.
Still, he stubbornly tried to grasp at something, anything.
Chen Yuan reached out a hand, only to clutch a handful of dirt.
He opened his palm.
The battlefield wind scattered the grains…
Chen Yuan couldn’t tell whether what slipped through his fingers was unholdable sand,
the crumbling debris of life’s fleeting tower,
or everything he had desperately fought to keep.
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
