Su Qi didn’t say anything about prying into matters that weren’t his business. Everyone had their own secrets. He just patted Old Li’s shoulder and said, “I’ll be off then.”
“Go ahead.”
……
On the way back, Liu Yuan was burning with curiosity, biting back her questions several times.
Finally, Su Qi couldn’t take it anymore. “Just ask if you want to. That ‘curious kitten’ look of yours is driving me nuts.”
“Hmph… More like you just want to show off how much you know…” Liu Yuan muttered, but quickly dropped the act. “Is it about last night? Was it that serious?”
She suddenly remembered Su Qi’s message had mentioned something.
“Go to sleep. I doubt this training camp will continue. We’ll probably be evacuated first thing tomorrow—don’t oversleep.”
And today, for once, Su Qi woke up early instead of lazing in bed. Clearly, he was certain the training wouldn’t proceed.
Su Qi spoke slowly, “You know about cultists, right?”
Liu Yuan shook her head.
Su Qi’s prepared explanation froze midair. “Did you not pay attention in class?”
Liu Yuan did have a habit of texting him during lectures. No amount of scolding had changed that.
“No, it wasn’t in the textbooks.”
Su Qi wondered if the curriculum had been revised. He tried another term. “What about the Descendants?”
Liu Yuan shook her head again.
Su Qi quickly switched tactics. “The Cornered?”
“The Fugitives?”
Seeing Liu Yuan’s increasingly dazed expression, Su Qi felt a pang of defeat. What kind of education system was this now? Teaching them nothing?
He took some time to explain what cultists—or the Descendants—were.
“Last night, it was a seventh-tier cultist.”
“Luckily, I was a step ahead.”
Liu Yuan’s heart clenched.
The way Su Qi said it so casually…
But that was seventh-tier.
Su Qi was only sixth-tier…
A single misstep, and he might not have come back.
“Who knows what they’re scheming? Investigations take time, so this Source Realm is off-limits for now.”
Liu Yuan nodded vaguely. This wasn’t a topic she could contribute to. So she steered the conversation her way.
“Brother, what are the Cornered?”
Su Qi’s tone was light. “We are the Cornered.”
Liu Yuan blinked, confused. “Huh?”
“No need to be surprised. We’re the ones fighting with our backs against the wall.”
“Think of Blue Star as one big arena.”
“The Source Realms are the endless beasts thrown at us…”
“The Fugitives are self-explanatory—those who flee, find another human civilization, settle down, and assimilate.”
“Honestly, these are just textbook terms.”
“In reality, these groups have nastier names for each other: Cultist mutts, Cornered pigs, stinking rats.”
But Su Qi didn’t say this mockingly.
A realization struck him.
Liu Yuan’s generation’s textbooks had even stripped out such fundamental knowledge?
Coupled with the brainless education reforms these past few years…
All the clues pointed to one thing.
Something catastrophic must have happened on Great Xia’s frontlines recently.
So catastrophic that the nation was on the verge of collapse.
Forcing Great Xia to rush the training of new recruits while suppressing panic among the populace…
Heaven…
Was it about to fall?
No, no—Su Qi, why bother with this?
Even if the sky falls, it’s not your problem.
Someone will shoulder the burden.
But…
What if there’s no one left at the front?
“Brother…”
“Brother…”
Su Qi snapped out of his thoughts at Liu Yuan’s voice. “Hmm?”
Liu Yuan looked worried. “I was about to ask you the same thing…”
“You looked… kind of…”
“You’ve been spacing out the whole way. Didn’t sleep well last night?”
“We’re home.”
Liu Yuan pushed the door open and paused at the entrance.
But Su Qi made no move to enter. “I’m heading out.”
“Where to?”
“To ask your ‘future sister-in-law’ a few things.”
Liu Yuan: ???
Liu Yuan’s face flushed crimson—for the hundredth time!
villain is the number one simp for the book's leading female protagonist, Shen Wan'er. As expected, he later becomes a tool for the main character to show off and slap faces, ultimately meeting a tragic end with his family ruined and his life in shambles. Fortunately, he awakens the [Universal Pure Love System], which allows him to earn points by performing acts of pure love. To change his fate, Gu Yan makes a decisive choice to seek warmth and companionship with the book's biggest villain—Cold Qingqiu. ........... My name is Leng Qingqiu. To find the murderer who killed my parents years ago, I deliberately blinded myself so that everyone would lower their guard around me. Just as I was secretly accumulating power and capital according to my initial plan, a man walked into my world. "Lengleng, Qingqing, Qiuqiu, which nickname do you prefer?" I don't like any of them. You'd better leave quickly! "Why aren't you saying anything? How about I call you my baby wife?" Leng Qingqiu thinks to herself, this man is truly annoying! (Stubborn pure love warrior + single female lead + true pure love + 1v1)
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
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!
