"Understood."
The response from the void was crisp and decisive, without a hint of hesitation.
Of course... it wasn’t actually that clear on the matter.
Casually slaughtering one's own followers was the kind of act that lost both face and substance.
If word got out, who would still be willing to worship and follow the Lord of Sin?
But as a subordinate, some questions were better left unasked.
And that wasn’t all.
"Remember..." The Lord of Sin's voice suddenly dropped to a whisper. "Kill them however you like, but don’t use my abilities. Hmm... just imitate the Ashen Lord next door. I sensed his presence not long ago in this tiny... beautiful world..."
"Yes..."
The Lord of Sin was about to make his exit, but he still felt uneasy and added one last instruction: "After this job, take a break. Get as far away as possible... enjoy the scenery. Come find me again in a hundred thousand years."
Finally, even the dimmest of minds would have picked up on the unusual tone: "Could it be...?"
Yet before the thought could fully form, the Lord of Sin cut it off.
His indistinct figure seemed to punch heavily into the air, striking something with a dull "thud," his voice sharp with urgency: "Disrespectful!"
...
Meanwhile, the burly man in the mascot costume and the sacrificial summoners had no privilege to witness this scene.
The burly man was still basking in the joy of his plan’s success.
He removed the mascot suit, revealing a white dress shirt underneath, and slowly walked toward the makeshift "escape room."
Step by step.
His face was alight with fanaticism: "Great Lord of Sin! Are you pleased with this offering?"
"Will you grant your most loyal follower... eternal life?"
Though, the burly man didn’t actually expect a response.
The summoners weren’t a unified force either, divided into many factions.
For example, in Jiangxia, there were two main factions.
One leaned toward the Ashen Lord, who sought the annihilation of all things, while the other followed this Lord of Sin, master of guilt and punishment.
But no matter the faction, the odds of receiving a divine response were less than one in ten thousand...
Otherwise, Great Xia would have long fallen into their grasp.
Unless the offering was truly... "divinely tempting."
All this was just the "lowly foot soldiers" trying to prove their loyalty.
Like how some people loved to kiss up to their bosses...
Those above might not even notice.
But he couldn’t afford not to try.
The next moment, a voice so heavy it threatened to shatter his soul echoed in his mind.
Piercing through his skull, searing into the depths of his being, as real as a brand.
"Pleased."
The burly man shuddered violently.
He... heard it?
Had the great Lord of Sin actually responded to him?!
An indescribable euphoria surged through him like an electric current.
More intoxicating than any carnal pleasure.
It left him weak-kneed, nearly collapsing to the ground.
Not an illusion!
Ecstasy, like a breached dam, instantly drowned all his rationality.
"The Lord said he’s very pleased..."
"He must have remembered you."
How many years had it been?
From an obscure summoner to where he stood now, offering countless sacrifices, participating in countless rituals—never had he dared hope for such a clear response!
That one-in-ten-thousand chance had actually landed on him!
This offering truly was extraordinary!
Eternal life!
The thought spread like wildfire, consuming his entire mind.
Yet, just as the burly man was drowning in this overwhelming bliss, the air around him seemed to thicken slightly.
A faint, almost imperceptible scent—like something burning to ashes—drifted past.
Huh?
He paused, instinctively sniffing.
Was that his imagination?
Or perhaps the first signs of the Lord of Sin’s divine blessing?
He bowed his head even more reverently.
"Go. My Lord has generously granted you... 'eternal life.'"
...
Time blurred.
The burly man snapped back to awareness.
He felt a fire raging inside him...
Was this the gift of 'eternal life'?
So!
Damn!
Good!
He’d gambled right!
But before he could revel in it, his communicator buzzed.
The voice on the other end was urgent and grating, like a bucket of ice water trying to douse his joy.
"...The Ashen faction reached out. They said Yun Huang can’t die yet—it’ll interfere with their plans. Stop immediately..."
Stop?
He nearly laughed out loud.
A mere mortal leader, daring to order a soon-to-be 'chosen one,' blessed with 'eternal life' and personally acknowledged by a supreme being?
He didn’t even bother replying, crushing the communicator in his grip, letting the fragments slip through his fingers.
Since the great Lord of Sin had declared himself "pleased" and bestowed his grace, what did the whims of the 'Ashen' faction matter?
The heat coursing through his veins grew fiercer.
No longer the gentle warmth from before, but something more... scorching.
Beneath his skin, tiny flames seemed to flicker and lick at his flesh.
Ah, he understood.
This must be the unbearable pain one had to endure to ascend to 'eternal life.'
Instead of fear, a twisted excitement took hold.
He could already picture it—himself bathed in divine radiance, his body imperishable, his soul eternal, looking down upon the pitiful worms still trapped in the cycle of life and death. Including... that blabbering leader from the communicator.
...
As for Su Qi and the others?
Liu Yuan stood on tiptoe, adjusting the game plaques on the wall. "Yun Huang, which theme should we pick?"
Yun Huang barely glanced at them. "Any is fine."
Because she knew—there was no real 'escape room' behind that door.
The choice didn’t matter.
But since Su Qi insisted on not dampening Liu Yuan’s excitement, she had to play along...
"Then I’ll choose?"
After skimming the descriptions, Liu Yuan picked [Blood Sacrifice].
The name sounded the most terrifying, and it gave her the best excuse to cling to Su Qi.
But the bald man scowled impatiently. "Someone’s already in there. Pick another."
Liu Yuan pointed at [Whispers of the Old Gods].
"Not ready yet."
Finally, reluctantly, she tapped [Elegy of the Sinner].
"This one?"
The bald man’s expression brightened, as if he’d been waiting for this. "Follow me."
As he led them, he explained, "[Elegy of the Sinner] requires a team of 5 to 8. There are two other guests inside who’ll join your session."
He gestured toward the lounge. "Do you three mind?"
Su Qi followed his gaze.
On the couch, a young girl stirred the pearls in her milk tea with a straw.
Beside her, a bespectacled middle-aged man clutched his briefcase nervously.
Noticing their stares, the girl waved. The man adjusted his glasses.
Su Qi took a moment to send a message to Old Jiang: "Jiangxia Gate, basement level C zone—there’s a large number of Descenders here. Can you send people to take control of the situation?"
In just a few seconds, Su Qi received a reply: "Our people are already there. Just leave and don’t put yourself in danger."
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...
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.
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!
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!"
