Su Yang saw that Deng Hao had already left, but Li Shixuan was still sitting there. He looked at her and smiled, "Why aren't you leaving yet?"
"You hit me, and you think I’ll just walk away that easily?"
"Hey." Su Yang chuckled helplessly and glanced at Meng Wenzhou and Liu Bo. "Wasn’t it you who asked to spar with me? Now that you lost, you’re refusing to leave?"
Li Shixuan glared at Su Yang, then pulled out her phone. "Give me your WeChat."
"Huh?"
"Why do you want my WeChat?"
"You hit me—shouldn’t I at least have your contact? What if I find out later that I’m injured? I’ll need to hold you accountable!"
"Damn, you can do that?"
"Give it or not?" Li Shixuan thrust her phone toward Su Yang.
After a brief pause, Su Yang laughed. "Fine, fine, I’ll add you."
Liu Bo nudged Meng Wenzhou and whispered, "Bro Meng, doesn’t this feel off? Bro Yang gets into a fight and still scores a girl’s WeChat?"
Meng Wenzhou scratched his head and sighed. "I don’t get it either."
Once they exchanged WeChat, Li Shixuan stood up without another word and quickly left the private room.
Su Yang exhaled and plopped down next to Meng Wenzhou. "Phew—done!"
"Only you could pull this off, Lao Su!" Meng Wenzhou slung an arm around Su Yang’s shoulder and gave a thumbs-up.
"So, is this settled now?"
"That depends on whether Deng Hao actually posts that apology video. What do you think—will he?"
Liu Bo thought for a moment. "I bet that little punk won’t. He’ll probably just ghost everyone."
Su Yang shook his head. "Not necessarily. I think he’ll post it. Didn’t he say he’s trying to build his following for live sales? An apology video could actually boost his traffic. It just depends on how he frames it."
Meng Wenzhou nodded. "You’ve got a point, Lao Su. I think he’ll post it too. That guy might act like a careless idiot, but he’s not actually stupid."
"Exactly. He just loves playing petty tricks."
Liu Bo didn’t quite follow, but he didn’t want to dwell on it.
He grinned at the two. "Hey, Bro Meng, Bro Yang, can we stop talking about that loser? Now that things are settled, shouldn’t we three have some fun?"
"What kind of fun?" Su Yang tilted his head.
Liu Bo smirked. "Bro Yang, didn’t you see the two beauties sitting with me and Bro Meng when you came in?"
"Yeah, weren’t those just hostesses?"
"Right, but they’re way hotter than the usual bar or nightclub girls."
Su Yang’s eyes gleamed with amusement. "So, what’s your point?"
"Let’s party! Call them back for drinks and karaoke. I’ll even get one for you, Bro Yang."
"Sure, as long as you’re paying." Su Yang lit a cigarette with a grin.
"Fine by me. I can cover this small expense."
Liu Bo walked over to the wall and pressed a few buttons on the control panel.
"Done."
He returned to the couch and sat down.
Suddenly, Meng Wenzhou remembered something. He took a cigarette from Su Yang’s pack and lit it. "Oh, before we start, there’s something I meant to tell you two earlier, but the Deng Hao mess made me forget."
"What’s up?" Liu Bo asked.
"My dad’s turning fifty-five the day after tomorrow. He’s throwing a party at home and told me to invite my friends."
"Whoa, Uncle Meng’s already fifty-five?"
Meng Wenzhou rolled his eyes at Liu Bo. "What, you thought he was younger?"
Su Yang asked, "Uncle Meng’s back in Haicheng?"
"Yeah, he got back a couple of days ago. He came specifically for his birthday. He takes these milestone ages seriously—fifty, fifty-five, sixty, stuff like that."
"And he’s got this habit."
"What habit?"
"For non-milestone birthdays, he just casually treats friends out somewhere, no big deal."
"But for milestone ones, he insists on hosting at home and makes a huge fuss. He always tells me to invite my friends too. The non-milestone ones don’t get that treatment."
"Huh, did Uncle Meng get his fortune told or something?"
"Probably. He’s super into that stuff."
"That makes sense. Some fortune-teller probably advised him."
"Anyway, you two better show up! Oh, and this time, I’m not inviting the girls from the group chat. My dad said to only bring my closest friends."
Realizing how that sounded, Meng Wenzhou quickly added, "Not that I’m not close with them, but my dad only gave me five spots. Counting you, Fatty, Ziming, Yi Xue, and Ji Bo, that’s already five. No room for others."
Su Yang nodded. "Got it. But didn’t Ziming and Yi Xue go to Shanghai?"
"They’re coming back tomorrow."
"Oh, good. What about Pan Pan?"
When Su Yang mentioned Pan Ning, Meng Wenzhou grinned. "She’ll be there too—she’s my cousin. You two haven’t been in touch lately?"
"We have, but she went home a couple of days ago for some family thing."
"Right, right. But she didn’t tell you what it was?"
Su Yang thought for a moment. "She just said someone was visiting, and her parents called her back. That was two days ago."
Meng Wenzhou smirked meaningfully. "Heh, so you don’t know who it was? Let me tell you."
Liu Bo leaned in eagerly. "I wanna hear this too."
Meng Wenzhou cleared his throat and grinned. "It’s actually the son of my aunt’s—Pan Ning’s mom’s—best friend."
"What?"
Liu Bo frowned. "Your aunt’s best friend’s son? Here to see my future sister-in-law?"
"Hold on, let me explain. So, this woman is super close with my aunt. She married some wealthy businessman in Hangzhou—big-time tycoon, apparently. Her son’s around our age."
"She came to Haicheng to visit my aunt and planned a trip together. Her son happened to be in Haicheng too. When he heard his mom was at my aunt’s place, he brought gifts and dropped by."
"My uncle told me this guy met Pan Ning once before and seemed interested. So, you can guess why he showed up this time, right?"
"Holy shit?! This guy’s making moves on my future sister-in-law?!" Liu Bo slammed the table angrily.
Su Yang stayed calm. "What happened after?"
"Later, as you know, my aunt and uncle called Pan Pan back home. To put it bluntly, it was basically their indirect way of setting the two of them up on a blind date~"
"Holy shit!! Su Yang! Even if you agreed to this, I wouldn’t!"
Su Yang shot Liu Bo a sidelong glance: "What nonsense are you talking about? When did I agree to anything?"
Meng Wenzhou chuckled at the scene: "Hey, Fatty, why are you so worked up? With Pan Pan’s personality, do you really think she’d be interested in just anyone?"
Hearing this, Liu Bo rolled his eyes and grinned: "Heh, good point. Forgot about Pan Pan’s fiery temper."
Su Yang also smiled faintly: "Any follow-up to this?"
"You’ll have to ask Pan Pan herself. I don’t know what happened afterward—my uncle had to leave early, so no one filled me in on the rest, haha~"
"Alright, no worries. I’ll ask her when I visit your place later~"
"Sure."

tions: attribute allocation, analysis, proficiency, and simulation. Specializing in mechanical alchemy, from crafting sorcerous battle armor to handcrafting mechanical maidens, his mechanical legion conquers endless realms... Relying on his wits, he begins with a student-teacher romance, wins over a female director, enslaves a female assassin and a underworld queen, becoming the husband of a Grand Duchess... He enslaves the Goddess of Magic from the divine realm, developing his power simultaneously in both the Wizard World and the Realm of Gods...

pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"

rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!

transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”