The first half of the route was settled, and everyone poured another round of drinks, clinked glasses, and downed them in one go.
Liu Bo noted the route in his memo and stared at his phone for a few seconds before speaking up. "I think we could tweak this part of the route a bit."
Chu Qiunan turned to him. "Go ahead."
"From Lincheng to Spring City—I think we should just push straight through to the City of Romance instead of stopping in Spring City. What do you guys think?"
Su Yang glanced at Liu Bo. "How many kilometers is it from Lincheng to the City of Romance?"
"Let me check..." Liu Bo pulled up a search on his phone.
"Whoa! It's over 900 kilometers!"
Su Yang shrugged. "I don’t mind driving that far in a day, but I’m not sure if the rest of you can handle it."
Liu Bo pondered for a moment, studying the map.
"How about this—we leave Lincheng early on the second day, drive straight to Ercheng, stay the night there, and then head to the City of Romance on the third day?"
"But I just checked—Lincheng to Ercheng is still over 800 kilometers. That’s not exactly close either," Su Qingci chimed in.
"Eh, no big deal. We’ll power through without stopping along the way."
"Alright then."
"Got it. I’ll adjust the route." Liu Bo made the changes and then looked up at the group. "What’s next?"
Zhang Ziming raised his glass. "After that, we take Highway 328 straight to Sacred City, then head to Gun Barrel from there."
"Sounds good."
Ji Bo raised his hand. "Actually, there’s another highway, 327, that runs close to 328. I’ve heard it’s pretty decent."
"Oh? Do you know much about it?" Liu Bo asked.
Ji Bo shook his head awkwardly. "Not really. Just saw it mentioned somewhere."
"I know a bit about it," Tang Ziyun interjected.
She glanced around before continuing. "If we take 327, it’ll be a bit of a detour since it runs north of 328. We’d have to loop around."
"A detour isn’t a big deal, but which route has better scenery?" Liu Bo looked up.
"I think 328 is more scenic. Neither is bad, but 328 passes through a lot of well-known spots. 327 is a bit more remote."
Liu Bo nodded. "Then let’s stick with 328."
"Fine by me. Just throwing it out there," Ji Bo said with a laugh, taking a sip of his drink.
"Alright, the main route’s set. Let’s also make a list of things we need to bring. Try to get everything ready by tomorrow. If we miss anything, we can always pick it up along the way."
Meng Wenzhou thought for a moment. "This trip’s different from our last camping trip. We’ll still need tents, but we should pack more gear this time."
"Like what?"
"Like self-defense tools."
Hearing this, Liu Bo grinned. "Oh yeah! Last time, we almost got into trouble because we didn’t bring anything for protection. This time, we’re packing some knives, batons, stuff like that."
He then leaned closer to Meng Wenzhou and lowered his voice with a sly smirk. "Hey, Meng, think you can get us some pepper spray?"
Meng Wenzhou froze, then rolled his eyes. "What, you think I’m some kind of gangster? Where the hell would I get that?"
Even though Liu Bo had spoken quietly, everyone nearby heard him.
Chu Qiunan chuckled. "Come on, big guy, that’s not something to mess around with."
"Heh, just kidding. Forget I said anything."
Su Yang smiled. "Even if we could get pepper spray, we shouldn’t. We’re not going to war. But yeah, some proper knives for self-defense would be smart."
"Got it. I’ll handle the self-defense gear. I’ll pick some up tomorrow."
"Good. Make sure they’re quality stuff, though. Don’t come back with a bunch of kitchen knives," Meng Wenzhou joked.
Liu Bo shot him a look. "Seriously, bro? You think I’d grab something that useless?"
"Just making sure you don’t suddenly lose your mind and bring a fruit knife to a bear fight."
"Pfft. Trust me, when it comes to self-defense gear, I know what I’m doing."
As the guys bantered, Tang Ziyun and Su Qingci exchanged glances.
Su Qingci hesitated before asking, "Do we really need self-defense stuff?"
"Absolutely. We’re heading into Gun Barrel’s no-man’s-land at the end of this trip. We can’t go unprepared."
"Oh, right… Gun Barrel’s no-man’s-land. That does sound kinda scary. Do you think there’ll be wolves?"
"Relax, Su. With us tough guys around, even if we run into wolves—or even a bear—we’ll handle it!"
Zhang Ziming immediately cut in. "Ugh, dude, shut up! Last time you jinxed us by talking about bears and wolves, and guess what? We actually ran into a bear!"
"Hey, don’t blame me! I was just saying we should be prepared for anything."
"Wait, when did you guys see a bear?" Su Qingci’s eyes widened with curiosity.
Chu Qiunan perked up too, eagerly waiting for Liu Bo’s story.
Liu Bo waved it off with a casual grin. "Ah, it’s nothing worth mentioning. Ancient history."
"Come on, big bro! Tell us!" Chu Qiunan pressed.
"Tch. ‘Big bro’? Just ‘bro’ is fine. Why the extra word?"
"I’m just curious! When did you meet a bear?"
Seeing their excitement, Liu Bo cleared his throat and launched into a slightly embellished retelling of their camping trip—where they’d encountered a bear in the mountains.
When he got to the part where Su Yang and he had fought the beast, Su Qingci gasped. "Wait—you two actually fought a bear?!"
"Heh, you bet! The situation was dire! That bear weighed at least 800 or 900 pounds, standing three or four meters tall on its hind legs. My man Su Yang went toe-to-toe with it for eighty rounds. When I saw he couldn’t finish it off, I jumped in."
"Everything happened so fast! You can imagine the raw power of a beast that size—800, 900 pounds!"
"Even after eighty rounds, Su Yang still had enough strength to grab the bear’s massive hind leg. That’s when I took over—grabbed a log as thick as my calf and leapt in, smashing it right over the head!"
"That little bear was seeing stars after my earth-shattering strike..."
Liu Bo gestured wildly as he narrated, while Chu Qiunan and Su Qingci listened, enthralled.
Chu Qiunan swallowed hard. "And then?"
"And then? I told Su Yang to let go, and I fought the bear solo for another thirty rounds. Once he caught his breath, he rejoined the fight, and together, we wore it down until it ran off!"
"Wow!!! Su Yang, you're amazing!!!" Su Qingci turned to Su Yang with sparkling eyes.
"Huh? What about me? Why only praise Su Yang? I played a huge part too!"
"Liu Bo, you're awesome too!!" Su Qingci promptly shot Liu Bo an admiring look.
Only after seeing that expression did Liu Bo wave his hand smugly and chuckle, "Heh, ancient history, just a bit of hardship~ no need to dwell on it~~"
While Liu Bo was telling his story, apart from Chu Qiunan and Su Qingci, the others mostly wore expressions of exasperation.
Especially Pan Ning and Meng Qianyu, who had been eyewitnesses at the time.
Once Liu Bo finished, Meng Qianyu remarked flatly, "And this is how rumors get started~~"
......
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?"
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.
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.”
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
