Hearing this incredibly high-status title, Lin Yu touched his nose guiltily, feeling he didn't quite deserve it, especially since he was currently the one seeking Zhao She's help.
However, Lin Yu didn't correct him, afraid that he might inadvertently break some rule of the underworld and make Zhao She feel slighted.
In short, let him call him what he wanted; Lin Yu would simply pretend he didn't hear it.
The cold autumn night wind blew. Lin Yu sniffled his slightly stuffy nose and got straight to the point.
"It's me."
"I have something I need your help with."
"Is now a good time?"
"There's no such thing as a bad time."
Zhao She's slightly husky, low voice rang out calmly.
"As long as it is you, Master Yu, who has a problem... I won't say I'd climb a mountain of swords or plunge into a sea of fire, but as long as it doesn't harm the core interests of me and my brother, whatever you say goes."
Zhao She's words weren't flowery, but they were sincere.
Hearing this, Lin Yu understood clearly; he knew his bottom line.
To be honest, if Zhao She had said he would climb a mountain of swords or a sea of fire for him, risking his very life, Lin Yu wouldn't have dared to ask him for help.
A man like that, who regarded human life as grass, was destined to be cold and ungrateful. Even a massive favor wouldn't make him sacrifice himself.
By stating his bottom line like this, Lin Yu actually felt more at ease asking for his help.
Since the air had been cleared, Lin Yu didn't stand on ceremony with him and spoke directly:
"It's like this."
"I'm currently in N City."
"I need a few heavy hitters to help me pry some information out of someone's mouth. Later on, I might need to track down a scammer who ran off with the money."
"He swindled a friend of mine out of a lot of money, and I intend to make him spit it all back out."
"Good."
Zhao She didn't say much else; he agreed readily, saying:
"Tomorrow afternoon, I'll bring some people over."
"See you at the airport."
Hearing that Zhao She was coming personally, Lin Yu felt much more assured.
With him there, things would definitely go much more smoothly.
He found a hotel near A University, checked in, and washed up. Afterward, Lin Yu lay in bed, following his old routine of scrolling through mindless short videos before sleep, waiting for drowsiness to send him to dreamland.
"Ding~"
A text message arrived.
Lin Yu glanced at the ID: Tao Zhi Yao Yao.
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: Still busy?
Lin Yu lay on his side and typed a reply with both hands.
Long Aotian: Already lying down.
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: How are things developing?
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: Is there any possibility of recovering the money?
Long Aotian: Hard to say,
Long Aotian: Not sure yet.
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: Is that so...
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: Well, I have some good news here that might improve your mood a little.
Long Aotian: What is it?
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: Although you didn't win the championship, that project should still belong to our school.
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: The only one with the ability to compete with our school for that new project is L University. Beating Qi Fei is enough.
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: You took second place, and Qi Fei took fourth.
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: Qi Fei got punched twice by you and didn't recover all afternoon. He even lost to people from other schools and didn't even get third place.
Lin Yu looked at the messages sent by Tao Zhi Yao Yao, and his heart did feel a bit lighter.
He had successfully achieved his goal.
Not bad.
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: How about it?
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: Is your mood a little better? (*^_^*)
Long Aotian: A little better.
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: That's good.
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: You rest now, I won't disturb you.
Tao Zhi Yao Yao: Goodnight.
Lin Yu: OK.
The chat ended. Lin Yu put down his phone and rolled over, staring blankly at the hotel ceiling. He thought of the bruise on Tao Yaoyao's chest again...
No!
That wasn't on her chest; it was right in the cleavage!
To leave a mark in such a private place...
If Tao Yaoyao didn't have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, she must be kept by some wealthy patron.
A bruise in a place like that could only be left if Tao Yaoyao was doing the deed with someone and they accidentally played a little too rough.
He had previously deduced that the approaches by Ye You, Wang Yanyan, and the others had ulterior motives.
Looking at it this way, if there really was a sugar daddy hiding behind Tao Yaoyao, could it be the same person who instructed Wang Yanyan and the others to get close to him?
Or rather...
Was that person the sugar daddy for all of them?
"Damn it!"
Thinking of this possibility, a nameless fire of rage ignited in Lin Yu's heart!
You motherfucker.
Who the hell is the protagonist here, me or you?
Why does it feel like you're living way more freely than I am?
Even the blonde antagonist following the original plot didn't have it this good!
You're the damn protagonist, aren't you?
As Lin Yu fumed, he suddenly realized something.
He remembered the faint sense of familiarity he felt when he first met Ye You, Wang Yanyan, and the others.
Since it was his first time meeting them, he couldn't possibly have known them.
Then there was only one possibility.
That familiarity came from his memories of critically reading "adult books" in his past life.
Perhaps without even noticing, he had read the sequel to that book, which was why he had a trivial, faint impression of them...
As for why he didn't remember a single bit of the plot this time...
Nonsense!
Do you remember how many slices of bread you've eaten in your life?
Unless it was exceptionally delicious or exceptionally terrible bread, everything else looks the same, okay?
Thinking of this, Lin Yu suddenly realized something, his eyes widening abruptly.
No!
Wait...
If in the second part of the book, he, as the blonde antagonist, took all these girls, then the person behind them...
...
Holy shit!
What kind of legendary "King of Cuckolds" is that?
That's too terrifying, isn't it?
He reached out and touched his smooth chin. After grooming, the new stubble hadn't had time to grow out yet; Lin Yu's chin was currently so smooth a baby wouldn't cry if rubbed against it.
Mm.
Since that was the case, there was no need for him to continue making blind deductions here.
Once he was done with the business here, he'd have Zhao She look into them.
With Zhao She's methods, investigating them wouldn't take much effort.
When the truth came out, he would see exactly what kind of background the person behind them had.
Plan formulated, Lin Yu took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and prepared to sleep.
"Ding."
The SMS notification sound rang out. Lin Yu opened his eyes and picked up his phone. It was a message from Tang Manman.
Tang KuaiKuai: Are you there?
Long Aotian: What's up?
Tang KuaiKuai: I'm a little scared. Can we video chat? (Expectant)
Long Aotian: ?
Long Aotian: What are you afraid of?
Long Aotian: Aren't you in the dorm?
Tang KuaiKuai: I'm still scared...
Lin Yu thought about it. Tang Manman had just suffered such a painful blow, so feeling scared made sense. She wasn't a very bold person to begin with.
His fingers tapped on the phone screen as Lin Yu typed a single word.
Long Aotian: Sure.
The very next second, a video call request popped up. Lin Yu was just wondering how Tang Manman had managed to call back so quickly, but when he saw the caller ID, his scalp went numb with dread.
Bamboo Meow: (Incoming Video Call)
...
...
Snuggled under the covers, Tang Manman held her phone with nervous hands, her heart filled with a mix of anticipation and secret delight.
Her three roommates were always teasing her about not having a boyfriend. When the video call connected, she decided she would speak just a little bit louder—that would surely shut them up.
The white glow of the phone screen illuminated Tang Manman's skin, making it appear luminous and porcelain-pale. Gazing expectantly at the screen, she tucked a smile into the corner of her lips and reached out a finger to tap the video call invitation.
???
Why wasn't it going through?
Just as Tang Manman was feeling puzzled, a message popped up.
Long Aotian: My phone ran out of gas. Let's talk some other time. Going to sleep.
???
Tang Manman felt a mix of anger and grievance.
What on earth did he mean by his phone "ran out of gas"?
That was way too perfunctory!
Hmph.
Tang Manman angrily shoved the phone against her chest through the quilt. She puffed up her cheeks, wanting to say something petulant and willful. But after holding it in for a long moment, her gaze gradually softened, and she murmured with hopeless resignation:
"I still like you..."

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.”

and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!

ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!