The taxi drove into an old neighborhood of single-story houses.
Before even getting out, Lin Yu looked through the car window and immediately spotted Tang Manman waiting at the entrance of the alley.
She was wearing a cream-colored puffer jacket and a pair of wide-leg straight pants.
Whether it was the puffy nature of the jacket or the extra layers of warm clothes she had stuffed underneath,
her figure didn't look as slender as usual; instead, she appeared somewhat bulky.
To escape the bitter cold, her two small hands were tucked tightly into the pockets of her puffer jacket, making her look chubby and adorable.
Seeing her looking so round and resembling a little punching bag, Lin Yu couldn't help but want to laugh.
However, before the corners of his mouth could even curl up, Lin Yu suddenly furrowed his brows.
Wait.
Tang Manman didn't just look like a punching bag; she actually seemed genuinely upset.
Although her unhappy look was quite cute too...
As the car moved forward, Lin Yu caught sight of the man who had been blocked by Tang Manman's figure.
The man appeared to be in his thirties, with hollow cheeks and narrow, rat-like eyes. He stood with one leg straight and the other splayed to the side, looking completely sleazy.
He stood about two meters away from Tang Manman, not stepping any closer.
He just wore a wicked smirk, cracking sunflower seeds he pulled from his pocket while staring at her profile with a lecherous gaze, occasionally looking her up and down.
Just as the taxi was about to pull up in front of Tang Manman,
he suddenly took a large, obnoxious step to his front-left, abruptly bending over and leaning sideways.
His scrawny face was plastered with a creepy grin as he shamelessly tried to peer at Tang Manman's front profile.
Seeing the man's despicable behavior, a fire instantly flared up in Lin Yu's heart.
Without even waiting for the car to come to a complete stop, Lin Yu impatiently pushed the door open and stepped out, not forgetting to toss a considerate remark to reassure the driver.
"I'll pay you in a bit."
Ignoring the bright, flower-like smile that bloomed on Tang Manman's face when she saw him, Lin Yu took a few quick strides up to the man and asked:
"What are you looking at?"
The man could tell that the person before him was not someone to be messed with, and a trace of fear flashed through his narrow eyes.
However, he still felt somewhat confident since he hadn't technically done anything, so he retorted with a weak but sarcastic voice:
"What, is it illegal to look?"
Lin Yu couldn't be bothered to waste words on him and went straight in with a slap across the face.
The slap knocked the man's head to the side, and even his upper body tilted under the terrifying force.
"Hey!"
The man hunched over, clutching the struck half of his face, and said angrily:
"Why did you hit me!"
"What?"
"Is it illegal to hit?"
Lin Yu slightly modified the man's own words and threw them right back at him.
What had originally been a somewhat logical statement instantly became completely unreasonable after Lin Yu's modification.
But it didn't matter.
Lin Yu wasn't a reasonable person anyway.
Delivering another backhand slap to the man's face, Lin Yu cursed, looking even more furious than the man himself:
"Why the hell are you so selfish?"
"Smack!"
"Doesn't my hand hurt from hitting you?"
"Smack!"
"And you're the one complaining?"
"Smack!"
"..."
A rapid succession of slaps left the man dazed and then shocked him back to his senses.
He no longer stood there stupidly taking the beating, but turned and scurried away with his arms covering his head.
Lin Yu didn't chase after him. Once the man had run a fair distance, he stopped, turned around, and looked at Lin Yu as if wanting to drop a few harsh words.
Before he could speak, Lin Yu suddenly bent forward and stomped his feet hard on the ground a few times, acting as if he was about to sprint after him.
How could the man dare to say anything else? He ran far away without looking back.
Seeing Lin Yu scare the man away, Tang Manman was initially quite happy.
But then she remembered that Lin Yu had frightened her the exact same way before, and she had even embarrassingly tripped and fallen while running away.
She suddenly wasn't so happy anymore.
"Who was that idiot?"
Lin Yu turned his head and asked Tang Manman, still cursing under his breath.
"A bad guy!"
Tang Manman huffed, her soft voice carrying a hint of gritted teeth as she explained:
"He lives nearby."
"Ever since my mom, my sister, and I moved here, he's been harassing my mom."
"Sometimes he even says dirty things to her."
"It wasn't until my mom chased him down the street with a meat cleaver that he backed off for a while."
"After that, he didn't dare do anything to my mom anymore, but he just kept doing this, staring at people in a disgusting way."
"Sometimes my mom gets angry from being stared at."
"When she wants to lash out, he acts just like he did a moment ago, saying, 'Is it a crime to look?'"
"My mom doesn't know what to do when she hears that, so she just treats him like an annoying fly and ignores him."
"Mom also told us to ignore him, to just treat him like a disgusting toad and walk away quickly whenever we see him."
Hearing Tang Manman say this, Lin Yu's expression turned terrifyingly dark, while Tang Manman continued her chatter.
"Last autumn, I heard he offended someone and got beaten up badly by the local gangsters."
"After that, my sister said we hadn't seen him for a long time."
"At the time, I thought he had been beaten to death."
"I was happy for so long."
"Who knew he would show up again this winter!"
Tang Manman said indignantly.
"Soon."
Lin Yu stared in the direction the man had fled, squeezing the word out through gritted teeth.
"What?"
Tang Manman didn't catch what Lin Yu said and curiously asked.
"Nothing."
Lin Yu took a deep breath and forced a smile at Tang Manman, though he couldn't completely hide the ferocity in it, and said:
"I said people like him are bound to run into terrible luck sooner or later."
"Just like how he offended the gangsters before and got beaten up by them."
"A scumbag like him, who knows, one day he might offend someone powerful again, and then he'll be out of luck."
Tang Manman nodded in strong agreement. She gave a delicate hmph and angrily echoed:
"People like him are bound to run into terrible luck sooner or later!"
Lin Yu nodded. He looked at Tang Manman and said softly:
"Alright, you head back first."
"I'm going to the supermarket to buy some drinks, and I'll head over to your place in a bit."
"I'll go with you."
Tang Manman said clingingly.
"Be good, you head back first."
Lin Yu gently pinched Tang Manman's little cheeks, which were cold from the winter wind, and spoke tenderly.
As if it held some incredible magic,
the moment she heard Lin Yu gently say the words "Be good," Tang Manman's heart filled with sweetness.
Even though she really wanted to go to the supermarket with him, hearing him say that made her more willing to listen to his words.
"Alright, there's a supermarket right at the intersection over there."
Tang Manman thoughtfully pointed in a direction for Lin Yu.
Lin Yu nodded, indicating that he understood.
Tang Manman turned to leave, but without even waiting for her to reach home—
she had barely taken a few steps away when Lin Yu pulled out his phone and dialed Zhao Dahu's number.
The call connected quickly. Lin Yu glanced at Tang Manman, who hadn't gone far yet, and deliberately lowered his voice:
"I have a guy over here."
"Beat him to death for me!"

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!

with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!

ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"

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.”