Ever since he was a child watching TV shows and movies, Lin Yu never understood why the heroes in the stories would always give up on revenge at the last moment and choose forgiveness.
They would even sugarcoat it with sayings like, "When will the cycle of vengeance ever end?"
Lin Yu thought this was nothing but pure, idiotic nonsense.
Why should the cycle of vengeance end with you?
Why didn't it end after the villain slaughtered their whole family, with their friends, teachers, or relatives?
To put it another way.
If the hero and the villain with a sword at their throat swapped places.
If it were the villain holding the peerless sword against the hero's neck.
Would the villain suddenly be struck by a bout of kindness and let the hero go?
Absolutely not!
He would only regret not pulling the problem up by the roots back then, leading to this extra trouble now.
Perhaps, in the final moment before swinging his sword to hack the hero to death, the villain would even start gloating and humiliating the hero.
If he got carried away, the villain might enthusiastically and vividly describe exactly how he wiped out the hero's entire family and killed his parents.
The Xu Mingyao in front of him was exactly this kind of person.
If her family's power was greater than the Qing family's.
If she could crush the Qing family as easily as the Qing family had crushed the Xu family.
Would she leave him and Tang Manman, or him and Xia Muzhu, a way out?
You must be joking!
The twisted tricks she could come up with would probably outnumber his own!
Therefore, even now, Lin Yu had no intention of forgiving Xu Mingyao.
It was just...
...
Gazing into the seemingly endless darkness before him, Lin Yu suddenly felt a bit tired.
Strange.
He hadn't even done much today.
Why was he so tired...
...
No.
Actually, he hadn't done a little today...
...
But the exhaustion that made Lin Yu feel so powerless right now wasn't the feeling of his body being physically drained out.
It was something else.
An indescribable fatigue.
Lin Yu felt as if a soul that had trekked through a torrential downpour for three days and three nights had suddenly returned to his body.
He was exhausted to the absolute limit.
Without a word, it shattered into pieces, and the soul fragments slowly dissolved and melted into his joints, muscles, and the crevices of his bones.
The exhaustion spread out like blood, seeping deep into every inch of his muscles and bones.
So tired that it made one want to toss all thought aside.
Lin Yu didn't plan to let Xu Mingyao off the hook just like this.
But Lin Yu also didn't know what to do.
Right now, he just felt so tired.
Too tired to want to do anything.
He just wanted to be alone, to find a place to sit quietly for a while.
To rest for a while.
Xu Mingyao was still kneeling on the ground, her naturally alluring face now covered in tears.
She didn't wipe them away.
She just let the tears stream freely down her cheeks.
Both of her hands were desperately clutching the hem of Lin Yu's shirt.
Choking back sobs, she begged.
Humble to the extreme.
Seeing Xu Mingyao in such a pathetic and lowly state.
According to his original plan, Lin Yu should have had a smile on his lips, happily admiring the sight.
And occasionally rubbing some salt in her wounds, or stabbing her a couple more times, so to speak.
Only now, Lin Yu was too tired to have the mind to do any of those things.
He didn't even spare half a glance to Xu Mingyao, who was kneeling on the ground showing the perfect expression of a tragic victim.
Lin Yu lifted his leg and stepped toward the path he had come from, wanting to leave this place and find somewhere to rest.
"Lin Yu."
"Lin Yu!"
"Don't go!"
Xu Mingyao gripped the hem of his clothes, refusing to let go.
Because she was kneeling on the ground and unable to move easily, her body was dragged slightly askew by Lin Yu's steps.
She stumbled and fell onto the park's stone path, which was covered in fallen green leaves.
Lin Yu still didn't look at her; his eyes were tired and dull as he kept walking forward on his own.
But Xu Mingyao refused to give up.
She knew very well.
This was her only chance to keep her.
She didn't want to lose her.
She was all she had left now.
Lin Yu was very strong, and Xu Mingyao couldn't hold back his determined departure at all.
The fabric clutched in her hands slipped away little by little.
Xu Mingyao was frantic.
Finally, she threw everything to the wind.
She completely discarded the dignity she once valued more than her own life, turning instead to hug Lin Yu's lower leg. She clamped her arms tightly around it, even pressing her face against his calf, and cried out in supplication:
"Lin Yu."
"I'm sorry."
"I know I was wrong."
"I really know I was wrong."
"I apologize to you."
"Please don't target her anymore."
"If you want to beat or scold someone, take it out on me, okay?"
"All of this is my fault."
"Please don't bully her anymore."
"Lin Yu."
"I'm begging you."
"I..."
"Get lost!"
Lin Yu pulled his leg out of Xu Mingyao's grasp without hesitation, and then viciously stomped his foot down, kicking Xu Mingyao right in the face.
"Ugh..."
The words Xu Mingyao hadn't yet spoken were kicked right back down her throat by Lin Yu.
She finally let go, clutching her face in unbearable pain.
Under the dim streetlights, a smear of bright red could faintly be seen seeping through Xu Mingyao's pale fingers.
"Lin Yu..."
"Don't go..."
Ignoring the pain in her face, Xu Mingyao tried with all her might to make Lin Yu stay.
Just like how she wanted to keep that girl by her side.
But the intense pain had already sapped away most of her physical strength.
Her throat bobbed, but the voice that came out was incredibly weak.
The low call echoed through the trees, slowly fading away along with the sound of his retreating footsteps...
...
Walking out of that nameless abandoned park.
Under streetlights that were clearly several degrees brighter, Lin Yu found a nearby bench by the road and sat down.
On the secluded road, let alone people, not even a single car could be seen.
Immersed in this silent world.
Lin Yu didn't think about anything.
He just slowly closed his eyes.
Allowing his body time to adjust to this sudden, unprovoked wave of exhaustion.
But before Lin Yu could rest for long, a sudden, urgent ringtone rang out from his phone.
Lin Yu took out his phone and instinctively glanced at it.
When he saw the caller ID clearly, Lin Yu's scalp went numb.
Qing Mo?
Facing the only person who knew what kind of terrible things he was doing.
Lin Yu felt a bit guilty.
Answering the call, Lin Yu brought the phone to his ear, using as calm a voice as possible to cover up his inner unease.
"Hello."
"Come back for a bit."
"I need to see you about something."
Qing Mo's cold and detached voice carried a rare trace of seriousness.
It made one involuntarily attach more importance to whatever she was talking about.
"What is it?"
Lin Yu asked subconsciously.
"I can't explain it clearly over the phone."
"Come back and we'll talk face-to-face."
"Oh..."
"Okay."
Lin Yu agreed.
Hanging up, Lin Yu put his phone away.
The exhaustion in his body had hardly faded.
The strength hidden in his bones and blood felt like scattered sand, difficult to muster.
But whatever Qing Mo had mentioned seemed very important.
Unwilling to delay, Lin Yu propped up his exhausted body and walked along the streetlights, heading out into the night.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Putting away her phone, Qing Mo turned and walked to the balcony.
Looking down at the brilliantly lit night view below her feet.
Yet, she just couldn't seem to settle her mind.
Once Lin Yu got his revenge on Xu Mingyao tonight, he should finally be able to find closure for the past.
Then, it would be time to tell him about that matter.
After all, in her current condition, she simply couldn't drag it out any longer.
But even knowing this, Qingmo felt an inexplicable sense of heaviness, a strong premonition that a storm was brewing.
"Sigh."
Letting out a soft breath, Qingmo turned and walked back inside the house.
Now, all she could do was pray that everything would go smoothly...
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
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!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
