After asking around, Li Ming returned to the building where Wang Keyan's family lived. The upstairs apartment remained empty, with no sign of anyone returning.
He had no idea how to explain this to Wang Xin. If she found out her daughter was being forced into marriage by her own sister, there was no telling what she might do.
Li Ming waited for several more hours, well into the night, but still, no one came back. Glancing around and confirming the area was deserted, he refused to leave empty-handed. Earlier, he had already scouted a route—climbing up from the first-floor balcony via the drainpipe would take him straight to the third-floor balcony. He decided to go up and investigate.
Given his current physical condition, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Using both hands, Li Ming exerted a little force, and his body floated up effortlessly, lighter than air. It was even easier than he’d imagined. In less than a minute, he was standing on Wang Keyan’s balcony.
Testing the door, he found it unlocked—saving him a lot of trouble—and slipped inside without difficulty.
Turning on his phone’s flashlight, he confirmed the place looked uninhabited. A thin layer of dust covered the coffee table. He shone the light on a photo frame on the TV stand—a woman in her forties holding a boy in his teens.
The woman bore a resemblance to Wang Xin, undoubtedly her older sister, and the boy was likely her sister’s child.
After searching the living room and finding no trace of Wang Keyan, Li Ming pushed open the door to the secondary bedroom.
There was no way her family would let her have the master bedroom.
Sure enough, the moment he stepped inside, he knew this was Wang Keyan’s room.
Pink bedsheets, cosmetics on the desk, clothes hanging on the wall, and two photos by the bedside—one of a younger, more innocent-looking Wang Xin, and the other of his target: Wang Keyan.
He had to admit, Wang Keyan had inherited all her mother’s best traits—fair skin, striking beauty, a curvaceous figure, and an icy demeanor that only enhanced her allure. Her brows and eyes were nearly identical to Wang Xin’s.
Li Ming clicked his tongue in admiration. "So this is what good genes look like. Beauty really is hereditary!"
Memorizing her appearance, he pocketed both photos. If he couldn’t find her, at least he could give them to Wang Xin as a keepsake.
He continued searching the room but found nothing useful. Though it was clear Wang Keyan had left in a hurry, leaving her belongings untouched, the sparse room offered no clues about her possible whereabouts.
Just as Li Ming was about to give up, he heard the sound of a key turning in the front door.
Click.
The door creaked open slowly.
Li Ming’s hair stood on end. Someone was back—but who?
Holding his breath, he made no sound. Before the person could fully enter, he gently pushed Wang Keyan’s bedroom door shut, leaving only a sliver of a gap.
He strained his ears, listening for movement in the living room.
To his confusion, the newcomer made no sound at all. Apart from the initial turn of the key, Li Ming couldn’t even hear footsteps. His caution intensified.
Abandoning stealth, he carefully lay flat on the floor and slid under Wang Keyan’s bed. Whoever it was wouldn’t find him there.
After a while, the bedroom door inched open slightly.
Li Ming nearly gasped aloud in shock.
How is this person moving without a single footstep?
Under his tense gaze, the door opened fully.
Moonlight from the window illuminated a pair of delicate bare feet tiptoeing into the room, each step carefully placed to avoid noise.
Relief washed over Li Ming.
"So that’s why—she’s barefoot. No wonder there’s no sound!"
By now, he had guessed the intruder’s identity: his target, Wang Keyan.
Sneaking back in, she was probably here to retrieve something, unaware that the apartment was empty except for him.
Li Ming stayed silent, not wanting to startle her. Controlling his breathing, he watched her movements.
She crept further inside, heading straight toward him.
She stopped right beside his face, so close he could smell the faint fragrance of her feet.
Though he couldn’t see her actions, Wang Keyan suddenly stomped in frustration, then froze, realizing she needed to stay quiet. Her toes curled against the floor as if trying to take back the noise.
Li Ming stifled a laugh. Wang Keyan was unexpectedly cute—nothing like the frosty beauty in the photo.
He debated whether to reveal himself and talk to her, but he knew it would terrify her.
While he hesitated, Wang Keyan seemed to grab what she came for and tiptoed back toward the door. Pausing at the threshold, she cast a reluctant glance at the room she’d lived in for years.
This might be the last time she’d ever see it. But she had no choice—she had to leave.
Her gaze swept over her little bed one last time—
Then her eyes locked onto the half-exposed head and a pair of gleaming eyes staring at her from beneath the bed.
Disbelieving, she rubbed her eyes and looked again.
"AHHHHHHHH!!!"
A piercing scream tore through the silence. Wang Keyan bolted for the door but slipped and crashed to the floor.
Terror paralyzed her. She scrambled on all fours, but her limbs refused to cooperate, trembling uncontrollably.
Li Ming couldn’t stay hidden any longer. He scrambled out from under the bed.
"Wang Keyan! Don’t run! I’m not a bad person! Don’t be afraid!"
Outside the room, Wang Keyan was still crawling away, too hysterical to process his words. The fact that the "thing" under the bed could speak—and knew her name—sent her into sheer panic.
"GHOST!!! THERE’S A GHOST!!! HELP!!!" Her shrieks were so bloodcurdling even Li Ming flinched.
He sprang to his feet, dashed out, and hauled her up from the floor where she flailed like a stranded fish.
Wang Keyan’s screams cut off abruptly as she dangled in midair, staring dumbfounded at the figure holding her.
Moonlight revealed the "ghost" lifting her—and it looked... human?
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?!
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
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!
] [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!"
