Li Ming looked at Zhang Wenhai's message and really wanted to call him to ask, "Since when were we such good friends?"
How could he spout such nonsense so casually? Was he really not afraid of being exposed?
Meeting Tan Chengcheng's puzzled gaze, Li Ming had no choice but to explain.
"If Zhang Wenhai is saying this, he must have some ulterior motive. He’s probably using my name to lure you out, then planning to make his move on you."
"That old bastard really has some nerve!"
Li Ming could guess Zhang Wenhai’s scheme with his eyes closed, and in his mind, he had already sentenced the man to death.
Tan Chengcheng, however, smiled brightly and said,
"I believe you, Warden Li. Zhang Wenhai probably never expected we’ve already been in contact. This time, his trick won’t work on me. Thankfully, you came today—otherwise, he might’ve actually succeeded..."
Li Ming nodded. Judging by the situation, Zhang Wenhai likely planned to make his move on Tan Chengcheng tonight. Li Ming was somewhat curious about what kind of expression Zhang Wenhai would wear if he saw him.
Tan Chengcheng handed her phone to Li Ming, who thought for a moment before simply replying, "Sure!"
He planned to confront the old bastard in person, but he needed Tan Chengcheng’s cooperation. Testing the waters, he asked,
"Miss Tan, since he’s being dishonest, I plan to deal with him today. Would you be willing to help me? I’ll secretly record his words as evidence and have him removed tomorrow. Would that be convenient for you?"
Li Ming figured that if he could get evidence, great—if not, it didn’t matter. A corrupt official like Zhang Wenhai would be easy to take down with just a little digging. Still, he really wanted to see the man’s furious face.
Tan Chengcheng agreed without hesitation. If she could help Li Ming, she was more than willing! Besides, Zhang Wenhai had been eyeing her for a long time, and she had long since grown disgusted with him. Now that she could help bring him down, she was more than happy—especially since she’d also get to witness Li Ming’s skills. Two birds with one stone!
Li Ming checked the time. There was still some distance from Tianyi Villa to City S, and leaving now would be perfect.
So, he motioned for Tan Chengcheng to set off with him immediately.
Tan Chengcheng took a moment to wash her face and touch up her makeup, restoring her tear-streaked face to the refined image of a successful woman. Li Ming couldn’t help but marvel at the transformation.
Instead of driving his own car, Li Ming got into Tan Chengcheng’s convertible. Once they hit the road, she floored the accelerator, and the sudden g-force pushed Li Ming back into his seat, making him instinctively stick his hand out the window.
He’d heard that if you drove fast enough, the wind resistance against your hand at different speeds could mimic the feel of a woman’s curves—20 mph for an A-cup, 40 for a B, 60 for a C. But with Tan Chengcheng’s foot on the pedal, they were easily hitting 100 mph. That had to mean serious potential! Yet, all Li Ming felt was the cool, damp evening breeze carrying the faint scent of earth.
"Looks like it might rain soon..." Li Ming murmured.
"Probably... It hasn’t rained in a while. The weather’s been unbearably hot lately," Tan Chengcheng replied, her high-slit qipao exposing her legs fully to Li Ming’s gaze.
The first time he saw her legs, Li Ming had thought they were longer than the welcoming pine at Jade Tower—not just slender and shapely, but with flawless skin, pale and smooth. Three words involuntarily flashed through his mind:
Legs for days!
If she wore black stockings, the contrast between black and white, light and shadow, would be downright mesmerizing!
He had no idea how she maintained them—her legs had better skin than most people’s faces. No wonder Zhang Wenhai was so obsessed!
Tan Chengcheng, focused on driving, didn’t notice his gaze. The car was quiet, so she broke the silence.
"Warden Li, how should I introduce you at the dinner later?"
Li Ming snapped out of his thoughts, stroked his chin, and replied after a moment’s consideration.
"Just say... I’m your driver, mute and deaf. You brought me along because you were worried about driving at night."
"Zhang Wenhai’s already heard my voice on the phone today. If I speak, that old fox might catch on. I’ll stay silent and see what tricks he’s up to."
He clapped his hands, quietly proud of his quick thinking.
Tan Chengcheng, however, couldn’t help but laugh.
"A mute? Will that really work? Isn’t it too obvious? What if he asks you to wait outside so he can talk to me alone? I can’t just refuse outright."
Li Ming smirked and casually added, "Then say I’m both deaf and mute. He can’t possibly insist on kicking me out then. Don’t worry—if we’re caught, it’s fine. That old fox is sharp. We’re just testing his intentions, seeing if we can record anything. If he notices, no big deal. I’ve got ways to handle him. With me here, you’ve got nothing to fear."
Li Ming figured that if Zhang Wenhai sensed something was off, he wouldn’t bother keeping up the act. Whether it came to brains or brawn, Li Ming had him cornered.
As long as he confirmed Zhang Wenhai was no good, the man could kiss his career goodbye.
Hearing Li Ming’s confidence, Tan Chengcheng relaxed. She might have money, but when dealing with people in power, money wasn’t always enough...
Soon, they arrived in City S, right on schedule. Just as they were about to head to Jade Tower, another message came through.
Tan Chengcheng glanced at her phone, frowned, and handed it to Li Ming.
"Miss Tan, the warden of Black Mountain Prison is currently at Mingdu Hotel on official business! Come straight here! We’re all on the same side—your request won’t be a problem! We’ll be waiting. Mingdu Hotel, Room 1801!"
Li Ming studied the message and chuckled.
"Just as I thought... He switched to a hotel. This is definitely a setup."
"Let’s go! Time to see what he’s plotting. I’ll drive."
Li Ming got out and switched places with Tan Chengcheng before speeding toward Mingdu Hotel.
Mingdu Hotel was a landmark in City S—a towering skyscraper with luxurious decor, frequented by international tourists. It offered everything from fine dining and accommodations to shopping, entertainment, and even foot massages. A high-end establishment through and through.
As Li Ming pulled into the parking lot, a valet came to assist. Once the car was parked, Tan Chengcheng led the way with Li Ming following behind as a staff member escorted them to Room 1801.
Though called a private room, it was essentially a large suite, identical to a hotel room except for a grand dining table set with exquisitely plated but meager portions of food—and, most importantly, alcohol.
The door was ajar. Tan Chengcheng knocked, and Zhang Wenhai emerged to greet them...
...
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.”
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
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.
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
