Director Jin lay on an extremely narrow examination table, his eyes squeezed shut because of the anesthetic.
Zhu Zeyu couldn’t help raising an eyebrow.
Oh. So they did have anesthetic after all. It was just that there had only been enough for Director Jin.
“What about Captain Guan and Yang Zhanbai?”
He asked the question directly, but his eyes swiftly locked onto the two people in the corner.
A young nurse was pouring medicine over Guan En’s wound. Seeing this, Zhu Zeyu hurried over in three quick strides and poured half of the remaining level-14 potion onto the wound.
The horrifying gash began sprouting new flesh at a speed visible to the naked eye, and soon it had mostly healed.
Zhu Zeyu turned around and poured the rest of the potion over Yang Zhanbai’s wound.
“The doctors over there figured it out,” he explained with a smile. “The Hunter’s weapon is a very high level, so we have to use a level-12 potion. There was half a bottle left, and the doctor asked me to bring it over.”
Guan En patted him gratefully on the shoulder.
“We owe you one this time,” he said sincerely. “If it weren’t for you, Director Jin would have been the one injured.”
“His condition is good now. The doctor said his hand should heal within half an hour.”
His gratitude was genuine, but Zhu Zeyu noticed that Guan En’s smile looked strained.
It was as if something were weighing heavily on his brow, leaving him troubled and grim-faced.
“What’s wrong?” Zhu Zeyu asked. “Captain Guan, did something happen?”
Guan En said nothing. Instead, Yang Zhanbai pulled Zhu Zeyu aside and lowered his voice.
“It’s about Captain Jin. Check your Player Forum.”
Zhu Zeyu stared at his left palm.
A brand-new player mark had appeared there: a lifelike bird in a cage.
This account could probably be considered his official alt account. Both the Player Forum and the account were directly linked to the ID “Zhu Zeyu.”
In the private-message window, Yang Zhanbai was venting furiously.
“Captain Guan just told Jin Rongxu what happened. Guess what?”
Oh, this was going to be entertaining.
Zhu Zeyu glanced at Director Jin, who was lying unconscious on the bed.
There had been too many things to deal with, and Director Jin probably hadn’t had time to compare notes with Guan En yet.
If Jin Rongxu arrived just as Director Jin woke up, there would be quite a show.
“I’m telling you, that lunatic Jin Rongxu actually started raging.”
“He demanded to know why Guan En had entered the Mourning Hall when he had specifically warned him that Director Jin couldn’t possibly come out.”
Zhu Zeyu laughed. “He has some nerve blaming other people.”
“That’s not all.”
Though Yang Zhanbai was typing, an indignant look appeared on his face.
“He insisted there was something wrong with you. He kept saying you were highly suspicious.”
Zhu Zeyu asked, “...And then?”
“He said he’s coming over to personally take you downstairs to inspect your account.”
“This guy is something else. He’s completely ignoring the fact that I have an alibi!”
Yang Zhanbai was practically beside himself in the private-message window.
“Zeyu, can you believe how blind I was? I used to worship that piece of trash.”
“Why doesn’t he just say you’re the Hunter’s clone? What utter nonsense.”
“I think he’s simply jealous of your talent!”
Zhu Zeyu was so frightened that he wanted to cover Yang Zhanbai’s mouth.
Good heavens. He hadn’t even had time to warm up his new item.
That business about being a clone wasn’t something one could just say casually!
...
Inside the Mourning Hall.
Zhu Yan immersed himself in admiring the numbers behind his account, then once again turned down the Fake-Person Manager’s invitation to upgrade his membership.
He had to get back into Zhu Zeyu’s body as soon as possible. The Witch’s potion only allowed him to alter memories from within three hours of waking.
The three-hour limit was almost up. At this critical moment, he couldn’t afford even the slightest mistake—especially with Jin Rongxu and the dead Director Jin involved.
Zhu Yan thought of something, raised his head, and asked the doll behind the counter:
“Can you store items here? For example, a Savings Silver Ring containing valuable items...”
“Yes,” the doll said. “Would you like short-term or long-term storage?”
Five minutes later.
Zhu Yan quietly slipped back into Zhu Zeyu’s body, empty-handed.
The Savings Silver Ring he had just stolen, along with all the valuable items, had been placed in a safe in the Mourning Hall. The price was five bone silver coins per hour in rent.
The atmosphere in the examination room was heavy and silent. Only the faint clinking of medical instruments against enamel trays and the doctors’ concise instructions broke the stillness.
A player with healing abilities held Director Jin’s half-regrown left hand tightly.
Zhu Yan remembered this person.
He had been the same doctor who, together with that expert, had helped Jin Rongxu regrow his bones when Zhu Yan watched from outside the glass window in the early hours of the morning.
Zhu Yan watched listlessly until Director Jin’s final fingernail had grown back.
After an unknown amount of time, Director Jin finally opened his eyes. In the corridor, the hurried, disordered clacking of hard heels approached.
Then the examination-room door was pushed open.
Jin Rongxu’s face appeared in the doorway, twisted into a frightening expression.
“Director!”
He shot Zhu Zeyu a vicious glare before striding over to examine Director Jin’s injuries.
“I told you,” Jin Rongxu said grimly. “You should have listened to the Seer. Who allowed you to come here?”
Director Jin glanced sideways at Guan En.
He was a dignified man and did not speak immediately. Only after a long pause did he put on a stern expression and admit, “Some of Xiao Guan’s advice made sense. Jin Rongxu, stop making such a fuss!”
Guan En froze.
He stared at Director Jin, his expression filled with disbelief.
What did he mean, “some of the advice I gave him”?
What had he done?
No, he definitely had not tried to persuade Director Jin!
But Director Jin would never throw him under the bus over something like this. There was no reason for him to do so.
In an instant, cold sweat soaked through Guan En’s back.
If all of this were true, then who had gone to persuade Director Jin?
“Guan En?”
Jin Rongxu turned around. Looking at his face, Zhu Yan inexplicably thought of a beagle about to start barking.
“Guan En, what exactly did you say?”
Guan En realized what was happening.
He was silent for two seconds, then shook his head.
“Captain Jin, after I left Director Jin’s office, I went straight downstairs to direct the students. I stayed there until the vehicle arrived at the Mourning Hall.”
“I didn’t say anything... and there’s no way I would have dared tell Director Jin to come to the Mourning Hall!”
Guan En lifted his eyes toward Director Jin. His forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his voice grew agitated.
“Director Jin, what exactly happened?”
“Could it be that after I left, another ‘me’ entered your office?”
Zhu Zeyu keenly noticed that Director Jin’s hand, resting beside the bed, began to tremble slightly.
“That’s impossible,” he murmured. “That’s impossible...”
Zhu Zeyu and Yang Zhanbai exchanged a glance.
The more Director Jin thought about it, the more horrified he became.
He lunged forward and grabbed Jin Rongxu. When he climbed off the bed, even his legs were trembling.
“Go! Have them check the surveillance footage! The cameras outside my office! Check the surveillance on Guan En!”
“Start from around one-thirty—no, one-twenty!”
“Go!” he shouted at the dazed Jin Rongxu, nearly losing control. “Go, now!”
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
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."
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
