“Captain Jin said so.”
Zhu Yan had already had the foresight to switch into the puppet of “Zhu Zeyu.” He lowered his head and gave the black uniform of the [Human Alliance] a once-over.
He cleared his throat and very seriously relayed Jin Rongxu’s completely nonsensical instructions.
“Because a small number of people complained that taking leave was difficult, the Alliance has decided to postpone the return date for all players who made the rankings.”
Zhu Yan actually thought that excuse was ridiculous.
The real reason was probably that the Alliance had been forced to take on extra work because of certain people and certain incidents. They were so overwhelmed that they simply didn’t have time to deal with these students.
“What happens after we return?” Chen Zhaoxing blinked. “Do you think we could be assigned to the same shelter?”
…
Clearly, they couldn’t.
Zhu Yan leaned back in the soft chair in the conference hall and watched the assignment list projected onto the screen ahead of them.
He and Yang Zhanbai had been assigned to the Western Suburbs Shelter, where Jin Rongxu was stationed. Qi Yinming had been assigned to the Strategic Analysis Department at headquarters, while Chen Zhaoxing and Xu Tongguang had been sent to a place called the Central Air-Raid Shelter.
“I’ve heard of the Central Air-Raid Shelter. It’s relatively small,” Yang Zhanbai said in a low voice. “I think it’s a temporary Class-C shelter. You two need to be careful.”
Chen Zhaoxing bared his teeth at him.
A faint flush spread across Xu Tongguang’s pale face, and he smiled amiably.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be careful not to kill off the entire human race.”
“Keep in touch after you get there.” Qi Yinming raised his phone. “We work together pretty well, after all.”
They hadn’t actually worked together that many times, Zhu Yan silently thought.
It was just that they understood one another’s personalities well, and they had cleared dungeons together before.
“These days, it’s rare to find people who know each other inside and out.” Qi Yinming lowered his voice. “You all heard it just now, right? The number of dungeons has suddenly dropped off. However you look at it, it feels like a conspiracy.”
“We should keep each other updated. If something happens to any of you…” He paused, but still finished the ominous thought. “If things get chaotic again, we should try to regroup as much as possible.”
Zhu Yan didn’t respond.
He was using the eyes of one of his [Walking Dead] to observe Jin Rongxu’s situation in real time.
And the reason he couldn’t spare any attention to answer was simple: someone familiar had appeared beside Jin Rongxu.
It wasn’t Director Jin. It was the hot-tempered young man Zhu Yan had met once before in the [Hall of Mourning].
At the time, this man had been surrounded by a group of Alliance players who were helping him sign up. He was clearly another rich young heir.
“Captain Jin, you’re doing pretty well for yourself.”
The man stamped his feet in his brand-name monogrammed loafers, then raised a hand and spun the earring in his ear.
Although he was wearing a perfectly proper uniform, his hair had been sculpted into rigid spikes with gel, creating a carefully maintained, fluffy look.
Zhu Yan could even see traces of caked foundation on his face and clumps of eyebrow pencil smudged around the ends of his brows.
The man had the air of a flashy club playboy, as if he had come solely to pick up women.
Jin Rongxu seemed to know him. At the very least, he treated him much better than he treated Zhu Yan, and there was even a trace of a smile on his face.
“Qiu Lingxiao, try to act proper in front of other people. If you come with me to the Western Suburbs and keep putting on this act, watch out or people will talk.”
Qiu Lingxiao burst out laughing and slapped Jin Rongxu familiarly on the shoulder.
“What’s there to be afraid of? Come on! Aren’t all the strong guys supposed to carry themselves like this?”
“It’s a shame the smaller dungeons are gone now. I finally made it to Anwu City, and I can’t even level up some of my abilities.”
Oh. So this person had already completed his plan to seize abilities.
Zhu Yan’s eyes lit up.
People like this usually didn’t have a minor cheat.
What ability had he stolen?
Jin Rongxu smiled. “Young CEO Qiu, genuine dungeons aren’t that easy. Having someone guide you through one at the beginning is completely different from clearing one on your own.”
Qiu Lingxiao smacked his lips.
During that brief pause, Zhu Yan keenly noticed a trace of disdain flash across Qiu Lingxiao’s face.
It seemed to be directed at Jin Rongxu.
He hurriedly adjusted the [Walking Dead]’s point of view, and sure enough, caught the momentary stiffness in Jin Rongxu’s facial muscles, as well as the narrowed, assessing look in his eyes.
“How are your father and your two older brothers?” Jin Rongxu abruptly changed the subject. “Did you pass along my regards?”
Zhu Yan had no idea what he had read from the situation.
But he firmly committed the phrase “your father and your two older brothers” to memory.
“As for them…” Qiu Lingxiao smiled. “One of my brothers died, so now there’s only my dad and my other brother left. What a mess. Do you think there’s any way to turn people into horror creatures and have them bless us?”
Jin Rongxu’s expression darkened. “What nonsense are you spouting?”
Qiu Lingxiao immediately realized that there were outsiders present.
“Hey, I was just joking. Right, Brother Rongxu, have you found any leads on that [Hunter]?”
Jin Rongxu shook his head, but his eyes remained fixed on Qiu Lingxiao, like an eagle locking onto a rabbit.
“That’s unfortunate. Still no leads. Lingxiao, go tell Kaiyi to hurry up and pack. We’re leaving in half an hour.”
Qiu Lingxiao sauntered out. “Hey, our two teams aren’t going to be riding in the same vehicle as those people, are we?”
“Follow the organization’s arrangements.” Jin Rongxu was very polite. “I’ll try to assign you fewer people.”
The office door swung shut.
Jin Rongxu looked at the three corpses in the office, the corner of his mouth twitching, and sent Pot Lid and Ma Dong away first.
Then, staring at the remaining military doctor, he suddenly said something horrifying.
“We found the [Hunter],” Jin Rongxu said coldly. “Two of them, in fact.”
…
This time, the vehicle sent to pick up Zhu Yan and Yang Zhanbai was a seven-seat SUV. The other students and organizational personnel were all riding in the buses behind them.
Before getting into the vehicle, Zhu Yan saw quite a few unfamiliar faces, presumably students from the other schools.
Although the mortality rate of the [Metabolism Module] was high, quite a few people had still survived overall.
But he no longer had the energy to think about any of that. The information Jin Rongxu had given his confidant, the military doctor, was simply too explosive—so explosive that Zhu Yan was afraid he couldn’t process it all on his own.
Jin Rongxu had said that Qiu Lingxiao’s remaining brother and his father were both [Hunters].
“…What incredible nerve. That ignorant brat thinks the entire [Frenzied Funland] is his personal backer.”
Jin Rongxu’s grim expression and tone kept playing over and over in Zhu Yan’s mind.
He took a deep breath, climbed into the official SUV, and sat in the last row with Yang Zhanbai.
Jin Rongxu wasn’t in the vehicle.
Apart from the two of them, there were only Zhu Yan’s three [Walking Dead] and Captain Zheng.
Jin Rongxu had probably gone with Qiu Lingxiao to ride in a sedan.
“Hello, Captain Zheng. Hello, gentlemen.”
Zhu Yan greeted them respectfully, then casually brought up the matter he wanted to ask about.
“By the way, Captain Zheng, where’s our Captain Jin?”
Something this important might be known to Captain Zheng.
It would be a waste not to sound him out while he had the chance.
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."
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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.
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!
