Zhu Zeyu reached out to touch it, but Director Jin nervously grabbed him by the shoulder and stopped him.
“That’s the thing.”
Zhu Zeyu could hear the tension in Director Jin’s voice.
“That thing may have a special effect. It might be able to drag people into a dungeon.”
Yeah, right. What a load of crap.
The thing with a special effect was still inside the Zhu Yan Ring. He hadn’t taken it out yet.
Outwardly, however, Zhu Zeyu cautiously withdrew his hand, a bead of cold sweat glistening on his temple.
He drew a Level 7 dagger he had bought from Feining and slowly moved closer.
“Director Jin, fall back.”
Zhu Zeyu tried to sound calm, but his voice still trembled faintly.
“I’ll do it. I, uh… should be the lowest-level person here. If I get dragged into the dungeon, have Medic try something else.”
The other Walking Corpses, along with the real players, formed a semicircle and firmly shielded Director Jin behind them.
The “army medic,” one of the Walking Corpses under Zhu Zeyu’s control, nodded in agreement and played along. “Be extremely careful. Or I could show you a higher-level weapon—hey!”
From an outsider’s perspective, Zhu Zeyu was much more reckless than the “army medic” had anticipated.
Before he could finish speaking, Zhu Zeyu stepped forward, raised his hand, and brought the dagger down hard against the metal surface!
Clang—
The dagger’s tip embedded itself in the metal by the narrowest of margins, then suddenly slid sideways, nearly injuring Zhu Zeyu himself.
The sight made everyone’s hearts jolt.
One of the players warily raised his head and looked around. Only after seeing that the surroundings on both sides had not changed did he relax his grip on his weapon slightly.
“Be careful!” he shouted.
Zhu Zeyu, however, seemed to have gone mad.
He lowered his head to examine the dagger, then knelt down and carefully inspected the pull ring.
“Napkin.” Director Jin spoke in a low voice to the subordinate beside him.
He really couldn’t take it anymore. It was as if someone had placed his heart over a lighter and was roasting it.
“It looks like the problem is with the pull ring.”
Zhu Zeyu said this as he deliberately tugged at the ring.
Inside the virtual dungeon, Zhu Yan cooperated with the movement and appropriately distorted the space around Director Jin.
The light strips in the corridor suddenly began to buzz and flicker. The alternating light and darkness made everyone cry out in alarm.
“Zhu Zeyu!”
“Fuck, let go!”
“Stop moving it! Come back!”
Zhu Zeyu released the pull ring.
He turned around and flashed the several terrified men a brilliant smile.
“Relax. I don’t think it’s a big deal.”
“Come back first.”
The speaker was someone Zhu Yan didn’t recognize. He had a buzz cut and skin darkened by the sun.
“It already started moving just now. This dungeon is difficult enough as it is. If we all get dragged inside…”
……
Inside the virtual dungeon.
Zhu Yan watched as the people inside gradually lost the color in their faces, calculating the right moment to act.
The space here had shrunk to barely half its original size. The players inside had no choice but to stand shoulder to shoulder, their backs pressed against one another.
Captain Zheng’s hands were trembling so badly that he could no longer hold his knife properly.
The walls now bore several blackened bullet marks and a few shallow slashes. Clearly, the people inside had tried their best, but all their efforts had been useless.
“Captain, the people outside… Director Jin—have they come up with a solution?”
Captain Zheng gave a bitter laugh and sighed.
The ceiling pressed down another few inches. He had to hunch his neck just to remain standing.
“Damn it.”
Captain Zheng trembled as he straightened his collar, then gave up and closed his eyes.
“If I’d known this would be the result, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
The team member beside him swallowed with difficulty.
“Captain Zheng… what about the rest of us?”
……
Outside the space.
Under the horrified gazes of the crowd, Zhu Zeyu lowered his head again and began talking to himself.
“I think the key problem is right here. Look, if I pull this…”
Zhu Zeyu grabbed the pull ring.
“Zhu Zeyu!” Director Jin’s soul nearly left his body in terror.
But the young man was already completely immersed in his own world. He didn’t even spare Director Jin a glance.
He precisely slipped the blade into the tiny gap in the center of the pull ring, then pried it open without the slightest hesitation!
Bzzzt—
In an instant, the light strips in the corridor began flashing wildly!
……
Inside the space.
Captain Zheng remained silent for a long while before calmly shaking his head.
“I have no solution. I’m sorry, but…”
He couldn’t finish, because the cramped space suddenly erupted with a rapid series of crisp pops, like popcorn exploding.
The incident happened so suddenly that before anyone could react, Director Jin’s hysterical roar, mixed with the young man’s delighted cheers, came through the wall.
“Oh, Director Jin, why are you getting so angry when you were perfectly fine?”
Captain Zheng was very familiar with that voice.
“Zhu Zeyu!” Director Jin roared.
“You have absolutely no regard for the organization or discipline!”
The young man’s voice fell silent for a second.
Then, one of the team members beside Captain Zheng let out a startled cry.
“Captain, look!”
The wall before them warped, as if it were not a wall at all but a thin sheet of tin foil.
Then a long, slender hand with sharply defined knuckles punched through the layer. With astonishing ease, it tore a huge opening in the “wall.”
Fresh air and warm white light poured in together. Outside the opening, Zhu Zeyu’s smiling face appeared before them.
“Hey, why are you all just standing there in shock?”
Captain Zheng stared blankly at him without speaking.
The young man tore the rest of the wall open in a few swift motions.
Then he grabbed the dazed Captain Zheng and dragged him out of the dark, distorted space.
Only then did Captain Zheng finally see the entire scene outside.
Another dozen or so players stood behind Zhu Zeyu. They had all retreated in perfect unison, remaining on guard as they stared wide-eyed at Captain Zheng, seemingly unable to believe what had just happened.
Director Jin was surrounded and protected by the others. He was drenched in sweat.
His carefully maintained hair had fallen messily over his forehead in several strands, and his chest heaved up and down. He looked as though he might drop dead of a heart attack at any moment.
Captain Zheng moved his lips, then looked back over his shoulder.
The small space behind him had been completely torn apart.
The walls really were as fragile as paper. It was difficult to imagine that the people inside had just been in such a desperate state.
“…What exactly happened here?”
Captain Zheng felt as if he had returned from another world.
He looked at Zhu Zeyu, then at Director Jin.
“I…”
“You’re alive.”
Zhu Zeyu grinned, then waved the pull ring—which had been bent and broken in half—in front of Director Jin.
“See, Director? I told you it would be fine.”
Then he stepped forward on his own and dragged out the people trapped inside one by one.
Captain Zheng suddenly understood.
An overwhelming sense of relief washed over him. Tears spilled uncontrollably from his eyes, and the square-jawed, rugged-looking man actually began to sob.
“Brother!”
He patted Zhu Zeyu on the shoulder, unable to stop his tears.
“Thank you, brother! As long as I have a bowl of rice to eat in the future, you’ll have a bowl of soup!”
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!
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
