As he spoke, Fog had already crawled out of the elevator shaft and begun moving about like a ghost.
He would definitely tamper with the central control room and the router under Director Jin’s close watch.
But Zhu Yan had no intention of touching the router in the communal dormitory. He planned to tamper with the router in the public hall instead.
If he handled this properly, and had Zhu Zeyu sow a few words of discord from behind the scenes, the Seer’s standing with the Jin family would plummet.
Once this matter was over, and before the public-test dungeon began, the Seer’s existence would be nothing but a threat and a burden to Zhu Yan.
And the Seer, having lost Director Jin’s trust, would pose far less danger.
Fog swiftly floated upward through the elevator shaft and soon found the central control room.
He had a hard time locating the ventilation duct and tried to squeeze inside.
Director Jin, however, remained completely unaware.
His face still wore a genial smile tinged with ingratiation and concern. He continued sitting in his chair, rapidly weighing the conditions proposed by the Hunter.
“Leave the Connectors in place for twenty-four hours”—that meant “the dungeon will descend.” He understood that all too well.
For the sake of his reputation and position within the Human Alliance, Director Jin could never truly allow a dungeon to descend.
For now, though, everything was merely a delaying tactic.
And, in truth, this was exactly what he wanted.
The Hunter had openly displayed his weapons and intended to drive them into his territory.
This was clearly nothing short of suicide.
As long as his people captured the Hunter and found those ten Connectors within twenty-four hours, this crisis could be resolved with ease!
“That won’t be a problem.”
Director Jin agreed calmly.
In reality, however, he was watching the dense mass of red text filling his vision.
The red text was information he was transmitting to the outside world in real time, providing Captain Zheng and the others with more clues so they could bring the Hunter to justice.
“However, I have to consider my nephew’s safety. I need to know that he’s still alive.”
“Oh, and there’s one more thing I’d like to ask…” Captain Jin leaned forward slightly. “How do your people plan to install those Connectors?”
“Most of the floors here require an access card. Without one, you won’t have the authorization.”
It was an extremely clumsy fishing question.
Director Jin seemed to be hoping that this would reveal Zhu Yan’s method of operation—
If he was careless and let something slip, the Human Alliance could use his words to infer what he was relying on to act so freely.
But if he deliberately let something slip, then the Human Alliance would gain one more piece of false information about the Hunter.
“Director Jin, you don’t need to worry about that.”
Zhu Yan imitated Qiu Lingxiao’s older brother’s refined tone and accent.
“There’s no way we’d install them ourselves. Whether it’s remote-control items or small creatures at our beck and call, that’s not something you need to concern yourself with.”
The Hunter’s tone and voice were both very familiar.
Director Jin felt annoyed, but the message Captain Zheng sent him put him in a much better mood.
The message was simple, but it brought good news.
“Director Jin, the Heaven-and-Earth Net outside has been fully deployed. Zhu Zeyu has also brought over the poison-gas item.”
“Go ahead and do your thing!”
The smile on Director Jin’s face began to take on a genuinely genial quality.
He tentatively asked the Hunter on the other side of the glass, “Have your people begun moving?”
If the Hunter’s surveillance item—or ability—really had the limitations he suspected, then the other side shouldn’t know about the arrangements they had made outside.
If the Hunter showed no reaction to the question, Director Jin would no longer have anything to worry about.
Director Jin waited.
On the other side of the glass, the Hunter let out a provocative chuckle.
Director Jin’s heart tightened. However, the Hunter merely delivered a threat that revealed no useful information.
“Director Jin, you don’t need to concern yourself with how we’re operating. You only need to know that all your efforts will be futile. That’s enough.”
Director Jin almost burst out laughing.
What an idiot!
…
On the other side, Fog had already entered the central control room.
Half the seats in the control room were occupied. Several programmers in white lab coats were working at their computers or speaking in low voices. The air was thick with the aroma of instant concentrated coffee.
Once he fled while wearing the Hunter’s skin, Director Jin’s next step would probably be to search everywhere for the fake Connectors he had left behind, right?
Zhu Yan decided to make things a little more difficult for them.
He quickly chose three hiding places: the drawer of an unused office desk, the underside of the desktop at the central control room’s middle desk, and the latrine pit in the restroom.
What a joke.
Even if they were fake, Zhu Yan was still going to disgust Director Jin a little!
Besides, the harder something was to find, the more genuine it seemed, right?
…
Inside the secret room.
Director Jin put on an embarrassed expression and nodded with an awkward smile.
“Understood, understood,” he said. “Now, about my nephew… when are you going to release him?”
Director Jin had asked at exactly the right moment, because Zhu Yan had finished recording the video.
“Don’t worry, Director Jin.”
The Hunter’s voice came through the speakers, carrying a hint of malicious amusement.
“Your nephew won’t come to any harm. Surely you’ve heard of Hunter Number One, haven’t you?”
Director Jin’s heart lurched.
Then the Hunter continued, “I had him send you the video he recorded in real time.”
A moment later, an unfamiliar private message popped up on Director Jin’s retina.
It had been sent by the renowned Account Deleted. The message contained a video.
This time, Director Jin could no longer maintain his smile.
The video thumbnail showed Jin Rongxu’s tear-streaked face enlarged to twice its normal size, as though someone had been standing directly in front of him while filming.
Director Jin glared furiously at the message window, but accidentally triggered the video playback.
His precious nephew’s terrified confession, spoken through sobs, struck his mind one sentence at a time. Director Jin hurriedly looked around, afraid someone else might hear.
“Yes! I stole all my abilities, damn it! Are you satisfied now?”
“I’ve confessed. Either release some terrifying creatures for me to kill, or let me go!”
Bang!
Director Jin shot to his feet, knocking the chair behind him onto its side.
“Director Jin, stay calm.”
The Hunter still spoke with a faint smile.
“What are you getting so worked up about? It’s not as though this video will be shown to anyone else. At present, only a handful of people know about it.”
“Of course, that’s assuming you don’t interfere with our operation.”
Murderous intent seared through Director Jin’s heart.
In that brief instant, he had already thought through how he would explain the matter and handle the public-relations crisis if the video were widely released.
Those thoughts allowed him to regain his composure. Director Jin once again pulled the corners of his mouth into a smile and said, “Don’t worry. As long as my nephew is safe, you can do whatever you want.”
…
Fog had already reached the crowded hall.
He installed two fake [connectors] near the router in the main hall, then found a few other concealed spots and used up the remaining quota of five fake [connectors].
With that, the job was finally done.
Zhu Yan let out a sigh of relief and gave Director Jin, who was in the [dark room], a confident, triumphant smirk.
“That should do it, Director Jin.”
“Please open the door and let me out.”
He might not know about anything else.
But he was determined to put on a convincing escape act!
“I’ll inform Hunter Number One and have him release Jin Rongxu.”
…
Outside the door.
After receiving Director Jin’s message, Captain Zheng asked Zhu Zeyu in a low voice,
“Have you confirmed that the dragnet in the elevator is in place as well?”
No matter how many accomplices the Hunter had, this time they would catch them all in one sweep!
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.
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
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, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
