“When using this ability, you will consume a certain amount of [Shuddering Pleasure]. Please keep your energy levels sufficient!”
“Finally, once you have understood the points above, place the Ability Card in the palm of your right hand to merge with it.”
Good heavens—he really had understood everything!
Zhu Yan immediately pressed the Ability Card into the palm of his right hand. He felt a familiar warmth flowing along his veins, all the way to his heart.
This time, he felt no discomfort at all. The only difference was that the ability took an unusually long time to merge.
Several minutes passed before he finally saw patterns flickering in front of him.
It was the three-dimensional image of a red book. Four large, gilded characters were stamped on its cover: [Catalog of Rules].
The book opened to a page before his eyes, then enlarged to display the words within.
“Optional Rule 1: This is a room you cannot leave without committing suicide.”
“Optional Rule 2: ??? (Stare here to write.)”
There were only two lines concerning the rules.
Based on the explanation he had received earlier, Zhu Yan guessed that the number of rules would increase as he participated in more instances.
With a thought, he caused the [Catalog of Rules] to close before him and vanish.
He let out a quiet breath of relief, then stared blankly for a while at the pale-yellow stall door in front of him.
For now, he could not write “Optional Rule 2.”
That was because his ability had an additional function: “providing necessary hints about the horrific creature.”
Until he received a hint about the horrific creature in this instance, he would not make any reckless moves.
His primary objective this time was to kill Jin Rongxu.
Once Jin Rongxu was dead, not only would Zhu Yan obtain three abilities, but many restrictions on his subsequent actions would also be removed.
He would then be free to search for clues about the “Impostor District” mission in [Fangcun Mountain], and perhaps even investigate how to enter [Eye of the Abyss]…
Zhu Yan rubbed his temples and walked back into the enormous auditorium.
Only a few minutes had passed, yet the place had already become noisy and crowded.
The entrance was packed with assigned spectators and students’ parents, while several uniformed players were maintaining order.
When they saw Zhu Yan return, they opened a gap to let him through.
Some people carrying cameras had already entered and were busy setting them up at the fixed positions beneath the stage.
“You’re back?”
Yang Zhanbai patted him on the shoulder, his tone carrying a hint of mockery.
“Captain Jin is here. You should’ve seen him…”
The moment Zhu Yan saw Yang Zhanbai’s gossipy expression, he knew there was news to hear.
Sure enough, Yang Zhanbai lowered his voice and spoke in a mysterious whisper.
“Captain Jin is actually worried about the Hunter. Isn’t that hilarious? Now he’s saying that he can only catch the Hunter once a public-beta instance descends.”
Zhu Yan raised an eyebrow and silently thought to himself:
Don’t worry, Jin Rongxu. Your Hunter is here.
“He apparently went to look for the Seer, but the other party ignored him.”
Yang Zhanbai draped an arm around Zhu Yan’s shoulders and gloated as he stared at the back of Jin Rongxu’s head in the front row.
…
The auditorium was filled with people.
Several heavy wooden doors slowly closed, and the star-shaped lights on the ceiling went dark.
Zhu Yan stood in the aisle between the front-row seats, his concealed hand turning over to grip the table knife.
His gaze focused on the stage ahead.
An utterly unrealistic yellow-white warmth illuminated the stage, making every small, clean blue-and-white surface gleam.
A group of children who looked to be no older than third graders wore neat suits. Their red bow ties swayed back and forth, stabbing at Zhu Yan’s eyes.
The female teacher wore her hair pinned up and had a gentle, approachable smile on her face.
He glanced nervously at the projection screen beside him.
So far, nothing had changed.
The [Catalog of Rules] had reopened, but the writing on it still consisted of only two lines.
Ding-dong—
The bell rang.
“Class is starting!” the female teacher announced in a crisp voice. “Children, please stand!”
The children rose in perfect unison, wearing standard smiles as they turned around and bowed to Director Jin in the audience.
Zhu Yan turned his face slightly and caught sight of Director Jin’s perfectly composed smile.
“Today, the topic of our lesson is—Our Home.”
“Children, where is our home?”
The children shouted their answer in unison, their voices perfectly synchronized.
“The—West—Suburban—Shelter!”
The female teacher smiled sweetly and pressed the button in her hand.
“Children, we’re going to watch a cartoon now.”
“After the cartoon, everyone please…”
Her microphone suddenly emitted a low-frequency boom, followed by intermittent buzzing static.
Zhu Yan’s gaze immediately snapped back to the projection screen.
But the cartoon had not yet begun, and the words before his eyes had not changed either.
The static lasted only a few seconds.
Then, the writing on the projection screen suddenly vanished. The strange illustration of a woman with a half-moon-shaped eye and an eerie smile began to move.
“Welcome to the West Suburban Shelter.”
The woman’s voice had a somewhat sweet, announcer-like quality. It was probably generated by AI in post-production, because it sounded slightly distorted, with the nasal portions blending into an indistinct muddle.
“This is the entrance to the shelter.”
The illustrated woman waved her stiff arm, directing everyone’s attention toward the iron gate behind her as it slowly opened.
“Come inside, and you’ll have arrived at… our home.”
The camera slowly moved closer.
From the corner of his eye, Zhu Yan could still see Director Jin smiling, but a thin sheen of sweat had appeared on his palm.
Because the writing before his eyes had begun to change—
Apart from the two lines in the [Catalog of Rules], new red words suddenly sprang into existence, occupying nearly half of Zhu Yan’s field of vision.
“Horrific creature detected: Illusion.”
“Your ability level has been changed to Lv. 10.”
“Information from the horrific creature [Illusion] detected.”
The red words trembled as if electrified, then melted into a continuous, quivering waveform.
They rapidly reassembled, overlapping with the increasingly close image of the West Suburban Shelter’s entrance in the short film.
“An indescribable conceptual horrific creature, level xxxx. Sorry, you already know this.”
“Corruption will begin in the auditorium of the West Suburban Shelter.”
“The short film… or anything else… once it reaches the [Trap] segment, the players will no longer be able to escape this corruption…”
“You are the xxxxx Boss. Sorry, you cannot be attacked.”
In the short film, the entrance to the West Suburban Shelter opened.
“Please follow me inside and join me for a tour.”
“We’ll begin in the inspection hall, then slowly make our way down to the magnificent, empty auditorium.”
Zhu Yan realized what was happening.
He grabbed Yang Zhanbai by the sleeve and pulled him backward.
“Captain Jin sent me a message,” Zhu Yan lied. “He wants you to go up to the first floor.”
Yang Zhanbai could not stay here.
That guy would only get in the way.
Besides, Zhu Yan needed someone to make preparations in advance.
“What?” Yang Zhanbai lowered his voice. “Are you kidding me?”
“He wants you to get the car ready, right now.” Zhu Yan’s voice was so quiet that only the two of them could hear him. “He received word that the public-beta instance is beginning today. Once this event is over, we’re leaving together.”
Yang Zhanbai swallowed hard.
“All right. Stay in touch.”
He turned and strode toward the auditorium doors.
The lighting was dim, and no one noticed the everyman’s movements.
agon king storylines. At the start, I obtained the "Ultimate Lackey System" - the more I act as a lackey, the stronger I become. What else could I do? I chose to become the personal henchman of the ultimate villain, Su Muwan. I provoke all sorts of chosen ones, snatch away their opportunities, and commit every evil deed imaginable. You ask who's behind me? Hmph! You're not worthy of knowing my lady's name! ...... ....... I am Su Muwan, the eldest daughter of the Su family. Since childhood, I've possessed extraordinary talent in martial arts, which led to my arrogant and domineering personality in my past life. I was even foolish enough to repeatedly challenge those favored by heaven, ultimately resulting in a tragic death. In this life, I must behave and absolutely cannot walk the same path again!! However... SLAP!! "So you're the Dragon King, huh?!" When I saw my little lackey swagger over and viciously slap the Dragon King who was hiding his identity, I felt my heart sink. Su Muwan's suspended heart finally died as she watched Qin Luo, her utterly loyal lackey, standing before her. She fainted on the spot from shock. Heaven is determined to destroy me!! (Pure love 1v1, light-hearted, no angst, single female lead, villain, reincarnation, lackey)
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...
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 vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
