That took some serious nerve.
Zhu Yan lit a candle in his mind for the two deceased victims.
“Can you imagine what that felt like?”
On the other end of the 【Player Forum】, Chen Zhaoxing was still shaken.
“I was on the top bunk playing with my bird when—bam!—out of nowhere. I threw off the covers and, holy crap, the guy was already lying dead on the floor!”
Zhu Yan stared at the message and fell into another strange silence.
“…Bro,” he asked, “I get everything else, but where did you get a bird?”
Chen Zhaoxing immediately sent him a picture.
A colorful peach-faced lovebird was perched on his black flat-brimmed cap, happily gnawing on a lock of purple hair.
“I found him, bro. He’s ridiculously smart!”
Zhu Yan withheld judgment and carefully examined the background of the photo.
Behind Chen Zhaoxing’s hat was the leather backrest of a car seat. The defroster wires fused into the rear windshield were faintly visible.
Everything outside the rear window was a hazy white, so Zhu Yan couldn’t determine the location with any more certainty.
Chen Zhaoxing sent over a whole pile of bird pictures.
Zhu Yan hurriedly cut him off, dragged the conversation back on track, and continued questioning him.
“We haven’t finished talking about the important part yet. What was that remote sabotage thing?”
“Oh, that.” Chen Zhaoxing answered quite naturally. “You know how the other survivor’s ability is to directly take other people’s abilities? There must’ve been some kind of usage condition, but I’m not sure what it was. Anyway, the end result was that he took my ability.”
“What?!” Zhu Yan was stunned. “Something that major happened, and you didn’t even tell us a damn thing?”
Chen Zhaoxing still hadn’t finished explaining. “Don’t get worked up. After my ability was taken, the system suddenly flashed a notification saying that because of the limitations of the other person’s ability, I’d awakened an additional function—and I could use my ability one last time.”
Interesting.
Zhu Yan’s gossiping spirit burst into flames. “What function did you awaken?”
“A reproduction-type one. It’s kind of like cockroaches, but also kind of different. It can regenerate infinitely, and it lets me make certain miraculous remote adjustments.”
That was insanely powerful.
Zhu Yan swallowed.
“Anyway, my ability disappeared, then grew back pretty quickly. So the very first thing I did after it came back was set the cockroach flavor to World’s Most Explosively Spicy. The heat activates after five seconds of chewing.”
“In other words, even if the other guy used my ability, all he could make would be cockroaches with the World’s Most Explosively Spicy flavor, which activate their heat after five seconds of chewing.”
Zhu Yan already had a pretty good idea of what had happened.
That was downright vicious.
“Oh, what a poor unlucky bastard.” Chen Zhaoxing sounded sympathetic. “He might’ve been injured when he slipped out of the shelter, so he couldn’t wait to try using my ability. Oh well. Serves him right.”
So… had the unlucky bastard been killed by the spice?
Zhu Yan was momentarily speechless and failed to respond to Chen Zhaoxing in time.
Chen Zhaoxing muttered to himself in their private chat for a while. When Zhu Yan still didn’t reply, he sent over another pile of pictures of the bird from bizarre angles.
“Hey, you’re not actually scared, are you? Damn it.”
“I knew I should’ve listened to Yang Zhanbai and Qi Yinming. I shouldn’t have told you something this scary.”
Hold on.
What did that mean?
Yang Zhanbai and Qi Yinming already knew?
Zhu Yan stared at the parrot in the pictures, which was practically climbing onto the bird’s own nose, and sank into another extended silence.
No wonder Yang Zhanbai had only expressed polite surprise just now, without making a huge fuss.
So he’d known all along?
“…So you guys kept something this major from me and me alone?”
Chen Zhaoxing stopped sending bird pictures.
After a long while, he finally confessed. “Well, you see…”
“After the incident, we all discussed it. We figured you were too… too honest. And maybe a little too righteous.”
A mistaken impression.
“So?” Zhu Yan asked.
“So, uh, so…” Chen Zhaoxing sounded a little guilty. “Yang Zhanbai guided us in getting rid of the body and keeping it hidden from everyone else. Then Qi Yinming helped us keep an eye on things remotely and said that nobody cared about the incident. So we just let it go.”
Qi…?
Zhu Yan stared at those two names in disbelief.
What had Yang Zhanbai done?
He looked up at the front seat. Yang Zhanbai was eating a chocolate pie and looked like an idiot.
“Um, I swear that guy’s right palm was completely clean. There wasn’t a mark on it.”
Chen Zhaoxing was still defending himself.
“Honestly, it wasn’t until we got the broadcast this morning and saw the rankings and explanation that we found out he was a Hunter!”
All right.
It didn’t seem like that big a deal after all.
At least the impression people had of him was still that he was an honest, righteous person.
“Where are you now?” Zhu Yan asked instead. “Are you in the car?”
“We’re planning to leave Anwu City first,” Chen Zhaoxing said. “We’re going to pick up Qi Yinming. Where are you guys? Should we choose a place to meet up?”
“I’ll let you know,” Zhu Yan said.
He slumped weakly against his seat and took a good while to recover.
A few minutes later, once he had finally accepted that his roommates had an unknown side to them, he took out his phone and found the Doppelganger’s contact information.
The guy seemed to have recently become obsessed with watching short videos. His private chat was filled with strange messages like “How to Apply Perfect Doppelganger Makeup.”
Zhu Yan sent him a “Hello,” and the other side immediately replied with two messages.
“Yueyueyou! You’re here!”
“What a coincidence. I was just about to come find you!”
Zhu Yan was grateful for the Doppelganger’s phone addiction.
“Long time no see.” He carefully considered his wording. “Did you participate in the public beta dungeon?”
“I was just about to,” the Doppelganger said. “Yueyueyou, I want to take this opportunity to work hard and ten-enter the Abyssal Eye…”
Zhu Yan couldn’t help correcting the input method.
“Friend, +.”
“+,” the Doppelganger repeated. “Do you want to come with me?”
“I have something to take care of first,” Zhu Yan said. “Do you know about the Doppelganger district? I want to see if I can get an apartment there.”
Unexpectedly, the Doppelganger took a long time to reply this time.
The words “The other party is typing” flickered several times before Zhu Yan finally received a response.
“Oh, that district?”
“Paradise on Earth! I’m so happy I don’t know what to do!”
The Doppelganger quickly edited and sent over a long message.
“In theory, as long as you’re a Doppelganger, you can move in after obtaining Doppelganger identification for 【Carnival Paradise】 and paying some Bone Coins.”
“But my friend, you’re not a Doppelganger! So you may need to pull a few strings. You know the big shots in 【Abyssal Eye】, so this should be easy for you!”
Not easy at all.
Zhu Yan remembered his past exploits, when he had toyed with the terrifying creatures inside 【Abyssal Eye】.
“Oh, right, speaking of that!” The Doppelganger sounded excited. “【Abyssal Eye】 is really serious this time! Some of the big shots inside have issued specific 【Bounties】 and listed the associated rewards. They’ve made everything public this time, and the details are much clearer than the rumors I heard last time.”
“They’re hunting down an audacious player, and they used a special item to uncover that player’s ID information.”
“The player ID is [Account Deleted]!”
“Oh, friend. Let’s go catch a player! If we happen to capture a young male player whose ID is [Account Deleted], we can get Bone Coins, special privileges, or even real estate!”
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
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.
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?”
