“Don’t worry, Bro.”
Qiu Lingkai knew exactly what he was planning.
“According to the Strategic Analysis Department’s deductions and calculations, his most threatening abilities are no more than [Telekinesis] and [Glory to the Ancestors].”
Qiu Lingfeng stopped smiling as he admired his new face in the window.
“‘No more than.’” He chewed over those three words. “You thought of a way?”
“There is a way.”
Qiu Lingkai nodded.
He steadied Qiu Lingfeng, making sure the other man could at least understand what he was saying.
[Mist] coiled around his neck like a snake, its ears pricked up as well.
Qiu Lingkai spoke with great caution. “Director Jin previously sent over some intelligence on [Hunter]. If I remember correctly, their weapon is no higher than Level 12 at most. And that’s already a generous estimate.”
Wrong! Wrong!
The snake-like [Mist] repeatedly slapped Qiu Lingkai’s shoulder with its tail.
Unfortunately, [Mist] was invisible, so Qiu Lingkai couldn’t feel a thing.
“Both abilities are no higher than Level 7,” Qiu Lingkai continued. “Are you listening?”
The Zhu Zeyu that Qiu Lingfeng had transformed into clearly hadn’t captured the essence of Zhu Zeyu. He looked damp, sinister, and cruel.
He still wasn’t fully conscious. He sat crookedly on the table, one hand draped over Qiu Lingkai’s shoulder.
“Oh? Neither of them is above Level 7? My player hasn’t even reached Level 5. What exactly are you getting at?”
The final question was spoken very softly.
Qiu Lingkai wasn’t intimidated. “Qiu Lingfeng, get a grip. We’re in this together for mutual benefit. Mocking you does me no good.”
He gave his hand a light wave, and a bright silver card appeared between his fingers.
“There’s only one of these in the entire Silver Bay City.”
Qiu Lingfeng raised one eyebrow.
Zhu Yan, who had been watching from the sidelines, grew excited as well.
A treasure of which there was only one in an entire city?
What an amazing treasure!
“It can temporarily raise your level,” Qiu Lingkai said with a chuckle. “It lasts for two hours, but the side effects are severe.”
“I remember now,” Qiu Lingfeng said.
“There were originally two of these,” Qiu Lingkai recalled some amusing events and wore a nostalgic expression. “Unfortunately, that person used one on himself. You remember how he ended up collapsing on the floor and passing out, right?”
[Mist] stared fixedly at the card.
If Zhu Yan, in his [Mist] form, had a mouth, he would have been swallowing hard right now.
Loot stolen from another player?
Even if it was for the sake of upholding justice, this thing had to be his!
“The side effect,” Qiu Lingkai said, slapping the card against Qiu Lingfeng’s chest, “is that once the two hours are up, all your strength will be drained. You’ll be unconscious for two full days—forty-eight hours. That’s equivalent to twenty-four times the backlash.”
Qiu Lingfeng caught the card.
The side effect didn’t seem to matter much to him. He slowly rubbed the edge of the card, his gaze almost obsessive.
“Twenty-four times.” In Zhu Zeyu’s voice, he drawled thickly, “How many levels can it raise my player level by?”
“Five levels,” Qiu Lingkai said. “Up to Level 10. That’s enough for you to resist [Glory to the Ancestors] and [Telekinesis].”
“To put it more bluntly, even Hunter No. 1 would find it nearly impossible to reach Ability Level 10 at this stage.”
“Even that little disguise trick of his will be easy for you to see through once you use this card.”
Ahhh, yes, exactly.
Zhu Yan complained inwardly.
It sounded wonderful. If his player level reached Level 10, then only a Level 13 saber would be able to do anything to Qiu Lingfeng.
The problem was, they had both foolishly taken the silver card out and waved it around.
Who said [Telekinesis] had to be used inside the instance?
Qiu Lingfeng slipped the card into his ring.
While invisible, Zhu Yan condensed into human form and quietly activated [Telekinesis].
He then split off a wisp of himself, which clamped its teeth around the silver card and hurried toward a nearby restroom. The remaining [Mist] stayed behind to continue watching the show.
Countering every move with another—he would find Feining and have him create a fake.
He could also make another trip to the [Lazybones Craft Shop], but that would take too long. Zhu Yan was afraid Qiu Lingfeng would notice before then.
He had no choice but to find a nearby restroom without surveillance cameras, hide in a stall, and use the membership-purchase paper to write something for Feining.
So much for Dragonfly’s vacation!
…
Inside the office.
Slightly tipsy, Qiu Lingfeng was still talking to Qiu Lingkai.
“It’s not a big problem. As long as I time the card’s use properly, this thing is practically divine.”
Under the influence of that mouthful of high-concentration [Trembling Pleasure], Qiu Lingfeng was having the time of his life.
He was still somewhat dazed and had no idea what the invisible Zhu Yan was doing.
Of course, Qiu Lingkai didn’t know either.
“Bro, you really don’t need to worry about finding eight volunteers to serve as sacrifices.”
Thinking of the bright future awaiting the two of them… No, the entire family, he smiled faintly.
“I’ve already taken care of it for you. Time was tight, so this list was only just finalized.”
He lifted his chin with a hint of pride and explained what he had done.
“I told you. As long as we spread the news through those women and make them think it’s some precious, privately reserved spot that they need to pay for, they’ll do everything they can to send their children in.”
“What do those kids know? People without any experience of society don’t have much sense of caution.”
Qiu Lingfeng asked, “None of them are adults?”
“Of course not,” Qiu Lingkai said. “They’re easy to manipulate. Don’t those things in the legends all like virgin boys and girls? I picked out ten for you. We can always have pizza with the extras.”
Qiu Lingfeng threw his head back and laughed gleefully.
“Your task is to secure this space with the help of Hunter No. 1. So Hunter No. 1’s task is to help you. He can’t possibly stop those children from making wishes.”
“Otherwise, where would we find all eight sacrifices?”
Once Qiu Lingfeng’s laughter died down, Qiu Lingkai continued in an even tone.
“Anyone who can become a [Hunter] is no saint. He may not hold back against you.”
“You’ll need to tear up the card before the eighth person comes in to make a wish… In any case, do it early.”
“You have plenty of high-level items, and you spend plenty of time training. As long as you make sure he can’t break through your defenses, you’ll have the upper hand.”
“When the time comes, you must act fast!”
…
Inside the restroom.
Zhu Yan hid in the innermost stall. After explaining the reason for his visit to the furious Feining, Feining exploded on the other side of the paper.
“That’s it?! That’s it?!”
The frantic handwriting appeared across the paper, the ends of every stroke trembling slightly. It was obvious that the person writing was absolutely furious.
“You came and ruined my precious vacation over something this trivial?!”
Zhu Yan was still putting on an act.
He didn’t know whether [Mad Happy Land] could see it, but he acted anyway.
“My dear friend, you have no idea how hard my life has been. I tried to win over Hunter No. 3, but they trampled all over my sincere feelings and tried to kill me! What a miserable life I lead!”
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Inside the [Lazybones Craft Shop], Feining leaped out of his rocking chair and let out a shrill howl.
“Enough! Enough already! Just how long is this damn bastard going to keep up the act?!”
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."
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...
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
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?”
