S-31 Region.
On the deserted intercity highway, cars were speeding by one after another.
By the roadside, there were car wrecks and human skeletons scattered everywhere.
The dangers on these rural highways were no less than those in the polluted territories infested with mutant beasts.
No one was willing to linger in these accident-prone areas.
Yet, at this moment, a car was moving at a snail's pace.
Wu Xiong, Sun Ying and their group had not returned to Su Jing yet.
Earlier that morning, Wu Xiong had made a call to the headquarters of Starlight Group.
And he received a rather unpleasant response.
The atmosphere in the car had now become somewhat awkward.
Long lit another cigarette, steering the wheel with one hand while dangling the cigarette out the window with the other.
He eased off the accelerator pedal, gradually pressing on the brakes.
On the rural highway, this driving behavior was not normal, but none of the other three passengers raised any objection.
After a moment of silence, Long spoke up, "Are we... going back?"
Sun Ying glanced at Wu Xiong, hesitating to speak.
Wei was young and unbridled, so he blurted out, "Chief Wu, if we turn back now and apologize to Dr. Lu, maybe we could still get off easy..."
Sun Ying: "At least we could keep our bodies intact."
Long: "Or maybe we could even be put in cryogenic chambers for future generations to admire our remains. Getting your own cryo-coffin would cost a fortune, though."
Wei: "And you'd have to pay endless electricity bills."
Sun Ying: "The key is, is there anyone here who has a son or daughter to pay for it?"
Wu Xiong: "I have one."
The other three: "..."
Sun Ying: "My apologies, Chief Wu."
Long: "This is a sad story."
Wei: "Seems like not being able to afford a wife isn't necessarily a bad thing."
Fifteen minutes passed, and the car had only moved three kilometers, at a speed... less than twelve miles per hour.
About the same as a bicycle.
From the side of the road, the low growls of some mutant beasts could be heard, seemingly alerted by this iron lump crawling along.
The atmosphere in the car was suffocating.
Finally, Wu Xiong took a deep breath and made a decision, "Wei..."
"Yes?"
"From now on, you're fired from the company. You've been with us for two years, so the company will compensate you with three months' salary."
"If, I mean if, I can still contact you in three months, you can come back to work."
Wei said with some emotion, "Thank... thank you, Chief Wu!"
Wu Xiong turned to Sun Ying, "You're a mid-level employee, I don't have the authority to fire you. I remember you haven't used your paid annual leave for the past two years, so go ahead and use this year's together with those."
Sun Ying's eyes were reddening, "Thank you, Chief Wu."
Wu Xiong seemed a little melancholic, "Yeah, thank you for your contributions to the company all these years."
Sun Ying: "Then, what about you, Chief Wu?"
"Me? Heh heh..."
Wu Xiong smiled and said, "I've devoted most of my life to Starlight. My career is there. Without Starlight, my life doesn't really mean much."
"I'm going back to try and save it."
For a moment, the car was filled with a warm yet heartbreaking atmosphere, until—
Long's deep voice rang out, "What about me, Chief Wu?"
Wu Xiong glanced at him and said, "What about you? You're a mercenary from the security department. Now's the time for you to make your contribution to the company!"
Long: "..."
...
Sulan City, the capital of the S-31 Region.
When they entered the city, there were four people in Wu Xiong's car. When they left, only two remained.
Sun Ying and Wei bid farewell to Wu Xiong and Long here.
Wu Xiong paid for a car for them, so they could return to their hometowns.
After seeing Wu Xiong and Long drive away, Sun Ying stood by the street, leaning against a lamppost and lighting a cigarette.
Beside her, Wei looked somewhat melancholic.
"Sister Sun, shall we go?"
Sun Ying took a deep drag of the cigarette pinched between her slender fingers, exhaling a cloud of smoke.
"Wei, your sister is going to teach you a lesson today."
"Huh?"
To Wei's puzzled gaze, Sun Ying took out her phone and made a call.
"Hello? Is this the Inspection Department of Starlight Group? This is Sun Ying from Sales Division Four."
"I'm filing an official complaint. Vice President Wu Xiong from Sales has been taking kickbacks from suppliers."
"Evidence? Hmph, everything below his head is evidence."
After hanging up, Sun Ying turned to the bewildered Wei, "Sister Sun, what are you doing? Chief Wu didn't take any kickbacks from Dr. Lu!"
Sun Ying rolled her eyes, "Not taking? Do you think Dr. Lu was being so kind as to sell that 1.5 million yuan prosthetic at a 20% discount?"
"But... the company isn't working with Dr. Lu anymore, right?"
Sun Ying revealed a smug smile, "Exactly! So when Chief Wu goes back, he'll do everything he can to put in a good word for Dr. Lu's side, which will only make the company believe my complaint even more!"
Wei asked in disbelief, "Sister Sun, what... what are you trying to do?"
"What am I trying to do?"
Sun Ying turned to look at a homeless man across the street who had been staring at her, "There are only three VP positions in Sales, and two of them are already occupied by people with connections. Chief Wu is the only one without a background."
"My sales performance has been number one among all the division heads for three consecutive years. If Chief Wu is taken down, who do you think will become the new VP?"
"Sister Sun, but what about Dr. Lu's side?"
Sun Ying flashed a charming smile at the homeless man across the street and even waved at him.
"How could I forget? I've already messaged Dr. Lu to wait, and that I'll help him settle this, but for some reason he hasn't replied."
"I'll first secure Dr. Lu's side, then after Chief Wu is ousted and I become the new VP, I'll repackage a new identity for Dr. Lu and rebuild the bridge between him and the company."
At this point, Sun Ying paused.
The homeless man across the street had been lured by her coquettish gestures and made an unrefined thrusting motion towards her.
Not only was Sun Ying not offended, she even put her finger on her crimson lips and beckoned at the homeless man.
The homeless man became even more excited, a thrilled grin spreading across his filthy face.
He started walking towards Sun Ying.
Meanwhile, Sun Ying continued speaking to Wei, "By then, I'll be the key person who provided the company with a superior supply chain, instead of having to share the credit with Chief Wu like I do now."
"And even letting Chief Wu take the bigger share."
"If Dr. Lu only wants to stay in that small town, OK, then I'll monopolize his product source."
The homeless man had arrived in front of Sun Ying, a pungent stench wafting over and nearly making Wei vomit.
But Sun Ying simply embraced the homeless man with her delicate arms around his neck.
She said softly, "Once the company sees the market competitiveness of Dr. Lu's products, they'll become dependent on Dr. Lu. At that time, if I'm the only one who knows the source of Dr. Lu's products, the company can't do without me..."
"Wei, what position do you think I could attain in the company by then?"
In an instant, Wei's eyes were filled with shock and horror!
This was the first time he witnessed the ruthlessness of office politics, and the first time he saw the scheming side of this woman!
At that moment, Sun Ying turned to him with a charming smile.
Sun Ying's nimble tongue traced the filthy face of the homeless man, accompanied by her enticing sultry voice, "Kill him, and you can do whatever you want to me tonight."
Of course, those words were not meant for Wei.
In an instant, the homeless man's eyes burned with a ferocious flame as he looked at Wei.
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.
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
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...
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
