The man opened his eyes, his face stern and terrifying.
In the next moment, a symbol gradually appeared on his head.
The symbol slowly grew larger until it transformed into a Chaos Demon, its body a swirling mist carrying the fresh scent of a long-dwelling mountain valley.
The Chaos Demon prostrated itself before the bald man.
"What are your orders, master?" it asked.
"Go to the island and see what's happening with Moba," the man commanded.
"Yes, sir," the Chaos Demon responded, its form vanishing into thin air.
In an instant, it had left the mountain valley and arrived above the Black Sea.
The Chaos Demon searched for Moba's aura at the edge of the Black Sea.
But there wasn't even a trace.
The Chaos Demon prepared to head directly to Moba's dwelling.
Just as it began to move, something ensnared it.
The Chaos Demon tried to move but found itself completely immobilized.
It looked down, searching, and its gaze fell upon a toad.
Only then did it realize that the small toad had extended a long, thin tongue that was binding it.
The Chaos Demon was furious. "How dare a mere toad defy me!"
In the next moment, the toad retracted its tongue.
"Hmph, so you know fear?" the Chaos Demon said with displeasure. "Too late, I'm afraid."
With that said, the Chaos Demon raised its hand, ready to strike the toad.
The warty toad didn't react, merely smacking its lips a few times as its eyes lit up, gazing at the Chaos Demon.
In the next instant, the Chaos Demon vanished into thin air.
The little warty toad below let out a satisfied burp.
At the same moment, in the mountain valley, the Bald Man who had just closed his eyes suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
He stood up in shock, touching his smooth head.
How had the Chaos Demon suddenly disappeared as well?!
What on earth had happened?
The Bald Man sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, formed a hand seal, and began to mutter incantations.
The space around him started to distort...
"Retrospective Gaze, activate!"
The runes activated.
Space warped.
The art of turning back time.
As the name suggests, it was a technique to reverse the flow of time.
It allowed him to travel back through time and space to witness events from a specific period.
After all, the sudden disappearance of Moba and the Chaos Demon made him feel that something unusual had occurred.
These were ancient beasts that he had painstakingly acquired, and now they had vanished without a trace. As their master, he didn't even know what had happened.
So he was determined to find out exactly what had transpired.
As he chanted the incantation, his hand seals became increasingly complex and rapid, time swirling around him...
Soon, he had traveled back through time and space to the moment when Moba and the Chaos Demon's auras had vanished.
The sea surface rippled gently.
Waves occasionally rolled up.
But what the Bald Man found incredible was that a layer of chaotic mist power constantly obscured his view of the sea surface.
It blocked his senses.
Preventing him from seeing clearly.
He also couldn't capture what had happened at that moment.
"Very well... very well..."
"I want to see exactly what force is at work here, daring to oppose me!"
A hoarse voice emerged from the man's mouth.
His hands once again formed seals, moving faster and faster.
Time.
Once more, he gazed back.
Returning to the moment Moba disappeared.
As he poured more power into the technique, the chaotic mist blocking him finally dissipated somewhat.
At this moment, he could clearly see that Moba had been instantly devoured by an extremely mysterious force.
The same had happened to the Chaos Demon.
But the culprit...
Due to the lingering mist, he still couldn't see clearly.
"Hmph!"
"Quite skillful, hiding so deep!"
"But I will see just how deep you can hide!"
The Bald Man let out a cold snort, his hand seals accelerating once more, reaching their limit.
They moved so fast they were almost invisible.
Finally, the chaotic mist broke apart layer by layer with great difficulty.
But just when he thought he could finally see what had happened, something went wrong with his retrospective gaze.
There was no Moba on the sea surface.
No Chaos Demon either.
He couldn't even see any other creatures.
The only thing on the sea surface was a warty toad floating on its back, drifting with the waves.
The man's eyes widened.
Just... just a warty toad?
What was going on?
He focused his gaze on the toad.
Suddenly, the toad flipped over, its legs kicking in the water as it stood up in a surprisingly human-like manner.
Its front legs clasped behind its back, and those round, bulging toad eyes stared directly at him.
This gaze.
It made the Bald Man's hair stand on end, despite the vast distance between them.
He nearly lost his soul from fright at this single glance.
At this moment, the toad raised its front leg and pointed at him.
"You disgust me, so I can't be bothered to eat you, but those things you've parasitized are good food. So from now on, you'll come once a month, which will be enough for me to eat for a year!"
"If you obey, I'll spare your life!"
"Otherwise, even if it makes me vomit, I, Frog Benwei, will swallow you whole."
The toad's mouth opened slightly.
An abrupt voice entered the Bald Man's mind.
Then, the time-reversal technique was forcibly terminated.
The sea surface remained as calm as ever.
Only a toad floated on the surface, lying on its back with its front legs behind its head and its hind legs crossed.
Far away, the Bald Man slumped to the ground, his body weak and his eyes wide with fear.
In his mind, those few sentences still echoed.
It meant...
That mysterious toad had not only seen through his attempt to spy using the retrospective gaze technique with a single glance.
It had also used his own technique to look back through time and see through to his true form.
Indeed.
His true form was actually a parasitic worm that had cultivated to gain sentience.
Through his parasitic abilities, he had infected and controlled the souls of powerful beasts, fusing their bodies together for his use.
Apart from the now-deceased Moba and Chaos Demon, he had parasitized twelve other massive beasts.
Which happened to be... exactly one year's worth.
...
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
reezy rom-com) Good news: Jiang Liu is quite the ladies' man. Bad news: He’s lost his memory. Lying in a hospital bed, Jiang Liu listens to a parade of goddesses spouting "absurd claims," feeling like the world is one giant game of Werewolf. "Jiang Liu, I’m your first love." "Jiang Liu, you’re my boyfriend—she’s your ex." "Jiang Liu, we’re close friends who’ve shared a bed, remember?" "Jiang Liu, I want to have your baby." The now-lucid Jiang Liu is convinced this must be some elaborate scam... until someone drops the bombshell: "The day before you lost your memory, you confessed your feelings—and got into a relationship." Jiang Liu is utterly baffled. So... who the hell is his actual girlfriend?! ... Before recovering his memories, Jiang Liu must navigate this minefield of lies and sincerity, fighting to protect himself from these women’s schemes. But things spiral even further out of control as more people show up at his doorstep—each with increasingly unhinged antics. On the bright side, the memories he lost due to overwhelming trauma seem to be resurfacing. Great news, right? So why are they all panicking now?
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
