In the lord's study of the Miral territory, the flickering candlelight cast Kaiaolen's shadow long across the room.
Sitting behind a heavy oak desk, he ran his fingertips over the yellowed parchment documents. His brows were tightly furrowed, his expression solemn.
The desk was piled high with replies from various lords, troop deployment maps of the royal capital's surroundings, and scattered intelligence reports regarding the "disguised monsters." Every single document weighed heavily on his mind.
"Sigh..." Kaiaolen let out a soft breath, rubbing his throbbing temples.
He had been sitting there processing documents for an entire day without moving. His eyes were bloodshot, yet he still dared not take a break.
The current situation was growing increasingly critical. The disguised monsters had infiltrated deep into the royal capital, yet the lords willing to join forces to purge them were few and far between. Most opted to either sit on the fence or blindly side with the capital, terrified of bringing trouble upon themselves.
He could not help but think of Ye Chuan...
By his calculations, it had only been a few days since the young man left Miral for Valoran.
He should still be on the road right now.
Kaiaolen shook his head. Count Leon of Valoran was both greedy and paranoid; convincing him to dispatch troops would be no simple task. No matter how strong Ye Chuan was, he would undoubtedly face difficulties.
Furthermore, the journey from Miral to Valoran took five or six days even when rushing on an earth dragon. Even if Ye Chuan used special methods, he would have only arrived in Valoran a few days ago. Catching a disguised monster and convincing Leon to mobilize his army would take at least a couple of weeks before any news could be sent back.
"Count Kaiaolen, have you still not rested?"
A soft voice came from the study door as Princess Irena walked in, carrying a cup of warm floral tea.
She was dressed in a light purple gown, a trace of unconcealable anxiety lingering between her brows. It was obvious that she too was worried about the current situation.
"Princess Irena." Kaiaolen hurriedly stood up.
"The situation is dire, so I truly have no mind to rest. Why haven't you gone to sleep either?"
Irena placed the floral tea on the table. Her gaze fell upon the document-laden desk as she spoke softly,
"I couldn't sleep. I wanted to see if there were any new developments on your end... Is there any news from Mr. Xi Xi?"
At the mention of Ye Chuan, a hint of anticipation crept into her tone.
In her eyes, Ye Chuan was their only hope of breaking the current deadlock.
Kaiaolen shook his head.
"Not yet. Valoran is not close, and Count Leon is naturally paranoid. It will likely take some time for Xi Xi to persuade him."
He paused, and seeing Irena's anxious expression, he added,
"Your Highness, I know you are eager to retake the royal capital and save our people, but we truly cannot afford to act rashly right now."
"The royal capital is not only filled with a massive number of disguised monsters, but it also houses hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, not to mention a significant number of high-tier combatants.
"More importantly, the lords of several surrounding territories have chosen to side with the capital. Their combined forces outnumber the troops we can currently assemble by several times over."
Pointing at the troop deployment map on the desk, Kaiaolen spoke with a heavy tone.
"If we launch a rash attack, it will only lead to the meaningless sacrifice of our soldiers. Not only would we fail to rescue His Majesty, but we would also drag Miral and the territories willing to follow us into a dire predicament."
Irena bit her lip, the light in her eyes dimming slightly.
She naturally understood that Kaiaolen was telling the truth. However, whenever she thought of the crisis plaguing the royal capital and the citizens being butchered by those disguised monsters, her heart burned with anxiety.
"But are we just going to keep waiting like this? The citizens of the capital..."
"We are not waiting; we are gathering our strength," Kaiaolen interrupted, his tone resolute.
"As long as Xi Xi can persuade Count Leon to deploy his troops, we will be able to amass a larger army. Once we unite with other lords who still possess a conscience, only then will we have a solid chance of standing against the capital's forces and purging those terrifying monsters."
"Alright..."
...
Right at that moment, a faint ripple suddenly distorted the space inside the study. A familiar figure materialized beside the desk without any warning. It was Ye Chuan, the very person who was supposed to be in Valoran.
He still wore his usual nonchalant expression, looking as though he had merely strolled in from the room next door.
"Yo!"
"?!" Sensing the spatial fluctuation, Kaiaolen shot to his feet.
Irena instinctively took a step back, her eyes wide with astonishment.
Once he clearly saw that the intruder was Ye Chuan, Kaiaolen's vigilance instantly melted into confusion. Furrowing his brow, he asked in a bewildered tone,
"Xi Xi, why are you back? Did you run into some kind of trouble on your way to Valoran? Or... did you forget something?"
Then, remembering something else, Kaiaolen hastily added, "Where is Elara? Didn't she come back with you? Where is my granddaughter?!"
Ye Chuan raised an eyebrow as he took in Kaiaolen's frantic demeanor.
"Relax. I didn't run into any trouble, and I didn't forget anything. Elara is doing just fine in Valoran. She's currently taking Torres and Aurora out sightseeing."
Sightseeing in Valoran?
"You've already reached Valoran?"
"Yep. I just popped back to let you know that the business in Valoran is settled. Count Leon has agreed to deploy his troops. In three days, he'll bring Valoran's entire military force to Miral to rendezvous with you."
"Though, the march here will obviously take some time."
"Wh-What?!" Kaiaolen was completely caught off guard.
He stood frozen in place, seemingly unable to process the information.
Irena covered her mouth, her eyes brimming with disbelief.
It had only been a few days since Ye Chuan left Miral, and he had already convinced Count Leon to dispatch his army? That was absurdly fast!
Once Kaiaolen snapped out of his daze, he strode over to Ye Chuan and gripped his shoulders.
"Xi Xi, Count Leon... did he really agree to send troops? You've barely been gone! How could you have possibly negotiated this so quickly?"
"I just showed off a little bit of my power, and he immediately fell to his knees and kowtowed in surrender," Ye Chuan chuckled.
Kaiaolen: "..."
He absolutely did not believe a word of that.
Count Leon had a seventh-tier battle aura swordmaster by his side, an existence renowned as the Valkyrie of Valoran. Furthermore, battle aura just so happened to be the exact type of power that dragonkin struggled to deal with.
Coupled with the fact that Leah possessed incredible speed and the blessing of the Goddess, if Ye Chuan had actually gone up against her, he likely would have been defeated in mere seconds.
"You wouldn't lie to me just to get a reward, would you?" The dragonkin couldn't help but suspect that Ye Chuan had done exactly that.
After all, Ye Chuan was definitely the type of person who would pull such a stunt.
That was just his reputation.
"Your voice is getting a bit shrill." Ye Chuan rolled his eyes. "What do you mean, 'lie to you for a reward'?"
Ye Chuan then proceeded to recount exactly what had happened.
When Ye Chuan claimed that he had beaten Leah to a pulp before threatening Count Leon, Kaiaolen simply thought he was blowing hot air. However, upon learning that Ye Chuan had taught the Valoran mages his detection magic, Kaiaolen finally understood.
It was just like what he had done in Miral.
By teaching it to the mages, identifying the monsters became a breeze.
"Good... Very good!"
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
