"How's our mom doing?" After the others left, Ren Yuege snorted lightly.
Cao Cheng was a bit surprised.
When he had changed his way of addressing her earlier, this little girl seemed unhappy?
Though the negative emotions only provided 10 points, doubling it to just 20, it was enough to show she wasn’t pleased with him switching to calling her "sister."
But thinking about it, it made sense.
He was handsome, after all.
She was into him.
So she didn’t want their relationship to actually turn into a "sibling" one.
She was shameless!
"Come on, big bro will take you for a ride." Cao Cheng waved the car keys with a flourish.
"Pfft—whatever!"
Ren Yuege said, "Clean up your own place first. Come on, let’s go upstairs."
The mansion had only two floors.
It didn’t seem tall, but it sprawled wide.
The first floor had the living room, dining area, entertainment space, study, and bathrooms.
The second floor was all bedrooms and private areas.
The third floor was an open-air mini-park, with greenery circling around a helipad in the middle—though obviously, there was no helicopter, or else the gardens would’ve been blown away long ago.
Whoever designed this was an idiot.
With all that rooftop space… why waste it on a useless helipad?
Absolutely insane.
There was also a large swimming pool in the courtyard.
Basement level two was the underground parking garage.
And there was another parking area inside the estate.
...
While Cao Cheng was getting familiar with his new surroundings,
in a private room at a small restaurant in Zhonghai,
Kuang Long and Meng Hu were drinking.
With them was their uncle—a middle-aged man who also looked rough.
This whole family had that same intimidating look.
Born to be gangsters!
Their lackeys were in another room, not disturbing the bosses’ conversation.
BANG!
The uncle slammed his glass on the table, furious. "This is too much! Absolutely too much! That guy—what’s his name? Cao Cheng? Dares to mess with our family? Just wait till I get back and teach him a lesson!"
"No, no, no!"
Kuang Long hurriedly waved his hands. "Uncle, it’s not worth it, really!"
"Look at you, coward! How have you been surviving all these years? And they call you Kuang Long? Who gave you that name?"
The uncle snorted, then turned to Meng Hu. "What about you? Are you scared too?"
"Uncle, I’m not scared!" Meng Hu roared, his face flushed from the alcohol, his courage slightly boosted.
The uncle nodded approvingly. "See? This is what a real man of the Yang family looks like. Little Hu, I’ll help you deal with that punk when we get back."
"Uncle, I’m fine. I don’t hold grudges. Just two front teeth, see? Look, Uncle, I got new ones!" Meng Hu grinned, baring his teeth like an idiot.
"..."
The uncle’s face darkened.
What the hell was this?
Is this the quality of gangsters in Sanjiang now?
And they’re making money running protection?
How?!
He remembered Sanjiang being way more hardcore back in his day. Now they’ve all gone… soft?
Kuang Long, still sober, saw his uncle’s expression and quickly explained, "Uncle, it’s not that we’re scared. That guy is just too strong. There were over ten of us, armed with knives, bats, and knuckle dusters—and he took us all down bare-handed in ten seconds."
"..."
Kuang Long wasn’t exaggerating.
But the uncle didn’t believe him.
He’d been around for decades—what kind of fighters hadn’t he seen?
Black-market boxing champions?
Battle-hardened ex-special forces?
Real killers.
"So he’s tough?"
"Being tough means nothing!"
"In this world, what matters is power, connections, money…"
"Look at you two, already shaking in your boots?"
"Ten guys couldn’t take him? What about twenty? Thirty? Fifty?"
"Is he Li Xiaolong or something?"
"Tch."
The uncle lit a cigarette, sneering.
"Just wait. When I get back to Sanjiang, I’ll settle this. Let’s see how tough he really is."
"Enough with the long faces. Since you’re in Zhonghai now, stick with me. You’ll live the good life. Now, drink up!"
...
...
That afternoon,
Aunt Ren had a private chat with Cao Cheng.
Mostly about his health and living conditions—since he’d been alone in Sanjiang before, with no one to look after him.
Now that he was in Zhonghai, as his stepmom, she wanted to show she cared.
She also brought up his studies and career.
Aunt Ren said, "There’s a huge demand for skilled computer professionals right now, especially in big cities. Internet companies are scrambling for talent—ours included."
"Cheng, come work for me."
The Ren family had businesses everywhere—hotels, real estate, jewelry, cosmetics.
A massive empire.
And this was after downsizing. They used to have agriculture, textiles—sold off long ago.
Aunt Ren talked at length about her vision for the future of the internet, but big corporations moved slowly.
Major decisions couldn’t be made on a whim.
Meanwhile,
Cao Cheng looked at his beautiful stepmother, unsure how to say what he was thinking.
Because it was hard to explain.
For example—
It was early 2007, just before New Year’s.
Next year,
a global crisis would hit.
Every single Ren family business would be affected.
His memories were clear: real estate demand would plummet, consumer confidence would crash.
Prices would drop—news reports would say over 26% of properties lost more than 10% of their value.
In Zhonghai, the best areas would peak at 17,000 per square meter… then crash back to 10,000.
A terrifying plunge, destroying market confidence.
Banks would tighten credit, making loans harder for developers.
Projects would stall, cash flow would dry up—some companies would collapse.
Hotels? Same story. Tourism would nosedive, spending would freeze. Expansion? Forget it. Just staying afloat would be an achievement.
Jewelry? Market shrinkage.
Cosmetics, being luxury goods, would fare slightly better.
Because women’s desire to shop?
Even a global crisis wouldn’t stop them.
At worst, there’d be a "lipstick effect"—when times are tough, people buy small indulgences.
And online shopping?
It would boom during the crisis.
Because it’s cheaper than real-life retail.
When every penny counts, e-commerce becomes king.
...
But could Cao Cheng say any of this?
Of course not.
She wasn’t his real mom.
If she were, he’d just say: "Don’t ask, just do what I say."
Maybe throw in some whining.
Whining always got moms to listen.
But…
With Aunt Ren, even after calling her "Mom," he couldn’t cross that line.
Not with her four daughters watching.
It might even affect Cao Cheng's happy life.
Of course,
Young Master Cao isn’t some saint either—he’s not about to risk giving someone a warning after just one meeting. That’d be overstepping, given how little they know each other.
Feelings take time to develop.
You don’t just blurt out everything the moment you meet.
Otherwise, the other person might not believe him, even mock him, and only come begging for help later when a real crisis hits and they’re proven wrong.
That kind of cliché? Cao Cheng finds it downright tacky.
So, these thoughts remain just thoughts for now. What to do next can wait for the future.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
