Only after the luxury car drove away did Fang Zhiyi slowly rise to his feet. "Alright, target confirmed. Let's go."
The woman sitting in the car furrowed her brow. "System, what's the mission progress now?"
"Host, progress is only at twenty percent. Please keep up the good work!" The system's voice carried a hint of playfulness.
But the woman showed no other reaction, only deepening her frown.
Standing before the door, Fang Zhiyi took a deep breath and pushed it open.
The room was a mess—photos of monsters plastered all over the walls, and a few men who seemed a bit off were locked in an intense discussion. One of them noticed Fang Zhiyi’s entrance.
"Are you the one who called and said you wanted to join?" A chubby man with glasses walked over, his face lit up with excitement.
Fang Zhiyi nodded. He had found some weird cult recruitment methods online, and this was one of them.
"Great! On behalf of our Alien Research Association, I welcome you!"
Fang Zhiyi turned and left without a word.
"Hey? Don’t go! Our association has plenty of activities! Tonight we’re heading to the tallest building to summon aliens! You’ll be in charge of distracting the security guards. Hey?"
Fang Zhiyi walked out the door, pulled out a piece of paper, and silently crossed off the address.
"Sigh... this isn’t working," Fang Zhiyi said, a little frustrated. He had already checked five suspicious locations, and all of them turned out to be bizarre gatherings—like the Vegetarian Society, the Homosexual Lovers Group... The most ridiculous was one called the Water God Society. Fang Zhiyi thought he had finally found the right place, but when he pushed the door open, all he saw were fishhooks lining the walls. It was a fishing fanatics' hangout.
"Fishing is fine, but what’s with the terrible name!"
"You don’t get it, kid. Worship the Water God, and you’ll never go home empty-handed."
"When will you realize that coming up empty has nothing to do with the Water God?"
Fang Zhiyi slipped away before the guy could blow a fuse.
"Maybe I should go look instead," Xiao Hei said.
Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "No, too risky. I’m afraid you’ll cause trouble if you act alone." He muttered to himself, looking at the original body’s memories: "Can’t find this 'church' anywhere online. They must be isolated from the internet and don’t use it for recruitment... Pretty traditional."
Once he figured things out, he didn’t bother looking for a place to stay. Instead, he went straight to the park and stretched out on a bench to rest.
Xiao Hei was confused. "Didn’t you pocket some cash when you left? No need to sleep in a park."
Fang Zhiyi smirked. "You don’t get it. From now on, I need to look broke." He glanced at his own reflection and went on, "Even though I haven’t run into this kind of group before, every world has some version of these things lurking around."
"If they avoid online channels, it means they’re cautious. Cults usually scout targets—people with chronic illnesses, family issues, the elderly, lost young folks. They recruit through acquaintances, offering remedies, introducing 'masters,' or using the guise of mutual help."
"So I have to act lost enough."
For the next two days, Fang Zhiyi hung around the park, occasionally pestering an old fortune-teller who set up shop with a little stool, acting completely anxious.
Finally, on the third day, someone tapped his shoulder. Fang Zhiyi turned around warily.
The moment he saw that smiling face, his instincts told him he had found the right people.
The man introduced himself as Li Lie. Noticing Fang Zhiyi seemed homeless, he asked if he needed any help.
That question lit a fire under Fang Zhiyi.
"I can’t go home," Fang Zhiyi launched into a sob story. "You don’t know my family situation. My dad’s a gambler, my mom’s always gaslighting me, my brother runs with the wrong crowd, and my sister hangs out with thugs. My life’s a mess."
Li Lie looked sympathetic, but the flicker of glee in his eyes didn’t escape Fang Zhiyi’s notice.
Looks like he’d found the right mark.
What Li Lie didn’t expect was how much this young man could talk.
"Where was I? Oh, when I was seven... eight..."
Li Lie’s smile was starting to crack. He cut in, "You’ve had it rough. Let me help you, okay?"
Fang Zhiyi was a little reluctant to stop. No wonder the original body’s mom loved complaining—there was something satisfying about unloading negativity on someone without restraint.
But remembering his goal, he forced himself to stop and followed Li Lie out of the park.
Li Lie took him out for a meal. During the meal, two more people showed up, introduced as Li Lie’s friends.
And just like that, Fang Zhiyi’s audience grew from one to three.
It wasn’t until all three of them looked visibly fed up that Li Lie hurriedly said goodbye to Fang Zhiyi.
"You’re leaving? Will you come back tomorrow?"
Li Lie paused to think. "Sure! We’re friends now. I’ll help you out to the end!"
"That didn’t go well," Xiao Hei said, watching the three leave. "Should I follow them?"
"No need. They’ve already taken the bait." Fang Zhiyi’s pitiful expression vanished in an instant. "They must be very careful—scouting targets, testing them repeatedly, buying them meals, giving them money or job referrals to build a sense of gratitude and obligation. Then they’ll pull them in."
"I made sure to mention in my sob story that I have four family members, money, and a house. I bet they’re interested."
Everything unfolded as Fang Zhiyi had predicted. Over the next few days, Li Lie showed up every day, even paying for a small hotel room for him. Their bond seemed to deepen.
"You’re my best buddy! From now on, I’ll go through fire and water for you!" Fang Zhiyi said with exaggerated gratitude after another meal.
Li Lie smiled faintly. His ears were practically numb from all the complaining, and he wasn’t sure if this lamb was genuine or not. But it seemed convincing enough.
"Well then, since that’s settled—we’re going to the Gulf tomorrow for a hangout. It’s a friend’s gathering. Wanna come?"
"The Gulf?" Fang Zhiyi pondered for a moment. The Gulf was a villa neighborhood on the outskirts. Seeing the eager look in Li Lie’s eyes, he nodded. "Of course! I can’t wait!"
They agreed on a time before Li Lie left. Fang Zhiyi watched him go and noticed a familiar figure.
Yin Tingting walked down the street with a scowl, muttering under her breath.
"That old hag! She got diarrhea from my drink and had the nerve to call me out! I lost so much face because of her!"
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
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!
] [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!"
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
