The original owner’s eyes were blindfolded, and all he could hear from below were endless screams, the sound of something snapping, and the thud of heavy bodies hitting the ground.
By the time Little Hei put down his tentacles, everything was already over.
Those gaunt-faced “trainees” were all pressed tightly against the wall, staring in terror at the newcomer.
Fang Zhiyi stepped on the wrist of the lair’s leader, slightly bending down: “Are you out of your mind?”
The thugs here, including Li Lie, had all been knocked to the ground. Li Lie cradled his right hand, moaning without pause.
“If you make another sound, I’ll break your other hand too,” Fang Zhiyi pointed at Li Lie.
Li Lie immediately shut his mouth in fear.
What the hell had he brought back with him?
Fang Zhiyi nodded in satisfaction, then looked down again at the terrified leader, giving him a series of slaps across the face, each one harder than the last.
“From now on, I ask, you answer. Got it?”
The leader nodded frantically.
Fang Zhiyi pressed harder with his foot, and the leader screamed, then quickly covered his mouth.
“Do you know of any cults around here?”
The leader froze, trembling as he said, “No, no...”
Fang Zhiyi squinted, applying more pressure, and the leader screamed out: “I’ve heard of one! The Supreme God Cult! It’s also in this villa complex! We’ve always kept to ourselves, no trouble with each other!”
Fang Zhiyi laughed: “So you really do know?”
“Young brother, young brother, we’ve always stayed out of each other’s way, living in the same neighborhood, crossing paths every day... Who are you?”
“You guys... sure can endure hardship, huh?” Fang Zhiyi glanced back coldly. Though fear was on the faces of those “trainees,” there was also more determination.
“Sleep on the floor today! Be the boss tomorrow!” someone tremblingly shouted that phrase. Fang Zhiyi shook his head and turned back to stare at the leader.
“You’re pretty good at brainwashing, aren’t you?”
The leader was almost in tears: “I, I taught myself everything. Sir, please let me go. I really haven’t done anything bad. They’re free to come and go. I just charge a fee for room and board. I never forced them to stay. If you don’t believe me, ask them! I’ve never committed any serious wrongs—just when I was a kid, I couldn’t afford to use public toilets, so I peeked at people using them...”
“That’s called voyeurism, damn it!” Fang Zhiyi cursed, moving his foot away. He hadn’t planned to interrogate further. Instead, he eyed the crestfallen leader with interest.
“What’s your name?”
“I, I’m Zhou Zhengwang.”
“Want to make some money?”
Zhou Zhengwang, who had been wallowing in regret, suddenly had a gleam flash in his eyes at the mention of money.
“Of course... Sir, you...”
Fang Zhiyi cut him off with a wave: “Don’t call me ‘Sir’ or whatever. My name is Fang Zhiyi. Call me Fang.”
“Brother Fang, no—Master Fang!”
Fang Zhiyi looked at this guy—he knew how to read the room.
“If you want to earn money, listen to me. I guarantee you’ll make more with my methods than with whatever project you’ve got going.”
Whether Zhou Zhengwang believed it or not, he didn’t dare say a word. This demon before him could do whatever he wanted, and Zhou Zhengwang was only after money—he wasn’t tired of living.
Fang Zhiyi glanced at Li Lie, who was nearly passing out from pain, and beckoned him over. Li Lie hesitated.
“Get the hell over here! I broke your hand, not your legs!”
With a yell from Li Lie, Fang Zhiyi patted his hand approvingly: “Go find two sticks to bind it up. Don’t blame me if it heals crooked.”
Li Lie nearly screamed again, but Fang Zhiyi clamped his hand over his mouth.
“Quiet. Everyone, get the hell over here for a meeting! I’m going to make you all rich!”
No one here didn’t want to get rich.
They gathered around, skeptical but curious.
“Recruiting people down the line to make money is illegal, you know? A bunch of pig-brains,” Fang Zhiyi sized them up, then flashed a wolfish grin. “I’ll show you a better path.”
That night, the lights in that shabby villa stayed on until dawn.
The group went from full of doubt to beaming with excitement.
“Fang Zhiyi—no, Boss Fang! You’re a genius!”
Watching these enthralled guys scramble to follow Fang Zhiyi’s orders, Little Hei asked curiously: “I thought you’d go straight after that cult.”
Fang Zhiyi shook his head: “I just realized—even if I take out the so-called leader, I can’t just kill his brainwashed followers. They’re a problem, and messy to handle.”
“But since we know where they are, we might as well go check it out.”
At the innermost villa of the complex, a patch of farmland had been cleared. A few people in white robes were planting vegetables, their eyes hollow, muttering to themselves.
Just seeing them, Fang Zhiyi knew he had found the right place.
Little Hei ran over curiously to listen, then flew back in confusion: “These people are mindless. One moment they’re saying ‘I am guilty,’ the next ‘God will forgive me’ or something.”
Fang Zhiyi sighed, not approaching. He noticed someone obviously monitoring the area at the villa’s entrance.
“Do these people have no brains? Believing in some god talk?” Little Hei wondered. Beside him, the original owner also looked puzzled—at least he couldn’t understand why his own parents were caught up in it.
“You don’t get it... These cults first recruit followers and investigate their social backgrounds, pinpointing their weaknesses. Then they cut the followers off from normal society—no TV, no phones, probably no internet—messing up their normal perception. The pyramid schemers do the same thing.”
Fang Zhiyi turned and walked away.
“For example, they hold discussion groups, but the core members control every topic. If someone raises questions, everyone else gangs up to refute them, making the doubter question themselves.”
“Also, they tailor things to different people. Like your mom,” Fang Zhiyi glanced at the original owner. “They keep telling her her family isn’t harmonious, her life isn’t happy, because her faith isn’t sincere enough. If she gives herself fully to God, she’ll find happiness. Meanwhile, reciting meaningless scripture over and over daily—even a good person can get brainwashed stupid.”
“And the leader, he probably has his people preach he’s a divine being descended to earth—total garbage. Through packaging, personality cults, mechanical daily rituals, and repetition, they deepen the followers’ devotion to him.”
Little Hei caught on: “So it’s just repeating some bullshit over and over until followers lose the ability to think for themselves, gradually accepting the leader’s made-up stories. After that, even his fart is considered a divine oracle.”
“Exactly~” Fang Zhiyi rolled his head and cracked his neck. “Strictly speaking, this leader really knows psychology—how to control people’s minds. But his heart is too dark.”
] [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!"
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
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!
