When Fang Zhiyi got home, he only saw two elderly people sitting on the doorstep, with his mother still holding her head.
"What's wrong?" Fang Zhiyi immediately sensed something was off.
"Ah, your..." His father's words were cut off by his mother: "It's nothing, Mom just bumped into something."
Fang Zhiyi squinted at her for a moment, then walked inside. As soon as he entered, he saw Fang Xiaolian crouching in the yard, chopping pigweed.
"What are you doing?" Fang Zhiyi asked.
Fang Xiaolian looked up, her eyes red and swollen, and there were even some red marks on her cheek. Fang Zhiyi's heart skipped a beat.
"Dad, school let out early today..."
Hu Xiulian heard Fang Zhiyi's voice and poked her head out: "Husband, you're back? Come eat right away!"
Fang Zhiyi glanced inside and saw the table was laid out with quite a few good dishes—at least much better than the stuff he usually made.
Hu Xiulian smirked proudly: "Come on, I finally feel satisfied today."
"Why aren't Mom and Dad eating?" Fang Zhiyi asked.
Hu Xiulian froze, then lowered her voice: "Don't mind those two old fogies. They were secretly giving that little brat money behind your back." She looked smug.
Fang Zhiyi glanced at Fang Xiaolian, who quickly lowered her head.
Of course, Fang Zhiyi knew about the money—he didn't care. It was his parents' money to give to whoever they wanted.
Hu Xiulian pulled him inside, where Liu Wen and Liu Wu were already stuffing their faces.
"Don't worry about it. Let me tell you, kids need this kind of discipline. That locking-in-the-room punishment of yours doesn't work! Today, she actually pushed me when I was trying to protect you, and I..." Hu Xiulian suddenly realized she'd said too much and hastily poured Fang Zhiyi a glass of wine. "Just drink up today!"
"Xiaoxiaohei, what's going on."
Xiaoxiaohei's eyes flickered but didn't respond.
"Don't play dumb. If I find out myself, it'll be different from you telling me."
"Host, after you left, Hu Xiulian got into a conflict with your parents. The old lady revealed where the money was hidden. Hu Xiulian went to grab it, your parents tried to stop her, and things got physical. School let out early today, so Fang Xiaolian and Liu Wen and Liu Wu came home one after another. When Fang Xiaolian saw her grandma pushed to the ground, she stepped in to stop it, but got slapped. Seeing their granddaughter hit, the two elders quickly backed down and promised to hand over all future money to Hu Xiulian."
Fang Zhiyi picked up his wine glass, a chill creeping into his eyes.
"I've been holding back so much. Why do they have to court death like this?"
"Host, stay calm. Think about the bigger picture. This is simply the fate of these characters."
Fang Zhiyi took a deep breath and downed the wine.
"Fine."
Over the next few days, everything returned to normal. Because of Fang Zhiyi's earlier restraint, Hu Xiulian, who had been suppressed for so long, found herself back in charge. She once again became the mistress of the house, ordering everyone around.
"Go feed the chickens!"
"That Fang Xiaolian, school's out and she still hasn't come back! There's so much work waiting for her!"
"Husband, after this year, let's just stop her schooling. She'll be married off sooner or later. What's the point of studying? Better to focus on our sons, don't you think?"
Fang Zhiyi had grown quiet, merely nodding.
Xiaoxiaohei felt relieved. It was afraid the host would interfere again.
Then one day, Fang Xiaolian came home especially late, her head down. A furious Hu Xiulian grabbed her by the hair, cursed her out, and then spotted her eldest son coming through the door.
"Xiao Wen, why are you so late? Go eat now."
"Hmph, I could've been home earlier if it weren't for her!" Liu Wen saw Fang Xiaolian standing in front of him and kicked her.
"What's going on?" Hu Xiulian's face darkened.
"She stole someone's stuff and wouldn't admit it, then tried to pin it on me!" Liu Wen yelled.
Fang Xiaolian weakly defended herself: "It wasn't me. Brother took it. I saw him..."
"Shut up! My son wouldn't steal anything! You shameless little tramp!" Hu Xiulian cursed, raising her hand and slapping down.
At that moment, Fang Xiaolian's face was fully visible. There was a bruise around her eye, clearly from a punch.
The sound of the slap reached Fang Zhiyi's ears.
His parents' sighs also echoed.
Fang Zhiyi closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his expression had completely changed.
"Do they really think I'm dead?"
Xiaoxiaohei warned: "Host, stay calm."
"Go ask your creator if it would stay calm if it saw this."
Xiaoxiaohei was stunned into silence. "Host, if you take action, you might fall into this world's trap..."
"Do you believe in fate?" Fang Zhiyi suddenly asked.
Xiaoxiaohei paused.
"Long ago, your creator and I went to a world. The Heavenly Dao there told me that people's fates were predetermined. Later, I realized that even people like your creator and I probably have our own destinies."
"Still, I can never bring myself to look away."
Hu Xiulian finished scolding Fang Xiaolian and led her eldest son inside. She looked at Fang Zhiyi and said, "Husband, look at that little girl. She's even stealing now."
"I'm her stepmother, so I have to discipline her, don't I? Tonight, she's not allowed to eat! And it's all your parents' fault for spoiling her!"
Fang Zhiyi stared at her for a moment, then let out a chuckle: "You're right. She needs discipline."
That night, Fang Xiaolian curled up on her bed, silently crying. Suddenly, the door creaked open. She instinctively closed her eyes and felt someone sit down by the bed.
"Does it hurt?"
Hearing Dad's voice, Fang Xiaolian's body trembled.
"It hurts, so maybe next time you'll learn your lesson."
Fang Xiaolian's heart sank. She didn't understand. Grandma had always told her that no matter how poor you were, you never steal. She saw Brother taking the spicy chips from the street vendor's stall. When Brother got caught, she stepped up to speak for him. But he immediately turned around and said he was stealing for her. So the vendor yelled at her. And after they left, Brother hit her and told her not to say anything.
Why was the whole world against her?
"Wanting to help others is a good thing, but not everyone deserves your kindness," Fang Zhiyi's voice sounded again. "When you help good people, they know you're being kind. But some people think you're just brown-nosing, and the real trash think you owe them."
"So don't go sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, and stop causing me trouble!"
Fang Xiaolian slowly opened her tightly shut eyes.
"Dad..." she whimpered, full of grievance.
But Fang Zhiyi stared right at her: "Stop your sniveling. What good does that do? How did I end up with a daughter like you?"
Fang Xiaolian looked at her father. The room was dark; she could only see his silhouette. For some reason, she suddenly felt that this version of Dad felt... strange.
"Starting tomorrow, come home, eat dinner, and then I'm taking you to work. That way, you won't just spend your days getting on my nerves."
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?!
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!
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
