Before the various factions had even had time to digest the news, an even more earth-shaking announcement arrived.
The Emperor had issued the first appointment in several centuries, naming Fang Zhiyi Marshal of the Empire.
The news sent shockwaves throughout the Empire. Most people were stunned. Did the Emperor really exist?
No one offered them an explanation. Fang Zhiyi led the Imperial Guard straight into the headquarters of the Sector Army in the imperial capital. Relying on their overwhelming strength, the Imperial Guard slaughtered several high-ranking officers who were indulging themselves on the spot, then swiftly seized control of the situation.
The Sector Army stationed in the capital was broken up, and its officers were ordered to resubmit their records. Some veterans who had rendered distinguished service but had been suppressed because they lacked connections were promoted. Fang Zhiyi soon had a group of supporters of his own. He then rapidly promoted a number of hawkish officers led by Hu Lie and launched a purge against Sector Army units that refused to obey the Emperor’s orders.
Throughout this period, the Emperor provided an extremely abundant supply of technological support. In his desire to be freed, Old Ghost contributed without hesitation everything he had tinkered with over the past several hundred years. This greatly aided Fang Zhiyi’s efforts to centralize power.
Although the process was somewhat bloody, every sector within the Empire soon fell into Fang Zhiyi’s hands. This included the lofty aristocrats. Once he had them in his grip, he also had the various forces in other sectors connected to them.
The nobles realized that the tide had turned. Knowing that killing Fang Zhiyi was no longer feasible, they began stirring up public opinion, hoping to bring pressure to bear on the Emperor.
Old Ghost: “???”
But before Old Ghost could react, Fang Zhiyi had already made his next move.
All across the streets, posters appeared, pasted up by unknown individuals. The images on them were horrifying: human settlements destroyed by the Blue-Skins, human corpses hanging from poles, scattered limbs, and Blue-Skins displaying human heads in their hands. Every picture testified to the creatures’ viciousness and brutality.
The photographs had been taken by unmanned probes and preserved by the Ninth Legion.
Before long, rumors began circulating throughout the imperial capital. The Ninth Legion commander had retreated in the face of the enemy and repeatedly implemented a policy of nonresistance, resulting in the deaths of even more innocent civilians and soldiers. It was Fang Zhiyi who had led the Ninth Legion to crush the Blue-Skin army.
Common people only believed what they could see with their own eyes. Compared with the rumors from before, these visible photographs and recordings were clearly far more credible.
As the military took control of the media, more and more of the supposedly peaceful facade was shattered.
When the plight of humanity in distant star systems was exposed one incident after another, the people’s anger was once again ignited.
The mighty Empire they had imagined was actually in such a state? Who was manipulating everything from behind the scenes? Why had entire armies been abandoned? And why were civilians who had gone out to develop new worlds being slaughtered by aliens?
Fang Zhiyi’s foundation was steadily growing stronger. His posters were plastered all over the streets, each bearing his likeness and four large words:
“Long Live Humanity!”
The tide had turned completely. The nobles began changing course and currying favor with Fang Zhiyi. All they wanted was to preserve their positions.
The aristocracy was not destroyed by the army in Fang Zhiyi’s hands, but by the common people. Fang Zhiyi unhesitatingly exposed every filthy deed of the noble class, one after another. There was no need to incite anyone; the testimony of those who had experienced these things firsthand was enough to ignite the people’s fury.
The enraged populace began storming the heavily guarded estates of the nobles. They encountered little resistance, because the Sector Army units assigned to protect the aristocracy had already been transferred elsewhere.
In addition, several members of the Assembly were seized by the people and subjected to public trials. The reason was simple: they were too weak. They had even ceded planets to alien races for their own personal gain. Such behavior was tantamount to betraying all of humanity.
The revolution erupted in the imperial capital and swept through the entire star system. Throughout this period, the army under Fang Zhiyi remained silent. The violent machinery of the state’s noninterference resulted in a brief period of chaos. For a human empire that had existed for more than a thousand years, five years was indeed an exceedingly short time.
Soon afterward, the Emperor announced that new representatives would be selected from among the common people to reestablish the Assembly. The move won the support of every planet. Because of the aristocracy’s previous actions, some planets with harsh environments had been required to pay the same taxes as economically prosperous worlds. The nobles, who had maintained power for hundreds of years, cared neither about population nor production capacity. They looked only at the final figures.
The new system, by contrast, would elect common representatives from each planet. At least in the short term, everyone would receive a comparatively fair result.
The class upheaval was brought to a complete end by another announcement: the long-silent Sector Army, led by Fang Zhiyi, was about to embark on a military expedition. Its target was the frontier sectors of the human Empire, where alien races had long been wreaking havoc.
“Any alien life-form that harms humanity will be deemed heretical!”
“Any act that harms our fellow humans will be deemed treason against humanity!”
“Before the Empire, there is only submission—never negotiation!”
Carried along by this fervor, humanity’s thinking reached an unprecedented level of unity. The army under Fang Zhiyi became the most terrifying force of slaughter in the entire star system.
Some aliens believed that humanity could still be reasoned with, that there was no need to wage war over a few weak human slaves. Fang Zhiyi, however, gave an excellent demonstration of what it meant to allow no negotiations.
A massive fleet pressed toward its target planet. Under the threat of orbital cannons, the aliens could only watch helplessly as the human slaves were evacuated aboard transport ships.
Then came the fleet’s devastating bombardment.
That’s right—even the entire planet was destroyed along with them.
The terror of the human fleet shook the entire star system.
“Those despicable humans!”
Princess Aya of the Blue-Skins crushed the cup in her hand. Her eyes turned toward the scarred man hanging before her. When Gu Yuan saw her gaze, he trembled with fear. Suspended in midair, he could do nothing but beg incessantly.
“Aya, have you forgotten the vows we made to each other?”
“You caused the deaths and injuries of so many of my people, and you deceived me about your feelings. Our vows? Hah…” Aya gnashed her teeth.
She had just learned that the human fleet had destroyed yet another planet. It happened to be her homeland. Her people had refused to surrender, even hanging human skulls and skins up in an attempt to intimidate their enemy. The result was a barrage from orbital cannons that blotted out the heavens and shook the earth.
“You—you can’t treat me like this! The human Empire has already announced that anyone who harms humanity will be punished!” Gu Yuan finally broke down. He had never imagined that, in the eyes of these alien races, love would count for less than nothing. His one-sided devotion had led him to this predicament.
“So you’re finally showing your true colors.” Aya gave a savage grin. “But you’ve forgotten something. They also said that any human who harms their own kind is a traitor to humanity! Have you forgotten how, in order to earn my trust, you helped us kill so many of your own people?”
Gu Yuan remembered as well. Back then, for the sake of his love, and to protect her people, he too had raised a blade against his fellow humans.
“Don’t worry. You love me so much that if we die, we’ll die together.” Aya was clearly no longer in her right mind. “We won’t lose. You humans are the true ants—slaves!”
A tremendous roar came from overhead.
It was the sound of a warship passing through the atmosphere and hovering in the sky, as well as the Empire’s warning: submit, or be exterminated.
Seeing Aya snatch up her weapon and charge outside, Gu Yuan knew that everything was over.
In the twelve-hundredth year of the Human Empire, the Emperor’s energy finally dissipated. Before it vanished, the Emperor redrew the rules governing the Empire. The very first rule stated that humanity possessed absolute priority. Any act of persecuting, enslaving, or killing humans would be met with retribution from the imperial army.
For the thousands of years that followed, no matter how the other rules changed, this one always remained first.
Humanity’s expansion also brought it face-to-face with countless difficult challenges. Yet the existence of these external enemies allowed humanity to maintain a united front against all outsiders. This continued until divisions once again emerged within the Human Federation, and the vast Empire gradually split into several nations.
“You mean I still have to work?” Old Ghost stared wide-eyed at the office area in front of him.
Fang Zhiyi nodded. “Of course. Why else would I have brought you here?”
“You—you said you could help set me free! I—I—this is going too far! Who in their right mind captures a ghost and makes him work?”
Old Ghost’s face was full of grievance.
“All right, all right. Why don’t you try learning about the job first? It’s really interesting, I’m not kidding. Who knows? All that knowledge in your head might even come in handy.” As Fang Zhiyi spoke, he spotted Liu Shishi approaching from a distance with a smile. His expression immediately changed. “It’s settled, then. Go find that pretty lady—she’ll show you the ropes!”
With that, Fang Zhiyi turned and ran.
Old Ghost was left staring after him in confusion.
“What kind of person is he?” Still, after thinking it over, at least he wouldn’t have to rack his brains anymore trying to think through this and that for those idiots. It seemed like a decent arrangement.
“How much is the pay?” Old Ghost suddenly remembered an important question.
“Interns don’t get paid!” Fang Zhiyi called back without turning around.
“You—you slave driver!”
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?"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
