Fang Zhiyi nodded and plopped down onto the seat, feeling exhausted.
Strangely, there had been no one at the Roland sisters' home, and Mia still hadn't returned. Considering the labyrinthine streets of the lower city, Fang Zhiyi had no choice but to wait.
"Host, I can provide tracking," the system offered, sensing his impatience.
Fang Zhiyi hesitated. Just once shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Just as he was about to agree, Guan Xiong suddenly patted his shoulder. Fang Zhiyi looked up to see a familiar figure approaching slowly, carrying something in her arms.
When Mia came closer, even Guan Xiong’s expression twisted in shock.
Mia’s face was blank—perhaps she didn’t know what expression to wear. Holding the corpse, she simply stared at Fang Zhiyi before finally speaking in a hollow voice: "Can you help me get justice from them?"
Fang Zhiyi met her gaze and nodded slowly.
The disappearance of the Roland sisters had enraged the Jackals, who took their anger out on the girls’ parents—both had already been seized by the gang.
The sisters, unable to remember their way, wandered the streets alone until they caught the attention of a group of traffickers. Recognizing the two as wanted targets, the traffickers grew excited. In the ensuing chase, the sisters fell into a garbage pit one after another.
For Mia, no one knew the landfill better. By the time she arrived after gathering information, only one body remained—the other, she was told, had been buried beneath the trash.
Knowing the Jackals wanted the sisters alive, the traffickers had no choice but to pretend nothing had happened. If word got out, they’d be in deep trouble.
That night, the group sat around a fire, grumbling about their lost fortune. Suddenly, a voice cut through the darkness: "How much is a life worth?"
"A life? Probably—wait, who are you?!" The man barely reacted before a blow struck his chest. His breath hitched, consciousness slipping away.
Fang Zhiyi’s icy gaze swept over the others.
"You looking to die?!" One man drew his knife, but his limbs went weak—along with his companions’. Mei Ming nervously clutched a small vial, peeking out from behind Fang Zhiyi.
A tall, lean figure emerged from the back door, dragging a subdued man. He nodded at Fang Zhiyi.
"I don’t know how many atrocities you’ve committed, so the punishment might not be enough."
Fang Zhiyi leaned closer to the firelight, the flames casting shadows over the terrified faces.
By the next day, rumors spread through the lower city: the human trafficking ring operating near the landfill had been wiped out, their corpses strung up on lampposts. Residents stepping outside were met with a grisly sight.
Ye Xiao, busy settling disputes among his men, received the report.
"All the bodies were skinned—neck down," the subordinate gestured. "But the doctor said it was an amateur job. The cuts were messy, like multiple attempts."
Ye Xiao frowned.
"And the kids locked in their hideout were all freed."
"Find out who did this," Ye Xiao ordered. He had bigger plans—to unite the lower city, giving him leverage to negotiate with the upper districts. And then there was that girl...
A flicker of longing crossed Ye Xiao’s eyes.
The subordinate continued, "We found the Roland sisters’ bodies. Looks like they were taken by those bastards."
Ye Xiao’s frown deepened before he finally said, "They’re all dead, right?"
The subordinate nodded. After a moment, Ye Xiao added, "No matter. I’ve already found replacements for the old man."
In the sewers, Mia handed Fang Zhiyi a communicator. "This is the receiver. If someone uses it, you’ll hear them."
Fang Zhiyi nodded. "And then?"
Mia patted her large bag. "Then you do the job. I take 70% of the spoils." She never expected Fang Zhiyi to be so lethal—like a natural-born killing machine.
Fang Zhiyi rolled his eyes at her greed. Though days had passed, the Roland sisters’ fate still weighed heavily on Mia.
His team, however, had grown. A burly man named Wang Meng joined, along with Dace, an apprentice from an underground clinic. With Mei Ming and Guan Xiong, he now had four followers—all future key players under Ye Xiao. The "system" had revealed much of the future to him, guiding his moves.
Since witnessing Fang Zhiyi’s skinning technique, Guan Xiong had become noticeably more cautious around him.
The system still relentlessly pitched its features.
"You’ve already recruited several people ahead of time. Next, you should take over some factions. I have targets for you," it urged, frustrated at gaining nothing from Fang Zhiyi.
Fang Zhiyi remained silent.
Then his communicator beeped.
He glanced down and pressed the green button.
"My... my brother’s dead. They tricked him into testing drugs. Can you avenge him? I’ll pay any price."
Fang Zhiyi eyed his idle team and slowly pressed the red button.
That night, in an underground clinic:
"Take these for a month, and you’ll get 10,000 Leke," the bald doctor said, grinning at the two men before him. Leke was the currency of the wasteland city. "You’re the right age for it."
The younger man hesitated. "Any side effects?"
The doctor waved dismissively. "Side effects? My drugs don’t have side effects!"
The older man gritted his teeth and pressed his thumb to the contract.
Seeing this, the younger man followed suit.
After scheduling their next visit, the doctor tucked away the contract gleefully. "Heh, this new drug for the upper city just needs final tweaks. The last test subjects were too weak—couldn’t even last half a month."
The door creaked open. The doctor turned to see his former apprentice, Dace.
"Why’re you back, you waste?" he sneered. "Too scared to inject test subjects, and now you’re crawling back for food?"
Dace adjusted his crooked glasses. "No. I came specifically for you."
"For me?" The doctor scoffed. "You should be grateful I didn’t turn you into a test subject."
A young man stepped out from behind Dace. The doctor squinted, sniffing the air. "Sewer stench... and blood. Brought muscle to rob my clinic?"
As Fang Zhiyi advanced, the doctor remained unfazed. "I’m the Jackals’ physician! You dare—" His words died as two masked figures were hurled into the room, crashing at his feet.
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!
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.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
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...
