Mia took out a few candies from her pocket and offered them to the little girl, who shrank back in fear, unwilling to accept them.
"What's wrong?"
"Daddy says I can't eat these, or he'll hang me up and beat me."
A flicker of anger flashed in Mia's eyes before she smiled and said, "It's fine. You can have them today. Go ahead."
"But..."
Mei Ming gently patted the girl's head. Her own family wasn’t wealthy, but at least her parents treated her well—unlike this girl, who had none.
"Think about what comes next," Fang Zhiyi said to Mia before pushing the door open and stepping inside.
Fang Zhiyi had set a peculiar rule: no matter who the target was, the final act had to be carried out by him alone.
When the girl’s mother woke up on an old bed, the memory of her husband’s brutality rushed back. She bolted upright, only to see a stranger playing with her daughter. Panicked, she tried to get up but forgot her leg was broken—sending her crashing to the floor.
Mei Ming hurried over to help her up, soothing her while discreetly twisting open a small vial. A faint, calming fragrance filled the air, and the woman’s ragged breathing slowly steadied.
"Give them some money and let them leave the Lower City," Fang Zhiyi suggested.
Mia shook her head. "Leave for where? The Upper City? It might look orderly, but it’s even more dangerous there."
After a moment’s thought, she added, "I can give them work, though."
At the headquarters of the Jackals Syndicate, Ye Xiao was practically giddy, his fingers intertwined with Marilyn’s. She was even more wonderful than he’d imagined! So much so that when a subordinate reported an attack on one of their underground clinics, he barely paid attention.
"Just a clinic."
"But, boss, aren’t we going to do anything?"
Ye Xiao smirked—a sight that made Marilyn’s eyes sparkle.
"It’s the perfect excuse for war." He led her to the floor-to-ceiling window. "There’s only room for one king in the Lower City."
The subordinate bit back a retort.
"I come from the Upper City," the voice on the communicator said. "My wife and I donated to Lower City children, but she believed it wasn’t enough. We wanted to bring them proper education, so we moved here with our son."
"But the thugs—they thought we were stealing their children’s working hours. They vandalized our classrooms again and again."
The man’s voice trembled with grief.
"That night, they broke into my home. They assaulted my wife, threw my son out the window, and tried to strangle me with a rope. I was lucky—I only passed out."
"Now, I wish I’d died instead."
"If you can avenge them, I’ll give you everything I have."
"Upper City folks coming down here, or Lower City folks going up—both are stupid moves," Mia remarked.
"72nd Street he mentioned sounds pretty far."
Mia frowned. "Let me handle the intel."
Drawing on years of experience in the Lower City’s underbelly, Mia questioned countless sources until she uncovered the truth.
In the sewers, she explained, "72nd Street is a den of thugs and criminals—territory of... the Nightshades." She sighed. "The Nightshades are strong enough to rival the Jackals Syndicate. Of course they don’t want kids in school—they need them working to keep up their operations."
Wang Meng stood and pointed at Guan Xiong. "This one’s mine."
Guan Xiong barely glanced at him, silent.
Mia continued, "There’s more. Ye Xiao’s spreading word that the Nightshades attacked their clinic—so the Jackals are declaring war. We could just stay out of it."
Fang Zhiyi fell silent, recalling the events he knew. The Nightshades were the Jackals’ greatest rivals, their conflict dragging on for a year. In the original timeline, Ye Xiao would’ve recruited him, Mia, Mei Ming, and the others—but now, that wasn’t happening.
After a pause, Fang Zhiyi shook his head. "We took the job. We finish it."
"Seriously? Getting tangled in this mess will get us killed." Despite her words, Mia showed no trace of fear.
"I’m not scared," Wang Meng said eagerly. Ever since Fang Zhiyi rescued him, he’d been itching to prove himself.
"Um, me neither," Mei Ming added timidly, raising her hand.
Dace just coughed and fiddled with his scalpel, offering no opinion.
Guan Xiong was even more direct—he simply stepped behind Fang Zhiyi.
Mia threw up her hands. "You guys always wreck my plans." She dragged out a bag of explosives from a corner. "You’re paying for these!"
The Lower City was in chaos. The Jackals and Nightshades clashed violently, bodies littering the streets. The Jackals’ lieutenants were out in force—but Ye Xiao remained in his office, Marilyn perched on his lap as they watched the distant flames.
"So beautiful..." Marilyn murmured, awestruck.
Ye Xiao stroked her hair, utterly entranced.
"Damn it, has Ye Xiao lost his mind? When did we ever touch their clinic?"
"That brat just wants a war. His ambition’s bigger than his old man’s ever was."
"Round up everyone—even the kids! Send them all out!"
In an untouched house, Fang Zhiyi studied the bloodied man before him, then slowly produced an old photograph. "Do you know him?"
The man didn’t even look, still snarling, "I’m a Nightshade captain! You’re dead!"
"Wrong answer." Fang Zhiyi sighed. Wang Meng immediately pried the man’s jaws apart as Dace stepped forward, pliers in hand, and carefully clamped onto a tooth.
"One, two..."
"Wha—mmph—are you—?"
"Three!"
The man screamed.
"Do you know this man?" Fang Zhiyi resumed his stance, photo still in hand.
Trembling, the man finally looked at the young man before him—and felt a chill.
"Yes! I know him! Isn’t he dead?"
"Then tell us—who was involved in his death?"
The system observed its seemingly deranged host, uneasy. No matter what it said, Fang Zhiyi ignored it. What now? Maybe being more proactive would earn his trust?
With that thought, the system detached from Fang Zhiyi and drifted away, scouting the situation. It’d gather intel and trade it later.
By the time it returned, Fang Zhiyi’s group had infiltrated a sprawling estate—a rare sight in the Lower City.
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!
orn and Humiliation】【Forced Love】 In his past life, Lin Ran was betrayed and murdered by his girlfriend and family, while the yandere female aristocrat, who had treated him as a mere plaything, avenged him by doing in his enemies. Upon seeing the yandere female aristocrat lying in the same coffin, ready to die with him, Lin Ran realized how profoundly mistaken he had been. Reborn, he abandoned the fickle campus beauty and wholeheartedly embraced the yandere female aristocrat's arms. "Ran! If I dig out your eyes and turn them into a specimen, you'll only be able to look at me!" Lin Ran: "Darling, kiss me!" "Ran! If I break your legs, you won't run away anymore, right?" Lin Ran: "Love, hold me tight!" "Ran! If..." Lin Ran: "Hush now! Love me more!" Luo Yao: ... Seeing his scumbag dad: "Take him out!" Seeing his stepmother: "Get rid of her!" Seeing his brother: "Eliminate him!" Seeing his white moonlight: "Send that to Southeast Asia!"
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...
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
