Zhao Manqi was stunned for a long time; she couldn't understand why Fang Zhiyi had died.
Could there really be ghosts in this world?
She shook her head. No, that couldn't be. It must be that guy's own fault, probably killed by someone.
Yes, that's it.
Zhao Manqi posted an update.
"First, I express my condolences for the deceased, but please get this straight: he went of his own accord. I merely said a few words. Am I supposed to be responsible for a grown man's impulsive actions? Some people should stop with the moral blackmail. Let's be honest, you just can't stand a woman daring to speak the truth! What ghosts are there in this world? I think the ghosts are in your own minds!"
Her comments section exploded.
PeachNoSugar: "I'm a woman too, and I think what you said is really unreasonable. After all, he went because of your provocation..."
MilkTeaFullSugar: "Even if it's not your fault, is it so hard to say you're sorry?"
Zhao Manqi got worked up again: "You women have been tamed by the patriarchal society into having no backbone! You even help count the money when someone steps on your heads! Pathetic!"
She blocked everyone who disagreed with her, turned off her private messages, and cursed the dead Fang Zhiyi resentfully.
But from that day on, she began to frequently dream of the deceased Fang Zhiyi.
Zhao Manqi started to become absent-minded, and her convictions began to waver. Could there really be ghosts in the world?
Finally, she became afraid. In her dreams, Fang Zhiyi would just stare at her, his eyes full of grievance. So one day, she went to the school where Fang Zhiyi had died. She had to resolve this.
After a series of frights, she met a boy in a white shirt, very good-looking. He said his name was Shen Yan. Hearing that Zhao Manqi was there to find a ghost, he frowned.
"Leave it to me."
Sure enough, from that day on, Fang Zhiyi stopped appearing.
And Zhao Manqi completely believed in the existence of ghosts. She began collecting many books on the supernatural to teach herself, and with Shen Yan's help, she could also see things ordinary people couldn't.
Zhao Manqi smelled a business opportunity. She reinvented herself and registered a new account called "Spiritual Medium Qiqi." With her carefully applied makeup and a few tricks, Zhao Manqi quickly became popular.
Even if she made mistakes, she wasn't afraid. Shen Yan had her back, and she also discovered that Shen Yan was actually a ghost himself.
"I had them kill that man," Shen Yan said, flashing a bright smile. "But I heard about you from him. I think you're interesting."
Zhao Manqi only struggled for ten minutes before forgiving Shen Yan for his deception.
"Thank you, heartless big brother, for the sports car," Zhao Manqi smiled at the camera, while Shen Yan behind her looked a bit jealous.
"Brothers, today I'm going to help a girl with her problem. Her dead best friend seems to be haunting her."
Zhao Manqi now showed none of her previous stance. Her persona was that of a powerful yet gentle spiritual medium.
But as her fame grew, some untimely comments also appeared.
PeachNoSugar: "I thought she looked familiar. Isn't this Zhao Manqi, who got someone killed?"
MilkTeaFullSugar: "Didn't notice before. She's really smooth with all that 'thank you, big brother' talk."
Zhao Manqi saw these comments too. She felt awkward but still pretended not to see them, interacting with other netizens. As expected, her fans mercilessly cursed out those who made such remarks.
But it didn't end there. The account PeachNoSugar never logged in again. That very day, she started having nightmares. In her dreams, a man in a blood-stained shirt branded her all over with a red-hot iron. When she woke up, her skin was red, itchy, and painful. In just a few days, the girl was admitted to the hospital—the psychiatric ward.
MilkTeaFullSugar's fate was even worse. She mysteriously drowned in the washbasin at her own home.
Around the same time, several other netizens met with accidents, ranging from injuries to deaths.
In short, there were no more discordant voices in Zhao Manqi's live stream.
"With me here, none of those who hurt you will get away," Shen Yan said dotingly, stroking Zhao Manqi's hair. Zhao Manqi closed her eyes happily.
"Someone claiming to be a Taoist priest wants to challenge me. I'm a bit worried."
Shen Yan's pupils instantly turned pitch black. "Hmph, leave it to me."
The subsequent story was similar to what Fang Zhiyi had seen before. The male lead ultimately dissipated, still longing for the female lead, while the female lead made a fortune, quit the internet, and became a quiet woman waiting for her Prince Charming.
"Streamer, are you still there?" a comment floated by.
Fang Zhiyi snapped out of it. "Heh, yeah, I'm here."
"You scared me. You suddenly stopped moving and talking."
Fang Zhiyi checked the live stream. The original host was really something; there were only about a hundred people in the stream.
"I just thought of something."
"Streamer, look, what's that on the floor?"
Fang Zhiyi looked where indicated. A faint footprint suddenly appeared in the camera frame.
"A footprint," Fang Zhiyi sniffed. Say what you will, but the original host's taste was still commendable. "Quite a small foot."
"I've got goosebumps. Why is there a footprint like that in this abandoned house?"
"Streamer, maybe we should just go home."
Fang Zhiyi pointed the camera at the footprint and looked around himself. He saw nothing. The abandoned house was very eerie, but it didn't have any aura of violent evil. That is to say, even if there was something here, it was the more subtle kind. Otherwise, the original host wouldn't have made it out.
But the stream must go on. Love the job you do.
Fang Zhiyi gestured with his hand. "The footprint isn't big, the sole has no pattern, it's a bit blurry... seems like a woman's foot. Speaking of which, I have a story. Back when I was a Taoist priest, once in a dilapidated temple..." Fang Zhiyi started spinning a tale effortlessly; storytelling was his forte.
The hundred or so people in the stream listened intently.
Suddenly, a connection request notification popped up on Fang Zhiyi's screen, and his phone made a "ding-a-ling" sound.
Fang Zhiyi smiled. So it really came. He was a bit puzzled looking at the user named ZhaoManqi520. Why did the female lead like using her own name as a username?
"Brothers, a netizen wants to connect. Should I take it or not?"
"A connection now? Hang up."
Just as someone typed that, Fang Zhiyi pressed accept. Immediately, a girl appeared on the screen.
"What the heck, you scared me!" a netizen complained.
"Hello, netizen named Zhao Manqi Two-Fifty."
Zhao Manqi was about to interrupt Fang Zhiyi and start venting when his opening line made her roll her eyes in exasperation. "Are you blind? It's ZhaoManqi520!"
"Uh-huh, uh-huh," Fang Zhiyi nodded. "Miss Two-Fifty Zhao Manqi, what can I do for you?"
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
] [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!"
