"What do you think the boss is doing with that kid every day?" Liu Acai wondered, puzzled.
Chen Huaimin frowned, then looked horrified. "You don't think...."
Liu Acai met his gaze. "You don't think?"
"...It can't be, right?" They both turned simultaneously to look at the tightly closed courtyard gate.
Xiao Hei, who loved stirring up trouble, immediately went to mock Fang Zhiyi with this gossip. Consequently, Liu Acai and Chen Huaimin were soundly beaten by Fang Zhiyi, who came charging out.
Only Fang Zhiyi himself knew the truth: time was desperately tight. He had to race against the male and female protagonists; the slightest misstep meant losing everything.
A month later, Chen Huaimin stared at Huang Weixing, his eyes wide. The kid had undergone some kind of special training. Before, he seemed gentle and refined; now he appeared steady and profound, giving off an unfathomable air.
Huang Weixing, for his part, said nothing about it. After the meal, he bowed deeply to Fang Zhiyi and hurried away.
No one knew where he was going. Fang Zhiyi didn't mention it either. Though curious, Chen Huaimin soon had his attention diverted by their increasingly busy business.
Finally with some free time, Fang Zhiyi reappeared on the street.
It had to be said, the faces on the street now looked a bit more agreeable. The former scoundrels and troublemakers had been driven away by Liu Acai's usurious loans with their compounding interest. The stalls they left behind were rented out by Fang Zhiyi to some honest, hardworking commoners.
The medicine shop had long since been converted into a lottery ticket shop. Shopkeeper Li simply couldn't repay his debt, and his wife and daughter had been detained by Liu Acai. However, Shopkeeper Li didn't seem to care about that, as he had secretly packed up and fled after gambling away everything once again.
"Master Fang!" a little girl called out crisply.
Fang Zhiyi reached out and patted her head. "You're making me sound old."
The little girl giggled. Her mother hurried out and pulled her back. "Fang... Brother Fang, you're here?"
Shopkeeper Li's wife now worked at the lottery shop. Liu Acai's reasoning was that she was familiar with the shop's layout, so she was kept on to work and earn money to repay her husband's debt.
But the woman knew perfectly well that Fang Zhiyi and the others hadn't deducted a single coin from her wages; in fact, they even gave her some extra subsidies.
"Boss!" Liu Acai came running out. Fang Zhiyi observed the people coming and going, noticing some unfamiliar faces among them.
"And these are?"
"From the city. They heard we have a lottery game here with a jackpot that rolls over, so they came specifically to play." Liu Acai's face was practically splitting with a grin.
Fang Zhiyi nodded, then pointed down the street. "If you want business to be even better, build a public toilet over there."
"A public toilet?" Liu Acai looked utterly confused.
Fang Zhiyi explained, "A communal latrine. Just smell the air on this street."
"The smell of money..." Liu Acai started, but seeing Fang Zhiyi's expression, he immediately shut his mouth. "Understood! I'll get it done right away!"
Fang Zhiyi then walked to the Slumber Moon Pavilion. Stepping inside, his furrowed brow relaxed. After all, it was a place with many young women; the scent of perfumed powder was far preferable to the stench outside.
The sound of women's laughter and reading aloud made Fang Zhiyi nod in approval.
He was soon noticed.
"Master Fang!"
Fang Zhiyi acknowledged them with a nod and a smile. "How are things?"
The older woman from before gave an elegant bow. "Very well. Thank you, Master Fang, for allowing us... courtesans... to still have access to such refined pursuits."
Fang Zhiyi waved his hand. "Last time. I don't want to hear that word again."
The older woman nodded. "But... we haven't been earning any silver. It makes us feel quite uneasy..."
Fang Zhiyi rubbed his nose. Becoming educated really made a difference; she was even starting to use formal language?
"You'll earn money once you pass the exams."
"Exams?"
"Yes, exams." Seeing the other women gathering, Fang Zhiyi raised his voice. "Everything you learn will be tested. You'll be examined on as many subjects as skills you've studied, and you'll receive a final score."
The girls looked at each other, but no one spoke.
It was the old scholar who chimed in. "Young Fang, you're quite interesting. These exams are different from those stuffy, pedantic Confucian ones."
Fang Zhiyi smiled. "Naturally they're different. In the future, everything will be different." He surveyed the surroundings. "Starting tomorrow, this place needs a complete renovation."
Nian'an, sleeping in a dilapidated temple, was kicked awake. Looking up, he saw a beggar.
The beggar snarled viciously, "Get lost! This is my spot!"
Nian'an only dared to curse in his heart, forcing a smile onto his face as he prepared to leave. The beggar, seeing he was young and his clothes weren't too shabby, felt a surge of malicious greed. "Stop!"
Nian'an turned back. "Huh?"
What greeted him was a flurry of wild punches. Then the beggar robbed him of the little money he had left.
Once he finally regained his senses, Nian'an was so angry he spat out a mouthful of blood. Suddenly, he remembered something: he wasn't in the Western Suburbs anymore! If you were robbed, you could report it to the authorities!
So he actually went. But after listening to his story, the constable on duty simply held out his hand. Nian'an didn't understand what he meant, and the constable impatiently shooed him away.
Nian'an was bewildered. He wandered the streets in a daze. If only he were still in the Western Suburbs... no one would dare rob him there... No, that was before. Now those people had shown their true colors. They hated him because he used a little of their money to do good deeds and had a better reputation, so they set a trap for him! Yes, that was it!
Not watching where he was going, he bumped straight into someone. Both let out a simultaneous "Oof!"
As Nian'an looked up, he saw a girl brushing dust off her clothes, helped up by a servant beside her.
The servant pointed at Nian'an and scolded, "Are you blind?"
The girl frowned. "Be quiet!"
The servant grumbled but reluctantly closed his mouth.
Nian'an stared dumbly at the girl. He swore it was the first time in his life he had seen such a beautiful girl. His heart began to pound wildly.
The girl looked at him, found it amusing, and giggled.
"My name is Lin Yanqing. What's yours?"
Nian'an was stunned for a moment before replying, "My name is... Nian'an."
"Your surname is Nian?" Lin Yanqing was puzzled. "What a strange surname."
Nian'an habitually almost said 'Fang,' but that name now felt like a mark of shame. "I have no parents, so I don't know my surname."
Lin Yanqing's heart immediately swelled with compassion. "How pitiful!"
Nian'an felt uncomfortable. He didn't want the girl he liked to call him "pitiful." So he smiled and said, "I'm alright. Haven't I managed to survive on my own all this time?"
Lin Yanqing studied him for a moment. "Truly impressive."
For some reason, Nian'an felt a deep sense of satisfaction.
Thus, the two of them became acquainted.
However, concerned about his dignity, Nian'an didn't mention his dire straits. After Lin Yanqing left, he resolved to find work to support himself. After all, he was literate; finding a job should be easy.
At the very least, he couldn't live a muddled, meaningless life like Fang Zhiyi and his lot!
He had his own ambition: to become a high-ranking official, and then make everyone look up to him with respect!
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.
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
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."
