"Did he take the bait?" Fang Zhiyi asked Little Hei without turning his head.
Little Hei stared intently: "He took it, he took it. His eyes are practically spitting fire right now."
"That's good." Fang Zhiyi smiled.
Seeing him smile, Sun Xiaomei was a bit puzzled: "What are you smiling at?"
Fang Zhiyi looked at her: "Nothing, I just thought of something happy."
"What happy thing?" Sun Xiaomei was very satisfied with Fang Zhiyi after spending these past few days with him. Not only did he understand her well, but he could also accurately help her roast those colleagues of hers and that best friend.
She just didn't know why he hadn't confessed his feelings to her yet. Was he shy?
Fang Zhiyi immediately changed the subject: "Hungry, right? I'll treat you to some local specialties today."
Looking at the small hole-in-the-wall restaurant beside them, Sun Xiaomei frowned. She didn't say anything, but her opinion of Fang Zhiyi shifted slightly.
The two continued to talk, but the conversation lacked the earlier enthusiasm. Fang Zhiyi counted silently in his head: "Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three..."
"Eh? Zhiyi, you're here?"
The stone in Fang Zhiyi's heart dropped, but he turned around with feigned surprise: "Lin Zhou? Where have you been lately?"
Lin Zhou glanced at the girl and flashed his watch somewhat smugly: "Where else? Doing some engineering projects with my Big Brother. And this is?"
Fang Zhiyi moved to introduce them, but Sun Xiaomei took the initiative: "I am Sun Xiaomei."
"Hello, hello. I'm Lin Zhou, Zhiyi's brother. We grew up together."
Fang Zhiyi was overjoyed inside. Yes! Just like that!
These two people before him shared a specific characteristic: if they saw a best friend or brother living happily, they would do whatever it took to break them up and take their place. This was the most fundamental trait of a "tiger's thrall"—a parasite.
"Zhiyi, how are you doing so poorly that you're eating at a place like this?" In reality, Lin Zhou might not usually be able to afford much better, but with a girl present, he couldn't afford to lose face.
Fang Zhiyi looked at him with a complicated expression.
Seeing his expression, Lin Zhou instantly felt he had guessed correctly.
"Say, haven't you found a job since you got fired? Do you want to come work with my Big Brother?"
Fang Zhiyi turned his face away.
Sun Xiaomei froze upon hearing this. Did this mean the Fang Zhiyi before her had no money? And had been fired? Her favorability toward Fang Zhiyi instantly plummeted by a large margin.
"I'm going to the restroom." Fang Zhiyi stood up as if to escape. Lin Zhou was delighted inside; this was exactly how it should be!
Fang Zhiyi deliberately gave the two plenty of time to talk. Sure enough, when he came out, the way Sun Xiaomei looked at him had changed.
Lin Zhou, on the other hand, said: "What took you so long? Hurry up and sit down to eat." He continued to act as if he were the host.
Fang Zhiyi couldn't be bothered to pretend anymore. He leaned in close to Lin Zhou's ear and said: "Lin Zhou, you cover the bill in a bit. I just... realized I didn't bring any money."
Lin Zhou exaggeratedly raised his voice: "You came out on a date without money? Nice one, brother!"
Sun Xiaomei's face went completely cold.
Seeing his goal achieved, Lin Zhou quickly patted Fang Zhiyi's shoulder: "It's fine, I'll treat you. Who told us to be brothers, right? You can roll with me from now on!"
After the meal, with Sun Xiaomei present, Lin Zhou actually did pay the bill. However, when Fang Zhiyi said he was heading in a different direction, Sun Xiaomei's reaction was cold.
Fang Zhiyi didn't mind. What he wanted was to destroy the goodwill he had accumulated over the past few days; otherwise, being entangled with this creature would be troublesome.
"Lin Zhou, could you walk Xiaomei home for me?"
Lin Zhou thumped his chest: "No problem!"
Watching the two walk away, with Lin Zhou buzzing around Sun Xiaomei like a fly, Fang Zhiyi finally let out a sigh of relief.
What happens when two parasites get together?
Lin Zhou certainly didn't disappoint Fang Zhiyi. After badmouthing Fang Zhiyi quite a bit, he won Sun Xiaomei's approval. The two of them roasted Fang Zhiyi together, criticizing everything from his hairstyle to his way of speaking, which ironically gave them a common language.
Lin Zhou still had some money on him. To suppress Fang Zhiyi and to save his own face, he generously paid for Sun Xiaomei several times. Sun Xiaomei, taking advantage of the situation, immediately warmed up to him.
In just a few days, they hurriedly confirmed their relationship.
Fang Zhiyi had a hand in this as well. To ensure they didn't take a break, he frequently contacted both of them, just to remind them to complain about him.
So, when Lin Zhou stood before Fang Zhiyi with Sun Xiaomei looking happy on his arm, Fang Zhiyi was inwardly thrilled. It really worked!
Lin Zhou patted Fang Zhiyi's shoulder: "Brother, sorry about this. I actually didn't want to... but you understand, right?"
Sun Xiaomei pinched him: "What are you saying? He and I were just ordinary friends to begin with!" She was now very glad that Fang Zhiyi hadn't confessed to her during those few days.
Listening to Fang Zhiyi's blessings, Lin Zhou walked away with his head held high like a victorious rooster. How many years had it been! How many years! Finally, there was a time when Fang Zhiyi was beneath him!
He also knew how to put on a show effectively, so he always had his "Big Brother" on his lips, and he even gritted his teeth and took out a loan to buy a second-hand luxury car. Perhaps due to their matching natures, Sun Xiaomei actually fell for Lin Zhou.
Fang Zhiyi, for his part, hoped the two of them would stay locked together forever.
His life became much quieter now. Because he acted destitute, Lin Zhou looked at him with a face full of superiority and sometimes even took the initiative to come and show off, seemingly having forgotten that the money in his hand came from mortgaging his house.
But once the novelty wore off, Lin Zhou's calculating heart became active again.
The reason was that his money had bottomed out.
He also discovered something: when he went on dates with Sun Xiaomei, he was always the one paying. Although Sun Xiaomei would also pay, it was always for small things, like a bottle of water or a pack of tissues.
Previously, he had been immersed in the excitement of dating, and especially the excitement of crushing Fang Zhiyi, so he had been almost obedient to this seemingly nice girlfriend, enjoying the way Sun Xiaomei worshipped him.
"Sigh, brother, what do you think I should do?" Lin Zhou looked distressed. As the freshness faded, his true nature resurfaced.
Fang Zhiyi, meanwhile, looked like he was constipated.
Little Hei was laughing uncontrollably: "Hahahaha, I didn't expect this! He actually has to deal with this move!"
"That day we talked about marriage, and despite my family's situation, she actually asked for a bride price of 380,000..."
"She's so materialistic. She wants this today, that tomorrow..."
"I used to think she was pretty good, but now she seems a bit selfish. When I eat with her, she only buys me a drink! On Valentine's Day, she asked me to give her a designer bag, and she gave me an ugly hat, saying she made it herself and it represented her heart."
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!"
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
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."
