That night, she had an incredibly realistic dream where she was killed by a man she didn't know.
And the cause of it all was Sun Xiaomei.
Cold sweat soaked through Chen Xuan's pajamas. She gasped heavily for air, her gaze involuntarily drifting to her best friend who was still sleeping soundly beside her. She gave a bitter smile; she was being a bit too sensitive.
In the dream, Xiaomei wasn't married but was dating a wealthy man, whereas in reality, she was married to Lin Zhou, and Lin Zhou was a pauper.
"Good advice can't save a doomed soul. I told you there was no need to make a special trip," Fang Zhiyi said, leaning back in his executive chair with utmost leisure.
Little Hei was somewhat puzzled. "Is there something wrong with this woman's brain too?"
"Ah, you just don't understand human emotions. For some people, kindness and trust in others are carved right into their bones."
Little Hei looked at Fang Zhiyi, feeling that he had been quite idle lately. "I don't know if she's kind or not, but you certainly aren't very kind. Honestly, compared to Lin Zhou, the things you do are even more terrifying."
Fang Zhiyi smiled. "Exactly. Haven't I said it before? To deal with a toxic parasite, you either cut ties immediately, or you act even more like a parasite than he does. I really dislike that Lin Zhou. The way things are for him now is exactly what he deserves."
The Lin Zhou he spoke of had just been released.
He was truly down and out now. Not only was he penniless, but he didn't even dare to go home. After thinking it over again and again, he chose to contact Fang Zhiyi. If it hadn't been for him, he never would have gone gambling in the first place!
However, Fang Zhiyi's phone couldn't be reached once again.
Lin Zhou didn't know where Fang Zhiyi lived now either. After turning it over in his mind, he decided he wanted to go home first. His clothes smelled sour, and pedestrians on the street were actively avoiding him, which made Lin Zhou feel very uncomfortable.
But when he knocked on the door and no one answered for a long time, he suddenly remembered that he had already mortgaged the house. Just as he was about to leave in dejection, the door suddenly swung open, and a kitchen cleaver came right at his face.
"I told you! If you want my house, I'll hack you all to death!" Father Lin's furious voice rang out.
Lin Zhou was scared silly. "Dad! Dad! It's me!"
The cleaver stopped just a hair away from the tip of his nose. Seeing him, Father Lin tossed the cleaver aside with a backhand motion. Lin Zhou let out a sigh of relief. "Dad... I..."
Smack! A resounding slap echoed, and then Lin Zhou's hair was grabbed. Father Lin began to unleash his full fury. Having made his living doing manual labor, he still possessed considerable strength despite his older age.
"You bastard! I should have strangled you to death back then! You're exactly like your mother!"
If Lin Zhou's past beatings were just a father disciplining his son, then today, Father Lin truly wanted to beat him to death.
Lin Zhou felt his face go numb, and he took several heavy punches to the chest. His mind was filled with nothing but sheer terror.
Fortunately, Father Lin's furious cursing drew the attention of the new neighbors next door, and so the Lin father and son were once again invited into the police station.
When the police officer saw the two of them, he scrutinized them for a moment before sighing in exasperation. "Are you father and son addicted to being detained?" Coincidentally, he was the one who had handled Father Lin's arrest, and he had also handled Lin Zhou's arrest. Even though Lin Zhou looked somewhat unrecognizable, the officer still managed to identify him as the young man who had just been released earlier that day.
Father Lin cursed continuously as he recounted the family's miserable affairs. The officer felt helpless—no wonder they were father and son.
"Even though you are father and son, your actions already constitute assault. Young man, do you want to press charges?" Family disputes were notoriously difficult to settle, as everyone knew.
Sure enough, despite his resentment, Lin Zhou thought about how he would still need to rely on his old father in the future, and ultimately shook his head.
But Father Lin showed no appreciation, still muttering curses under his breath.
After receiving a stern lecture, the father and son walked home one after the other. Even when they reached their doorstep, Father Lin was still saying, "Get the hell out of here. I don't have a son like you! When I die, I won't need you to take care of my affairs!"
Lin Zhou was scheming about how to sweet-talk the old man into calming down.
But when they stepped up to the door, the sight before them nearly caused Father Lin's blood vessels to burst.
The door and walls were covered in foul-smelling red liquid, spelling out slogans like "Pay Your Debts" and "Home of a Deadbeat." Without a second thought, it was obvious that this was the work of the gang trying to seize the house.
Lin Zhou was stunned at first, but when he saw Father Lin turn his head to glare at him while panting heavily, he immediately knew he should run.
He ran for his life until Father Lin's curses gradually faded away.
However, just as he paused to catch his breath, he was grabbed by someone else.
"Kid, your dad is squatting in that house and refusing to leave, so you're the one who has to pay back the money." The man patted his face. "Tsk, tsk, that old dad of yours hits pretty hard. But taking a beating is basically plastic surgery for you anyway. Let's go, come back with us and let's talk about whether you're paying up or handing over the house."
Trembling, Lin Zhou was dragged away by them. When they passed an intersection, he spotted an opportunity and made a run for it. Whether it was sheer luck or not, he actually managed to escape.
But he didn't know where to go, so he could only wander the streets.
Today was just his lucky day, though, because he was cornered by people yet again.
"Kid, it's time you paid back the money you owe our casino."
Lin Zhou was practically numb by now. How had his life become so miserable?
After taking a few more hits, he suddenly broke down and started screaming, incessantly cursing everyone he knew. His deranged appearance actually startled the thugs. Seeing pedestrians glancing over from a distance, the men feared drawing unwanted trouble, so they dropped a few harsh threats and left.
"Don't think you can run away every time. If you can't cough up the money next time, we won't hold back!"
Lin Zhou slumped weakly to the ground. His phone had also fallen, its screen shattered. He picked it up, wanting to try calling Fang Zhiyi or Sun Xiaomei again, but the phone rang first.
"Kid, the money you borrowed is due. If you don't pay it back..." Lin Zhou hung up the phone.
He wanted to cry but no tears would come.
Because in just that short moment, several more calls came in, all from people demanding debt repayment.
At this point, Lin Zhou was entirely consumed by despair. He struggled to his feet and, as if having made a decision, began walking in a certain direction.
The Sun family was eating dinner. When a knock sounded at the door, Sun Xiaoming impatiently walked over and opened it without even glancing through the peephole. "Who is it? Picking this time to come..."
He was kicked violently, sending him crashing to the floor. Hearing the commotion, Father Sun and Mother Sun stood up simultaneously.
"Who are you!"
Lin Zhou paused for a moment, then let out a wretched laugh.
It was no wonder he was mistaken for a homeless man. Right now, his face was completely swollen and bloodied, his clothes were torn, and his pants were covered in filthy stains.
"I am your creditor!" He flashed the knife in his hand, which he had just stolen from a late-night food stall when the owner wasn't looking.
"Lin Zhou? What are you trying to do..." Mother Sun was both shocked and furious.
But the knife in Lin Zhou's hand did not hesitate. Accompanied by Sun Xiaoming's agonizing scream, he took a stab wound to the body and instantly fainted.
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
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!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
] [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!"
