Lin Zhou, who had completely broken down, chose what he believed to be his only remaining option: getting money.
By any means necessary.
After he severed two tendons in Sun Xiaoming's feet, Mother Sun, whose heart ached for her son, finally gave in.
"You want money, right? Take it! Take it! But we don't have that much. That wretched girl pocketed a hundred thousand for herself! We only have two hundred and eighty thousand!"
Lin Zhou began to laugh. "Is that so? That bitch actually lied to me on the second day of our marriage."
"Where is she?"
Sun Xiaomei got off work as usual. Originally, she was supposed to leave with Chen Xuan, but Chen Xuan seemed to be very busy lately. She didn't know what Chen Xuan was busy with, and whenever she asked her about the divorce, Chen Xuan always seemed distracted.
As she walked near Chen Xuan's place, Sun Xiaomei inexplicably felt a chill run down her spine.
But a moment later, she sneered at herself. How could that be? She was overthinking things.
She wondered how that poser was doing now. Her mother had said that after being separated for a certain period, she could directly file for divorce, and by then, she wouldn't have to pay back a single cent.
He actually expected her to pay him back? Bah!
Just as she was thinking this, her phone rang.
"Hello, Mom."
"Your brother, your brother is in the hospital!"
"Oh." Sun Xiaomei frowned, her attitude cold. Were they trying to ask her for money again? Absolutely not.
"That Lin Zhou..."
"Sun Xiaomei."
Sun Xiaomei subconsciously turned her head. At the same time, her mother's voice came through the phone: "He's gone mad! He's coming to find you! He used your brother to threaten us..."
She didn't hear the rest of the sentence, because Lin Zhou, with a terrifying expression on his face, was charging at her with a knife raised.
"Ah!" Sun Xiaomei immediately chose to turn and run as fast as she could.
Lin Zhou, after all, had been beaten up a few times recently, so he wasn't very fast, but he still followed closely behind her like a relentless ghost.
"It wasn't me! It wasn't me! It was my best friend!" Sun Xiaomei thought Lin Zhou was coming after her because she had hidden from him. "It was Chen Xuan who said you were a hypocrite and a poser, and told me to divorce you! I was hesitating!"
Lin Zhou was taken aback, but his feet didn't stop. These words somehow sounded very familiar.
With Lin Zhou closing in, Sun Xiaomei frantically looked around and suddenly spotted a familiar figure at the corner. It was none other than her best friend, Chen Xuan, who was staring at her in a daze.
"Xiaomei, why did you say I was the one who told you to get a divorce?" Hearing it with her own ears was entirely different from guessing it, and Chen Xuan's heart suffered a heavy blow.
Sun Xiaomei acted as if she had seen her savior. "Xuanxuan! Hurry, come over here quickly!"
She had it all figured out. As long as Chen Xuan took a few steps forward and she ran a few steps toward her, she could immediately shove Chen Xuan toward the disgusting man behind her to stall for time! Then she would have enough time to run upstairs and hide in her apartment!
As for whether Chen Xuan lived or died, that was no longer her concern.
"Xuanxuan! Save me!"
Chen Xuan ultimately couldn't bear to just watch. Just as she was about to step forward, someone suddenly grabbed her.
She turned to look at Fang Zhiyi behind her. Fang Zhiyi was standing on the other side of the corner, out of Sun Xiaomei's line of sight.
"I advise you not to go over there if you want to live."
"But someone is chasing her!" Chen Xuan tried to shake off Fang Zhiyi's hand.
"You must have never seriously studied personal safety guidelines. When encountering an armed assailant in the act of committing a crime, your first choice should be to call the police. If the other party is holding a deadly weapon, you need to ensure your own safety while calling the police, instead of going up there to give him a double kill."
Chen Xuan shook her head. "No, I have to go help her..."
Fang Zhiyi let go of her hand.
In the time it took to exchange those few sentences, Sun Xiaomei's hair was grabbed. She hastily pointed at the approaching Chen Xuan and cried out, "It's her! She taught me everything! Let me go! I'm your wife! That woman is jealous of me, so she drove a wedge between us to make me divorce you!"
Chen Xuan's footsteps halted. The Sun Xiaomei before her eyes became incredibly ugly, and the scenes from her dreams resurfaced in her mind.
Lin Zhou glared at Chen Xuan, then leaned in close to Sun Xiaomei. "Don't panic. I just want money. Give me the money. Your mother and the others already gave me theirs, so all you have to do is give me yours." He held Sun Xiaomei firmly in his grasp. "I even hacked your brother. Didn't you always say you hated your brother the most? I did it all for you. Just be a good girl and give me the money, and we can go back and live a good life together."
Sun Xiaomei nodded, trembling. "Okay! Okay!"
The sound of police sirens rang out.
Chen Xuan looked back at Fang Zhiyi, who spread his hands. "I didn't call the cops."
Lin Zhou froze, his expression turning ferocious. "What the hell is wrong with your parents? Didn't we agree not to call the police? They knew I was coming for you, and they still dared to call the cops?"
Sun Xiaomei replied shakily, "You don't understand them..."
"Pay me back!" Lin Zhou's last shred of hope was shattered. He fully realized now that he had no place left to hide. In his emotional agitation, the knife slashed across Sun Xiaomei's face, causing her to let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Seeing her in this state, Lin Zhou also panicked a little. "I... I didn't mean to. It's all because your parents called the police, and I got nervous. It's not my fault, it's not my fault..."
Even as he was escorted into the police car, he kept muttering that it wasn't his fault.
Lin Zhou was sentenced to twelve years in prison for multiple crimes, including armed assault and home invasion robbery.
The Sun family didn't fare well either. With their daughter disfigured and their son crippled, the parents spent all day sighing in despair at home, blaming one person or another. The family's mindset had been unhealthy to begin with, and now it had become even more twisted.
To pay for plastic surgery, Sun Xiaomei wanted to use her hundred thousand bride price, but her parents forcefully took the money away to treat their son's legs. This made the family dynamics even more tense. Sun Xiaomei wanted to move back to the apartment Chen Xuan had rented, only to find that Chen Xuan had completely moved out and even changed her phone number.
Before changing her number, she had sent a message cutting off all ties.
Looking at the final words of the message, "Wishing you eternal kindness and innocence, and a long-lasting relationship with your lover," Sun Xiaomei turned blue with anger.
"She definitely did this on purpose! She's intentionally trying to piss me off!"
Chen Xuan no longer needed to work. Right after this incident passed, Fang Zhiyi returned her original investment capital along with the profits she had earned. This money was more than enough for her to do things she actually enjoyed.
Father Lin was also driven insane by various debt collectors. He hadn't even known that his son owed so much money; there were dozens of debt collection agencies coming after him. Now, the moment he heard a knock on the door, he would grab a kitchen knife and try to hack people. Over time, everyone started saying that an old lunatic lived in that house.
"Several illegal gambling rings have been busted in our city... An enthusiastic citizen who wishes to remain anonymous provided accurate tips..."
"Today, several illegal high-interest loan companies were placed under investigation. The leads and evidence were once again provided by a Mr. Fang, who wishes to remain anonymous..."
Lin Zhou's life after entering prison was miserable. He was beaten up badly in there, and after trying to stir up trouble a few times, he was completely isolated by the others. When he saw these two news reports, he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly pounded on his cell door, shouting that he wanted to earn merit by providing information.
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!
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
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.
