"Of course..." Tang Zhilin thought for a moment. "It should be! That's exactly why I want you to draw a clear line with them."
Fang Zhiyi asked again, "And then?"
"Then we arrest them and interrogate them strictly, of course. I won't hog all the credit for this."
Fang Zhiyi stared at Tang Zhilin blankly for a moment. This villain really didn't have much for brains, but his logic made sense. However, the fact that he could say such a thing was satisfying enough.
"I have a plan. Listen carefully."
Seeing Fang Zhiyi's mysterious look, Tang Zhilin was a bit puzzled. But as Fang Zhiyi explained, his face gradually flushed, shifting from total disapproval to sheer excitement.
"Then it's settled! With us brothers joining forces, we can definitely..."
"Keep your voice down. If you understand, hurry up and leave!" Fang Zhiyi shoved him impatiently. He couldn't be blamed; he originally thought this was a guaranteed win, but who knew this ship was also sinking.
Tang Zhilin patted Fang Zhiyi's shoulder reluctantly, nimbly flipped out the window, and leaped onto the outer wall. Listening to the sound of horse hooves fading away, Fang Zhiyi collapsed onto the bed.
But a moment later, he sat up. "Forget it, a beautiful life still has to be created by my own hands!"
At the crack of dawn, a sudden clamor woke Fang Zhiyi. Hearing the shouting and cursing outside, he pushed open the door and walked out, only to see the guys who got beaten up yesterday now looking panicked, gripping weapons in their hands.
"What happened?"
Unexpectedly, someone glanced back at him with a furious face, opening his mouth to curse. But remembering the beating from yesterday, he forced the words back down.
"Zhiyi!" Fortunately, Zhu Qingqing appeared. "Tang Zhilin has surrounded the tavern with government troops!"
She looked flustered, but the panic was mostly an act. She had heard from her uncle yesterday that Tang Zhilin had climbed the ranks relying on his superior martial arts, which made Fang Zhiyi very important. As long as they utilized Fang Zhiyi well, Tang Zhilin wouldn't be able to do anything to them for the time being.
Fang Zhiyi nodded slightly. "Oh."
"Zhiyi, what should we do?" Zhu Qingqing looked anxious.
Fang Zhiyi silently rolled his eyes in his heart. What should we do? Nothing.
However, he still maintained the original owner's foolish demeanor, looking utterly incredulous. "Qingqing, hurry and leave. I will hold them off here. With me around, he won't lay a hand on me!"
Zhu Qingqing's eyes lit up. After yesterday's events, she had been a bit worried, but now it seemed Fang Zhiyi was still that easily manipulated fool.
"I won't leave," Zhu Qingqing said.
The sound of a door being smashed came from outside, followed by two subordinates spitting blood and falling to the ground.
"By official orders, we are here to apprehend rebels! Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy!" Tang Zhilin's voice rang out.
"You dare barge in without evidence! Aren't you afraid the imperial court will find out?" Zhu Qingqing drew her blade. "Tang Zhilin, do not compound your mistakes!"
Tang Zhilin first glanced at Fang Zhiyi, then burst into laughter. "Evidence? We'll have it once we take you back and interrogate you!"
The two sides quickly broke into a fight. Fang Zhiyi paid special attention; although Tang Zhilin brought quite a few people, very few actually joined the fray. It seemed that just as Little Hei had said, this guy was truly unpopular.
However, Tang Zhilin's combat prowess was indeed formidable. Soon, several thugs from the Dragon Slaying Society were injured. Seeing the situation turning bad, Zhu Qingqing instinctively looked at Fang Zhiyi, but Fang Zhiyi just stood there with his hands tucked in his sleeves, watching the show. Her heart skipped a beat. Could it be? But the situation was urgent. She yelled for a retreat, then threw a smoke bomb, filling the air with the smell of rotten eggs.
This was probably the earliest form of a smoke bomb, and who knew who was bored enough to discover that this thing could produce smoke.
Under the cover of the smoke and stench, Zhu Qingqing and the others scattered and fled.
By the time the smoke cleared, apart from a few unlucky bastards who were pinned down, Zhu Qingqing and the rest had vanished without a trace.
Some soldiers surrounded Fang Zhiyi, prompting Tang Zhilin to hastily shout, "Stop!"
The soldiers all turned to look at Tang Zhilin, who frowned. "He is my brother."
Fang Zhiyi looked proud, then puffed out his chest and walked into the tavern's main hall.
The captured men glared at him, furious. "You dog! You colluded with the officials!"
"You traitor!"
"Kill your grandpa here if you have the guts!"
Fang Zhiyi turned back and asked, "How do you plan to deal with these losers?"
Tang Zhilin paused for a moment. "Take them back for interrogation. I don't believe we won't get any evidence out of them."
"Too troublesome," Fang Zhiyi said. With the tip of his foot, he flipped up a blade, gave it a kick, and the steel sword pierced straight through the throat of the man cursing the loudest.
Tang Zhilin was shocked. "You..."
"Listen to me. It has been verified that everyone in the Yulin Tavern was a rebel. During the siege, the rebels resisted fiercely and were all killed."
"But..." Tang Zhilin looked at Fang Zhiyi in disbelief. He had never realized before that Fang Zhiyi could be so ruthless.
"Don't forget the grand plan," Fang Zhiyi said in a low voice.
Tang Zhilin hesitated. He could directly come to arrest people, but murdering them to silence them... after all, there were so many subordinates present... If word reached the Governor-General, there would be trouble.
"What are you standing around for? Today, nine rebels were verified. They resisted during the arrest, and no survivors were left!" Fang Zhiyi said nonchalantly. "Killing a rebel counts as military merit. The Commander will report your contributions truthfully to the superiors."
The surrounding soldiers were a bit dumbfounded. Who do you think you are?
"Fang Zhiyi! You traitor, you actually want to kill innocent people to claim credit!" one of the captured men yelled.
"Commander, this, this..." A Battalion Commander named Gongsun Hu, who had just tagged along to go through the motions, was genuinely shocked. Who murders people over a single disagreement? How come he couldn't understand what was going on?
Fang Zhiyi recognized him. Gongsun Hu was a typical fence-sitter and quite the opportunist. After Tang Zhilin's death, he joined the Dragon Slaying Society, quickly rose to prominence, and later actually became a leader of the rebel army.
Tang Zhilin was also confused. Was Fang Zhiyi possessed by a ghost?
"Why are you still standing there? Don't you want the military merit? Do you want to be mere grunts for the rest of your lives?" Fang Zhiyi continued. Although he was dressed in rags, his imposing manner was not lacking in the slightest.
Tang Zhilin swallowed hard. "Are you all deaf?"
"Fang Zhiyi, fuck you..." someone cursed, but before he could finish, he felt a coldness in his lower abdomen. The man looked up in disbelief at the murderous young soldier in front of him. "You, you..."
Once the first person made a move, a second and a third followed.
"One by one. If you didn't get a chance, it doesn't matter. Stabbing a corpse will still earn you a share!" Fang Zhiyi acted very generously.
"This is a disaster, Commander! A massive disaster! Slaughtering civilians without cause will lead to a lawsuit!" Gongsun Hu looked anxious, but inwardly he was thrilled. This Fang Zhiyi was a great guy, instantly causing a huge mess for Tang Zhilin. He had even figured out how to write the memorial to impeach Tang Zhilin.
A steel blade was pressed against his neck, and Gongsun Hu instantly shut his mouth.
] [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!"
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."
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.
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
