"Really? You know my brother?" Fang Zhiyi ran down the stairs, his face full of excitement.
The moment they saw Fang Zhiyi, Lin Ye and his group exchanged strange looks. They all knew Wei Kaiyang had dealt with this Fang Zhiyi before, and they knew the boy was a bit odd. But now, it all made sense. Fang Zhiyi possessed a bizarre power that allowed him to connect with the demon world. His brother had fallen into depravity precisely to solve this issue.
"Yes, he wants to see you," Lin Ye said probingly.
Before his parents could object, Fang Zhiyi nodded. "Okay! I've been looking for him for so long!"
"Zhiyi!"
"Mom, Dad, don't stop me. I'm better now, and I have to bring my brother back!"
"That's right, Uncle and Auntie, don't worry. We are all professional exorcists. It will be perfectly fine for him to travel with us." As Lin Ye spoke, he was already asking the system which direction he should take.
However, the Fang parents refused to let Fang Zhiyi leave. The Order was gone, but demons still roamed outside. Who knew what might happen?
Seeing the shift in Lin Ye's gaze, Fang Zhiyi suddenly stepped sideways to block his parents' line of sight, gave Lin Ye a meaningful wink, and then glanced out the window.
Lin Ye was a bit confused, but fortunately, his girlfriend beside him, Ye Qingjie, understood Fang Zhiyi's intention.
She nudged Lin Ye, reminding him not to cause unnecessary complications, and the group finally left the Fang residence.
It wasn't until nightfall that a figure jumped down from the second-floor window. Seeing Fang Zhiyi, Lin Ye sneered inwardly.
"An NPC is just an NPC, rushing over to deliver intel."
Although he knew which way to go, he still needed to put on a show of asking around to convince his team. But Fang Zhiyi saved him the trouble: "I heard before that my brother went northwest."
Lin Ye was delighted but kept his face impassive. "That's right, he is over there. I didn't expect you to be so well-informed."
With the two of them chiming in together, the others noticed nothing unusual, assuming Lin Ye was merely playing along with Fang Zhiyi. They admired his adaptability even more.
Just like the original plot, Ye Qingjie, under Lin Ye's instructions, took great care of Fang Zhiyi along the way while constantly trying to fish for information. Fang Zhiyi was very cooperative, chattering incessantly about his experiences of being haunted by demons.
"Now that we know this, all we have to do next is figure out the reason behind Fang Linjie's fall," someone said.
Lin Ye sneered. "When have I ever failed to get a perfect clear?"
"Young Master Lin, are you thinking..."
"With our skills combined with these exorcism methods, hunting down a fallen human shouldn't be a problem."
The others broke into smiles. If Lin Ye said it could be done, it certainly could. Ever since they started following him, they had achieved a perfect clear almost every time.
After traveling for three days and three nights, the team stopped in a low-lying area. This was clearly an abandoned graveyard.
The system reminded Lin Ye that the target had completed the contract with the demon and was fully transformed.
Lin Ye merely took a brief look at the surrounding terrain before quietly ordering his teammates to set up camp. He was going to start laying traps.
It was just a demon, wasn't it? When he got back, he was going to thoroughly mock those useless trashes surnamed Wei.
Fang Zhiyi didn't question their actions. He just ate and slept, acting exactly like the NPC character Lin Ye imagined him to be.
However, another full three days passed, and Fang Linjie still hadn't shown up. The system seemed to be suffering from interference from this world and could not provide any specific answers to Lin Ye's questions.
The long wait made Lin Ye somewhat irritable. After all, he had always been praised for his fast and perfect clears. Now, he was growing increasingly restless.
Staying in this wretched place was truly miserable; it was nothing compared to the comfort of his own mansion.
"Young Master Lin, are you sure that Fang Linjie will come?" a teammate asked casually while starting a fire.
"His brother is in our hands. How could he not come?" Lin Ye replied.
"But I've heard that those possessed by demons completely lose their humanity and won't even recognize their own family."
A cold glint flashed in Lin Ye's eyes. "Then we'll awaken his familial love." Lacking patience, he turned his gaze toward Fang Zhiyi.
"This world isn't that big after all." Fang Zhiyi sat on the ground, sketching a simple map according to what Little Hei had told him.
Little Hei nodded. "This kind of world has no Heavenly Dao, which is why it attracts worlds like the Abyss to approach it. Some Heavenly Daos are born during the reconstruction of world order." As it spoke, it suddenly turned its head. "They seem to be studying you."
Fang Zhiyi couldn't even be bothered to turn his head. "Isn't that normal? I'm their bait."
It had to be said that although Lin Ye was arrogant, the other members of his team were careful enough. In order to find out if Fang Zhiyi posed a threat, they had beaten around the bush to extract information. Fortunately, Fang Zhiyi's ability to spin lies was top-notch. He made them believe that after helping a group of strangers last time, he had lost his powers and escaped the demon's entanglement.
Fang Zhiyi continued by drawing a sphere. "Then what kind of existence is the world Lin Ye and the others are from?"
Little Hei mimicked Fang Zhiyi's action, manifesting a hand to stroke its chin. "A wandering world, perhaps... It completes itself by constantly connecting with other minor worlds." It thought for a moment. "It's easier to understand it this way: the humans participating in the game are all chosen by the Heavenly Dao. If they win the game, the humans receive rewards, and a victory is actually a means for the Heavenly Dao to absorb nutrients from other minor worlds, since it interfered with their operations. Even if they fail, that world's Heavenly Dao doesn't lose out; it only loses a few taskers."
"A predator Heavenly Dao?" Fang Zhiyi clapped his hands.
Little Hei paused, then smiled. "That's an accurate name."
Fang Zhiyi drew over a dozen smaller spheres around the main one. "In other words, these so-called instance worlds are actually its source of nutrients, and once it eats its fill, these worlds will..."
"These minor worlds will never give birth to a Heavenly Dao, until they perish," Little Hei finished the thought.
"This time is quite interesting. The Abyss counts as one world, the original owner's place counts as one, their world counts as one, and Lin Ye is a transmigrator on top of that. Tsk."
"I'll go," Ye Qingjie said. By now, she had lost her usual gentleness, her face full of coldness. They had already discussed and reached a conclusion.
"Damn, they really aren't human."
"If you don't like watching, get out and go watch your kids' channels."
"Can't I even say a word? Lin Ye and his team are strong, but their methods are truly too cruel."
"Bro, if they aren't cruel, they'll die."
"But is this kind of approach really appropriate?"
Lin Ye had no idea what the stream chat thought of him, and even if he did, he wouldn't care. He had transmigrated here to enjoy himself; why should he care about the opinions of ants?
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."
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
] [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!"
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.
