Fang Qi was still slumped lazily on the sofa, one hand resting on Liguang's little head, his fingertips carelessly twirling a strand of her silver hair.
The person in his arms was warm and soft.
The murderous ruthlessness from just a moment ago had been temporarily slapped down by his two strikes.
Right now, she was nestled obediently in his arms, her cheek pressed against his chest, her small hands tightly gripping the hem of his shirt.
My wife...
Is seriously so cute!
He looked back at An Lian, who had just stood up.
This aloof, mature woman... had completely regained her professional composure by now.
Even though her clothes were still wrinkled, her hair was still messy, and the ring of purple-blue finger marks on her neck was still shocking to look at...
But in those gray eyes...
The certainty of having victory in her grasp had reignited!
She stood perfectly straight!
"Mr. Fang."
An Lian spoke, her voice cold and unquestionable!
"There is no point in you acting tough now."
"The company's armed personnel have completely surrounded this building."
"The corridors, stairs, elevators, fire escapes... every single exit is guarded."
"This building is a high-level employee apartment for Chenxi Company, and the surrounding security facilities are far more comprehensive than you can imagine!"
She paused, her gray eyes staring fixedly at him.
"There is absolutely no possibility of you leaving!"
Listening to her declaration...
Fang Qi tilted his head and blinked.
Then, he suddenly smiled.
He smiled very casually.
"I say, Miss An Lian..."
He spoke slowly, his fingertips continuing to twirl Liguang's silver hair:
"Did you forget something?"
An Lian narrowed her eyes slightly.
Fang Qi's smile grew even brighter.
"Right now, you are still my prisoner."
He lifted his chin, gesturing toward her.
"Your life is still in my hands."
As soon as he finished speaking, the person in his arms shifted.
That small silver head gently peeked out from his chest, tilting her pretty face to look at An Lian.
Her phoenix eyes curved into crescents, and the corners of her lips curled into a sickeningly sweet arc!
"Liguang will completely follow Master's orders."
Her voice was soft, glutinous, and sweet, with a kind of... spine-tingling gentleness!
Her slender hand let go of Fang Qi's shirt hem and gently waved in the air.
It was as if she was saying—
Bad woman, I can strangle you to death at any time!
The corners of An Lian's mouth clearly stiffened for a moment.
But... she quickly adjusted, and a professional calm resurfaced on her cold face.
"Mr. Fang."
She spoke again, her voice still calm:
"You are right, I am indeed in your hands right now. But—"
She paused, a trace of complex emotion flashing through her gray eyes.
"Unfortunately, I am just a minor after-sales specialist in the company."
"The company can abandon me at any time."
"You trying to use my life to threaten the company... is completely meaningless."
She took a deep breath and looked at Fang Qi.
"If you hurt me, or even kill me, your only outcome will be dying here. For you, that is the worst possible choice."
"Right now, the company's armed forces have surrounded this building. I can confidently say... resistance is a dead end for you, there are no other possibilities."
Her voice grew steadier and steadier.
"Mr. Fang, I believe you are a rational and smart person, capable of understanding what is at stake here."
"You just need to let things take their course and stop resisting. The company will settle everything else for you."
"You will receive compensation, you will get a new AI companion, and you will return to a normal life."
"This is your only correct choice."
The living room was quiet for a few seconds.
An Lian's eyes still held the look of assured victory.
Obviously, she believed that a normal person... could not possibly make any other choice!
Fang Qi only smiled at her words.
However, the person in his arms slightly stiffened upon hearing "will get a new AI companion."
But it was only for a moment.
The next second, she softened again, pressing her cheek back against his chest.
The small hand gripping his shirt hem even gently scratched twice.
—Master, Liguang is not afraid, Liguang believes in you.
The smile on Fang Qi's face hadn't changed in the slightest.
He looked down, meeting the pair of heterochromatic eyes looking up at him from his embrace.
In her crimson eye, data flowed slowly, and a scarlet hue burned quietly in its depths.
She was waiting.
Waiting for him to speak.
Waiting for him to show her... exactly how he was going to deal with this bad woman.
So, how could he disappoint her?
"Haha... hahaha..."
He laughed.
A kind of... trembling laugh that couldn't suppress his excitement!
Right now...
He was truly so excited!
This was...
His first time doing something so crazy!
"Miss An Lian."
His voice was no longer lazy, but carried obvious mockery!
He tilted his head to the other side, the corners of his mouth curling up:
"Do you think..."
"A rational person would run into someone else's home to kidnap them?"
An Lian's expression changed slightly.
In those gray eyes, that certainty of victory began to waver!
Right.
Exactly.
Doubting herself, questioning herself...
He just wanted to see An Lian like this!
Sitting on the sofa, holding the warm and soft body in his arms...
The curve of Fang Qi's mouth grew wider and wider!
His plan...
Had actually succeeded!
An Lian stalling for time just now... he had seen through it long ago.
Of course he saw through it!
Dawdling to sit on the sofa, pouring and drinking water, telling such a long historical story...
And that speaking speed was as slow as a crawling snail!
The story was even mixed with a bunch of messy speculations and personal experiences!
When normally telling history... does it need to be so detailed?
Does it need such emotional investment?
Furthermore, a prisoner who was almost killed...
Why would she suddenly start telling a story so patiently, so emotionally, and so meticulously?
Wasn't this obviously just stalling for time!
But he didn't say anything.
He just quietly watched her act.
He even played along, nodding from time to time, occasionally asking a question!
Alright, he admitted...
An Lian's storytelling skills were actually quite decent!
She spoke vividly, and he was even a little captivated by it!
If it weren't for the people outside arriving too early...
He really would have liked to hear An Lian finish the story of the Second Omnic Crisis...
He felt that researching it himself would definitely not be as interesting as listening to An Lian tell it!
However... everything was still going according to plan.
He had intentionally let her stall for time.
Because, from the moment he decided to bring Liguang to find An Lian...
He had already made up his mind.
This time...!
He never planned to leave here alive!
But this time, it wasn't to escape!
Rather, it was to... make An Lian witness it with her own eyes!
To witness what kind of miserable tragedy... her choices in this playthrough would cause!
So miserable that it would be etched into her very bones!
So miserable that even if she retained her memories in the form of dreams in the next playthrough, so miserable that even if she deduced something from the two dreams...
And she would never dare to make the same decision she did in this loop!
So...
He couldn't just torture her, just kill her.
Targeting only her, well...
That would just be her personal grudge.
If the kill was too painful, would she feel nothing?
If the torture was too severe... what if she went even crazier in the next loop?
He had a feeling that if he did that, she would target them even more resolutely in the next loop.
So he had planned it from the very beginning...
He was going to... play a big game!
He wanted to make her tremble all over whenever she thought of this dream!
Make her only dare to hide far away from them! Make her never dare to interfere in anything between him and Liguang again!
And to achieve this effect...
The supporting cast in this play... couldn't just be her alone.
Fang Qi glanced at the black drone still hovering outside the window...
The corners of his mouth curled up into a smirk.
Yes, he did it on purpose.
He deliberately let those armed personnel surround them.
Only in this way...
Could he make those armed personnel squeeze into this narrow corridor.
Only in this way...
Could the play of this loop be spectacular enough!
He looked down at the person in his arms.
Liguang was looking up at him with her pretty face, her heterochromatic eyes sparkling, and the corners of her lips curled into the exact same smirk as his.
So good.
Those crimson eyes were still flashing with a scarlet light.
...So beautiful!
Soon, his Liguang would become even more beautiful!
And An Lian would be the witness!
He turned his head to look at An Lian again.
The look of uncertainty and shock on An Lian's face was growing stronger!
The unrestrained expression on Fang Qi's face truly scared her!
Her eyes—it was as if she were looking at a real madman!
Her negotiations were all based on the premise that the other party was a normal person who knew how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.
But right now, Fang Qi looked...!
She subconsciously took a step back.
Her smooth calf bumped into the edge of the single sofa behind her.
She instantly lost her balance and leaned back—
"Ah...!"
Her long, slender legs swung in the air as she fell completely into the sofa!
Her long black hair scattered over the armrest. She half-lay there, hands propped against the cushion, looking at Fang Qi, her chest heaving violently!
Her pupils were trembling!
Fang Qi, holding Liguang, slowly stood up from the sofa.
The person in his arms stood up with him, her slender arms immediately wrapping around his waist, pressing herself tightly against him.
Soft, fragrant, and with a slight tremble.
After standing up, Fang Qi looked down at An Lian, who was sunken into the sofa.
Looking down at her from above.
An Lian's breath caught for a moment!
She just kept her face tilted up, looking at the man staring down at her...
And the exaggerated, uncontrollable smile on his face!
Her lips moved slightly, but she couldn't say a single word.
Fang Qi looked at her in this state...
Smiling so hard his eyes turned into slits!
His grin stretching from ear to ear!
"Miss An Lian."
His voice was soft, carrying a smile.
"The company's armed personnel should have already entered the building, right?"
An Lian's pupils shrank sharply!
She subconsciously wanted to say something... but Fang Qi didn't give her the chance.
He just looked down at her, his smile growing brighter and brighter.
"Miss An Lian, tell me..."
He tilted his head, his words no longer holding banter or mockery.
"In a narrow corridor where most weapons cannot be used..."
His tone became calm and curious.
"Is it the company's... armed personnel scattered everywhere who are stronger..."
"Or..."
The corners of his mouth curled up again.
"Is my Liguang stronger?"
He really...
Wanted to test it out!

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!

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!"

e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.

ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!