Standing at a desperate crossroads where refusal would mean being besieged.
Lin Yu wasn’t entirely powerless—even if he could slightly inconvenience Du Ruxue, it would count as a major victory.
Moreover, did Lin Yu even care about winning or losing this game?
No!
What he truly cared about was preventing Du Ruxue from exploiting the game to disrupt his life.
Lin Yu knew the personalities of the original residents in the apartment well—they were easy to handle.
But Du Ruxue was the exception, entirely beyond his control.
No one could predict what she might do!
At the very least, reducing one round of the "punishment phase" would give Lin Yu some mental preparation.
He needed to see what tricks and schemes the punishments entailed.
As the Ming Gong (Lord of Insight), Lin Yu concluded his speech.
Ying'er stepped forward and reiterated the rules for daytime attacks:
During the day, after listening to the speeches of each faction’s "Ming Gong,"
the first round required factions to elect a "Great General" from among their members (excluding the Ming Gong).
This Great General would lead the charge during the day and also have time to speak.
Additionally, factions could engage in brief group discussions.
Alliances, trades, information exchanges—nothing was off-limits, and there were no restrictions on who could talk to whom.
This highly flexible rule set gave the game a vibe similar to scripted murder mysteries.
Lin Yu explained the situation to the three women in his group.
Under the pressure of the three major factions, he wanted everyone to have a decent experience.
So instead of mindlessly charging ahead, he left room for them to keep playing.
Lin Yu analyzed the options for them:
"Roughly speaking, we have three ways to play this…"
"First, all four of us could join one of the Wei, Shu, or Wu factions."
"In that case, the other two factions would likely form a temporary alliance, creating a 2v2 scenario."
"Second, we could split ourselves across all three factions—Wei, Shu, and Wu."
"That would maintain the three-way stalemate, with everyone relying on their skills to form alliances and fight."
"Third, we could divide our four members between two factions."
"Heh, that would leave one faction significantly weaker—a four-person group."
"The two six-person factions would definitely prioritize devouring them!"
Since this was a group activity, Lin Yu didn’t mind which approach they took.
It was better to respect everyone’s opinions before making a decision.
Shen Buyao: "This round should be manageable, right? Feels a bit brain-burning trying to process everything you all said."
Huang Feirong: "Buyao, besides just pressing up, down, left, right, and spacebar, playing games like this is good for your brain. This round, we don’t have to make any choices."
Ye Mengfu nodded: "We can… use skills, right?"
Lin Yu looked at little Fufu and said,
"Exactly, we can all activate our skills—just don’t attack them."
"Fufu, are you sure you want to use your skill?"
"If it feels too difficult, it’s fine not to."
[Ding!]
[Masterstroke move! The Saint excels at considering his partner’s perspective, making her feel utterly at ease!]
[Reward: 50 spirit stones.]
Ye Mengfu hesitated, glancing at Lin Yu.
Her active skill, [Songstress Who Doesn’t Sell Herself]: [Entertain the Masses]!
Once activated, whether the audience wanted to watch or not,
they had to pay a small fee in resources. This could be used once per round.
If it were just a verbal declaration, Lin Yu wouldn’t have specifically reminded her.
But [Entertain the Masses] explicitly required a "live, real performance."
In other words—
an introvert had been given an extrovert’s skill!
She had to perform in front of everyone, ensuring that "those with money contribute, and those without take out loans to contribute."
In the past,
singing in public?
Ye Mengfu wouldn’t have dared to imagine it—she’d rather die.
But recently,
she’d first sung in front of Lin Yu alone,
then in front of Ying'er and Maomao.
Now, the audience was larger, but most were familiar faces.
The deciding factor for her was…
perhaps in later rounds,
she might never be on the same team as Lin Yu again.
Next round, their team would disband.
This might be the only round she could do something for him while they were still together.
Whether it would help or make a difference, Ye Mengfu didn’t know.
When the time came to stand up, she might freeze in fear.
But at this moment,
her desire to do something for Lin Yu burned stronger than ever.
Ye Mengfu: "I… I’ll think about it a bit more…"
Shen Buyao slung an arm over Ye Mengfu’s shoulder: "Hey, just do what makes you happy—no pressure! Look at me, I’m about to… perform drunken boxing. What kind of introvert hell is this?!"
Huang Feirong: "You two should count yourselves lucky. At least your tasks are straightforward. I have to answer one question card from each of the three factions—who knows what they’ll ask? Please don’t let it be ‘how many partners have you dated?’ That’d be so embarrassing!"
Lin Yu: "…"
Honestly,
given Ying'er’s personality, it wouldn’t be surprising if she’d designed exactly that kind of question.
After their internal discussion,
the factions began negotiating among themselves.
Wei, Shu, and Wu seemed to have reached some unspoken agreement, completely sidelining Lin Yu’s neutral faction.
They chatted happily among themselves, leaving no room for communication with the outsiders.
The reason was simple:
until the second round forced a choice, the neutral faction remained outsiders.
Moreover, the speeches by the three faction leaders had effectively reduced Lin Yu’s group to "human resources."
For any faction to engage with them now would contradict their earlier stance.
Being ignored wasn’t entirely bad.
At the very least, Lin Yu knew one thing:
all three factions had accepted his proposal during the speech.
As it turned out,
Lin Yu’s move—made without full knowledge of the game’s reward and punishment system—had paid off, even helping him dodge a bullet.
Seeing them discuss for so long,
Lin Yu had assumed the first round would be a friendly affair,
with everyone focusing on growth rather than making themselves targets.
But when Ying'er finished tallying the factions’ actions and began announcing them one by one,
Lin Yu got a full taste of what it meant when they said…
hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!
Ying'er (Game Master):
"Wei Faction actions:"
"Chang Xiaoxiao [Exiled Immortal General] launched an attack on the Wu faction, using the skill [Herbal Boost]. This round’s attack consumes no resources but costs 2,000 troops. Captures one Wu faction city."
"Mao Ruirui [Plague Mother] used the public skill [Recruit Conscripts], gaining 3,000 troops."
"Fang Xinran [Phantom Assassin] launched an attack on the Shu faction, using the skill [Shadow Capture]. Costs 5,000 resources and 2,000 troops. Captures one Shu faction city. Shu faction’s Ming Gong loses 1 HP."
"The two players who have activated their character-specific skills, Chang Xiaoxiao and Fang Xinran, please follow the skill prompts and present your performances for everyone."
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
