It wasn't that Lin Yu was incredibly powerful.
It was just that the answer was practically written on the face of the riddle; it was too easy to guess!
Yesterday, when Huang Feirong came to the apartment, it could be deduced from her words alone.
There was definitely a mole within the Gui Firm!
As for whether it was outsiders colluding with the mole, or someone inside inciting a trusted aide to act...
The probability of the latter sounded much higher.
Lin Yu already knew the information he needed to figure out.
The Dream World wasn't a place for criminal investigation, and he wasn't here to play Judge Bao.
Having already obtained valid clues, he could easily launch an investigation tomorrow.
As for right now?
Lin Yu grabbed Shen Jiuyi's hand and whispered:
"Come with me!"
Shen Jiuyi looked at Lin Yu's wicked hand: "???"
Had it already reached this stage?
Was he not even hiding it from people anymore?
Although Yao Yao and Rongrong weren't here, many people around knew her!
Being held by the hand by Lin Yu... if others saw it...
How would she show her face in society later?
Shen Jiuyi opened her mouth, wanting to say, "I'm not going anywhere."
Her mouth had just opened, and she hadn't even spoken yet.
Lin Yu: "Overruled."
Shen Jiuyi: "???"
What do you mean overruled?
She hadn't even spoken yet!
Without waiting for Shen Jiuyi to react further, Lin Yu pulled her directly up from her seat.
He bypassed the crowded throng and walked toward the back of the auction stage.
Shen Jiuyi looked ahead and immediately warned him:
"You can't go in there; that's where the Gui Firm staff stays."
"The auction is about to start soon, so it's full of people inside right now!"
Lin Yu responded confidently:
"Don't worry, there's absolutely no one inside!"
Shen Jiuyi: "???"
How could there be no one?
What nonsense was Lin Yu spouting!
Shen Jiuyi had been backstage countless times; how could she not know if there were people there?
*Clang!*
The moment the door was pushed open, Shen Jiuyi subconsciously closed her eyes.
Since meeting Lin Yu, she had lost count of how many times she had been dragged along against her will!
She had lived a disciplined, law-abiding life for so many years.
Yet, in the year she had just turned twenty, she met him!
It's over. Her reputation and life were completely ruined this time.
Perhaps.
This was just her fate?
Shen Jiuyi slowly opened her eyes, ready to face the shocked gazes of the entire room.
But when she opened them...
Eh?
There really was no one else there!
That wasn't right...
Normally at this time, this place should be gathered with many Gui Firm staff members.
Why wasn't there a single person today?
Could it be Lin Yu's doing?
When did his power become great enough to influence the Huang family to clear the area for him?
Even if Lin Yu really had that power...
After clearing the place, what did he want to do by bringing her here?
Since learning about the matter of her fate pattern, Shen Jiuyi had been very careful, trying her best not to have direct contact with Lin Yu.
When she did have contact, she ensured there were people around.
She was worried that when no one was around, if Lin Yu suddenly did something, she wouldn't even have the ability to resist.
"Where... where did you send the people?"
Lin Yu spread his hands and said:
"I killed everyone here."
Shen Jiuyi looked at Lin Yu helplessly: "..."
She was nervous.
But she hadn't lost her mind yet.
How could she believe such an obvious joke?
"I just told them not to come over for a while, what else could it be?"
"Look at the question you asked!"
Shen Jiuyi: "..."
It seemed there was indeed nothing wrong with what Lin Yu said.
Shen Jiuyi continued to ask:
"Then... why did you bring me here?"
Lin Yu looked at the empty backstage area and followed up:
"Isn't it because ever since I calculated your fate pattern for you, you've been avoiding me?"
"Reasonably speaking, shouldn't you be thanking me?"
"I didn't provoke you, so why are you taking your anger out on me?"
Taking anger out on Lin Yu?
When this phrase popped up, Shen Jiuyi was completely stunned.
Did she?
No, right?
It was just out of instinctive shame that she had been intentionally avoiding Lin Yu.
Did that count as...
A form of taking anger out?
Maybe from Lin Yu's perspective, it really felt a bit like that?
Shen Jiuyi found it hard to put herself in Lin Yu's shoes, and even harder to guess Lin Yu's inner world.
She certainly didn't expect Lin Yu to suddenly say this to her.
Shen Jiuyi wouldn't play dumb, and was even less willing to lie.
If she thought of something, she would say it straightforwardly.
Facing Lin Yu's questioning, Shen Jiuyi said honestly:
"I don't have a reason to be angry at you, but maybe I really have been deliberately avoiding you."
"Because in my heart, you are a dangerous person."
Lin Yu: "..."
*Hiss!*
Shen Jiuyi really had a way with words.
To be able to speak the fear in her heart right to the person's face.
That kind of immense courage wasn't something just anyone possessed.
Lin Yu pulled over a backstage chair, sat down, and asked:
"Are you worried I'll tell others about your fate pattern?"
Shen Jiuyi thought for a moment and shook her head.
After interacting for many days, she could at least see some of Lin Yu's character.
He was definitely not someone who gossiped randomly.
It was impossible for him to treat the matter of her fate pattern as casual conversation fodder.
Lin Yu continued to ask:
"Then what are you afraid of? Afraid that I'll use your fate pattern to blackmail you into sleeping with me?"
"Do you think I'm that kind of person?"
Shen Jiuyi took longer to think this time than she did for the previous question.
But in the end, she still shook her head at Lin Yu.
She pondered repeatedly; no matter how she looked at it, Lin Yu didn't seem like the kind of person who would do such a thing.
Lin Yu silently said a sentence in his heart:
*Wrong answer.*
He was exactly that kind of person!
It was just that he couldn't show it too obviously; he could only give Shen Jiuyi hints bit by bit.
For a girl as smart as Shen Jiuyi, signaling too anxiously would only backfire.
Hints also needed to be gradual and not rushed.
For example, right now.
Lin Yu patted the spot next to him, signaling Shen Jiuyi to sit beside him.
Shen Jiuyi didn't refuse Lin Yu's request.
Having just been bombarded by Lin Yu's questions, her brain suddenly went into overload.
She kept asking herself internally, what exactly was she afraid of regarding Lin Yu?
It seemed Lin Yu was actually right!
Lin Yu tentatively threw out a new question:
"Little Jiu, about me and Yao Yao... you know everything?"
Shen Jiuyi nodded, not hiding it:
"Mm, you know as well as I do that Yao Yao can't hide anything in front of me."
"I know that when it comes to brains, she's no match for you at all."
"I hope you treat her sincerely and don't hurt her."
Lin Yu smiled and said:
"Don't worry, I will treat both of you sincerely."
"How I treat her is how I will treat you."
Shen Jiuyi: "Mm, I hope... Huh?!"
Halfway through her habitual response, Shen Jiuyi realized that Lin Yu's words just now weren't right.
She raised her head to look at Lin Yu and asked dully:
"W-what does that mean?"
Lin Yu placed his hand on Shen Jiuyi's shoulder, gently caressing it:
"Is it hard to understand? It means exactly what it says!"
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.”
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!
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.
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
