Just as Lin Tianba was on the verge of collapse, Lin Ran decided to twist the knife even deeper.
"There's one more thing I forgot to tell you. The area next to 'Linyuan Scenic Estates' was never a garbage dump—that’s located in the suburbs. What’s actually next to it is the prestigious Jingda Elementary School. The billboard you saw? I had it put up. After all, it’s my project—no harm in a little marketing."
"What?"
Shock. Horror. Suffocation.
Lin Tianba froze on the spot, finally realizing where things had gone wrong.
So, all of this had been Lin Ran’s doing.
"You ungrateful brat, you—"
Slap!
Lin Ran withdrew his hand and took a towel from Wang Bao, wiping his fingers meticulously.
Cough!
Lin Tianba, overwhelmed with rage, spat out a mouthful of blood. Wang Bao swiftly opened an umbrella, shielding Lin Ran from the spray.
Lin Tianba collapsed to the ground, his face twisted in terror as he pointed a trembling finger at Lin Ran. "You... you... you—"
But no further words came out.
Pathetic, Lin Ran thought. With a mindset like this, you still dream of a comeback? Keep dreaming.
"This man is no longer part of our company. Throw him out."
Security personnel outside the conference room immediately stepped in, weapons in hand, and unceremoniously hauled their former boss away.
The remaining people in the room were stunned.
They had heard Lin Ran’s words loud and clear.
No one had expected that Lin Ran, who had kept a low profile all these years, would play such a devastating hand.
Not only had he completely outmaneuvered Lin Tianba, but he had also resolved the company’s crisis in one fell swoop.
No—not resolved. There had never been a crisis to begin with. It had all been Lin Ran’s scheme.
Everyone stared at him, a mix of admiration and fear in their eyes. This young man was ruthless, decisive—terrifying.
Those who had sold their shares were now drowning in regret, cursing their own blindness.
But they kept their emotions in check. Investments were like that—once the move was made, there was no taking it back.
After all, not everyone was as shameless as Lin Tianba.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted outside. A security guard rushed in to report.
"Trouble! The homebuyers have stormed in!"
Lin Ran waved a hand. "Let them in."
The guard hesitated, glancing around uncertainly.
Qu Te Niang snapped, "Are you deaf? Do what the boss says!"
Snapping to attention, the guard hurried out.
Moments later, a crowd barged into the conference room.
"Where’s Lin Tianba? Bring him out! I’ll kill him!"
Lin Ran raised a hand. "Calm down, everyone. He’s already transferred all his shares to me. Your grievances are now mine to handle."
"Some kid like you? How the hell are you gonna fix this?"
Lin Ran’s brow furrowed.
"What do you want?"
"A refund!"
"Fine. Someone, process his refund—and take note of his details. Next time he wants to buy, the price goes up 20%."
The man laughed mockingly.
"Hah! You think I’d ever buy your garbage properties again? Keep dreaming!"
The shareholders in the room exchanged glances, looking at the man as if he were an idiot.
Soon, the refund was processed, and the man received his money on the spot.
Suran Group’s swift action left the protesters stunned.
They had been protesting for days—why was this young man suddenly so accommodating?
Lin Ran addressed the crowd. "Anyone who wants a refund can get one now. But let me make this clear—'Linyuan Scenic Estates' is a school district property. I’m saying this on record, with video proof. If any of you regret this later and want to buy back in? Sorry, we won’t sell to you."
The crowd exchanged uneasy glances.
They had gathered fifty or sixty people to storm the place, all demanding refunds.
As for Lin Ran’s words?
Capitalists were bloodsucking monsters—you couldn’t trust a single thing they said.
So, most of them chose to take the refund. Lin Ran had them directed to the finance office to queue up. Only a handful silently slipped away.
There were still some smart people in this world.
After Lin Tianba was thrown out, Lin Ran suddenly remembered—his two "dogs" were still squatting in the company.
A mischievous thought crossed his mind. Glancing at the time, he saw he still had half an hour before he needed to head back to cook.
"Where are Liu Yuemei and Lin Jian?"
A former secretary of Lin Tianba quickly spoke up. "In the converted storage room on the 7th floor."
Lin Ran smirked.
"Uncle Qu, I’ll leave the rest to you. I have some business to attend to."
Qu Te Niang panicked, scurrying over to Lin Ran and whispering urgently,
"Young Master Lin, please don’t call me that—I don’t deserve it!"
"Uncle Qu, you were my mother’s old acquaintance. Of course you deserve the title."
Qu Te Niang scratched his head awkwardly. "Young Master, I may have known Madam Su, but I’ve been working under President Luo all this time. You’re her husband—how could you call me 'uncle'?"
He spoke so quietly that no one else heard.
Lin Ran blinked.
"Luo Yao?"
"Yes. Last time, it was President Luo who arranged for me to list those shares, tricking Lin Tianba into cutting his losses."
Suddenly, everything clicked for Lin Ran.
So, Luo Yao had been by his side all along.
"Very well. From now on, you’re the chairman of Suran Group."
Qu Te Niang stood frozen.
Lin Ran had single-handedly resolved the company’s crisis. Anyone with half a brain knew Suran Group was about to reach new heights.
And at this pivotal moment, Lin Ran had handed him the reins. Such trust was overwhelming.
Years of hard work, and now, with just one sentence from Lin Ran, he was stepping into an entirely new realm.
If he became chairman, would he still have to scrape by on unpredictable investments?
The investment game was like the stock market—only a tiny fraction profited, and Qu Te Niang had been scraping the bottom of that elite tier.
What you thought was a sure bet often turned to smoke. Looking back, staying where you started was already an achievement—most people only lost ground.
"Boss, I won’t let you down. I’ll make Suran Group the finest real estate company there is."
Lin Ran nodded. "Then, Chairman Qu, until next time."
"Take care, Boss."
Lin Ran headed to the 7th-floor storage room with his men—only to recoil the moment he stepped inside.
"Damn, is this a pigsty?"
He ordered his men to drag the two out. The well-trained bodyguards covered their noses as they entered.
When Liu Yuemei and Lin Jian were hauled out, they were still shouting incoherently.
Lin Jian: "Huan ha wu! Huan ha wu!"
Liu Yuemei: "Who are you people? Breaking into private property is illegal, you know!"
Lin Ran looked down at the mother and son with amusement.
"Private property? This is Suran Group’s territory. Your husband has already sold it. Naturally, I’m here to escort you out."
"Xiao Ran?"
"Gege?"
Wang Bao brought over a chair, and Lin Ran sat down imposingly, gazing at the two pinned to the ground.
"One’s a cripple, the other’s a mute. How entertaining."
"Beat them up first. We’ll talk later."
] [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 + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
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.
