Lin Ran didn’t hold back his curses, leaving Li Chifen momentarily stunned.
Behind them, Liu Meng couldn’t suppress a snort of laughter.
Just as Li Chifen was about to speak, Lin Ran tightened his grip—hard.
Li Chifen winced in pain. He was a man of wealth and cunning, but brute strength was never his forte.
Lin Ran, on the other hand, had spent years working part-time jobs and training his body. Handling Li Chifen was effortless for him.
Luo Yao stood coldly by Lin Ran’s side and asked, "Do you have something to say?"
Lin Ran glanced down at Li Chifen, whose face was twisted in pain. "My wife’s asking you a question. Speak up. What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?"
Li Chifen was Luo Yao’s rival, enemy, and even something of a sworn foe.
That made him Lin Ran’s enemy too, and Lin Ran was no saint.
The two bodyguards behind Li Chifen moved to intervene, but Wang Bao and Little Tong immediately blocked their path.
Li Chifen forced out a strained whisper, "Let me go."
"Sure, sure. You should’ve said so earlier. Why didn’t you just say it?"
Li Chifen gritted his teeth. "Let! Me! Go!"
"See? If you’d just asked nicely from the start..."
Li Chifen could barely endure it now. "Let… me… go."
"Then beg."
"Please! Let! Me! Go!"
Only then did Lin Ran release his grip, satisfied. Luo Yao watched him with admiration sparkling in her eyes.
Rubbing his sore hand, Li Chifen stared at Lin Ran in disbelief. He never imagined Lin Ran would treat him so crudely—especially in the middle of a formal hall.
Luo Yao spoke coolly, "If you’re done, Mr. Li, I suggest you leave."
But Li Chifen couldn’t leave. He’d come to make an impression, assert his stance, and—most importantly—persuade Luo Yao not to expose him.
"President Luo, no need to be so harsh," he said with forced calm.
Luo Yao lowered her voice to a whisper. "Want me to go easy on you? Simple. You know what to do."
Li Chifen paused, then understood.
Of course. No one turns down profit.
Everything Luo Yao had done was to corner him. If he helped her secure the project, all his problems would vanish. He might even land a partnership with Luo Corporation.
And a deal with Luo Corporation? That would outshine even the top families and the Samsungs.
They were the true financial giants—newly crowned, but undisputed.
If Luo Yao succeeded, their dominance would be unshakable. No one would dare question it.
The realization sharpened Li Chifen’s focus.
Just then, two more heavyweight figures arrived: Lu Youqi, the current head of the Lu family, and Wang Xiaolin, the acting leader of the Wang family.
Li Chifen quickly straightened up, masking his discomfort with arrogance.
"Lin Ran, let’s spar another time," he said stiffly.
Lin Ran scoffed. "Spar? I could take three of you with one leg tied behind my back."
......
Wang Xiaolin approached, exchanging nods with Li Chifen before acknowledging Lin Ran and Luo Yao.
"Now that’s manners. See how it’s done?" Lin Ran shot Li Chifen another disdainful look.
Of course, Wang Xiaolin’s subdued demeanor was due to his family’s recent decline. He no longer swaggered around the elite.
But his bold, ambitious nature remained—otherwise, he wouldn’t have agreed to the three families’ alliance.
Whatever the outcome, at least he was trying to salvage the doomed "Game Over Group."
Lu Youqi was a spirited old man, aged but vibrant.
"You must be Lin Ran. My son caused some trouble yesterday—my apologies for the misunderstanding!"
Lin Ran knew Lu Youqi well. Of the three families, he was the one Lin Ran found most concerning.
The Lu family was the oldest and most formidable in Shanghai, with a lineage stretching back a thousand years.
As the saying went:
"Dynasties rise and fall, but the great houses endure."
Even after the Tang dynasty’s collapse and the purges of rebels like Huang Chao, their remnants were nothing to underestimate.
Their influence wasn’t just economic. It ran deeper—networks, connections, and power woven into every corner of society.
Families like Wang Xiaolin’s were pretenders. The Lus were the real deal.
Even in modern socialist China, their shadow loomed large.
Lin Ran smiled. "Gentlemen, I’ll admit—you’re far more polite than the guy wallowing in the cesspool over there."
He wasn’t intimidated by their pedigree.
After all, they were Luo Yao’s enemies too.
If she had brought them to their knees in their past life, what made them think they stood a chance now?
Wang Xiaolin and Lu Youqi exchanged puzzled glances.
"What?"
"Cesspool?"
Lin Ran waved it off. "Never mind. Just appreciating your courtesy. And Mr. Lu, no need to apologize—I didn’t lose anything in that ‘misunderstanding.’"
It was your granddaughter’s tongue that paid the price, not mine.
Lu Youqi seemed entirely unfazed by Lin Ran's veiled sarcasm and instead turned his attention to Luo Yao.
"Luo girl, long time no see. Though I’m your competitor today, old man as I am, I don’t want this to ruin our relationship. Truth be told, I’ve always admired you. To rise so quickly in just a few years, and under our watchful eyes—impressive."
His praise was far from insincere; Lu Youqi genuinely respected Luo Yao.
At one point, he had even considered offering his family’s heir position to whichever of his grandsons could secure a marriage alliance with her. But Luo Yao had shown no interest.
In fact, when one of his younger relatives dared to lay a hand on her, she broke his bones without hesitation.
Yet, far from holding a grudge, Lu Youqi only grew more impressed by her ruthlessness and decisiveness.
Luo Yao scoffed. "What relationship? The moment I partnered with those two from your family, I’ve been itching to cut ties."
Lu Youqi wasn’t offended. He knew she was just venting.
Li Chifen, however, simmered with quiet anger.
So everyone else got polite treatment, but he was the one being insulted?
His expression darkened as he silently swore to settle the score someday.
Then, Park Bo-gi from Samsung suddenly appeared. Though somewhat intimidated by Luo Yao, he couldn’t pass up the rare chance to meet the head of the Lu family.
After all, the Lu family was the primary collaborator in this venture.
Previously, they had only sent representatives for negotiations—today was the first time the patriarch himself had shown up.
"Patriarch Lu, I’m Park Bo-gi, the decision-maker at Samsung."
Lu Youqi glanced at Park Bo-gi, noting his visibly injured hand.
"Chairman Park, greetings. This old man’s health hasn’t been the best, so I never got the chance to meet you earlier. My apologies."
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
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!
] [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!"
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
