"Good, very good. Still acting tough, huh?"
Wang Ba's eyes gleamed with admiration for Lin Xuan.
If it weren’t for maintaining the Black Tiger Gang’s flawless record of completing dark web missions, he might have actually let Lin Xuan go.
Soon, two towering, menacing men strode into the hall.
"Boss," they said respectfully.
"Take him down," Wang Ba ordered.
"Yes."
They advanced toward Lin Xuan.
Wang Ba smirked. "These two are the strongest fighters in our gang. With your scrawny build, you stand no chance. If you beg for mercy now, there’s still time."
"Too much talk," Lin Xuan said impatiently.
He still had to get back to Hua Bao.
Wang Ba’s eyes widened in fury.
As the leader of the Black Tiger Gang, his reputation was feared throughout the underworld—except by the elusive Dark Rose. No one dared disrespect him like this.
If word got out, where would his dignity be?
"Hurry up," Wang Ba snapped coldly. "Grab him now. This time, I’ll personally make sure he suffers."
Did this brat think he could look down on him?
Then he’d teach this naive, arrogant college student a lesson he’d never forget!
But—
Once again, Wang Ba’s expectations were shattered.
He watched in disbelief as Lin Xuan took down both bodyguards in just three moves, leaving them groaning on the floor.
"This… this can’t be…"
Wang Ba gaped at Lin Xuan, his face a mask of shock.
His men were renowned fighters in the underground world—yet together, they’d been effortlessly crushed by Lin Xuan.
This kid was far more skilled than he’d imagined…
Cheng Er pushed himself up from the ground. "Boss, my brother and I weren’t lying. Lin Xuan is seriously strong."
Seeing Lin Xuan’s victory, another underling, eager to prove himself, drew a gun and pulled the trigger. The deafening bang echoed as bullets tore through the air.
Lin Xuan had already noticed the movement.
Before the gunman could fire, he’d slipped on a pair of gloves from his spatial storage.
Then—
He caught every bullet mid-air with his bare hands.
"Incredible!" Wang Ba couldn’t help but rise from his seat.
This marksman was the gang’s best—a near-perfect shot. Yet against Lin Xuan, he posed no threat at all.
Lin Xuan didn’t stop there. In a flash, he appeared before the gunman and twisted his wrist sharply.
"Ah—!"
The man screamed in agony.
"Don’t worry," Lin Xuan said with a faint smile. "I won’t hurt you. I just want your gun."
He snatched the weapon away.
Then, he aimed it at Wang Ba.
The moment his finger touched the trigger, the gang members shouted in panic: "Boss!"
Bang!
A bullet whizzed past Wang Ba’s ear—
And struck the eye of the black tiger emblem painted on the wall behind him.
"He hit the tiger’s eye?!" someone gasped.
The target was no larger than a pea, and from that distance? Impossible!
Wang Ba spun around and saw the bullet hole right where the tiger’s eye should be.
His gaze snapped back to Lin Xuan.
This wasn’t luck.
Lin Xuan had that kind of precision.
Not just unrivaled in combat, but a sharpshooter too…
Someone like this… truly deserved to lead.
But the Black Tiger Gang was his life’s work. How could he just hand it over?
"I admit, you’re impressive," Wang Ba said, his admiration undisguised. "But the Black Tiger Gang isn’t yours."
"You can walk out of here unharmed. No one will stop you."
Lin Xuan chuckled. "I didn’t come here to leave empty-handed."
"If you won’t give it willingly, I’ll have to take it by force."
In a blur, he appeared beside Wang Ba. Before anyone could react—
Crack!
He dislocated Wang Ba’s jaw.
Wang Ba: "???"
Lin Xuan forced a pill into his mouth, poured water down his throat, and made him swallow.
Crack!
He reset the jaw.
"What did you just give me?" Wang Ba demanded, grimacing.
"A poison. Harmless as long as you take the antidote regularly. Without it… you’ll bleed from every orifice and die."
He’d learned to brew such toxins in his spatial storage specifically for underworld dealings.
"So, you have two choices. One—die. Two—become my subordinate."
Lin Xuan slid a hand into his pocket, radiating arrogance.
And he had every right to.
"Though, if you stubbornly refuse the antidote, I’ll still take over the Black Tiger Gang. So really, you’ve only got one path."
Wang Ba felt the weight of despair.
Damn it.
He’d thought the eight million bounty on Lin Xuan would be easy money. Instead, he’d brought back a tyrant.
Now he was screwed.
He was about to become someone else’s lackey.
Resigned, Wang Ba stepped forward, knelt on one knee, and clasped his fists.
"Boss," he said solemnly. "This humble one pays his respects."
The rest of the gang followed suit, dropping to their knees.
"Boss!" they roared.
Lin Xuan smiled. "Rise."
"Yes!"
They stood in unison.
Wang Ba looked up at the ceiling, sighing internally.
This was it. His reputation as the fearsome Wang Ba would crumble—now that a college senior ruled the Black Tiger Gang.
Lin Xuan walked over and patted Wang Ba’s shoulder reassuringly.
"Don’t worry. I’ll rarely interfere. You’ll still run the gang as you always have—just follow my new directives."
Wang Ba’s eyes brightened. That… wasn’t so bad.
"Oh, and the Black Tiger Gang needs a rebrand. From now on, it’s the Golden Dragon Gang."
Lin Xuan might suck at naming things, but "Golden Dragon" sounded way more imposing.
---
Su Hua left work an hour early and returned to Night Garden, but Lin Xuan wasn’t there.
After working upstairs for over an hour, she checked the time—6 PM—and went downstairs, frowning.
"Butler Wang, has A-Xuan returned?"
"Master Lin? He left at noon with food for you and hasn’t come back," Butler Wang answered.
"Still not back?" Su Hua murmured.
She pulled out her phone and called Lin Xuan.
A cold, automated voice replied: "The number you have dialed is currently switched off. Please try again later."
Her frown deepened.
Though Lin Xuan had mentioned having business to handle, an uneasy feeling gnawed at her—like something was wrong.
This was the first time since they’d started dating that she couldn’t reach him.
Su Hua then dialed Lin Xuan’s bodyguards.
The phone kept ringing, unanswered.
"Something's wrong," Su Hua murmured, her face pale. "Something must have happened."
The bodyguards' phones were always on and never left their sides.
Why hadn't the two closest guards protecting Lin Xuan answered their calls?
Su Hua quickly opened her phone—she had installed a small tracking trick on Lin Xuan’s device, allowing her to locate him anytime.
She tapped open the app.
"Lin Xuan!"
At the sight before her, her face drained completely of color, her hands trembling uncontrollably.
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
ave】 Shen Qingling was a man with peerless looks, a cunning mind, and the ability to play both the aloof noble and the innocent sweetheart—a master of seduction who could outplay any player. But after an untimely death, he found himself bound to a system and transmigrated into the tragic "true young master" of a melodramatic novel. In the original story, his childhood sweetheart treated him as a backup plan, his fiancée swore to break off their engagement for the sake of the "fake young master," and his own sister saw him as the family's disgrace. He was nothing more than a rat everyone wanted to stomp on. System 077: "Your mission is to change the original fate and conquer the goddesses." Shen Qingling: "Thanks for the invite. If seduction had tiers, I’d be max level." His childhood sweetheart knelt, begging for forgiveness: "Qingling, I was wrong. Please give me another chance." His ex-fiancée refused to marry anyone else: "Shen Qingling, I was blind before. In this life, I’ll marry no one but you." A yandere CEO went mad for love: "Shen Qingling, you can only like me. I’ll stop at nothing to make you mine!" His green-tea sister clung to him daily: "Brother, look at me, won’t you? I’m more obedient than them—I love you the most~" At first, they scorned and trampled on him. Later, they burned themselves like moths to a flame, all for his sake. His looks were his weapon, his sweet words the bait—heroines obsessed over him, villains turned to madness for him. Shen Qingling became a true male siren, igniting battlefield after battlefield of women fighting for his affection. Years later, when System 077—now one of the elites—was asked how to become as outstanding as it, it lazily exhaled a smoke ring and replied: "Just know how to cheer ‘666’ at the right time."
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
