"Also, Xuan, my SIM card is damaged, and I can't log into WeChat. I'll contact you with a new WeChat account," Su Hua added.
Cheng Da pinched his throat and nodded emphatically, "Mhm."
As soon as Su Hua hung up, her icy gaze fell back on Jiang Qing.
Jiang Qing looked utterly bewildered. "President Su, what's wrong?"
Why was President Su staring at her with such a terrifying expression?
She hadn’t done anything wrong, had she...?
"You seem very concerned about Xuan?" Su Hua suddenly remarked.
Jiang Qing: "!!!"
So that was it!
This was not a misunderstanding she wanted to have!
"No, no, no!" Jiang Qing hurriedly denied. "President Su, don’t misunderstand. I was only concerned about Young Master Lin because if he hasn’t recovered by the day after tomorrow, the plan you arranged won’t proceed smoothly, right?"
Only then did Su Hua withdraw her cold stare from Jiang Qing.
The day after tomorrow—it truly was an important day. The dance she had practiced would finally be put to use.
Jiang Qing let out a long sigh of relief.
Thank goodness she was quick-witted.
Otherwise, she might not have survived President Su’s scrutiny.
Su Hua returned to her seat, added Lin Xuan on WeChat, and then closed her eyes to rest.
Suddenly, something occurred to her, and she opened her eyes again.
That last "mhm" in Xuan’s messages didn’t quite sound like his voice.
Soon, another message from Lin Xuan arrived on Su Hua’s phone:
[Lin Xuan]: Hua Bao, I just took my medicine. I’m a bit tired, so I’ll sleep now.
This message had also been pre-written by Lin Xuan, with Cheng Da simply copying and pasting it to send.
[Su Hua]: Mhm.
Su Hua opened the surveillance feed on her phone and saw Lin Xuan place his phone on the table after their exchange before lying down to rest.
She pinched the bridge of her nose.
She must have been overthinking it. How could this not be Xuan?
There was no way Xuan could escape from Night Garden.
Yet, as Su Hua watched the man on the screen, she felt no trace of affection—only an overwhelming sense of unfamiliarity.
After more than ten hours on the plane, Su Hua’s flight finally landed.
Meanwhile, at the Shadow Organization’s base—
Derkson emerged from the medical room once again, exhaustion evident in his eyes.
"Master Derkson, our leader requests your presence," said a man with a scar running from his eye to the corner of his mouth, bowing respectfully.
"Understood."
Derkson nodded and followed the scarred subordinate to Zhao Long’s room.
"Mr. Zhao," Derkson greeted.
"Master Derkson, how is Lin Xuan’s memory recovery progressing?" Zhao Long sat on his bed, still twirling his prayer beads between his fingers while murmuring Buddhist scriptures under his breath—praying for longevity.
"It’s complete," Derkson confirmed. "Now, he just needs to sleep for another dozen or so hours before waking up."
"Excellent, truly excellent." Zhao Long smiled in satisfaction.
Derkson continued, "Mr. Zhao, about the payment you promised..."
"Don’t worry. Once everything is settled, I’ll deliver the full sum—$20 million USD, not a cent less," Zhao Long assured.
Derkson chuckled. "Mr. Zhao is indeed a man of his word."
"Master Derkson, you’ve been working nonstop for hours. You must be exhausted. Let my men escort you to rest for a while," Zhao Long suggested.
"That would be best." Derkson nodded and left with Zhao Long’s men.
The other subordinates in the room also prepared to leave, allowing Zhao Long to rest alone.
"Wait."
Zhao Long suddenly called them back.
"Boss, is there anything else you need?" the two subordinates asked respectfully.
Zhao Long smirked. "Things are progressing so smoothly. It’s been over ten hours since Ling was separated from her boyfriend. She must be worried sick about him by now."
Ling was a killing machine he had personally trained—how could he bear to see her distressed?
A perfect killing machine should have no emotions at all.
"Go," Zhao Long’s eyes darkened. "Find a way to inform Ling that Lin Xuan is in the hands of Shadow. If she wants to save him, she must come in person."
"Alone," Zhao Long emphasized.
"Yes, sir!"
The subordinates immediately carried out Zhao Long’s orders.
Zhao Long’s smirk deepened.
Soon.
The show was about to begin.
All that was left was for Ling to arrive and meet Lin Xuan—now with his memories restored.
Zhao Long closed his eyes, resumed chanting sutras, and continued spinning his prayer beads.
The two subordinates knew the gravity of the situation. Unlike before, they didn’t just send a text to Su Hua.
They called her instead.
[The number you have dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later.]
A cold, robotic female voice sounded from the phone.
They tried several more times, but the result was the same.
The subordinates frowned.
Why was her phone still off?
Puzzled, they contacted Jiang Qing instead.
"You’re Jiang Qing, President Su’s secretary?" the Shadow subordinate asked.
Jiang Qing frowned. "Yes, I am. And you are...?"
The subordinate replied, "Nothing important. Just passing along a message—Lin Xuan is now in Shadow’s custody. If you want him alive, tell your President Su to come to the address I’ll send you."
With that, he hung up.
Jiang Qing scoffed.
So, they were trying to get her to inform President Su about Young Master Lin’s situation?
Shadow’s plans were about to fail spectacularly.
She and Young Master Lin had gone to great lengths to keep this plan hidden from President Su—why would she reveal it now?
One subordinate prepared to inform Zhao Long that they couldn’t reach Su Hua directly.
The other stopped him. "What are you doing?"
"Something feels off. I think we should tell the boss that Ling’s phone is off," the subordinate explained.
"You’re going to bother him with something this trivial? It’ll just make us look incompetent," the other snapped.
This was a critical moment for his own advancement.
He couldn’t afford to leave a single bad impression on the boss.
"But what if something goes wrong? We can’t take that responsibility," the first subordinate argued.
What if Jiang Qing never told Ling about Lin Xuan’s capture?
"Fine. Let’s send someone to check if Ling is on her way. If she hasn’t left yet, then we’ll report it," the second subordinate proposed.
"Agreed." The first nodded.
An hour passed.
"Men." Zhao Long’s voice rang out from his room.
"Boss." The two subordinates entered.
"Well? Has Ling arrived?" Zhao Long asked.
"W-well, you see..." One subordinate stammered, unable to answer.
"Spit it out!" Zhao Long snapped, opening his eyes.
Just then, the subordinate’s phone buzzed with a new message.
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【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
+【Epic Battles!】 "Your Highness, they say Linxi Temple is miraculous. Won’t you make a wish?" "A wish? It should be making wishes to me." "That may be so, but since you’re already here..." "..." "Fine. Then grant this princess a consort to play with." "He must be obedient, devoted, and utterly infatuated with my body—so much so that he’d kneel and kiss my feet." "Your Highness, that’s not a consort. That’s a dog." "Then add clever, witty, heroic, ambitious yet pragmatic..." "Hmm, that’s enough for now. I’ll add more later." After tossing out these words half in jest, Princess Anle departed the temple—only to catch a fleeting glimpse of the Bodhisattva statue smiling at her. Meanwhile, Yang An, fresh out of university, was having a very bad day. Good news: He’d transmigrated into another world with a cheat granting tenfold combat power. Bad news: He’d immediately fallen into the clutches of a certain villainess. Good news: Said villainess possessed peerless beauty and royal status. Bad news: She was absolutely monstrous!!! In the frozen wilderness, Yang An knelt beneath Qin Guo’er’s feet, drenched in sweat despite the cold. Desperately clutching her porcelain-perfect foot—the very one poised to crush his throat—he could only think: How do I survive this?! Need answers NOW!
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
