"And with that kind of financial power, they must have gained the city lord's support... So, is there no room left for any reconciliation between the city lord and me?"
Thinking about this, Zhou Xiong’s heart turned ice-cold.
Was defending Pukou City truly going to be this difficult?
As he stewed in frustration, his gaze suddenly caught sight of a middle-aged man not far away, violently throwing eggs at him. Almost like a moment of divine inspiration, Zhou Xiong instantly recognized the man.
Last night, that same man had spoken up for him.
He believed that everything Zhou Xiong did and said was utterly flawless—an ordinary civilian.
But now...
There he was, right in the crowd!
And he was the most energetic one of all, hurling eggs with gusto.
"It’s you!" Zhou Xiong roared.
The man was startled and blurted out, "Not me, not me."
"It is you! It is you!" Zhou Xiong insisted.
"Absolutely not me, absolutely not me," the man denied desperately.
"No, it’s you."
"No, definitely not me."
"If it weren’t you, why are you denying it?" Zhou Xiong instantly seized on the logical flaw in the man’s words, landing a fatal blow.
That left the man stunned for a second, before he clenched his teeth and tried to bluster, "Not me, not me.
I’m just a good citizen defending love."
Hearing those words, Zhou Xiong’s head seemed to explode.
Wait—last night, this man had been firmly on his side. How could a single night bring about such a huge change?
Could the Love Mutual Aid Alliance of Pukou City really wield such tremendous power?
Was it so easy to transform a person?
Reflecting on this, Zhou Xiong lifted his gaze and spotted many familiar faces—people who had once been honest, simple farmers of Pukou City. Yet now...
They had all become fervent followers of the Love Mutual Aid Alliance.
Zhou Xiong’s heart sank like a stone.
Could the change really be this fast?
He had just had a solid night’s sleep. And when he woke up, his most cherished foundation—the people’s support—had been turned completely upside down.
He’d even lost that last pillar of strength!
"General, let’s head back," one of his guards put in urgently.
In truth, it wasn’t that the guard wanted to persuade Zhou Xiong to return—it was that he couldn’t take it anymore. Standing beside Zhou Xiong, the things being thrown at the general often missed him and hit the guard instead.
Who could endure that?
To make matters worse, they couldn’t just start a massacre.
Nearly half the city was gathered here.
How many people had the nerve to go on a killing spree against half a city?
Zhou Xiong responded like a wooden puppet, letting the guard pull him back to the mansion. Sitting in a chair, he was as dazed as a statue, his mind struggling to process everything.
Outside, the clamor hadn’t stopped. The chants kept ringing out, demanding that he get out of Pukou City, demanding that he pay for Miss Wanqing’s life, demanding that he fall on his own sword.
Zhou Xiong’s heart was caught in a cycle of collapse, reconstruction, and then collapse all over again.
It wasn’t until dusk that the crowd gradually dispersed.
Most likely, they were going home for dinner and rest.
Only then did Zhou Xiong breathe a slight sigh of relief and start pondering his next move.
The city lord was against him.
The Love Mutual Aid Alliance wanted him dead.
Even the people’s sympathies were set against him.
He felt completely stripped of any support.
"Surely I can’t just surrender to Ren Tianye?"
This thought suddenly flickered through Zhou Xiong‘s mind, but he quickly suppressed it.
"No, absolutely not!"
Just then, his guard came running in.
"General, someone is at the gate asking to see you."
"It doesn’t seem to be from the Love Mutual Aid Alliance or the city lord’s faction. She doesn’t look like she’s from Pukou City. However, she claims to be an old acquaintance of your master."
Zhou Xiong frowned slightly: "An old acquaintance of my master? A woman?"
"A woman—an elderly one."
"No way. My master regarded love and romance as fleeting clouds all his life. He had an old acquaintance?" Zhou Xiong said. "Show her in."
After a moment, an old woman entered through a side gate. Her face was aged, but her spirit was vigorous, and she gave off an impression of being anything but ordinary at first glance.
Zhou Xiong took a look at her and asked directly, "Who are you? And why do you claim to be an old acquaintance of my master?"
"I am Sun Rong. You may call me Granny Sun," she said. She was the one who had volunteered to come and persuade Zhou Xiong on Ren Tianye’s behalf. "Your master and I both once belonged to the former Demon Suppression Bureau, so I suppose that makes us old acquaintances."
Zhou Xiong suddenly understood.
So that was it.
Still...
Wariness quickly rose in his heart.
The former... Demon Suppression Bureau?
What exactly was that? His master had never mentioned it while alive. But he knew all too well what the Demon Suppression Bureau was.
That was a department under Ren Tianye’s command, infamous for its power to execute first and report later, with special imperial authority. It had launched wave after wave of purges against love-crazed fools across the land.
Deep down, Zhou Xiong actually approved of it.
But unfortunately, he was on the opposite side.
So in his eyes, the Demon Suppression Bureau was a great enemy.
Staring hard at Granny Sun, he said, "So you’re a persuasive envoy sent by Ren Tianye?"
Granny Sun gave Zhou Xiong an approving glance before replying, "No wonder he took you as his disciple—your reactions are quick."
"That’s right. I’ve now pledged loyalty to the Duke, and at his command, I’ve come to invite you to do the same."
She let out a sigh and went on, "I arrived last night, but I didn’t come to see you right away. And good thing I didn’t—I had the chance to witness the chaos and... absurdity of Pukou City."
"Alas, these love-crazed fools under heaven are growing more intense and terrifying by the day—ten times more rampant than in our time. No, more than ten times."
"If only our leader from back then hadn’t disappeared. Had we managed to stop them, the world wouldn’t have degenerated to this extreme."
Granny Sun seemed to be speaking to herself, yet also painting Zhou Xiong a picture of those days. After a pause, she continued:
"Your master and I, back in the day, were both dedicated to stopping these madness spreading pests. Then, we didn’t succeed.
But now, the Duke has arrived. He’s carved out a promising situation. And as a descendant of the former Demon Suppression Bureau, I believe you’d be willing to pledge your allegiance to him as well."
"Come on, join the Duke, and together, we’ll restore the world to its proper state."
When she had first volunteered for this task before Ren Tianye, Sun Rong had been sure it would be easy. She assumed that as soon as she spoke, Zhou Xiong would surrender on the spot and hand over Pukou City.
But to her surprise, Zhou Xiong shook his head.
And he did it with a firm resolve.
This left Granny Sun taken aback.
"You disagree?"
"What, haven’t you seen what’s been happening these past two days? Pukou City has become a haven for love-crazed fools. There’s no room for you here!"
"They’re frenzied. They’re tormenting you like this.
Now, you’ve lost the support of the city officials, and you’ve lost the hearts of the people. You have nothing left."
……
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
] 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.
