"General Zhang Shi, what's wrong?"
Guo Zhou asked in surprise.
"Nothing!" Zhang Shi steadied his nerves and said, "Can you be sure that the biological father of this child is Shen Du?"
Guo Zhou shook his head. "Not completely certain, but about eighty or ninety percent sure."
"Later, I investigated specifically. During the time Yu Zhen was pregnant, Shen Du had been to this place."
"I also asked Yu Zhen about the description of the 'Young Master Shen' she mentioned, and then I went to the Linjiang Shazui Water Fort to inquire about Shen Du's appearance from others. It matched perfectly."
"Plus, Yu Zhen clearly knew that the father of her child was surnamed Shen, so... I deduced that this child is most likely Shen Du's."
"It's just..."
Guo Zhou hesitated, a bit puzzled. "What I'm not clear about is that, according to the information I gathered about the Shen family at Linjiang Shazui Water Fort, they've had only a single male heir for nine generations, with a fragile bloodline—just Shen Du as the sole descendant. It's said he has no known offspring."
"And yet, he never came to look for Yu Zhen."
"I have some doubts."
"Maybe I got it wrong?"
"Otherwise, Yu Zhen should have risen in status through her child, lived in luxury, and been well cared for by the Shen family."
Guo Zhou didn't understand, but Zhang Shi already did.
Why?
Because Shen Du was a hopeless romantic!
He had somehow found a woman named Su Lanxiang somewhere and fallen deeply in love with her, leaving no time or thought for anything else.
But that no longer mattered.
The Shen family of Linjiang Shazui Water Fort feared a break in the bloodline above all else. So this child... send it to them!
Zhang Shi's eyes gleamed with a frightening intensity.
If he could get his hands on that child, the small Linjiang Shazui Water Fort would be within his grasp!
"So this is the true way to unlock Yunjing!"
"This method..."
"I'd call it..."
"The Enhanced Gale Tactics!"
Zhang Shi's confidence surged within him. He immediately said to Guo Zhou, "Let's go. Take me to find this Yu Zhen. Once we find her and secure that child, you'll have rendered a great service."
"You wanted me to protect you, didn't you?"
"Well, if you help me find that child, you'll be one of my trusted men. Me protecting you is no challenge. Instead, I'll recommend you to join the Demon-Suppression Bureau."
"As for that so-called Heart Alliance, against our Bureau's Swords of Severed Feelings, they're nothing but scraps."
Guo Zhou listened, growing excited.
"General Zhang Shi, I... I really have a chance to join the Demon-Suppression Bureau?"
That was the Demon-Suppression Bureau!
Just hearing its name stirred awe and longing.
Was he, Guo Zhou—a mere fisherman scraping by on the catches of the lake—going to join the Imperial-consecrated, execution-without-approval Demon-Suppression Bureau?
Was his ancestral tomb smoking with good fortune?
No, it was probably on fire!
Zhang Shi gave him a dismissive look. "Kid, you're... born and bred for the Demon-Suppression Bureau!"
"If you'd come into contact with the Bureau earlier, you'd already be in a high position by now."
"Enough. No time to waste. Let's move."
Zhang Shi wasted no time. He quickly assembled a squad of personal guards, and the troop set off in an imposing procession.
Light cavalry moved fast, reaching the small town where Guo Zhou lived in less than half a day.
Such small towns usually had some oversight, but with the war imminent, all personnel had been called back to Pukou City by Zhou Xiong. The place was now entirely empty, utterly defenseless.
Not that it mattered, even if there were guards. Defending against Zhang Shi was meaningless.
The Enhanced Gale Tactics were now his primary strategy, but that didn't mean he'd forgotten the basic version. The skills he'd learned on the grasslands were etched into his bones. On these flat lands outside Pukou City, even if troops were present, they'd only end up as corpses under his blade.
"G-G-General Zhang Shi, right... ahead..."
Guo Zhou's face was pale, his breath ragged. His hands clutched the horse's reins tightly, as if afraid he'd be thrown off.
It was obvious he didn't know how to ride.
This was probably his first time on a horse.
And it had been a forced ride at full speed.
That he could endure it through sheer willpower showed decent resilience.
"Miss Su Jin will probably like him," Zhang Shi thought to himself, making a mental note.
"Lead the way," he said.
"Yes!"
Guo Zhou suppressed the storm in his chest after the long ride, took a deep breath, and stepped forward.
He wore an expression of... pride.
Yes, pride!
Earlier, he'd feared the Heart Alliance's pursuit, fleeing like a cornered dog. But now...
He, Guo Zhou, had returned!
Behind him marched General Zhang Shi's army!
If not now, when would he ever get to be proud?
He strode ahead, drawing glances from passersby.
Soon, they reached the place where Yu Zhen worked.
Guo Zhou dismounted—not smoothly, but very awkwardly—and walked up to the trembling shopkeeper.
"Relax, it's me, Guo Zhou. You know me. So... where's Yu Zhen?"
"In the back courtyard."
"She's not working today?"
"She took a day off."
"Damn, she dares to take a day off while raising a child?"
"She doesn't usually take them. This time, seems like something came up."
"Alright, I'll go see her."
Guo Zhou walked in slowly, hands clasped behind his back, as if an army of thousands followed him.
Well... an army indeed followed him.
—
In the back courtyard.
Two years had passed, and Yu Zhen was nothing like her former self.
Her once captivating beauty had faded.
Weariness had settled around her eyes and brows.
Clothed in the plain garb of a laborer, she would vanish among a crowd without a trace.
Times had changed.
The hardships of these two years had taught her that lesson well.
So when the Heart Alliance approached her two days ago with their scheme, the thought had lingered in her mind, tangled and unbearable.
"Miss Yu Zhen, a woman like you was born to be part of our Heart Alliance. How can you let a meaningless child hold you back?"
"You should open your heart, embrace a bigger world, and seek a better love."
"Take that child and dump it at Guo Zhou's house, then just run. From then on, you'll be nothing but a poor woman who once met a jerk."
"With your qualities, what kind of love can't you find?"
"Miss Yu Zhen, think it over carefully."
"Once you've decided, come find us at the Heart Alliance. We'll help you find a good husband, so you can soak in a honeypot of love for the rest of your life!"
Those words echoed in her mind, over and over.
They pounded in her heart.
Day after day, fiercer.
By the third day, Yu Zhen had cracked.
"That's right. I'm just a pitiful woman who met a scoundrel. What's worse than before? There aren't just Young Masters Shen in this world; I still have plenty of love to pursue!"
"With the Heart Alliance backing me, what do I have to fear?"
"At worst, I just marry someone rich and powerful instead of slaving away here, enduring needless suffering!"
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!
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?!
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
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.
