Clatter—
Draw a card!
Clack clack clack, took a few steps, clatter, draw a card, clack clack clack...
Draw a card...
“Wait a minute, Miss, I need to check the cards—(a perfect F-country accent!)”
Ye Cheng pressed down on the card the Miss was about to draw, his expression suddenly looking a lot more handsome. That card... something was off!!!
He had memorized all the cards in front of him. Yes, just by the subtle variations in the patterns on the back, he already knew the corresponding numbers. While the Miss was still trusting her luck, Ye Cheng had already started his "flesh-and-blood mechanical ascension."
Since the usual methods couldn’t guarantee the Miss’s victory, it was time to resort to some more skillful tricks.
Take this—God’s own move!
The moment the card was drawn, Ye Cheng had already swapped out the card in Shen Qinghan’s hand. Checking the cards?
No way, swapping the cards!
I’m swapping the card—(a perfect Dragon-country accent!)
Ye Cheng pretended to examine the card that had already been switched in the Miss’s hand, holding it for a moment before showing expressions of surprise and shock.
As if he couldn’t believe it, his gaze flickered back and forth between the cards and the chessboard in front of them, covering his mouth.
“Miss, congratulations, you finally did it!” Ye Cheng was so overjoyed he was almost moved to tears.
Great, finally I can go to sleep!
Five hours. Do you know how I survived these five hours?!
Shen Qinghan frowned slightly, her expression strange as she looked at Ye Cheng. Then she glanced at the card she had just drawn herself, inspecting it carefully. After confirming it hadn’t been tampered with, she put the card back.
She grabbed the little airplane piece belonging to her flying chess game with one hand, clack clack clack... successfully reaching the goal!
Ye Cheng, preparing to burst into enthusiastic applause to cheer on the Miss, suddenly saw her eyes close—and she fainted.
She collapsed toward Ye Cheng.
Ye Cheng: “???”
“Holy crap!”
Ye Cheng put a hand near the Miss’s nose, trying to detect her breath. Hmm...
“This is bad, Dou Dou Ge, the Miss is dead!”
Shen Ming, who was still on the phone with his wife, suddenly had a huge question mark appear over his head. He turned to see their daughter, who had been stubbornly playing flying chess, now with her eyes closed.
One second she was fine, the next... passed out?
Her emotions had fluctuated so wildly that her body just couldn’t take it and...
“Dou Dou Ge, why are you still just standing there? The Miss is dead, snap out of it!” Ye Cheng wailed in despair.
Shen Ming: “???”
Countless logical guesses and self-reassurances flooded his mind, but Ye Cheng’s repeated words “she’s dead” turned everything to blank, his head buzzing.
“Ah!!!”
“Qinghan!”
Dou Dou Ge let out a sharp, piercing cry, dropping his phone to the ground and scrambling over. The phone, lying on the floor, kept transmitting his wife’s anxious voice.
“Password, Dou Dou, tell me what’s going on, ahhh!!!”
“Qinghan, are you okay... Mom will be home soon!”
A bunch of mumbling went on, but no one heard a thing... Oh wait, Ye Cheng did hear it. Not only did he hear it, but he also revealed a wicked grin from some inconspicuous corner.
Heh heh heh, madam, you’re still a little too young for this!
Shen Qinghan’s body was quite weak. Ye Cheng had just noticed the subtle changes in her heartbeat — she was drowsy, on the verge of collapse. Not only that, even the way she drew her cards and the force with which she tapped his head had lessened considerably.
It was clear as day: the young lady was about to burn out.
Even if Ye Cheng hadn’t “deliberately sacrificed her,” after this round of the game, she would have passed out from sheer exhaustion anyway.
But Ye Cheng was, after all, a kind-hearted person. He wouldn’t let the young lady fall asleep with regrets. Of course, he had to finish the game for her—and along the way, give her already fragile nerves a little jolt.
So, in the end... guess what? The moment the young lady closed her eyes, she kicked her legs once—and that was it for this lifetime.
As for the call happening nearby, Ye Cheng had already listened in carefully with his sharp ears and keen eyes. Heh heh heh, madam, I don’t believe you won’t come back.
The young lady’s nest is just three inches from the water, madam’s about to take the bait!
Woohoo!
...
At the same time.
In Da’ao City, inside a sealed private cinema.
The giant screen in front was still playing a horror movie—“Miss Kayako’s Dinner.” It was absolutely terrifying and incredibly human... The wealthy madam had already “fallen asleep” early in the morning.
She hadn’t shown any signs before passing out—just suddenly lost consciousness. Hmm... hopefully she was having a good dream.
The madam, who had “fallen asleep,” was now faintly waking up, disturbed from her rest. Apart from Miss Kayako’s seductive “bubble voice” from the screen, all that filled the cinema was the madam’s beast-like roar.
The volume was no less than a hundred-ton truck honking right next to your ear!
“Hmm... fell asleep, huh? What time is it now... Wanyi?” The madam was still a little dazed, clutching her head as she came to.
“Ahhhh!!!”
The madam: “???”
Did Kayako get a new voice actor?
A huge question mark appeared above the madam’s head. The moment she opened her eyes, she was blasted face-first with a terrifying image—accompanied by the madam’s own voice-over.
The scream was far more pitiful than the original. Only seconds after waking up, the madam kicked her legs once more and fainted again... scared out cold.
It’s okay, dear, take a deep breath. Feeling dizzy is normal!
“Damn it, Doudou, pick up the phone!!!” Du Wanyi was beside her, clutching her phone and screaming miserably, wishing she could crawl right into the phone to see what was going on.
There wasn’t even time to connect the call. The situation had to be extremely urgent. In other words, their little Qinghan was very weak right now, desperately in need of her mother’s care, very much...
“Wake up, wake up, Hehe! What time is it already, and you’re still asleep?!”
Du Wanyi straightened up, grabbing the madam and shaking her violently, forcing her to wake up.
A few seconds later, the device powered on successfully.
The noblewoman groggily woke up. “Hmm… hmm? What’s going on, Wanyi? What time is it now…”
“Almost 6:50. This isn’t the time to talk about that. There’s something extremely urgent and important—plans have changed. Hehe, come home with me right now!”
The noblewoman blinked in confusion. “???”
What’s happening?
6:50… which means she had been asleep almost three times, each time for less than five minutes on average?
No, it didn’t seem like she had just fallen asleep—she must have been scared unconscious.
The noblewoman was speechless.
“Wait, Wanyi, what’s this emergency you’re talking about? Hey… slow down, slow down, Wanyi, put me down, I can walk myself, I can walk myself…”
Before the noblewoman could finish her sentence, Du Wanyi hoisted her up and ran off, carrying her over her head like a giant watermelon.
One hour later.
The noblewoman’s luxury business yacht set off from a port in Da’ao City, heading towards Da Hai City.
Also packed onboard was the noblewoman herself.
“Come on, Hehe, can we go any faster? What’s with that boat ahead? So slow! Why don’t we just ram it and take them out!”
Du Wanyi held a pair of binoculars, muttering to herself as she stared at another luxury yacht not far ahead, already plotting how to deal with the people on that ship.
The noblewoman was at a loss.
She yawned and by now had pieced together what was going on. Apparently, her close friend’s cold and distant daughter had some trouble, and now they were rushing back urgently.
So, the screams she heard during the second time she fainted in the movie theater weren’t from ghosts in the film—they were from her close friend’s daughter.
The noblewoman was speechless again.
That was way scarier than any ghost.
“Doo doo doo…”
Du Wanyi’s phone vibrated on the seat. The noblewoman glanced over. “Wanyi, your darling husband is calling again.”
“What? ‘Password’ Dou Dou, and you’re only answering now? Let me show you how serious I am!” Du Wanyi gritted her teeth, putting down the binoculars and suspending her plan to attack the yacht ahead.
“Wanyi, come back quickly. Hanhan’s situation… you should come see for yourself.”
With a few sighs in a row, the words hung in the air. Du Wanyi swallowed the “password” she was about to say and replied, “Okay, I—I understand. Before noon.”
They exchanged a few more brief words. The noblewoman listened carefully nearby, clearly sensing her close friend’s low spirits.
After hanging up, Du Wanyi stood on the deck, gazing out at the sea. “Do you think swimming over would be faster?”
The noblewoman was baffled. “???”
“Wanyi, nothing will happen, don’t worry too much,” the noblewoman comforted her.
“Buzz buzz!”
The phone vibrated again—another message from Dou Dou.
A photo—a brief, clean snapshot. Shen Qinghan lay on the hospital bed, eyes closed peacefully as if asleep. Ye Cheng’s eyes brimmed with tears, bloodshot and heavy... everything unsaid was conveyed in that silence.
The noblewoman was stunned.
“Hehe, there’s no need to say more. My mind is made up...”
Du Wanyi spoke as she donned a waterproof suit, walking steadily toward the edge of the deck, her gaze resolute. “Xiao Hanhan, Mom is coming back!”
Splash!
Without hesitation, she plunged into the sea, sending droplets scattering...
The noblewoman: “???”
“Wanyi!!!”
The noblewoman let out a sharp, piercing scream...
...
Meanwhile, inside the hospital room.
“Dou Dou, have you finished taking the photos? Let me see?”
“Still feels a bit off, but it should be enough. Once we trick the lady back, we’ll lock the door to the room. Then, the young lady can settle her scores and grievances. After that, this matter will be behind us.”
Ye Cheng examined the photos seriously.
Shen Ming: “...”
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
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."
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
