Inside the Shen Family Mansion.
Underground training room.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
"Thud—thud—thud—"
Each strike landed like cannon fire. Du Wanyi's swinging fists sent the massive punching bag quaking, while the eerie echoes reverberated through the cavernous space.
A noble lady sat nearby, wearing noise-canceling headphones, watching one of those trashy, brain-numbing short dramas her best friend had recommended.
You know what? She had to admit—
She’d never watched this kind of thing before. The actors didn’t seem all that bright—constantly dishing out face-slapping revenge scenes or chasing after husbands. Back then, she’d thought it beneath her. But now? Clearly, she’d underestimated it.
Modern brain-rot short dramas had evolved beyond the realms of human logic. "Shen Mingzhu, no swinging on the indoor swing!"
Plotlines like that were a thing now. Even if the family hired a top-tier master, it wouldn’t fix anything.
Ridiculous as it was, it was addicting. The noble lady had fully surrendered, falling in love with this brainless entertainment. To heighten her experience, she’d even put on headphones.
The consequence of this choice? She completely missed the incoming call from the eldest daughter…
"Drrrring, drrrring…"
"Little Hanhan is calling…"
"Thud, thud, thud—" In the training area not far away, the madam kept pouring out sweat, venting her fury.
Furious elbow strikes rained down on a punching bag labeled "Little Chengcheng." Nearby lay another identically styled bag, already burst open, scrawled with words like "Doudou."
It was beaten so badly it was distorted and barely recognizable.
She had never suffered such a humiliating insult!
Twice!
Twice in a row, she’d been played for a fool!
Rewind to several hours earlier. Hiding out in Country F, Shen Ming—eager to return quickly and reduce his own culpability—decided without hesitation to throw Ye Cheng under the bus.
He set a trap for Ye Cheng, pretending to invite him to a meal—sending location details and everything. The place wasn’t cheap, and the dishes were all ones Ye Cheng liked.
After setting the bait, he "accidentally" slipped the restaurant’s GPS coordinates to the madam.
Du Wanyi bought it. Without hesitation, she set up a stakeout. She didn’t believe Doudou would have the nerve to fool her twice in a row… but her judgment failed.
He sure did dare.
Du Wanyi sneaked to the spot and sure enough found someone ordering, packing food. With lightning speed, she pounced and arrested "Ye Cheng"!
In that moment, tears of righteous vengeance welled in her eyes. She had already mapped out an entire flawless torture-and-threat routine aimed at intimidating Little Hanhan. A sinister grin stretched across her face.
But then—
"Help! Assault! Someone’s attacking!"
The pinned-down food delivery driver screamed desperately. By the time Du Wanyi left the police station, the sky had gone dark. The police chief who escorted her out was drenched in sweat.
He even thought he glimpsed a hint of desolation and defeat in that towering figure from the Du Family, like she had been crushed.
He didn’t dare ask what happened. This wasn’t a matter some small-time police chief could pry into. After seeing Du Wanyi off, he turned to placate the bewildered delivery driver…
The full story? Ye Cheng knew it was a trap—walking in meant certain death. But he wasn’t about to waste the free meal. So he ordered a delivery runner to go instead.
He told the guy to eat anything he wanted, then pack it up and deliver it to Ye Cheng—plus a 50 buck courier fee…
A bizarre incident like that wasn’t out of place in Dohai City—aka "Magic City"—where strange, inexplicable events were practically normal. There were just too many rich folks and too many pathetic grovelers. Don’t assume rich people are free from simping—oh, they simp harder.
They simp with more intensity.
Ever seen someone send flowers only for the goddess to dump them straight into the trash without a glance? Some delivery guy lucky enough to snag them sold them for a good profit.
That delivery runner here probably thought Ye Cheng’s errand was the same kind of score.
The end result? Ten seconds later, he took over twenty elbow strikes and nearly saw the afterlife…
Du Wanyi executed a flawless combo before she realized she’d hit the wrong person. She’d been tricked again. Rage she’d tried to bottle exploded into a blazing inferno, doubling and tripling.
Whoever she caught—Ye Cheng or Shen Ming—was going to get hung up and beaten till they begged for mercy.
But right now, neither was in reach. All she could do was turn into a powerless madam, furiously elbowing a custom-made punching bag weighing nearly a ton. Results? Visible.
She’d been at it for hours now, wholly absorbed in her own world of psychotic catharsis. She didn’t notice the phone buzzing nearby.
"Die, Little Chengcheng!!!"
Bam, bam, bam—more brutal madam-punches smashed into the bag, shaking it wildly until it finally stopped bouncing like a pinball.
The echo of massive elbows drowned out the call Shen Qinghan was placing. And the noble lady, lost in her dumpster-fire drama, remained oblivious.
A delicate misunderstanding came to life.
Meanwhile.
At a private hospital under the Du Family’s wings.
Shen Qinghan hung up the phone after a call that rang nearly five minutes without answer.
She had a cold feeling that some infuriating old witch was provoking her.
If someone was trying to avoid consequences, they’d either shut off their phone or block her, then claim it was an accident. Refusing to do any of that—not blocking, not shutting down—but ignoring the call? That had never happened before.
In Shen Qinghan’s mind, only one explanation fit: that born-evil old madam was testing her patience.
Shen Qinghan’s eyes narrowed. The atmosphere in the room instantly chilled. The short-haired woman nearby—still peeling plastic off Da Huang—felt a sudden drop in temperature.
She shivered involuntarily.
Something was off.
"Where is that shameless hag right now?" Shen Qinghan’s voice was calm and icy.
Shameless hag?
The short-haired woman blinked before it hit her—their young mistress was likely referring to… the family head herself?
Short-haired woman: "…"
"Young miss, I… I don’t understand— At home, underground training room. And Madam Xia is there too."
Under the heiress’s stare of death, the woman gave in under five seconds and betrayed the madam outright…
Late night.
The short-haired woman’s chauffeured car stopped at the gates of the Shen residence. Carefully, it avoided "Little Tomato."
"Drive over it. Twice." Shen Qinghan pointed at the tomato-emblazoned territory marker the madam had painted on the ground, her tone ice-cold.
Short-haired woman: "…"
"Young miss, this—"
"Starting today, paint that tomato as a bitter gourd," Shen Qinghan continued coolly.
Why a bitter gourd? Because Madam hated bitter gourds above all else—always whining about why an ingredient that vile even existed in the world.
To put it simply, she was a picky eater. Anything she disliked, she loathed with a passion—and there were at least a hundred things she loathed just like that. Yet the young mistress had chosen the one thing she hated the most to start reforming.
The short-haired woman: “…”
Clatter, clatter, clatter.
The Shen family’s underground training room took up as much space as a full-sized football stadium—an absolutely extravagant setup. Inside, you could see all sorts of equipment needed for working out.
Du Wanyi’s strange little animals used to be hidden and raised here, though some of them weren’t obedient and would run out, only to be caught by the young mistress.
Their fates? Far beyond miserable. They were wiped out entirely; the survivors could be counted on one hand.
A dog like Da Hei, on the other hand, had wised up. It heard the commotion early, picked up the signals, and made a run for it to find its owner. Otherwise, it, too, would have been doomed to meet its maker.
“Boom, boom, boom—”
As soon as she entered, the sound of boxing echoed through the massive basement. Even though the soundproofing was top-notch, it still couldn’t fully absorb all the energy carried by the sound waves.
Like ripples, the sound spread in wave after wave, eventually reaching the young mistress’s ears.
Da Huang quietly narrowed its eyes, stealthily retreating behind the two people, ready to bolt at any moment. It had caught the scent of danger!
A mature dog should have a well-honed, complete, and sensitive counter-surveillance system and instincts. Right now, its gut was telling it something very dangerous was about to happen, so it was preparing to run ahead of time.
This was a skill Da Huang had learned from its days of sneaking off with people—er, no, sneaking off with dogs.
Usually, whenever it felt something was off, it would bolt, to avoid getting caught red-handed by the other dog’s owner. Back then, this was also how it used to end up with sprained paws.
That instinct had never let it down. Even though it could now run faster than any dog could catch it, it still remembered the hardships of the past and never forgot where it started. It trusted its dog sense!
The short-haired woman’s scalp crawled. She had already sent a warning message to Du Wanyi, telling her to run quickly.
But unfortunately… she was still offline. The one time she was needed, no one could reach her.
Head of the family, run!
The sound of footsteps grew closer. Shen Qinghan was clever. Knowing that a certain older lady had good stamina and quick reflexes, she had gone straight to the backstage control center ahead of time and shut down all the exits.
She only left open the path she herself was taking.
Clatter, clatter, clatter. The footsteps stopped. In the break room, the Noble Lady was still lounging with her legs crossed, watching a brainless short drama on screen, her face full of seriousness as she studied it frame by frame, gradually getting absorbed into the shallow plot like a proper ‘Madam’.
Seeming to notice something, the corner of her vision picked up an extra presence. She turned her head to look.
The Noble Lady: “???”
Whoosh. The Noble Lady’s eyes widened, and she sprang to her feet, staring at Shen Qinghan in utter disbelief. “Hanhan, you… how did you come here?”
A strained smile appeared on the Noble Lady’s face. She deliberately raised her voice while speaking, trying to use it as a secret signal to her good friend.
Wanyi, run!!!
“Boom, boom, boom—”
The Madam’s powerful punches!
Not far away, Du Wanyi was still fully immersed in her joyful world of revenge. Forget hearing voices—even if something exploded next to her, she wouldn’t react.
The Noble Lady made one last attempt to struggle. Summoning her courage, she stepped in front of Shen Qinghan. “Hanhan, hitting people isn’ right. Can’t we just sit down and talk things out nicely? Wanyi didn’t mean it…”
Shen Qinghan looked coldly at the woman in front of her. “Do you even believe that yourself?”
The Noble Lady: “…”
Alright, she didn’t really believe it either. Maybe it was intentional, but…
“Move aside!”
Shen Qinghan’s voice rose sharply, and the Noble Lady’s heart skipped a beat… How intimidating.
Shen Qinghan walked straight past her, then closed the door behind her. What followed turned into—
“Huh? Who’s patting me?”
“I’m not thirsty, Hehe. I’ll drink water later. Just a few more punches, then we can talk.”
“Hey? Hehe, when did you get plastic surgery? And you even modeled it after our little Hanhan’s face? You know what, you actually kind of look like her…”
“Help!!!”
Unable to keep up the act any longer, Du Wanyi trembled in fear, hugged the punching bag in front of her, and scrambled up it like a monkey. In the blink of an eye, she had reached the very top.
By the time she screamed for help, she had already taken several solid hits.
Du Wanyi’s HP kept ticking down: -10, -10, -10…
…
The Tang family.
“Bang!”
“Defeat!”
Even someone as strong as Ye Cheng was finally dealt with by the system. The opponents on the other side were just a few minor national-rank players and nothing to fear… but their playstyle was too dirty.
Kids, run! The other team had five hard crowd-control abilities. Before you could even use a skill, your screen went black!
After Ye Cheng died, the team fell apart completely. After winning 28 consecutive matches, they finally tasted their first defeat. And that loss ignited the fragile balance and friendship within the team.
“It’s all your fault!” Tang Yuyao struck first, starting the internal war!
“How is it my fault? You died more times than I did, and you still have the nerve to blame me? If I hadn’t carried before, we would’ve lost ages ago. Can’t even learn to ride the carry—selfish brat! Neener neener neener…”
Tang Yuyao’s anger kept stacking: +1, +1, +1…
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.”
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
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."
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
