“How could this be? She was perfectly fine before. How did she suddenly end up on the verge of dying?”
“What are we supposed to do after she dies?”
“Does that mean Mini-Hanhans is out of the running?”
“No, wait. If we work hard now, it might still be in time?”
“No, no, no. This isn’t the time to be thinking about that. We should be asking why Little Chengcheng absolutely has to die…”
“Right, right. That’s the right question…”
“No, no, no. That doesn’t seem right…”
“Right, right…”
Ye Cheng: “…”
Ye Cheng hung upside down in midair, looking rather speechless as Madam continued arguing with herself. The cold sweat on his forehead only grew heavier.
Good grief, Madam really isn’t human. Looking at this, is Doudou-bro actually the most normal person in the whole young lady’s family?
This won’t do. If things continued like this, he seemed certain to die. He had to save himself…
Ye Cheng quickly searched through his mind for someone he could trust who also had the ability to come and help him. In the end, his target was locked onto Doudou-bro!
Actually, Ye Cheng had two optimal solutions: Lin Tianxiong and Shen Ming. The problem was that Old Lin’s phone would be checked. The moment Lin Baizhi noticed even the slightest suspicious detail, she would immediately arrest him.
And then…
Ye Cheng: “…”
Ye Cheng decisively gave up on Old Lin and chose the more trustworthy and dependable Doudou-bro instead.
Their normally icy father-daughter relationship now seemed incredibly warm in Ye Cheng’s eyes. Thank goodness—this was what a normal father-daughter relationship looked like. For all he knew, if Doudou-bro died somewhere one day, the young lady might not even notice…
You’re the one, Doudou-bro!
Ye Cheng secretly glanced outside at his phone, which he had left there to charge with solar power…
Damn it, it was dead!
All right, so here was the question: how was he supposed to go over and retrieve his phone under Madam’s watchful eye?
The rope tied around him wasn’t a problem. With a little force, he could undo it. The issue was that once he freed himself, he would have to face an enraged Madam…
666, there was a second stage too!
The first stage had been simple enough, but this second stage had instantly turned into a life-or-death challenge. Whoever had designed this level was a genius!
Just as Ye Cheng was despairing, he suddenly spotted a huge mound of fat lying in the nearby cave entrance, basking in the sun…
Even in the depths of despair, there was always a glimmer of hope!
Mengde, I was only joking with you just now. You’ll always be my best brother in my heart. You’re a good dog, so hurry up and get over here, you piece of crap!
Ye Cheng maintained his kind-hearted persona for less than two seconds before changing his attitude completely. He stole a glance at Madam, who was still muttering to herself, then quietly whistled.
Da Huang, who had been sleeping where he lay, immediately rolled over and sprang to his feet. His head rotated toward Ye Cheng like a camera, and he stared motionlessly at his good big brother, who was stuck in the dirt like a ginseng root.
The two of them gazed at each other from a distance, communicating with their eyes.
Ye Cheng: You piece of crap, bring me my phone!
Da Huang: Read. Not replying.
Ye Cheng: ???
Damn it, had I been too nice to you lately, Mengde? Believe me, I’ll—
Please!
Seeing that Da Huang was still dwelling on the fact that he had nearly been elbowed into the afterlife earlier, Ye Cheng immediately switched back to his kind-hearted persona. Everything else could wait. He had to trick this dog over first.
Once he got out… he would be in for a world of pain!
After Ye Cheng’s repeated coaxing, Da Huang finally remembered all the good times they had shared. Moved by his big brother’s kind-hearted persona, he decided to help him.
Da Huang’s belly was round from eating so much. He yawned, got to his feet, and walked toward the phone lying on a rock in the snow. After looking over the options for a while, he…
Chose Madam’s phone.
Ye Cheng: “???”
You damn—
Wrong one! Not that one, the other one! The other—
Before Ye Cheng could finish, Da Huang had already run over. He was very considerate about it, deliberately lowering his footsteps as he approached and sticking close to the wall. Finally, he found the right angle, clamped the phone in his mouth, and tossed it toward Ye Cheng with a jerk of his head.
Connection successful!
Ye Cheng: “…”
Fine. He’d make do.
Going back to retrieve his own phone now would only increase the risk. Making do with Madam’s phone was just as good. With Doudou-bro’s astonishing intelligence, he should be able to understand Ye Cheng’s predicament without difficulty.
He would definitely come and rescue him!
Doudou-bro, I swear, if I make it out alive this time, I’ll never call you “Password Doudou-bro” again!
Du Wanyi’s phone was locked with a pattern. Ye Cheng had seen it just moments ago and memorized it, so he unlocked the phone without a hitch. He then searched through the contacts while keeping out of sight.
Huh?
Strange. Why weren’t there any relevant search prompts like “husband” or “dear”?
Confusion appeared in Ye Cheng’s eyes, but then inspiration struck. He deleted the search terms he had just entered and typed in…
Doudou.
Oh, right, right! This was the one!
The moment he typed in “Doudou,” Doudou-bro’s WeChat contact popped up. Ye Cheng hurriedly sent him a message.
“Doudou-bro, hurry and come save me! Madam seems to have gone crazy. She keeps muttering something about Mini-Hanhans…”
“Come quickly! Emergency!”
The moment Ye Cheng sent the messages, he deleted them and prepared to shut down the phone and return it to its original place, so Madam wouldn’t discover what he had done.
The instant the message was sent, Shen Ming replied.
Ye Cheng: “???”
What the hell, that fast?
No wonder they called him the Great Sea City’s killer of married women. He really was something!
Wonderful! Doudou-bro, you’re practically my—
Hmm?
Wait. Something seemed off. What was with the smiley face?
He had replied, but not really. Replying and not replying were basically the same thing. Shen Ming had sent over a smiling sticker, accompanied by a hand that kept waving goodbye.
Every part of it conveyed the same message…
Do you think I believe you?
Ye Cheng: “???”
“It’s really me, Doudou-bro! Save me!” Ye Cheng’s head filled with question marks. He had no idea whether Doudou-bro had installed the national anti-fraud app on his phone, but his anti-scam awareness was terrifyingly strong.
I know this sounds ridiculous, sending you a message from Madam’s phone… but I really had no other choice!
Believe me! Believe me, it’s really me, I—
Before Ye Cheng could send another message, the phone screen went black. Even the phone’s final “backup hidden power source” had been completely exhausted.
Ye Cheng: “…”
Right. Madam’s phone had gone black because it was out of power just now. Where had the electricity for sending his message come from?
As if he had thought of something, Ye Cheng felt the back of the phone…
Yep. There was a neat row of tooth marks.
Da Huang’s.
Ye Cheng: “…”
He had been wondering where the power had come from if there was no new energy source…
As it turned out, it had been the ancient method of charging!
Amazing!!!
If nothing unexpected happened, Da Huang would soon be joining him underground as ginseng. It was a blessing in disguise, at least.
Ye Cheng tossed the phone to Da Huang, who had been watching from a hiding place. After catching it, Da Huang retraced his steps, and the ancient charging method was activated once again…
Ye Cheng suddenly felt a little regretful.
Maybe he should have let Da Huang take two more bites just now… No, wait—maybe two more charges. He might have been able to go another two rounds with Brother DouDou.
Damn it! What a miscalculation!
Ye Cheng was practically beating his thighs to pieces, but there was no time to start over. Madam, meanwhile, seemed to have successfully completed a battle between her left and right brains and was beginning to return to her senses…
“Why do you claim that you’re going to die? Do you have any evidence? Has the evidence been officially stamped? Even if it has, how do I know the stamp is real? And even if it is real, how do I know…”
Du Wanyi spoke with a solemn expression.
Ye Cheng: “…”
If this doesn’t work, then just punch me twice more, Madam. Take a look at what you’re saying now. Do you sound like a normal person anymore?
It was like someone on the verge of starving to death kneeling by the roadside and praying, only for a reporter to come over, point a phone at them, and snap away while asking:
“Are you hungry?”
“Why are you hungry?”
“Is it because you haven’t been working hard enough?”
“Why haven’t you eaten properly despite being this hungry?”
“Why are you begging in the city and working as a beggar, damaging the city’s image?”
Ye Cheng: “…”
“I have cancer. It’s already reached the intermediate stage. I’m going to die soon. If nothing unexpected happens, I probably have about half a year left…”
Ye Cheng was completely out of ideas. He had finally figured it out: Madam wasn’t incapable of understanding him. She simply refused to understand. He had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was going to die before she would accept it.
When it came to logical debate, Ye Cheng was nothing more than a rookie in front of Du Wanyi. You could say that Madam’s logic wasn’t particularly powerful, but unless you had a way to defeat Madam physically after winning an argument with her, everything would simply return to the starting point.
The cycle would continue until Madam’s viewpoint ultimately emerged victorious and the game ended…
Ye Cheng: “…”
Does this look like something a normal person would say?
Ye Cheng now understood why, when he had previously visited the Shen family residence, the eldest daughter had either been throwing punches or on her way to throw punches. He had thought she was just a violent maniac.
Who would have thought it was actually magic defeating magic!
Still… wasn’t there a simpler way?
When other people tried using this method, wouldn’t it be no different from throwing their lives away?
Ye Cheng: “…”
“Cancer? Intermediate-stage cancer… Is it really that frightening?” Du Wanyi blinked, and a giant question mark seemed to appear above her head.
Ye Cheng: “???”
No, Madam!
Have you ever read a book?
Don’t you know how terrifying cancer is?
Even in this modern age, with medicine as advanced as it is, cancer is still practically synonymous with death. The moment someone receives such a diagnosis, countless families are shattered and countless tears begin to fall.
It wasn’t something that could simply be cured with money. In the face of an absolute mechanism like this, no amount of money would be enough. All one could do was wait to be slaughtered…
Fortunately, he had the Black-Hearted System. Otherwise, Ye Cheng would have gone off to research some miracle drug to extend his own life. All he needed to do was wait a little longer. Once the Black-Hearted System kicked into action, then…
“Let me see what’s going on.”
Du Wanyi placed one hand on Ye Cheng’s wrist. An almost imperceptible stream of “qi” appeared and quickly entered Ye Cheng’s body.
Ye Cheng: “???”
Holy crap! Madam, are you sure you didn’t wander over here from the fantasy genre next door?
This is an urban setting! Isn’t this “qi” a little too much?
“Hm?”
“That’s strange, Xiaocheng. Why does your body feel… off? You’re far too healthy. Nothing about you feels like someone who’s sick. And the vitality of your organs… You haven’t been taking some kind of drug, have you?”
Du Wanyi’s expression turned strange. She hadn’t paid much attention at the hospital earlier, but now that she thought about it, something really was wrong.
The medicine she had made should normally take two or three days to fully break down. It was meant to keep someone alive. Yet Ye Cheng had metabolized it in less than half an hour and was still full of energy.
Could it be that…
As though she had thought of something, Du Wanyi pricked Ye Cheng’s finger with a silver needle. Then she reached into her clothes and took out something resembling a pocket watch.
Upon closer inspection, however, the markings on it were not those of a clock, but a bagua diagram.
It had weathered countless years, carrying with it the weight and desolation of time itself.
She placed Ye Cheng’s blood onto the small bagua plate…
“Click, click, click…”
Crisp sounds rang out through the cave dwelling. Du Wanyi’s eyes widened as she stared at the pocket watch in shock. In her mind, the words of a certain old immortal echoed once more.
“My dear disciple, I have passed on every skill I possess to you. I have only one request: make sure our lineage continues. I don’t have much time left, and I’m fortunate to have met you before closing my eyes…”
“I hope that before you close your eyes as well, you can find the next person cursed by Heaven’s jealousy…”
…
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.”
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
