Outside the door stood a burly man, with three lackeys behind him.
They all wielded weapons like cleavers and baseball bats.
Lin Hao quickly put on a placating smile:
"Oh, Brother Zhang, what brings you here?"
The man surnamed Zhang rudely shoved Lin Hao aside, making him stumble.
He strode in with his three underlings and sat down imperiously on the sofa.
Ning Yu was at the study door, coldly observing everything through the crack.
Zhang pulled out a cheap cigarette with no manners whatsoever.
A lackey hurriedly scurried over to light it for the boss.
He took a deep drag, burning through a large portion of the cigarette.
Exhaling a cloud of secondhand smoke, the acrid smell instantly filled the living room.
In a rough voice, he said slowly and deliberately:
"I'm here to collect rent."
Lin Hao was taken aback and asked in confusion:
"Brother Zhang, didn't we just pay a few days ago?"
One of the lackeys, displeased with Lin Hao's questioning, immediately cursed:
"What are you arguing about, punk? We're notifying you the rules have changed. It's now weekly instead of biweekly."
As he spoke, he shoved Lin Hao around, clearly looking to pick a fight.
Lin Hao was visibly angered by the pushing but didn't dare to lash out.
He realized they must have seen him returning with meat and vegetables earlier.
These neighborhood bullies, who claimed to offer "protection," were eyeing a piece of the pie.
"Also, from now on we get a 70% cut of whatever you scavenge outside," Brother Zhang flicked his ash directly onto the floor as he harshly declared the new rule.
"You want to take 30% every time?!" Lin Hao's face instantly darkened.
Scavenging outside was already dangerous enough, with the constant risk of losing one's life.
These thugs were taking advantage of their numbers and weapons to extort "protection fees" all over the neighborhood.
That was bad enough, but now they were getting even greedier.
"You're dreaming, idiot. We get 70%, you get 30%." Brother Zhang sneered mockingly.
"Wh-what?!" Lin Hao was stunned by their sheer shamelessness.
"You found quite a haul earlier, didn't you? How hardworking of you~" the burly man said with a fake smile.
He waved his hand, signaling his lackeys to go fetch the bags of food stored in the kitchen.
"Why don't you just rob me outright?!" Lin Hao could barely contain his emotions, his expression agitated and glasses askew.
"Now, now~ Watch your tone~" Brother Zhang suddenly stood up and grabbed Lin Hao by the collar.
He carelessly tossed his cigarette butt onto the previously clean floor without even bothering to stamp it out.
Leaning in close to Lin Hao and exhaling a cloud of stale smoke, he grinned:
"We're very principled people, you know."
Then he viciously kneed Lin Hao in the stomach!
"Agh!" Lin Hao cried out in pain, caught off guard.
The thug then casually tossed him aside like garbage, sending him crashing into the coffee table.
"Mind your words next time. When we say 70-30 split, it's 70-30." Brother Zhang taunted.
He called out to his men ransacking the place: "Leave him a little something."
Turning back to Lin Hao, who was struggling to get up, he said:
"See? We keep our word."
"Though for a skinny runt like you, this much should be plenty!"
One of the lackeys, after rummaging around for a while, called out:
"Boss, it's all raw ingredients. This guy was planning to cook every day!"
Brother Zhang shot Lin Hao an annoyed glance:
"Listen here, punk. Next time bring back some non-perishables. This stuff won't count in the future."
Then he told his men:
"Have those women do some work and cook all this up!"
Lin Hao finally managed to stand, his face a storm of emotions, as if holding back with all his might:
"P-please, Brother Zhang, leave me some of the meat. I... I won't have enough to eat!"
The man surnamed Zhang raised an eyebrow, turned his head contemptuously, and spat on the ground:
"And what if I say no... ARGH!!!!"
He suddenly screamed in pain.
Lin Hao had somehow gotten hold of a fruit knife and stabbed it into Brother Zhang's arm.
Zhang's face contorted in agony. He swung his other hand back and smashed his fist into Lin Hao's face!
The blow shattered Lin Hao's glasses and left his face a bloody mess!
He staggered back several steps and fell to the ground, but quickly scrambled up again.
Ignoring the blood streaming down his face, he angrily muttered:
"You bastards think you can just walk all over good people!"
"Take my meat and none of you will leave here alive!"
Lin Hao's expression twisted as he made his threats, a far cry from his previous meek scholarly appearance.
Unfortunately, tough talk didn't equate to suddenly gaining superpowers.
Brother Zhang was muscular and built. Though his arm hurt, years of street fighting had left him unfazed by such minor injuries.
Lin Hao fought like a grade-schooler throwing wild punches, while Zhang clearly had extensive combat experience.
He cracked his neck left and right, his face extremely ugly.
Muscles rippling all over his body, he snarled through gritted teeth:
"Looks like you've got a death wish, old man!"
Lin Hao charged at him again.
The blood from the earlier punch had already streamed down his face onto his white shirt.
Seeing Lin Hao rushing towards him, Brother Zhang stepped forward with a front kick.
The powerful kick caught Lin Hao square in the chest, sending him flying backwards.
Zhang pulled out a military knife tucked in his boot and, before Lin Hao could get up, stabbed him in the calf.
He even twisted the blade a couple times for good measure.
Lin Hao let out an agonized howl of pain.
"AHHH!!!"
The stabbing technique was clearly refined, as the intense pain overtook Lin Hao's entire mind.
He felt like he could barely breathe.
Eyes bloodshot, he struggled mightily but was pinned down by a foot, unable to stand no matter how hard he tried.
Brother Zhang ground his foot down, taunting all the while:
"Oh Lin, we're all civilized people here. Suddenly pulling a knife like that, you're really putting me in a tough spot."
Pinned to the floor with his face pressed against it, Lin Hao could only make muffled sounds:
"L-leave... my food... the meat... you bastards!"
[Ding! Task: Love Sickness progress updated]
[Task: Love Sickness (2/?) Ensure Lin Hao's safety]
Ning Yu in the study heard the system's task update notification.
She had been about to intervene anyway.
At first, she thought it was just a minor dispute and felt it best not to get involved.
Now it had clearly escalated into violent physical conflict.
She certainly didn't want the 2 attribute points she'd been patiently waiting for to slip away.
Ning Yu casually opened the study door, even taking the time to right the overturned dining table and chairs as she walked into the living room.
Hearing movement behind him, Brother Zhang kept his foot planted firmly on Lin Hao as he turned his head.
To his surprise, he saw a cute little girl in a pretty dress.
"Is this your sister? She's quite the looker. That was her with the backpack downstairs earlier, right? What a shame."
He smiled meaningfully.
Bending down, he yanked the knife out of Lin Hao's calf, eliciting another scream of pain.
Having already crossed the line, he figured he might as well finish the job and tie up loose ends.
Lin Hao heard Brother Zhang's words and managed to turn his head on the floor.
Seeing Ning Yu emerge from the study, he urgently shouted:
"Why... cough cough... did you come out?! Run... run away! These guys are desperate crimi- ARGH!!"
Seeing Lin Hao acting up, Brother Zhang ground his foot into the knife wound on his calf.
That shut him up.
Ning Yu remained unmoved in the face of the arrogant thugs and Lin Hao shouting at her to flee.
Instead, she walked straight towards Brother Zhang.
Gone was her earlier image of an adorable little girl. Now her eyes were cold and her expression icy.
She elegantly raised her right hand, opening her fingers slightly.
A crimson Tang sword materialized out of thin air in her right hand, which she then grasped!
The cold gleam of the blade made Brother Zhang squint.
A clear "shing" of an unsheathed sword rang through the air!
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?!
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
