The dim red lights in the grand hall suddenly faded, replaced by a bright white light that illuminated every corner, leaving no shadow untouched.
"You've finally arrived."
A man in a white robe floated in the air, his robe adorned with golden swirl-like patterns that emitted a faint glow.
Beneath his feet, a multi-layered rotating golden array formed, allowing him to hover effortlessly.
Behind him was a black-and-white mural.
The mural depicted various ordinary humans, numbering at least in the thousands, ranging from infants in swaddling clothes to elderly individuals.
Each figure was captured in a different pose—some working, some resting, some eating, some hunting, and even some engaged in intercourse.
They all shared one peculiar trait: their faces were left blank, and their skulls appeared to have been opened, exposing their interiors.
From the openings in their skulls, glowing threads extended, connecting every head to the central Taiji symbol in the mural.
The Taiji symbol rotated clockwise, while the opposing fish eyes within it spun counterclockwise.
As the light from the threads intensified, Ning Yu felt a tremor in her heart, as though something had been set into motion.
"Leon, it was you who manipulated me into luring my sister here!"
Ning Xuan raised her head, her eyes filled with hatred as she glared at Leon in the sky. Now, she was no longer under his control, perhaps because Leon had revealed his true form.
"Your sister?"
The man drifted lazily in the air, his tone indifferent, yet laced with a palpable sense of disdain and pity.
It was as if he were watching an ant struggle in scalding water, feeling contempt for its impending demise while feigning a shallow sympathy.
"Your task is complete. You will now return to your origin."
As Leon spoke these words, Ning Xuan's severed prosthetic arm began to emit a white mist.
The arm started to disintegrate from one end, dissolving into countless particles that vanished into the air, like snow melting under the sun.
Ning Xuan stared at the arm lying on the ground, her pupils trembling as if she were slowly recalling something.
"To reward you for successfully bringing the key to the origin, I shall reveal the truth to you."
Leon's gaze was condescending, and now that his true appearance was visible, it was nothing like the handsome man in the previous photos.
Now, he was gaunt, with sunken eyes that radiated a calmness, yet seemed to hide an obsessive determination.
His face bore an expression of endless torment, as though he were perpetually plagued by an unsolvable problem.
Just one glance at him was enough to evoke a nauseating sense of pressure.
"Shut up!"
Ning Yu knew that if Leon continued speaking, Ning Xuan would collapse on the spot.
She leapt from the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust, and summoned Blood Kite into her hand. Spinning her body, she swung the blade upward.
The crimson lightning, like a calamity rising from the earth, surged toward Leon, aiming to silence him.
"Silence."
Leon raised his hand, and the array beneath his feet expanded rapidly, forming layers of golden seals that blocked Ning Yu's path.
But Ning Yu was like an unstoppable meteor, smashing through every barrier and reaching Leon's side in a single breath.
Blood Kite glowed faintly red, thirsting for the man's blood, craving his life.
"Shh!"
The blade pierced Leon's chest without resistance, the ease of it leaving Ning Yu in disbelief.
"Hahahahaha..."
Leon seemed unfazed, merely chuckling softly, as though Ning Yu's strike had merely amused him.
"You, too, have fallen into this meaningless entanglement. How fascinating."
"Humans are truly intriguing. I wish to observe them further."
He removed the hood of his white cloak, his eyes meeting Ning Yu's murderous gaze.
"That's why I adore humans."
Ning Yu suddenly realized something was wrong. Blood Kite, embedded in his chest, did not transmit the warm flow of [Blazing Embrace], meaning the Leon before her was not a flesh-and-blood being.
In that instant, Leon's body exploded, merging with the golden array beneath him, which then coiled around Ning Yu's body.
As the array touched her, Ning Yu fell silent, instantly trapped in the sky.
This 'Leon' had been a trap from the very beginning.
The ground beneath them twisted unnaturally, accompanied by a grating sound, as Leon's body rose from the earth as though it had grown from the soil.
He now stood before Ning Xuan.
"Even this crucial step, you have helped me complete."
"You deserve a reward."
His voice echoed, distant yet close, as though he existed everywhere in this space.
Ning Yu noticed that the entire area seemed distorted, unreal. Upon closer inspection, the walls rippled with strange undulations.
They were already inside a massive array.
"Every story about you was fabricated and bestowed upon you by me."
"You are merely a replica I created using your sister's information."
Leon spoke unhurriedly, and Ning Xuan's trembling intensified, her remaining arm shaking uncontrollably.
"'Find your sister'—that was the suggestion I implanted in you."
"You would search for your sister over and over again. That is the sole purpose of your existence."
"Beyond that, you have nothing."
"The emotions you feel, the memories you hold—they are all your own delusions."
"In truth, I can create countless beings like you."
Ning Xuan's arm quivered as she reached into her chest, pulling out a pocket watch that had long since stopped ticking. She couldn't even remember when it had ceased to function.
Opening the watch, she revealed a family photo inside. In it, two beautiful silver-haired girls, Ning Yu and Ning Xuan, smiled radiantly at the camera.
Flashes of memories surged through her mind—memories of her childhood with her sister, of promises her sister had made.
"This... can't be true. You're lying!!!"
She screamed hysterically, as though trying to expel all the emotions bottled inside her.
The pocket watch in her hand nearly slipped from her grasp.
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
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.”
