"Don't think about it too much for now." An Changqing patted her shoulder, comforting her, "We've made it out safely, and that's the most important thing. Let's get on the ship first, and we can slowly figure out the rest on the way back."
As someone standing at the pinnacle of power, Su Yuehe's mother was naturally an extremely dominant woman.
Especially since Su Yuehe was her only daughter. Although she wouldn't overly interfere in her daughter's affairs, it didn't mean she could tolerate such a long period of lost contact.
"Right, right, hurry onto the ship. I don't want to stay in this godforsaken place for another second!" Hong Yuan was the first to respond, pulling Su Yuehe toward the ship.
The group boarded the ship, and the warm, comfortable cabin environment formed a sharp contrast with the icy, snowy world outside.
The pilot nimbly conducted the final pre-flight checks.
"All equipment starting, starting, starting, and this too!"
"Hold on tight, everyone, we're going home!"
Accompanied by the faint hum of the engines, the ship ascended smoothly, soon turning into a small silver dot and disappearing at the end of the grayish-white skyline.
Inside the cabin, the atmosphere was much more relaxed than when they had arrived.
Hong Yuan was already counting on her fingers, planning what to eat when they got back, muttering, "Barbecue, hot pot, and desserts, I can't miss a single one!"
Yin Chen leaned back in his comfortable seat, resting with his eyes closed, though a faint smile played at the corners of his mouth, clearly indicating he was in a good mood.
Su Yuehe took out her terminal and began drafting a message to tell her mother she was safe, the worried look on her face gradually replaced by anticipation.
Long Ao sat in the corner. Although he didn't say a word, the tense lines of his shoulders had completely relaxed.
An Changqing was confirming the return route and time with the pilot.
Chen Guan sat by the window. He didn't join his companions' conversation, just quietly watching the rapidly receding clouds outside.
In his mind, he neither recalled that lonely divine throne nor pondered the secrets of the Lord of Nothingness.
What he thought about was An Changqing's welcome back, the palm of Hong Yuan patting his shoulder, Su Yuehe's concerned gaze, Long Ao walking silently by his side, and Yin Chen's teasing remarks.
Those vivid, warm images made him feel an unprecedented sense of grounding.
He didn't need to become some god.
He was Chen Guan, the Chen Guan walking alongside his past self, and that was enough.
As for that past he knew nothing about, to hell with it.
...
Sitting in the vehicle, the faint smile that had just appeared on Su Yuehe's face faded again.
She was looking down at the screen of her personal terminal, her fingertip hovering over the send button, hesitating to press it.
On the screen was a safety message she had been editing for a long time, but she still felt the wording wasn't quite right.
"Hey, what are you thinking about?"
Hong Yuan kept a close eye on the rich sister who had promised to treat her to a meal.
Without Su Yuehe, who would buy her dinner?
Su Yuehe looked up, her clear eyes holding an unconcealable trace of worry. "Three days... we lost contact for three whole days. My mom... I'm afraid she's already received the news."
At the mention of the high-ranking Madam Speaker, whose style had always been domineering, Hong Yuan's bluster instantly deflated by half.
She scratched her fiery red hair and mumbled softly, lacking confidence, "Will... will it be a lot of trouble?"
"It won't be too much trouble."
An Changqing's gentle voice came from the front. He had been confirming the flight path with the pilot, but now he turned around, casually blocking the pilot's hearing to prevent him from eavesdropping on their internal chat, his gaze sweeping over each person's face.
"It's just that we need to get our stories straight. This experience was too bizarre; reporting it truthfully will only invite unnecessary trouble."
His gaze finally landed on Chen Guan, his tone questioning, "Chen Guan, what do you think?"
After this trip, the biggest changes in their story would need to revolve around Chen Guan.
Therefore, Chen Guan's thoughts should be asked first, just like with the Baal incident last time.
Thinking of Baal, An Changqing couldn't help but think of the fleeting Guan Jinyue. Not knowing where she was, An Changqing always felt she wasn't purely a villain. If possible, he wanted to add a genius to the human faction.
For a moment, everyone's eyes focused on Chen Guan, who was sitting by the window.
Chen Guan withdrew his gaze from the sea of clouds outside the window.
"You are the captain."
He spoke, his voice not loud, but clearly reaching everyone's ears.
He kicked the ball right back to An Changqing.
"I trust your judgment."
When it came to how to fool the system, could he possibly know better than An Changqing?
Chen Guan could see it now; An Changqing was definitely not some clichéd, righteous protagonist, but purely a black sesame dumpling—white on the outside, dark on the inside.
This addition made An Changqing pause slightly, and then a knowing smile appeared on his lips.
He understood what Chen Guan meant.
Chen Guan didn't want to be the one making the rules; he chose to hand the decision-making power back to the team's leader. This was trust.
What a great companion, he sighed inwardly.
"Alright," An Changqing nodded, no longer declining.
He straightened his back. "Then let's discuss it. The principles are simple. First, protect ourselves and avoid unnecessary trouble. Second, protect Chen Guan; his matters must be kept vague. Third, this report needs to stand up to scrutiny and can't be too outlandish."
He paused and looked at Hong Yuan. "So, things like abandoned ancient gods—we absolutely cannot say that."
Hong Yuan irritably scratched her already messy short red hair and let out a long breath.
"If we don't mention that baffling ancient god, we still have to make up a reliable excuse, right?" She held the edge of her giant axe in reverse, her face full of distress.
Yin Chen leaned back, his long fingers interlacing.
"Since the truth about that ancient god absolutely cannot be mentioned, we must find an excuse that can simultaneously explain the three-day loss of contact and the abnormal flow of time."
Yin Chen's tone was calm, methodically sorting through their current situation. "Ordinary circumstances won't fool them; it must be a reason that involves the level of rules."
Su Yuehe nodded slightly in agreement. "My mom's side is very sensitive to this kind of lost-contact incident. We must have a reasonable cover to completely erase the existence of the ancient ruins."
They hadn't finished exploring those ruins, and Su Yuehe was afraid something else might pop up that could point to Chen Guan.
Besides, that place was technically Chen Guan's ancestral property; suddenly making it public wouldn't be fair to him.
An Changqing followed this line of thought, his tone gentle but certain: "What if it was a living creature with spatial abilities?"
"A demonic beast with spatial abilities?" Hong Yuan grabbed her fiery red short hair, interrupting with a face full of confusion. "Don't those things usually hide in the deepest parts of spatial rifts? For us to just stumble upon one while wandering the outskirts... wouldn't that be incredibly bad luck?"
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
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.
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
