An Changqing smiled. “After all, concluding that a ninth-tier powerhouse died from backlash caused by demonic power is a little too hasty.”
“This is the Liu family’s business. It’s not your place to meddle.”
Liu Chengjun let out a cold snort and ordered the guards beside him, “See them out.”
“The joint investigation ends here.”
He directed those words at both An Changqing and Liu Feiyu.
Liu Feiyu leaned against the wall, a mocking smile on his face as he watched the show.
“Big Brother is right. Family scandals should stay within the family.”
His words carried a hidden meaning. “But this is quite a mess to clean up. I hope you don’t get yourself dragged into it, Big Brother.”
Liu Chengjun ignored him and turned, walking straight toward the manor. His back was proud and aloof.
…
In the guest room.
An Changqing’s expression was more solemn than it had ever been.
“Liu Chengjun’s reaction was far too strange.”
He paced back and forth, analyzing the situation in a low voice. “From the moment Thousand Faces said the name Astaroth, he completely lost control. A demon god is certainly terrifying, but his reaction was excessive.”
Long Ao leaned against the wall and muttered, “That guy definitely has a problem.”
“But Thousand Faces is already dead. There’s no one left to corroborate it.”
Hong Yuan frowned. “He’s pinned all the blame on a dead man. There’s nothing we can do.”
Everyone’s eyes fell on Chen Guan.
Chen Guan sat on the sofa, unusually quiet from beginning to end.
“Chen Guan, what do you think?” An Changqing asked.
Chen Guan shook his head. He wasn’t Detective Yuan Fang—he could only judge things by what he saw.
Inside his mind, Baal’s lazy voice echoed.
“Heh heh heh, kid, things are getting interesting.”
“That explosion just now was caused by someone borrowing Astaroth’s power to remotely detonate that pawn. They even left a message behind.”
Baal became more talkative whenever he was in a good mood. “The technique was very sophisticated. Every trace was wiped away completely. Now that eldest son of the Liu family can’t clear his name even if he jumps into the Yellow River.”
Chen Guan asked inwardly, “Was the real culprit trying to frame Liu Chengjun?”
“Who knows?”
Baal let out a strange, mocking laugh. “Maybe. Or maybe he wanted to frame everyone. Heh heh heh. Just sit back and enjoy the show.”
Meanwhile, in Liu Feiyu’s room…
He stood before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the manor outside, which was brightly lit and under the guards’ control. An undisguised sneer curled across his face.
Liu Chengjun.
Of course, he didn’t believe Thousand Faces was the mastermind. Nor did he believe that the final explosion had been caused by backlash.
He recalled the instant Liu Chengjun’s face turned deathly pale upon hearing the name Astaroth. The more he thought about it, the deeper his gaze became.
Just then—
Knock, knock.
Someone lightly tapped twice on the window.
Liu Feiyu’s eyes sharpened, and he instantly went on guard.
He slowly turned around and saw a young woman in a Liu family maid’s uniform standing blankly outside on his balcony.
Her eyes were vacant, and her face was expressionless. She looked like a puppet whose soul had been ripped away.
Liu Feiyu recognized her. She was the maid responsible for cleaning this floor.
He didn’t open the window. He merely stared at her coldly.
As if she hadn’t noticed the wariness in his eyes, the maid mechanically raised her hand and pressed a pure-black envelope against the glass.
After completing the gesture, she stiffly turned around and disappeared into the night with the same wooden steps.
Liu Feiyu remained where he was for a full minute. Only after confirming that there were no other traces of anyone nearby did he open the window.
He picked up the envelope and returned to his room, carefully inspecting it.
Then he tore it open.
There was no letter inside—only a black chip the size of a fingernail.
Liu Feiyu stared at the chip, his expression shifting unpredictably.
He knew it was definitely a trap.
That maid’s condition had clearly been caused by someone controlling her.
But he also knew that anyone bold enough to deliver something to him at a time like this must possess information capable of turning the entire board upside down.
After hesitating for a moment, he finally turned on his computer and inserted the chip.
The screen lit up.
A silent video began playing automatically.
The scene showed the bottom of the artificial lake in the Liu family manor.
In the footage, a person who looked exactly like Liu Xiao was grinning viciously. A long, pitch-black spear condensed in his hand, and without the slightest hesitation, he drove it straight through another Liu Xiao’s chest.
He then sank the corpse into the mud at the bottom of the lake.
Liu Feiyu’s breathing suddenly faltered, almost stopping altogether.
But that wasn’t all.
Just as the “Liu Xiao” who had committed the murder turned to leave, the camera shook slightly. Several figures wearing the uniforms of Liu Chengjun’s personal guards flashed through the shadows in the background, seemingly standing watch for him.
The video ended there. It deleted itself automatically, and the computer screen went dark.
The room fell into deathly silence.
Liu Feiyu stood frozen in place, completely motionless.
This irrefutable evidence pointed everything—the murder of his second brother, the falsification of the scene, and the framing—perfectly and unmistakably at his good elder brother, Liu Chengjun.
Of course, he knew the video’s origins were suspicious.
Who had filmed it? And how had they happened to capture the scene at precisely that moment? No one in this world had a camera growing out of their forehead.
He dialed a number he knew by heart and raised the phone to his ear.
The instant the call connected, he suppressed the rage burning within him and spat out two words.
“Brother Nandou.”
A flat, synthesized male voice came from the other end.
“Speak.”
“Liu Chengjun killed Second Brother. Someone gave me a video.”
Liu Feiyu’s voice was hoarse as he sent over the encrypted video file.
“Now I’ll have to trouble you to analyze it for me.”
There was no immediate response.
Silence descended on the other end of the line.
The only sound Liu Feiyu could hear was a faint electronic hum, as though countless streams of data were being processed at high speed.
His fingers tightened around the phone until they turned white. During that suffocating wait, every passing second felt like torture.
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
“Student Liu, it’s us—An Changqing.”
Liu Feiyu’s expression darkened. He glanced at the tightly closed door and finally called out, “Come in.”
The door opened, and An Changqing entered with Chen Guan, Long Ao, and Hong Yuan.
An Changqing’s gaze swept over Liu Feiyu’s gloomy face before he spoke in a gentle voice. “We feel there are still some unanswered questions, so we wanted to come over and discuss things with you.”
Liu Feiyu looked at them, his eyes shifting uncertainly. After a brief hesitation, he turned his personal computer toward them.
“See for yourselves.”
The video began playing.
When they saw the brutal scene at the bottom of the lake, along with the Liu Chengjun guards’ uniforms flashing through the background, Hong Yuan’s breathing caught.
She suddenly felt that being born into an ordinary family might actually be a good thing. At least she wouldn’t have to deal with all this scheming and infighting.
An Changqing stared at the screen with a deep frown.
“There’s something wrong with this video.”
His calm voice cut through the room. He pointed at the frozen frame.
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'!"
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!
