Baal’s voice was full of the delight of someone enjoying a show.
“Kid, want to give them a hint? Otherwise, this performance will go on until dawn.”
Baal didn’t believe Chen Guan had failed to think of that answer.
Chen Guan calmly replied inwardly, “Not yet.”
He wanted to see whether Liu Feiyu could figure out that least likely answer on his own.
Just then, Liu Feiyu spoke again.
“There’s one more.”
He forced out a few words, his voice so faint they were almost inaudible.
“There’s one more… but it’s impossible. He’s already dead.”
An Changqing keenly noticed his loss of composure and realized that he, too, had thought of the name everyone had overlooked.
“Liu Feiyu, who did you think of?”
Liu Feiyu raised his head and let his unfocused gaze sweep over everyone present, as though searching for someone to deny it.
“My second brother.”
He struggled to utter the words.
“Liu Xiao.”
“His ability is ice as well.”
“Because of that, Father always thought, deep down, that he wasn’t strong enough. That’s why he favored Eldest Brother’s flames.”
Hong Yuan couldn’t help interrupting. “But wasn’t he already dead? Wasn’t that video showing him being killed? Even if the murderer was fake, the body should have been real, shouldn’t it?”
“Yes, he’s dead.”
Liu Feiyu nodded forcefully, repeating it again and again as though trying to convince himself.
“I personally saw the body pulled from the bottom of the lake. It was him. There’s no way I could have been mistaken.”
“How could a dead man kill someone? This is absurd.”
An Changqing’s brows drew together tightly. He looked at Liu Feiyu, then at the computer, whose screen had already gone black.
The entire matter had entered a paradox.
The mysterious caller’s analysis pointed to ice. An Changqing didn’t know who was on the other end of the phone, but he knew that person was extraordinarily capable—and that they were on Liu Feiyu’s side.
Yet the prime suspect was already dead.
And the evidence proving his death had been confirmed as fake by that same mysterious person.
Logic had formed a closed loop, trapping everyone’s thoughts inside it.
Chen Guan, who had remained silent until then, finally raised his head.
He walked slowly over to Liu Feiyu and looked at him.
“The video was fabricated.”
Chen Guan finally spoke. Every word carried clearly to the ears of those present.
Liu Feiyu nodded. “Yes.”
“Then why did all of you assume that the person killed in the video had to be the real Liu Xiao?”
Chen Guan had raised a question everyone else had overlooked.
Liu Feiyu’s body swayed, and he froze completely.
“If someone could fabricate a murder video to frame your eldest brother…”
Chen Guan’s gaze swept over everyone present before settling once more on Liu Feiyu. He asked, each word deliberate:
“Why couldn’t they also fabricate a corpse to prove that Liu Xiao was dead?”
…
Magic City. In a safe house unknown to anyone, soft lighting illuminated luxurious furnishings.
A massive LCD screen mounted on the wall was broadcasting the chaos unfolding in real time at the Liu family estate.
A man who should have been dead was leisurely swirling the crimson liquid in his goblet.
Watching Liu Chengjun’s face twist with rage on the screen, he laughed.
He was the real Liu Xiao.
“Father, you’re so easy to fool.”
Liu Xiao spoke softly, reporting everything to the presence within his mind.
“He truly believed that because I never fought for anything, he had no reason to guard against me.”
He turned and looked at the woman standing motionless behind him. It was Su Qing, the woman who should have escaped after attempting to assassinate Liu Tiancheng.
Now, however, her expression was vacant, her eyes hollow. She showed not the slightest trace of a living person.
Liu Xiao walked up to her, his gaze sweeping over her face as though inspecting a useful tool.
“See? The first step of the plan went perfectly.”
He spoke to Su Qing as if reviewing a brilliant game of chess.
“I had her carry out the assassination, but made sure she couldn’t succeed. The only purpose was to create enough panic and draw everyone’s attention.”
He lifted his glass and took a small sip before continuing.
“Then, my frightened son would be able to enter the study he trusted most.”
A mocking expression appeared on his face.
“Until the moment he died, he probably never imagined that the person who would personally close the door to the secret chamber was the son he had least guarded against.”
“And as for the corpse at the bottom of the lake?”
Liu Xiao smiled.
“Just a counterfeit molded from demonic power—a little prop to deepen the conflict between my beloved eldest brother and my third brother.”
He paused, then turned his eyes back to the screen, where they landed on An Changqing’s calm, analytical face.
“Even their arrival was something I suggested to Father.”
“It was simple. As An Changqing’s schoolmate, I’m familiar with his personality, and I understand Long Ao’s abilities. I knew they would investigate until they uncovered every detail.”
“Every clue they found would point perfectly to the scapegoat I had prepared long ago—the fake Liu Xiao played by Thousand Faces.”
Everything had been within his calculations.
Everyone was merely a pawn on his chessboard.
“Eldest Brother’s greed, Third Brother’s façade, and Father…”
The smile vanished from his eyes, leaving behind nothing but disgust.
“This family, rotten to the core, should have been burned to ashes long ago.”
He wasn’t after the Liu family’s wealth, nor that ridiculous position of heir.
“If I don’t kill every one of them, I’ll die sooner or later.”
The murmurs of Astaroth in his mind had already faded away, yet he continued muttering to himself, as though trying to convince his own heart.
Liu Xiao raised his right hand. On his pale palm, a frost mark radiating cold slowly emerged, flickering faintly like a living creature.
“The demon god’s power isn’t meant only for killing.”
He was the true contract holder of that demon god.
Su Qing and Thousand Faces were merely pawns whose minds he had controlled with demonic power—tools he could discard at any time.
His gaze shifted once more, finally coming to rest on the silent figure in the corner of the screen.
For the first time, Liu Xiao’s brows furrowed.
“The plan is perfect. Practically flawless.”
“But Chen Guan…”
A trace of irritation entered his voice.
“He’s an unexpected variable.”
“He can actually peer into Thousand Faces’ memories. The Chen Guan in my memories never had such a troublesome ability.”
That accident had disrupted the rhythm of his perfect script.
Liu Xiao’s fingertip slid across the cold screen, stopping over Chen Guan’s face, which was unnaturally calm.
“Look, Su Qing.”
He spoke softly, sharing an interesting discovery with the wooden woman standing beside him.
“Everyone is in character. My dear eldest brother, my pitiful third brother, and even An Changqing.”
“They’re angry, suspicious, and afraid. Each of them is delivering a brilliant performance exactly as I wrote it.”
“Everyone except him.”
Liu Xiao’s gaze never left the figure in the corner of the screen.
He didn’t like this feeling.
Everyone’s reactions should have been simulated thousands of times over on the battlefield of his mind.
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!
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
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.
