“Let’s wait for now.”
“If Senior Qin Wu and the others are nearby, they’ll inevitably run into another team. We can just head over and help when a fight breaks out.”
An Changqing nodded in agreement. “Exactly. This is the center of the city. We’ll be able to sense anything that happens.”
“Both Kamitani Academy and Number Zero Academy have taken heavy losses. Hiiragi Qingbai and Ross have been eliminated, and Charles can’t handle things on his own. He won’t dare provoke us again anytime soon.”
Su Yuehe added, “The two students from Beishi Academy have already left on their own. They said they would try to avoid any battles and look for their teammates.”
An Changqing thought for a moment, then suddenly called out, “Junior Shan Heng.”
Shan Heng straightened at once. “Yes, Senior.”
An Changqing’s gaze was calm. “There’s no need to be so formal, Shan Heng. Can your ability be used for scouting?”
Shan Heng adjusted his glasses and replied somewhat awkwardly, “The range of my domain analysis is limited. And once I activate it, I can easily be detected by ability users of the same level who specialize in knowledge or mental powers. It works fine in a jungle, but in an open area like this, my position would be exposed very easily.”
“I see. So your ability is more suited to close-range analysis and decryption.”
An Changqing nodded in understanding. “In that case, forget it.”
Everyone remained quietly inside for a while. Suddenly, Chen Guan opened his eyes.
“I found them. That’s Senior Qin Wu’s aura.”
An Changqing turned his gaze toward Chen Guan. “Chen Guan, can you tell whether they’re fighting?”
Chen Guan closed his eyes and carefully distinguished the fluctuations in that thread of aura. A moment later, he shook his head.
“That’s strange.”
He opened his eyes, his brows drawing together slightly. “Senior Qin Wu’s aura is very steady. There’s no sign of a battle, and neither are there any signs of fighting from the people around him.”
Those words instantly cooled Long Ao’s previously overheated enthusiasm.
“They haven’t started fighting?”
He looked disappointed and muttered, “Then what are they all gathered together for? A tea party?”
“We’ll know once we go take a look.”
An Changqing made the decision. Without wasting any more time, the group quickly set out, moving through the abandoned streets in the direction Chen Guan had sensed.
Sure enough, when it came to perception, Chen Guan was still the reliable one.
“You’d better come clean.”
Long Ao moved closer and nudged Chen Guan with his elbow, lowering his voice. “Did you secretly keep some ultimate trump card hidden away and use it to send that charlatan Hiiragi Qingbai packing?”
Clearly, Long Ao still wasn’t ready to let it go. The fact that his buddy had apparently unlocked yet another cheat was eating away at him.
Chen Guan stared ahead and answered casually, “He talked too much.”
“Huh?”
Long Ao froze, unable to follow the logic.
“Villains die because they talk too much. That’s common knowledge.”
Chen Guan said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Long Ao opened and closed his mouth, but not a single word came out. He simply shut it again. He had just realized that Chen Guan’s train of thought had left his own ten miles behind.
[Brother Ao: I suspect you’re taking a shot at me, but I have no proof.]
[Hahaha, Brother Coffin’s answers are always so refreshingly unconventional.]
[For real. If Hiiragi Qingbai had just gone all-out the moment he entered, Brother Coffin might not have dealt with him so easily. But he had to show off, chanting for ages and flaunting all that windup.]
Because his short legs had kept him at the very back the whole time, Shan Heng silently listened to their conversation. The curiosity in his eyes behind his lenses deepened further.
Soon, they passed through a narrow alley, and the view before them suddenly opened up.
It was a vast city-center plaza. The statue of a hero in the middle had been broken into several pieces, which lay scattered across the cracked paving stones.
Qin Wu and the three fourth-year students under his command stood amid the ruins. Facing them was the team from Beishi Academy, led by none other than their fourth-year captain, Bai Huanran.
The two teams were not fighting. Instead, they maintained a delicate distance from each other and stared together at the scorched patch of ground in the very center of the plaza, surrounded by the statue’s wreckage.
“What’s going on?” Long Ao asked in a low voice, his brows furrowing into a knot. “Why aren’t they fighting?”
“They look exhausted, especially the people from Beishi Academy.”
Su Yuehe spoke softly beside him, her eyes settling on a girl in the Beishi Academy team. Her face was deathly pale, and she could barely stand without her teammates supporting her.
It was obvious that Beishi Academy had drawn the short straw this time. Not only were they down several people, but some of those remaining were clearly battle-damaged.
An Changqing raised a hand, signaling the others to stay where they were. He stepped forward alone and called out, his voice carrying across the silent plaza.
“Senior Qin Wu.”
At the sound of his voice, Qin Wu’s massive frame jolted. He quickly turned around, and the surprise in his eyes immediately gave way to delight when he saw An Changqing and the others.
He made a stopping gesture and called out clearly across the empty plaza, “Don’t come any closer. Stay where you are.”
“Quite the entourage for the defending champions. You show up with quite a crowd.” Beishi Academy’s captain, Bai Huanran, let out a cold laugh. It was impossible to tell whether his tone was praise or mockery. “Qin Wu, it seems our agreement is off.”
Qin Wu ignored the provocation. Looking at An Changqing, he quickly explained, “Half an hour ago, we arrived at almost the same time as the people from Beishi Academy. Then that thing appeared.”
He pointed toward the scorched patch of ground. “A black orb of light appeared out of nowhere, then vanished just as inexplicably.”
A lingering fear showed on Qin Wu’s face. “We agreed to a temporary truce and investigated it together, but no one dared to be the first to approach and get themselves killed.”
Long Ao snorted. “A ball of light…”
“That wasn’t an ordinary ball of light.”
A cool female voice came from behind Qin Wu. It belonged to one of the fourth-year senior students on his team.
“Every object that gets close to it—whether metal or stone—vanishes instantly.”
As she spoke, she picked up a stone beside her foot and threw it.
The stone traced an arc through the air. When it reached a point three meters from the scorched ground, it abruptly disappeared without a sound, as though an eraser had wiped it from existence.
The entire plaza fell completely silent.
Everyone stared at the empty stretch of ground, their eyes filled with an indescribable wariness.
“If you’re too scared to approach it, then stop wasting time and fight us instead.”
A boastful voice suddenly rang out from the other end of the street.
Charles appeared at the entrance to the plaza with the rest of his team.
The remnants of Kamitani Academy, along with their low-year students who had only come along for the experience, followed at a distance. Clearly, the two sides had formed a temporary alliance.
With the eliminated teams excluded, the main forces of all four academies had gathered here in this strange fashion.
Charles swept his gaze across the plaza, finally locking onto Chen Guan and the others. His eyes were so sinister they looked ready to devour someone.
“We meet again.”
He ran his tongue over his lips, making no attempt to conceal his murderous intent. “Looks like that useless Hiiragi Qingbai really was eliminated by you, Chen.”
“You can go ask him yourself whether I was the one who eliminated him.” Chen Guan replied calmly.
“Very well.”
Charles let out a low laugh. Then he drew a blue genetic injection from his waist and, without even looking at it, plunged it into his own neck.
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!
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
