However, in the previous league, they had witnessed Chen Guan’s strength firsthand.
Clearly, it was no longer appropriate to keep treating Chen Guan as a junior who needed protection.
It was time to let him know more.
“This time is different.”
Chen Guan still tried to wriggle out of it. “My Baobao just evolved, and her mind is still unstable. She needs her master by her side. This concerns the continuation of her species, so I can’t leave.”
“Enough. Stop making excuses.” White Tiger’s laughter faded, and his tone became flat. “This isn’t my decision.”
There was a brief pause on the other end of the token. Then he spoke a name that cut off all of Chen Guan’s possible escapes.
“It’s Beidou and the Boss’s idea. Of course, I agree with them.”
Chen Guan fell silent.
They had even brought out his direct superiors. Clearly, he had no room to refuse.
“Why me?” Chen Guan asked.
“Because you’re Black Tortoise.” White Tiger’s answer was simple and direct. “And because Beidou wants to see what you’re like on a real battlefield.”
“You could call this… an official assessment.”
An assessment…
Chen Guan mulled over the word, feeling as though a scorching collar had been fastened around his neck.
He glanced at the little leopard on the desk, who still had no idea what was going on, and suddenly felt that a peaceful life might truly be nothing more than a pipe dream.
“What’s the mission?”
He gave up struggling.
“Very simple.” A hint of ease returned to White Tiger’s voice. “The Guiyuan Group is preparing to carry out a small-scale operation in a human city in the south.”
“The objective is to eliminate one person.”
“But don’t worry. You won’t be part of the main assault.” White Tiger explained, “You’ll be responsible for creating a diversion on the perimeter, stirring up trouble, and drawing everyone who might show up over to your position.”
Chen Guan immediately understood.
“Bait?”
“You could put it that way.” White Tiger neither confirmed nor denied it. “You’re the perfect bait. You have plenty of tricks, and you can’t be killed.”
“There’s no real risk to you, is there?”
That was true. There wasn’t much risk.
After a moment of silence, Chen Guan asked the most important question.
“Will there be civilian casualties?”
On the other end of the token, White Tiger fell silent.
The casualness in his voice vanished completely.
Several seconds passed before he finally replied in an official, businesslike tone.
“Lord Beidou’s exact words were: control them as much as possible.”
“But… there are no guarantees.”
Chen Guan gripped the token without saying a word.
The room was frighteningly quiet. The only sound was the faint noise of Baobao licking her paws.
She seemed to sense that something was wrong with the atmosphere. She stopped and raised her golden, slit-pupiled eyes, looking at Chen Guan in confusion.
Chen Guan didn’t want to become the kind of person who would stop at nothing to accomplish his goals. When it came to people who had done him no wrong, he had always been willing to lend a hand whenever he could.
And yet, this was precisely the kind of organization he belonged to.
“I understand.”
After a long while, Chen Guan finally spoke.
“When and where?”
“Three days from now, in Yunlan City.” White Tiger quickly gave him the information. “I’ll send you the specifics later.”
“Remember, Black Tortoise. Don’t screw this up.”
With that, White Tiger decisively cut off the communication.
He could hear Chen Guan’s hesitation. From a human point of view, even White Tiger couldn’t bear it.
But he had no choice. Chen Guan wasn’t the only one without options—neither was he. Either some of them would be sacrificed, or everyone would go down together. White Tiger chose the former.
If Chen Guan truly wasn’t suited for this, then Black Tortoise would have to be replaced immediately. They didn’t have enough time to keep making mistakes.
The faint glow on the token’s surface dimmed, and it once again became an ordinary black plaque.
Chen Guan tossed it onto the table. It landed with a soft slap.
“Awwoo?”
Baobao jumped off the table and walked over to Chen Guan’s feet. She rubbed her small head against his trouser leg, as if asking why he was unhappy.
Chen Guan bent down and picked her up.
Her body was light, like a warm ball of fur. Her clear golden eyes reflected nothing but his face.
Looking into those eyes, he suddenly asked a question.
“Baobao.”
“If one day I asked you to do something very dangerous—something that might hurt other people—would you do it?”
Baobao tilted her head, apparently trying very hard to understand this complicated question.
She thought about it, then opened her mouth and gave an unmistakably clear answer.
“Hungry.”
Chen Guan looked into those clear golden eyes in his arms and burst out laughing.
He felt like an idiot.
He had actually gone and asked a leopard a complicated question about human nature and morality.
“Hungry” was such a simple answer, and yet such a correct one.
Chen Guan set Baobao on the floor, then walked over to the window and sat down. He stared at the blurred figures moving about on the training grounds outside, while an unknown anger burned in his heart, impossible to suppress.
“Heh heh heh.”
Deep within his consciousness, Baal’s unpleasant laughter rang out.
“What are you agonizing over? It’s not as if you only learned today what the Guiyuan Group does.”
Chen Guan didn’t argue.
Yes. He hadn’t just found out.
But it still made him deeply uncomfortable.
Especially those four words—control them as much as possible. They were like a tiny poisonous thorn lodged in his heart.
They meant that, when necessary, civilian casualties were considered an acceptable price.
Those people would become nothing more than a cold number.
Perhaps he was the same kind of person as Long Ao—someone who couldn’t stand sacrifice.
“What, are you suddenly overflowing with saintly compassion?” Baal said indifferently. “You need to understand, kid: the path you’re walking was never meant for do-gooders. Hesitate and worry about every little thing, and you’ll only die faster.”
“I won’t die,” Chen Guan replied inwardly.
“Yes, you won’t die.” Baal’s voice turned cold, carrying a hint of exasperation. “But your spirit will. Your willpower will. That laughable bottom line you’re clinging to now will eventually be worn away completely by one ordeal after another.”
“Kid, you can’t waste your emotions on useless people. Trying to be everyone’s savior will only bring you pain.”
Chen Guan fell silent.
He couldn’t refute Baal, because Baal was speaking the truth.
By nature, Chen Guan was a cold and detached person.
If, when he had first arrived in this world, he had felt no attachment to it and no sense of belonging among humanity—and if he hadn’t had the system—what kind of person would he have become?
Without the system, there would have been no popularity points forcing him to come to school. His physical body might not have even existed. Chen Guan would probably have been nothing more than a wandering spirit in this world.
Using an unfamiliar face, he would have continued living a life much like the one he had led in his previous existence.
No love, no hatred, no ties, no restraints—no connection to anything in this world.
He looked at his reflection in the window. There was little expression on that face.
Chen Guan imagined what such a version of himself would be like, and a sense of boredom welled up inside him.
That kind of life would be far too dull.
A moment later, he made his decision.
He would accept the mission.
But he would carry it out in his own way.
Bait, was it?
Then he would make the commotion even bigger and draw everyone’s attention toward himself.
That way, perhaps the people living ordinary lives would not have everything they had destroyed by some disaster that came out of nowhere.
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!
villain is the number one simp for the book's leading female protagonist, Shen Wan'er. As expected, he later becomes a tool for the main character to show off and slap faces, ultimately meeting a tragic end with his family ruined and his life in shambles. Fortunately, he awakens the [Universal Pure Love System], which allows him to earn points by performing acts of pure love. To change his fate, Gu Yan makes a decisive choice to seek warmth and companionship with the book's biggest villain—Cold Qingqiu. ........... My name is Leng Qingqiu. To find the murderer who killed my parents years ago, I deliberately blinded myself so that everyone would lower their guard around me. Just as I was secretly accumulating power and capital according to my initial plan, a man walked into my world. "Lengleng, Qingqing, Qiuqiu, which nickname do you prefer?" I don't like any of them. You'd better leave quickly! "Why aren't you saying anything? How about I call you my baby wife?" Leng Qingqiu thinks to herself, this man is truly annoying! (Stubborn pure love warrior + single female lead + true pure love + 1v1)
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.
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?!”
