The morning sunlight was warm and gentle.
Back at the manor's dining room, exquisite dishes were laid out on the table, far too lavish to be considered breakfast.
Luo Wei stared at the food without any appetite.
He absent-mindedly picked up his fork, not even aware of what he was putting in his mouth, chewing mechanically.
His mind was still preoccupied with what had happened earlier.
Ophelia watched his distracted state with slightly furrowed brows.
"Luo Wei!"
She pouted and said with displeasure:
"Caroline and Susan spent all morning preparing this. If you're not satisfied with the taste, just say so directly!"
Luo Wei shook his head with a smile, "Not at all... I've always appreciated their culinary skills."
Trying to forget about that strange dream, he put on a show of heartily enjoying the meal.
"Mmm... look how perfectly this steak is cooked~"
Luo Wei nodded while eating, then commented: "It's cooked just like a steak!"
Seeing Luo Wei return to his usual playful self, Ophelia burst out laughing.
"What are you even saying? A steak is a steak, how else could it be cooked?"
"Well, that's not necessarily true..."
Luo Wei inexplicably recalled a charred, completely carbonized "dark steak," and couldn't help but smile.
That creation came from someone who couldn't cook at all.
Wait...
The suddenly emerging memory made Luo Wei fall silent for a moment.
This impression of the "dark steak" felt both familiar and foreign, as if it had happened not too long ago...
But...
Luo Wei glanced suspiciously at Ophelia. He hadn't left this manor for several years, living together with Ophelia the whole time.
So where did this memory come from... Besides the manor's maids, who else would cook something like this for him?
Luo Wei fell into contemplation again.
It felt like a memory he shouldn't have forgotten...
Many, many memories sealed away by time...
"Luo Wei..." Ophelia suddenly leaned closer, forcefully interrupting his thoughts.
"What's been wrong with you these days?"
Her light-colored eyes examined him with suspicion.
"Being so absent-minded..." her tone turned teasing, "Are you perhaps missing some pretty girl?"
Luo Wei looked up, "Yes, I am!"
Ophelia's expression changed instantly.
Her face became expressionless, her light eyes turning cold – an emotion Luo Wei had never seen on her face before.
His heart inexplicably trembled; the girl he had always known to be gentle and kind suddenly seemed so distant.
Though alarmed internally, Luo Wei maintained his expression.
He said with a smile: "I'm missing... Caroline's bedtime massages, Sister Susan's pies, and the skillful Bella, whose newly tailored clothes always fit me perfectly~"
Hearing this, Ophelia breathed a sigh of relief internally.
"Smooth talker, I thought you were missing some girl from the village or the city..."
Her expression softened, "Oh, just the manor's maids..."
"What? You're not concerned just because they're maids?" Luo Wei looked at the maids around them, "These sisters are all pretty, have nice figures, and are about my age..."
He teased Ophelia, "Aren't you worried..."
"They wouldn't dare!" Ophelia immediately turned to glare at the maids.
Her gaze was filled with murderous intent.
The maids, suddenly caught in this unexpected glare, all nervously lowered their heads.
The dining room fell deathly silent.
"Ophelia..." Luo Wei stared at her in surprise.
He had never seen Ophelia lose composure like this before, yet it had happened several times today, as if he was meeting her for the first time.
"I'm sorry... I..." Ophelia quickly reined in her gaze and hurriedly stood up.
"I probably haven't been sleeping well lately, my emotions are a bit unstable..."
She forced a smile, kissed Luo Wei's cheek, and quickly disappeared from the vast dining room.
Luo Wei watched her hastily retreating figure.
Lost in thought.
...
In the evening, after receiving his bedtime massage from Caroline, the head maid, Luo Wei returned to his bedroom and yawned tiredly.
He lay in bed and quickly fell into dreamland.
Luo Wei rarely dreamed, but this time, he found himself in an unfamiliar place.
Airships floated slowly in the sky, and the bustling noise of street markets filled the air.
Looking at the endless rows of tall buildings, he realized he was in the midst of a prosperous city.
As Luo Wei wandered the unfamiliar streets, someone suddenly bumped his shoulder hard.
The person acted suspiciously, not apologizing for the collision, and quickly disappeared into the crowd.
"Luo Wei! What are you standing there for? Quick, chase after them! The murderer is getting away!"
A face with a full beard and wearing a police badge appeared before him.
"You are..."
Luo Wei frowned. Although it was his first time seeing this police chief, he felt as if they were already very familiar with each other.
Like old friends who had known each other for years.
The police chief glanced at him, then ignored him and rushed into the crowd.
Gunshots rang out among the crowd.
How strange, why would they want me to help catch criminals? I'm not their assistant...
Luo Wei continued walking forward in confusion as the scene underwent bizarre changes.
He saw a school and students riding commuter buses to class.
This school also felt very familiar, especially when Luo Wei clearly saw the text:
Saint Callen Royal Academy of Magical Science...
Strange, why did it feel so familiar? Had he been here before?
But he had never studied here, hadn't even attended the school in town – he had always had private tutors arranged by Ophelia.
Luo Wei continued walking aimlessly, watching scenes both familiar and foreign, and he seemed to remember something...
This was Saint Callen, the capital of the Empire.
Finally, after another scene change,
Luo Wei arrived in the lower district of Saint Callen.
It was dirty, chaotic, filled with unpleasant smells.
He didn't know why he came here, but as if possessed, he stopped in front of a dark, narrow alley.
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!
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
