To be honest, even though he knew that his daughter was close to Chen Miemie, and that he himself had once shared the slightest acquaintance with the Shopkeeper, Gongshu Feiliang’s calves were still trembling a little.
Unlike the carefree Bridge Princess, Gongshu Feiliang understood perfectly well that after witnessing the entire process of the three moons revolving behind Chen Miemie’s head and the halo appearing, he and his daughter now knew something they should never have known.
He roared inwardly: Chen Miemie’s status among the new species was definitely more than that of some mere foreign minister. His position was very likely second only to—or perhaps no lower than—that of the King in Yellow!
What sort of existence was the King in Yellow?
The generally accepted assessment at present was that he was an exalted being of immense mystery, the supreme entity who walked the world as the avatar of the Eternal Moon in the New Era, and the absolute leader of the new race of oddities.
Gongshu Feiliang had once tried to dissuade people from sculpting a statue with three moons carved behind its head. But now, right before the eyes of him and his daughter, Chen Miemie had used [Mystery] to manifest a ring of three moons!
[Mystery] was no man-made statue. If something should not be manifested, [Mystery] would never manifest it.
Gongshu Feiliang’s muscles tensed, then quickly relaxed again.
Although he was somewhat worried that knowing too much would get him silenced, his instinct had been to flee. But he soon realized that even if he escaped this room, even if he escaped the Moon Library filled with oddities, could he really escape the entire New Era?
The Bridge Princess had none of her father’s complicated thoughts.
“Wow, Chen Miemie, that huge halo behind your head is so cool! The three moons on it seem to have a life of their own. They look just like real moons!”
Chen Miemie had unexpectedly broken through to [Mystery] 5, and he was in an excellent mood. He preened proudly.
“Of course! This is my ‘Divine Halo.’ I love light pollution more than anything.”
The Bridge Princess suddenly thought of something. “Your halo looks exactly like the one on the King in Yellow’s statue. Won’t that be taboo?”
Chen Miemie immediately protested loudly. “Nonsense! Clearly, his looks like mine! You two are eyewitnesses. I came up with this design—the copyright belongs to me!”
Just then, it turned 6:00 p.m.
The Eternal Moon hung in the sky.
Its light shone down upon the statue of the Yellow-Clad Moon God.
The entire statue was outlined by moonlight, and its overall form began to glow faintly.
Its pair of crescent-shaped eyes were bottomless, making it impossible to look directly at them.
Of the three moons behind the statue, the Eternal Moon shone with an intense yellow light and became even more lifelike.
Even Gongshu Feiliang and the Bridge Princess, who had carved countless masterpieces, were stunned by the statue’s dramatically transformed presence.
Standing beneath the statue, Chen Miemie turned his head toward Gongshu Feiliang, who had been tense ever since a moment ago.
“Gongshu Feiliang, you aren’t the only one connected to the Eternal Moon. Your daughter is connected to it as well. Would you be willing to join [As the Moon Endures], and become our personal bridge architect?”
At this invitation, the heart Gongshu Feiliang had been holding in suspense finally settled.
He took several deep breaths to calm himself, then bowed deeply.
“It would be my honor.”
The Bridge Princess’s eyes widened. “Old man, you’re human! You joined an oddity society?”
Gongshu Feiliang rolled his eyes at her. Inwardly, he muttered: Joining means a bright future lies ahead. Refusing means there’s a good chance neither of us will make it out of this room tonight. With that simple-minded brain of yours, you still have a long way to go before becoming a truly qualified society leader.
Now that he had joined [As the Moon Endures], he was one of them.
Chen Miemie warmly invited the father and daughter to stay for dinner.
“Roast chicken again?” The two of them shook their heads so hard they nearly flew off.
“Then I’ll treat you to barbecue at Old Guan’s place next door.”
“Maybe next time. I’ve been out all day, and there’s a pile of work waiting for me at the [Shedding Clinic]. I need to hurry back and deal with it.”
Chen Miemie nodded. He had indeed delayed them for an entire day, so he did not press them to stay.
When he returned to his shop, he had only just sat down on the sofa when the screen of his watch lit up.
He glanced at the name from the corner of his eye. His heart, still racing with excitement from his advancement, sped up another beat.
“Chen Miaomiao replied!”
He opened the latest message.
Time: 6:36 p.m.
Sender: Chen Miaomiao
Message: I finally got your message! I heard you went to the Sealed Book Archive? I’m at the underwater city of [Clam Ruins] right now. Things here are almost settled, and I can start heading back next week. I’ll come find you in about half a month. I found lots of treasures in the ruins, so I’ll bring you some gifts when I return~
Chen Miemie read the message over and over. He felt as though there were so many things he wanted to say and so many questions he wanted to ask, yet with only a watch between them, he had no idea where to begin.
In the end, he sent a very straightforward message.
“What kind of trouble did you run into over there? I should be able to help.”
A new message soon came back.
Time: 6:53 p.m.
Sender: Chen Miaomiao
Message: Save the help for next time. I didn’t expect this trip to take so long, but don’t worry—I’m Chen Miaomiao! I’ve already dealt with all the trouble. I was just swallowed by a gigantic whale, and it’s diving toward the deep sea. I’m about to lose signal, so I’ll stop here. Wait for me.
Chen Miemie smiled and sent another reply.
“Alright. I should be back in Sixiang City in half a month. I’ll wait for you there.”
Although they had only exchanged two messages, Chen Miemie’s mood improved immensely.
Then another charge notification appeared on his watch, and his smile vanished.
“Two cross-city messages sent. Twenty years deducted.”
Chen Miemie was now rolling in wealth and had no shortage of time, but having plenty of money did not mean he enjoyed being fleeced.
At 7:00 p.m., it was time to open the shop.
He transformed into the King in Yellow, collapsed onto the sofa, and stared blankly at the ceiling.
“Before, thinking about meeting Chen Miaomiao made me nervous. Now I’m looking forward to it instead. How strange.
“These past few months, I’ve traveled through two cities and met so many people, witches, and oddities. Without realizing it, I seem to have gradually become part of this world.
“Whether I’m the human Chen Miemie, the oddity known as the King in Yellow, the moon, or a transmigrator, I’ve discovered that I’ve started to like this world. I like the people and the things here.
“From now on, facing this fascinating world, I’ll continue along my own journey.”
Chen Miemie had won third place in the family’s staring-into-space competition, surpassed only by Black Hole and Bobo.
He could have continued lounging on the sofa for quite a while.
But suddenly, the entire shop began to shake, as if an earthquake had struck.
The water in the fish tank sloshed violently from side to side, spilling over the rim. The [Heartless Pot] on the table seemed to be dancing, while the ornaments on the walls were shaken loose one after another.
Chen Miemie sprang up with a kip-up.
“What’s going on?”
The oddities quickly fanned out to inspect every corner.
“The bedroom’s fine.”
“The empty room’s fine.”
“The study’s fine.”
“The sitting room’s fine.”
“The entrance is fi—wait. Come look, everyone! Look outside!” shouted the folded-paper decoration serving as a paper wind chime by the door.
Everyone hurried to the entrance and looked out.
The entire passageway of the [Gap Between Doors] looked as though it had been twisted into a distorted knot, becoming abstract and blurry.
Chen Miemie shouted, “Everyone, grab your valuables and get onto me! If I’m not mistaken, this place may be about to disappear!”
The anomalies asked no questions. One by one, they quickly gathered their belongings and climbed onto Chen Miemie.
After counting everyone and confirming that all the important items had been packed, Chen Miemie pushed open the shop door and stepped outside.
Only then did he whisper to the anomalies on him:
“[Door’s Rift] is not found on roads, but in the hearts of those who have lost their way.
Now that I’ve untied the knot in my heart and no longer feel lost about the road ahead, the crack in my heart has been mended. As a result, the [Door’s Rift] that belongs to me is about to close as well.”
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."
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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.
