"How could the trial end so quickly!" Lin Yubai stood outside the hospital, anxiously waiting for a taxi that never came.
The day she was injured and forfeited, she was admitted to the hospital, and in another day or two the poison in her system would be completely eliminated.
But she never expected the trial to end so quickly. She had hoped to wait at the trial site for the man who had saved her, but now he had probably already left!
"I'm so stupid!" She stamped her feet in frustration. Lin Yubai suddenly remembered something, "I forgot to ask his name! How will I ever find out if he survived?!"
Standing at the side of the road, Lin Yubai was at a loss. But no matter what, she had to cling to some hope.
------
The thick trees, as wide around as a grown man's waist, fell in swaths, revealing the iron tower-like silhouette behind them.
Wiping the thick, viscous blood from his face, the Barbarian God flung aside the twenty-foot long corpse of the wolf.
"Number seven today?" asked Alita, who was in charge of logistics.
"Yeah." The Barbarian God nodded, baring his mouth full of sharp teeth in a grin.
"Let me check." Alita took out her tactical tablet and flipped through it. "Tied for first place with Bo Er from Team One. You both have over 300 valid kills."
Bo Er? Hearing that name, the image of a tall woman emerged in the Barbarian God's mind.
Seeing the Barbarian God sit down unceremoniously on the ground, Alita shook her head in amusement. "It's been six days. Are you finally going to take a break? I heard your trial lasted half a year."
"It's different." The Barbarian God shook his head. "Fighting humans is more satisfying. These monsters don't give me that feeling."
Alita nodded in understanding. After all, she had also survived the trial, although unlike being on the front lines she actually preferred logistical work.
Drowsy, the Barbarian God suddenly jerked awake and asked, "Jin Xinghai said you also had a special survivor in your trial. He guessed it was the same person I met, right?"
"Not guessed. It was the same person. Skilled in close combat, stealth and survival." Alita described the appearance again and sighed in lingering fear.
"He was a beast. Compared to facing him, I'd rather go kill those monsters out there. Before meeting him, I thought my looks were a weapon too. But that guy was more ruthless."
The Barbarian God touched his waist, and his smile suddenly turned sinister. "If Jin Xinghai brings him back, there will be fun to watch."
"Yes." Alita lit a cigarette. "Including you and me, a total of seven people are suspected to have crossed paths with him. If it really is the same person..."
Alita shrugged her shoulders. "Anyway, leave me out of it. I don't want to deal with him again."
"But I do." The Barbarian God stood up, invigorated. "Just thinking about that guy suddenly gives me energy again."
Watching the Barbarian God leave the tent, Alita blew out a smoke ring and smiled slightly. In her mind's eye, she saw the knife that had nearly bisected her waist.
"If we meet again, I must ask why you chose to forfeit in the end. Was it to spare me?"
"Or could it be... someone like you... would also like me..."
-------
The bar was in full swing even though night hadn't yet fallen. Bare-chested, muscular men were ubiquitous.
Some used their fingertip fire to heat their drinks, while others crystallized round ice cubes in their palms to cool them─everyone had their own preferences and the owner didn't interfere.
"Fuck, I drank too much. Gotta take a piss." The muscular man put down his glass and took off his tank top, throwing it onto his seat. People who caught sight of the tattoo on the man's shoulder as he walked by carefully made way.
The Luo City Tiger Gang, formerly known as the Digg Family. After the world was unified, there was a change of leadership and the homophonous "Tiger" was adopted.
In the form of a workers' union, it controlled the vast majority of Luo City's producers and low-level ability users, and could even influence the Hunters Guild.
It was now one of the top powers in Luo City, and no one would provoke the Tiger Gang.
Li Changan followed the muscular man into the bathroom. As soon as the man unzipped his pants, Li Changan walked up behind him.
With one hand clutching his throat and the other stabbing upwards with a dagger from the lower back, the man was unable to make any sound despite the pain─he could neither call for help nor scream.
"I have some questions for you." Li Changan's voice was like the whisper of a demon, devoid of any emotion.
Just hearing that one sentence, the muscular man stopped struggling. Having mixed on the streets for years, he could discern a person's occupation from their voice alone.
From the speed and precision of the attack, the assailant was undoubtedly a professional killer. Although he didn't know who he had offended, he knew not to resist at a time like this.
"Some time ago, you guys went after a restaurant owner out of revenge and took him away. Where is he now?" Li Changan added slight pressure on the dagger hilt. "You don't have much time. If I pull out this dagger, you'll be dead within five minutes."
Desperately racking his brains, the man finally remembered. Hurriedly he said, "My boss took him away! I wasn't involved in this, I didn't participate!"
"Where did he take him? Tell me everything you know. You have one more minute."
Sweat streamed down the muscular man's forehead. He wished Li Changan would show a hint of anger─the lack of any emotion was what scared him the most.
Not daring to hesitate, the man immediately reported an address.
Li Changan asked his final question, "Is that person still alive?"
"Alive! Alive!" The man answered hastily. To him, the truth was unimportant; this was the only acceptable response.
Li Changan gave a slight nod and released the dagger. At the exact moment the man started to relax, he crushed his windpipe.
"Can't make too much of a mess when killing." Li Changan muttered under his breath. Wen An had insisted he not bring it along, so he had no choice but to make do.
But this half-glove would do for today.
--------
Despondently walking down the street, Lin Yubai still hadn't seen that man in the end. But there were unexpectedly many survivors this time─could he be among them?
"He was so handsome and brave, and gentle too. If he really died in that trial site, that would be such a waste!" Lin Yubai sighed. It was so rare for her to fall for someone, and now it had to end just like this?
Wait! Lin Yubai stopped abruptly in her tracks and looked back across the street.
Was that him just now? Lin Yubai was shocked to realize. Hurriedly, she quickened her pace to follow him. A smile spread across her face; up close, it really did resemble him!
I have to confess my feelings, I must say it out loud, or else I may not have the chance again! Mustering her courage, Lin Yubai wanted to call out to him!
But no, he was walking too fast. Was something urgent going on? She watched his silhouette turn the corner into an alley. Anxiously, Lin Yubai followed along after him.
But the alley was empty.

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."

ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!

lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."

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.”