Lin Jiu's vision was bathed in crimson as a piercing alarm exploded in his mind:
[WARNING! Detection of an ultra-dangerous entity approaching!!!]
[Divine Choice System forcibly activated—]
[Option 1: Kneel and beg for mercy (Reward: Shadow Resistance +10%)]
[Option 2: Counter-kill the entity (Reward: Fragment of the Soul-Devouring Demon Art)]
[Option 3: Livestream a distress call (Convert viewership into Revival Tokens)]
Thud!
In an instant.
Lin Jiu’s heart convulsed, the unfamiliar crimson interface and the choices before him snapping him to full alertness.
"Hey... wait a second..."
Lin Jiu swallowed hard, panic seeping through his veins.
He scrambled off the bed, staring at the options on the screen in disbelief.
This had to be a joke, right?
"What ‘ultra-dangerous entity’?!"
"What the hell is going on?!"
"System, are you glitching?!"
His face paled. This couldn’t be real.
Just yesterday, he was choosing between bringing a rich girl pearl milk tea or bubble tea.
And now you’re telling me I’m under attack by some monstrous threat?
Huh?
Are you serious?
[Host must choose immediately! Otherwise, the system will enforce a random selection!]
Damn it, this stupid system was always like this.
If you hesitated even a little, it’d pick for you in the most chaotic way possible.
Lin Jiu closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
Wait.
If I were truly doomed, the system wouldn’t give me three options, right?
Which means...
His eyes flew open, gleaming with realization.
Has my destined protagonist’s ascension arc finally arrived?!
He stared at his hands, gulping.
Could it be... that I’ll awaken powers like those martial artists?
Right.
Just look at the options.
Option 1: Kneel and beg—no way, I’m the protagonist, I’d never grovel.
Option 3: Livestream for Revival Tokens? Pfft, have you even read stories? Protagonists like me are unkillable!
So...
"Only Option 2 is left."
Lin Jiu licked his lips, about to tap the second choice when—
Bzzzt—!
Suddenly.
The screen emitted a shrill static noise, followed by a flood of squirming black glyphs crawling over the interface.
Lin Jiu froze, about to demand an explanation when—
[Big... brother...]
[Come play... with us...]
Without warning.
The pitch-black corridor of the abandoned building echoed with the laughter of children.
Lin Jiu’s breath hitched. He turned stiffly toward the sound—
And saw a sight that made his scalp crawl.
There, emerging from the darkness, were twelve ragdolls.
Their grotesque grins stretched ear to ear, their button eyes—oversized and black—glinting with a cold, lifeless sheen, as if fixated on him.
Their mouths gaped unnaturally wide, lined with jagged black teeth, trails of dried crimson liquid oozing from the corners. With every hop, the fluid dripped onto the dusty floor with a nauseating plink.
Their limbs were grotesquely elongated, joints creaking like rusted hinges, their movements jerky and disjointed.
"What... what the hell are these things?!"
Lin Jiu’s heart hammered against his ribs, his legs locked in place as if nailed to the ground.
Sweat stung his eyes, blurring his vision, but he dared not blink—terrified the dolls would lurch forward the moment he did.
[Big brother, play with us...]
Their voices wove through the hollow building, a chorus of whispers that slithered into his mind, gnawing at his sanity.
Their hopping grew frenzied, closing the distance in seconds.
"System! Do something!"
Lin Jiu screamed inwardly. I’m the protagonist!
I can’t die here!
Then.
[Found you~]
A mocking voice dripped from above.
Lin Jiu looked up.
A hulking monstrosity hung inverted from the ceiling beams, its massive form shadowed by a swirling green specter clutching the Ten Thousand Demon Banner.
In the next heartbeat—
Whoosh!
The banner’s fog unfurled into tendrils of inky hair, cocooning Lin Jiu in a suffocating embrace.
As the darkness swallowed him whole, his final thought was sheer disbelief.
This... can’t be happening...
System... system...
[System terminated.......]
Lin Jiu: ???
...
Meanwhile.
Golden City, Financial District.
Boom!
As the Blood Fiend’s massive blade cleaved through the bank vault, the entire financial center shuddered like a torn wound, blood gushing from severed steel beams and staining the glass facades crimson.
On the edge of his blade, coagulated blood formed into a nine-headed serpent, each maw gaping wide, venom dripping from fangs that sizzled as they corroded the ground.
The wealthiest family in Gold City—
Young Master Wang cowered inside a safety deposit box, fingers trembling as he swiped frantically across his phone screen.
His [Ultimate Tycoon System] was blaring warnings, his balance hemorrhaging nine-digit sums every second, as if some unseen force was devouring his fortune.
Just moments ago, he’d been busy wooing a starlet.
Then—out of nowhere—she collapsed, and he found himself under attack.
Forced to flee, he’d taken refuge in what was touted as Gold City’s most secure financial stronghold.
But—
CRASH!
When the monster tore through the bank walls and pried open his hiding place—
This—
This was clearly no sanctuary.
“I’ll transfer it all! Take every penny!” Young Master Wang’s voice cracked with terror as he stared up at the Blood Fiend.
Yet—
“Kill you, and your wealth still belongs to our King.”
The Blood Fiend cracked his neck.
The nine-headed serpent on his blade roared in unison.
The words barely faded—
Before the crimson serpent lunged.
THUD.
Young Master Wang slumped to the floor, his phone screen dead.
The system’s final alert echoed in his ears:
[WARNING! Hostile superior system detected—]
...
High above the city—
Qin Luo treated the night sky as his chessboard.
His long fingers placed black pieces—each one a coalescence of shadow and the stolen fortunes of so-called “Chosen Ones.”
Across the celestial board, swarms of black pieces encircled the white.
“Heh…”
A faint smirk curled Qin Luo’s lips.
Chosen Ones… enjoy your night.
Beside him, a pair of scissors floated—
SNIP. SNIP.
One by one, the threads of destiny tied to those favored by fate were severed.
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
+【Epic Battles!】 "Your Highness, they say Linxi Temple is miraculous. Won’t you make a wish?" "A wish? It should be making wishes to me." "That may be so, but since you’re already here..." "..." "Fine. Then grant this princess a consort to play with." "He must be obedient, devoted, and utterly infatuated with my body—so much so that he’d kneel and kiss my feet." "Your Highness, that’s not a consort. That’s a dog." "Then add clever, witty, heroic, ambitious yet pragmatic..." "Hmm, that’s enough for now. I’ll add more later." After tossing out these words half in jest, Princess Anle departed the temple—only to catch a fleeting glimpse of the Bodhisattva statue smiling at her. Meanwhile, Yang An, fresh out of university, was having a very bad day. Good news: He’d transmigrated into another world with a cheat granting tenfold combat power. Bad news: He’d immediately fallen into the clutches of a certain villainess. Good news: Said villainess possessed peerless beauty and royal status. Bad news: She was absolutely monstrous!!! In the frozen wilderness, Yang An knelt beneath Qin Guo’er’s feet, drenched in sweat despite the cold. Desperately clutching her porcelain-perfect foot—the very one poised to crush his throat—he could only think: How do I survive this?! Need answers NOW!
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!
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
