Lin Mei'er crossed her arms, her almond-shaped eyes flashing with anger. "Mr. Qin, you seem quite agitated about this issue. You haven’t been talking nonsense behind my sister’s back, have you?"
"Absolutely not! If I wanted to mess around, Yaoyao would’ve had two stepmothers by now. Would I still be single?" Qin Zhengwei, deeply offended by the insinuation about his character, quickly changed the subject. "What did you mean earlier about a son?"
Seeing that Qin Zhengwei’s confusion wasn’t feigned—he genuinely seemed unaware—Lin Mei'er said solemnly, "Old Qin, brace yourself."
Qin Zhengwei raised an eyebrow and declared confidently, "Go ahead. I, Qin Zhengwei, walk the straight and narrow. I’ve got nothing to hide—no secret love children!"
"Lin Chen is your son."
Lin Mei'er cut straight to the point, no longer beating around the bush.
The air grew still.
"That’s it?" Qin Zhengwei chuckled, his lips quirking. "Lin Chen is going to marry Yaoyao someday. A son-in-law is half a son—he’ll call me 'Dad' anyway. What’s the big deal?"
Ignoring his jest, Lin Mei'er repeated seriously, "What I mean is, Lin Chen is your biological son. He and Yaoyao are siblings by blood."
The words struck Qin Zhengwei like a thunderbolt, leaving him utterly stunned.
"Mei'er, y-you can’t be serious. How is that possible?"
He couldn’t fathom how Lin Chen could possibly be his son. It made no logical sense!
Lin Mei'er sighed softly. "I’m not lying to you."
Qin Zhengwei scrambled to process the information. "Wait, no—I remember. Isn’t Lin Chen the son of the Underworld’s Lord?"
Lin Mei'er nodded. "Correct. My sister is the current Lord of the Underworld."
In an instant, Qin Zhengwei’s mind went blank.
He had slept with the Lord of the Underworld?! But that wasn’t the point right now.
"So you’re saying…"
Qin Zhengwei wasn’t stupid. A terrible realization began to dawn on him.
Lin Mei'er confirmed it. "Yes. Back then, my sister was pregnant with twins—a boy and a girl."
The revelation hit Qin Zhengwei like a lightning strike, leaving him dumbfounded.
Suddenly gaining a son out of nowhere—no one could stay calm after hearing that.
After a long silence, Qin Zhengwei finally digested the earth-shattering news.
"Why didn’t you give Lin Chen to me back then?" he asked, his voice heavy with thought.
"Give him to you? My sister’s pregnancy was under the scrutiny of the entire Underworld! If the child had suddenly disappeared, do you think no one would’ve suspected you?"
Lin Mei'er rolled her eyes and sighed.
Back then, Lin Lan’s pregnancy had been a scandal that enraged the entire Underworld.
A child couldn’t just vanish without raising suspicions.
When the twins were born, even Lin Lan had been surprised.
Faced with the choice of raising both children under the oppressive gaze of the Underworld or giving one a chance at a happy, normal life, Lin Lan had agonized for a long time before tearfully sending the girl away.
She knew all too well that the cold, ruthless Underworld was no place for a woman to survive.
Lin Chen remained in the Underworld.
Lin Lan had always carried guilt for him, but she never softened in her harsh training.
She knew that only by making Lin Chen strong could he truly protect himself and force the Underworld’s forces to think twice before acting against him.
Yet, despite her efforts, Lin Chen showed no talent for cultivating inner energy. Even after ten years, he couldn’t even touch the threshold of the Mingjin stage.
No matter how hard she pushed him, nothing worked.
During those years, she even arranged for Underworld experts to secretly escort Lin Chen to major sects like Seven Flower Mountain, Lantuo Temple, Nine Lion Gate, and Maoshan, where he learned their techniques—but still couldn’t master the art of inner energy cultivation.
Unable to endure Lin Lan’s relentless pressure, Lin Chen fled the Underworld at fifteen and, by sheer chance, joined the Wolf Fang Mercenary Group.
With his exceptional skills, he quickly rose to become their top elite soldier.
Then came the fall of the Wolf Fang Mercenary Group.
Lin Chen began a life of wandering, until fate led him to be scouted by Uncle Fu and hired as Qin Yao’s bodyguard.
Hearing Lin Mei'er’s account, even Qin Zhengwei found it unbelievable.
The main reason he had been willing to spend a fortune recruiting Lin Chen was because he’d learned he was the son of the Underworld’s Lord.
He had hoped that if Qin Yao and Lin Chen hit it off and married, it would ease tensions between their factions—and, perhaps, let him see Lin Lan again.
Who could’ve guessed that the current Lord of the Underworld was Lin Lan herself?
Thankfully, he had only arranged for Lin Chen and Qin Yao to spend time together. When it became clear they weren’t interested, he dropped the idea.
Otherwise, he might’ve accidentally orchestrated a real-life "Yosuga no Sora"—now that would’ve been explosive.
Thinking of Lin Chen’s past, Qin Zhengwei sighed bitterly. "Lin Chen must’ve suffered a lot all these years."
Lin Mei'er nodded. "My sister regrets it too. But she loves him too much. In the Underworld, weakness means death. She feared that if she spoiled him, she wouldn’t be able to harden her heart when he needed it most."
Having grown up in the Underworld, she knew exactly how terrifying it was.
An assassin’s world, where strength was everything.
No one would respect you just because of your lineage.
The only silver lining was that Lin Chen had recently undergone a meteoric rise.
In just a year, he not only broke through to the Mingjin stage but soared all the way to the Xujing realm, becoming a martial arts powerhouse.
Not long ago, he single-handedly slew Gabriel, one of the Twelve Leaders of Heaven, earning himself the 25th spot on the Great Xia Heavenly Ranking.
Lin Mei'er vividly remembered the night Lin Lan called her, giddy with pride like a little girl bragging about her son.
Qin Zhengwei took a sip of tea, his expression grave. "You mentioned Lin Chen is in danger. What did you mean?"
In his mind, Lin Chen was now an untouchable Xujing expert—few in the world could rival him.
Lin Mei'er frowned. "I hope I’m overthinking it. But Lin Chen is badly injured right now, and I can’t shake the feeling Heaven won’t let this opportunity slip."
---
Late at night.
An Yi tossed and turned, unable to sleep, staring blankly at his phone screen.
On it was a photo of Shen Muxuan watching the sunset, her ink-black hair cascading like a waterfall, her stunning profile bathed in the rosy glow of twilight, her starry eyes intoxicatingly beautiful.
"67 days without Muxuan… Miss her, miss her, miss her…"
"The immortal sect’s minor realm—I’ll be there soon!"
A hopeful smile tugged at An Yi’s lips.
Then, grabbing tissues, he unlocked his phone and opened a long-unused "educational" video.
Just then, the system’s voice rang out.
Ding!
[Wolf King’s Revenge] Main Quest has begun!
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
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."
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.
