"No, I can't drink anymore, I'm not good with alcohol!"
An Yi's face was flushed red as he waved his hand dismissively, then proceeded to down an entire bottle of white liquor in front of the crowd.
By now, the other assassins were completely drunk, swaying unsteadily.
If the Law Enforcement Bureau showed up now, they could easily round up this whole bunch.
"Ugh, what a bunch of losers!"
An Yi rubbed his throbbing head and staggered outside.
At that moment, Kim Jung-ho, who had been pretending to be drunk, stood up.
Gene the Mechanical Hand wasn't drunk either, sitting cross-legged as he casually sipped on his dark beer.
One by one, several other assassins began to stir.
Their drunkenness had been an act.
When you lived constantly on the edge of life and death, losing consciousness was far too dangerous.
"Hey, everyone, are we really going to let this guy be our leader?" asked a red-bandana-wearing assassin.
There were no official martial arts rankings overseas, but by rough estimates, among the fifty or so assassins present, eight were at a level comparable to the Void Force realm.
The rest were mostly at the Transformation Force or Hidden Force level.
They all had some skills—otherwise, they wouldn’t have the audacity to challenge the Asura Sect.
Bob the Poisoner grinned. "Why not? This guy’s ruthless, crazy, and sharp as a tack!"
No one else objected.
After all, most of them had no ambitions of claiming one of the Twelve Leaders' spots in Paradise.
They’d be satisfied just taking down an Asura Sect member, getting a share of the spoils, and walking away with a flawed serum.
A middle-aged man in a baseball cap spoke thoughtfully, "What I’m concerned about is his plan. Hunting other assassins—won’t that piss off the Paradise organization?"
Kim Jung-ho smirked arrogantly. "How many of us here actually give a damn about Paradise?"
Some were Paradise assassins, while others were freelancers who survived by taking odd jobs.
The only thing they really cared about was Paradise’s serums.
Gene, who had been silently drinking, stroked his brown beard and said calmly, "I think the boss’s plan is solid. If we take all the Asura Sect members ourselves, that means we control the distribution of their heads. A dozen members means a dozen serums up for grabs!"
"At least a dozen of us could get our hands on the serum. Low risk, high reward."
Kim Jung-ho scoffed. "Enough with the hesitation. Paradise is a chaotic mess—none of those leaders give a damn about us anyway!"
Bob scratched his white hair. "Alright, enough chatter. Let’s sleep. Whether Ito’s got what it takes, we’ll see soon enough. If not, we’ll just disband."
Kim Jung-ho shrugged.
They were just a temporary alliance of freelancers. If things didn’t work out, they’d go their separate ways.
The night was dark and the wind howled.
By the time An Yi stumbled out of the underground base, it was already past midnight.
The biting cold wind brushed against his face, rustling his beard and sobering him up a little.
Rubbing his smooth, bald head, An Yi couldn’t help but marvel at the Demon Mask’s incredible power.
It could even mimic a bald head, beard, and fingerprints perfectly!
"Jiro."
A soft, feminine voice called out to him in Japanese from behind.
An Yi turned around—it was none other than Mikawa Nako.
"Nako..."
An Yi forced a smile.
His memories of Nako were hazy, and he was afraid of saying too much and giving himself away.
Tears welled up in Mikawa Nako’s eyes, trickling down her cheeks.
An Yi felt awkward, unsure how to respond.
Honestly, he didn’t know the exact nature of Nako’s relationship with the bearded man, so he had to tread carefully.
Mikawa Nako wasn’t quite a 9/10, but she was undeniably attractive, with a charm in her every expression that was hard to describe.
She reminded him of the married heroines from those "educational" videos on his phone.
Seeing An Yi’s dumbfounded expression, Nako suddenly giggled, reaching out to gently wipe the sweat from his forehead. "You’re sweating so much."
An Yi: "..."
Noticing his silence, Nako lowered her gaze. "I know you’ve liked me for a long time, but I never expected you’d go this far for me. Ikeda Yu was my fiancé..."
An Yi: "..."
He had no idea what to say.
He’d actually killed her fiancé?!
Nako looked at him with sorrow. "I get it—you wanted to have me for yourself. But now that you’ve killed my fiancé, I can’t be with you."
Hearing that, An Yi secretly sighed in relief—only to freeze again.
Because Nako had just started unbuttoning her blue combat uniform.
"Yamete!"
Sweat beaded on An Yi’s forehead.
"But... I admire your courage. Today, you seem like a completely different person. Even if we can’t be together, we can still be... lovers."
Nako’s eyes were hazy as she leaned closer.
For some reason, the usually plain-looking Ito Jiro now seemed irresistibly attractive.
Even his bald head and beard radiated an intoxicating masculinity.
An Yi wiped his sweat.
This woman was unbelievable!
Her fiancé had just been killed, and now she wanted to get frisky?!
Did the bearded guy have some kind of unique taste?
"Stop this!"
An Yi firmly gripped Nako’s shoulders and spoke solemnly.
Mikawa Nako: "..."
Without hesitation, An Yi turned and walked away, leaving her with only his resolute back. "It’s late. Go rest."
Watching his retreating figure, Nako’s cheeks flushed with an unnatural shade of red.
"He’s not Ito Jiro."
She was certain now.
The real Ito Jiro—the bald, bearded simp who used to peek at her while she bathed—would never resist such temptation.
There were other inconsistencies too.
Only someone from the Shinobi Alliance would notice these subtle discrepancies in Ito Jiro’s behavior.
"What an interesting man... I like him."
Nako licked her lips, a twisted smile spreading across her face.
So what if he wasn’t the real Ito Jiro? She’d never been interested in that bald, bearded loser anyway.
---
Jiangbei City.
"Kim Jung-ho, are you sure those three are from the Asura Sect?"
A young man with a red bandana tied around his head and a hunting knife in hand frowned.
They were hiding in a small grove in front of the Huachuang Building in Jiangbei City.
With the expansion of An Corporation’s business, they’d taken over the entire building.
At the entrance, a one-eyed old monk yawned while fiddling with his prayer beads.
Inside, a luxurious carpet was sprawled with a lazy black dog, a plate of braised pork ribs beside it, and a tablet playing something.
The scene was bizarre.
In front of the gate, two identical bald young men paced back and forth, clearly on high alert.
"They don’t look like much, but that old monk is someone to watch out for," Kim Jung-ho said, twirling his short staff.
Tom tightened his red bandana, his smoky eyes filled with disdain. "Leave it to me. I’ll finish them in ten minutes."
Though young, Kim Jung-ho knew the kid had the skills to back up his arrogance.
Kim Jung-ho grinned, spinning his staff. "Remember, our real targets are the other assassins!"
"Relax!"
Tom smirked, then suddenly frowned. "For some reason, I feel like that dog’s staring at me."
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
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.
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
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!
