Xu Shou sighed softly. Perhaps he had been too naive.
From now on, such matters should be left entirely to Xu Ningbing.
"Chairman! The young master was incredible! He stunned everyone, absolutely stunned them!"
The middle-aged man couldn't hide the smile on his face.
"What?"
Xu Shou's expression turned serious as he immediately asked, "What exactly happened?"
The middle-aged man took a deep breath and recounted everything that had occurred at the Su family, leaving out no detail.
Xu Shou and Xu Ningbing exchanged glances, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.
"So, Zhou Hening even publicly declared he wanted to become Xu Mu's disciple?"
Xu Shou swallowed hard, unable to resist asking.
"Exactly! But the young master declined, saying they could discuss music in the future," the middle-aged man explained.
"Alright, you may leave now."
Xu Shou leaned back in his executive chair and waved the man away.
The middle-aged man turned and left, gently closing the office door behind him.
"How is this possible? Does Xu Mu even know anything about music? And he composed his own piece?"
Xu Ningbing couldn't believe it. "Did he mess things up and deliberately have someone spread this story?"
"Ningbing..."
Xu Shou was about to speak when his phone buzzed.
He glanced at it and smiled slightly, first turning the screen toward Xu Ningbing.
She saw the caller ID—Su Weiye.
Xu Shou answered the call and put it on speaker.
Su Weiye's voice came through. "Boss Xu, your son is truly full of surprises! He kept his talents hidden so well—quiet until he made a grand entrance!"
"You flatter me, Old Su. What brings your call?" Xu Shou replied.
"What else? With a son as outstanding as yours, securing our family's order, I’m here to discuss collaboration. When are you free?"
Xu Shou’s face lit up with joy, though his tone remained calm. "Anytime."
"Great, let’s meet tomorrow afternoon. I believe our two families have much to work on together," Su Weiye said with a laugh.
"I’ll make the arrangements right away," Xu Shou agreed.
After hanging up, Xu Shou turned to Xu Ningbing.
Her cold, beautiful face showed a hint of unease. Had he really succeeded?
Moreover, Su Weiye’s method this time had been to decide the outcome through piano performance—without allowing external assistance.
If Xu Ningbing had gone, they would never have secured the order.
Her rudimentary piano skills were no match for Mu Qingying’s.
"Remember your promise to Xu Mu—smile when you see him."
Xu Shou stretched lazily, brimming with satisfaction. "Focus on the collaboration with the Su family. See if we can revitalize our out-of-town branches."
"Understood," Xu Ningbing nodded.
Yet she remained baffled. When had Xu Mu learned to play the piano? She’d never heard of it.
The thought of having to smile at Xu Mu in the future made her skin crawl.
......
The banquet on Xu Mu’s end had concluded.
This time, his gains were substantial. Besides Zhou Hening, he had also exchanged contact details with Su Weiye and Su Yaya.
After returning to the company by car, Xu Mu headed straight to his office.
"Good afternoon, Director Xu."
"Director Xu."
As he walked through the office, employees hurriedly greeted him.
Their expressions ranged from fear to sycophancy.
As the head of HR and the chairman’s son, Xu Mu held the power to hire and fire at will.
Anyone who displeased him would be shown the door immediately.
Xu Mu entered his office and settled into his chair.
Swiveling to face the window, he accessed his system.
This time, he had caused the protagonist to lose forty-five points of Destiny Energy.
He wanted to check if he had gained anything in return.
Sure enough, he noticed a new attribute at the top of his system interface.
Name: Xu Mu
Identity: Villain Saint, HR Director of Xu Corporation.
Strength: 30
Speed: 43
Endurance: 30
Defense: 30
Destiny Energy: 45
Skills: Master Pianist, Top-tier Chef.
Xu Mu studied the system carefully, then pressed and held the Destiny Energy attribute to reveal its description.
After reading it several times, he finally understood.
Destiny Energy was different from Justice Points, which were used for draws.
Justice Points could only be obtained from supporting characters—essentially, their goodwill.
But Destiny Energy could only be taken from the protagonist.
This value could be exchanged for Justice Points at a 1:10 ratio.
Alternatively, it could be used to enhance others’ basic stats.
This was a game-changer.
Xu Mu hadn’t expected he could empower others.
Betrayal wasn’t a concern because Destiny Energy belonged solely to him.
He could grant it to others—or take it back.
With this in mind, he decided to test it on someone first.
Just then, a knock sounded at his office door.
"Come in!" Xu Mu called.
The door opened, revealing a tall, well-built young man in a suit.
With a buzz cut and around thirty years old, he was Wang Biao—Xu Shou’s choice for Xu Mu’s driver.
He also doubled as Xu Mu’s assistant, functioning much like a secretary.
Xu Mu felt genuine gratitude toward this man.
According to the original plot, Wang Biao had no parents and was raised by his grandmother.
Years ago, when his grandmother fell seriously ill, Xu Shou had paid sixty thousand for her treatment.
Thanks to that, she lived another six or seven years.
Wang Biao was deeply loyal to Xu Shou—and by extension, to Xu Mu.
In the original story, he had died trying to save Xu Mu from the Dragon King’s men.
Xu Mu checked Wang Biao’s stats.
Name: Wang Biao
Identity: Driver
Goodwill: 1
Destiny Level: 1 (Max: 10)
Pressing Wang Biao’s name revealed further details.
Strength: 35
Speed: 20
Endurance: 30
Defense: 25
Xu Mu nodded to himself. Wang Biao was essentially Xu Shou’s pick for his bodyguard.
In a fight, he could easily handle several opponents at once.
He tapped Wang Biao’s Strength stat.
As expected, a plus sign appeared beside it.
One tap later, Strength increased to 36—while Xu Mu’s Destiny Energy dropped to 44.
A faint smile crossed Xu Mu’s lips. With this, he could build his own faction.
"Young Master, here are the files for the new batch of employees. Please review them."
Wang Biao placed a stack of documents on Xu Mu’s desk. "Would you like to meet them? If not, I’ll have them report for duty tomorrow."
Xu Mu picked them up and flipped through the pages.
Suddenly, he froze.
"Young Master, is something wrong?" Wang Biao asked, puzzled.
"Nothing. Lao Wang, you’re dismissed for now." Xu Mu waved him off.
Wang Biao nodded and left.
Xu Mu’s gaze turned icy as he stared at the profile of one woman.
Her name was Meng Wanyue.
According to the plot, Meng Wanyue was one of the Dragon King’s three thousand elite subordinates—and among the most exceptional.
Her joining Xu Corporation meant the Dragon King had already traced the Ye family’s orphans, Ye Tong and Ye Yu, to the Xu household.
Meng Wanyue had been sent to keep watch over the Xu family.
In the original storyline, she became Xu Mu’s secretary.
Through her investigations, she later discovered that Xu Mu frequently abused Ye Tong and forced Ye Yu to live in a doghouse.
It was she who informed the Dragon King, prompting him to lead three thousand warriors back.
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
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.”
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
