Zhao Ju didn’t react immediately, thinking she must have misheard.
She pointed at Fang Chu and asked coldly, "What did you just say?"
"I said you’re blind and senile, you old hag!"
Fang Chu took a slow sip of red wine and replied indifferently.
"How dare you! The audacity! A mere live-in son-in-law dares to insult me in my own home?"
Zhao Ju’s face trembled with rage. "Guards! Guards!"
As soon as she shouted, over a dozen security personnel in uniform rushed into the living room.
"Throw this brat out right now!"
Her finger shook as she spoke, her eyes burning with fury.
Fang Chu took another sip of wine before standing up from the sofa.
Watching the guards approach, he smirked. "Come at me if you’ve got a death wish."
Boom!
Fang Chu stomped his foot on the floor, and the entire villa shook as if struck by an earthquake.
The chandelier overhead swung wildly.
The floor beneath them cracked, fissures spreading several meters outward.
The guards froze in shock.
What the hell was this?
Guo Xiao and Zhao Ju stared in disbelief.
Zhao Ju, in particular, recalled rumors of ancient martial artists from when her late husband was still alive.
Could Fang Chu be one of them?
"If it weren’t for the debt I owed your husband, do you think I’d have tolerated you for so long?"
Fang Chu walked toward Zhao Ju, wine glass in hand, his expression dark. "In the past, you wouldn’t even have been worthy of speaking to me!"
Slap!
He struck Zhao Ju across the face, sending her crashing to the ground.
"Fang Chu! What are you doing?"
Guo Xiao immediately crouched to help Zhao Ju up, glaring at Fang Chu with a scream.
"What am I doing? Guo Xiao, the three years of patience are over. I’m done holding back."
As he spoke, Fang Chu pulled a folded document from his pocket and tossed it at Guo Xiao’s feet.
Guo Xiao hesitated before picking it up, her eyes flicking between Fang Chu and the paper.
When she opened it, she found a contract stamped with an official seal and signed in ink.
"This is… a contract with the Feng Family of Yang City?"
She flipped through the pages, her astonishment growing. "The Feng Family is investing over a billion in our business?"
Zhao Ju, still clutching her face, snatched the contract to examine it.
Their Guo Family’s total assets barely scraped past a billion.
Now, the Feng Family was offering an investment of that very amount.
If they seized this opportunity, their family’s fortunes would skyrocket.
"Fang Chu, is this real?"
Zhao Ju stared at the contract, incredulous.
"There’s a contact number at the bottom. Verify it yourself."
Fang Chu sneered. "But let me remind you—the Feng Family is doing this for my sake, not yours. I can revoke this deal anytime."
Zhao Ju and Guo Xiao exchanged uneasy glances.
They never imagined that Fang Chu, once so meek in their household, was actually an ancient martial artist.
"Old Woman Zhao! From now on, I call the shots in the Guo Family!"
Fang Chu glared at her. "Or I’ll wipe you all out."
"Fang Chu, show some respect! She’s still your mother-in-law!"
Guo Xiao shouted through tears.
"Her? After all the humiliation she put me through, letting her live is mercy enough."
Fang Chu sat back on the sofa, swirling his wine. "Guo Xiao, transfer twenty million to my account first."
"You—what do you need that for?"
Guo Xiao helped Zhao Ju to her feet, staring at Fang Chu warily.
"I want the flower! Is that reason enough?"
Fang Chu wore an arrogant expression.
He hadn’t expected his luck to be this good. Based on his body’s recovery rate, he should have needed at least two more months to fully heal.
Yet, within the ruins, he had stumbled upon a fifth-grade heavenly treasure—the Stone Blossom.
The Stone Blossom’s effect was bodily restoration.
Thanks to its power, his injuries had completely healed.
Now that his body was restored, it was time to expand his influence.
The first step? Buying cars—a Ferrari, a Rolls-Royce.
In his eyes, a naive student like Lu Xueyao had been easily swayed by Xu Mu’s fancy car.
Of course, his real motive for buying luxury vehicles was to establish his status.
He needed to show everyone around him that he had money now.
He planned to seek out Li Yun and make her his secretary.
He had been lusting after a woman like her for a long time.
He truly wanted to experience what Li Yun had to offer.
...
Early the next morning.
Xu Mu opened his eyes, gazing at Ye Tong nestled in his arms with a faint smile.
The Qi Sea Pill truly lived up to its reputation—after another night’s rest, Ye Tong had smoothly advanced to the early stage of Dark Force.
He stretched lazily before heading to the bathroom to freshen up.
Ye Tong peeked through half-lidded eyes, stealing a glance at Xu Mu. Only after confirming he had entered the bathroom did she quickly sit up and dress.
What in the world was going on?
She felt like Xu Mu was becoming even more... formidable.
She needed to accelerate her plans—whether it was Meng Wanyue or Dai Xingluo, she had to pull one of them in first. The rest could be dealt with later.
Once Xu Mu finished washing up and stepped out of the bathroom, he found Ye Tong waiting for him outside.
He grinned and gave her backside a playful smack.
But then he noticed the flush on Ye Tong’s cheeks—and the black text hovering above her head.
[Affection +3]
Xu Mu was stunned. This worked too?
So he turned back and delivered a few more swats.
After a series of +3 notifications, the affection points stopped rising.
Only then did he stop, chuckling as he headed downstairs.
He had just settled onto the sofa when his phone rang. Pulling it out, he saw Xu Shou’s name on the screen.
“What’s up? It’s so early—I was still sleeping,” Xu Mu grumbled, rubbing his ear.
“Eat breakfast and come to the company immediately,” Xu Shou ordered from the other end.
“Fine.”
Xu Mu didn’t bother asking why. He already had a rough idea.
...
After breakfast, Xu Mu drove to the company.
Parking in the underground garage, he took the elevator up to the chairman’s office.
As usual, Xu Ningbing was already there.
“What’s the matter? I was planning to sleep in today,” Xu Mu said, lounging on the sofa with his legs crossed.
“You really have no interest in business, do you? With the Feng Family gone, every enterprise in Yang City is scrambling for opportunities, yet you’re completely unfazed.”
Xu Shou lit a cigarette, smirking at Xu Mu.
“That’s what you two are for. My dream is simple—for my father to become a dragon, for my sister to become a phoenix.”
Xu Mu glanced between Xu Shou and Xu Ningbing.
“Were you pretending to be an idiot all this time just to avoid work?” Xu Ningbing pointed at him coldly.
Xu Shou burst into laughter. “First, some good news—we’ve secured a five-billion deal with the Russell Family.”
He leaned back, exhaling smoke. “They’ll monitor sales in Europe first. If things go well, they’ll place more orders.”
Xu Mu thought of Isabella. In the end, she had chosen the Xu family.
“As for Yang City, I don’t plan to abandon it either. We’ll increase investments and partnerships, replacing the Feng Family. Money still has its uses.”
Xu Shou took a deep drag, his eyes gleaming with ambition.
"Dad, the hidden families will probably try to stop us, won’t they?"
Xu Ningbing’s tone was grave as she poured cold water on the idea.
"Just a bunch of hidden families…"
At that moment, Xu Mu and Xu Shou spoke in unison, though Xu Mu’s voice was quieter.
But before they could finish, they exchanged a glance.
Then, father and son shared a knowing smile.
Xu Ningbing was taken aback. Had these two lost their minds?
They weren’t even taking the hidden families seriously anymore.
…

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?!

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)

] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"

] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.