"Can you even speak properly? If not, shut up."
Xu Mu pulled his arm away. Though both were putting on acts, Dai Xingluo's performance was far more sophisticated.
"Then I'll shut up."
Jiang Huihui took out her phone and sent a message to the sanitation department, asking them to send people over.
Xu Mu then turned to Pan Shi and asked coolly, "Where’s your second-in-command now?"
"You little brat! Don’t think I’m some coward who fears death. I won’t say a word about our family’s affairs."
Pan Shi snorted coldly, still clutching his knee and groaning.
"You must have the authority to access city surveillance footage, right?"
Xu Mu rested his hand on Jiang Huihui’s shoulder.
"Of course. Who do you want to investigate?"
Jiang Huihui nodded.
"I need to find a silver-haired woman. About twenty minutes ago, she was near the Wuling Hongguang 4S dealership."
Xu Mu’s priority now was locating this woman.
Aside from Fang Chu’s matter, he also wanted to ask why this organization had come here so boldly.
Currently, the Xu family was also planning to establish a presence in Yang City, so he had to get to the bottom of it.
"Alright, I’ll have someone check right away."
Jiang Huihui agreed.
Xu Mu drove off. Shortly after returning to the Yang City branch office, Jiang Huihui sent him several surveillance videos.
He clicked on the first video, which showed Miao He leaving the 4S dealership in a car.
Not long after her departure, a group of over a dozen "shamate" (flamboyant youths) appeared, driving off in five Wuling Hongguang vans.
"Why would she buy so many of these?"
Xu Mu murmured as the first video ended.
Logically, a top-tier organization wouldn’t lack funds. If they needed vehicles, they’d opt for high-performance ones. Yet they’d bought five budget vans—were they hauling something?
He opened the second video, tracking Miao He’s car until it stopped at a villa.
"Yangshan Villas."
Xu Mu recognized the location—he’d been there before.
Now that he knew where she was, he decided to pay her a visit. After all, he had a valid reason: her subordinate had attacked him.
...
Yangshan Villas.
Xu Mu didn’t drive in, parking instead outside the gated community.
He walked in, his senses sharpened, taking in everything around him.
Soon, he located Miao He. The villa she was in stood alone, though the two adjacent villas were packed with shamate of various hair colors.
Xu Mu circled to the back. The villa’s fence was only about five feet tall, relying mostly on surveillance cameras.
He released a pulse of Gang Qi, shattering the cameras overhead without lifting a finger. No one would trace it back to him.
After confirming no one was nearby, he leaped lightly onto the second-floor balcony.
Pushing open the balcony door, he strolled inside as casually as if he owned the place.
At that moment, Miao He was seated on the sofa, scrolling through her phone.
As a seasoned fighter, she heard the door close upstairs.
She sprang to her feet, turning to look upward.
There stood Xu Mu, one hand in his pocket, the other resting on the railing, descending the stairs leisurely as if he were the master of the house.
"You!"
Miao He’s visible eye turned icy. "What are you doing in my home? Looking to die?"
"You’re the one courting death. Why did you order your men to kill me?"
Xu Mu walked to the sofa and sat down calmly.
"I never gave such an order—"
Miao He cut herself off, sensing something amiss. "What happened to Pan Shi?"
"He attacked me. What do you think happened?"
Xu Mu leaned back, crossing his legs. "I warned him—he only got one chance."
Miao He’s expression cooled. It seemed Pan Shi was already done for.
No point saving him now.
"Why are you here?"
She clasped her hands behind her back, a faint smirk playing on her lips. "To kill me?"
"Second-in-command of the 'Fallen Love Family.' The 'Weeping Rose'—Miao He."
Xu Mu studied her closely. "Am I right?"
Her smirk faded. "Not many know that name."
"Let’s cut to the chase. Why are you in Yang City?"
Xu Mu’s face remained impassive. "Tell me the truth, and I’ll let bygones be bygones."
"Let bygones be bygones?"
Miao He scoffed as if hearing a joke. "Did taking out one of my captains inflate your ego that much?"
As she spoke, a vividly colored butterfly emerged from behind her.
Small—no larger than a quarter of Xu Mu’s palm—it circled above Miao He’s head before drifting slowly toward Xu Mu’s back.
Miao He kept her hands behind her, her single eye narrowing to a slit.
Whoosh!
Without warning, the butterfly behind Xu Mu accelerated, lunging at him.
Bang!
Half a meter away, it collided with an invisible barrier.
The butterfly shattered instantly, dissolving into black mist before vanishing entirely.
"Gang Qi!"
Miao He’s expression remained unchanged. It made sense for someone capable of dealing with Pan Shi to be at the Gang Qi realm.
"What a surprise. I never thought I’d encounter a Gu cultivator."
Xu Mu knew this well—the plot was full of bizarre and unpredictable techniques.
He rose from the couch, a dagger appearing in his hand.
Seeing this, Miao He instantly retreated, her figure darting backward.
She spread her arms, and from her sleeves, two more butterflies emerged.
"Tyrant Butterflies!"
These two were different from the ones before. While the earlier ones had been multicolored, these were entirely gold, larger—about the size of a palm.
Whoosh!
The butterflies arced through the air, attacking Xu Mu from both sides.
Sssk—
One of them grazed the villa’s wall, leaving a deep gash in its wake.
Xu Mu kept one hand casually tucked in his pocket while the other twirled the dagger.
Just as the butterflies closed in, he suddenly slashed left and right.
Clang! Clang!
Two metallic clashes rang out.
The dagger struck both butterflies, but they didn’t die—instead, after a brief recoil, they lunged at Xu Mu again.
But then, Miao He’s eyes widened in horror. Xu Mu had vanished.
He had been right in front of her, countering her Tyrant Butterflies.
Boom!
Only after his disappearance did the floor where he’d stood shatter and collapse.
"Tell me… should I stab you?"
Xu Mu’s voice, nightmarish and cold, sounded right behind her.
Miao He realized with a jolt that he had somehow appeared at her back, his dagger pressed against the base of her neck.
A cold sweat broke out across her skin.
How was this possible?
At the late-stage Gang Qi realm, with the abilities of a Gu cultivator, she could even hold her own against early-stage Shen Tong practitioners.
Yet against this man, she couldn’t even resist.
Just who the hell was he?

tions: attribute allocation, analysis, proficiency, and simulation. Specializing in mechanical alchemy, from crafting sorcerous battle armor to handcrafting mechanical maidens, his mechanical legion conquers endless realms... Relying on his wits, he begins with a student-teacher romance, wins over a female director, enslaves a female assassin and a underworld queen, becoming the husband of a Grand Duchess... He enslaves the Goddess of Magic from the divine realm, developing his power simultaneously in both the Wizard World and the Realm of Gods...

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?"

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.”

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!