The sky over Lu Corporation had changed.
A disquieting arrogance had replaced the former order.
At the center of the storm was Lu Mingshi.
Ever since Lu Chenyuan had purged a group of senior executives at the board meeting, Lu Mingshi had not restrained himself. Instead, he had become even more domineering.
He began openly interfering in the affairs of various departments.
As if he were already the new master of this company.
Within Lu Corporation, people were filled with anxiety and unease.
Rumors flew everywhere.
"Did you hear? The CEO was summoned by the old master for a reprimand."
"More than just a reprimand. It's said he was made to apologize to the Second Director in front of the whole family."
"It seems the eldest young master's position isn't so secure anymore."
These words pierced Ren Qian's heart like needles.
She didn't believe it.
That Lu Chenyuan—calm, decisive, who had cleansed the corporation with thunderous methods—how could he possibly bow his head to Lu Mingshi?
But reality dealt her a heavy blow.
At the corporation's regular Monday meeting, Lu Mingshi once again raised objections to the southern district real estate project.
He demanded that his own subsidiary company be the one to undertake the construction.
Everyone looked at Lu Chenyuan, waiting for him to reject it as crisply and decisively as he always did.
But Lu Chenyuan remained silent for a long time.
"Approved."
In the end, he only said these two words.
His voice was as calm as ever, betraying no emotion.
The entire meeting room fell into dead silence.
Everyone was stunned.
Unrestrained glee and triumph spread across Lu Mingshi's face.
His gaze towards Lu Chenyuan was filled with the swagger of a victor.
Ren Qian was sitting diagonally behind Lu Chenyuan.
She looked at his back, straight and tall like a pine tree.
In that moment, she felt an immense surge of grievance and indignation rush to her head.
She felt wronged on his behalf.
She had just seen him break free from his shackles and reveal his edge.
Now, he was being forced to bow and compromise to that rotten power named "family."
Her heart twisted into a knot.
The meeting ended.
Lu Mingshi left, surrounded by a crowd, brimming with high spirits.
Ren Qian didn't move.
She watched as Lu Chenyuan gathered the documents on the table, alone.
His movements were composed, calm.
As if the earlier compromise had nothing to do with him.
But from his overly placid profile, Ren Qian read a trace of deeply hidden weariness.
Back in her office, on Ren Qian's desk,
someone had already placed a quarterly budget report messily marked up in red pen by Lu Mingshi, along with two termination letters.
This was no longer simple guidance on work; it was a blatant power grab and humiliation!
Ren Qian could no longer hold back.
She decided to talk to Lu Chenyuan.
Knock, knock.
The door to the CEO's office sounded.
"Come in."
Ren Qian pushed the door open.
Lu Chenyuan was standing before the huge floor-to-ceiling window, his back to her.
His silhouette seemed somewhat lonely in the glow of the setting sun.
"CEO Lu."
Ren Qian spoke, her voice carrying a tremor she herself hadn't noticed.
Lu Chenyuan turned around.
He didn't ask why she had come.
His gaze was very still.
So still it seemed to see through all the injustice and worry in her heart.
"Sit."
He gestured for her to sit on the sofa.
He personally poured her a glass of water.
"Has he been giving you a hard time?"
He asked, his tone flat.
This plain question was like a key, unlocking the floodgates of all Ren Qian's emotions.
Her eyes instantly reddened.
"He hasn't been giving me a hard time."
She shook her head, her voice filled with suppressed grievance.
"I just... I just think it's not fair to you!"
"CEO Lu, you shouldn't have compromised with him! If you keep retreating like this, Lu Corporation will truly be hollowed out by him!"
She was anxious for him.
Her heart ached for him, fighting his lonely battle in this rotten kingdom.
Lu Chenyuan listened quietly, not a flicker of change on his face.
Only after she finished did Lu Chenyuan speak slowly.
"Ren Qian."
He called her name.
"Counting from our university days when we worked together on project teams, it's been almost ten years now, hasn't it?"
Ren Qian was stunned.
She didn't understand why he was suddenly saying this.
She nodded subconsciously.
"Yes... nine years and seven months."
Only after saying it did she realize she remembered it so clearly.
Her cheeks couldn't help but grow slightly warm.
Lu Chenyuan seemed not to notice.
He continued,
"This mess that is Lu Corporation is too old, too outdated."
"The relationships within it are deeply entangled."
"Even I feel... somewhat tired."
Tired.
These two words pierced Ren Qian's heart like a thorn.
She looked at him.
At his face, always so unreadable, now revealing a trace of genuine weariness.
Yes.
He was only in his twenties.
Yet he had to shoulder such a massive, heavy empire.
Not only dealing with external market storms,
but also handling internal power struggles.
All these years, he must have been so tired.
Ren Qian's heart ached unbearably.
"Lately, I've been thinking."
Lu Chenyuan's gaze suddenly became deep and bright.
Within it was a completely new, blazing light.
"Perhaps, I should go and do something I truly want to do."
"I've registered a new tech company, called 'Yuanlong.'"
"The focus is on new energy and artificial intelligence."
"That is a true blue ocean, belonging to the future."
"A battlefield where we can start from zero and build a new kingdom with our own hands."
His voice was soft, yet filled with a convincing power.
Ren Qian listened, dazed.
Her heartbeat was unconsciously racing wildly.
She seemed to understand something.
An idea she could hardly believe rose in her mind.
"Yuanlong Tech is just an empty shell for now."
"Lin Yuan has already gone over as CEO. But he's better at strategy. The internal management, administrative systems, human resources during the company's startup phase... it's a tangled mess with a thousand threads."
"I need someone I can absolutely trust, and whose abilities are strong enough, to help me hold the fort."
Lu Chenyuan's gaze fell upon her.
Calm, yet incomparably solemn.
"The position of Administrative Director is beneath you."
"Chief Operating Officer, COO, of Yuanlong Tech."
"Are you interested in taking it on?"
Chief Operating Officer!
COO!
Ren Qian's breath caught, her mind went blank.
She thought she had misheard.
This was no simple job change; it was a earth-shattering leap.
From the head of administration in a massive conglomerate,
to the second-in-command of a brand-new tech empire.
Responsible for the company's daily operations and management.
This meant Lu Chenyuan was placing half the foundation of his new venture unreservedly into her hands.
This trust was heavier than any words.
She looked at the man before her.
Since their university days, he had been that cool, distant moon, hanging high in the sky.
She was that star, chasing after the moonlight.
She had always followed silently behind him.
Admiring him, following him.
Burying that girlish affection deep within.
She thought she would be like this forever.
Being his most capable subordinate, his most loyal shield.
She never expected.
He would personally open a door for her, leading to an entirely new world.
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?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
