Twenty days later.
At the main gate of the Jinling City Detention Center.
The heavy iron gates opened, and Ye Chen walked out.
The sunlight stung his eyes, making him squint.
He had been locked up inside for twenty days, barely seeing the sun.
His skin had paled a shade, and he had lost a noticeable amount of weight. His cheekbones protruded, and his eye sockets were sunken.
But the look in his eyes had not faded.
A fire still burned within them.
Dark and scorching, like magma suppressed deep beneath the earth, ready to erupt at any moment.
No one came to pick him up.
The entrance was completely empty; there was not even a single taxi in sight.
Ye Chen stood in front of the detention center, watching the passing vehicles and pedestrians.
No one knew him.
And no one cared about him.
He dug out his phone with its shattered screen from his pocket and pressed the power button.
Three percent battery left.
He opened his contacts.
The first number he dialed was Su Qingxue's.
"The number you have dialed does not exist. Please check and try again."
Out of service.
Not powered off, not unanswered.
The number simply did not exist anymore.
Su Qingxue had changed her number.
Ye Chen's fingers stiffened.
He dialed the second number. His master's.
"The subscriber you dialed is powered off."
Still off.
Twenty days, constantly powered off.
Third number. Zhao Debiao.
"The subscriber you dialed has been suspended."
Suspended.
Ye Chen gripped the phone tightly in his hand, standing frozen in place, motionless.
After a long time, he finally lifted his feet and started walking.
Heading east.
Towards the Su family.
...
Su Family Villa.
It took Ye Chen nearly an hour of walking to get there.
He had no money for a cab.
His pockets held only the one hundred and thirty-seven yuan in cash that had been confiscated upon his entry to the detention center and returned upon his release.
On the way, he bought a bottle of water and two steamed buns, leaving him with exactly one hundred and twenty yuan.
The gates of the Su family villa were tightly shut.
Two new security guards in black suits stood at the entrance.
They were unfamiliar faces.
Not the Su family's usual men.
Ye Chen walked up to the gate.
"I am looking for Su Qingxue."
The two guards looked him up and down.
A young man in crumpled clothes, unshaven, and haggard, looking no different from a homeless tramp.
"Who are you?"
The guard on the left asked with a frown.
"My name is Ye Chen. Qingxue and I are..."
He paused, unsure of how to define his relationship with Su Qingxue.
Friends? Her savior? A suitor?
"I am acquainted with CEO Su. Please let her know I am here."
The two guards exchanged a glance.
The one on the right pulled out a walkie-talkie and muttered a few words.
After about two minutes, a voice came through the radio.
"CEO Su says she doesn't know this person. Tell him to leave."
Ye Chen's body went rigid.
She didn't know him.
Su Qingxue said she didn't know him.
"Impossible! Ask her again! I am Ye Chen! The Ye Chen who saved her life on the mountain!"
Ye Chen raised his voice.
The two guards immediately stepped forward, blocking the entrance.
"Sir, CEO Su said she won't see you. Please leave and don't interfere with our normal work."
"I'm not leaving! Let me in! I want to speak to her face-to-face!"
Ye Chen took a step forward.
The two guards simultaneously reached out to stop him.
As a martial arts grandmaster, Ye Chen could have pushed aside two ordinary security guards with effortless ease.
But he couldn't afford to fight.
He had just gotten out of the detention center; if he assaulted someone now, he would be locked up for much longer than twenty days next time.
He could only stand at the entrance, shouting through the iron gates.
"Su Qingxue! Come out here! Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't know me!"
"Qingxue!"
"Qingxue!!"
He shouted over a dozen times.
There was no response from inside the villa.
The curtains remained perfectly still.
It was like an empty fortress.
Ye Chen's voice went hoarse, his chest heaving violently.
The two guards were already showing extreme impatience, and one of them pulled out his phone, ready to call the police.
Ye Chen clenched his fists.
He didn't press the issue any further.
He turned and walked away.
But he didn't go far.
He circled to the side of the Su family villa and found a spot where the perimeter wall was slightly lower.
Taking a deep breath, he pushed off the ground!
The physical prowess of a martial arts grandmaster allowed him to easily clear the three-meter-high wall, landing silently in the villa's garden.
The lawn was neatly manicured, and the roses in the flowerbeds were in full bloom.
Everything was exactly as it had been before he left.
Yet, it felt completely different.
Ye Chen hunched over and slipped through the garden, arriving outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the living room.
The curtains were drawn, but there was a slight gap.
He pressed close to the slit and peered inside.
The living room was quiet.
The furniture had been replaced with newer, more high-end pieces. The sofa, coffee table, and TV stand were an entirely new set.
A bouquet of fresh lilies sat on the coffee table, next to a picture frame.
Ye Chen's gaze landed on that frame.
He felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
Inside the frame was a photograph of Shen Fei and Su Qingxue.
The two were standing in front of a large building, with the skyline of the Jinling New District in the background.
Shen Fei wore a dark blue jacket, and Su Qingxue wore a white dress.
They were standing very close to each other.
Su Qingxue was smiling.
It wasn't a polite, forced smile.
It was a genuine, relaxed, and natural smile coming from the bottom of her heart.
Ye Chen stared at the photo, his mind going completely blank.
His hand unconsciously pressed against the glass window, his fingertips touching the cold surface.
Just then, a voice sounded from behind him.
"What are you doing?"
Ye Chen spun around!
Su Qingxue was standing at the corner of the hallway, three meters away.
She was wearing a beige knit loungewear cardigan, her long hair cascading down, her face devoid of makeup.
Even bare-faced, Su Qingxue was breathtakingly beautiful.
But the look in her eyes as she stared at Ye Chen was chilling enough to freeze his heart.
It wasn't hatred.
It wasn't disgust.
It was something far more despairing.
Unfamiliarity.
It was as if the man standing before her was not the one who had saved her life on the mountain, but merely a thief who had scaled the wall to break into her house.
"Qingxue..."
Ye Chen's voice was raspy, his lips moving several times before he finally managed to make a sound.
"I'm out."
Su Qingxue didn't speak.
She leaned against the hallway wall, her arms crossed over her chest, maintaining that three-meter distance.
Not too far, not too close.
Just out of Ye Chen's reach.
"Why didn't you answer my calls? Why did you change your number? Why did you tell the guards you didn't know me?"
Ye Chen fired off three questions in a row, trembling with every word.
Su Qingxue looked at him and remained silent for a few seconds.
"Ye Chen, take a look at yourself."
Ye Chen froze.
"What have you actually accomplished since you came down the mountain?"
Su Qingxue's voice was so calm it lacked a trace of warmth.
"You said you would help the Su family solve our problems, but the result was Zhao Debiao getting arrested."
"You said you had connections through your master, but now your master cannot be reached."
"You said you would teach the Shen family a lesson within three days, but you ended up in the detention center yourself."
"Every time you made a solemn vow, and every time it ended in a total disaster."
Every word was a fact.
Every word was like a knife.
Ye Chen's face drained of color, turning deathly pale bit by bit.
"Qingxue, I can explain all of that..."
"There's no need to explain."
Su Qingxue interrupted him.
Her gaze drifted over Ye Chen's shoulder, landing in the direction of the picture frame on the living room coffee table.
"The Su family is doing very well right now. The capital chain is restored, our partners have returned, and the new headquarters building is under construction."
"All of this was thanks to Shen Fei's help."
Ye Chen trembled all over.
"And you? How can you help the Su family?"
Su Qingxue looked at him, her gaze so calm it bordered on cruel.
"You don't even have a medical license, and you can't even support yourself. What are you going to use to help me? What will you use to help the Su family?"
"Are you going to rely on those few silver needles of yours?"
Ye Chen's lips turned pale.
His hands clenched into fists, his nails digging into his palms until blood seeped out.
He wanted to say that his medical skills were real.
He wanted to say that he could cure any incurable disease.
He wanted to say that as long as he had time, he could definitely make a comeback.
But as these words reached the tip of his tongue, they suddenly felt incredibly hollow.
Because what Su Qingxue wanted wasn't promises.
Su Qingxue wanted results.
And he couldn't provide them.
"Ye Chen, just leave."
Su Qingxue turned around, her back facing him.
"Don't ever come to the Su family again."
"There is absolutely no relationship between you and me."
"There never has been."
When those last few words fell, Ye Chen felt as if his heart had been seized by a tight grip.
It wasn't just pain.
It was as if his entire heart had been ripped out of his chest, thrown on the ground, stomped on a few times, and then shoved back in.
He stood frozen in place, watching the silhouette of Su Qingxue walking away.
That silhouette was straight, slender, and utterly cold.
She didn't look back.
Not even once.
Ye Chen stood in the garden for a long time.
He didn't know how much time had passed, maybe ten minutes, maybe half an hour.
Finally, he climbed over the wall and left.
His movements were no longer as agile as when he had arrived.
When he landed, he stumbled and nearly fell.
He steadied himself against the wall, his head bowed, gasping heavily for air.
The sunlight shone down on him, but his entire body felt freezing cold.
Right at that moment, a faint throb suddenly emanated from deep within his chest.
Ye Chen's head snapped up!
It was the resonance of the Medical Immortal's inheritance!
The inheritance was telling him that somewhere in Jinling City, there was a treasure perfectly compatible with his legacy!
That sensation was faint but distinct, like an invisible thread pulling his perception toward a specific direction.
Southwest.
About seven or eight kilometers away.
Ye Chen closed his eyes, focusing his mind to capture that sensation.
An image gradually cleared in his mind.
A cauldron.
Bronze-colored, with three legs and two handles.
Antique, heavy, and exuding an aura of ancient times.
It was a supreme ancient alchemy treasure!
If he could obtain this treasure, he could refine all sorts of heaven-defying pills.
By then, his strength would skyrocket, and his medical skills would reach an entirely new level.
By then, Shen Fei and the Shen family would be nothing but worthless trash in his eyes!
A new light ignited in Ye Chen's eyes.
It was the madness of seeing a glimmer of hope in a desperate situation.
He took large strides toward the southwest.
His pace grew faster and faster, increasingly urgent.
He didn't notice that in an inconspicuous gray sedan in the distance, a pair of cold eyes had been watching him all along.
Ling Xue put down her binoculars and picked up the walkie-talkie.
"Young Master, Ye Chen has left the Su family estate."
"Judging by his direction, he's heading toward Antique Street."
Shen Fei's voice came through the walkie-talkie, as calm as still water.
"Let him go."
Ling Xue paused for a moment.
"When he gets there, he'll find absolutely nothing."
"That feeling of disappointment will be even more entertaining than today."
The walkie-talkie was quiet for two seconds.
"Keep following him. Don't let him spot you."
"Understood."
Ling Xue put down the walkie-talkie, started the car, and trailed behind Ye Chen at a safe distance.
The gray sedan merged into the flow of traffic, silent and untraceable.
Meanwhile, Ye Chen was still rushing desperately toward his destination.
He didn't know what was waiting for him.
He simply assumed it was hope.
] [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!"
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.
transmigrates into the role of a villainous rich second-generation kid in an urban fantasy novel, and gets bound to a god-tier choice system. Right at the start, he catches the female lead stealing exam papers! This triggers the villain's choice options! [Choice 1: Pretend you didn't see anything] [Choice 2: Loudly call her out, drawing everyone's attention] [Choice 3: ...] And thus, a twisted villain is born. To avoid getting killed by the protagonist, he has no choice but to take down all the protagonists first. Jiang Che: Nobody understands being twisted better than me!
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
