On the Rooftop
"How's the situation with Team One?" a girl with short black hair asked in a low voice, her expression cold as she looked at the communication device in her hand.
Her name was Ji Yuewu, a close attendant who had grown up alongside Ji Qingyi. She had always helped Ji Qingyi solve various problems, implement plans, and provide advice as a professional companion.
Now, she was solving a problem for her master. This operation was to test the character and abilities of a young man named 'Su Cheng', then evaluate him, and finally determine whether he could be useful, as well as lure him to a designated location.
Ji Yuewu had short hair that made her look very capable. She was tall and slender, with a face as delicate as a painting. Her jet-black eyes emitted a piercing cold light that people dared not look at directly. Her whole body exuded a chilling aura, like a sharp sword ready to be unsheathed at any moment.
"Reporting to Lady Ji, the target has appeared."
"Very good, commence the operation!"
Ji Yuewu gave the order.
"Yes, my lady!"
"Team One is unable to interpret the target's thoughts and actions. We cannot judge his psychological activities or behavioral habits."
"Explain the situation," Ji Yuewu asked with a frown.
"The target is holding a cigarette and talking to a dog."
Ji Yuewu frowned and pondered for a moment. "What's the content of the conversation?"
Team One: "He's saying, 'Do me a favor.'"
Team Two: "I suspect the target might have some intellectual deficits."
Team Three: "I rather think the target might be a fool."
Team Four: "I propose we stop him immediately. He's trying to feed nicotine to a dog."
Even with Ji Yuewu's calm and intelligence, Su Cheng's strange behavior left her pretty face wrinkled into a big question mark.
"Continue observing," Ji Yuewu took a deep breath, calming her inner turmoil, then spoke softly into the communicator.
Team One: "The target is moving towards Team Four's direction."
Team Four: "Team Four is ready. Awaiting your instructions, my lady."
"Execute as planned," Ji Yuewu commanded.
A hero saving a damsel in distress - this plan was a cliché in web novels, but it was the most suitable one to use. It was one of the best ways to quickly analyze Su Cheng's character and abilities.
Ji Yuewu's only hobby was reading web novels, many of which included similar 'hero saves the beauty' scenarios.
Team Four: "Team Four has encountered an unexpected situation. Requesting backup!"
"Team Five, go support them!"
Hearing that Team Four had encountered an unexpected situation, Ji Yuewu's face grew serious, her heart jolting. She thought, "Could this Su Cheng have extraordinary combat abilities? Is Team Four outmatched!?"
"Report the situation!"
"Team Four was ambushed by a dog with a cigarette in its mouth."
"..."
Ji Yuewu fell into an unprecedented silence. Never in her life had she encountered such a bizarre situation.
"Is it the same dog Su Cheng was talking to earlier?" Ji Yuewu asked after a long silence.
"Yes, it is. We've found this dog to be quite strange. It seemed to be communicating with Su Cheng earlier, and it could understand instructions, as if..."
"As if what?"
"As if it had done him a favor."
Ji Yuewu frowned slightly, and after a while, she slowly exhaled, feeling somewhat shocked: "It seems this Su Cheng really does possess some ability that ordinary people don't have, just like the protagonists in urban fantasy novels."
"I'll take it from here. All personnel, withdraw."
As she spoke, Ji Yuewu walked towards the stairs. The school uniform she wore suited her uniquely. A pair of black over-knee socks revealed the sacred, inviolable realm between the bottom of her short skirt and the top of her socks. As she walked, she tied her school jacket around her waist, creating a youthful and vibrant look.
...
"Only able to control for three minutes?"
Su Cheng, hiding in a corner, looked at the timer on his phone and then at the dog that had returned to its normal state. A hint of gravity flashed in his eyes.
Although he had tested the effect and duration, a dog was still a dog, and the specific subsequent side effects were unpredictable.
Would the person controlled during these three minutes retain the memory of what happened during that time?
If they didn't remember anything that occurred, then this tool would be nearly invincible, though detail-oriented people might still notice they were missing three minutes.
But if they did remember, then this tool couldn't be used on humans.
After all, once used, they would know they had been controlled, and the consequences would be unthinkable.
That's why as soon as he obtained the tool, he quickly found a dog to experiment on.
The dog was indeed controlled, but in the middle of it, a dramatic scene unfolded.
Several large men were surrounding a young girl. He was about to call the police, but found there was absolutely no signal, and he couldn't even dial emergency services.
This situation usually meant that even the nearby base stations were being interfered with, so he felt he might be in the midst of a large-scale signal jammer.
The only people capable of such a thing were undoubtedly those with immense power and influence.
And the identity of the person monitoring him, if he wasn't mistaken, was definitely that S-level individual.
However, these were all his guesses, without substantial evidence, so he still had to save the person.
So he let the dog loose, incidentally testing the effect, and then hid nearby.
As for whether the girl could escape?
That was no longer his concern. After all, he had already done his best.
At the Bus Stop
"Finally, there's a signal."
While waiting for the bus, Su Cheng took out his phone and found it had returned to normal.
Since they chose to monitor first, they probably won't make a move against me for now, Su Cheng thought to himself.
However, the next moment, a sudden waft of fragrance came from beside him, followed by a beautiful figure standing at his side.
Su Cheng raised his head and turned to look. He saw a girl wearing the same school shirt, with short black hair, a slender waist with the school uniform jacket tied around it, and long, beautiful legs wrapped in black over-knee socks under her skirt. She was about 170 cm tall, with a delicate face bearing a bright smile.
Then, her lips parted slightly, uttering a sentence: "You're Su Cheng, right?"
Her voice was exceptionally soft and sweet, pleasant to the ear.
"You..."
Su Cheng was startled, unable to hide his surprise.
Only students like him who had tested into the school would take the bus. Others basically all had private cars to pick them up and drop them off. Moreover, at this time, most would be in club activities. Not to mention, there were hardly any students like him in the whole school who didn't participate in club activities and just went straight home.
Besides, he had never encountered this girl here before, let alone her calling out his name.
"Here~"
The girl seemed to see through Su Cheng's confusion and took out a newspaper from her skirt, handing it to Su Cheng.
Su Cheng accepted the newspaper with puzzlement. He saw the headline boldly stating: "New Student Turns Out to be a Confession Maniac!?"
Su Cheng was taken aback, then looked further down. There were pictures of him confessing, along with his face. Only then did he realize how famous he had become.
Particularly eye-catching was a sentence in the article: "An ordinary person attempting to 'ride on coattails' to change his life."
Looking at the content, Su Cheng felt a surge of exasperation. The article was full of sarcastic remarks about him.
However, he wasn't too angry, after all, he had only done it for the system's reward.
So while reading the article's report, he secretly glanced at the girl beside him, finding that she was still smiling at him.
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
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.
] [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!"
