"Whoosh"
With a sharp whooshing sound, Xie Yuyan, who seemed weak and powerless at first glance, swiftly drew the dagger from her waist and gripped it in her hand. Stepping forward, she mustered her last bit of strength to stab at the masked man.
No... I absolutely do not want to return to that place! I want to live my own life!
Oh? Poisoned?
Ye Feng, with his medical skills, noticed the wound on Xie Yuyan's abdomen under the faint light. Combined with her symptoms, it was highly likely that she had been poisoned with a paralyzing agent. It seemed that those pursuing her had no intention of taking her life.
"Die..."
The dagger was getting closer and closer to Ye Feng's heart, but he showed no intention of dodging.
No, this isn't right...
Xie Yuyan frowned, sensing something amiss in the blink of an eye. Although Ye Feng appeared to have his guard down, the cautious Xie Yuyan noticed his body slightly tilting to one side, as if preparing to dodge her attack.
Who is this guy? Could he be a newly trained assassin from the organization? Whatever, just kill him.
Thinking this, Xie Yuyan decided to rely on brute force to stab at Ye Feng's heart. With a quick step and a burst of strength, she lunged at him.
Just as the sharp dagger was about to pierce Ye Feng's heart, as Xie Yuyan had anticipated, the masked man lightly sidestepped, avoiding her attack. However, this seemingly obvious move was merely a feint on her part.
As their bodies brushed past each other, Xie Yuyan's hand suddenly moved. Her wrist deftly twisted, tossing the dagger from her right hand to her left, while her left hand reached out to grab the handle. This not only blocked the masked man's movement but also allowed her to deliver a fatal blow before he could react.
"Die!"
Xie Yuyan snorted coldly, gripping the flying dagger with her left hand and turning gracefully to stab at Ye Feng's exposed chest.
Just as Xie Yuyan thought everything was about to end, a sharp "clang" sound rang out, leaving her frozen in place.
The dagger spun in the air and eventually landed at her feet.
How... how could this be? He reacted so quickly? No! He had set this trap from the beginning, and I fell for it.
My own judgment led me to this...
"Bang"
Exhausted from using her last bit of strength, Xie Yuyan collapsed to her knees, barely managing to stay upright.
"Who... are you?"
"Me?"
Under the mask, Ye Feng put away his own dagger and pulled out a thick rope, testing its strength.
Hmm, she shouldn't be able to break free from this.
"I'm just a puppet following orders."
"Heh..."
Xie Yuyan wanted to say more, but the effects of the poison left her powerless, and she closed her eyes, collapsing to the ground.
Ye Feng did not approach immediately when Xie Yuyan fell. It wasn't until he saw her pale face and short, labored breaths that he finally relaxed.
In those brief moments of confrontation, Ye Feng had already sensed the difficulty of the situation, especially since Xie Yuyan was not at her full strength. Fortunately, her injury and the psychological pressure gave him the upper hand, or else he might have been killed with a single strike.
"This damn system really doesn't care about my life. If I didn't have intermediate skills in cold weapons and combat, I'd probably be dead by now."
Ye Feng muttered under his breath as he tied up the unconscious Xie Yuyan. Recalling her words earlier, he had already guessed a rough outline of her situation.
Xie Yuyan was likely an assassin, and her current state was probably due to being targeted by her own organization, leading to her downfall.
No, this place isn't safe. I need to get home quickly.
After tying a perfect knot around Xie Yuyan's wrists and ankles, Ye Feng covered the conspicuous rope with his outer coat. Although it was already past midnight, if they encountered anyone, it would be troublesome. So, he had to disguise it as if he were helping a drunk friend home to avoid suspicion.
Just as Ye Feng was about to carry Xie Yuyan away, he suddenly turned back to look at the dagger on the ground and the small amount of blood on the floor.
...
"Where is she? Tell me, where is she!"
Half an hour later, the place where Ye Feng and Xie Yuyan had been was now occupied by a bald man and several men with their heads bowed.
"Boss, we... we lost her trail here. The only trace left is a pool of blood, nothing else."
"So, you're saying she sprouted wings and flew away?"
"..."
The man who answered saw the murderous intent on his boss's face and trembled, lowering his head even further and not daring to speak again.
"Five minutes... If you don't find any clues within five minutes, then..."
"No need."
Before the bald man could finish, a voice filled with authority emerged from the shadows at the end of the alley, followed by the sound of approaching footsteps.
One of the subordinates, who had been staring at the ground, suddenly heard a strange noise. In the next moment, the bald man's figure appeared in his field of vision.
"Thud"
The bald man knelt on the ground, his face filled with terror, his forehead almost touching the floor.
"Please, Your Excellency, have mercy! That woman disappeared here, and I suspect someone took her. It wasn't me, really!"
"I have already shown you my mercy. Now, I am growing impatient."
As the footsteps drew closer, a dignified man in a suit emerged from the shadows, looking down at the bald man with disdain.
"You have missed your only chance. You will receive the appropriate punishment."
The suit man said calmly, his eyes showing no concern, as if the bald man were already a dead man.
"Screw you!"
Seeing that he couldn't gain the suit man's forgiveness, the bald man dropped his act.
"You're just a dog sent by the organization. I've given you enough face. Don't push your luck!"
With that, the bald man pulled out a pistol from his pocket and aimed it at the suit man.
"What if I kill you right now? No matter how strong you are, can you dodge a bullet...?"
Before the bald man could finish, his pistol fell to the ground, and his hands clutched his throat, revealing a look of horror.
"Cough... cough..."
A thin line had appeared on the bald man's neck, and as it widened, blood gushed uncontrollably.
In no time, the bald man collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide open, clearly dead.
The suit man greedily inhaled the thick smell of blood, his hand holding a claw knife dripping with blood...
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)
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
] [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!"
