In a single-bed ward heavily guarded by soldiers at a certain hospital in Jidu, the capital of Dragon Country, the air was permeated with the scent of disinfectant.
Inside the ward were three people: one lying in the hospital bed, one sitting by the bedside talking, and one caring for the person in the bed.
"I wonder what his expression would be if he woke up and found out he's no longer the strongest in Dragon Country?"
The one lying on the bed, Qi Yunzheng, had a pale complexion and tightly shut eyes, oblivious to the outside world.
"It's fine, he doesn't care anyway. This way, he won't have to exhaust himself so much," said the woman, wiping Qi Yunzheng's face and casting a disdainful glance at Yu Anhe.
"More importantly, stop bouncing your leg. The bed keeps shaking."
"It's a habit, sorry," Yu Anhe stopped the motion, holding his phone in one hand while propping his elbows on his knees.
"If I had known earlier that your nephew had such potential, I would have insisted on bringing him to Jidu for proper training when he was young, instead of this guessing game we're playing now. Such a hassle."
The woman tucked Qi Yunzheng's blanket closer to him. "How could we have known? How did you find out?"
She let out a cold laugh. "Hah, he dared to help behind my back without my permission. I want him on tenterhooks."
"What's wrong with me venting a bit? Those two siblings are both so naive!"
Yu Anhe leaned in. "So, do you know what he's been helping with?"
She nonchalantly grabbed Qi Yunzheng's ear and rubbed it, causing Yu Anhe's eyelids to twitch.
"Just taking care of some documents, residency issues, and entrusting Yun Lan to you all to help look after her. Probably nothing else."
The woman seemed well-informed about these matters. Whenever Qi Yunzheng did something wrong, he would act extra nice, typical of a guilty conscience trying to make amends.
Her foolish husband didn't guard himself against her at all, spilling everything when she asked a couple of questions.
Yu Anhe believed her account.
Qi Yunzheng spent most of his time abroad fighting, with little spare time. His wife and daughter simply had better living conditions than average.
He trusted the country, and the country naturally took care of his family as well.
They had looked after Qi Yunlan and her family, dispatching personnel to check on their situation, and providing policy benefits such as priority for school admissions and home purchases.
In other words, apart from his friends and connections, Qi Yunzheng didn't have his own power base.
Before recruiting Qi Yuan into the Dark Nine Seats, he had specifically informed the woman, who had strongly opposed Qi Yuan's entry.
Initially, Yu Anhe thought it was a case of hating the nephew because of the uncle. But in a moment of panic, the woman let slip that she had been aware of Qi Yunzheng's actions all along.
She had thought they wanted Qi Yuan to use his uncle's title as a figurehead, fearing for Qi Yuan's safety, which was why she adamantly opposed it.
It was out of an elder's concern.
Qi Yunzheng, the fool, had been giving them the wrong information.
"Why don't you think harder if any of your friends' families were also helped by Qi Yunzheng?"
Midway through, Yu Anhe gave the woman a sidelong glance. "Hey, what's with that look? It's not like I'm trying to take advantage of him."
"To be honest, I want to fully win over your nephew. But I can't figure out why he's hiding his strength, how he got involved with the Gao family, and why his high school classmates all say he was picked up and dropped off by a fleet of luxury cars."
"You don't know? Remember Lao Chen's debt collector apprentice... what was his name... oh right, Lü Cheng!"
"Our people found him, and he said Qi Yuan already knew his identity the moment they met. All the local gangsters treat your little nephew with the utmost respect, and he's even got bodyguards protecting him."
"We've verified these things. They're true."
The woman frowned in contemplation after hearing Yu Anhe's serious tone.
After a few seconds, she shook her head.
"From what I know of him, he wouldn't have told outsiders before Yun Lan wanted to come back. He greatly respects everyone's wishes and puts his own feelings last."
In fact, if she hadn't noticed her husband's desire to serve the country and brought it up herself, Dragon Country might not even have this member of the Nine Seats.
If Yun Lan didn't want to return, her husband wouldn't have mentioned her to unrelated people, to avoid disrupting her life.
The woman had even sent Qi Yunlan their new address when they moved, hinting for her to visit.
But evidently, Qi Yunlan hadn't forgiven the disaster she had brought upon the family and only replied with her current address.
They had maintained this tacit understanding, exchanging addresses whenever one of them moved.
Yu Anhe casually picked up an apple, rubbed it, and took a bite. "That's strange then. It can't be your brother-in-law later on, right?"
The woman's gaze sharpened. "What brother-in-law? Are you here to dig up information on me?"
"Ugh, my big mouth," Yu Anhe smacked his own face, feigning a gesture of self-rebuke for his slip of the tongue.
The woman's expression softened slightly as she glared at him. "I don't know much about that kid, but I do know Yun Lan's situation."
Seeing Yu Anhe's troubled expression, the woman offered a suggestion.
"She's the type to scam people without realizing it, acting all smart when she's actually clueless. Being raised by a mother like me, there's no way she has no spine."
"Someone with a backbone hates it when others make decisions for them. You'd be better off just being upfront with her."
She glanced at Yu Anhe's crinkled, bun-like face. "If you don't want to hear it, fine. But don't let your own cleverness outsmart you."
"Do you know what your nephew was up to on Sakura Island?"
Recalling a few SS-level Superhumans who were traumatized from being scammed, Yu Anhe felt a pang of regret.
"If I get fooled by a younger generation, where do I put my face?"
Rarely did Yu Anhe get to see someone else's misfortune, putting the woman in a great mood.
"Well, look at whose nephew he is!"
Yu Anhe was speechless. You're so proud, but have you even met him?
...
On a Dragon Country helicopter,
One of the crew members peeked curiously at Qiao Bai, who had been grinning nonstop.
This group relied on Qiao Bai's translation skills during their stay on Sakura Island, so Qiao Bai's outgoing personality had allowed him to mix well with everyone.
Thus, the crew member felt comfortable asking him about it.
"What are you looking at?"
Qiao Bai, huddled in a corner, turned his head. His face was flushed from suppressed laughter, and to avoid drawing a certain person's attention, he bit down hard on his palm, letting out only muffled chuckles.
Seeing the crew member's curiosity, Qiao Bai glanced around to ensure Hong Feiheng wasn't watching, then beckoned the crew member over with a small wave of his bite-marked hand.
Qi Yuan, noticing Qiao Bai's furtive behavior, also leaned in out of curiosity.
After dealing with the Monsters, they had rested on Sakura Island for a few more days before returning.
We won't go into details about how the five major countries demanded compensation from Sakura Island.
In any case, asking for divine intervention is easy, but saying farewell is difficult.
The five major countries' military might was present on Sakura Island, forcing the island's leadership to grit their teeth and accept their demands for compensation.
This included allowing them access to special fusion field exploration records, selecting a certain amount of supernatural items, sharing Monster research data, and so on.
Each country's embassy on Sakura Island would be responsible for the follow-up work, with an increase in embassy staff.
Ultimately, while the five major countries made Sakura Island bleed significantly, they didn't sever any major arteries.
The other four countries argued vehemently that this was to ensure the success of future global cleanup operations and that demanding too much compensation would hinder the plans.
Dragon Country was well aware of their little schemes, but the real reasons and each country's ulterior motives no longer mattered.
After all, this was the first case, and they couldn't look too greedy.
Otherwise, some smaller countries might prefer annihilation over seeking help, which would defeat the purpose.
Until they had a way to deal with SSS-Level Monsters, the five major countries had to compromise.
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.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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!
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
