Cocker descended to the second floor and walked towards the corner, where a five or six-year-old boy sat absentmindedly twisting a Transformer toy.
He had instructed Daniel not to wander off or appear near the windows.
The Transformer, which usually kept the boy entertained for an entire day, had lost its appeal. The little boy looked up excitedly as Cocker approached, having already dismantled some of the toy's joints.
Seeing the child about to call out, Cocker quickly raised his index finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.
Daniel swallowed the word "Dad" and gazed at Cocker with his large eyes.
Cocker's big hands gripped Daniel's shoulders, completely enveloping them with room to spare, and he whispered:
"Daniel, we have to go."
"Where?" Daniel whispered back.
"We'll drive around in the car. Trust me, we'll be back home tomorrow or the day after."
Cocker didn't silence his son despite his young age. Daniel had always been sensible and obedient.
Staying in one place was too dangerous. Now that the building across the street had attracted a large number of cult members, they had a chance to escape by driving to a remote area, avoiding the crowds.
"Okay," Daniel agreed without asking why, nodding like a pecking chick.
His survival instinct was much stronger than that of most children. Although his father's actions were unintentional, it was also his father who had exposed him to the most danger.
As a result, he had developed a strong will to survive at such a young age.
The father and son quickly packed up, grabbing bags filled with food and weapons.
Cocker peeked out to assess the situation outside. He carried a bag in his left hand and tucked Daniel under his right arm, charging towards the car like a human tank.
Amidst the violent jostling, Daniel began to slip backwards. He reached out and desperately clutched his father's shirt between his chest and stomach, struggling to maintain his position.
As he ran, Cocker glanced across the street.
The cultists had breached the doors of the building opposite, pouring in en masse.
A cacophony erupted: women's piercing screams, men's roars like lions whose territory had been invaded, children's frightened cries, and the rebukes of the elderly all intertwined into a symphony of tragedy.
Cocker dared not linger in the open. He shoved Daniel into the back seat before diving into the driver's seat himself.
The car roared to life, and Cocker floored the accelerator, speeding away.
In the rearview mirror, he saw the family from the house across the street being dragged one by one into the courtyard by the cultists for some kind of ritual.
"Argh—"
The man was the first to undergo the cultists' rite. One of them plunged a knife into his back, forcefully prying open a gap. The man clenched his teeth, emitting a muffled groan of pain.
Then, the cultist inserted something resembling a bee pupa into the man's back, repeating the process with the others.
This scene of human tragedy caused Cocker to swerve erratically in panic.
Daniel gripped a handle in the car with one hand and hugged the backpack tightly with the other, preventing the unsecured guns from accidentally discharging.
"Don't look. I'll tell you what's happening," he said to Cocker.
"Alright..."
Cocker steadied the vehicle and drove away.
Through the rear window, Daniel saw the family that should have been dead shakily stand up and merge with the cultists.
"Oh, shit!"
"Daniel, you shouldn't use such language," Cocker scolded, turning his head while gripping the steering wheel.
Daniel turned back as well, his face filled with terror, and shouted, "In front! In front!"
Several cultists were closing in on them. Cocker floored the accelerator, plowing through the group of crazed believers.
"Shit! Damn cultists! Damn government!"
...
Deep in the slums of New York City,
Massive trees with deep green leaves grew in the gaps between dilapidated buildings, blocking out the sky. Sunlight barely penetrated the impoverished area, and the eerie forest continued to expand, as if someone were constantly painting trees onto the canvas of reality.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle"
A long snake tail slithered across the ground, moving steadily deeper into the dense forest.
In the dim environment, ordinary humans couldn't see clearly what lay within, but for monsters, it was commonplace.
Short, transparent wings fluttered gently. The creature's upper body was humanoid, while its lower half resembled a bee, constantly laying eggs that were then carried away by necrophagous worker bees.
Sensing the approach of another being, it turned its head towards the snake woman.
The face that turned was largely similar to a human's, except for the eyes. Protruding compound eyes covered the area where eye sockets would be on a human face.
Noticing its gaze, the snake woman stopped a few meters away, her forked tongue flicking in the air.
She lowered her body and said, "My lord, Linda has sent word that the supporting ability users are on their way."
As soon as she finished speaking, the snake woman realized her mistake. She had been following the great one for only a short time and was not yet accustomed to the new form of address.
Sure enough, she received a rebuke from the Necrophagous Queen Bee.
"Mere inferior humans dare to call themselves people."
"Yes, my apologies."
The snake woman lowered her body even further. "Among these inferior humans coming to provide support... Qi Yuan is also present..."
The Necrophagous Queen Bee's wings fluttered rapidly for a moment, but she remained silent.
The moment the words left her mouth, the snake woman felt an invisible pressure weighing on her heart like a mountain. She dared not speak, only lying prostrate on the ground.
She had heard from her seniors who had followed the great one before that if it weren't for Qi Yuan's interference, the great one would have ascended long ago.
But they would also add that if it weren't for the great one's wisdom and decisive action, their entire group of "people" would have perished in Shen City.
These were battles of a level she had never dared to imagine before. If she hadn't been a local "person" from the Bit Buddha country, and if the great one hadn't been unfamiliar with this area, she wouldn't have had the chance to serve the great one.
"I'm about to ascend. Go and delay them."
Hearing the Necrophagous Queen Bee's instructions, the snake woman immediately raised her head. "Great one, with our strength..."
"I am well aware. I will temporarily grant you most of the domain authority. Additionally, that barbarian from Sanzu will assist us a little. Make good use of it."
"That great one is also..."
The snake woman fell silent under the Necrophagous Queen Bee's gaze.
"I made a deal with it and assimilated a small part of its domain. With my current abilities, I can only keep it active for a few minutes before being forced to cancel the assimilation. Don't abuse it unless absolutely necessary."
"Also, tell them that they have been assimilated as my avatars. As long as I don't die, they won't die. Don't be overly cautious."
"Yes, we won't let you down, great one!"
The snake woman respectfully replied.
The strength of that great one from Sanzu was formidable. Even if it could only help for a few minutes, it would be enough.
Moreover, with the great one's trusted generals now becoming her avatars, they could hold out for a few more seconds in a desperate fight.
The seniors said this was learning from past... no, changing the battle plan.
In the past, the great one had only assimilated domains, which led to the fall of several generals during the operation in Shen City, delaying the great one's ascension for quite some time.
How should one evaluate this...
The snake woman thought this must be the seniors boasting.
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.
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
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."
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
