Tailor-made exquisite cheongsam outlined the woman's graceful figure, but her hair was disheveled, and her face was devoid of makeup.
She listened intently to the sound of departing vehicles from the window, complaining towards the interior of the room, "It's just a short stay, do we really need such a big fuss? I bet they won't come on a midnight flight."
With that, she sat down at the vanity, picking up a comb to smooth her hair.
Inside the room, a man stood up to pour himself a glass of water, "You know it's just for a few days, just bear with it."
This remark ignited the woman's anger. She put down the comb, "Was that promise to stand by me still valid a few days ago?"
The man, with a headache, covered his forehead, fully aware of the woman's little schemes: "Be reasonable, I started dating after we divorced for a year or two. What does she have to do with being an interloper?"
Seeing the woman about to interrupt, he waved his hand, "Don't use caring about me as an excuse again. I don't mind if she tricks me, why are you so anxious?"
"During these years of remarriage, I haven't even visited Qi Ao. It won't shake your beloved son's inheritance of the family head, so don't make things unpleasant for everyone."
As the man spoke, the woman's face grew darker, her voice squeezed out from between her teeth: "Your beloved son? What do you mean by that?"
"Alright, alright, it's my fault."
The man stepped forward to soothe the woman, "It's something the elders and my father have always agreed on, I can't change it."
"Well, I still don't like it. Don't expect me to give him a good face."
The woman swatted away the man's comforting hand and turned away.
"You're so foolish..."
The man didn't know what else to say, taking a deep breath to suppress his emotions.
"The matter is settled, do it well. If you only do half, you'll just end up frustrated, and the elders won't appreciate the half you did; they'll think you shouldn't have started at all. Don't do something that's hard work and gets you nowhere."
...
"Brother, are you really leaving?"
Seeing his brother Qi Yuan disembark and walk away without hesitation, Qi Ao hugged Qi Yuan's leg.
In a foreign place, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, he was panicking inside.
Although he had stayed in a villa in Jidu for a few days and had at least met Gao Changze, trusting him enough to follow him was something Qi Ao was too scared to do.
However, Qi Yuan remained unmoved, "Your father isn't my father."
Under his brother's stern gaze, Qi Ao, feeling the pressure, let go of his grip.
In this situation, he came up with a quick idea, "I'll share my father with you."
You really are a filial son, no wonder the first thing you said when you heard your dad was alive was "How is my dad still alive?"
"No need, my dad is still alive, in prison."
Uncle is a law-abiding citizen, following the proper procedures.
In this world with various abilities, it's only a matter of whether someone is qualified enough to find evidence, not a matter of not being able to find it.
Abilities like rewinding the scene, lie detection, etc. If an E-level can't do it, find a D-level, keep going up until you find one that can.
Gao Changze was momentarily speechless, realizing he wasn't filial enough, having only moved out of his home.
However, objectively speaking, his dad just ignored him after forming a new family, still had his secretary send money every month, and even gave him a villa when he said he wanted to move out. There was no need to be so filial.
Qi Ao was caught in a dilemma, counting on his fingers.
Qi Yuan suspected he thought it was fair to have one father each, and giving up half would make him lose out.
"Stop counting, go to your dad's place for a visit, you still have your phone, right?"
"You just mentioned tutoring..."
Even if Qi Ao was a bit slow, with his experience, he could tell something was off.
Qi Yuan remained unfazed, "I was planning to send you to a tutoring class before your dad contacted me."
Sure enough, Qi Ao thought he had seen through the trap, feeling relieved and even thanking his dad, whom he believed he had never met, for unintentionally helping him avoid a disaster.
Not going to visit meant tutoring, so he immediately let go of Qi Yuan's leg, "I'll go by myself."
Gao Changze saw that Qi Ao had the trait of latching onto whoever was nurturing him, he pressed his hand on Qi Ao's head, "Don't treat me like a nobody."
"I need to catch a bus, I'm leaving first."
Qi Yuan struggled to suppress the urge to laugh, my foolish little brother, is it possible that both options are tutoring?
He highly approved of Qi Ao's survival skills, no one could switch sides faster than him.
Despite choosing a mission closest to Su City, it was still a distance away, necessitating a change of buses to another place.
He left them behind and walked forward, still faintly aware of the commotion behind him.
Qi Ao looked at Gao Changze, clutching his phone tightly, ready to call if the Gao brother proved unreliable.
Gao Changze swiped open his phone screen, "The Zhang family sent someone to pick us up, they should be waiting near the airport..."
The voice gradually faded as Qi Yuan reached the airport exit, where a jeep had been waiting in a corner of the parking lot for some time.
"Hello, Qi Xi."
A head popped out from the driver's seat, with a crew cut, dark skin, a scar on his face, and wearing a duty uniform.
"Call me Qi Yuan, Qi Team, anything but Qi Xi. How should I address you?"
Out of respect for the title of Dark Nine Seats, Qi Yuan corrected his address.
"Qi Team, call me Old Xu."
Old Xu, facing the casually dressed Qi Yuan who looked like a college student, couldn't bring himself to call him Little Xu.
The vehicle left the airport, quietly departing from Su City, heading towards Yukou City, the location of the mission.
...
The chat group on the phone screen began to scroll, messages continuously scrolling up.
[Are you guys in Yukou City yet?]
[Who's this unruly kid, trying to pry for information?]
[Heh, afraid the grandson won't dare to come, not enough people to start the game]
[Talk big, wonder if you'll still be so tough when you're about to die tomorrow]
[If you keep talking nonsense, I'm leaving the group]
[Leave! Not leaving makes you a grandson! You willing to give up this chance?]
Qi Yuan swiped the phone screen, handing it back to Old Xu.
These people were very cautious in their chat.
Despite sending a lot of messages, they were all probing each other, trying to gather information about their fellow group members.
No lewd pictures or bragging, more serious than most groups, and highly active.
Old Xu took the phone back to his seat, surrounded by the special duty team in charge of investigating this case.
Every local duty bureau has people dedicated to investigating missing persons cases, catching human traffickers and murderers disposing of bodies are minor tasks for them.
What made the entire team uneasy was the person sitting at the top.
This meant the case they were investigating might be heading towards the worst possible outcome.
"This is the confession of Liu Bo, the murderer who killed his wife and disposed of the body."
The special duty team captain handed a document to Qi Yuan.
Qi Yuan flipped through the document, skimming through it, picking out key words.
"The Endgame?"
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
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)
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
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.
