"Ah!"
The icy sensation of liquid enveloping her head suddenly receded like a tide, and Ning Xuan jolted awake from her dream.
She found herself in a dim, underground space, surrounded by utter silence. She was completely alone.
Raising her prosthetic arm, a faint light began to emanate from it, casting a dim glow in the darkness.
She was in a hidden tunnel.
While on her mission to destroy the altars, she had accidentally stumbled upon traces of the zombie horde led by Chen Xing. They were moving underground on a massive scale.
There was no need to guess their target—it was undoubtedly Ning Yu.
So, she had been tracking the horde for a long time, ready to warn Ning Yu at any moment.
But after just half an hour of rest, she had unexpectedly fallen into a dream—something rare for her since becoming a cyborg. She no longer had a strong need for sleep, let alone dreams.
Yet, every time she did dream, it was always the same strange scene: a dark red-lit laboratory filled with countless replicas of her own head.
She shook her head, pushing the chaotic thoughts aside. Half an hour had passed, and she needed to resume tracking Chen Xing and the zombie horde.
As she stood up, the pocket watch she carried slipped from her body and fell to the ground.
Ning Xuan picked it up casually and opened it. Inside was a childhood photo of her and Ning Yu.
"I should take a new photo with my sister and put it in here," she thought, feeling a faint sense of anticipation.
But just as she was about to close the watch, she noticed something strange.
"Huh? Why has my watch stopped?"
The ticking sound, which was usually faint, had completely ceased. In the silence of the underground, the absence of the sound was glaringly obvious.
"That's weird. I just wound it up recently."
Without giving it further thought, she tucked the watch back into her pocket.
As she approached the hidden tunnel exit, ready to leave, her entire body tensed up.
A strong sense of danger surged through her.
"Clang!"
In an instant, her hands transformed into metallic blades, their faint blue glow illuminating her silver hair and the walls of the tunnel.
At the end of the tunnel, two Gluttons emerged, blocking her path.
Damn it, she'd been discovered!
Ning Xuan cursed inwardly, realizing she had been careless. Resting in such a place and even falling into a dream was a mistake.
Staying here any longer would likely trap her. The space was too confined for her to fight effectively, so she had to make a quick escape.
Without hesitation, the mechanical wings on her back began to extend, and her prosthetic devices ignited with bright flames.
The two Gluttons crawled into the tunnel from either side, only to be met with Ning Xuan charging at them at full speed. The impact sent them flying backward.
As they tumbled through the air, they flailed their claws, trying to attack Ning Xuan, but she swiftly pinned them against the tunnel walls with her blades.
Two long streaks of blood were left on the walls as she dragged them along.
By the time she reached the end of the tunnel, the two Gluttons were already disoriented. With two clean strikes, Ning Xuan decapitated them.
She didn't linger. The Gluttons would begin regenerating soon.
She burst out of the tunnel and into a more open area below, where a previously destroyed altar lay.
"Found you."
The area around the altar was now swarming with zombies and mutated zombies.
At their center stood Leviathan, his grayish-white hair cropped short, one eye covered by an eyepatch, and the other gleaming with a mocking light as he looked at Ning Xuan.
"It was you who's been causing trouble for Lady Pride. How dare you betray the master?"
He pulled out his Love-Hate Scythe from his back, its eye locking onto Ning Xuan, making her skin crawl.
"Don't act so righteous. Aren't you doing the same?"
Ning Xuan retorted coldly, but before her words could fully settle, Leviathan was already closing in with his scythe.
The zombies around them scattered, sealing off all possible exits, as if preparing to trap her like a rat in a cage.
"Clang! Clang!"
Sparks flew as her metallic blades clashed with Leviathan's scythe. However, Leviathan's strength seemed far superior, forcing her to retreat step by step.
"What's wrong, Miss Ning Xuan? Show me your true power!"
Leviathan sneered, his movements growing faster and more aggressive.
"Or... is this all you've got?"
Suddenly, a second Leviathan materialized beside him—a summoned clone.
With the clone joining the fight, Ning Xuan's situation worsened. Her mechanical wings glowed brighter, and her speed increased, but she seemed unwilling to engage in a prolonged battle.
Dodging the attacks from both Leviathan and his clone, she began summoning swirling black energy around her.
"Your life is mine!"
A third Leviathan clone suddenly appeared behind Ning Xuan, and all three closed in on her, cutting off any escape route.
But his attack missed entirely. A sudden black hole enveloped Ning Xuan's body as she activated a spatial jump.
Her priority wasn't to fight Chen Xing's forces to the death. She needed to destroy more altars and contact Ning Yu as soon as possible to inform her of Chen Xing's movements.
"Zzz... Zzz..."
The sound of space tearing echoed as Ning Xuan landed next to an unfamiliar altar—one that hadn't yet been corrupted by Chen Xing.
She pulled out the communication device Lacy had given her, intending to contact Ning Yu. By now, Ning Yu should have met with Lacy, so the device would be useful.
"Oh? You're here?"
A cold female voice echoed through the air, causing Ning Xuan's eyes to widen in shock.
Before she could even activate the device, she slowly turned her head.
On a blood-red throne, a gray-haired girl with a crown floated in the air. Her pale fingers rested gently on her cheek, her fingertip touching a teardrop-shaped mark.
She looked at Ning Xuan with an expression that seemed to say, "What a coincidence."
"Chen Xing!"
Ning Xuan realized her luck had run out. She had just teleported here, still in a weakened state, and now she was face-to-face with the mastermind herself.
"Tell me, why are you destroying the altars?"
"I know you're trying to kill my sister."
As soon as Chen Xing finished speaking, Ning Xuan fired back without hesitation.
"It seems you still don't understand your current situation. How dare you address me so casually, you mongrel!"
Chen Xing suddenly stood up, towering over Ning Xuan, who was still slumped on the ground. Her eyes radiated danger as she raised her hand.
In an instant, glowing barriers surrounded Ning Xuan, sealing her off completely.
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
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)
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..."
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
