Texas was an old red state.
Although the Democratic Party had dominated Texas during the mid-20th century, because the Democrats promoted civil rights legislation and supported racial equality between blacks and whites nationwide.
This caused conservative white voters in the South to gradually distance themselves from the Democratic Party.
The Republican Party timely introduced the "Southern Strategy," attracting these voters with conservative political ideals.
As an important southern state, Texas was naturally no exception.
Of course, there were also economic reasons, religious reasons, and reasons related to growing Latino population.
In short, starting from 1990, Texas gradually turned red, reaching its peak in 2000.
Currently, Bush Jr., as the face of the Republican Party, was ambitiously running for president, and the Texas state government was entirely controlled by Republicans.
Including but not limited to positions like lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, and comptroller, all were Republican.
So this land commissioner, David Durst, was naturally also a Republican.
After Lind understood the meaning behind this name, he immediately realized.
Old Edward had also been a staunch Republican during his lifetime. As a businessman who was very successful in the first half of his life, having close relationships with the state government was quite normal.
So he had originally purchased the prison land through this David Durst?
Then obviously, the land purchase opportunity rewarded by the system referred to this guy.
Therefore, he directly got up and went to the prison entrance to meet this friend of Old Edward.
"Hey, Young Edward! Long time no see."
A balding middle-aged man holding a hat stood by an old Lincoln sedan and waved at Lind.
Seeing him, Lind finally recalled this person's name and background.
Val Farrell, Old Edward's former business partner, was a broker who mainly made money by handling affairs for people.
However, looking at his car and clothes, it seemed business hadn't been going well recently but Lind still warmly embraced him.
"Uncle Farrell, long time no see."
After the two exchanged false pleasantries, they returned to the prison office together.
"Edward, the reason I came to find you this time is to tell you good news!" Farrell looked excited, as if he had something incredible to tell Lind.
Lind followed his lead curiously, "What is it?"
"An invitation!" Farrell stared at Lind with an expression that suggested he could never guess.
"A Republican invitation?"
Farrell was surprised, "You guessed it?"
"Mm-hmm." Lind waved the letter in his hand, "You've already given me a hint."
"Hahaha, that's right, it's a Republican invitation." Farrell laughed, "I secured you a spot at the campaign banquet. How's that, pretty good right?"
"How much?" Lind didn't believe pies would fall from the sky.
Currently, the American presidential campaign was about to enter the national stage. After the March 7 primary ended, Bush Jr. had become the Republican presidential candidate.
Holding a campaign banquet now was definitely to create momentum, expand influence, and incidentally raise funds.
After all, even though Texas was the Republicans' home turf, it couldn't be neglected.
So those able to participate in this banquet were necessarily wealthy donors and allies with real power.
Small players like Lind had no qualification to listen to Bush Jr.'s speech on site.
Farrell coming to him was probably to get Lind to pay for tickets.
"Hey, talking about money hurts feelings." Farrell's expression didn't change, "Your father and I were very good friends."
"So you'll pay for me?" Lind teased.
"Uh." Farrell was momentarily choked by the response, then spread his hands, "I mean, I can give you a discount."
"What's the discounted price?"
"This number." Farrell held up one finger.
"One thousand dollars?"
"No, ten thousand dollars."
Lind turned to pick up the phone, "Angelina, the guest is preparing to leave."
"Hey! Edward, I haven't finished talking." Farrell stood up in surprise.
"But it seems to me you have finished." Lind showed no courtesy.
Just a state campaign banquet, daring to charge ten thousand dollars?
Really treating him like a sucker to scam.
Seeing this, Farrell quickly waved his hands, "I was just joking, no need for ten thousand dollars, five thousand will do."
"Take your time leaving, don't let me see you out." Lind sneered and tapped the service bell on the table.
Soon, Angelina pushed open the door and looked at Farrell, "Sir, this way please."
Farrell said unwillingly, "Young Edward, I'm trying to help you. Do you know how rare the opportunity to connect with those politicians is? Old Edward spent quite a bit of money back then to gain David's friendship and qualify to purchase this land."
"So now David needs money again?" Lind spoke bluntly.
Farrell glanced at Angelina.
"You can go out first." Lind gestured for his secretary to leave.
"Click." After the door closed, Farrell sat back on the sofa, just like at the beginning.
However, he no longer dared to underestimate this son of Old Edward.
Honestly, Farrell's impression of Lind still remained based on Old Edward's various complaints, sleeping with women, playing with racehorses, gambling, drug use.
Anyone would know such a rich second generation was just a hopeless waste.
Farrell had thought that after he took over Old Edward's prison, he would mess things up badly, even sell the prison due to poor management.
But unexpectedly, months later, when he heard about Young Edward again, what he heard was about Border Prison passing government inspection and receiving several million dollars in funding.
This immediately made him realize the money-making opportunity.
After all, such fat and wealthy second generations who knew nothing about political-business relationships were rare.
However, Lind's sharpness exceeded his expectations, and his decisive attitude formed a stark contrast with the indecisive waste son that Old Edward had described.
Had his personality changed after his father's death?
Although Farrell didn't know what Lind had experienced, facing the risk of rejection, he became much more cautious.
After thinking, he said, "Actually, to raise funds for our presidential candidate, this banquet is larger in scale than previous ones."
"But even so, tickets aren't easy to get. I barely managed to buy them from a friend, only 3 tickets total, so..."
Lind held up two fingers, "One thousand dollars."
"What?" Farrell was stunned.
"I'll only pay one thousand dollars." Lind crossed his arms, looking calm, "If you sell to me, we'll continue discussing future cooperation. If you don't sell, then leave through that door."
Farrell opened his mouth. He hadn't expected Lind to have seen through his intentions, knowing he came with other tasks.
Shit, he had originally wanted to make more money.
Now it seemed impossible.
So after thinking for a moment, Farrell looked troubled, "Alright, Edward, I'm scared of you. Just one thousand dollars, but I'm losing a lot of money on this deal."
Lind didn't believe a single word from his mouth.
After settling on the price, their conversation returned to David Durst.
"Actually, the reason I came to find you is because the land department has several plots of land in sensitive locations that they plan to sell, and they need some trustworthy buyers. And I happen to know who's trustworthy."
Farrell spoke eloquently, "So when David commissioned me to find suitable people, I immediately thought of you."
"I heard your prison is doing very well, right? So would you like to expand? I remember Old Edward only bought the military base itself. Now there's an opportunity to encompass all the surrounding land. How about it, interested?"
Hearing this, Lind secretly nodded. Indeed, it was the purchase opportunity rewarded by the system.
However, even if he wanted it, he couldn't go along with Farrell's words, otherwise he would definitely be scammed out of a large sum of money.
So he shook his head, "Although I'm very interested, the prison has many expenses this year, so let's forget it."
"Don't decide so quickly!" Farrell persuaded, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You know this is 500 acres of land! If you miss it, there won't be a next time."
"Think about it, after buying this land, all these mountains and forests will belong to you. You can do agriculture here, and you'll definitely make a lot of money."
"Forget it." Lind said disdainfully, "How much money can agriculture make? It might take five years just to earn back my investment."
"It's not that expensive, really! Edward, you just need 4 million dollars to take down this entire area!" Farrell tried his best to paint a rosy picture.
But Lind wasn't buying it at all, "4 million?! I don't even make that much running the prison for a year."
Bullshit!
Farrell thought to himself, don't think I don't know how much government funding you got!
A full 6 million plus dollars, if it weren't for this money, why would David specifically call me over to dangle the bait?
However, seeing that Lind was unmoved and wouldn't bite, Farrell could only propose more tempting terms.
"As long as you buy this land, the state government can waive taxes on this land for 5 years!"
Although products produced by prisons qualified for tax exemption, not all prison production could get tax exemption.
If it was a non-profit project, or if the income was used for prison operations, then tax exemption could be applied for but if it was profit-oriented products, the government would still collect taxes, just less than private enterprises.
So this clause was quite tempting.
However, after hearing this, Lind directly made an outrageous demand, "If you want me to buy land, fine. 2 million dollars, plus 10 years tax-free."
Farrell was immediately startled, "That's impossible!"
"Everything is possible, Uncle Farrell." Lind showed a miserly smile, "This land is only worth that much to me, but if you can help me negotiate this price, I'll give you an additional generous reward. How about it?"
Farrell immediately became conflicted.
Lind crossed his legs, his toe gently swaying.
He knew Farrell would definitely agree to him.
Because in this uncle's panel, under the weakness column, several words were clearly written:
Loves taking small advantages.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:30:01 +0000 UTC
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After the government funds arrived in the account, the first thing Lind needed to do was fill some of the debt holes.
Such as the $1 million for purchasing the electronic ankle monitors production line, the $700,000 needed for the high-tech police baton production line, and the $400,000 previously owed to the bank.
However, although he spent money quickly, Lind also earned money fast.
During this period, by taking down gangs, he had obtained a total of $1.7 million. Even after paying back all debts and deducting this year's salaries for all guards, Border Prison's total assets would still have $6 million remaining.
Lind finally experienced the feeling of being wealthy.
Compared to his penniless state when he first transmigrated, it was like heaven and earth.
Just as Lind was fantasizing about what luxury toys to buy for himself, he received another piece of good news.
"Boss!" Angelina quickly walked into the room, looking happy, "Federal Prison Industries just called me, saying the electronic ankle monitors audit has passed, and we can proceed with production and sales."
"Excellent!" Lind snapped his fingers, extremely excited.
When he went to the ACA conference earlier, he had specifically discussed related matters with the GEO executive.
Since they needed Lind's Border Prison to help them handle the official inspection, they naturally gave the green light to the prison's other businesses.
They were even willing to help Border Prison quickly undertake government orders.
The only requirement was that Border Prison must produce high-end electronic ankle monitors to differentiate from their subsidiary BI company.
Lind understood this was an exchange of interests.
For GEO, their prisons mainly made money through volume, producing hundreds of thousands of low-end electronic ankle monitors annually. If Border Prison joined the competition, it would affect their existing production lines.
High-end electronic ankle monitors had lower demand, only tens of thousands annually, but required high technical content.
Since GEO couldn't handle everything alone anyway, giving the excess orders to Border Prison wasn't impossible.
However, this presented quite a challenge for Lind. Originally, according to his plan, producing low-end electronic ankle monitors would yield an annual output of 15,000 units with $2 million profit.
Now, switching to high-end electronic ankle monitors, annual output could only reach 10,000 units.
However, profits more than doubled, reaching $5 million annually but producing high-end electronic ankle monitors required prisoners to have better technical abilities.
Currently, at most only 5 people in the prison met the requirements.
He still needed 25 more to reach 30 skilled workers.
Of course, Lind could hire workers from outside, but hiring external workers cost much more than using prisoners.
As a qualified capitalist, he naturally couldn't willingly give money away.
Therefore, he now especially desired Ottavio's case to be concluded quickly to help him complete the mission.
Speaking of Ottavio's case, with the lawyer's help, they had resubmitted evidence, and the court would likely soon initiate the "motion to vacate judgment" procedure.
Compared to the anxious Lind, Ottavio himself was quite stable. Perhaps out of gratitude, he was the most active performer in the factory every day.
He even faced exclusion from other prisoners due to his excellent work performance.
After all, overachievers were never well-received.
Fortunately, Evan had a good relationship with him and constantly helped him.
Plus, Lind had instructed the guards, so he hadn't been bullied.
Rather, ever since the prisoner who bullied Ottavio was taken to Interrogation Room No. 1 for torture, no prisoner dared to provoke Ottavio anymore.
Shortly after Federal Prison Industries called, related order materials were also faxed to the prison.
After Lind signed his name on the contract, he handed it to Angelina.
Once the female secretary left the office swaying her hips, Lind eagerly opened the system panel.
Indeed, the system panel had received an update.
[Border Prison (BP)]
[Level: F]
[Staff: 19 people]
[Prisoners: 212 people (150 minor offenders, 62 major offenders)]
[Profit Value: $10.76 million/year]
[Deterrence Value: 91]
[Facilities: 6 administrators]
The prison now had 12 guards total, including 9 C-level guards and 4 D-level guards.
Lind still had 3 D-level guards in hand.
However, he didn't need so many people temporarily. He planned to expand the guard force when the prison reached 300 people.
After several transfers, Border Prison's prisoner count had finally exceeded 200.
With more people, friction naturally became unavoidable.
Especially since this was close to Mexico with numerous gangs, the prisoners in the prison inevitably formed 3 major factions.
The white gang, Mexican gang, and black gang respectively.
These three factions created small problems daily.
Such as fighting over queue positions, brawling over toothpaste collisions, or wrestling because someone bumped someone's butt in the bathroom.
Overall, no major troubles, but constant minor ones.
The groups were like kindergarten children fighting over toys.
Even Lind often found himself laughing in exasperation when dealing with problems between prisoners.
Fortunately, under the strict supervision of various C-level guards, these prisoners hadn't caused any real trouble but besides this, Lind had other worries.
Such as the fluctuating deterrence value growth rate.
Theoretically, when prisoners reached maximum fear value, they would steadily provide more deterrence value for Lind but after actual testing, he discovered that those prisoners with incomplete fear values actually provided more deterrence value.
Moreover, once guards reached maximum loyalty, they wouldn't continue increasing deterrence value.
So Lind found that the more maxed-out personnel in the prison, the less deterrence value he could obtain.
To improve acquisition efficiency, the best solution was to expand the prison scale and continuously receive new prisoners.
Obviously, the system setting required Lind not to be content with the status quo.
Otherwise, just maintaining a small prison, he would eventually face a situation with no deterrence value to use.
However, this aligned with his own envisioned development direction. After all, he had many ideas about prisons that hadn't been realized yet, so how could he give up halfway!
So during this time, he had been urging Avery to send new criminals over.
After understanding deterrence value, Lind assigned Hook Ang and Joe Locke as administrators in the kitchen and medical room respectively in the facilities interface.
The effects were:
[Kitchen (Hook): Food preparation speed +20%, food poisoning effect -10%]
[Medical Room (Joe): Medication effect +10%, injury deterioration probability -10%]
After completing these operations, Lind finally looked at the most crucial data.
Profit value.
After reaching 10 million, the system mission was finally successfully completed.
[Mission: Profit value exceeds 10 million, Reward: Land purchase opportunity]
[Mission completed]
[Land purchase opportunity obtained]
Lind raised his eyebrows and opened the drawer, but didn't see any reward.
"Strange, what does purchase opportunity mean?"
While pondering, there was suddenly a knock at the door, and Angelina walked in again.
"Boss, someone claiming to be a friend of Old Edward delivered a letter for you."
"Old Edward's friend?" Lind frowned in confusion, taking the envelope from his secretary.
He slowly opened the envelope and extracted white letter paper from inside.
Unfolding it, he found only one name written on the paper.
"David Durst?"
Lind was puzzled. Who was this?
Angelina beside him slightly narrowed her eyes after seeing it and reminded, "Boss, if I'm not mistaken, this person is a state government commissioner."
"State government commissioner?" Lind asked casually, "In charge of what?"
"Land. He's the land commissioner promoted by Bush Jr."
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:29:31 +0000 UTC
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"Boss, we seized $32,500 from the drug-involved bar that the prisoner provided information about yesterday."
"We also destroyed 5 kilograms of drugs."
In the office, the burly James was reporting the latest operation results.
Lind nodded, "Nobody saw you, right?"
"No, we raided at midnight. There were only two underlings guarding the store, and we knocked them unconscious with electric shock."
"Very good." Lind affirmed the tactical squad's mission results.
"How's Alvaro doing?"
James answered, "Alvaro and Wolf, the new boss of the Grande Gang, are currently dealing with drug route issues. No special actions for now."
"Hmm, don't contact Alvaro recently. Wait for him to reach out to us first."
Since Sheriff Smith's death, the Grande Gang's drug routes had encountered problems.
Because the new sheriff was very difficult to deal with. His superior was in opposition to Sheriff Smith's original faction, so they had confiscated a batch of the Grande Gang's goods.
So Wolf had been using money offensives recently, trying to reopen the drug channels.
Of course, this situation would only last for a while at most. Lind didn't believe American police could watch drug trafficking profits slip through their fingers.
Even if this sheriff didn't like drug dealing, his boss would force him to bow his head and open a path for drug dealers.
So after Wolf reopened the drug trafficking routes, Border Prison would still face pressure from the Grande Gang.
In fact, the Grande Gang had already conducted several acts of revenge during this period.
Multiple stores were bombed, multiple villas were burned.
Other rival gangs, or gangs involved in drug business, all suffered major strikes.
Some gang bosses were even directly shot and killed on the streets.
This series of incidents, even without television coverage, everyone could smell the bloody gunpowder in the air.
From Lind's perspective, knowing the inside story, the Grande Gang was preparing to clean up the underground drug market and monopolize it.
He didn't expect that after killing Gian, an even more troublesome guy would emerge.
Lind did want James to lead the tactical squad in a decapitation operation, making this ambitious Wolf meet an untimely end.
Unfortunately, this new boss was extremely cautious, always surrounded by multiple underlings, and never spent the night in the same place.
Even Alvaro, who was trusted by him, didn't know where he slept at night or where he planned to go during the day.
Each time he only received temporary notifications to rush to certain locations.
Sometimes he would even be called up in the middle of the night to help.
As a result, Alvaro now had some neurasthenia and an inexplicable fear of phone rings.
When Lind heard about this, he laughed rather unkindly, because he had experienced this feeling of deadly serial calls when working in his previous life.
Especially when he had finally fallen asleep but was woken up by his boss calling to make PowerPoint presentations, he wanted to twist off his boss's head and kick it like a ball.
"Alright, boss, is there anything else?"
Hearing James's words, Lind snapped back to attention and thought for a moment, "Let's recruit a few more people for the tactical squad."
Currently the tactical squad only had 6 members. Although each had their role, dealing with gangs with many people was still quite difficult.
Especially since Lind didn't have many tranquilizer spray cans in his hands. To snatch food from the tiger's mouth of gangs, he had to rely on hard strength and numbers.
"Recruit how many more?"
"Four." Lind calculated the cost, "For some small tasks, we can split into two small teams."
"Understood, boss."
"Go ahead and get busy then."
James took his orders and turned to leave.
Lind looked at the calendar on the desk. Half a month had passed since the ACA conference.
During this half month, he had been working to improve the guards' loyalty.
Under the dual incentive of bonuses and recognition, 4 people had successively reached maximum loyalty.
Only 2 people away from the mission target of 10 people.
These 4 people were prison doctor Joe Locke, cook Hook Ang, guard Parker Zorn, and guard Gian Dickinson.
Their new professions were also different.
For example, prison doctor Joe Locke unlocked the new profession of Chief of Surgery.
[Chief of Surgery: Surgical diagnosis accuracy +20%, surgery success rate +10%]
Although the numerical values didn't seem high, for a doctor, providing a 10% surgery success rate was already quite impressive.
If Joe Locke returned to work at a hospital now, he would probably quickly become the signature surgeon of a small private hospital.
Cook Hook Ang unlocked the new profession of Pastry Chef.
[Pastry Chef: Pastry deliciousness +20%, innovative pastry success rate +10%]
Besides these two, the professions unlocked by the guards didn't exceed their original scope.
Parker Zorn, the unlucky guy who had once been attacked by the Grande Gang, unlocked the same Guardian profession as Carter.
Gian Dickinson, the C-level guard who joined later, unlocked the same Interrogator profession as Cohen.
However, Gian's upgraded skill was different from Cohen's. He possessed advanced intimidation skills.
This skill was very suitable for educating prisoners who newly joined the prison.
For example, yesterday, Lind personally witnessed Dickinson face a provocative prisoner, using physical intimidation combined with verbal humiliation on the spot, scaring the prisoner until he wet himself and bowed his head in admission of fault.
Lind couldn't help but wonder what the effect would be if Dickinson and Cohen joined forces to interrogate a prisoner together but currently the prison didn't have such extremely vicious characters.
Having finished with the guards' loyalty, it was time for the prisoners' fear values.
Thanks to James and Cohen working together, another 8 lucky individuals successfully achieved completion after enjoying treatment in Interrogation Room No. 1.
Only 5 people away from the mission target of 20 people.
These prisoners had also confessed quite a bit of information, such as bars hiding drugs, black shops privately selling guns, and immigrant trading centers dealing in human organ trafficking.
Lind had already sent James to sweep the first two places, together yielding $80,000 but he temporarily hadn't ordered a sweep of the last one.
Because according to prisoner confessions, this place had more than 15 underlings on guard duty every day, with particularly tight security from the streets to the villa.
The reason security measures were so comprehensive was naturally because the clients for these organ supplies were wealthy Americans.
They were generous with money, with organs selling for anywhere from $50,000 to $1 million depending on their importance.
Therefore, to move against this place required gathering sufficient manpower and finding a good opportunity.
This was one of the reasons why Lind had James recruit more personnel.
Big business naturally required big investment!
Lind sat in his chair thinking while spinning his pen. Just as he was sorting through these matters, the phone suddenly rang.
"Hello."
"Avery, my good friend, I've missed you so much!"
"What good news? Really?"
"That's wonderful! Avery, you must find time to come over, I'll thank you properly."
Hanging up the phone, Lind clenched his fist and swung it, "Excellent, the government finally sent the money!"
After several months of approval processes, Border Prison's prisoner funds, totaling $6.96 million, were finally going to be transferred to the company's account.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:29:02 +0000 UTC
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That night, Angelina did many things.
The stockings on her legs were even torn by the end.
However, after it was over, the little minx Angelina became reserved instead, showing no intention of surrendering or taking things further.
Instead, she escaped back to her own room.
Seeing this, Lind couldn't help but click his tongue. Just moments ago, seeing the little minx's flushed face, he thought she could no longer restrain herself.
He didn't expect this woman was still acting.
Lying in bed, Lind was still recalling the scene of them playing with water balloons just now, especially the heavy feeling when holding the water balloons in his palms and bouncing them up and down.
He wondered when he would be able to fill up her loyalty.
With such thoughts, Lind quickly fell asleep.
At the same time, Angelina next door was on her bed, wrapping herself in the covers, rewarding herself.
The next day, Lind brought Angelina to continue attending the exhibition.
However, they didn't put much effort into the exhibition this time. After browsing for a morning, they went shopping on the commercial street.
While Lind was purchasing things for his office, he also bought Angelina a necklace.
Angelina gladly accepted it.
The two of them browsed from afternoon until evening, finally dining at a famous restaurant.
After finishing the meal, Lind returned to the hotel and opened his newly bought IBM computer.
Today was the day of the second live stream, and he planned to watch as an audience member to see the effect.
At the same time, Simone also opened his computer and entered the chat room.
The people inside were indeed discussing today's live stream, though it seemed some unexpected situation had occurred.
[Zodiac: Why does the live streaming website show unable to connect?]
[Scalp Harvester: Did those people run away?]
[Jack the Ripper: That can't be, damn it, I just prepared my midnight snack!]
[Silence of the Lambs: Maybe they stopped because they couldn't recover the costs?]
Seeing these messages, Simone hurriedly clicked the link to enter the live streaming website.
Unexpectedly, he successfully entered the website and discovered that the entire website's layout had changed.
On the right side of the live streaming interface, two additional modules had appeared.
The upper module showed tonight's live streaming rules, while the lower module displayed a black chat box.
"This is..." Simone instinctively clicked on the chat box, and seeing the blinking input cursor inside, he realized with great surprise that this live streaming website had actually created a mini chat room?
Didn't that mean he could communicate online with other people?
"Interesting."
Simone didn't expect this live streaming website to still have the capacity to update.
Of course, even if they updated the chat room, it didn't mean the live stream footage was actually synchronized.
Simone had taken time recently to learn about the live streaming industry and knew very well that current network bandwidth couldn't support high-definition smooth live streaming.
Even internal company meeting live streams were difficult to avoid lag, let alone this kind of broadcast for everyone.
So this time Simone mainly came with a fault-finding attitude.
There were quite a few people like him.
For example, those people in the curiosity-seeking chat room.
After discovering the live streaming website had finished updating, they all flooded in.
And immediately began conversing using the built-in chat box.
[User0132: I bet what they showed last time was definitely recorded footage]
[User0185: Too fake, I'm definitely going to expose them this time]
[User0444: Right, everyone don't spend money, this is fake!]
[User0102: Didn't you guys read the announcement above?]
[User1225: What announcement?]
Simone looked up at the text with confusion, only to discover that the live streaming rules had undergone earth-shaking changes compared to before.
[This live stream will adopt the following rules]
[1. Electric shock will consist of 5 rounds, 5 questions, with betting opened once per round]
[2. All viewers can submit questions they want to ask within the specified time]
[3. Except for the 3rd round question, the other 4 round questions will be randomly selected from viewers' submissions]
"Randomly selected?" Simone was extremely shocked.
He read it several times, and after confirming these were the new live streaming rules, his eyebrows raised.
"So they really are live streaming?"
Simone felt this overturned his understanding of the live streaming industry.
Stable high-definition live streaming, this was a problem that even those Silicon Valley programmers couldn't solve.
A dark web live streaming room actually used it first?
Moreover, he couldn't imagine that this live streaming website dared to establish rules for adopting viewer questions.
This was too bold.
Because once flaws were exposed or the audience discovered fakery, all viewers would denounce it and quickly abandon the website.
Conversely, if this rule operated successfully.
It would mean viewers would truly participate in this electric shock session.
These audiences seeking stimulation would become loyal users of the website and bring a continuous stream of new viewers.
Moreover, this rule also effectively addressed viewer skepticism.
You think it's recorded footage?
Then when your question is selected, would you still think it's fake?
Therefore, at this moment all viewers who saw the new rules became excited.
[User1819: Oh my god, will they really be adopted? I can ask dozens of different questions in a row!]
[User0299: I'm ready with my questions! Start quickly!]
[User0088: I want to ask who the criminal's sexual fantasy target is]
[User0155: Such a lame question, you should ask if he's slept with a friend's wife]
[User0444: I suggest asking if he's killed innocent people]
[User0817: I want to ask more if his wife has cheated]
Watching the audience enthusiastically propose various questions, Lind in front of the screen picked up a notebook to record future update directions.
For example, regarding rules, they should ensure each user can only ask one question per live stream.
And there should be an independent question area.
Otherwise, the chat box would only be flooded with low-quality questions.
There was also the need to diversify punishment types. Just electric shock alone couldn't satisfy most viewers' preferences, and the live stream duration was relatively short.
If several different punishments could be added, it would surely effectively increase viewer stickiness and stimulate them to engage in betting gambling.
Of course, the people Lind currently brought over to receive electric shocks were all heinously evil prisoners and criminals.
Each person carried five or more lives on their hands, true killing heroes.
So viewers didn't need to bear psychological burden over this.
In the future, Lind also planned to capture people from gang members, sending those who hadn't faced legal trial to the electric chair as well.
Damn it, the Texas police should thank him for purifying the street environment and protecting civilian safety.
While Lind was taking notes, the electric shock live stream had already begun.
Simone watched the entire process and sent several prepared questions according to the prompts.
Unfortunately, his luck was bad, missing selection by just a hair's breadth.
However, watching the entire live stream, he still felt very thrilled.
Because this sense of participation was truly intense, especially each time they revealed which question was selected.
Even though Simone prided himself on being calm, he nervously clenched his fists.
Because of this, he directly deposited $10,000 and lost $3,000 in betting but he didn't feel it was a loss at all. Instead, he hoped the electric shock live stream would broadcast daily, so he could fill the emptiness of his nights.
After watching the live stream, Simone still felt unsatisfied and picked up his phone to send a text message to his friend.
"Romney, have you heard of electric shock live streaming?"
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:28:30 +0000 UTC
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After being called upon by Chad Bruce, Lind came to the center of the conference room and briefly explained Border Prison's management measures to everyone.
This included daily management of prisoners, technical training, and wage promotion systems.
However, when he mentioned paying prisoners over ten thousand dollars monthly in wages, many wardens immediately lost interest in learning.
After all, they usually paid prisoners no wages or extremely low wages.
To them, every penny spent on prisoners needed to be split in half before they wouldn't feel it was such a loss.
They absolutely couldn't be as generous as Lind.
Yes, even paying $4 daily to each prisoner who worked 8 hours, they felt was too generous.
They believed Border Prison's system couldn't last long and that the prison would eventually be forced to cut prisoner expenses due to declining income, finally reducing wages to the same level as other prisons.
Only a few people thought Lind's method was good and could be applied to their own prisons with slight modifications.
Lind looked at the chattering crowd, maintaining a polite smile on his face while inwardly scoffing at their comments.
If it were an ordinary prison, perhaps it would indeed have to cut expenses due to backward technology and difficult prisoner management.
But was Border Prison an ordinary prison?
Given time, Lind was confident he could turn it into America's largest private prison and military equipment production factory.
Not to mention anything else, just establishing the electronic ankle monitors and high-tech police baton production lines would already surpass 80% of America's prisons in technical content.
So Lind completely ignored others' comments.
After sharing his insights, he didn't leave but sat beside the ACA chairman.
Only after the meeting officially ended amid discussions did he intercept Chairman Chad Bruce as he got up to leave, actively saying, "Mr. Chairman, thank you for recognizing our prison."
"Don't mention it," Chad Bruce was a middle-aged man with drooping eyebrows who had held important positions in multiple private prison companies and had deep understanding of the industry.
Perhaps because he found Lind agreeable, Chad Bruce opened up, "I think your prison's management model is very good and worth promoting. You know, America's private prisons are generally quite chaotic now, which isn't conducive to requesting government funding support."
"Understood, Mr. Chairman. That's why I've been working hard to develop the prison's self-operated products," Lind said, taking out some photos from his bag. "Look, this is our newly built production line."
"Oh?" Chad Bruce took the photos and was quite surprised after viewing them. "These are electronic ankle monitors? You've assembled their production line?"
"That's right, sir."
"Do you have enough skilled workers?"
"Through headphone production line training, we currently have 15 prisoners capable of electronic ankle monitors production work, and before coming here, we had already produced several samples," Lind explained to the chairman.
"Quite surprising," Chad Bruce stared at Lind's young face. "This isn't something ordinary people could accomplish. I'm very pleased to see a young person with such vision."
"Thank you for the praise."
"This isn't praise. In fact, I think you've accomplished what many prisons cannot, perhaps..." Chad Bruce pondered for a moment, then continued, "Perhaps you could help ACA secure a major client."
He then asked, "Do you have time tonight?"
"Of course," Lind nodded.
"Then are you interested in meeting other prison administrators?"
"I'm very interested, Mr. Chairman." Lind smiled.
Not far away, watching Lind chat happily with the chairman, Austin couldn't help feeling somewhat jealous.
But he was a man of action, so he also ran to Chad Bruce's side, wanting to get familiar.
However, Chad Bruce didn't have much to say to him, only exchanged a few simple words before turning to leave.
When Austin turned to look for Lind, he found that he and that beautiful female secretary had already left the exhibition.
...
At midnight that night, Lind returned to the hotel reeking of alcohol after attending the banquet.
Just as he was about to wash up, there was suddenly a knock at the door.
"Knock knock knock!"
Through the peephole, Lind saw the female secretary's figure.
Opening the door, Angelina stood prettily at the entrance holding a hot towel.
She had changed to gray stockings today, which looked very lustrous under the light, seemingly made of different material than before.
Lind supported the door frame with one hand, "You're still awake?"
Angelina's lips curved upward, "As a secretary, naturally I can't sleep earlier than the boss."
"Such nice words, but I won't give you a raise," Lind smiled and made way at the door.
After returning to the room, he sat in the hotel chair, enjoying Angelina's thoughtful hot towel face treatment.
"Did it go smoothly?" Angelina timely brought up tonight's drinking session.
Lind tapped the armrest with his finger, "Very smoothly, or rather I appeared at just the right time."
He began recalling everything that happened tonight.
In the first half of the drinking session, he met the heads of CCA and GEO, and saw bosses from other major prison companies.
Since Lind could see everyone's weaknesses, or rather preferences, he quickly integrated into these capitalists' conversations and successfully gained everyone's favor.
He talked about art collectibles with Chad Bruce, discussed horse-raising insights with the CCA head, and played blackjack with the GEO head.
In short, everyone got sufficient emotional value from Lind.
So much so that everyone took turns chatting with Lind and even invited him to visit their homes.
In the second half of the drinking session, after some unrelated prison bosses left, Chad Bruce finally revealed his purpose.
In fact, the reason Chad Bruce invited Lind to their drinking session was because they were currently negotiating a cooperation with the federal government.
"Guantanamo Bay Prison?" Angelina raised her eyebrows upon hearing this name. "Isn't that the location of the US military base in Cuba?"
"Exactly," Lind nodded and explained. "The US military plans to establish a prison inside the Guantanamo Bay naval base for holding criminals."
"This project has already passed Congressional approval and is estimated to begin construction next year, then be completed in 2002."
"What ACA, or rather CCA and GEO want to compete for, are the orders for various facilities within the prison."
Angelina understood but was still somewhat confused, "But what does this have to do with our prison?"
Lind picked up a coin to play with in his hands, "Of course it's related. Regarding Guantanamo Bay Prison, there are currently two voices within the federal government."
"One is to place orders with military-industrial enterprises or private companies for construction."
"The other is to place orders with major private prisons for construction."
As for why not give orders to public prisons? Don't be ridiculous, public prisons have transparent accounting, how would officials take kickbacks!
Lind continued, "But the problem is many people don't trust private prisons' production capabilities and quality, so there will be special officials conducting inspections of major private prisons next."
"But as you know, CCA and others are great at exploiting prisoners, but making prisoners work hard and improve their skills is somewhat difficult for them."
"So after the chairman saw the electronic ankle monitors produced by our prison, he actively proposed adding us to the supplier list to handle officials' inspections."
Angelina shrugged after listening, "Sounds quite troublesome. Can't you just use money to pave the way?"
"Of course you can, but those officials have big appetites. If quality doesn't meet standards, how much money do you think it would take to convince them?"
"Most importantly, if supply quality is reliable, when those officials take kickbacks in the future, we'll also have room to negotiate."
"I see."
Angelina threw away the cooled towel and pressed her tender hands on Lind's shoulders and neck, gently giving him a massage.
"So comfortable."
Lind closed his eyes, planning to see what tricks this little bitch would play today.
After massaging for two minutes, he suddenly felt his belt loosen, followed by a cold little hand slipping inside.
"Hiss!"
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:28:00 +0000 UTC
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The ACA convention quickly began after the chairman's opening remarks.
The meeting format was topical discussions, with everyone given a sheet of paper listing this year's topics.
"How to view sexual conduct between inmates and guards?"
"How to deal with the drug challenge?"
"How to handle the media?"
"How to prevent inmate suicide?"
"How to motivate inmates to work and increase prison revenue?"
These topics perfectly reflected the current state of American private prisons and were dilemmas faced by all private prison administrators.
After everyone finished reading, low murmurs of discussion filled the conference room.
Seeing this, the meeting moderator tapped the table and guided everyone's attention to the first question.
"How to view sexual conduct between inmates and guards?"
Someone answered, "I think we should fire the guard directly!"
Someone countered, "I disagree. A warning would suffice. If we fire the guard, who will manage the prison?"
"Hey buddy, are all the guards in your prison rapists?" someone reminded.
Instant laughter erupted.
"I think we should first determine whether it's male guards assaulting female inmates or male inmates assaulting female guards," Austin next to Lind raised his hand and spoke.
Everyone immediately nodded in agreement.
"That's right, we have more male guards than female guards in our prison."
"Our prison basically has no female guards."
"Sorry, but are you discriminating against women?"
While everyone was discussing, a man and woman suddenly started arguing over gender issues.
"What? Why do you say that? This is men's work!"
"Who says prison guards must be men? According to research, female guards are more meticulous in management and more popular."
"What the fuck, by popular do you mean those inmates can masturbate freely while looking at female guards?"
"Hahaha!"
Another burst of laughter.
"Alright, don't discuss gender issues. This is a private prison conference, not a human rights organization meeting."
The moderator stopped both sides' argument and let everyone continue discussing.
The entire meeting lasted over an hour before nearing its end, and everyone had discussed some feasible solutions for various topics.
For example, "How to handle the media?"
Most prison administrators present had experienced inmate lawsuits and reporter questioning after court hearings.
They were very troubled by those difficult reporters' questions.
However, the CCA representative was experienced in this area. He told everyone they could avoid answering difficult reporters' questions and reference current cases to avoid discussing thorny topics.
Additionally, when releasing news, it was best to choose Friday evenings to reduce public attention to lawsuit incidents.
Another example was "How to prevent inmate suicide?"
Many prison administrators answered this question, but their responses were all product introductions for their own facilities.
Anti-suicide railings, anti-suicide glass, anti-suicide towels, and so on.
One prison even claimed that if an inmate successfully committed suicide using their anti-suicide ventilation rack, they would reward a Harley motorcycle.
Lind thought to himself that after an inmate committed suicide, what good would getting a Harley do? Would they burn it for him?
After the first few topics were discussed, the meeting smoothly moved to the final topic.
"How to motivate inmates to work and increase prison revenue?"
ACA Chairman Chad Bruce explained, "This question mainly asks how everyone motivates inmates to learn and competently handle assembly line work within prisons."
Austin was first to ask back, "Why motivate inmates to work? Wouldn't it be better to just outsource to factories and companies?"
"Yeah, exactly. Let factories help us manage inmates and still make money. Isn't that good?"
"Besides, if we don't establish factories in prisons, we can accommodate more inmates."
"Right, there's no need to have inmates work inside prisons."
Other prison administrators nodded, quite agreeing with this plan.
As mentioned before, private prisons currently used profit models that were generally based on per-head payments.
The more inmates, the more money earned.
Fleece the government once, then rent out inmates for profit.
This was the business philosophy of American private prisons.
Therefore, when everyone heard about having inmates work inside prisons, they found it somewhat unimaginable.
Hearing everyone's confusion, Chad Bruce picked up some materials and said, "Currently there are 312 prison companies certified by ACA."
"Among those certified and receiving orders through Federal Prison Industries, there are 51 companies."
"Excluding CCA and GEO, only 17 remain."
After stating these figures, Chad Bruce looked at everyone in the conference room and continued, "Through our investigation and estimation, these 17 companies' average annual profits are 50% higher than private prisons that outsource inmates to companies and factories."
"That's why I brought up this topic at the meeting, to ask everyone's opinions."
As soon as he finished speaking, discussion erupted around Lind.
"50%?"
"Are you kidding? Is having inmates work in prisons really that profitable?"
"Actually it might be more than 50%, because outsourcing to companies only gets you a lump sum payment. But if you produce yourself and complete orders, you naturally earn more."
"I know, but the upfront investment isn't small either!"
"And to make inmates work obediently, you need more guards. Management and labor costs both increase. Why wouldn't I use that money to expand the prison and accommodate more inmates?"
In fact, the prison administrators weren't fools and had all calculated this in their heads.
Compared to building assembly lines in prisons and driving inmates to work, outsourcing inmates was obviously easier and more cost-effective.
Moreover, with CCA as a precedent, everyone believed this chain prison profit model was more conducive to expansion and stock prices.
They just hadn't expected ACA Chairman Chad Bruce to make such a direct profit comparison today.
Hearing about profits exceeding ordinary prisons by 50%, many administrators immediately became interested.
Previously, because each prison's profits weren't transparent, everyone was kept in the dark. Now knowing about assembly lines' high profits, Federal Prison Industries' auditors would probably start getting busy soon.
Subsequently, Chad Bruce announced profit values for various orders, including military contracts and civilian orders.
Hearing this, Austin said with undisguised envy, "The profits are indeed high. Looks like I need to adjust my business model. What do you think, Edward?"
Lind shrugged, "I don't need to adjust."
"Why? Don't you covet the profits from military contracts?"
As soon as he finished speaking, both heard Chad Bruce's voice, "Is the person in charge of Border Prison here?"
Lind raised his eyebrows and lifted his hand.
Immediately, all eyes in the conference room focused on him.
Chad Bruce smiled and introduced to everyone, "This is Edward, owner of Border Prison. Although their prison was established less than six months ago, it has already passed ACA certification and taken on military headphone orders."
"Through estimation, we believe Border Prison's net profit is approximately $7 million. Gentlemen, you should know that Edward's prison currently only accommodates 300 inmates."
"Moreover, after our inspectors visited your prison, they consistently praised your proper and orderly management of inmates."
"So I hope you can share with everyone your insights on motivating inmates to work. Would that be alright?"
Lind smiled slightly and nodded under Austin's stunned gaze, "Of course, no problem."
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:27:29 +0000 UTC
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Lind had thought that advanced production lines should be more profitable than current ones but he hadn't expected the high-tech police baton to have such high profits!
Currently on the market, a high-tech police baton integrated with GPS, alarm functions, high-voltage electric shock, strong light dazzle, and anti-theft design sold for $300.
One high-tech police baton production line could ideally produce 50,000 units annually.
This meant one production line could generate approximately $15 million in value but the costs required for the production line were far lower than the selling price.
Equipment-wise, injection molding machines plus circuit board placement machines plus battery assembly equipment, plus high-voltage module testing equipment would cost $700,000.
For manpower, they would need to employ multiple professional engineers to design architecture and do software programming, costing $50,000 per month in wages.
Regarding patents, some of the patents needed for this blueprint overlapped with electronic ankle monitors, while others hadn't been registered as patents yet.
Lind could completely register them himself and make continuous money from patent fees once the related industry matured in the future.
Adding bulk procurement costs for raw materials, Lind estimated he could control the cost to around $100 per baton produced.
The overall profit reached as high as ten million dollars!
This was more profitable than headphones and electronic ankle monitors combined.
The only two problems were lack of personnel and prisoners' inadequate technical skills.
Border Prison's prisoner count couldn't even fill two production lines, so to open another line would require Avery to speed up prisoner transport.
Moreover, while prisoners' current welding skills were adequate for headphone production, they struggled somewhat with electronic ankle monitors production.
Fortunately, the electronic ankle monitors production line didn't require many people. If Lind transferred those prisoners with solid technical skills, it could barely sustain operations but producing police batons required even more difficult techniques and more personnel.
To achieve ideal production volume, prisoners would have to learn more and harder techniques.
However, prisoners were all a bunch of idiots. Few had even attended high school, and 80% had learning abilities at a low level.
Having them learn simple welding was already quite demanding. Having them learn high-difficulty techniques would probably cause an immediate riot.
So Lind now desperately wanted the Quick Learning Room from the upgrade mission rewards.
If expectations were correct, this special facility should help the prison solve its illiteracy problem.
It was just unfortunate there was no way to build it immediately.
Lind smacked his lips and put the blueprint in the small safe hidden behind the sofa back.
This was a good location he had specifically found, used to store system-drawn rewards and some relatively sensitive items.
Under his office desk was another large safe containing contracts and money.
After putting everything away, Lind took his luggage and got in his car.
Angelina was already waiting in the driver's seat.
They were heading to the airport to take a red-eye flight directly to New York.
...
At six in the morning, Lind and Angelina arrived at their booked hotel.
The ACA convention would be held tomorrow for three days.
It was called a convention, but was actually a prison products expo.
CCA had rented a large hall for exhibitions where major prison companies would display their products to attract law enforcement leaders and government orders.
Meanwhile, prison officials would jointly discuss various problems facing private prisons this year in the main conference room.
Lind had never attended such a conference before, nor had Old Edward.
However, he had seen plenty of similar military exhibitions before, so he didn't find it particularly novel.
After resting all day at the hotel, at eight the next morning, Lind in a striped suit brought Angelina in a black business outfit to the expo venue.
"Good morning, sir," The guard greeted politely after checking Lind's invitation, then let both pass through security into the hall.
The hall didn't have many people, but products were abundant.
Self-defense batons, metal detection equipment, electronic handcuffs, electronic prisoner uniforms and other things that looked impressive but were actually not very useful were displayed before Lind.
Take electronic prisoner uniforms, for example. The description claimed they could track prisoner locations in real time and monitor prisoners' vital signs to determine their condition.
For instance, when prisoners were angry, their heart rate would increase and blood pressure would rise. After detecting this data, the uniform would send warnings to the backend, allowing guards to stop prisoners before they fought.
But the description omitted the most important point.
If this uniform wanted to monitor prisoners' physical conditions in real time, it needed various devices integrated into the clothing, and these devices together weighed a full 15 kilograms.
Working in this uniform would be as ridiculous as wearing 10 layers of condoms during intimate moments.
So Lind took one look and continued browsing with Angelina.
After browsing for a while, it was 9 o'clock.
The two entered the inner venue, passed the guard with their invitations, and sat in the conference room.
This was a circular conference room with somewhat cramped seating and tables.
Lind looked at his seat number and found Border Prison had been arranged in the outermost circle.
This wasn't surprising, since it was an unknown small private prison with 300 prisoners, not even as large as any random CCA prison.
Although they certainly didn't make money as well as Lind.
Lind sat in his chair, drinking the free beverages provided by the prison company while chatting with Angelina, waiting for the meeting to begin.
Soon, participants gradually entered the conference room.
Among them, a brown-haired curly man quickly walked into the conference room, scanned around, and finally stopped at the seat next to Lind.
Then he walked over with a confident smile, extending his hand in greeting, "Hey, hello, I'm Austin, warden of Ollu Prison."
"Hello, Border Prison, I'm Edward," Lind looked up at him without getting up, reaching out to shake hands.
Austin didn't mind and sat directly beside him, smiling at Angelina.
"And this beautiful lady is?"
"I'm the boss's secretary, Angelina Castro," Out of politeness, Angelina briefly introduced herself.
"Wow, what a lovely name."
Austin seemed quite familiar and began actively chatting with Lind after sitting down.
"Edward, what's your prison called?"
"Border Prison."
"Sounds like a simple name. You must be a practical person," Austin joked, then started talking about his own prison's success story.
Although it felt a bit noisy, Lind also learned about this Ollu Prison warden's situation.
Similar to Border Prison, Ollu Prison was also a newly established private prison, just slightly larger than Border Prison, currently holding 400 prisoners.
The prison had no serious criminals, all were minor offenders.
In fact, private prisons generally wouldn't hold serious criminals because their development model referenced CCA.
Focusing mainly on minor offenders, reducing expenses, expanding prison scale, and frantically opening branch prisons in various states.
While this approach was quite profitable, the consequences were also serious.
The prison would become a mess, with guards colluding with prisoners, sometimes even less influential than prisoners but capitalists never cared about this.
As long as it made money, that was enough.
What did private prisons need reputation for?
"I can now make $3 million profit annually, and this is just my first prison. I plan to open a second prison in Texas and open 5 prisons within 3 years, then seek to go public. How's that? Isn't this decision quite bold?"
Angelina listened to Austin bragging and couldn't help but curl her lips.
Although she didn't know Border Prison's specific profit figures, she had calculated and found that Border Prison could earn at least $6 million annually.
This was still based on just over 100 prisoners!
Once prisoners filled the prison, Border Prison would earn at least tens of millions annually.
So in terms of business management, Lind could rub Austin into the ground.
And if it came to physical combat, having secretly watched Lind spar with James, Angelina had no doubt this pretty boy Austin would also be rubbed into the ground but the meaning of a clown was that he didn't know he was a clown.
Therefore, Lind and his companion listened like they were hearing jokes, listening to Austin talk about his business plans while encouraging him to say more.
After all, although Austin loved bragging, the industry news and anecdotes he mentioned were quite fresh to hear.
Lind hadn't contacted other industry bosses before, so this was a good opportunity to learn from Austin.
Just as Austin was boasting eloquently, footsteps suddenly came from the entrance.
Then executives from major private prisons like CCA and GEO walked in from outside.
The conference room immediately became quiet.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:26:59 +0000 UTC
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When Alvaro returned to the Grande Gang that day, he immediately told the others staying with the gang about what had happened at the Violet Club.
When the Grande Gang heard that someone had raided the club, they immediately sent people to rescue their boss but they only found Gian's car and corpse.
Because of this, the Grande Gang went crazy searching for clues all over Laredo, even fighting several times with local gangs.
This caused gunshots to ring out continuously in Laredo for several days, forcing police to patrol everywhere by car.
After the search proved fruitless, Alvaro came under suspicion from everyone.
The main question was why he had been able to escape.
Alvaro explained that he had been standing at the back door of the club smoking at the time, and immediately ran out to find reinforcements when he heard gunshots.
As for why Boss Gian died on the road and who betrayed the boss, he also didn't know.
Although the gang members had doubts about this, they had no evidence to prove Alvaro was lying.
After all, everyone in the Violet Club was dead, only Luis and Cruz were missing.
Everyone generally believed that Luis had planned to betray Boss Gian, taken money and left.
Cruz should have been taken away by the other party and was probably being tortured at this moment.
The reason Cruz wasn't considered a traitor was because his family was in Mexico, with his wife and children under the Grande Gang's control.
If he betrayed Gian, his whole family would definitely die.
Of course, even though Alvaro's explanation made sense, the Grande Gang members still locked him up in a room.
They didn't let him go out or contact other people, treating him like a prisoner.
However, when the new boss, Wolf Göbel, arrived at the Grande Gang, he released Alvaro.
And told everyone that Alvaro was trustworthy.
The reason was simple: when Gian got in the car to escape, he sent Wolf a text message saying Luis was the traitor and asking him to help investigate.
So since Luis was the one who betrayed the gang, Alvaro was naturally cleared of suspicion.
It just so happened that Wolf was still unfamiliar with the Grande Gang and urgently needed capable helpers to help him quickly sort out gang business and restart drug trafficking routes.
Alvaro, who was familiar with related matters, naturally became the first choice.
Upon learning this news, Lind was somewhat amused and exasperated.
Good guy, the undercover agent was actually being promoted.
If this continued for a few more years, wouldn't he be able to become the gang boss?
Salute to legendary undercover Joaquín!
However, this meant Lind couldn't treat Alvaro as a disposable asset.
Perhaps he could let him make some contributions to consolidate his hard-won position.
Thinking of this, Lind called James over and instructed, "You need to keep a close eye on the police and other gangs recently. If there are any actions targeting the Grande Gang, contact Alvaro directly and help him out."
James nodded and accepted the order, then asked, "Boss, do you need me to send people to follow you when you go out this time?"
Lind looked at the smooth muscle lines under his shirt in the mirror and smiled, "No need."
It was now late February.
The ACA prison conference in New York was about to begin.
A few days ago, the ACA had even called him, asking some questions about prison production issues.
The invitation had also been delivered to him and he planned to take Angelina with him.
Not only because he needed someone to help, but also to prevent Angelina from making any moves while he was away.
He always remembered Angelina's identity as a CIA agent.
She must have come to Border Prison with a special mission, and the mission target might be in Lind's office.
It was just that because Lind had been living in the prison all along, she couldn't find a suitable opportunity.
So if he left, he naturally had to take this little bitch with him.
"Alright," James nodded without saying more.
During this time, after Lind acquired new skills, he had often sparred with the tactical squad but the results surprised everyone.
Even James himself, who was battle-hardened, couldn't gain any advantage against Lind and even fell at a disadvantage.
After witnessing their sparring, the tactical squad's loyalty growth rate suddenly increased dramatically.
After all, respect between men ultimately comes down to strength.
Lind conquered these soldiers with his actions, making them not dare to underestimate this young warden.
After James left, Angelina entered the office.
"Boss, the luggage is packed," As a personal secretary, packing luggage was naturally part of her job.
"Mm, got it," Lind nodded, then asked, "How's David Zack's situation?"
"It's handled," Angelina placed both hands on the desk, squeezing her chest into an oval shape.
"The private detective found a recording file on his computer with audio of a deal between Gabe Jensen and David Zack."
Angelina skipped over her operation of using yellow emails to attract David's clicks and planting a Trojan on his computer.
Lind supported his chin with his hand, thinking while speaking, "Good, since we have evidence, the next step is to pry open David's mouth. Leave this matter to Ottavio's lawyer."
"No problem."
Recordings obtained through illegal means were difficult to use as evidence, but if David himself testified, then this matter would be set in stone.
As for whether David would be willing to testify?
Lind wasn't worried about this guy's integrity at all. Since he had already bent over once, bending over a few more times wouldn't be a problem.
It was nothing more than threats and inducements.
So Angelina, following Lind's instructions, quickly brought Ottavio to the interrogation room.
When he heard that Lind and the others had obtained key evidence, this German-American couldn't help but get excited and said many thanks.
"This isn't just helping you, it's also helping myself."
Not knowing about the system mission, Ottavio thought Lind was referring to returning the prison to its original purpose of holding evil people.
He felt genuine admiration in his heart.
"Since we already have evidence, this matter will be easy to handle..."
Next, Lind arranged the follow-up matters, and Ottavio cooperatively gave Angelina the lawyer's phone number.
At dinner time, Lind suddenly received a message from the engineer.
"The electronic ankle monitors production line is complete?"
"Excellent!"
Lind hung up the phone and punched the air vigorously.
He had been working hard recently to complete various prison upgrade tasks.
For the loyalty task, 4 employees had reached maximum value, with 6 more needed.
For the fear value task, 10 prisoners had reached maximum value, with 10 more needed.
Among the remaining tasks, the ones with the fastest progress were building 3 production lines and 3 special facilities.
The special facilities task required completing Ottavio's challenge mission to get the third facility blueprint.
For production line construction, only the electronic ankle monitors production line was needed to get the reward.
And now, the electronic ankle monitors production line was successfully installed.
Lind immediately received a system notification.
[Mission: Build 3 different production lines, Reward: Random advanced production line blueprint]
[Mission complete, Reward: High-tech police baton production line blueprint]
Lind opened the drawer, took out the blueprint, and looked at the introduction and value of the high-tech police baton.
When he saw the production line's estimated profits, his eyes suddenly widened.
"Holy shit!"
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:26:28 +0000 UTC
View Post
Within just a few seconds, Simone saw the criminal's body on the electric chair gradually begin to tremble.
It seemed the electric shock was taking effect.
His feet lifted up, his body shook like a sieve, and saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth around the gag.
After a few more seconds, the criminal's struggling intensified. The metal buckles between the chair and the straps swayed back and forth, making noise.
The criminal opened his mouth wide. From his lip movements, you could see he was trying to shout "fuck," but as the current increased, all his words were choked back, leaving only guttural sounds echoing in the interrogation room.
"How thrilling," Simone pursed his lips. Although he had seen many exciting scenes, this was his first time watching such a high-definition live stream.
Live streaming was completely different from videos. Videos had plenty of room for fakery, and the outcome was predetermined but live streaming meant that at this very moment, someone was truly receiving electric torture!
And these viewers could not only participate and gamble, they could even decide this person's life or death!
It was this feeling that made Simone unable to stop.
He stared at the scene on the screen, even forgetting to drink the red wine he had brought to his lips.
The electric shock didn't last long, only 30 seconds but for Cruz on the electric chair, each second felt as long as a year.
Every moment, he felt as if the electric current was going to tear him apart.
His head felt like it was going to split open. He couldn't concentrate but also couldn't completely lose consciousness.
When the electric shock stopped, the demon in the white coat walked up to him and removed his gag.
Then he took out a whiteboard covered with writing and faced him with it.
"Have you ever secretly hidden drugs or money earned from drug dealing?"
At this moment, Cruz's eyes were bloodshot, his whole body couldn't stop twitching, and his pants were soaked through.
He felt that if he continued to be electrocuted, he would really die here.
So he finally became afraid. He opened his mouth and, under the expectant gaze of the live stream audience, said in an extremely weak voice, "Hidden, I've hidden some."
"Fuck!"
"Damn!"
The gamblers who had bet wrong in front of their screens began cursing.
Simone was no exception, but he quickly adjusted his mindset, recharged another $1,000, and began waiting for the next round of betting.
During this time, the masked figure in the white coat in the live stream kept questioning the criminal.
About the addresses and amounts of hidden money.
Simone and the others could hear most of the criminal's words, except for key location-related terms that were covered by "beep beep" censoring sounds.
Just as the criminal finished speaking weakly, he suddenly collapsed backward, as if something had gone wrong.
Someone immediately rushed to the electric chair with medical equipment and began examining the criminal.
Five minutes later, text appeared on the website: [The criminal has fainted this time, live stream ended].
"What? So soon?" Simone looked at the black screen, feeling a bit annoyed, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Who told him not to come in at the beginning?
But soon the live streaming website's text area was updated.
[Next live stream will be in 3 days]
"Three more days," Simone drank all the wine in his glass, exited the website, and continued looking for other similar live streams.
The others in the chat room were also discussing this matter.
[Jack the Ripper: Guys, are there any other high-definition live streams like this? I haven't had enough fun watching yet!]
[Scalp Harvester: Yeah, ones that don't lag!]
[Zodiac: Don't even think about it, current internet speeds simply don't support zero lag, zero delay!]
[Jack the Ripper: Then what do you think is going on with this website?]
[Zodiac: I think they're fake, it's not a live stream at all. As long as you set up the betting content in advance, you can disguise it as a live stream.]
[Jack the Ripper: Really? So this is another scammer website?]
[Vagrant Killer: Anyway, I've browsed all over the dark web and haven't seen such smooth live streaming. I also suspect it's fake.]
[Jack the Ripper: Fuck, I wouldn't have recharged money if I had known!]
[Scalp Harvester: Then should I withdraw all the money I won?]
[Jack the Ripper: Maybe you can't withdraw your money anymore.]
[Scalp Harvester: Get lost, I've already successfully withdrawn it.]
[Jack the Ripper: Anyway, I won't recharge money for the next live stream. Don't try to fool me with videos!]
[Scalp Harvester: Hahaha, I suspect you're just upset because you keep losing bets.]
[Jack the Ripper: Bullshit, I just had bad luck today!]
"All gamblers say that," Although he lost $1,000, Simone didn't care. He was too lazy to discuss with these people.
After getting the conclusion that there were no similar live streams on the internet, he exited the chat room.
But even lying in bed, he was still savoring the comfortable viewing experience that the high-definition live stream had given him.
"Is this really a live stream?" He couldn't help but have some doubts, subconsciously feeling that Zodiac's guess was the truth.
After thinking about it, Simone decided to wait three days and watch another live stream to see if he could find any clues.
Meanwhile, Lind was also discussing the upgrade content for the next live stream with Little Mike, Cohen and others.
"First is the chat room, we need a place for the audience to communicate."
"Then we need to change our live streaming format. The current process is too rigid and looks like it was pre-recorded."
Lind shared the opinions he had thought of while watching, "We need to give the audience a sense of participation."
"Next time, let the audience directly type the questions they want to ask in the chat room, then we randomly select them and use them as questions."
"This should greatly stimulate the audience to communicate."
"And it can also stimulate them to recharge money to participate."
After finishing the update content, Lind looked at the recharge amount in the backend.
This time the website received a total of $50,000 in recharges. With a 10% commission, that was $5,000 in profit.
Not much money, which was due to having little reputation at first and very few viewers.
So the prize pools for the first few rounds of betting weren't much.
It wasn't until netizens spontaneously spread the word in dark web chat rooms that the viewership broke through to 1,000 people.
However, with experience, the live streaming website's user base would soon experience explosive growth. If live streaming could be started every day, the monthly profit would surely be a considerable sum.
After ending the live stream, Lind gave everyone a $1,000 bonus as an opening celebration.
The doctor in the interrogation room, whose loyalty hadn't reached the maximum value, immediately gained 5 loyalty points.
The next day, James led the tactical squad in a surprise raid on the hideout house that Cruz had revealed after being electrocuted, and retrieved $120,000 from it.
On the other side, Alvaro also brought follow-up news about the Grande Gang.
After the tactical squad slaughtered the drug dealers at the Violet Club, police quickly arrived at the scene for investigation.
Reporter hyenas who smelled blood also rushed to the club entrance, trying to investigate the truth of the matter by various means.
However, the police quickly announced that this was a premeditated gang massacre.
They found large quantities of drugs in the Violet Club and believed this incident should be related to drug dealing.
As for Sheriff Smith who died at the scene, the police said he died in the line of duty while investigating drugs, unfortunately killed in action.
For this, they would work hard to eliminate the gang forces in Laredo and seek justice for the fallen officer.
But the reporters weren't fools either. Soon news reports emerged with photos of Sheriff Smith and Grande Gang boss Gian appearing multiple times in restaurants and clubs, questioning internal police corruption and tolerance of drug dealing.
Just as both sides were in an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and denial, the Grande Gang also welcomed a new boss sent by Osiel.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:25:55 +0000 UTC
View Post
9 PM.
Carter Lane also completed his wish mission.
Under Lind's hints, James arranged several shooting assessments for Carter.
In the end, Carter barely passed and earned James's praise.
The reason Lind didn't dare directly ask James to set some low-difficulty tasks was that if he interfered directly, the wish mission would default to failure.
So he could only give slight hints and see how much James could understand on his own.
Fortunately, the result was happy for everyone.
Carter fulfilled his wish, and Lind also gained a better guard.
[Carter Lane]
[Identity: Guard/Guardian]
[Rating: 34 (Level C)]
[Loyalty: 100]
[Skills: Intermediate Combat, Advanced Marksmanship, Basic Interrogation, Basic Bartending]
His Intermediate Marksmanship had upgraded to Advanced Marksmanship, and his profession gained an additional Guardian.
[Guardian: When performing patrol, alert, defense and other tasks, intimidation effect on prisoners +50%, personal ability +30%]
Now Lind had seen four different professions and wondered how many professions the system had arranged for guards in total.
After Carter's loyalty increased to maximum, Lind also put him in a management position.
Currently, the prison facilities with managers were:
[Cell Block (James): Probability of arguments, fights and other incidents -10%, Fear value increase rate +20%]
[Factory (Andy): Probability of chatting, slacking and other incidents -10%, Production efficiency +10%]
[Interrogation Room (Cohen): Prisoner resistance probability -10%, Fear value increase rate +10%]
[Exercise Yard (Carter): Probability of provocation, fighting and other incidents -15%]
Only by arranging managers this way could all facilities have positive benefits.
Obviously, each guard had their suitable scenarios and couldn't be randomly assigned.
And this suitability, in Lind's view, was determined by each person's profession.
If the prison wanted to assign managers to all facilities in the future, it would definitely need more talent capable of handling different positions.
This also made Lind start looking forward to what effects Angelina would have when her loyalty reached maximum.
Presumably an A-level employee could provide quite good bonuses.
9:30 PM, the prison atmosphere gradually quieted down, with only the electric shock interrogation room brightly lit.
Lind sat across from the electric chair, beside him was Cohen wearing a wig and white coat, along with little Mike operating the equipment, and James and Jimmy watching.
"Buddy, this thing of yours looks really intimidating." Jimmy pointed at the camera on the ceiling, his face full of amazement.
This was also his first time experiencing live interrogation, and he was very excited.
During this period, Jimmy wasn't always in the prison, after all, prison life was monotonous and boring.
He would drive to nearby towns from time to time to find some fun.
And in a while, he would be living together with his celebrity girlfriend, so he was counting the days. Knowing there was entertainment to watch, he immediately volunteered to help Lind.
Lind knew he just wanted excitement and didn't refuse him.
After all, his connections in Texas weren't as extensive as Jimmy's. To make money, he needed Jimmy to bring over those thrill-seeking rich second-generation kids.
At this time, little Mike shouted to Lind, "Boss, the equipment is ready."
"I'm ready too." Cohen chimed in.
"Good." Lind nodded and looked at the time on his wristwatch.
"Countdown 10 seconds..."
...
Simone Nick removed the Vacheron Constantin from his wrist and washed his face with clean water.
Then he loosened his suit tie and looked at himself in the mirror.
"Fuck, so boring."
He had just accompanied his father to a charity dinner at Bush Jr.'s estate.
After toasting with a bunch of government officials and Republican bigwigs for three hours, he finally returned home.
The reason for holding this dinner was because they were all financiers providing funds for Bush Jr.'s presidential campaign.
His father was also one of them, so as the son, he naturally had to learn to communicate with various important figures.
It's just that Simone hated this routine. Since childhood, he couldn't remember how many of his father's drinking parties he had attended.
Each time he would become everyone's talking point, the object of his father's bragging.
"Look at my excellent son who graduated from Harvard Business School!"
He muttered in his father's tone, then smiled helplessly.
He had never felt that studying was difficult, nor did he think it was something worth bragging about.
In fact, he was more curious about why there were people in this world who couldn't even finish high school.
Was getting into college really such a difficult thing for them?
Simone had once gone to poor communities with this mindset to take a look, and he discovered a world completely different from his own.
Chaos, drugs, promiscuity, laziness.
That group of lower-class whites had only skin color in common with whites, but none of the white intelligence. They even ate sweets until they became bloated and fat, but wouldn't move their bodies to exercise.
Seeing such people, Simone only felt disgusted and nauseated.
Although his father was one of America's largest confectionery manufacturers.
After personal investigation, he believed that the greatest value of this group of American poor was to provide sufficient emotional services for the elite class.
Like strip dancing, like playing clowns, like various bizarre challenges.
Although it looked somewhat disgusting, precisely because of this direct comparison, Simone felt his life was very happy.
It's just that people's thresholds are always rising.
Simone was no longer satisfied with watching these shallow things. He needed stronger stimulation to make himself interested in his boring life.
So he began watching various stimulating videos on the dark web.
He also joined some secret chat rooms because of this.
People in the chat rooms were enthusiastic about sharing and discussing bizarre content.
They would update some specialty websites every day.
Like now.
[Jack the Ripper: Look at this website! Wow, they're electrocuting prisoners, live streaming! My God! So exciting!]
Simone was stunned when he saw this message.
Live streaming electrocution?
It sounded good, but the effect probably wouldn't be great.
He had watched similar live streams before, with lag so bad it made him question life. Later he stopped trying to watch live streams.
The website shared by netizens probably couldn't avoid this problem either.
However, just as he skipped this information and continued looking for exciting websites, someone else recommended this website.
[Zodiac: This website actually has no delay? Who knows how they managed it?]
[Jack the Ripper: Are you going to discuss technical issues in a bizarre chat room? Don't think about it, the fifth round of betting is about to start!]
[Scalp Harvester: I bet $100, he'll definitely confess this time.]
[Jack the Ripper: He's a tough guy, he didn't confess the previous two times! I bet $50 that he won't!]
[Scalp Harvester: Then let's wait and see.]
Simone watched these people's chat gradually revolve around this website and couldn't help but become curious.
Really no lag or delay?
He clicked the link to enter the website and quickly saw a live stream room with a dark background.
In the center of the webpage, there was a live stream of a man wearing a helmet with his face invisible, sitting on an electric chair.
Clear, stable, smooth, and no lag.
Far better than any live stream Simone had ever watched.
"Electric Shock Devil Live Room."
He stared at the website's title, then saw a line of introduction below.
[Cruz: Drug dealer, age 37, responsible for drug transportation and drug trafficking...]
"This is information about the person sitting on the electric chair?" Simone looked carefully and found that the website's description of this person was very detailed, from physical characteristics to life details, completely unlike something made up.
Then he looked to the right side of the live stream, where this person's crimes were listed.
[Crime 1: Participated in drug dealing 23 times, transported over 500 kilograms of drugs]
[Crime 2: Killed 3 people from rival gangs, murdered 12 innocent people]
[Crime 3: Unknown]
The crimes weren't complete, as if someone was deliberately using electrocution as an excuse to interrogate criminals.
But this also proved that this live stream room was indeed real enough.
And there was more text below.
[About to conduct Round 5 guessing]
[Round 5 question: Have you secretly hidden drugs or money obtained from drug dealing?]
[Viewers can participate in guessing to win prize money. Guessing will pause after electrocution begins]
[Current odds: Criminal answers/Criminal doesn't answer (1.3:1.5)]
[Prize pool: $23,810]
[Minimum single charge: $10]
"God!" Simone looked at the website in surprise, feeling comfortable for the first time.
Although the content broadcast by this website wasn't that bizarre or stimulating, it had logic and guidance.
And the picture was clear without lag.
In terms of viewing experience, it immediately surpassed all those live stream rooms that only focused on gore that Simone had watched before.
It also hooked his gambling desire.
After thinking for a moment, Simone directly opened the charging interface and charged $1,000 with his credit card.
This money was just a drop in the bucket for him. He just wanted to try it first.
If this website was really as interesting as he thought, he would definitely charge more money.
Of course, he wasn't one of those poor people who would put their entire fortune on the gambling table.
For him, this was just a recreational pastime.
It cost less than playing with women.
After charging money, he clicked on guessing, hesitated for a moment, and finally put $1,000 on the option that the criminal wouldn't answer.
Two minutes later, the website's guessing interface suddenly turned gray.
Simone picked up his wine glass and took a sip, smiling.
The electrocution segment was about to begin.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:25:21 +0000 UTC
View Post
A Spirit Calming Talisman required superior mid-grade talisman skills.
How could Li Chang'an possibly draw one?
"Could it be that he obtained it by chance coincidence?"
Chen Qianya's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly as she instinctively thought this.
After all, her own talisman talent was quite remarkable. She didn't lack materials for practicing talismans, had no worries about inheritance, and even had a superior-grade talisman master father to guide her.
All her conditions could be considered top-tier.
Even so, she still couldn't draw superior mid-grade talismans.
And Li Chang'an was merely a rogue cultivator whose conditions for learning talismans couldn't compare to hers at all. How could his talisman skills possibly surpass hers?
Various thoughts flashed through Chen Qianya's mind in an instant.
Her vermillion lips parted slightly as she couldn't help but ask, "Fellow Daoist Li, where did you obtain your Spirit Calming Talisman?"
"I accidentally acquired it from a predecessor's cave dwelling. I suppose it was luck."
Li Chang'an smiled and didn't reveal the truth.
His mid-grade talisman skills had only been exposed for over a year. If he could now draw superior mid-grade talismans, his talent would be excessive.
It would be better to reveal his superior talisman skills after some time had passed.
"As expected."
After confirming her thoughts, Chen Qianya secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She had almost thought that Li Chang'an was a talisman prodigy even more formidable than herself.
"Fellow Daoist Li, this Sky Blue Stone is more useful to water spiritual root cultivators. Since you're not a water spiritual root, could you exchange it with me?" Chen Qianya inquired.
Her eyes were like water as her gaze fell on Li Chang'an, quietly awaiting his answer.
In her view, Li Chang'an wasn't much different from other talisman masters. His deliberate approaches to her the previous two times should have been motivated by thoughts of currying favor and gaining her good impression.
Through her, he could gain her father's recognition and thus obtain superior-grade talisman inheritance.
If that was the case, she didn't mind utilizing this deliberate flattery, since both parties were acting for their own benefit.
But... what she didn't expect was that Li Chang'an actually shook his head and refused.
"I'm truly sorry, Fellow Daoist Chen, but this Sky Blue Stone has great use for me."
Hearing this, Chen Qianya was stunned, a moment of shock appearing on her pretty face.
Before she could react, Li Chang'an cupped his hands in farewell and turned to leave.
"He actually won't exchange?"
Chen Qianya stood frozen in place, unable to understand.
Didn't Li Chang'an want to curry favor with her?
Seeing Li Chang'an gradually walking away, she hurried to catch up.
"Wait, Fellow Daoist Li, I'm willing to exchange my 'Boiling Blood Crystal' with you."
Li Chang'an paused in his steps.
He turned around and said sincerely, "Fellow Daoist Chen, although the Boiling Blood Crystal is good, the Sky Blue Stone has greater value to me."
The Boiling Blood Crystal was a treasure needed for the sixth stage of body cultivation.
Li Chang'an couldn't use it yet.
Moreover, the rarity and value of the Boiling Blood Crystal couldn't compare to the Sky Blue Stone.
If the two parties exchanged, Li Chang'an would definitely be the one at a loss.
"Fellow Daoist Li, I can make up the difference."
Chen Qianya was willing to take a step back and concede more benefits.
She truly needed this Sky Blue Stone very much but Li Chang'an still shook his head, his attitude unchanged in the slightest.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, there's no need to say more."
In the end, this trade wasn't successful.
Watching his departing figure, Chen Qianya bit her teeth, an inexplicable sense of frustration arising in her heart.
Almost all the other mid-grade talisman masters in the market were trying to curry favor with her. Never had anyone refused her repeatedly like Li Chang'an.
...
Li Chang'an paid no attention to Chen Qianya's thoughts.
He continued wandering around the trading meeting, sometimes exchanging treasures, sometimes conversing with craftsmen he knew.
Before he knew it, it was already dusk.
This small trading meeting thus ended, with almost everyone having gained considerably.
"Time to go back."
Li Chang'an bid farewell to Wang Hu and others, returning to his residence.
That evening, he fed the Sky Blue Stone to the Mysterious Water Turtle.
"Absorb it well. Once you've accumulated enough, break through to first-tier late stage."
After swallowing the Sky Blue Stone, the Mysterious Water Turtle's aura suddenly surged greatly, but it didn't directly break through.
It looked like it would still need time to digest.
A few days later, the third stage of body cultivation officially ended.
Through puppet testing, Li Chang'an confirmed that his physique could now withstand attacks from third-level Qi Refining cultivators.
"Quite smooth."
He nodded slightly, very satisfied with this.
At this point, first-tier initial stage body cultivation was complete.
The fourth stage of body cultivation corresponded to first-tier middle stage.
"I've basically gathered all the required spiritual medicines and demon beast blood essence." Li Chang'an pondered.
At this moment, a mysterious water element magical power suddenly rippled outward.
The Mysterious Water Turtle's aura began climbing steadily, and a hazy indigo blue halo appeared on its shell.
"Huh? It's going to break through so soon?"
Li Chang'an was surprised and immediately stepped forward to investigate.
He was worried that breaking through too quickly would cause an unstable foundation.
As it turned out, he had completely overthought it.
The Mysterious Water Turtle's foundation was extremely solid. It had already accumulated deeply enough in the first-tier middle stage, and with the assistance of the Sky Blue Stone, this breakthrough was purely because it could no longer suppress its advancement.
"This Mysterious Water Turtle's mutated earth-grade bloodline seems stronger than ordinary earth-grade bloodlines?" Li Chang'an pondered.
He had recently communicated with many beast tamers.
Although those beast tamers didn't have earth-grade bloodline spiritual beasts, most had some understanding of them.
Logically speaking, normal earth-grade bloodlines couldn't possibly break through this quickly.
"What exactly caused its bloodline mutation?"
Li Chang'an thought for a long time, then considered his own spiritual roots again.
He had been paying attention to secret realms recently, but hadn't heard any news about improving spiritual roots.
"Forget it. For now, I'll focus on Foundation Establishment. Only after establishing my foundation will I be qualified to interfere in many matters, and my information channels will be broader." Li Chang'an sighed slightly.
Then he called over Big Yellow.
One person and one dog stood guard nearby, letting the Mysterious Water Turtle break through peacefully.
About the time of one incense stick later, the Mysterious Water Turtle successfully broke through, becoming a first-tier late stage spiritual beast.
"Another late-stage Qi Refining combat power."
Li Chang'an placed his hand on the Mysterious Water Turtle's shell, extending a wisp of spiritual power to carefully investigate and confirm that this breakthrough hadn't caused any hidden troubles.
He relaxed and was just about to have the Mysterious Water Turtle demonstrate its Lending Power talent when midnight arrived.
A new divination appeared before his eyes.
[Divination has been refreshed]
[Today's Divination: Auspicious]
[Black Wind Mountain robber cultivators attack again, using a "Minor Prohibition Breaking Formation" to interfere with your formation, but the cultivator himself is no match for you, dies by your hand, and all his treasures belong to you]
"Finally here!"
Li Chang'an wasn't surprised at all by the content of this divination.
He knew those robber cultivators from Black Wind Mountain wouldn't give up and would come to attack again sooner or later.
"Minor Prohibition Breaking Formation? This type of formation doesn't seem to be sold in either the market or black market. Could it be that the robber cultivator went to Yellow Crane Immortal City to buy it?"
Li Chang'an had heard of this formation.
According to legend, the Minor Prohibition Breaking Formation could break through all formations below the second tier.
However, what the divination showed was "interfere," not break through.
"My Cloud Mist Hidden Kill Formation is indeed remarkable. So many Prohibition Breaking Talismans couldn't break it before, and this Minor Prohibition Breaking Formation is the same. It's truly worthy of being an ancient formation that flowed out from a secret realm."
...
At this moment, outside the residence, Black Wind Mountain's Fifth Chief Liang Ying was brimming with confidence.
"Once the formation is broken, immediately capture Li Chang'an!"
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:22:25 +0000 UTC
View Post
Seeing his expression, Li Chang'an pursed his lips, roughly guessing what he was thinking.
Sure enough, he heard Luo Kun laugh and say, "Fellow Daoist Li, this is a rare opportunity. You two are similar in age and both mid-grade talisman masters, so you surely have many topics to discuss. Take advantage of the trade to chat more, as long as you're not so stiff!"
"Alright, I'll give it a try."
Li Chang'an was too lazy to argue with him and casually brushed him off.
He did not immediately go to trade with Chen Qianya, but waited for a night instead.
After all, the last trade had nearly poisoned him. He couldn't be careless.
Fortunately, nothing went wrong this time.
[Divination has been refreshed]
[Today's Divination: Neutral]
[You go to trade with Chen Qianya. The process goes very smoothly, with no unexpected incidents]
Seeing this divination, Li Chang'an felt somewhat relieved.
...
The next day, early morning.
Li Chang'an left his home and went to visit Chen Qianya.
Their residences were actually not far apart, so he arrived quickly.
"Is Fellow Daoist Chen in? This is Li Chang'an, I have a matter to discuss with you."
Li Chang'an stood outside the door, waiting quietly.
After a moment, the courtyard gate opened.
Chen Qianya appeared behind the door.
She was still the same as last time, with delicate features, skin like congealed cream, wearing an indigo blue dress.
However, she seemed somewhat weary, with traces of irritation hidden in the depths of her eyes.
"Fellow Daoist Li, what do you need?"
Chen Qianya's tone was cold, her entire being emanating an aloofness that kept people at a distance.
Li Chang'an cupped his hands, "I wish to conduct a trade with Fellow Daoist Chen."
"It seems that old man Luo Kun didn't lie to me."
Chen Qianya had already learned about the trade from Luo Kun.
With a flash of light in her hand, she retrieved several treasures from her storage bag, all of which Li Chang'an needed.
"Fellow Daoist Li, have you prepared the water element treasures I need?"
"All prepared."
Li Chang'an smiled and took out the items for exchange.
This trade went exactly as the divination had shown, very smoothly. Both parties obtained what they wanted.
After the trade ended, Li Chang'an took the opportunity to hand over a materials list containing some of the treasures he needed for the next several stages of body cultivation.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, do you happen to have any of the treasures on this list?"
Chen Qianya frowned slightly. She had been about to close the door, but Li Chang'an had continued the conversation.
"Let me see..."
She took the materials list and scanned it with her beautiful eyes.
"I do have the 'Boiling Blood Crystal' listed here, but I need 'Weak Water Spirit Sand.' Do you have any, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"This... I'm truly sorry..."
Li Chang'an shook his head slightly.
Weak Water Spirit Sand was a very precious water element treasure that he indeed didn't have.
"What else might Fellow Daoist Chen need?"
Li Chang'an didn't give up and tried to obtain the Boiling Blood Crystal.
He said sincerely, "I notice Fellow Daoist Chen seems somewhat troubled. I have treasures that calm the spirit and soothe the heart."
"That's not necessary. I only want Weak Water Spirit Sand!"
There was some impatience in Chen Qianya's tone, but she didn't drive him away.
Her irritation was purely because she had failed to break through in her skills.
From yesterday to today, she had been continuously trying to draw superior mid-grade talismans, but hadn't succeeded even once. Each time she was just a bit short.
Logically speaking, exchanging experiences with Li Chang'an, a fellow practitioner, might provide some inspiration.
However, Chen Qianya felt that Li Chang'an had only recently become a mid-grade talisman master and was still far from achieving superior-grade skills at this level.
Talking to him would be useless, a pure waste of time.
"Fellow Daoist Li, do you have any other matters? If not, I'll go back to rest."
"I have been presumptuous today. Please don't take offense, Fellow Daoist Chen."
Li Chang'an heard the impatience in her words.
He was quite self-aware and didn't say anything more, immediately cupping his hands in farewell.
...
For the following two months, Li Chang'an's cultivation was very stable.
His magical power grew steadily, and his physique became stronger day by day.
What he found surprising was that during this period, neither Zheng Lingfeng nor the robber cultivators from Black Wind Mountain came to disturb him again.
"It's quite peaceful."
Li Chang'an very much enjoyed such days.
A few days later, Luo Kun came by.
He told Li Chang'an that a small trading meeting among craftsmen was about to be held.
"Fellow Daoist Li, many treasures you need should appear at the trading meeting."
"I understand. Thank you for informing me, Senior Luo."
Soon, the small trading meeting began.
This type of trading meeting was very casual.
Many cultivators simply found a corner on site, sat down, and displayed their unused treasures for others to select from.
Others conversed with each other, exchanging information about their respective needs.
Li Chang'an arrived on time and indeed discovered many treasures needed for body cultivation.
"This is the 'Thousand Pistil Flower' needed for the fourth stage of body cultivation, and the 'White Spirit Fruit' needed for the fifth stage. Both are very rare. I didn't expect to be able to exchange for them here."
In less than half an hour, Li Chang'an had exchanged for more than ten types of treasures.
His harvest was truly bountiful.
Other cultivators also had many gains.
Almost everyone had treasures they couldn't use but others could.
It was precisely because of this that such small trading meetings existed.
Suddenly, Li Chang'an paused in his steps, his gaze stopping at a stall in the corner.
On that stall was a stone that was entirely azure blue, which caught his attention.
"Sky Blue Stone?"
This type of stone was a precious first-tier superior-grade water element treasure.
It would be very beneficial for the Mysterious Water Turtle's growth!
"Although the Mysterious Water Turtle grows quickly, it still can't meet my requirements." Li Chang'an pondered.
If the Mysterious Water Turtle could break through to the first-tier late stage, the effect of the Lending Power technique would be much more formidable.
"How much for this Sky Blue Stone?"
Li Chang'an walked forward and inquired of the stall owner.
The stall owner glanced at him.
"Fellow Daoist, this stone is not for sale, only for barter."
"What does Fellow Daoist want?" Li Chang'an asked again.
The stall owner replied, "I need treasures that calm the spirit and soothe the heart, such as 'Clear Heart Incense,' 'Spirit Calming Talisman,' or 'Spirit Calming Pills.' I want nothing else."
Hearing this, Li Chang'an's heart stirred slightly.
He happened to have Spirit Calming Talismans.
After the two conversed for a while, Li Chang'an learned that this stall owner was a sixth-level Qi Refining expert.
He had failed to break through to the seventh level of Qi Refining three times. Each time he suffered backlash and nearly died, causing him to develop a fear of breaking through realms. Therefore, he needed treasures to calm the spirit and soothe the heart.
"I see."
Li Chang'an sighed, the path of cultivation was truly difficult.
Then he took out a Spirit Calming Talisman.
The stall owner immediately became extremely excited and quickly signed a trading contract with him.
After the trade ended, Li Chang'an bid farewell and turned to search for other treasures.
At this time, Chen Qianya in her indigo blue dress hurried over. Her beautiful eyes lingered on Li Chang'an for an instant, then swept over the items on the stall, and her delicate eyebrows immediately furrowed.
"Fellow Daoist, where is your Sky Blue Stone?"
She had discovered the Sky Blue Stone even earlier than Li Chang'an.
This type of treasure would be of great benefit to a water spiritual root cultivator like her.
Unfortunately, although she had Heart Calming Bamboo, her talisman skills were insufficient to draw a Spirit Calming Talisman, which was a superior mid-grade talisman.
Left with no choice, she had to ask her father Chen Yuanshan for a Spirit Calming Talisman, then hurried over but she was ultimately one step too late.
The stall owner cupped his hands apologetically.
"It's quite unfortunate. The Sky Blue Stone has already been exchanged by this Fellow Daoist."
"Li Chang'an?"
Chen Qianya noticed the Spirit Calming Talisman in the stall owner's hand and looked toward Li Chang'an.
She was surprised in her heart.
How could Li Chang'an have this type of talisman?
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:21:22 +0000 UTC
View Post
In the underground space, Li Chang'an temporarily stopped his interrogation.
"Zheng Lingfeng actually wants to use me to deal with Zheng Qingqing."
He lowered his eyes slightly and pondered for a long time.
This matter was more complex than he had imagined.
It actually involved the internal strife of a Foundation Establishment family like the Zheng family.
Li Chang'an was merely a rogue cultivator.
Once he became entangled in this, if he caught the attention of the Zheng family head or even a Foundation Establishment ancestor, the situation would be quite dire.
"His poisoning attempt failed this time. He'll likely use other methods in the future."
Li Chang'an pondered for a long time, the killing intent in his heart growing increasingly intense.
As long as he eliminated Zheng Lingfeng, everything would become simple.
"Zheng Lingfeng is one of the Zheng family's Foundation Establishment seeds. He most likely has life-saving measures bestowed by a Foundation Establishment ancestor. It won't be easy to kill him."
Li Chang'an frowned tightly, various methods flashing through his mind.
Currently, he had basically no problems dealing with anyone below Foundation Establishment.
But facing Foundation Establishment methods, his power was still too weak.
At his side, Chu Mu noticed Li Chang'an's expression constantly changing and sensed the killing intent.
His face turned pale and he was drenched in cold sweat.
"Fellow Daoist Li, spare my life! This was all Zheng Lingfeng forcing me to do it. He's the one who wants to harm you. If you want to kill someone, kill him! I can help you lure him out of the market!"
"Lure him out of the market? A useless endeavor!"
Li Chang'an shook his head slightly.
Even luring Zheng Lingfeng out of the market would make it difficult to kill him.
If he couldn't kill him in an extremely short time, he would most likely be detected by a Foundation Establishment ancestor.
"Foundation Establishment..." Li Chang'an sighed deeply.
If he had Foundation Establishment cultivation, why would he need to think so much? He could just attack directly.
All of this, fundamentally, was still a matter of strength.
"Forget it, this matter can't be rushed. I must proceed gradually."
Li Chang'an put aside other thoughts.
He reached out and took the storage pouch and other treasures from Chu Mu.
After erasing the storage pouch's restrictions, he carefully examined its contents.
"Worthy of being a spirit plant cultivator, the variety of spirit plants stored is truly abundant. The 'Hundred Bitter Grass' and 'Thunder Heart Wood' I need are both here, and even several other needed varieties are present."
Li Chang'an nodded slightly.
The quantity and variety of spirit medicines in this pouch satisfied him greatly.
With these, he could save himself considerable trouble.
"Eh, there's actually a Tranquil Heart Bamboo!"
Li Chang'an looked surprised as he took out an emerald green long bamboo.
Tranquil Heart Bamboo, although only first-tier mid-grade in rank, had a value far exceeding many first-tier superior-grade spirit plants.
This was because of its special effects and extreme rarity.
"Tranquil Heart Bamboo strips can be used as talisman paper to create precious Spirit Calming Talismans. This type of talisman is considered premium among mid-grade talismans and can be used to soothe the mind and spirit. It's said to have some effect on breaking through realms."
What cultivators feared most when breaking through was restlessness and agitation.
It was said that Spirit Calming Talismans even had some slight benefit for breaking through to Foundation Establishment.
"This is an unexpected delight."
Li Chang'an put it away.
Then, with a thought, he took out a jade slip.
"First-tier mid-grade spirit plant inheritance."
Li Chang'an roughly glanced through the contents of the jade slip.
Spirit plant cultivator inheritance was much simpler than talisman and puppet arts, requiring no particularly strong talent.
One only needed to slowly grind through it with time.
"I can learn it casually."
Li Chang'an made this decision. After all, this thing didn't require much effort.
He could look at it when he had free time.
He put away the jade slip.
Subsequently, he took out a translucent small jade bottle from the storage pouch.
On the bottle body were carved the three characters "Meridian Burning Grass."
"Fellow Daoist Chu, the poison you gave me was this Meridian Burning Grass?"
"Yes... yes."
Chu Mu answered nervously and cautiously.
Meridian Burning Grass was extremely toxic.
After being poisoned, one couldn't detect it at first.
Several days later, one would discover a warm sensation throughout the meridians but by then it would be too late.
The toxicity would have penetrated the meridians, causing meridian damage and poor circulation of spiritual energy.
"Besides Meridian Burning Grass, there are several other poisons mixed together. This compound poison is from a secret formula that Zheng Lingfeng accidentally obtained in a robber cultivator's cave dwelling. Only he knows the antidote formula."
Chu Mu didn't dare conceal anything and told him everything.
Soon, Li Chang'an found the other poisons.
There was also a small bottle of antidote.
This was what Zheng Lingfeng had given Chu Mu to use.
After all, during the poisoning process, Chu Mu himself would also be contaminated by this poison.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, what else do you know about Zheng Lingfeng?"
Li Chang'an's tone was indifferent as he looked at Chu Mu.
He tried to obtain more information but Chu Mu was purely Zheng Lingfeng's tool and knew nothing else.
He had no more value.
Finally, Li Chang'an casually sent out a finger of sword qi that pierced through Chu Mu's forehead.
"You..."
Chu Mu's whole body trembled and he slowly fell down.
A moment later, fierce flames rose up and consumed his corpse.
...
At noon, Li Chang'an returned indoors.
He took out the various spirit medicines obtained from Chu Mu's storage pouch and began preparing the medicinal liquid for the next stage of body cultivation.
As for Zheng Lingfeng, he instructed Big Yellow to keep watching him.
Time passed quickly.
Three days went by rapidly.
During this period, everything in the market remained normal.
No one discovered that Chu Mu had disappeared.
After all, very few cultivators stayed shut indoors all day like Li Chang'an. Most would frequently go out, either to hunt demon beasts or explore for treasures.
Even not returning for several months was normal.
...
This evening, Zheng Lingfeng left the Hall of All Affairs and came outside Chu Mu's residence.
"Three days have passed. Li Chang'an should have discovered he was poisoned, right?"
He was somewhat puzzled.
Why hadn't Chu Mu reported new information to him yet?
"Fellow Daoist Chu, are you home?"
Zheng Lingfeng knocked on the door but after a long time, no one responded.
He found it strange and had to turn and leave.
Over the following days, Zheng Lingfeng came almost every day, but never saw any trace of Chu Mu.
"Could this Chu Mu have died? How could he not even leave a message?" Zheng Lingfeng frowned tightly.
He glanced in the direction of Li Chang'an's residence, feeling increasingly puzzled.
...
Without realizing it, a month had passed.
Li Chang'an completed this stage of body cultivation, and his physique had strengthened considerably.
This period had been relatively peaceful with no one disturbing him.
He released a puppet and controlled it to attack himself.
This puppet was stronger than the previous spider puppet, roughly equivalent to a second layer Qi Refining cultivator, but still couldn't break through Li Chang'an's physical defense.
"My current physique can withstand attacks from the second layer of Qi Refining."
Li Chang'an smiled with satisfaction.
The goal for the next stage was to withstand attacks from the third layer of Qi Refining.
"The medicinal liquid for the next stage requires more spirit medicines and demon beast blood essence. I haven't gathered several key treasures yet and need to trade with others."
Li Chang'an immediately went to discuss with Luo Kun.
Soon, Luo Kun provided information about several key treasures.
"Fellow Daoist Li, the treasures you need can be exchanged from Fellow Daoist Chen."
"Which Fellow Daoist Chen?"
"Chen Qianya, daughter of Senior Chen Yuanshan."
Speaking of this, Luo Kun chuckled, and that strange expression appeared on his old face again.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:20:46 +0000 UTC
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"An ominous divination?"
Li Chang'an's heart jumped with alarm.
He hadn't encountered an ominous divination for a long time.
Even when Foundation Establishment ancestors came to attack, the divination had shown auspicious signs!
"Why would an ominous divination suddenly appear?"
Li Chang'an's gaze sharpened as he carefully read through the divination content.
[You visit the first-tier mid-grade spirit plant cultivator Chu Mu to obtain materials needed for body cultivation. During the transaction, you are poisoned by him, resulting in damaged meridians]
"Poisoned?"
Li Chang'an frowned.
Chu Mu was a spirit plant cultivator, so cultivating poison was normal but the two of them had no grievances or enmity.
Why would Chu Mu want to harm him?
"That Chu Mu has a decent reputation in the market, he's gentle in nature and rarely makes enemies with others."
Li Chang'an pondered, information about Chu Mu surfacing in his mind.
On the surface, Chu Mu was similar to him, both honest and dutiful cultivators.
This person had been in the market for many years and had never caused major trouble.
"He couldn't possibly attack me without reason. There must be a cause behind it. Could he be a Black Wind Mountain robber cultivator insider?"
Li Chang'an instinctively thought of Black Wind Mountain.
After all, Black Wind Mountain's robber cultivators had just come to launch a sneak attack not long ago.
Although it had failed, they were very likely to come again.
"Regardless, this transaction cannot proceed."
Li Chang'an pondered for a moment.
Subsequently, he instructed Big Yellow to watch Chu Mu.
If he really was a Black Wind Mountain insider, Chu Mu would definitely meet with the robber cultivators.
However, over the next several days, Chu Mu didn't meet with Black Wind Mountain's robber cultivators. Instead, he went to the Hall of All Affairs at the market center several times.
"Could it be that he's working for Zheng Lingfeng?" Li Chang'an secretly speculated.
Since Big Yellow couldn't get close, he couldn't learn the specific purpose.
After a few more days, the divination once again showed an ominous sign.
[Today's Divination: Ominous]
[Chu Mu takes the initiative to come to your door for a transaction, secretly poisoning you during the process, resulting in damaged meridians]
"He can't wait anymore?"
Li Chang'an frowned and pondered for a long time.
...
The next day, at dusk, Chu Mu indeed took the initiative to visit.
"Is Fellow Daoist Li at home?"
He wore a dark green robe with a gentle smile on his face. Just one look at him made people feel warmth and affection.
The courtyard gate slowly opened.
Li Chang'an controlled a low-grade puppet, standing behind the door, and asked with a surprised tone, "Fellow Daoist Chu, what brings you to see me?"
"Fellow Daoist Li..."
Seeing Li Chang'an wearing a mask and not showing his true face, Chu Mu was also somewhat surprised.
But he didn't think much of it, assuming it was Li Chang'an's peculiar habit.
"Fellow Daoist Li, I heard from Fellow Daoist Luo earlier that you plan to trade with me for 'Hundred Bitter Grass' and 'Thunder Heart Wood'?"
"That's correct."
Li Chang'an nodded, with a trace of apology in his tone.
"However, I've already obtained these two materials and forgot to inform Fellow Daoist Chu. I'm truly sorry."
"No matter, I was just asking."
Chu Mu wore a broad smile, appearing very magnanimous.
He handed over a jade slip.
"Fellow Daoist Li, this jade slip records all the spirit plants I cultivate. If you need any, you can come find me at any time."
"Good, thank you, Fellow Daoist Chu."
Li Chang'an reached out and took the jade slip.
Chu Mu's eyes moved slightly. Seeing Li Chang'an's hand touch the jade slip at that moment, a trace of undetectable joy flashed in his eyes.
Subsequently, he smiled and cupped his hands in farewell.
"Fellow Daoist Li, it's getting late, so I won't disturb you further."
"Alright, take care, Fellow Daoist Chu."
Li Chang'an watched him leave.
After this, he closed the courtyard gate and stared at the jade slip in his hand for a moment.
"Could it be that he poisoned me through this jade slip?"
Li Chang'an carefully recalled the conversation he had just had with Chu Mu but throughout the entire process, nothing seemed unusual.
Without the divination's warning, he very likely would have fallen into the trap!
"It's truly impossible to guard against!"
Colorless and odorless poison was the most troublesome.
Li Chang'an frowned slightly and put both the puppet and the jade slip into a separate storage pouch.
He had Big Yellow continue watching Chu Mu, looking for an opportunity to strike.
Soon, that opportunity came.
The second day, in the early morning, Chu Mu left Qinghe Market with fishing gear, heading to Bright Moon Lake to fish and relax.
"That Li Chang'an probably hasn't noticed he's been poisoned yet. By the time he realizes it, everything will be too late."
He smiled at the corners of his mouth, feeling things had gone very smoothly.
But... just at this moment, the ground beneath his feet suddenly collapsed, as if opening a great mouth that instantly swallowed him.
Chu Mu, with only fifth layer Qi Refining cultivation, simply couldn't resist.
"What's happening?"
His face showed terrified shock.
In the blink of an eye, he was brought to the deepest underground.
Li Chang'an's puppet body was already waiting for him in this underground space.
"Fellow Daoist Li?"
Chu Mu's face was pale, still shaken.
He recognized Li Chang'an's attire and was extremely shocked in his heart.
"How could Li Chang'an be so strong? Isn't he only at the fourth layer of Qi Refining? How could he capture me in one encounter?"
At the same time, an uneasy thought arose in his heart.
Could it be that the poisoning had been discovered?
Li Chang'an looked at him, his tone indifferent as he asked directly, "Fellow Daoist Chu, we have no grievances or enmity. Why did you poison me?"
"What?"
Chu Mu reacted quickly, putting on a puzzled expression.
He still wanted to argue but Li Chang'an didn't have that patience.
He directly stepped forward and stomped down hard, crushing Chu Mu's shin.
There was a crack.
"Ah——"
Chu Mu immediately screamed, his entire face becoming twisted.
He never would have thought that Li Chang'an would be so ruthless from the start, completely unlike the "honest and dutiful" and "gentle with others" reputation he had!
For a moment, enormous fear enveloped Chu Mu's heart but what made him even more fearful was yet to come.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, I can slowly break all the bones in your body, then give you healing pills to recover, then break them again, then heal them again, repeating this until you're willing to tell the truth."
Li Chang'an looked at him coldly, his words as cruel as those of a demonic cultivator.
"Of course, you can also choose to speak now and avoid this suffering."
Having said this, he was about to continue his actions.
Chu Mu was sweating profusely from pain and hurriedly called out, "It was Zheng Lingfeng, he made me do it!"
"As expected, it's him."
Li Chang'an wasn't surprised.
He asked, "Why does Zheng Lingfeng want to attack me?"
Seeing him stop his actions, Chu Mu immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn't dare conceal anything and told him while enduring the pain.
"He discovered that the contract the young miss gave you was very special, and also found out that the young miss privately exchanged for a wood-element technique, suspecting she exchanged it for you, so..."
Chu Mu glanced at Li Chang'an and swallowed.
"So he speculated that you and the young miss have an unspeakable relationship, and told me to poison and control you, using you to constrain the young miss."
"Oh?"
Li Chang'an frowned deeply. This was beyond his expectations.
He had thought that Zheng Lingfeng's attack on him was purely due to personal grudges between them but this matter actually involved Zheng Qingqing!
What unspeakable relationship did he and Zheng Qingqing have? They were purely ordinary friends.
However, Zheng Lingfeng didn't think so.
...
At this moment, in the center-west of the market, at the Hall of All Affairs, Zheng Lingfeng was confidently calculating the time.
"At most three days, and Li Chang'an will be poisoned. At that time, he'll have no choice but to come begging for the antidote, letting me manipulate him at will."
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:20:13 +0000 UTC
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"What does this mean? Is this trying to avenge Xiao Zhiyu?"
Seeing this broadcast, Zheng Jie instinctively had this thought.
Because Xiao Zhiyu from Community 9 had just died, and players from the same community would most likely guess he died from reports.
So Zhang Shichao immediately broadcast a piece of 'report' data in retaliation.
Among all male players, 65% had already been reported.
This ratio was too high. It told all male players a fact: almost all female players still randomly matching at this time were reporters, and the best way to avoid being reported was to use the ‘Dislikes’ in their hands to kill the female players they met first!
And Zhao Duo's death was also very likely from a male player's murder.
After all, her statements on the large screen had maxed out the hatred of all male players.
Although Zhao Duo had once falsely accused Zheng Jie, he felt no satisfaction from revenge, but instead became increasingly anxious.
Because he realized that the most terrifying aspect of this game was that killing became faster as it progressed!
Only 2 players died in the 5th hour, but 6 players had already died in the 6th hour.
Who knew how many players were already loaded with reports, and how many players were working hard to exchange ‘Dislikes’ that could be used for killing.
Over the full 8 hours, even if a large number of players were still alive in the final hour, it still didn't mean everyone was safe.
Because in the final round, in the worst-case scenario, it was entirely possible for over ten people to die at once.
Zheng Jie could still possibly die in the final meeting.
"But... why did Fang Wencong also die?"
Zheng Jie was somewhat puzzled.
He knew that Fang Wencong had been sending broadcasts continuously, which should mean he didn't have enough ‘Likes’ or ‘Dislikes’ for self-protection, making him indeed a suitable target for those players who wanted to kill.
But the problem was, Fang Wencong had been safe before, meaning he had most likely already found a fixed matching partner.
And this kind of matching partner wouldn't likely choose to kill the other party until the final meeting, since both were each other's fixed partners. After killing the other party, wouldn't they themselves become dangerous?
"Did his fixed partner change their mind? But why didn't they wait until the final meeting to change their mind?
"Could it be that the data Lawyer Lin sent earlier had an effect? Some people realized there was something fishy about Fang Wencong, so they decided to stop being his fixed partner and murdered him instead?
"But what difference does that make? Even if he really was inciting people, killing him alone is already too late."
Just then, a familiar voice came from the large screen.
Zheng Jie looked up at the large screen with some surprise as Lin Sizhi's figure appeared.
He was Performer No. 1 selected for this talent show.
On the other side of the large screen, Performer No. 2 was the slightly chubby girl who was the first to appear on the talent show stage, Zhong Yuanyuan.
Zheng Jie was stunned, "Why would Zhong Yuanyuan be matched with Lawyer Lin??"
Logically, there were 21 talent shows in total, and with 2 players per show, there shouldn't be any repeats when just entering the 7th hour.
"Is it because too many players have died?"
Zheng Jie speculated that the large number of player deaths would cause some players who had already participated in talent shows to be re-included in the talent show mechanism's selection range and appear on stage early.
But on second thought, that seemed wrong too, because Yang Yuting and Lu Xinyi, who had higher like counts, still hadn't participated in talent shows yet.
[Lin Sizhi from Community 17 has sent over 5 broadcasts, cutting in line for a talent show and selecting Zhong Yuanyuan from Community 1 as his opponent for this show.]
Zheng Jie suddenly understood, "It's a voluntary talent show!
"Broadcasting 5 messages allows you to forcibly start a talent show and select your own opponent.
"Lawyer Lin has long since sent more than five broadcasts.
"This rule has always existed, but it seems no one has used it.
"But why would Lawyer Lin choose Zhong Yuanyuan?
"Whatever, it doesn't matter who he chooses. The most important thing now is to spread that method so other male players without fixed partners can also use 'bluffing' for self-protection...
"But once this method becomes public and everyone knows about it, it might stop working..."
Zheng Jie wasn't sure if Lin Sizhi would actually do this. He could only nervously watch the large screen.
Lin Sizhi naturally hadn't prepared any program. He simply looked at the talent show camera and said calmly, "I hope everyone can use 20 'Boring' votes to kill Performer No. 2 of this talent show, that is, Zhong Yuanyuan from Community 1, in 5 minutes.
"Because she is the designer of this 'Blind Date Game,' that is, the 'God's Imitator.'
"As for the reasons, I will explain clearly to everyone within these 5 minutes. Please listen carefully.
"You only have this one chance."
Zheng Jie was stunned.
He suddenly stood up from his seat and instinctively shouted, "What? Zhong Yuanyuan?
"Lawyer Lin, are you sure you haven't made a mistake?!
"No matter how you look at it, she seems innocent, right? She hasn't incited anything on the talent show stage, nor has she sent any broadcasts.
"In a situation where players can't communicate with each other throughout the game, even if she is an imitator who knows the game rules, she has no way to manipulate other players' thoughts to kill each other, right?"
Zheng Jie had long guessed that Lin Sizhi's checking of various data, even down to specific players, was an attempt to root out some culprit.
And from the previous situation, Lin Sizhi seemed to have already determined that this culprit was in Community 1.
But Zheng Jie didn't understand why Lin Sizhi could definitively assert that this culprit was the game's designer, the 'God's Imitator,' and why this person had to be Zhong Yuanyuan.
Couldn't it be someone else from Community 1?
Or perhaps these Community 1 players were simply trying to stir up trouble, profiting from creating chaos?
"You can't randomly accuse people of such things, Lawyer Lin!
"If what you say doesn't make sense, the other party will definitely counter-accuse you of being the imitator, and then it's all over!"
Zheng Jie hurriedly listened carefully, not daring to miss any information.
...
Lin Sizhi's time was limited, so he made his voice as clear as possible and his content concise.
"First, let me show everyone three pieces of data that have already been displayed."
After speaking, he temporarily left the stage, quickly pressed several buttons on the data query machine, and sent out the pre-retrieved data.
[Lin Sizhi from Community 17 broadcasts three pieces of data to all players.]
[In the first 4 hours, the number of ‘Likes’ Community 1's Gao Jialiang obtained through meetings, as a ratio of the total number of ‘Likes’ and ‘Dislikes’ obtained through meetings: '54%'.]
[In the first 4 hours, Community 1 player Gao Jialiang chose 'You Pay' in meeting rooms at a ratio of: '83%'.]
[In the first 4 hours, after Community 1's Gao Jialiang chose 'You Pay' in meeting rooms, the ratio of reaching agreement with the other player was: '100%'.]
These data had been sent before. According to game mechanics, they could be broadcast a total of two times.
Zheng Jie looked at these three pieces of data with some confusion. He vaguely felt something seemed wrong, but couldn't pinpoint the specific problem.
Looking at each one individually, they all seemed reasonable.
Gao Jialiang was, after all, a top-tier handsome guy, and it wouldn't be strange for such a handsome guy to achieve any outrageous data in a 'Blind Date Game.'
Lin Sizhi explained, "If we only look at the first piece of data, everyone might think there's nothing to it. A like-dislike ratio of 54% is better than the average level of male players, fitting everyone's expectations for a handsome guy.
"But the problem is, the latter two pieces of data reveal a cruel fact to us: in reality, handsome guys can do whatever they want in this game."
Lin Sizhi paused briefly, then continued:
"Gao Jialiang actively pressed 'You Pay' 83% of the time in the first 4 hours of the game. Considering that the matching mechanism has a small probability of matching same-gender players, this data means he actively pressed 'You Pay' with all female players.
"If other players did this, it would be very poor behavior.
"But then we look at the third piece of data: the female players matched with Gao Jialiang, even after clearly seeing him press 'You Pay' first, still willingly pressed 'I Pay' rather than pressing other buttons to have visa time deducted together.
"Obviously, everyone is clueless about the destructive power of handsome guys.
"No matter what outrageous behavior a handsome guy exhibits, female players meeting with him will tend to be tolerant.
"However, this creates an obvious contradiction with the first piece of data.
"If all these female players willingly pressed 'I Pay,' why would Gao Jialiang receive so many ‘Dislikes’?
"Gao Jialiang's number of ‘Likes’ obtained through meetings in the first 4 hours, as a ratio of the total ‘Likes’ and ‘Dislikes’ obtained through meetings, was '54%', and this number means he received 6 likes and 5 dislikes. That is, '6/11=54%'.
"These female players even tolerated paying room fees alone, so what kind of outrageous behavior could Gao Jialiang have done to make nearly half of them give ‘Dislikes’?
"The answer is simple: either Gao Jialiang actively asked them to give ‘Dislikes,’ or Gao Jialiang committed some very rude insulting behavior that forced them to give ‘Dislikes.’
"For further verification, everyone can query all the players who currently seem to have received more 'likes.' I can guarantee that not a single one of them had a ratio of ‘Likes’ obtained through meetings in the 'total likes and dislikes' lower than 70% in the first 4 hours.
"This is more reasonable: most people, after seeing information about ‘Likes’ and ‘Dislikes,’ would instinctively understand them as 'rewards' and 'punishments.'
"Players who can obtain more 'likes,' as long as they're willing, can similarly avoid receiving ‘Dislikes.’
"So on what basis could Gao Jialiang, immediately upon entering the game, prophetically predict that after 4 hours, ‘Likes’ and ‘Dislikes’ would become equally important killing resources, and consciously seek ‘Dislikes’?"
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:15:18 +0000 UTC
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Zheng Jie became even more anxious.
"What exactly is Lawyer Lin thinking? After checking all this data, his likes are probably almost used up, right?
"It looks like he's searching for someone. Is he looking for the culprit who's inciting players to kill each other?
"But so many people have broadcast messages. How is this behavior any different from looking for a needle in a haystack?
"Could the person he's looking for be Gao Jialiang and Fang Wencong from Community 1? Otherwise, why would he check three pieces of information about Gao Jialiang?
"But I can't see anything from this.
"Even if it really is Gao Jialiang or Fang Wencong, we probably can't kill either of these two.
"These two must have already found fixed matching partners in the game through some method.
"And once such fixed partners appear, no one else can match with them anymore. Even if you have ‘Likes’ and ‘Dislikes,’ it's impossible to kill them.
"In the final round, they can kill their fixed partners to earn visa time. Isn't this unsolvable?"
Zheng Jie scratched his head anxiously, feeling that with his intelligence, he was no longer qualified to think about the current situation.
He could only do his utmost to keep himself alive.
[Please enter the meeting room immediately. Delays will result in instant death penalty.]
Zheng Jie opened the door and quickly walked through the corridor toward the meeting room.
...
"Stop! Stay right there!
"My hand is on the murder button. Take one more step and I'll kill you."
The moment the other person entered, they were startled by Zheng Jie's voice.
This was a woman he hadn't seen before, but it didn't matter to Zheng Jie, because regardless of whether he knew them or not, whether they were male or female, he couldn't trust anyone now.
"Turn around and stand against the wall with your hands behind your head.
"I don't want to kill you. As long as you wait quietly for ten minutes, both of us will be fine."
Zheng Jie lowered his voice to make himself sound fierce and dangerous.
In reality, his body was trembling slightly.
The woman hurriedly faced the corner and stood with her hands behind her head, "I understand! I'll do as you say, don't be impulsive!"
Zheng Jie nodded, "Good.
"Let me tell you, before the game ends, I'll give you one ‘Dislike.’ You don't need to give me anything, and you can't approach the control panel."
The woman's panicked voice came from the other end of the room, "Okay, okay, as long as you don't kill me, whatever you say goes.
"What about the room fee?"
Zheng Jie said, "Just let it deduct the money."
The woman quickly said, "I can pay for all of it."
Zheng Jie shook his head, "No need! Whether you pay for all of it or we each get deducted 200 for timing out, it's the same."
The woman stopped insisting, "Okay, alright then."
...
After ending this meeting, Zheng Jie returned to the lounge once again.
Seeing that the number of times he'd been reported was still 2 with no change, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He had survived another round.
Facts proved this method indeed worked.
According to the game mechanics, the 'murder' operation would take effect within 10 seconds. In other words, if a player had enough ‘Dislikes’ or ‘Likes’ in hand, they could counterattack before dying within the 10 seconds of being 'murdered.'
Although on the surface this seemed like a rule encouraging mutual destruction, in actual operation, it instead increased the strategic space for players.
If pressing the 'murder' button caused the opponent to die immediately, it would become a pure speed competition game where whoever pressed faster would survive.
There would be no room for mutual trust between players.
But allowing a full 10 seconds meant that if one side really pressed 'murder,' the other side would have ample time to counter-kill, making both sides more rational.
With Zheng Jie securing the 'murder' button first, as long as he hadn't actually pressed it, the other party would likely not provoke him recklessly, allowing both sides to leave safely.
Zheng Jie could also use this opportunity to consume his ‘Likes’ and ‘Dislikes,’ preventing too much visa time from being deducted when he left.
Giving ‘Likes’ to male players and ‘Dislikes’ to female players would relatively not cause too much harm to the current situation.
Zheng Jie felt his back was completely soaked with cold sweat, and his legs were somewhat weak.
This kind of bluffing looked simple, but actually applying it carried enormous psychological pressure, more exhausting than a fight.
However, just as Zheng Jie sat down in his seat, he saw three more names on the leaderboard slowly crossed out with red lines.
One from Community 9, two from Community 12, and judging by the names, all were male.
35 players remained alive.
Zheng Jie felt some difficulty breathing, and just then, a new broadcast appeared.
[Jiao Hongtao from Community 8 broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[Among currently deceased players, the ratio of players who died from female reports is: '60%'.]
It had finally begun.
Zheng Jie had already guessed earlier that when those two female players died, it wasn't that males had no death risk, but simply that many people hadn't yet accumulated three reports.
Now, the game had been going for 6 hours, and after the killing rule update, there had been 6 meetings.
Deaths caused by 'reports' were starting to appear in clusters.
This data had tremendous destructive power for those male players who had already been reported and had enough ‘Dislikes’ on them.
Actually, if they adopted Zheng Jie's 'bluffing' strategy, they could effectively improve their survival rate.
But the problem was that players couldn't communicate, and even if they had such strategies, they couldn't share them.
As for broadcasts, they could only broadcast ratio data, nothing else.
Lawyer Lin's data could indeed remind Zheng Jie, but that was because they belonged to the same Community 17, with some mutual trust and understanding.
Other players who hadn't heard of the concept of "bluffing" beforehand, or were slightly less intelligent, couldn't understand it at all.
Of course, if they really wanted to inform other male players about this 'deterrence' method, there were two approaches, though both were quite forced.
The first method was to inform the meeting player after random matching, then have them relay it to other players, slowly spreading it through this method.
But the problem was that the meeting players might not help relay the information, and the efficiency was too low, with insufficient time.
The second method was the talent show, informing all players on the talent show stage.
But the problem was that this game's talent show started from the 2nd hour, with 3 shows per hour, totaling only 21 shows.
With 2 people per talent show, most players could only appear on stage once.
Zheng Jie had already been on stage and was unlikely to be selected again.
Among the remaining players who could participate in talent shows, only those with relatively high like counts were left.
In Community 17, that would be Lin Sizhi and Yang Yuting.
Both of them had received many likes at the beginning, so they still hadn't participated in talent shows until now.
"Now I can only hope that when Brother Lin performs in the talent show, he can spread this method as much as possible and save more people..."
...
...
Soon, the last meeting of the 6th hour ended.
Zheng Jie watched the other person walk out of the meeting room and breathed a sigh of relief.
Next, as long as he didn't encounter a madman, he would most likely be safe before the final meeting.
Returning to the lounge, Zheng Jie sat down in his seat with mixed feelings. There were still two hours until the game ended, with 6 meetings remaining.
He glanced at the large screen, and his heart sank again.
Three more names had been crossed out.
[Community 1, Fang Wencong]
[Community 9, Xiao Zhiyu]
[Community 12, Zhao Duo]
Shortly after.
[Zhang Shichao from Community 9 broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[Among all male players, the ratio who have been 'reported' is: '65%'.]
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:14:49 +0000 UTC
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"Hmm?"
Zheng Jie seemed to grasp at a lifeline as he hurriedly moved closer to the large screen to examine it.
Although the talent show was still ongoing, Zheng Jie no longer cared about it at all.
"Lawyer Lin definitely knows what I'm asking about, so this is the answer he's giving me.
"But... this statement seems to only express that 'players with fewer dislikes have greater safety.'
"It can indeed provide some cooling effect for the current tense atmosphere to a certain extent, but it's completely useless for solving the problem of me being falsely accused!
"Could it be that Lawyer Lin didn't understand what I meant? That's impossible, I was already being so direct!"
Zheng Jie scratched his head anxiously, but he didn't give up. Instead, he continued analyzing the unreasonable aspects of this statement.
"Why specifically emphasize ‘Dislike’ count less than 5? Why not less than 4, or simply use ‘Like’ count as the standard?
"Hmm... because 5 dislikes can kill someone.
"That means players who clearly don't have the ability to kill, yet show murderous intent during meetings, don't exist so far.
"Isn't this quite normal? If you don't have 5 dislikes, what are you going to kill?
"Wait, I understand now!
"The ratio isn't important, what's important is the method of screening the ratio!
"Bluffing! Even without 5 dislikes, one can still express clear murderous intent, which means using bluffing as a form of self-protection!"
Thinking of this point, Zheng Jie suddenly understood.
He hadn't quite grasped it originally, but he had previously heard Fu Chen explain some strategies from 'Blood Poker,' so he naturally thought of the possibility of 'bluffing.'
This was exactly the method Lawyer Lin had used in that game.
And during the last meeting, Zhao Duo's reaction when she first entered the room further confirmed this point from the side.
Zheng Jie didn't have 5 ‘Dislikes,’ but the people meeting with him didn't know that.
Murderous intent might bring hostility and misfortune to oneself, but if used properly, it could also have other uses.
Combined with the meeting before last, and the one before that...
Zhou Guifen, Jiao Hongtao, Xue Qi, these three people's different reactions after entering the meeting room also gave Zheng Jie sufficient inspiration.
...
Data continued appearing on the large screen.
[Zhang Xiaoxia from Community 9 broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[As of the current time, in meeting rooms, the ratio of male players who refused to agree to equally split 30,000 minutes of visa time is: '85%'.]
[Jiao Hongtao from Community 8 broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[Among female players who met with me, the ratio who showed obvious disgust before starting conversation is: '61%'.]
[Fang Wencong from Community 1 broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[As of the current time, in meeting rooms, the ratio of female players actively requesting exchange vouchers from male players is: '75%'.]
The consecutive broadcast spam startled Zheng Jie.
More and more people were starting to broadcast this data, perhaps out of anger, or to fan the flames, but regardless, this was a very bad phenomenon.
And some of the data among them really shocked Zheng Jie.
For instance, the 75% ratio meant that out of 20 female players, only 5 female players hadn't actively requested exchange vouchers from male players.
Combined with the two previous pieces of data Fang Wencong had sent, his intended purpose was already crystal clear.
"Strange, Fang Wencong has sent so many messages, hasn't anyone reported him or tried to murder him?
"The more broadcasts someone sends, the fewer ‘Likes’ and ‘Dislikes’ they have left in their hands. He should be quite unsafe by now.
"Could it be he found a stable meeting partner?
"Someone like him can find one too! Then why can't I!"
Zheng Jie somewhat doubted his life.
[Qian Li from Community 1 broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[As of the current time, the ratio of male players who gave promises to female players but failed to honor them is: '76%'.]
Seeing this data, Zheng Jie was stunned for a moment.
76%? That high?
Wouldn't that mean only 5 out of 20 male players were honest?
But thinking again, that wasn't right, because if it were 15/20, it would be impossible to get exactly 76%.
"I understand now!
"For this ratio data, the denominator isn't the number of male players, but the number of promises given!
"That means one male player can give many promises but not honor a single one, which would severely inflate this ratio value.
"If calculated per person, it absolutely couldn't reach this high.
"However, this data is very misleading."
The number 76% was just slightly higher than 75%. If many people couldn't think through this data anomaly while anxious and panicked, they would completely cancel out the impact of the previous data.
So what if 75% of female players requested exchange vouchers? 76% of male players don't honor their promises anyway!
Everyone's about the same, and you're even 1% higher!
After male and female players respectively saw these two pieces of data, they would still stand on their own positions and reach completely opposite conclusions.
Even worse, communities everywhere were broadcasting data.
To prove their own correctness, to find justification for counterattacks, or to unite with the same gender, players began considering consuming their excess resources for broadcasts, adding fuel to the fire for more revenge killings.
For many male players who had lost their rationality, encouraging other male players with ‘Dislikes’ to actively kill female players through broadcasts could make themselves safer.
The same logic applied to many female players who had lost their rationality.
Unable to communicate with players from the same community, they couldn't execute any team strategies and could only act like headless flies according to their own ideas.
Often, two players from the same community would do completely opposite things.
[Performer No. 1 has accumulated 14 'Interesting' votes, gaining an additional 1 'Like'.]
[Performer No. 2 has accumulated 16 'Interesting' votes, gaining an additional 1 'Like'.]
Although the like counts of the two talent show performers still hadn't exceeded 20, compared to before, the probability of mindlessly clicking 'Interesting' was higher.
The division was still intensifying.
[Lin Sizhi from Community 17 broadcasts three pieces of data to all players.]
[In the first 4 hours, Community 1 player Gao Jialiang chose 'You Pay' in meeting rooms at a ratio of: '83%'.]
[In the first 4 hours, after Community 1 player Gao Jialiang chose 'You Pay' in meeting rooms, the ratio of reaching agreement with the other player was: '100%'.]
[In the first 4 hours, Community 1 player Fang Wencong pressed the payment button before his counterpart at a ratio of: '100%'.]
"Hmm? This is from Lawyer Lin, and he sent three at once!
"Does Lawyer Lin still have enough ‘Likes’? Won't he fall into danger himself?
"But judging from how many likes he received, he should easily find trustworthy matching partners, so he should be safe."
Zheng Jie hurriedly moved closer to the large screen, frowning as he examined it carefully.
Broadcasting three pieces of data at once, there must be some specific implications behind this data.
Although after checking data, each piece could be broadcast for free, Lawyer Lin had most likely screened them.
If he just randomly sent without screening, there would be no way to convey specific information to the outside world.
Zheng Jie guessed that right now, it wasn't just players from Community 17, but smarter players from other communities, like Lu Xinyi, were probably also waiting for Lawyer Lin to send new broadcasts.
But... what exactly did these three broadcasts mean?
Handsome Gao Jialiang had a high probability of pressing the [You Pay] button during meetings? And the other party basically always agreed?
There was nothing strange about that. He might have negotiated with them beforehand.
With such a handsome face, as long as he calmly discussed with his blind date partners, how many women could refuse him?
Women definitely wouldn't apply the same standards to high-value handsome men as they would to ordinary men.
Although Fang Wencong's data seemed a bit strange at first glance, Zheng Jie couldn't figure out what was wrong with it for the moment.
So what if he pressed the payment button before his counterpart? Couldn't it simply be that he was quick with his hands?
The game didn't specify that there had to be an order when pressing buttons.
This was all data from the first 4 hours, and it was all about paying room fees. Was this important?
The game version had long since been updated, who still cared about those trivial room fees, just 200 minutes of visa time.
What everyone cared about now should be likes and dislikes!
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:14:11 +0000 UTC
View Post
As for the information Qian Li broadcasted, it was even more deadly.
[At the current time point, the proportion of male players among murderers was: '100%'.]
So far, among the 40 players, two female players had died, and undoubtedly the killers were two male players.
Because male players often had more dislikes, murder only required 5 dislikes and could take effect immediately.
It wasn't that female players hadn't tried killing, but female players needed 3 reports to kill. There were probably many male players like Zheng Jie in the game who had been reported once.
As the game progressed, more and more male players would inevitably die at the hands of female players.
But that still required time and more meetings after all.
At this moment, from the data query within the game, 100% of murderers were male, which was indeed fact.
Under the enormous pressure of life-and-death crisis, this data would further cause many female players to lose rationality.
Because they would subconsciously think that 100% of male players would become potential murderers.
This was the charm of numbers: although these two 100%s had no relationship whatsoever, precisely because they were both 100%, they would create associations in the subconscious of irrational people.
[Players must immediately enter the meeting room, or face instant death penalty for being late.]
Zheng Jie took a deep breath and entered the meeting room again.
...
Before entering the meeting room from the corridor, Zheng Jie silently prayed, hoping he would encounter a male player.
According to the current situation, matching with the same gender would indeed be safer. Even if the other party had enough “Dislikes,” they probably wouldn't waste them on him.
However, when he pushed open the door, Zheng Jie's heart skipped a beat.
It was a female player, and he had seen her before!
[Community 12, Zhao Duo].
She was the person who had frantically incited during the previous talent show, telling all female players to immediately and indiscriminately report male players for self-protection.
Too unlucky.
From Zhao Duo's previous statements during the talent show, actively reporting male players was extremely normal for her.
Was Zheng Jie's luck very bad, always encountering such high-risk matching partners?
Not entirely. This was also due to the matching mechanism.
By now, a small portion of lucky players had inevitably formed fixed partnerships. To ensure safety, they no longer matched with people they didn't trust, but continued to invite each other for meetings.
This also meant that the players left outside and forced to participate in the matching mechanism all had some problems to varying degrees.
Like Zhao Duo.
After she made those statements on the big screen, most likely no male player would be stupid enough to send or accept her meeting invitations, so she could only choose random matching.
But for Zheng Jie, this was extremely bad news.
But just when Zheng Jie felt desperate, Zhao Duo appeared even more panicked.
She immediately raised both hands, "Don't misunderstand! I don't want to 'report' you!
"Whatever you're thinking, I hope you can stay calm. We can complete this meeting safely!
"Now please also raise both hands and don't put them near the buttons, okay?"
Zheng Jie was surprised, but his current state with Zhao Duo seemed to be like two people afraid of each other.
This was a situation he was happy to see, so he raised his hands like Zhao Duo.
"Good, neither of us will touch the buttons."
Zhao Duo slowly moved to the table and sat down, maintaining her hands in an upright position throughout, placing both hands beside her face so Zheng Jie could clearly see them.
"I'll pay."
Saying this, Zhao Duo pressed the [I'll Pay] button with very slow movements, then returned to the hands-upright position.
Zheng Jie also slowly pressed [You Pay].
Afterwards, holding up his hands, he felt the current scene was somewhat funny yet somewhat sad.
He hadn't expected that his first time being paid for by a female player after entering this game would be under such circumstances.
The two sat facing each other in silence like this.
Zheng Jie remembered a similar awkward silence had occurred in a previous meeting, but their mindsets were completely different these two times.
Time passed second by second.
Finally, the 10-minute countdown ended.
Zhao Duo's hands had been raised the entire time and were constantly trembling. There had been several large shakes during the period, but she still hadn't put them down to rest.
"Can I go now?" she asked quietly.
Zheng Jie finally breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, "Yes, you go first."
Zhao Duo stood up somewhat stiffly and slowly, then turned and left the meeting room.
Seeing the door on the opposite side close, Zheng Jie finally relaxed, taking several deep breaths.
Then he stood up and walked out.
"Good, that was close..."
With each meeting now, Zheng Jie felt like he was taking a trip around the gates of hell, a severe challenge to his heart.
However, when Zheng Jie passed through the corridor and returned to the rest room, he froze in place again.
[Current number of reports: 2]
[Warning! When reported 3 times, you will face instant death penalty.]
...
Zheng Jie felt his legs go weak. He supported himself against the wall and sat down in a nearby seat.
Unlike the anger from the first time, this time he felt more despair and bewilderment.
What happened?
How was this done?
"Could it be... the elbow..."
Zheng Jie thought of a possible reason and felt regretful again.
After Zhao Duo sat down, her hands weren't raised high but merely maintained in an upright position, with her palms roughly on both sides of her face.
Although Zheng Jie could clearly see her hands, he had overlooked that in this posture, Zhao Duo could actually use her elbow to touch buttons in his blind spot.
During the long ten minutes in the meeting room, Zhao Duo only needed to move her elbow slightly to complete the "report" operation.
And Zheng Jie couldn't detect such subtle movements at all.
He slumped in the chair, his mind blank.
"Next time I'm reported, I'll die...
"According to game rules, there are still 10 seconds before death. Can I rush back to the rest room and exchange all visa time for vouchers? Not leaving a single minute for that damn God's Imitator!
"But... the room doors seem to be locked after meetings begin.
"Should I exchange half for vouchers now?
"No, no, why am I thinking about this? I can't give up yet. I need to think carefully about how to survive!"
On the big screen, talent shows and broadcasts continued.
[Community 17's Yang Yuting broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[In the first 4 hours, the proportion of Community 9's Zhang Shichao's “Likes” obtained through meetings to the total number of “Likes” and “Dislikes” obtained through meetings was: '85%'.]
[Community 17's Xu Tong broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[In the first 4 hours, the proportion of Community 12's Zhou Rong's “Likes” obtained through meetings to the total number of “Likes” and “Dislikes” obtained through meetings was: '71%'.]
"I must find a way to ask Lawyer Lin for help..."
Zheng Jie didn't think he could solve the current problem on his own.
He had now been reported twice, and there were still a despairing two-plus hours of game time remaining.
One more report and he would be completely finished.
He had wanted to ask Lin Sizhi for help before but couldn't find any way to do so.
Now, even if he couldn't think of a way, he had to force himself to think.
Zheng Jie anxiously paced around the room several times, when suddenly inspiration struck and he had an idea.
He hurried to the data query machine and spent 1 "Like" to query and broadcast a piece of data.
[Community 17's Zheng Jie broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[As of the current time, the proportion of reported players in Community 17 was: '25%'.]
Zheng Jie knew this way of expression might be too simple and crude, not subtle enough, and might expose some information to other communities, but he had no better choice.
Because he didn't have many “Likes” and “Dislikes” and couldn't afford to squander them. If he expressed it in a more subtle way and Lin Sizhi misunderstood, that would be troublesome.
After sending this message, Zheng Jie waited anxiously.
[Community 17's Lin Sizhi broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[As of the current time, the proportion of players with fewer than 5 “Dislikes” who showed clear murderous intent in meetings was: '0%'.]
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:13:40 +0000 UTC
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When female players got “Likes,” they had more resources to conduct reports, while when male players got “Likes,” it enhanced their self-protection ability to some extent.
So male players clicked “Interesting” for male players, and female players clicked “Interesting” for female players, regardless of what they actually performed during the talent show.
If it were just this, it wouldn't be too bad.
The key issue was, as time passed, would there be situations where male players mindlessly clicked “Boring” for female players, and female players also mindlessly clicked “Boring” for male players?
Although there were 20 players each for both genders, with only 18 female players remaining currently, once this trend of clicking “Boring” stabilized, what if someone defected?
For example, if a male player who appeared to have a lot of remaining visa time appeared in the talent show, with the guaranteed 18 “Boring” votes from female players, he would be killed immediately with just 2 additional votes from male players.
And these players could then equally share 1/10 of his remaining visa time.
This possibility was small when the game just started, but as game time progressed and players got closer to leaving, their behavior would inevitably become more unrestrained.
As long as a group of troublemakers appeared who voted “Boring” recklessly, the talent show would also become indiscriminate slaughter.
Zheng Jie felt like he was trapped in a huge whirlpool he couldn't escape from. Death was approaching him step by step, but he was helpless.
Just then, a new broadcast appeared on the big screen.
[Community 17's Lin Sizhi broadcasts two pieces of data to all players.]
[In the first 4 hours, the proportion of Community 1's Gao Jialiang's “Likes” obtained through meetings to the total number of “Likes” and “Dislikes” obtained through meetings was: '54%'.]
[Among players, the proportion who have been queried for the above data was: '5%'.]
"Huh? Lawyer Lin finally sent a broadcast! Two of them!
"But... what does this mean?"
Zheng Jie, who had just been reported, couldn't completely calm down yet, but for survival, he could only force himself to stay composed and concentrate on thinking about the deeper meaning of Lin Sizhi's broadcast.
"Except for the first free one, each subsequent broadcast means consuming 1 ‘Like’ or ‘Dislike.’
"So Lawyer Lin sending two in a row definitely has a purpose.
"He seems to be checking the proportion of specific players' ‘Likes’ obtained through meetings in the first 4 hours to their total ‘Likes’ and ‘Dislikes.’
"Why check this?
"I don't understand, but 5% of players have already been checked, which means Lawyer Lin checked two people himself?
"If he wanted to check all players, his own likes would definitely not be enough.
"So his intention is for us to help him check more, following this format!
"But with so many players, who should I start checking?"
Zheng Jie tried hard to recall all the players he had met in meetings, guessing who might be the bad person and who might be the target Lin Sizhi wanted to find.
But he had no clues.
After a while, another broadcast appeared on the big screen.
[Community 17's Yang Yuting broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[In the first 4 hours, the proportion of Community 3's Lu Xinyi's “Likes” obtained through meetings to the total number of “Likes” and “Dislikes” obtained through meetings was: '100%'.]
"Sure enough, Yang Yuting also understood Lawyer Lin's intention and prioritized checking Lu Xinyi.
"Lu Xinyi does look very suspicious, and her data is so exaggerated. All likes in the first 4 hours? No one disliked her?"
[Community 3's Lu Xinyi broadcasts two pieces of data to all players.]
[In the first 4 hours, the proportion of Community 17's Lin Sizhi's “Likes” obtained through meetings to the total number of “Likes” and “Dislikes” obtained through meetings was: '100%'.]
[In the first 4 hours, the proportion of Community 1's Fang Wencong's “Likes” obtained through meetings to the total number of “Likes” and “Dislikes” obtained through meetings was: '11%'.]
Zheng Jie was stunned, "How is Lu Xinyi also broadcasting? Is she trying to clear her own suspicion?
"Lawyer Lin's 100% data also doesn't look human."
He came to the data query machine and after considering for a moment, decided to first check his enemy.
After all, for Zheng Jie, Xue Qi, who was suspected of lying and playing victim to cheat likes in the talent show and then shamelessly falsely accused him, was at the top of his blacklist.
"I want to query Community 9's Xue Qi's proportion of ‘Likes’ obtained through meetings in the first 4 hours to the total number of ‘Likes’ and ‘Dislikes’ obtained through meetings."
[Query completed.]
[In the first 4 hours, the proportion of Community 9's Xue Qi's “Likes” obtained through meetings to the total number of “Likes” and “Dislikes” obtained through meetings was: '83%'.]
The different data for each person gave Zheng Jie a headache. He didn't know what he could tell from it.
Fortunately, the first data query and broadcast was free.
Zheng Jie decisively pressed the [Broadcast] button.
[Community 17's Zheng Jie broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[In the first 4 hours, the proportion of Community 9's Xue Qi's “Likes” obtained through meetings to the total number of “Likes” and “Dislikes” obtained through meetings was: '83%'.]
Zheng Jie didn't know if his data could help Lin Sizhi, but regardless, he would send one first.
Immediately after, more broadcasts appeared.
[Community 1's Fang Wencong broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[In meeting rooms, the proportion of male players who agreed when female players actively proposed was: '100%'.]
[Community 1's Qian Li broadcasts one piece of data to all players.]
[At the current time point, the proportion of male players among murderers was: '100%'.]
Seeing these two broadcasts, Zheng Jie was stunned.
Community 1 was... having internal strife?
Fang Wencong and Qian Li, as players from the same community, had sent two broadcasts with completely opposite motives.
Zheng Jie immediately realized this was also a normal phenomenon.
Because players from the same community had no way to communicate, under this game mechanism, the organizational structure of communities had been completely dismantled, and everyone had separately taken sides with their respective genders.
Obviously, both pieces of information would further destroy mutual trust between male and female players, pushing the pace of mutual harm forward by leaps and bounds.
Fang Wencong had now sent two broadcasts, and these two broadcasts could be called a perfect control group.
[In meeting rooms, the proportion of female players who agreed when male players actively proposed was: '7%'.]
[In meeting rooms, the proportion of male players who agreed when female players actively proposed was: '100%'.]
These two vastly different numbers mercilessly revealed a fact: regarding "paying room fees," male and female players operated by completely different standards.
What was more terrifying was that these two pieces of information might produce completely different meanings in the eyes of male and female players due to their different situations.
From female players' perspective, this game was unfair to begin with. Male players could indiscriminately get 30,000 minutes of visa time upon leaving the game. Wasn't actively paying the 200 room fee a very normal and reasonable thing?
But from male players' perspective, it wasn't like that.
Because obviously, the difficulty of getting likes was completely different for male and female players. Whether in meetings or talent shows, female players naturally found it easier to get likes.
Male players had to actively compete internally, advance their visa time to give to female players, and once cheated, male players ended up with nothing.
Since female players were naturally favored in this aspect, why should male players be required to cover all room fees?
Moreover, the 30,000 minutes of visa time that males could indiscriminately obtain was just an empty promise, only valid if they survived to get out.
Given this game's mortality rate, if you died inside, why worry about 30,000 minutes of visa time?
This game had unfair aspects for both male and female players, but standing in their respective positions, everyone would feel they suffered more unfairness.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:13:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
Zheng Jie scratched his head anxiously, "It's over, it's over, isn't this completely ruined!!"
He hoped that Lin Sizhi would give new hints on the big screen, but unfortunately there were none.
Players like Zheng Jie were the most miserable in the game at this moment.
Because those particularly smart players had definitely figured out ways to protect themselves and formed fixed meeting partnerships with specific players from other communities.
Like Lu Xinyi, Zheng Jie was certain she wouldn't be troubled by this problem.
And those particularly stupid players either couldn't perceive the danger or already had many “Dislikes” themselves, so they weren't that anxious either.
Players like Zheng Jie, caught in the middle, had only one feeling at this moment.
The sky was falling.
...
Another new round of meetings began, and Zheng Jie walked dejectedly into the meeting room.
This time, randomly matched with him was an ordinary-looking girl with some tear stains still on her face.
She had no distinctive features, neither pretty nor particularly ugly.
But Zheng Jie still remembered her because he had seen her on the talent show before. She was the girl who said she was "deducted over 1000 minutes of visa time per hour" and successfully got 3 “Likes” by playing the victim.
[Community 9, Xue Qi].
"Hello."
You could tell she was very nervous.
Zheng Jie raised both hands to signal like he did when he met the panicked middle-aged woman before, then slowly pressed [I'll Pay].
"Relax, I'm not a bad person. Look, my hands aren't on the buttons below.
"Let me pay the room fee first, okay?"
Xue Qi also pressed [You Pay], sat down in her seat, and seemed to calm down slightly.
"I know what you're worried about. Don't worry, I think most male players can still maintain their bottom line and won't kill indiscriminately for no reason.
"If possible, can we exchange ‘Likes’?
"Don't worry, I won't exchange ‘Dislikes,’ and I have no intention of harming anyone."
Zheng Jie tried to make his tone sound as friendly as possible.
He also knew this exchange proposal was unlikely to get a response, because for both male and female players, “Likes” and “Dislikes” were equally important now.
They would either become weapons to attack enemies or shields to defend against attacks. With both resources being very limited, it would naturally be safer to exchange with the same gender.
But Zheng Jie still had to try.
After all, likes could also provide self-protection and send broadcasts, which were equally important to him.
Getting “Dislikes” would certainly be better, but to avoid arousing the other party's suspicion, exchanging “Likes” was safer.
Xue Qi kept her head down without responding.
Zheng Jie couldn't say much more and could only try to find topics every minute or two during the awkward silences, attempting to eliminate the other party's wariness as much as possible.
Finally, after another awkward silence, the meeting time was up.
Zheng Jie stood up, preparing to leave.
"See, we're both safe, aren't we?
"Don't worry, I won't harm you.
"Looking at you, you probably haven't found a fixed partner for matching either, right?
"If you trust me, we can keep matching afterwards, and finally take the 30,000 minutes of visa time together and leave safely."
Zheng Jie didn't have high hopes, just making a simple final attempt.
But to his surprise, Xue Qi actually looked up and seemed to have made some kind of decision, "Okay, you seem like a good person. I'm willing to exchange ‘Likes’ with you.
"If I can confirm I received your ‘Like,’ I'll consider continuing to meet with you."
Zheng Jie's eyes lit up, "Really? Good, then I'll give you a like right now.
"I clicked it."
Zheng Jie knew the other party couldn't see what he specifically clicked and couldn't verify it, but he still slowed down his movements as much as possible to gain the other party's trust.
Xue Qi also pressed the button, then waved at him, "See you then."
Zheng Jie quickly nodded, "Yes, yes, goodbye! Looking forward to our next meeting!"
...
After leaving the meeting room and entering the corridor, Zheng Jie breathed a sigh of relief.
Phew, that was good!
Although Zhou Rong had rejected his invitation earlier, it didn't matter now because he had found a new partner, Xue Qi.
Dating was like this, it didn't matter how many times you failed, as long as you succeeded once.
The game had updated rules in the second phase so that same-gender players could no longer have stable meetings through invitations, only invite opposite genders or randomly match.
But it was precisely because of this rule that female players like Xue Qi couldn't form fixed matches with other female players either, which is why she entered the random matching mechanism and encountered him.
Now he could temporarily feel at ease and consider how to help other players in the community without worries.
Zheng Jie returned to the waiting room somewhat excitedly, then saw a prominent notification message appear on the big screen.
[Current number of reports: 1]
[Warning! When reported 3 times, you will face instant death penalty.]
...
Zheng Jie's hands and feet went cold, and he froze in place.
Although he was reluctant to believe it, there was only one explanation at this point: Xue Qi not only didn't give him a like but also clicked "report."
And since Zheng Jie had given Xue Qi a like, it meant he had also contributed 50% of the effort for this report.
After the shock came uncontainable anger.
"How can she do this!
"Cheating money is one thing, but trying to kill me too!
"No, I was too stupid. I actually made the same mistake again..."
Speaking of being cheated of likes, he had already been cheated once during his meeting with Lu Xinyi.
At that time, he had repeatedly warned himself never to trust others easily.
But in a moment of carelessness, he fell into the same pit again, and even harder.
A terrifying thought flashed through Zheng Jie's mind.
Kill her!
They had no grievances, so why did she falsely accuse him? Why couldn't such a rotten person be killed?
But after calming down slightly, Zheng Jie also knew he had no chance.
Because Xue Qi would absolutely never accept his meeting invitation again, and the possibility of the two randomly matching together was virtually zero.
Zheng Jie sat dazedly in his seat until the talent show on the big screen ended.
[Performer No. 1 cumulatively received 11 “Interesting” votes, earning 1 additional “Like.”]
[Performer No. 2 cumulatively received 15 “Interesting” votes, earning 1 additional “Like.”]
Zheng Jie increasingly felt something was wrong.
Although from the talent show results, no one had died, the changes in voting patterns made Zheng Jie realize that the antagonism between male and female players was still intensifying.
These two talent show participants were one male and one female. They didn't perform any special talents or say inflammatory words like before.
But they both steadily received over ten votes, neither below 10 nor exceeding 20.
There was a terrifying possibility behind this:
Players were starting to vote for same-gender talent show participants for no reason.
The reason was simple: the “Interesting” votes in talent shows would become “Likes” after every 10 were collected, becoming weapons for the enemy.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:12:36 +0000 UTC
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After briefly comforting all the players in front of the screen, the young man with round-framed glasses began to sing.
It was a soothing, melodious song, and his singing was quite good, making even Zheng Jie instinctively click “Interesting” for him.
"Good, it seems there are still many rational players."
This made Zheng Jie feel slightly relieved.
Performer No. 2 was a girl who still had tear stains on her face. While waiting for the young man to finish his performance, you could faintly see her body trembling slightly.
Zheng Jie noticed there seemed to be a small water stain on her chest as well, not knowing if it was from crying too much or some other reason.
[Community 12, Zhao Duo]
Zheng Jie almost couldn't help wanting to give her an “Interesting” vote in advance.
However, as soon as the microphone switched to Performer No. 2, the big screen transmitted words that shocked Zheng Jie immensely.
"Don't believe him, he's lying!!"
Performer No. 2's tearful shout directly destroyed the atmosphere that had just stabilized somewhat.
Zheng Jie was also stunned.
Lying? What did she mean?
The young man had only said to stay calm and restrained throughout, and mentioned that killers' resources weren't unlimited.
These were all truths, where was the lie?
Zheng Jie's attention was completely drawn to the talent show on the big screen.
"Two players are already dead!
"They were both female players with many likes! Is this a coincidence?!
"What does this mean?
"Just like the sister I met with earlier said, many male players have already started taking action!
"The number 1 contestant just now, I don't know if you did it intentionally or accidentally, but your words will cause very serious misleading to all female players!
"What do you mean 'the dislikes in killers' hands are limited'?
"The game is still ongoing, we're still having meetings. As long as male players exchange dislikes with each other, they can still steadily gain 3 dislikes in the next three hours!
"If in the final one or two meetings, these male players who have accumulated 5 dislikes all commit murder together, it would be enough to kill all female players, not leaving a single one!
"You hear these words with ulterior motives now and maintain restraint and rationality, but no matter how you exchange ‘Dislikes’ later, the number of dislikes won't be as many as male players have!
"The final result is only one: all female players die! All visa time gets taken by male players and God's Imitators!
"Even if you've formed fixed partnerships, they can completely change their minds in the final meeting!
"So there's only one thing you can do now, which is to use the 'reporting' mechanism for self-protection before enough male players exchange and collect 5 ‘Dislikes’!
"This is the only way to survive this game!"
Zheng Jie's brows furrowed into knots. After just hearing the beginning, his hand had unconsciously reached for the “Boring” button.
"How can she do this!!"
Zheng Jie was angry because this contestant's behavior was blatantly inciting conflict. The harm of such statements was even greater than killing in meetings.
Because killing had costs for players. Whether consuming 6 “Likes” or 5 “Dislikes,” it would be hard to kill a second time in the short term.
But this contestant's speech directly incited hatred among all players. As long as a few players believed it, several more lives would be lost immediately.
Pressing “Boring,” as long as 20 people did it, could immediately cut off the talent show performance.
But before pressing it, Zheng Jie hesitated briefly, because according to the second phase game rules, cutting off the talent show performance through “Boring” was equivalent to directly killing the performer.
Zheng Jie wasn't completely psychologically prepared for killing yet.
After struggling for a few seconds, he gritted his teeth and still pressed the button.
"Whatever, my life is also in danger. At this time, how can I have the energy to care about so much else!
"If other female players listen to what she said and want to report me, then she's actually murdering me too. Why can't I fight back?"
However, after pressing the “Boring” button, nothing happened.
Until Performer No. 2 finished speaking and ended the talent show, and the results appeared on the big screen, nothing still happened.
[Performer No. 1 cumulatively received 22 “Interesting” votes, earning 2 additional “Likes.”]
[Performer No. 2 cumulatively received 17 “Interesting” votes, earning 1 additional “Like.”]
Seeing this result, Zheng Jie deflated completely.
He understood that even pressing the “Boring” button was meaningless because he couldn't gather 20 votes.
The players who clicked “Interesting” couldn't and absolutely wouldn't actively click “Boring.”
There were 40 players total in this game, 20 male and 20 female players each.
If all male players clicked “Boring,” it could indeed reach 20 votes, but that possibility was low because some would inevitably hesitate or not have time to click.
From the 17 “Interesting” votes, it was even possible that some male players had given Zhao Duo “Interesting” votes.
Because the two currently dead players were both female, plus the current talent show performer herself, female players had at most 17 votes.
Some of these female players definitely didn't agree or didn't want to click “Interesting,” so the only explanation was that some male players had also clicked “Interesting.”
Regardless, Zhao Duo had completely finished this series of inflammatory words and had an irreversible impact on the entire game's progress.
After calming down, Zheng Jie realized that if standing from female players' perspective, her words were truly too damaging and too inflammatory.
So far, almost all players had understood the game's basic rules.
According to the matching mechanism, there would be one same-gender match for every three or four matches.
Unlike opposite-gender matches which easily caused friction, same-gender matches were generally easy to negotiate.
Behaviors like exchanging likes and dislikes between same-gender players might have been rare in the first 4 hours, but would increase dramatically in the latter 4 hours.
This meant that large-scale dislike exchanges among male players was indeed possible.
As long as these male players had three or four dislikes previously, they could very likely accumulate five during the subsequent dislike exchange phase.
What about female players? They had many likes, but likes couldn't offset dislikes or prevent them from being killed.
They could kill through reporting, but reporting required accumulating three times.
That meant if female players did nothing, then by the final meeting, the worst-case scenario would be:
Male players would first agree to exchange likes, ensuring they could get an additional 30,000 minutes of visa time, then press "murder" in the last second before the meeting ended, consuming their final 5 dislikes.
At that moment, female players would have absolutely no ability to resist, and one report's counterattack would be ineffective.
The only solution would be to consume “Likes” first, use the reporting method to accumulate three times and kill male players in advance, before most male players had exchanged and accumulated 5 dislikes.
But this was exactly the problem:
If you kept reasoning according to this logic, both sides would become a spiral of mutual harm:
Female players would indiscriminately report male players, and reported male players would indiscriminately murder female players.
The final result would be rivers of blood.
Due to the game's special mechanism, players matched in pairs. Even if everyone was initially restrained by conscience, in the final meeting, as long as there was a cascading collapse, massive deaths were entirely possible.
Did methods exist for self-protection through “Likes” or “Dislikes”?
They existed, but the conditions were harsh and extremely cost-ineffective.
To avoid being killed by male players, female players would need to exchange “Dislikes” among themselves as much as possible. As long as the number of dislikes exceeded those of male players who wanted to kill them, they would be safe.
But the problem was that most female players originally had relatively few dislikes. Even after exchanging, they would still die when encountering male players with more dislikes.
Moreover, whether exchanging “Likes” or “Dislikes,” each meeting could only choose one.
And same-gender meetings only occurred once every three or four times.
Compared to exchanging dislikes, exchanging likes was obviously more worthwhile for female players because 2 likes could perform one "report."
Although it wouldn't cause immediate death, as long as enough female players were all reporting simultaneously, the killing speed wouldn't necessarily be slow.
The same applied to male players. Although they could protect themselves by exchanging “Likes,” obviously exchanging “Dislikes” had better cost-effectiveness.
In summary, up to now.
The “Blind Date Game” had become a "Killing Competition."
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:12:06 +0000 UTC
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As the only female player who had exchanged likes with him, they had previously made a verbal agreement. After Zheng Jie confirmed the like exchange, he would give Zhou Rong a 10,000-minute visa time voucher, while Zhou Rong would confirm exchanging likes with him in their final meeting.
Now the first step of exchanging likes had been completed. Zheng Jie thought that if she accepted the invitation, he would immediately fulfill his promise to buy a voucher and give it to Zhou Rong in their next meeting to further establish mutual trust.
If everything went smoothly, the two of them could even keep matching for meetings until the game ended.
This way, both of them wouldn't need to match with other strangers, and they would both be safe.
However, not long after sending the invitation, a rejection notification popped up.
"Ah..."
Zheng Jie's hopeful heart sank again.
Obviously, Zhou Rong was the safest meeting partner for him, but he wasn't the same for Zhou Rong.
Among the many male players sending her invitations, Zhou Rong would naturally choose those who appeared to have more “Likes.” This was the same safety strategy.
"Sigh."
Zheng Jie lowered his head somewhat regretfully. Although this result disappointed him, if he had to say, he didn't feel too wronged.
The like exchange had actually been completed long ago. Before the second phase updated the killing rules, he could have invited Zhou Rong.
But Zheng Jie had hesitated and didn't send the invitation immediately.
Now, the second phase had updated the killing rules, everyone was in danger, and sending a meeting invitation at this time was indeed a bit late and seemed to have ulterior motives.
It was normal for Zhou Rong to be wary of him.
Perhaps she had already found someone more trustworthy to match with?
Zheng Jie had no choice but to accept random matching again.
However, just as he was about to open the door and enter the meeting room, a broadcast message appeared on the big screen.
[Community 1's Fang Wencong broadcasts a piece of data to all players.]
[In meeting rooms, the percentage of female players who agreed when male players actively proposed was: 7%.]
Zheng Jie was stunned. Fang Wencong, he remembered him.
He was the guy Zheng Jie had met in his third meeting room visit.
Not handsome, but quite friendly to Zheng Jie.
At such a critical moment, he was still obsessing over splitting the room fee? Completely clueless about the situation, wasn't he?
[Players must immediately enter the meeting room, or face instant death penalty for being late.]
Zheng Jie couldn't be bothered with such inexplicable data and hurriedly opened the door to the meeting room.
Seeing the other party's gender, Zheng Jie instinctively became nervous.
It was a man.
[Community 8, Jiao Hongtao].
This was a disheveled, dejected-looking middle-aged man. Zheng Jie had some impression of him, he seemed to be the first one to get on the talent show and then quickly get his signal cut after receiving 20 “Boring” votes.
Moreover, he seemed to have sent inflammatory broadcasts too.
This person's “Dislikes” were definitely numerous. Zheng Jie couldn't help but worry.
Jiao Hongtao plopped down in the chair across from him and quickly slapped the [I'll Pay] button.
"I'm treating you this meeting. When leaving, give me a ‘Dislike.’"
Jiao Hongtao's voice was very low.
Zheng Jie had a bad feeling and tentatively asked, "You want dislikes... what are you planning to do?"
Jiao Hongtao suddenly looked up, glaring at Zheng Jie, "Why the hell do you have so many questions?
"Give me a ‘Dislike,’ or I'll kill you right now!"
Zheng Jie quickly raised both hands to signal for calm, "Okay, okay! I'll give you a dislike right away.
"Alright, I've pressed ‘Dislike.’"
Only then did Jiao Hongtao lower his head again, staring expressionlessly at the empty space in the meeting room, "I was cheated out of 20,000 minutes of visa time, 20,000 minutes!
"Those bitches, each one speaking so earnestly, saying they would definitely keep their promises, but then wouldn't accept my invitations in the next meeting!
"And so many people gave me dislikes...
"Since they're heartless, don't blame me for being ruthless.
"I'm going to use these ‘Dislikes’ they gave me to take back the visa time they cheated from me!"
Zheng Jie opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately swallowed it back.
He could see that Jiao Hongtao was currently in a very unstable mental state. The first 4 hours of the game seemed to have dealt him quite a blow.
As for how to take back the cheated visa time...
Obviously, meeting with those female players who had cheated him was impossible.
Those who had reported him would certainly not accept his meeting invitations again, and the probability of the two randomly matching together was also very low.
What Jiao Hongtao was going to do next was most likely indiscriminate killing.
Kill the next unlucky female player who got matched with him.
Zheng Jie wanted to persuade him, but he also knew that his advice would most likely have no effect and might instead put himself in danger.
The two remained silent like this and ended the meeting.
After leaving the meeting room, Zheng Jie finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Of course, he hadn't given Jiao Hongtao a dislike. Just like with Lu Xinyi before, he had just placed his hand near the button and pretended to press it.
But this didn't have much significance, because Zheng Jie knew that Jiao Hongtao definitely already had enough “Dislikes.”
Whether he gave this “Dislike” or not would only affect whether he would kill a second person, it couldn't prevent him from killing the first.
It might not even prevent the second killing.
Because according to the rules updated in the second phase, if players had unused “Likes” or “Dislikes” when the game ended, each would deduct an additional 10,000 minutes of visa time.
Even if he didn't give Jiao Hongtao a dislike, other male players would.
"This is bad, this is bad..."
Zheng Jie walked back to his rest room with a troubled mind.
As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw two names appear on the big screen, slowly being crossed out by a bright red line.
That meant in the last meeting, two players had been killed.
Zheng Jie nervously swallowed and carefully looked at the two names.
[Community 9, Zeng Shiya]
[Community 12, Liu Lin]
"Liu Lin..."
Zheng Jie didn't know Zeng Shiya, hadn't been matched with her, and this person seemed to have never participated in the talent show either.
But he remembered Liu Lin, a player he had been matched with before, and it had ended somewhat unpleasantly.
He just hadn't expected that the next time he heard this name, it would be as a cold line of text crossed out on the big screen.
"Strange, Jiao Hongtao just met with me, shouldn't he not have had time to act yet?
"Could it be... besides him, two other players have already started killing??"
Although he was reluctant to believe it, the facts were right before his eyes, forcing Zheng Jie to accept them.
He looked anxiously at the big screen. A new round of talent show had begun.
Unlike the previous situation where two people were crying and sobbing, this talent show had some changes.
Performer No. 1 was a young man wearing round-framed glasses. Although not particularly handsome, he had a smile on his face and seemed to be the cheerful, optimistic type.
Before officially beginning his performance, he specifically said something to encourage all the players.
"I know everyone might be in panic right now, and so am I, but I want to say:
"This game doesn't have any mechanism that requires us to kill other players. In the end, it's still trying to incite hatred and greed among us to make us kill each other.
"I hope everyone can still calm down and maintain rationality and restraint as much as possible. The ‘Likes’ or ‘Dislikes’ in killers' hands are not unlimited. As long as most people stay rational, we can all survive this game."
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:11:30 +0000 UTC
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The two players participating in the talent show on the big screen were obviously more panicked than Zheng Jie.
Originally, the talent show was a good thing for earning extra likes, and everyone wanted to compete to get on. Who would have expected that when it was finally their turn, it had turned into a blatant killing game.
What was worse, killing through the talent show was easier than killing through meetings.
For killing through meetings, you first had to enter the same meeting room with the other party through matching or invitation, ensure your “Likes” or “Dislikes” outnumbered theirs, and additionally consume “Likes” or “Dislikes” to launch an attack.
But the talent show was different. As long as 20 players pressed "Boring," death would come immediately.
From previous talent show situations, getting 20 “Boring” votes wasn't uncommon.
The talent show had just begun, and Performer No. 1, an honest-looking middle-aged man, was already crying bitterly.
"I don't have any talent, I don't have much visa time either. I just want to live safely until the game ends. Please, everyone, don't kill me!"
He began kneeling on the ground, kowtowing with loud "bang bang bang" sounds.
According to the game rules, when players performed on the talent show stage, the minimum time was 1 minute, maximum 5 minutes.
So even if he wanted to end the talent show performance immediately, he couldn't do it.
Zheng Jie sat in his chair, watching Performer No. 1 continuously kowtowing, his heart also clenched.
Finally, the agonizing minute passed, and the man with a large red patch on his forehead from kowtowing hurriedly got up from the ground and frantically pressed the button beside the talent show stage.
A notification sound played, and the audio switched to Performer No. 2.
Only then did the man seem like he had survived a catastrophe, continuously clasping his hands and bowing toward the camera.
Others had used this button to end the talent show early before, but none had been as urgent and heartfelt as this man.
Performer No. 2 also panicked. This was a woman in her thirties who looked fairly well made-up, with a small water stain on the shoulder of her clothes. She was now so frightened that she cried and sobbed toward the camera, completely disregarding the integrity of her makeup.
Fortunately, after the minute passed, nothing happened either.
[Performer No. 1 cumulatively received 7 “Interesting” votes, earning 0 additional “Likes.”]
[Performer No. 2 cumulatively received 2 “Interesting” votes, earning 0 additional “Likes.”]
Not only did few people vote “Boring,” but even those voting “Interesting” became scarce.
This might be because players had no time to pay attention to the talent show, being too busy racking their brains thinking of survival strategies.
It might also be because players simply couldn't describe their feelings about watching the talent show as “Interesting.”
Or perhaps they felt afraid of the fact that "talent shows could lead to death," so they subconsciously avoided pressing any buttons within their reach.
Seeing that the two players participating in this talent show were safe, Zheng Jie couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Obviously, while this killing condition seemed easy, it wouldn't be achieved quickly and immediately.
Most players weren't participating in the game for the first time, they would still seriously consider the rules.
Killing through the talent show would mean at least 20 players participating together, so the 1/10 visa time obtained after killing a player would also have to be divided among 20 people.
After such division, there wouldn't be much left.
Most players still had instinctive compassion, would sympathize, would feel sorry for their own kind. Just for these trivial bits of visa time, it would be hard to truly make up their minds to execute the performers on the talent show stage, even if they were strangers.
Moreover, when unable to determine whether the other party was actually threatening, having a few more players survive could reduce the probability of encountering killers in upcoming meetings.
So most players temporarily couldn't press “Boring” to kill without psychological burden.
Even if some psychopathic players indiscriminately clicked “Boring,” or some players had grudges against the talent show participants, they couldn't possibly reach 20.
This made Zheng Jie breathe a little easier. It seemed that even taking the talent show stage didn't necessarily mean immediate death.
Moreover, he had already been on stage once, so now he was relatively safe.
Based on the current game mechanism, the talent show would prioritize selecting players who hadn't been on stage yet.
Otherwise, if a player never got likes, wouldn't they keep going on the talent show? That wouldn't make much sense either.
Not getting likes previously and ending up on the talent show stage early had actually turned into a good thing for Zheng Jie.
"But... if I remember correctly, Lawyer Lin and Yang Yuting seem to haven't been on the talent show yet, right?"
Zheng Jie couldn't help but worry about the two of them.
From the talent show mechanism, Lin Sizhi and Yang Yuting should have received quite a few likes, so they ranked later in the talent show order.
But now as time passed, being later in the talent show seemed increasingly dangerous.
"Damn, if I had known this would happen, not getting ‘Likes’ and getting more ‘Dislikes’ would have been better!"
At this moment, Zheng Jie also realized that dislikes were also a resource.
The first phase had deliberately concealed related rules, so everyone subconsciously didn't want to be disliked.
As a result, in the second phase, they became the most miserable type of people: having neither likes nor dislikes meant that whether the opponent chose to report or murder, they had no ability to fight back at all.
Because both "reporting" and "murder" operations had a prerequisite: comparing the numbers of “Likes” and “Dislikes” between both sides, and only those with more could execute the killing operation.
In other words, the more “Dislikes” someone had, the more initiative they possessed.
They could kill whoever they wanted, while others couldn't kill them at all.
Just then, a new broadcast message appeared on the big screen.
[Community 17's Lin Sizhi broadcasts a piece of data to all players.]
[In the last meeting, the percentage of players who actively sent meeting invitations to players with more likes than themselves was: '15%'.]
Zheng Jie was stunned, "Oh? What does this mean?"
He was puzzled because this 15% data didn't seem to reveal much additional information.
But since this was data sent by Lin Sizhi, Zheng Jie felt there must be some deeper meaning, so he spent more time thinking about it.
Suddenly, inspiration struck him.
"If the data doesn't have much additional information, doesn't that mean the information is hidden in the way the data was filtered?
"How many people specifically made this behavior doesn't matter, but making this behavior is important!
"That means Lawyer Lin is reminding us that actively meeting with players who have more likes than ourselves can better ensure our safety and improve survival probability!
"Yes, exactly, that's it!"
The more Zheng Jie thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
According to the game mechanism, the most dangerous players now were those who had accumulated 5 “Dislikes” and were full of resentment.
According to the game mechanism, since players who got more likes usually had fewer dislikes, matching with players who had more likes would obviously be much safer.
Among players who had already met with him, which ones had more likes?
Although he couldn't check, he could roughly guess that the later a player appeared on the talent show, the more likes they had.
Of course, matching with such players wasn't entirely risk-free, because they might also "report." But after all, "reporting" required three times before death, compared to "murder," there was still some margin for error.
Choose the lesser of two evils.
Zheng Jie rallied again. He hurried to the entrance of the meeting room corridor and sent a meeting invitation to Zhou Rong from Community 12 through the small screen.
This was the safest meeting partner Zheng Jie could currently think of.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:11:00 +0000 UTC
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"What the hell??"
The massive amount of text information instantly panicked Zheng Jie. He quickly strode to the big screen and read through all these new rules from beginning to end.
Afterward, he felt his hands and feet turn cold, and his breathing nearly stopped.
Accusations and murder!
This meant that players holding large amounts of “Likes” or “Dislikes” could completely launch attacks against him in the meeting room.
And once an attack succeeded, such as being accused three times, or unluckily encountering a player with more than 5 “Dislikes,” he would die directly in the game.
Zheng Jie felt somewhat incredulous. Death in this game came so suddenly and so carelessly!
You know, in judgment games like "King's Judgement," sinners dying from mechanisms at least had some psychological preparation. They would at least experience two or three rounds of physical torture before dying.
But in this game, there wasn't even much room to struggle.
As long as you killed someone, you could steal 1/10 of the victim's remaining visa time.
Currently among players, the least visa time was less than a month, while the most had three to five months.
Converting this, if you really encountered a fat sheep with 200,000 to 300,000 visa time, killing one would yield 20,000 to 30,000 visa time.
Not only that, the game didn't limit the number of kills, meaning as long as other players had enough likes and dislikes, they could completely go on killing sprees.
What about players like Zheng Jie who didn't have many likes or dislikes?
They could probably only be slaughtered at will, leaving everything to fate.
Zheng Jie had thought likes and dislikes would play some role in the game, but he hadn't expected them to play such a role.
If he could have seen the game rules in advance, he might have adopted a completely different strategy in the first 4 hours. But now, regret was obviously too late.
"How many ‘Likes’ and ‘Dislikes’ does everyone actually have now?"
Zheng Jie really wanted to figure this out, but this data wasn't displayed to players at all.
"Lawyer Lin might be able to think of countermeasures, but the problem is, how do I see Lawyer Lin?
"This game has updated with killing rules, yet it doesn't even allow players from the same community to send voice messages. Isn't this too excessive??
"The God's Imitator who designed this game is simply crazy!"
Zheng Jie was anxious and burning with worry, and the isolated and helpless state further intensified his anxiety.
If the four players from Community 17 could call each other, discuss strategies, and execute team tactics, Zheng Jie's sense of security would significantly improve.
But unfortunately, the game hadn't opened such a mechanism.
Zheng Jie paced anxiously around the room.
Suddenly, he thought of something and quickly came to the data query machine.
"The prerequisite for killing is consuming ‘Likes’ or ‘Dislikes’! So I can query a certain player's 'like-dislike ratio' from the first 4 hours, then query the current 'like-dislike ratio.' If ‘Dislikes’ show significant consumption, wouldn't that prove he's a killer?
"Then I can broadcast this data, and naturally other players will try to kill him!"
Zheng Jie was excited. He felt he had found a ray of hope in desperation.
However, seeing the rule prompt, he was doused with cold water.
[Note: Data related to individual players' changes in “Likes” and “Dislikes” cannot be queried.]
Zheng Jie instantly deflated.
This rule had existed from the very beginning.
The God's Imitator had sealed this loophole in the initial design, absolutely not allowing players to expose killers through such simple methods.
Zheng Jie could of course query the ‘Like’ and 'Dislike' ratio changes of groups of players, but in that case, there would be too many variables, making it impossible to pinpoint specific players and potentially causing even greater chaos.
This game was like a cold slaughterhouse, leaving players no way to survive.
......
Before they knew it, the 10-minute rest time had ended.
[Please enter the meeting room immediately. Overtime will result in instant death penalty.]
When seeing this sentence during the first 4 hours, Zheng Jie hadn't felt much, just thinking it was somewhat absurd.
But seeing it now, he felt the despair of having tigers in front and wolves behind.
He could only steel himself to push open the door in his room, walk through the corridor to the meeting room.
Seeing a woman in her forties trembling as she pushed the door to enter the meeting room, Zheng Jie instinctively breathed a sigh of relief.
Good, good. This aunt looked kind and gentle, so there shouldn't be any danger.
Moreover, Zheng Jie realized this aunt looked somewhat familiar. She seemed to be the one who performed bel canto during the talent show PK with that handsome guy earlier.
[Community 12, Zhou Guifen].
However, before he could speak, he saw this Aunt Zhou curl up entirely in the corner of the room, waving her hands repeatedly, "Young man, don't, don't kill me..."
Zheng Jie was somewhat helpless, "Aunt, do I really look that much like a murderer?
"Don't be nervous, sit down first.
"I saw you on the talent show, you sang beautifully."
Zhou Guifen was still very nervous, trembling all over, "Then I'll sing for you now, okay? Don't kill me..."
Zheng Jie didn't know what to say. Obviously, this aunt had been scared out of her wits when she first saw the rules and had lost her rationality to some degree.
"Aunt, you're really overthinking this. I have neither likes nor dislikes. How could I kill you?
"Sit down first. People who don't know might think I'm going to do something to you."
Only then did Zhou Guifen sit down in her seat with some skepticism.
But immediately after, she nervously jumped up again, pointing at Zheng Jie, "Put your hands up! Don't sneak them underneath!"
Zheng Jie had no choice but to make a surrender gesture, "Is this okay?
"Then I'll pay the room fee first? Watch carefully, I'm pressing it."
Zheng Jie pressed the [I'll Pay] button, then put both hands where the aunt could see them.
Only then did Zhou Guifen calm down slightly. After pressing the [You Pay] button, she breathed a long sigh of relief.
"Sorry, young man. I was too scared. You really don't look like a bad person, but... who can say for sure? You're still a man after all."
Zheng Jie frowned, "Aunt, I don't like hearing that. What do you mean I'm still a man after all? You're talking as if all men are murderers."
Zhou Guifen quickly waved her hands, "No, no, no, young man, you misunderstood. That's not what I meant.
"I mean, isn't this how the game mechanism works?
"In the first 4 hours, which people got more ‘Dislikes’? Isn't that obvious?
"People with more ‘Dislikes’ are more likely to kill, isn't that right?"
Zheng Jie was stunned. This aunt actually made some sense.
He hadn't realized this before because he was also a male player, and to some degree had ignored a fact, which was:
After the first 4 hours of gaming, the ‘Likes’ and ‘Dislikes’ currently held by players would inevitably show quite obvious gender characteristics.
Because male players would be more inclined to use "liking" to show their sincerity, win the other party's trust, with the ultimate goal of establishing stable matching relationships. They were the relatively active party.
While female players would tend to use "disliking" to threaten the other party into making concessions, preferring to keep their “Likes” rather than give them away easily.
In other words, female players naturally found it easier to obtain "Likes," while male players naturally found it easier to obtain “Dislikes.”
Male players banding together to mutually dislike female players was an overly idealized strategy that was almost impossible to implement when everyone's communication was completely cut off.
And the specific killing methods would differ between “Likes” and “Dislikes”:
"Likes" required 2 per accusation, but you needed to be accused three times to die.
While “Dislikes” required 5 at once. As long as murder was initiated, it was certain death in 10 seconds with no buffer time at all.
So for this aunt, after seeing a male player, even without knowing whether the other party actually had 5 dislikes, she would still feel terrified and afraid.
Of course, when Zheng Jie faced female players, he also had to bear the risk of being "accused." But accusations required three times to die, so there wouldn't be such great psychological pressure.
"Alright, Aunt. Since we're both good people, we don't need to be afraid. Let's just chat casually and go through the motions."
Zheng Jie thought for a moment, "Aunt, want to exchange a like? In the final meeting, if you're willing, we can also like each other and together get 30,000 minutes of visa time."
The aunt still shook her head vigorously, "No! Don't put your hand there!
"It's good like this now. Let's maintain this state. Nobody should touch any buttons. Let's just wait like this for the meeting to end."
Zheng Jie was somewhat speechless but still nodded, "Alright."
He felt the aunt's behavior was a bit stupid. After all, if he really wanted to kill, it would just be a matter of casually pressing a button. The aunt couldn't impose any behavioral constraints on him.
This "keeping both people's hands where they can be seen" was purely psychological comfort.
But Zheng Jie didn't dare stimulate the other party. What if this aunt mistakenly thought he was going to do something and then pressed "accuse" in emotional distress?
Zheng Jie knew this aunt definitely had at least 2 "Likes."
So the two of them kept their hands where the other could see, stared at each other with wide eyes, and endured 10 minutes like this before leaving separately.
...
Returning safely from the first meeting after the killing rules were activated made Zheng Jie feel slightly more at ease.
However, as soon as he returned to the rest area, he heard new system notification sounds from the big screen.
[From now on, all talent shows will add the following rule:]
[Upon cumulatively receiving 20 ‘Boring’ votes, the talent show performance will immediately end, and the performer will also suffer instant death penalty.]
Zheng Jie was shocked. He widened his eyes, somewhat unable to believe this rule was real.
Just clicking “Boring” could also kill people?
How utterly inhumane must the God's Imitator who designed this game be!
In the last 4 hours of this game, killing rules were almost everywhere!
Really not leaving players any way to survive?
Now he could only pray that everyone would always pay attention to the new rules added on the big screen and never habitually click “Boring” on people according to the habits from the first 4 hours, otherwise it would be troublesome.
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-23 10:10:26 +0000 UTC
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For Pledged Members:
My Father Is Superman, But I'm Just An NPC? — Chapters 101 to 104
Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems — Chapters 131 to 140
American Hunting: Starting From Alone In The Wilderness — Chapters 131 to 140
We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real? — Chapters 91 to 100
For Free Members:
Necromancer, What the Hell Is A Type 055 Summon? — Chapters 81 & 82
Wasteland Border Inspector — Chapters 79 & 80
My Father Is Superman, But I'm Just An NPC? — Chapters 71 & 72
Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems — Chapters 71 & 72
American Hunting: Starting From Alone In The Wilderness — Chapters 71 & 72
We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real? — Chapters 47 & 48
God's Imitator — Chapters 47 & 48
Daily Divination: From Market Rogue Cultivator To Immortal Venerable — Chapters 33 & 34
I Run A Prison In America — Chapters 33 & 34
2025-08-22 07:30:49 +0000 UTC
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After Jiang Qingyi left, Yan Ruxue brought the carriage back to the scene of the incident and then awakened her mother, the maid, and the guards.
When Madam Yan woke up, she was startled and quickly asked her daughter if something had happened.
Yan Ruxue explained that they had encountered assassins, but fortunately an immortal had passed by and saved them all.
Hearing that her daughter was safe, Madam Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Madam Yan no longer wanted to visit Hundred Lanterns Temple to see the Buddhist maiden. She quickly brought her daughter back to the residence and told her husband about the incident.
Minister of Rites Yan Zhen immediately went to the Yan's residence.
Upon learning of this, Yan Shan'ao was furious and ordered a thorough investigation.
Assassinating the family members of court officials was a serious crime, let alone the future Empress of Zhou Kingdom!
He suspected that other aristocratic clans, dissatisfied with the Yan family's further rise in power, had sent people to assassinate Ruxue.
Regarding the assassins' appearance, Yan Ruxue said they wore face coverings and she couldn't see clearly.
As for why she didn't mention Jiang Qingyi, Yan Ruxue felt it would be useless to say.
Jiang Qingyi was the Ten Thousand Swords Sect Master. What could others do to her?
For now, she couldn't deal with Jiang Qingyi.
Jiang Qingyi also knew she couldn't deal with her.
Since that was the case, it was better to maintain this delicate balance without making a big fuss.
For Yan Ruxue, what she wanted was to peacefully hold her wedding ceremony with Xiao Mo.
This was her bottom line.
"Miss..."
Just as Yan Ruxue was embroidering in her room, a maid's voice came from outside the door.
"Enter." Yan Ruxue's eyes returned to normal.
The door opened, and Xiao Chun and Eunuch Huang walked in, followed by several palace maids.
"Greetings, Miss." Eunuch Huang bowed respectfully.
"Greetings, Eunuch Huang." Yan Ruxue curtsied in return, her gaze turning to the several palace maids behind him.
"Miss Yan, because the empress coronation ceremony was delayed by several months, the Imperial Weaving Bureau has modified your phoenix crown and ceremonial robes again. Would you like to try them on? If you don't like them, they can be altered further." Eunuch Huang smiled.
"Then let me try them on." Yan Ruxue nodded without refusing.
"Dress the Miss." Eunuch Huang said to the palace maids behind him.
"Yes."
Several palace maids closed the door and removed the woman's dress.
When they saw the skin of the woman before them, their eyes couldn't hide their admiration.
They had never seen such fair and delicate skin, like silk made of white snow.
After two incense sticks' time, the clothes were changed, and the palace maids even applied makeup to Yan Ruxue.
When the woman wearing the phoenix crown and ceremonial robes stood before everyone, they were all stunned.
Yan Ruxue's beauty was world-toppling, her temperament dignified and elegant, her bearing majestic yet scholarly.
Who else but such a woman could be Zhou Kingdom's Empress?
Finally, after Yan Ruxue discussed some details with Eunuch Huang, she removed the phoenix crown and ceremonial robes. Eunuch Huang bid farewell and left with the palace maids.
"Miss, you looked so beautiful in the phoenix crown and ceremonial robes. Even though Xiao Chun is a woman, I couldn't help but be moved." Xiao Chun pulled on her mistress's arm, saying joyfully.
"What use is it if you think I look good? His Majesty must think I look good."
"His Majesty will definitely think you're beautiful. Maybe His Majesty will be like those in the history books, never attending morning court again," Xiao Chun said playfully.
"What nonsense are you talking? Aren't you embarrassed?"
Yan Ruxue gently tapped Xiao Chun's forehead and sat in a chair, taking out a book to read.
"Miss, I see many scholars reading this book 'Unity of Knowledge and Action.' I heard Master say that among Confucian works, 'Unity of Knowledge and Action' can rank in the top ten, and every Confucian disciple should read it once. But why doesn't this book have the author's name?"
Xiao Chun asked curiously.
Hearing Xiao Chun's question, Yan Ruxue's eyes trembled slightly.
After a long while, the woman looked up and said gently: "That's because, long, long ago, the scholar who wrote this book did something that made many people unhappy."
"What did he do?" Xiao Chun asked curiously. "Could Miss tell Xiao Chun about it?"
Yan Ruxue shook her head: "It's just a rumor. It may not be true."
"It's alright, Miss. This servant loves hearing such stories." Xiao Chun became even more interested.
"Very well."
Yan Ruxue smiled, organizing her thoughts before slowly speaking.
"This matter must be told from four thousand years ago. The world where the human race lived was called the Ten Thousand Laws World, while the world where the demon race lived was called the Ten Thousand Demons Kingdom. At that time, the relationship between humans and demons was very tense.
In this environment, there was a scholar from a small fishing village who went to the North Sea Prefecture capital to participate in White Deer Academy's selection examination..."
At Hundred Lanterns Temple on Illustrious Sky Mountain.
As the sky grew darker, fewer and fewer pilgrims came to pray at Hundred Lanterns Temple.
Only after the sun had completely set did Abbot Huiming send away the last pilgrim and close the temple gates.
Huiming walked into the temple's main hall.
At the very front of the hall stood a massive golden Buddha statue, before the golden Buddha statue, a woman in monk robes knelt on a prayer cushion.
She raised her head, meeting the Buddha statue's gaze.
At the maiden's feet lay a round, fleshy ball with wings.
It was called Hundun, genderless, one of the four ancient fiends.
A thousand years ago, when Huiming was still at Leiyou Temple, he had seen this ancient fierce beast following beside the maiden when she returned.
"Today, I troubled Senior Sister to lecture the common people and the monks of Hundred Lanterns Temple."
Huiming, who looked like a seventy-year-old man, pressed his palms together and bowed to the maiden who appeared to be only sixteen years old.
"Mm." The maiden nodded and continued gazing at the Buddha statue.
"Senior Sister..." Huiming took out a letter from his sleeve. "Master calls for you to return. Master says his time is short and wants to see Senior Sister one last time."
"Grandfather is lying to me again." The maiden lowered her head. "Monks do not speak falsehoods, yet Grandfather has deceived me into returning four times."
"..."
For a moment, Huiming didn't know what to say. Their master was indeed quite different from ordinary monks but even so, their master remained the current leader of Buddhism.
Huiming changed the subject: "An official came from the imperial palace earlier. In four months, Zhou Kingdom's ruler will marry his empress. If Senior Sister is still here, they hope you can offer blessings."
The maiden didn't respond.
Huiming didn't press further.
He stepped forward and placed his master's letter and Zhou Kingdom's invitation beside the maiden.
Finally, Huiming pressed his palms together in respect, chanted a Buddhist phrase, and withdrew.
In the main hall, only the maiden remained alone.
"Migu..."
After one incense stick's time, the Hundun at the woman's feet woke up and flew before the maiden.
"You're awake." the maiden asked.
"Migu." The round ball nodded by shaking its body.
"We're now at Zhou Kingdom's Hundred Lanterns Temple."
"Migu."
"Yes, we'll stay here for a while. I have a feeling that here, we might be able to find him."
"Migu migu..." Little Hundun happily spun circles before the maiden but soon, little Hundun stopped, wings drooping as if hanging its head in disappointment: "Migu..."
"What if we find him but he doesn't recognize me?"
The maiden's eyes blinked gently.
"It's alright."
The maiden reached out and gently stroked little Hundun.
"Even if he can't remember me, it's enough that I remember him."
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-22 07:23:22 +0000 UTC
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In the residence of the Minister of Rites of the Zhou Kingdom.
Early morning, just as Yan Ruxue awoke and stepped out of her room, she saw the maid Xiao Chun walking toward her carrying a basin of water.
"Miss, you're awake! This servant was about to wake you for washing up," Xiao Chun placed the basin of warm water on the stone table in the courtyard.
"Is there something happening today?" Yan Ruxue smiled.
Normally, Xiao Chun wouldn't wake her up, let alone this early.
"Miss, have you forgotten? Yesterday Madam mentioned going with you to Hundred Lanterns Temple to pray for blessings."
"There was indeed such a matter. I had forgotten."
Yan Ruxue remembered that her mother was a devout Buddhist who often visited Hundred Lanterns Temple.
Especially since Mother had heard that the Buddhist maiden from Western Region's Leiyou Temple, who was traveling the world, had already arrived at Hundred Lanterns Temple.
This trip to Hundred Lanterns Temple wasn't just to pray for His Majesty's blessings, but also because Mother wanted to meet this Buddhist maiden who had profound attainments in Buddhist teachings.
Since ancient times, throughout the entire Ten Thousand Laws World, only men practiced Buddhism, never women, but this Buddhist maiden was the sole exception.
Legend said she possessed a Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart that could perceive others' emotions and even read their thoughts.
Originally, this Buddhist maiden was praised as the person most likely to achieve the "Buddha Realm,” but a Buddhist-Daoist debate a thousand years ago shattered her Buddhist heart, causing her to grow countless black hairs.
In the thousand years since, this Buddhist maiden had been traveling the world, seeking to understand her true nature.
Legend said that the moment she truly understood would be the day she attained the Buddha Realm.
After washing up, Yan Ruxue had breakfast and changed into an elegant plain dress before leaving the residence.
At this time, Madam Yan was already waiting at the courtyard gate.
"I've kept Mother waiting."
Looking at the still-charming beautiful woman before her, Yan Ruxue curtsied respectfully.
"Why are you being so formal with Mother, Ruxue?" Yan Ya took her daughter's hand. "Come, let's set off."
"Yes, Mother."
Yan Ruxue and her mother boarded the carriage, heading toward Hundred Lanterns Temple.
Hundred Lanterns Temple was located on Illustrious Sky Mountain west of the Qi Kingdom's imperial capital. The entire temple was built against the mountain.
Illustrious Sky Mountain was quite a distance from the imperial capital, so many guards accompanied them but when Yan Ruxue and her mother had traveled halfway, a strange glint flashed in Yan Ruxue's eyes.
The next moment, sounds of people and horses tumbling rang out from outside the carriage.
All the guards and horses collapsed unconscious.
At the same time, Yan Ya and the maid inside the carriage lowered their heads and fell asleep.
The coachman outside was kicked off the carriage and replaced by someone else.
Judging from the spiritual energy emanating from outside the carriage, it was a Nascent Soul realm cultivator with sharp spiritual energy, likely a sword cultivator but this wasn't particularly concerning.
What intrigued Yan Ruxue was the woman who had appeared out of nowhere inside the carriage.
The woman wore a face veil and held an ordinary sword in her embrace. Her long legs were crossed together, and even through her skirt, Yan Ruxue could sense their length, straightness, and strength.
This was the result of the woman's long-term cultivation.
Sword cultivators didn't just need to comprehend the sword dao, but also train their physiques. Their physical strength fell between ordinary cultivators and martial cultivators.
"I wonder what business the people of Ten Thousand Swords Sect have with me?" Yan Ruxue looked calmly at this woman wearing Ten Thousand Swords Sect robes.
"Nothing much. I just wanted to see what kind of person the future Empress of Zhou Kingdom is like," Jiang Qingyi spoke slowly.
"Now that you've seen, shouldn't you leave?" Yan Ruxue asked.
Jiang Qingyi raised her head.
In that instant, sword energy slashed toward Yan Ruxue's body but before the sword energy could touch Yan Ruxue's dress hem, it instantly dissipated.
In Jiang Qingyi's eyes reflected a pair of golden vertical pupils.
Jiang Qingyi tilted her head, looking coldly at Yan Ruxue, “The legendary Sovereign of the Four Seas, the world's only true dragon, is actually willing to marry the ruler of a small dynasty?"
Yan Ruxue's eyes curved with smile, “This matter has nothing to do with you, does it? And for the Ten Thousand Swords Sect Master to suddenly trouble a small commoner like me is rather unreasonable."
Having understood each other's identities, Jiang Qingyi and Yan Ruxue stared at each other.
"Whatever your purpose, leave Zhou Kingdom, and Ten Thousand Swords Sect will let bygones be bygones," Jiang Qingyi said lightly.
"Sect Master Jiang has quite the arrogant tone," Yan Ruxue's eyes were gentle, but her words were not. "Does Ten Thousand Swords Sect wish to be annihilated by my Four Seas?"
As soon as Yan Ruxue finished speaking, the sword in Jiang Qingyi's hand was already one-third unsheathed.
Though there was clearly no wind inside the carriage, both women's skirts were slightly lifted and slowly fell back down.
Outside the carriage, Qiu Ye, who was driving, tensed up, her small hands gripping the reins so tightly that sweat seeped through.
"Qiu Ye, we're leaving."
After half a cup of tea's time, Jiang Qingyi spoke.
"Take care, I won't see you off," Yan Ruxue nodded respectfully.
"We'll meet again."
"I suppose we will."
With those words, Jiang Qingyi and Qiu Ye outside the carriage vanished.
In their place, Little Green sat outside the carriage, holding the reins.
"Sister, why did the Ten Thousand Swords Sect Master seek you out? And why did she disguise herself as an ordinary disciple?" Little Green asked.
"Who knows?" Yan Ruxue smiled and shook her head. "Little Green, I heard this Ten Thousand Swords Sect Master once went to Tianji City and had the City Lord divine something. Is that right?"
"It seems so," Little Green nodded.
Yan Ruxue lifted the carriage curtain, looking in the direction she had left, “Have the Listening to Sea Pavilion investigate. I want to know every experience of her life!"
"Yes, Sister."
At the Honglu Temple's subordinate guest house.
Jiang Qingyi sat in the pavilion in the outer courtyard. The fish pond before the woman had been completely rebuilt, both the water and fish had been entirely replaced.
"This subordinate pays respects to the Sect Master!"
Huang Wei, who had been called back from the brothel by Qiu Ye, quickly knelt before Jiang Qingyi.
"Today, this seat met that Yan Ruxue," Jiang Qingyi's eyes were sharp as swords.
Huang Wei's eyes darted about as he read her expression, “If Sect Master feels this Yan Ruxue is unsuitable to be Zhou Kingdom's Empress, this subordinate will immediately go tell Yan Shan'ao."
"Useless," Jiang Qingyi said lightly. "The entire Yan clan doesn't know what kind of person this talented woman of their family truly is."
"???" Huang Wei was completely confused.
"Go do something for this seat," Jiang Qingyi didn't want to explain further.
"Don't mention one thing, even a hundred, a thousand things! This subordinate would die ten thousand deaths without complaint!" Huang Wei quickly responded.
"Normally, when a dynasty becomes a sect's vassal, the dynasty would reserve the position of National Preceptor for that sect, correct?"
"Yes, Sect Master!"
"This seat will take that National Preceptor position."
"Eh?"
"Furthermore."
Jiang Qingyi gazed ahead, her eyes narrowing.
"The National Preceptor's residence will be established in Zhou Kingdom's imperial harem!"
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-22 07:22:54 +0000 UTC
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After obtaining the dragon scale soft armor, Xiao Mo spent half a year completely refining it.
Just as Ruxue had said, once he refined it, he could see what the dragon scale soft armor looked like but others still couldn't see it.
Fighting others this way could create false information for his opponents.
Another year and a half passed.
When Xiao Mo turned fifteen, he had already opened three cave mansions.
Bai Ruxue used a Water Dragon Pearl, Vast Sea Wood Sword, and the dragon scale soft armor to guard the three cave mansions within Xiao Mo's body respectively.
During these years, the relationship between the human and demon races seemed to have calmed considerably.
At least there wasn't that sword-drawn, arrow-nocked atmosphere but the North Sea's vigilance hadn't lessened at all.
Xiao Mo wasn't sure if the relationship between humans and demons had truly improved, or if they were merely maintaining surface tranquility.
Xiao Mo leaned toward the latter but all of this seemed unrelated to Great Chu's remote little fishing village.
Bai Ruxue often brought Xiao Mo to hunt magical beasts in the North Sea, frequently taking him to the North Sea Dragon Palace where the seven Dragon Kings took turns serving as his sparring partners.
Though the seven Dragon Kings didn't have a good impression of the human race, without Bai Ruxue restraining them, given their hatred of humans, they would have long since defected to the demon world, they grew increasingly fond of this human youth.
Once, a female flood dragon named "June" had a sudden idea after training with Xiao Mo, letting him ride on her back as she took him for a joyride but before long, Bai Ruxue discovered this.
Bai Ruxue stood before June with a very gloomy expression, her eyes cold as springs from the nine netherworlds.
June was startled and quickly transformed into human form, pleading for forgiveness from her sovereign, though she didn't know what she had done wrong.
After that, June rarely got turns to train with Xiao Mo.
Even when June did occasionally spar with Xiao Mo, Bai Ruxue would stand nearby, watching constantly.
June wasn't sure if it was her imagination.
She always felt like their sovereign seemed to be guarding her food.
Bai Ruxue and Xiao Mo traveled through heavy clouds.
Wandering from island to island.
Treasure hunting in various places throughout the North Sea.
For Bai Ruxue, such days felt like a dream but Xiao Mo never forgot one thing, helping Ruxue transform into a dragon.
This wasn't just for himself, but for Ruxue as well.
In this world, the Immortal realm was sufficient, yet also insufficient.
Only by reaching the Ascension realm could one truly stand above the world, with everyone needing to consider your mood, only then could it be considered truly safe.
As time passed, Xiao Mo's cultivation grew higher, and naturally his height as well.
Every year, the marks on the wooden door would rise another notch.
Unknowingly, the little boy who had once only reached Bai Ruxue's thigh had grown into a youth five feet three inches tall.
Xiao Mo's appearance was also becoming increasingly similar to his previous life, practically no difference at all.
Xiao Mo also noticed that Ruxue would sometimes stare at him in a daze, her peach blossom eyes seeming to reminisce about something but Xiao Mo pretended not to know anything.
In the thirtieth year of Yongning in Great Chu, mid-July evening.
In the sea area three hundred li north of Huan Fishing Village, a man five feet five inches tall stood on the ocean surface.
Before him, a twenty-zhang-long two-headed sea-covering serpent opened its bloody maw, hissing at him.
The man remained motionless, quietly watching the sea serpent.
In his hand, he gripped a wooden sword.
"Hiss!!!"
The sea serpent roared and lunged at him.
Behind the man, dark spiritual energy gradually condensed into a dark dragon.
"Roar!"
The dark dragon bit down on the two-headed sea serpent's body.
The next moment, the man stepped forward. Dark sword light flashed, and two snake heads rolled onto the sea surface. The body sank to the ocean floor as countless fish and sea beasts swarmed toward the corpse, greedily devouring the two-headed serpent's flesh and blood.
"It seems the early Dragon Gate realm has truly reached its limit."
The man sheathed his sword and couldn't help but sigh.
Indeed, just as he had thought, walking the Confucian path of sagehood, no matter how many resources Ruxue provided, he ultimately needed to seek learning, or it would be difficult to break through.
He'd heard that White Deer Academy was recruiting students in the North Sea Prefecture's capital. Perhaps he should try.
"Xiao Mo!"
Just as Xiao Mo was lost in thought, a pleasant voice called out.
Xiao Mo turned around to see a woman in a white dress waving her snow-white lotus arms at him, “Xiao Mo, it's getting late. Time to go home for dinner."
"Coming."
Xiao Mo responded and flew toward the woman. Together they flew back to the fishing village.
Returning to the courtyard, Bai Ruxue brought out plate after plate of dishes.
There was osmanthus chicken, tiger-skin pork elbow, braised shrimp, garlic lobster, jade abalone porridge, and more.
"Sister Bai, what's the occasion today for such a feast?" Xiao Mo asked with a smile.
"What do you think?" Bai Ruxue gave Xiao Mo a coquettish glance. "Today is your eighteenth birthday. After today, Xiao Mo, you'll be an adult."
"..."
Hearing Ruxue's words, Xiao Mo was stunned.
Had this second life really passed so many years already?
"Little Green will come later too, but before she arrives, Sister will give you your gift first." Bai Ruxue handed Xiao Mo a box. "Open it and see."
Xiao Mo opened the box to find a Confucian blue robe inside.
"This robe was made by Sister's own hands. Try it on quickly to see if it fits." Bai Ruxue looked expectant.
"Alright, I'll try it."
Xiao Mo went into the room and changed into the blue robe.
Moments later, when Bai Ruxue saw Xiao Mo walking toward her in the blue robe, her eyes couldn't help but freeze.
"Sister Bai, what's wrong?" Xiao Mo walked up to Bai Ruxue.
"Nothing." After a long while, the woman finally reacted, shaking her head and reaching out to adjust his collar, her voice full of tenderness, “It fits quite well."
Xiao Mo smiled, “Something made by Sister Bai would naturally fit."
"That... Xiao Mo."
"Mm?"
Bai Ruxue looked up at the man before her, “Starting today, you've grown into an adult. Sister has a request, will you agree to it?"
"Just tell me, Sister Bai." Xiao Mo nodded.
"Now that you're no longer small, Sister won't call you Xiao Mo anymore. And don't call me Sister anymore either, okay?"
"Then what should I call Sister Bai?" Xiao Mo asked.
"Ruxue..." Bai Ruxue gazed at the man before her. "From now on, we'll address each other by name. I'll call you Xiao Mo, and you'll call me Ruxue."
"This..."
"What's wrong? Is... is it not okay?" Bai Ruxue's expression showed some panic.
"It's not that it's impossible." Xiao Mo agreed.
Bai Ruxue clenched her small hands tightly, “Then... then call out and let me hear."
Xiao Mo looked directly into the woman's eyes, “Ruxue..."
Hearing Xiao Mo say her name, Bai Ruxue's heart trembled slightly. She held her small hands to her chest as her heartbeat involuntarily quickened.
"Could you call it once more..."
"Of course, but I'm reminded of a passage I read in a story book."
Xiao Mo smiled, taking Bai Ruxue's hand and seating her on the stone bench, then walking out of the courtyard himself.
Bai Ruxue blinked, not knowing what Xiao Mo was going to do.
She only saw him walk farther and farther away until he disappeared at the end of the small path.
Just as Bai Ruxue was about to stand and look for Xiao Mo,
She saw him in his blue robe appear again on the small path, walking step by step toward the courtyard.
The setting sun fell, and red evening clouds dyed the horizon, falling on the ground as if dressing everything in the world in red, more like a brush dipped in vermillion, outlining faint contours on the man's body.
Bai Ruxue's mind was in a daze, as if she wasn't in the fishing village.
But rather in that small courtyard in Stone Bridge Village three thousand years ago.
He had returned from his studies as usual...
"Ruxue." Xiao Mo stood outside the courtyard gate, softly calling to the woman who had waited an unknown length of time in the courtyard, “I'm home."
Bai Ruxue sat on the stone bench in the courtyard, gripping her skirt tightly, her wavering eyes seeming covered with a layer of misty vapor.
For a very long time, the woman stood up and smiled with curved eyes. The red clouds filling the sky seemed to lose all their color:
"You're back."
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-22 07:22:26 +0000 UTC
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After the death of the Ten Thousand Manifestations Sect's ancestor, it didn't cause much of an uproar.
Even the current sect master of the Ten Thousand Manifestations Sect came to the North Sea to apologize to the North Sea Dragon Palace with a burden of thorns on his back.
The Ten Thousand Manifestations Sect Master expressed that he only learned of his ancestor's actions after the fact, that everything was unrelated to the Ten Thousand Manifestations Sect, and hoped that Bai Ruxue could let bygones be bygones.
Naturally, Bai Ruxue had no good feelings toward the Ten Thousand Manifestations Sect.
She also knew that the reason they came to apologize was entirely because the Ten Thousand Manifestations Sect had now lost an Immortal realm elder as their pillar, and they feared the North Sea would retaliate and destroy the Ten Thousand Manifestations Sect.
At the same time, the Ten Thousand Laws World also worried that the North Sea, this neutral faction, would completely side with the demon world because of this incident.
So they came to appease the North Sea's emotions.
Though Bai Ruxue was extremely displeased in her heart, she didn't want to completely tear apart relations with the Ten Thousand Laws World, so she accepted the Ten Thousand Manifestations Sect Master's apology.
As for the sect master wanting to take back the immortal weapon Dragon-Capturing Basket,
He hinted at it initially, but seeing Bai Ruxue's eyes narrow dangerously, he never dared mention it again.
Even if he had mentioned it, Bai Ruxue wouldn't have given it back.
In Bai Ruxue's view, if she hadn't possessed that true dragon skeleton to counter the Dragon-Capturing Basket's offensive, she would have truly been in mortal danger.
Now how could she possibly hand over a treasure that naturally restrained the dragon clan?
The Dragon-Capturing Basket was currently being slowly refined by Bai Ruxue.
She planned to give the refined basket to Xiao Mo once his cultivation reached the Nascent Soul realm.
The Dragon-Capturing Basket wasn't merely used for capturing dragons.
While it did restrain dragon clan members, as a rare immortal weapon, the Dragon-Capturing Basket had extremely strong offensive and defensive capabilities. Once a cultivator entered it, they would be refined into blood water within the time of one incense stick.
After Li Fengshan's episode, Bai Ruxue and Xiao Mo returned to their peaceful life.
To avoid arousing suspicion in the North Sea, the number of cultivators from the Ten Thousand Laws World seeking opportunities in the North Sea had decreased considerably.
Bai Ruxue didn't care about this.
She only wanted to properly teach Xiao Mo cultivation.
She had no interest in the human-demon war.
Two years after the Ten Thousand Manifestations Sect Master's apology visit,
One morning, Xiao Mo, who was sitting in the courtyard meditating, suddenly opened his eyes.
Ripples of spiritual energy spread outward with Xiao Mo as the center.
When Xiao Mo stabilized the spiritual energy within his body, the first thing he saw clearly was Ruxue, who had been guarding by his side.
Bai Ruxue looked at Xiao Mo with joy, “Congratulations on opening your first cave mansion, Xiao Mo. From now on, you're a Cave Mansion realm cultivator. As expected, you're very talented."
"Thank you, Sister Bai." Xiao Mo smiled.
Actually, Xiao Mo had some understanding of his own talent.
While his aptitude wasn't poor, it certainly couldn't be called first-rate, only above average at best.
The reason his cultivation progressed so quickly was almost entirely due to Ruxue using various heavenly materials and earthly treasures to build up his realm.
Realms improved through consuming large quantities of heavenly materials and earthly treasures were usually rather unstable.
Fortunately, Ruxue had been trying every method to help him solidify his foundation.
So the quality of his realm was actually acceptable.
"Cave Mansion realm, as the name suggests, after entering this realm, the body's soul apertures will open three cave mansions. Each cave mansion needs a corresponding magical treasure to suppress and nourish it.
Based on your birth date and time, you naturally favor water, are close to wood, and prefer metal.
This magical treasure should be primarily metal-attributed.
Sister has already prepared it for you."
"Thank you, Sister." Xiao Mo truly felt his cultivation path was too smooth. It seemed he only needed to focus on his own practice, while Ruxue had to consider so many things.
"No need to thank me." Bai Ruxue rubbed Xiao Mo's head.
Over these years, Bai Ruxue had grown to love patting Xiao Mo's head.
Gradually, Bai Ruxue began to understand why Xiao Mo in his previous life liked to touch her head because it really was quite comfortable...
Bai Ruxue placed her small hands on her knees, smiling as she looked at Xiao Mo, “However, Xiao Mo, this treasure is in the North Sea Dragon Palace. Sister will take you to retrieve it, okay?"
"Sister Bai, what is the North Sea Dragon Palace?" Xiao Mo pretended not to know.
"The North Sea is a place Sister established. It's quite impressive and beautiful. How about it, want to go see?"
"Mm, I want to go."
"Then let's go."
Bai Ruxue took Xiao Mo's hand and flew into the air.
When they were far from Huan Fishing Village, Bai Ruxue's eyes sparkled as a sudden idea came to mind, “Xiao Mo, hold on tight~"
The next moment, Bai Ruxue revealed her true form, letting Xiao Mo sit on her head.
Xiao Mo hugged Bai Ruxue's dragon horns, which were like crystal trees, as they flew swiftly through the air.
"Roar."
Bai Ruxue arrived above the center of the North Sea. After a dragon's cry and circling in the air for a while, she suddenly dove into the ocean.
Xiao Mo performed the water-avoidance technique Ruxue had taught him, allowing him to breathe freely underwater without getting wet at all.
As Bai Ruxue dove toward the dark depths of the seabed, the surrounding light was gradually swallowed by profound blue. Only some self-luminescent strange jellyfish and corals remained, like scattered stars flickering dimly against the dark backdrop.
Sitting atop the white dragon's head, Xiao Mo saw schools of colorful fish swimming endlessly through the clear seawater. Their scales reflected the weak celestial light from above, sparkling brilliantly, sometimes gathering like flowing brocade clouds, sometimes dispersing like colorful ribbons dancing through the sky.
Various coral reefs took myriad forms: some like gnarled ancient trees with twisted branches, others like exquisite pagodas, and still others shaped like blooming flowers, layer upon layer of staghorn corals creating underwater wonders.
When the myriad sea creatures sensed Bai Ruxue's aura, they instinctively kept their distance, respectfully lowering their heads in avoidance, not daring the slightest transgression.
After about the time of one tea cup, Xiao Mo saw a massive underwater city.
Its size was roughly equivalent to the capital of the Qi Kingdom from three thousand years ago.
The entire city wasn't built from brick, stone, earth, and wood, but was constructed from countless massive coral reefs, lustrous shells, and even whole blocks of seabed jade that emanated soft, gentle light.
Within the city, the outlines of streets, markets, and buildings were clearly visible.
Demon clan cultivators of the North Sea came and went throughout the city, and even some human cultivators could be seen.
This North Sea capital was extremely prosperous.
Bai Ruxue transformed into human form, taking Xiao Mo's hand as they passed through the city-protecting barrier and entered the imperial palace at the city's center.
Meanwhile, in the dragon palace's front hall, Little Green and seven North Sea Dragon Kings were waiting for their sovereign's arrival.
Not long ago, their sovereign had once again summoned them to the dragon palace, saying there was something she needed their help with.
Since their sovereign had said so, how could they not take it seriously?
So upon receiving the message, the seven Dragon Kings immediately came to the imperial palace's front hall.
"Sister Little Green, did Her Majesty say what this was about?"
Qin Qiaoqiao stepped forward to ask.
If asked which of the seven flood dragons was most loyal, it would probably be Qin Qiaoqiao.
When Qin Qiaoqiao was crossing her tribulation at Jiang River, she was nearly killed by cultivators but was saved by Bai Ruxue.
From then on, Qin Qiaoqiao was utterly devoted to Bai Ruxue, even regarding her as a deity.
"You'll know when Her Majesty arrives," Little Green said lightly.
"Oh."
Qin Qiaoqiao stepped back, her eyes eagerly waiting for their sovereign's arrival.
She hadn't seen their sovereign in so long...
Compared to becoming a regional lord of the North Sea, Qin Qiaoqiao actually preferred to become their sovereign's personal attendant but their sovereign hadn't even taken a single maid.
Half an incense stick's time later, the dragons sensed a powerful dragon's might.
When Bai Ruxue appeared before them, they all knelt on one knee and called out in unison, “We subjects pay respects to Your Majesty!"
"No need for such formality. All rise." Bai Ruxue addressed them.
"Yes, Your Majesty." The dragons all stood up.
When they saw the small boy standing beside their sovereign, they couldn't help but be stunned.
Who was this little boy?
Why would their sovereign bring a small boy to the dragon palace?
Bai Ruxue placed her palm on Xiao Mo's shoulder, smiling as she said:
"Xiao Mo, this is Sister Little Green, also Sister Bai's younger sister whom you met once before. The other brothers and sisters are all Sister Bai's most capable subordinates who help manage the North Sea Dragon Palace together. If you need them to do anything in the future, just give them orders directly.
Of course, Sister Bai will handle things for you first."
"Hello, brothers and sisters." Xiao Mo greeted the several flood dragons.
"Hello, little brother."
Qin Qiaoqiao responded to the human youth.
The other six Dragon Kings looked at each other with confusion in their eyes.
Especially their sovereign's words "just give them orders directly" made them curious about this human boy's identity.
"Xiao Mo greeted you. Didn't you hear?" Bai Ruxue said coldly.
"Hello, little brother."
After being glared at by Bai Ruxue, the dragons quickly responded to Xiao Mo.
Though they didn't know this little boy's identity, judging from the current situation, their sovereign valued this human child greatly.
"Come on, Sister will go make your gift." Bai Ruxue picked up Xiao Mo, then glanced at the other seven dragons. "Don't just stand there. Come help together."
"Yes."
The seven dragons followed their sovereign in confusion to a large open space in the dragon palace's outer hall.
The ground was inscribed with a formation array. From the spiritual energy circulation, this array had been set up no more than ten days ago.
"Xiao Mo, just stand in the center of the formation. You don't need to worry about anything else." Bai Ruxue reached out and pinched Xiao Mo's nose.
"Mm, Sister Bai, I understand." Xiao Mo nodded seriously.
Actually, Xiao Mo was curious what gift Ruxue would give him.
"So well-behaved." Bai Ruxue praised, then stepped out of the formation and said to the dragons, "All reveal your true forms."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
At Bai Ruxue's command, the dragons all revealed their flood dragon true bodies.
One after another, hundred-zhang-long flood dragons positioned themselves in eight directions around Xiao Mo. The scene looked extremely magnificent.
If not for the dragon palace's formation isolating the dragon's might,
Otherwise, the cultivators in the North Sea capital would think something major was happening in the dragon palace.
"Offer your hardest scales!"
Bai Ruxue gave the order.
The other flood dragons dared not disobey, painfully peeling off the hardest scale armor from their bodies.
Scale after scale separated from the eight flood dragons' bodies, dancing in the air like flower petals.
Bai Ruxue also offered her own body's hardest silver-white dragon scales.
A total of nine flood dragons' scales continuously arranged and combined in the air. The formation burst forth with thread-like rays of light, erasing the colors of these scales.
After all the scales became transparent, they flew toward Xiao Mo's body.
Xiao Mo's upper garment opened as the dragon scales covered him.
Now the seven flood dragons understood what their sovereign was doing.
Their sovereign was actually making dragon scale soft armor for this human youth!
Under Bai Ruxue's control, the spiritual energy threads worked like needles, weaving all the dragon scales into a heart-protecting soft armor that was worn on Xiao Mo.
The dragon scale soft armor, just born, already reached the strength of a second-grade magical treasure.
Though Xiao Mo couldn't see the dragon scale soft armor he wore, he could feel its presence.
After one incense stick's time, the formation's light disappeared and the flood dragons returned to human form.
Each flood dragon's face showed some pallor, but they had no complaints.
Since their sovereign had taken out her own heart-protecting scales, what could they say?
They could only wonder if this human youth had saved their sovereign's life to warrant such sacrifice from her!
They couldn't help but recall the Ascension Pill they had helped refine before.
It was probably also for this human youth to consume.
Bai Ruxue walked to Xiao Mo's side, smiling, “This dragon scale armor is the gift Sister gives you, Xiao Mo. The dragon scale armor is metal-attributed, you can refine it into your cave mansion.
Originally, Sister wanted to give you a higher-grade magical treasure, but your current realm isn't high enough, so this second-grade treasure is already the maximum.
However, once you refine and properly nourish it, as your cultivation improves, this dragon scale soft armor might reach first-grade magical weapon level.
When you reach the Jade Simplicity realm in the future, Sister will find you three immortal weapons to suppress your cave mansions respectively."
"It's fine, Sister." Xiao Mo shook his head. "I already love this soft armor very much!"
"As long as you like it." Bai Ruxue's eyes curved with joy.
"But Sister, why can't I see this soft armor?" Xiao Mo asked.
"Because this dragon scale soft armor has a concealment formation, so others can't see it. This way, when you fight others, you can catch them off guard. But once you refine it, you'll be able to see it too." Bai Ruxue explained.
"In the future, Xiao Mo, if you encounter enemies, remember to always keep your trump cards hidden, understand?"
"Mm." Xiao Mo nodded. "Then Sister, where are Sister's dragon scales?"
"Little silly, they're right here of course."
Bai Ruxue extended her jade-like finger, its soft tip gently touching Xiao Mo's heart.
In that instant, the originally transparent dragon scale soft armor gradually revealed its true appearance with the woman's fingertip as center. Scales of various colors gradually emerged.
Around Bai Ruxue's fingertip were pieces of silver-white dragon scales.
"Sister's scales are right here on Xiao Mo's chest, in the position closest to your heart."
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-22 07:21:59 +0000 UTC
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"Roar!"
Gazing at the immortal weapon Dragon-Capturing Basket, Bai Ruxue let out a dragon's roar that echoed through the sky, yet it could not reach the outside world.
When Li Fengshan appeared, he had already set up a barrier, isolating this small island within a hundred-mile radius and the thousand-zhang airspace above from the outside world.
This was to prevent Bai Ruxue from summoning the ten thousand demons of the North Sea to come to her aid.
In reality, Bai Ruxue would never do such a thing.
Though this old bastard was troublesome, Bai Ruxue was completely confident in killing him.
Under Bai Ruxue's furious roar, thousands upon thousands of wind blades slashed toward the Dragon-Capturing Basket.
Although the wind blades could not damage it, the moment these wind blades shattered around the basket, they transformed into an invisible cage, sealing it within.
Just as the Dragon-Capturing Basket was briefly imprisoned by the wind blade cage, Bai Ruxue swept her dragon tail horizontally. The moisture in the air condensed into countless ice crystals, shooting toward Li Fengshan like ten thousand arrows released at once.
The ten thousand ice crystal arrows tore through the air, carrying bone-chilling coldness, instantly covering all escape routes around Li Fengshan.
Each ice crystal reflected the cold light of Bai Ruxue's dragon pupils, like the gaze of death itself.
"Suppress!"
Li Fengshan's expression turned grave as he spoke the true words like thunder.
Seven bronze ancient shields flew out, humming and trembling.
The dark, gleaming demon-suppressing runes on the shield surfaces suddenly blazed with light, flowing with blue-golden radiance. They connected with each other, instantly constructing a constantly rotating Big Dipper formation in front of Li Fengshan.
"Ding ding ding ding, !"
The ice crystal arrows struck fiercely against the light shields, the dense impacts sounding like a sudden downpour!
"Boom!"
A tremendous force suddenly erupted from the shield formation as its center, forming a ring-shaped shockwave. The remaining ice crystals and permeating cold air were forcefully scattered and pulverized by this power!
A trace of disdain flashed in Bai Ruxue's dragon eyes.
Not only did her massive body not retreat, but she charged forward against the shockwave! Her dragon tail was like a silver mountain range tearing through the heavens, carrying the terrifying power to crush mountains as it fiercely whipped toward the ancient shields.
Li Fengshan's pupils contracted sharply. He knew well the terror of the dragon clan's physical strength.
In haste, he slapped his chest hard, spitting out a mouthful of vital blood. The blood mist instantly merged with the seven ancient shields.
The seven shields hummed loudly, their blue light blazing as they abandoned their formation pattern, gathering rapidly like seven meteors.
In the moment before the dragon tail struck, they fitted together seamlessly, transforming into a massive bronze wall as thick as a mountain!
"Clang!!!"
The dragon tail smashed against the ancient shields, producing a deafening sound like an ancient bronze bell being struck.
Terrifying sound waves spread visibly outward.
"Crack... crack crack..."
With the impact point as center, cracks spread like a spider web.
Li Fengshan's pupils constricted.
This half-immortal grade ancient shield actually cracked!
Was she really a flood dragon?
Why was her physique so domineering?!
The dragon tail shattered the ancient shield and then slammed heavily into Li Fengshan's body.
His body fell like a meteor.
"Master!" Su Ren, standing farthest away, shouted loudly.
Li Fengshan crashed through a high mountain on the small island, creating a huge crater.
Broken stones exploded as Li Fengshan stood up from the deep pit.
His dao robe was torn, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes became even more fierce and crazed.
Li Fengshan poured all his spiritual power, even burning his vital blood without hesitation, madly activating the Dragon-Capturing Basket.
The basket's opening aimed at Bai Ruxue, suddenly erupting with indescribable terrifying suction.
The Dragon-Capturing Basket, briefly imprisoned by the wind blade cage, finally broke free from its invisible bonds. The basket body trembled violently, the ancient runes carved upon it writhing like living creatures, emanating an aura that made all dragon-kind feel revulsion and fear from the depths of their bloodline!
"This old bastard truly doesn't care about his life, acting so decisively, trying to perish together with me."
Bai Ruxue's massive dragon head lowered, her cold dragon pupils gazing at Li Fengshan.
Bai Ruxue's enormous dragon body suddenly sank. The surrounding space began to twist and collapse under this strange suction, forming an invisible vortex that pulled at her frantically.
"Just a broken basket!"
Bai Ruxue activated her divine abilities, temporarily escaping the suction, then used her domineering physique to crash against the barrier covering the small island.
Once, twice, three times.
"Want to escape? Hehe!"
Li Fengshan formed hand seals as the Dragon-Capturing Basket moved to cover Bai Ruxue.
But at this moment, Bai Ruxue shattered the barrier.
"Roar!"
A dragon's cry spread across heaven and earth. This dragon cry was not from Bai Ruxue, but from the deep sea.
A dragon skeleton five hundred zhang long burst from the sea, opening its great maw to bite down hard on the Dragon-Capturing Basket!
"Boom!"
The giant dragon skeleton slammed the Dragon-Capturing Basket onto the small island. The entire island trembled violently, nearly shattering.
"Roar!"
The dragon skeleton seemed to retain a true dragon's instincts, striking the Dragon-Capturing Basket again and again.
Finally, this immortal weapon was pressed under the skeleton's claws as the dragon bones roared toward the sky.
"True dragon skeleton! How could you possibly, "
"Roar!"
Taking advantage of the dragon skeleton suppressing the Dragon-Capturing Basket, Bai Ruxue breathed out dragon breath carrying the might of thunder, directly destroying Li Fengshan's body.
Li Fengshan's physical body was destroyed, his soul escaping.
Xiao Mo thought he would immediately flee this realm, but unexpectedly he charged straight toward his disciple.
"Master?"
Su Ren was stunned.
"Disciple, stand still. Release your soul's heart lock completely. Before death, this master will transmit a lifetime of cultivation methods to you, then let you escape with your life." Li Fengshan shouted.
Hearing his master's words, Su Ren gritted his teeth and obeyed.
After Li Fengshan's soul entered Su Ren's body, Su Ren let out an extremely pained scream.
Su Ren suddenly lowered his head.
When he raised it again, those eyes were no longer pure, but carried the flavor of deep scheming.
The entire process took only two breaths.
"Excellent, excellent."
Li Fengshan stretched out his hand, clenching his fist.
Truly worthy of a young Returning Ruins Sacred Body.
When this old man encountered him, he knew he was meant to be his opportunity!
Li Fengshan looked toward Bai Ruxue, "Originally, this old man planned to perish together with you, then seize my disciple's body and finally absorb your bloodline but unexpectedly, your bloodline is more domineering than I imagined, and you even obtained a true dragon's skeleton!”
“Bai Ruxue, until we meet again!"
Li Fengshan calmly crushed a void pearl but just as Li Fengshan stepped into the void, thinking he could escape smoothly, at the next moment, the void shattered.
Li Fengshan was still standing in the sky above the island.
"How is this possible, "
Li Fengshan stared blankly at everything around him.
This time, he was truly panicked.
Li Fengshan had specifically placed a void pearl on Su Ren's body, planning to crush it and leave if his plan failed but now, he had failed.
Bai Ruxue held a white pearl in her hand, looking coldly at him, "Did you think my North Sea is somewhere you can come and go as you please? When you possessed his body, I sealed the space within a thousand li radius."
Li Fengshan's pupils constricted as he threw out a Mountain and Sea Scroll, trying to bind Bai Ruxue.
Taking this opportunity, Li Fengshan rushed toward the young man standing on the ground.
Li Fengshan knew this Mountain and Sea Scroll could trap her for at most three breaths, but that would be enough.
This white flood dragon seemed to care greatly for this young man. As long as he held him hostage, he could safely leave the North Sea but Li Fengshan again underestimated Bai Ruxue's strength.
In just one breath, the Mountain and Sea Scroll was torn apart by Bai Ruxue's biting and clawing.
"Boom!"
When Li Fengshan flew to within ten zhang of Xiao Mo, a white dragon claw stepped down. In that instant, Li Fengshan exploded into a cloud of blood mist.
His soul still tried to escape, but was directly crushed by Bai Ruxue.
At this moment, Bai Ruxue's dragon head was only half a zhang away from Xiao Mo.
Xiao Mo could clearly feel the anger in Ruxue's eyes.
Even during her bloody battle with the opponent earlier, it hadn't been this intense.
It seemed as if Ruxue's reverse scale had truly been touched only now but when Bai Ruxue raised her head and met Xiao Mo's gaze, the anger in her vertical pupils instantly dissipated completely.
Having her violent side and flood dragon true form seen by Xiao Mo, her eyes were full of panic and nervousness.
"Sister Bai," Xiao Mo called out softly.
Bai Ruxue's vertical pupils turned as she lowered her head, not knowing what to do.
Finally, Bai Ruxue transformed into human form, standing before Xiao Mo with her head lowered.
The woman's pale, tender jade fingers fidgeted in front of her, looking like a little girl who had done something wrong, not saying a word, seemingly thinking about how to explain to Xiao Mo.
"Xiao Mo... I..."
"Sister, you looked so beautiful when you transformed into a dragon."
Just as Bai Ruxue was about to explain, Xiao Mo spoke first.
"Eh?"
Bai Ruxue stared blankly at Xiao Mo, her peach blossom eyes blinking lightly, doubting whether she had heard correctly.
"This was my first time seeing a dragon. I never expected Sister could become so large, as if you covered the entire sky. The scales on your body sparkled and gleamed, crystal clear and translucent, truly beautiful."
Xiao Mo's innocent tone carried excitement as he continuously praised Bai Ruxue.
Bai Ruxue asked anxiously, "Xiao Mo, you... aren't you afraid of Sister?"
"Afraid of Sister Bai? Why?" Xiao Mo tilted his head in confusion.
"Because... because..." Bai Ruxue's small hands tightly gripped her skirt hem, "Because Sister is a flood dragon, a demon in the eyes of the village aunties and grannies..."
"But would Sister hurt me?" Xiao Mo asked.
"Never!" Bai Ruxue suddenly raised her head, looking directly into Xiao Mo's eyes. "No matter what happens, Sister will never hurt Xiao Mo!"
"Then isn't that enough?"
Xiao Mo said matter-of-factly.
"That old cultivator just now entered his disciple's body, that should be what books call possession, right?
"They were both human, yet the disciple was killed by his own master. What difference is there between this and so-called demons?"
Xiao Mo stepped forward, gently tugging at Bai Ruxue's sleeve.
"Books always say humans and demons walk different paths, but today's events tell me that human hearts are more terrifying than so-called demons.
"As long as Sister Bai is good to me, what does it matter whether Sister is human or demon?"
[NEXT CHAPTER]
2025-08-22 07:21:29 +0000 UTC
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