She is vicious at heart and incompetent—perfect for her to practice on.

Liu Yi closed her golden, slit pupils, restoring them to black. She suppressed her murderous urge and followed Elder Dong down to the ninth basement level. Glancing around, she noticed that the laboratory here was of a clearly higher standard than that on the seventh floor. Passing through a thick, specially-made glass door, they entered the innermost chamber. Not far ahead, within a heavily reinforced glass enclosure, there appeared to be a miniature tropical rainforest—seemingly teeming with life, yet in truth utterly lifeless. A black, furry creature the length of a forearm was curled up inside.

At the end of the day, humans are just animals, and the first imperative for any creature is survival. Before survival, things like gentlemanly conduct are nothing but nonsense. Too much of a sense of justice is no good either; they had barely left the military camp before being assigned here. The warden had them guard the doors, precisely to put their hard-learned military knowledge to use.

Yet Su Li’s crisis was not over. The source of danger lay within him—the relentless, surging power of the demon core and the medicinal energy still boiling inside. He had already made up his mind: if Li Yanyang accepted money, he wouldn’t pretend to be high-minded—he must avoid offending Master Azure Dragon at all costs. But if Li Yanyang refused payment, then he would follow suit. In any case, he would go with the flow.

On the third day of the first month of the Renchen year, the sect leader heard that an old farmer, by chance, had unearthed a century-old blood ginseng. The sect leader ordered me to seize it for three inferior-grade spirit stones. The old farmer refused and wanted to appeal to the city lord. The sect leader had me kill the old farmer and his wife, then burn their house to the ground.

“Thank you, Matchmaker Zhang. My husband and I will first ask our son's opinion before giving an answer, if that’s alright?” Su’s mother accepted the portrait, then saw Matchmaker Zhang to the door. But as the three had just turned around and taken barely a few steps, a cold, indifferent voice echoed along the tranquil mountain path, instantly halting their progress.

At the end of the day, humans are just animals, and survival is their first law. Before survival, gentlemanly airs are meaningless. Li Yanyang was stunned—no matter how many times he explained, Lu Xi only responded with wave after wave of ridicule, leaving him seething with suppressed anger.

“Alright, then if we’re taking a fifteen-minute break, someone needs to come up and perform,” Cheng Chen said with a smug grin.

Even if driven to despair, she would only submit by force—her heart would never belong to him; she might even hate him.

Jiang Xuerou was somewhat displeased. Clearly, the conversation was between herself and Ji Rufeng, yet Wang Feng felt the need to butt in, showing not a shred of tact.

His entanglement with her left him ever more intoxicated, as if on the brink of bliss and destruction; he longed to stay with her like this, forever.

Jiang Nuoxin ignored her, and after waiting a while, saw Ling Li enter carrying a box filled not only with pomelos but also a variety of seasonal fruits.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, and the four walls of the dungeon vanished, leaving only a solitary figure slowly emerging from the water.

No one knew what the man on the other end of the line said, but Guan Hantian replied unhurriedly, “No need. I’ve changed my mind.” With that, he hung up the phone.

Yet she did not realize how piercing, how loathsome that look of pity appeared in Fang Musheng’s eyes.

Finishing her words and not waiting for Jian Xiao’s response, she hurried off, not wanting Han Ruo to wait too long in the basement.

In just two days, Shi Tou had plotted out all the possible hiding places of the shadow soldiers, sent people to track their movements, and discovered they had been in contact with the prefect of Lin City.

Li Weitian nodded to Ling Ruo, then leaped onto the dueling platform and immediately unfurled his golden umbrella.

At that moment, the entrance of the TVB headquarters was swarmed with reporters eagerly awaiting and keeping a constant watch for Zhao Yazhi’s appearance.

There were far fewer viewers in the “Rice Shoots Love to Drink” livestream than before, but still over nine million remained.

I nodded in reply, dragged Tian Lei out of the villa, and left the stunned gatekeeper standing there in a daze, unable to recover for a long time.