Chapter 494: New Year

Jiang Nian felt nothing, standing there with a thick skin.

While Qian Bao and Old Liu chatted, he casually picked up the yellow duck Qian Bao had brought and played with it back and forth.

When Qian Bao turned around, she was speechless.

What kind of person is this!

Jiang Nian's gaze met Qian Bao's, yet he made no move to let go. He lowered his head as if nothing had happened and kept squeezing the duck.

Let's be honest, this duck is really duck-like!

Qian Bao: "……"

"It's not that I was scared—mainly because I was about to sleep, and I didn't know what was going on when my sister burst in crying and screaming. That's why I reacted like that!" Soojin glanced at Seokjin. The latter was already blushing with laughter.

Before his thoughts could fully form, two energies, like predators that had stalked their prey for ages, roared forward and slammed into the dense, nearly dried-up essence within his consciousness sea and dantian spirit sea.

Thus, each side latched onto a new target, and as the battle progressed, the two teams gradually separated. After all, they were opponents; staying too close was uncomfortable, and it also helped avoid possible ambushes.

Since no one had come looking for trouble, the group naturally had leisure. They continued their inquiries until they finally found an open stretch of sand, where they discovered more traces.

She looked again at her sister, lying on the hospital bed, her brows faintly furrowed, her life hanging by a thread, and then at the distant, unreachable horizon beyond the window.

The cabin was spacious and comfortable, yet thick with the scent of medicine; closing the door felt like entering the room of a patient long afflicted with illness. Beihai Yu felt waves of fatigue, a drowsiness slowly creeping over him, and suddenly he closed his eyes.

After a sharp clang of metal against steel, Du Gu Jianfeng was violently flung through the air, spouting mouthfuls of blood, his face turning deathly pale.

Others had treated Li Juri the same way before—yet in the end, they simply vanished. Entire families vanished.

Even if Di Shuye had forgotten all his former martial techniques, even if he could no longer use them at all, he felt no pain; on the contrary, he was filled with bold ambition.

After preparing nearly twenty-plus arrays, Xina finally paused, assuming it should be sufficient. 【】She didn't care much for the opponent before her; she had absolute confidence she could easily defeat them.

Driving Zhou Qingyu's TT down the street, Li Fan gazed at the towering, colorful buildings and bustling commercial districts around him. As he passed landmarks like MGM, Universal, Columbia, DreamWorks, and Disney's headquarters, he realized how naive his assumptions had been.

Damao chuckled, knowing full well that most of her time at school was just for fun, and to experience ordinary life.

Seeing the Iron Fan Princess laugh bitterly with rage, and hearing such blunt words, he thought: family shame must not be aired publicly.

?? The Iron Fan Princess could lay bare all the family's dirty laundry in one breath—clearly she was furious. Thinking of how she'd endured over three hundred years of celibacy, Sun Wukong felt a flicker of sympathy for this elder sister-in-law.

It wasn't his fault—it was the court ministers who deserved blame. None of them had any sense. On the Crown Prince's wedding day, why were they all crying? Don't they fear bringing bad luck?

Moreover, Augsburg isn't as strong as Mainz; it's hard to stop Dortmund at home.

She knew she had mishandled the matter involving Asheng, nearly giving someone a fatal opening, and inwardly she felt some regret. Then, thinking of how she'd soon have to explain the three rare scrolls to Lady Wu, she felt a tightening in her chest and shortness of breath.

No one knew what method she used, but just days after Du Shi Qi fell out of favor, Jiang Sanniang—who was then Lady Li Xiuyi—on a cool night with moonlight like water, played a hauntingly beautiful flute melody that won back the emperor's affection.

This had a severely negative impact on the company's already established plans, and as the architect and driving force behind both commercial moves, John Wayne naturally became the target, placed on the grill by the board of directors.