A Power Fantasy Hero, Stuck as an Office Drone

[Upcoming next door: I Really Don't Want to Be a Treacherous Minister [Selfcest], a noble gentleman like the bright moon and gentle breeze X a moody villain. Blurb at the end. Please add it to your favorites!]

Ning Qianxiu suddenly died and woke up in a cultivation world full of fighting and killing. Luckily, he came with a portable System. As long as he kept doing the work he'd done before he died, even sleeping would increase his cultivation.

And what did he do? He was a conscientious corporate drone and game designer.

When his sect went down the mountain to gain experience, he recorded data at their heels.

When his sect went out to spar, he watched and logged their moves.

In other people's eyes, he had no ambition and relied on friends and slacking off whenever he left the sect... a well-connected freeloader.

So when Ning Qianxiu was captured, the spectators started a betting pool on the spot, wagering on how many arms he'd have left when they rescued him.

Meanwhile, trapped inside the sect, Ning Qianxiu typed the final line of code.

Then, in a blinding flash, the gamblers watched the lazy good-for-nothing they'd made fun of draw his sword and cleave through three mountain peaks.

Everyone: ?

The great world contains countless wonders.

But there can only be one person who's number one under heaven.

Legend has it that he was born a genius. At twenty, he ascended to immortality and became a myth worshipped by countless people.

But when time turned back and disguises and illusions crumbled, they learned the truth.

It turned out that every so-called gift was just something being returned to its rightful owner.

Ning Qianxiu, who had just recovered his main account: Thanks for asking. I'm involved, working 996. Don't bring me into this.

He sings, and ten thousand cranes come to him. He rides the wind straight up, chasing the tide.

Three feet of clear light can steady mountains and seas. Among eight thousand people, he is the youngest.

Notes:

1. Updates according to the rankings before signing; daily updates after signing.

2. Nobody is perfect. The protagonist is caustic and greedy early on, emotionally numb and passive, but will grow later. Please mind the warnings.

3. Ning Qianxiu: Give me a little boost, and help the protagonist get off work sooner!

[Upcoming novel: I Really Don't Want to Be a Treacherous Minister [Selfcest]]

[Noble gentleman like the bright moon and gentle breeze X moody villain]

[Gentle, black-hearted puppy X sickly, ghostly cat]

A nontraditional everyone-hates-him-to-everyone-loves-him story, also known as The Possibility of a Treacherous Minister Changing Careers to Raise a Child and Making History

At a young age, Ruan Yi became prime minister. In just a few short years, he wreaked havoc both inside and outside the court, truly becoming a wicked, unforgivable villain hated by officials and commoners alike.

The more evil deeds you commit, the more likely you are to suffer retribution. Before winter of his seventh year was over, he became a headless corpse beneath the executioner's blade.

Ruan Yi's soul floated in the air, watching the smug little men before him. He touched his neck and laughed as he cursed himself:

"I was still too soft back then."

If he could be reborn, the first time he saw those people, he should have twisted their heads off and kicked them around like balls.

Ruan Yi never thought that one day his words would really come true.

But... he had gone back to the years he least wanted to face.

His younger self stood among a crowd, mocked by others, not even daring to fight back.

Looking at his younger self's reddened eyes, Ruan Yi felt a headache coming on. At last, he couldn't take it anymore and turned around to kick him in the butt.

"You're a damn disgrace."

In his previous life, Ruan Yi would never have imagined that in this life, he'd start raising a kid.

His younger self was nothing like the shrewd, calculating man he'd become. Whenever Ruan Yi glanced back, he would catch Ruan Zhuo staring at him for a long time. To Ruan Yi, he looked just like a fluffy puppy that had chosen its master.

Ruan Yi thought there had to be something wrong with the version of himself who had brought him home.

He regretted having acted on a whim back then. Now that things had gone this far, all he could do was hit him with a bamboo switch a few extra times to pass the time.

But...

This little brat was growing older. Why did his face get redder the more Ruan Yi hit him?

It wasn't until Ruan Zhuo deliberately kept his injuries and approached Ruan Yi just to tempt him into hitting his palm that Ruan Yi tossed aside the bamboo switch and kicked him instead.

He really was just like Ruan Yi himself, daring to rebel against him.

Raising a badly behaved kid was enough trouble, but who would have thought the court would start acting strange too?

The officials who had once wanted to chop Ruan Yi into a thousand pieces now prostrated themselves every day when they saw him:

"You deserve to be enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, my lord!"

Ruan Yi, hearing it several times a day: ...Hmph.

Every last one of them deserves a beating.

Reader's Notes:

1. Ruan Zhuo is the top and Ruan Yi the bottom. They are the same person in two lives: an age-gap pairing between two strong characters, a nontraditional everyone-hates-him-to-everyone-loves-him story. I'm making my own meal here: have a bite of the puppy and cat pairing.

2. The bottom has a volatile temper, holds grudges, and is cold and heartless, a bona fide lunatic. The top isn't a good person either and has a pain-loving kink. His feelings for the bottom are also rather unhealthy. They scheme against each other, but in the end, the right lid goes on the right pot. They adore each other. If this isn't to your taste, please mind the warnings.

3. The dynasty is fictional, with plenty of loose and strange worldbuilding mixed in. Don't take it too seriously = =

4. No extreme character fans, please. Whoever you're a fan of, they're the same person.

Theme: Though a thousand sails pass by a sunken ship, a forest of trees springs up before a diseased tree.