MTL - A Smile from the Villain - ~ 31 magic mirror

“Congratulations, you're now a Handler. You'll serve the state with utmost loyalty and pledge your life to its causes.”That was what Trent heard just before being handed an envelope—and a whole lot of disrespect.Mocked for his poor combat performance and labeled pathetic by his superiors, Trent finishes Handler training humiliated and underestimated. But they made one mistake: they judged him by his strength, not his mind.What Trent lacks in brute force, he makes up for with a rare genius in finance.So when a mysterious voice speaks to him in the bathroom—“Hello, Host. This is Ave-511e69.”His world flips upside down.Now equipped with Ave, a mysterious financial system that seems to know everything, Trent is about to rise through the ranks in a way no Handler ever has.Through stock markets, black-market missions, and calculated chaos, he will prove that money is the greatest weapon of all.They looked down on him. Now, they’ll look up in fear.

Long Chen, a crippled youth who cannot cultivate, is constantly targeted and bullied by his fellow noble heirs. After a particularly vicious beating, he wakes up and realizes a Pill God’s soul has somehow merged with him, giving him some additional memories. Within those memories is the mysterious Nine Star Hegemon Body Art, a cultivation technique that even he can train in, but whose secrets and origin are still a mystery to him. Relying on his improved instincts as he finally begins to cultivate, he realizes a huge conspiracy is underfoot within the Phoenix Cry Empire, one involving his father, members of the imperial family, and even the Emperor himself.

In order to solve the mysteries around him, he must rely on his new alchemy techniques and the powerful but baffling Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. Countless enemies block him as he attempts to climb to the peak of the cultivation world.

Fate destined him to be only a chess piece, but he would not bow to the will of the Heavens.

In 2121, a terrible pollution disease swept through the world.

“We call it distortion, but perhaps, the history records of later generations will call it an evolution.”

The world experienced involution.

Today, that person’s head split into two. Tomorrow, that flower would grow fangs. The day after that, that fish would climb ashore with its legs…

Lu Yan: And I am merely a mediocre doctor who treats the pollution disease.

*

Patient A: When I first grew 18 tentacles, I was having a great time eating [beep—] by the seaside. As soon as Dr. Lu came, he cut 17 of them for me. He’s really a brilliant doctor!2

Patient B: I am a poisonous mushroom. My spores are highly toxic and can be parasitic. I gave birth to hundreds of thousands of microspores, which made it worse for my already poor family. Dr. Lu helped me practice family planning when he came. This great kindness will forever be remembered!

Patient C: I have eight mouths. I was a picky eater and only ate meat, so I set up a slaughterhouse for this purpose. But then, Dr. Lu cured my picky eating. This woman of faith is willing to be a vegetarian for the rest of her life in exchange for Dr. Lu’s happiness and well-being in this life.

Lu Yan, the top of the food chain, the eternal god.

- Description from Novelupdates

Four years after the Third Nightmare, something unexpected happens. A group of people find themselves in a strange theatre, which tells them to react to someone's story...?