"The goddess isn't up there—she's right here."
Hearing Olen's muttering, Xia Lun couldn't help but complain inwardly.
However, Aina suddenly taking action did catch him off guard.
"It almost got away, Xia Lun," Aina explained.
Xia Lun shrugged. To him, whether this chimera escaped or not made no difference.
Aina then flicked her fingers at the chimera, and a magic core tore through its flesh, flying into her grasp.
Xia Lun asked curiously, "What do you need that for?"
Having seen the Demon King's treasury, Xia Lun knew that a magic core of this grade was no different from cabbage on the roadside to Aina.
"Taking it back for Little Lan to eat... The cores I have on hand are all too high-grade for her," Aina said plainly.
Xia Lun blinked. Feeding a slime a magic core... Now that was extravagant.
"And this one is safe for her?"
The chimera’s rank was leagues above a slime’s.
"That ice crystal I fed Little Lan earlier wasn’t for nothing, Xia Lun," Aina wagged a finger. "She’s no ordinary slime anymore..."
"Oh?"
"Once she digests the ice crystal, she’ll be a slime with exceptional endurance," Aina said seriously. "We can’t always be by Mo Lini’s side. It’s best she has some means of self-defense."
Xia Lun stroked his chin. Aina had a point.
"Um..."
Olen finally spoke up, utterly lost. How had the conversation suddenly shifted to slimes?
"Just who are you two...?"
Aina’s fingertip glowed faintly, and Olen’s gaze gradually turned vacant.
"Such a convenient spell, memory erasure," Xia Lun remarked.
"You know, Xia Lun... Back then, I spent ages learning how to freely manipulate others’ memories," Aina murmured, her eyes tinged with reminiscence and pain.
"You’ve worked hard," Xia Lun said softly, his gaze gentle.
In Xia Lun’s memories, aside from the blank void, fragments had also surfaced—memories from after his death. It was as if an invisible hand had pieced his existence back together.
"Xia Lun... I’ll bring you back, no matter what it takes..."
"No! Xia Lun’s memories... They’re slipping away!"
"With just these fragments... It’s not enough... I need to find more... Everything Xia Lun ever touched..."
The flashes in his mind made Xia Lun’s breath hitch, his face twisting in pain.
"Aina..."
"It’s alright, Xia Lun. It’s all in the past now," Aina said, her smile returning as she playfully chided, "Just behave from now on."
Xia Lun took a deep breath. "As you command, Demon King."
Aina pointed at the collapsed ground where the chimera had emerged.
"Let’s take a look, Xia Lun. What’s down there?"
Without hesitation, Xia Lun leaped into the pit.
His feet soon met solid ground.
Aina floated down after him—and then perched on his shoulders, her legs snug around his neck. She was absolutely doing it on purpose.
"Aina..."
"What’s wrong?" Aina hugged his head, leaning forward like an upside-down bat until her hair curtained his vision.
It was a precarious position, easy to topple forward, but Xia Lun stood firm.
Xia Lun paused. "Can I turn my head now?"
"No!"
"Ah, never mind then." He sighed regretfully before scanning their surroundings. "But there’s nothing here."
The walls were just packed earth, strewn with rubble and nameless roots—utterly ordinary, just torn-up ground.
Yet the chimera had undeniably burst out right before his eyes.
As if it had materialized out of thin air.
"There’s a trace of spatial distortion," Aina noted.
"Someone teleported the chimera here? What’s the point?" Xia Lun couldn’t help but ask. If someone wanted chaos, why not send it straight to the square? Buried underground made no sense.
"Maybe they messed up the teleportation array?" Aina tilted her head, equally baffled.
The earlier tremors were likely the chimera struggling beneath the earth.
Teleporting something underground... What kind of move was that?
Xia Lun looked at Aina. "Can we trace it?"
Aina closed her eyes, then frowned. "The source... seems to be nearby?"
"Huh?"
"That chimera was probably teleported here—from somewhere close by," Aina said, sounding unsure herself. "How odd."
Xia Lun’s expression darkened. If even Aina found it strange, this was seriously uncanny.
Finding no further clues below, Xia Lun leaped back to the surface.
Aina slid off his shoulders.
Olen and the priests still stood dazed in the square until Aina snapped her fingers, clarity returning to their eyes.
Before they fully awoke, Xia Lun had already left.
"What... happened?"
Olen stared blankly at the chimera’s corpse before him.
"Governor Olen, you were incredible!"
"You defeated such a powerful monster!"
Cheers erupted around him as the fabricated memories took root—of him unleashing divine magic to slay the beast.
Yet doubt nagged at Olen. Had he really been that strong?
...
"Xia Lun! Where were you? There was a huge commotion outside—it scared me half to death!" Liyana and Mo Lini rushed over as soon as he returned to the guild. "What happened?"
"Nothing much. A monster somehow got in, and Aina took care of it," Xia Lun waved it off. Aina tossed the magic core to Mo Lini.
"This is...?" Mo Lini stared at the core in her hands.
"For Little Lan," Aina said flatly.
"R-Really? Thank you, Aina... Little Lan, say thank you too."
Mo Lini nodded, the slime on her head bouncing twice.
reezy rom-com) Good news: Jiang Liu is quite the ladies' man. Bad news: He’s lost his memory. Lying in a hospital bed, Jiang Liu listens to a parade of goddesses spouting "absurd claims," feeling like the world is one giant game of Werewolf. "Jiang Liu, I’m your first love." "Jiang Liu, you’re my boyfriend—she’s your ex." "Jiang Liu, we’re close friends who’ve shared a bed, remember?" "Jiang Liu, I want to have your baby." The now-lucid Jiang Liu is convinced this must be some elaborate scam... until someone drops the bombshell: "The day before you lost your memory, you confessed your feelings—and got into a relationship." Jiang Liu is utterly baffled. So... who the hell is his actual girlfriend?! ... Before recovering his memories, Jiang Liu must navigate this minefield of lies and sincerity, fighting to protect himself from these women’s schemes. But things spiral even further out of control as more people show up at his doorstep—each with increasingly unhinged antics. On the bright side, the memories he lost due to overwhelming trauma seem to be resurfacing. Great news, right? So why are they all panicking now?
esick Sect? Well, at least it's considered a respectable orthodox sect. Wait a minute— What kind of vibe are you all giving off? Shouldn’t this be a love-struck, romance-obsessed sect? Why does everyone here sound more like demonic cultivators? "Master, today he’s getting married. This disciple wishes to descend the mountain and crash the wedding, then toy with him to death right in front of his wife..." "Elder, I only got into your sect through connections, so why won’t you teach me anything?" "Because I also became an elder through connections." Thankfully, Su Ji was just an outer sect labor disciple. Surely, nothing too crazy would— "Junior Brother, you’ve broken through to Qi Refining. Once you sever your useless spiritual root, you can officially become an outer sect disciple." "The Great Dao is merciless. Don’t let a worthless spiritual root waste your essence and spirit, hindering your cultivation." Is this really the Lovesick Sect? ... Three years later, Su Ji sat in the seat of the Lovesick Sect’s sect master, sighing with emotion. His rise to this position all started when his junior sister adamantly insisted on preserving his "spiritual root." "Mmm... Senior Brother, what’s our relationship now?" "Stop talking. Keep going." "By the way, that newly promoted top-tier sect—didn’t they come to buy our Love Beans?" "One top-grade spirit stone per Love Bean—is that really so expensive?" "I suspect they’ve eaten too many Love Beans." "Now they’re lovesick." Well, this really is the Lovesick Sect after all.
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
