"They've all left now."
Xia Lun let out a long sigh.
"Actually, there weren't that many to begin with." Aina drained the remaining red wine in her glass in one smooth motion, then slowly rose, feigning indifference.
The Dawn's Wings had only six members, and that was counting Miss Ankula, who was more of an associate member.
Xia Lun and Aina walked out of the tavern side by side.
They strolled slowly down the street as night began to fall, lights gradually flickering to life around them.
"Now, it's just us left." Aina narrowed her eyes slightly. "What do you plan to do, O Hero..."
Her words cut off abruptly.
Because Liyana came trotting back.
"What are you still doing here?" Xia Lun chuckled in surprise.
"What, did I interrupt something between you two?" Liyana pursed her lips in annoyance, her long, pointed ears twitching sensitively. "It's already quite late. I don't plan on traveling through the night... I'm coming back to find an inn and head out at first light tomorrow."
"Alright, then travel safe," Xia Lun said softly.
"Don't worry—I'm pretty strong myself!" Liyana clenched her fist, then dashed off with the same bustling energy she had arrived with.
By then, the sun had completely sunk below the horizon, leaving only a smear of dark red afterglow at the edge of the sky, like dried bloodstains.
The two continued walking along the street, and before they knew it, they had entered a quiet alley. Green ivy climbed the stone walls on either side, and occasionally a stray cat would poke its head out from a corner, watching these two uninvited guests warily.
Xia Lun stopped and turned to look at Aina: "What were you about to say just now?"
Aina remained silent.
That sudden appearance of Liyana had completely shattered the atmosphere they had barely managed to build.
"I should go now, too." Aina lifted her chin slightly and gave a cold snort. "When we meet again... we'll be enemies."
Xia Lun said nothing.
Aina had already discussed this with Xia Lun beforehand.
Their next steps... were not what their companions imagined—tying the knot and settling into a happy, peaceful life.
Aina was to return to the demon race, take up the mantle of the Demon King, lead the demon forces in an invasion of the human realm, and bring human territories under her control.
Many parts of the demon realm had harsh environments—whether it was the freezing, snowy wastelands or the windblown, desolate wilds... Compared to that, the human lands were like an eternally spring-like paradise.
For now, since he was still Aina's boyfriend... Xia Lun naturally knew how terrifying the magic Aina commanded truly was. In wartime, it would be a devastating weapon capable of destroying entire cities.
The human king might well be pressured into surrendering to Aina.
After all, if Aina snuck in quietly and dropped a single Infernal Furnace on the royal capital, the consequences would be unthinkable.
And Xia Lun was perhaps the only one who knew this and had the ability to stop it.
"Aina..." Xia Lun called out softly.
"What is it..."
Aina slowly raised her head, but before she could react, Xia Lun had grabbed her arms, pulled her tightly into his embrace, and kissed her on the lips.
Aina resisted slightly at first, but eventually yielded, melting into Xia Lun's arms, letting him take what he wanted.
After what felt like an eternity, Xia Lun slowly let her go.
"Satisfied now?"
Aina's face, which had barely softened, immediately froze back over again, pushing him away at arm's length.
"I'll come for you," Xia Lun said. "I'll defeat you, Aina."
"Ha, I'll be the one coming for you," Aina sneered. "Just wait until I've conquered the human race—you'll be my trophy."
A gust of wind swept by, and Aina's black robes fluttered slightly before she vanished with the breeze, leaving not a trace.
Xia Lun stood there dazed, the faint warmth of Aina's body still lingering against his chest.
"Ahh—"
He let out a long sigh and slowly made his way out of the empty alley.
A blood bat crept silently behind him.
...
Xia Lun returned to the earlier tavern.
During the day, it had been nearly empty, but now the place had taken on an entirely different look—bustling with noise, every seat filled.
Many stood at the bar, laughing loudly and chatting about everything under the sun.
An unknown bard strummed a lute, singing ancient songs of adventure and love, drawing generous tips from the crowd.
The lute playing was slightly inferior to Moke's... but the singing was far better than Moke's by miles.
Xia Lun managed to find a corner seat and sat down quietly.
Across from him sat a passionate couple, both looking like adventurers, dressed lightly and behaving with intimate, bold gestures.
Xia Lun turned his face away, his Adam's apple bobbing awkwardly.
"Give me your strongest liquor," he said to a passing young waiter carrying a tray.
Xia Lun wasn't actually a fan of drinking, but tonight he inexplicably felt thirsty and wanted to drink more.
He had never been drunk before, so this was a good chance to try.
Strong liquor went down cup after cup, and soon empty glasses lined up neatly on the table.
A faint flush crept across Xia Lun's face.
The commotion quickly drew attention.
"Hey, that young lad sure can drink!"
"Is that Dragon's Breath Liquor he's downing—the really potent stuff? And he's already had that many?"
"Want to bet how much he can handle?"
"He's got five glasses on the table now... I say ten!"
"Guess he's going through something painful. Poor guy."
"Men sure have it rough..."
The surrounding chatter felt muffled and distant, as if filtered through a layer of water, but Xia Lun paid it no mind. He just kept pouring the liquor down his throat without restraint.
Another cup of strong liquor went down, burning a fiery trail in his stomach, but somehow it soothed his mood a little.
His consciousness began to blur. Xia Lun let out a hiccup of alcohol and slowly slumped over the table.
"Thump—thump—"
A few glasses on the table clattered to the floor as he leaned on them.
"Twenty cups! Good heavens!"
"Is this guy even human? Drinking that much..."
A shifty-eyed fellow sauntered by, whistling casually, pretending to pass Xia Lun without a care.
He was a thief. And Xia Lun, drunk and defenseless, looked to him like an unguarded wallet.
But just as his hand was about to slip into Xia Lun's pocket, the apparently unconscious Xia Lun grabbed his wrist, then flung him with terrifying force across the room, slamming him hard onto the floor three meters away.
The thief didn't dare say a word. He staggered to his feet and scurried off without looking back.
Xia Lun continued to lie slumped on the table, snoring loudly.
The people around fell into a fearful silence. No one dared try anything else.
A small figure, wrapped in a black robe, appeared behind Xia Lun.
Under the hood, Aina looked at him with a complicated expression. Finally, she coldly spit out a single phrase:
"What a fool."
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
