Luo Lun’s figure surfaced soundlessly among the mottled lights and shadows of the bustling market, as light and elusive as a passing shadow, startling Liyana.
“Luo Lun! Where did you go?”
“I saw a stall selling cotton candy. Xia Yi might like some.”
Luo Lun’s voice was as calm as ever, yet several fluffy white wads of cotton candy suddenly appeared in her hands as if by magic. The clouds of spun sugar were so enormous that they nearly concealed her delicate face completely, blocking her view.
“You’re the one who likes it, aren’t you?” Liyana gave a sly little laugh and winked mischievously.
After all, they had been teammates for many years. Naturally, she knew that Luo Lun had a sweet tooth.
Despite looking every bit the Ice Queen—a cold-blooded, emotionless assassin—in truth, she was no different from an ordinary young girl.
Luo Lun gave one stick of cotton candy to Xia Yi, another to Mo Lini, and kept one for herself.
Xia Yi’s cotton candy was especially large. But before enjoying it himself, he stood on tiptoe and let his father take a bite, then offered one to his mother. Only after that did he happily begin eating.
“What about mine?” Liyana pointed at her face.
Luo Lun did not answer at all. She merely focused on licking her cotton candy. The strands of sugar melted against her lips, and her brows and eyes softened unconsciously, as though she had completely forgotten those bothersome bugs from earlier.
“Hmph—how stingy. I thought maybe you’d run into some annoying thugs pestering you, and I was even planning to come rescue you.” Liyana pouted.
Luo Lun paused at that. Then she held out the cotton candy in her hand. “Want a bite?”
“That’s more like it.” Liyana opened her jaws without the slightest hesitation…and tore off a huge chunk of cotton candy, stuffing it into her mouth in one small lump.
“I only took one bite,” Liyana said with a muffled laugh. “I win!”
Luo Lun stared pensively at the stick in her hand, now bearing only a few scraps of spun sugar.
But Luo Lun neither grew angry nor annoyed. Instead, she casually produced an even larger stick of cotton candy. This one was dyed a faint pink, with the spun sugar wound into the shape of a rose, its crystalline sheen sparkling beneath the lantern light.
Liyana’s eyes widened. “You bought more than three sticks of cotton candy?”
“I never said I bought only three.” Luo Lun gave Liyana a look of profound disdain, then bit into her cotton candy like a victorious champion.
“And you didn’t give any to me? Luo Lun, I can’t believe I ever trusted you!” Liyana fumed.
“Oh.”
Luo Lun replied blandly and left it at that, continuing to savor her treat at her leisure as though Liyana’s words meant nothing to her.
All Liyana could do was rage helplessly, like a feral cat hissing at an enemy, utterly powerless to do anything about it.
“Are they fighting?” Xia Yi asked his father in a worried whisper. “Should I go stop them?”
“No.” Xia Lun ruffled Xia Yi’s hair. “That’s how you can tell they’re close.”
“Huh?”
Xia Yi blinked, clearly unable to understand. In his eyes, the air between Liyana and Luo Lun was thick with gunpowder, as though they were moments away from actually fighting.
“You still have a lot to learn, Xia Yi,” Xia Lun said meaningfully.
Xia Yi nodded as if he had reached an epiphany. His gaze traveled back and forth between the two women as he tried to decipher the subtle emotions of adults.
…
“You still have a lot to learn, Aina…”
“I’ve learned more than enough already! Damn you, Hero!” Aina struggled lightly in her husband’s embrace, the blush on her cheeks spreading all the way to her collarbones.
Under Xia Lun’s clutches, Aina gritted her teeth and held out. “You’re an insatiable scoundrel!”
“Thank you for the praise, Lord Demon King…but if you ask me, you seem to be enjoying yourself too.”
“I am not!” Aina turned her face away, her long silver hair spilling like a waterfall across the silken pillow.
“Oh, you are. Just look at your expression… Shall I fetch you a mirror?” Xia Lun freed one hand to pinch Aina’s cheek.
Aina glared at him in embarrassed irritation. Her ruby-red eyes shimmered with moisture. “Xia Lun…are you asking me to bind you with magic chains again?”
“Aina, we’re a loving and respectful married couple, yet all you ever do is threaten me with things like that.” Xia Lun let out an exaggerated, wounded sigh.
“Who told you to be weaker than me?” Aina huffed. Icy chains had already reached Xia Lun’s back. “Now, get off me!”
Xia Lun wisely raised both hands and obediently did as he was told.
“Such a good boy.” Aina lifted her chin slightly, then reached out and hooked a finger under Xia Lun’s chin, her expression full of teasing, evidently taking revenge for what he had done to her earlier. “You’d be even better if you barked twice.”
“Aina, don’t push it.” Xia Lun narrowed his eyes, a warning in his voice.
“Ooh, how frightening.” Aina gave an exaggerated shiver, then narrowed her eyes in a smile. “But what can you do to me right now? If you dare move, I’ll use magic to wrap you up like a dumpling.”
Xia Lun bared his teeth, but his earlier bravado immediately withered away, leaving him helpless.
Aina contentedly leaned back against the pile of pillows propped behind her and crossed her legs in leisurely fashion.
“Xia Lun, I want grapes. Go peel them for me.” Her fair, jade-white foot swung back and forth in front of him.
Xia Lun drew a deep breath, then resigned himself to walking over to the fruit plate on the nearby table.
“And don’t use your hands or your feet. Feed them to me.”
By now, Aina’s orders and demands sounded very much like those of a decadent, tyrannical king.
Humiliated, Xia Lun bit a grape from the fruit plate and transferred it into Aina’s mouth. Purple-red juice stained the corners of their lips, like Adam and Eve stealing a bite of the forbidden fruit.
“Do you know something, Aina?” Xia Lun gently wiped the juice from the corner of his mouth.
“Know what?” Aina asked distractedly, idly playing with a lock of her husband’s loose hair.
“Thirty years in Henan, thirty years in Hebei…”
“Is that some new kind of joke? I don’t understand.” Aina tilted her head.
“It means you shouldn’t look down on people too much.” Xia Lun looked thoroughly indignant. “When I rise up and become stronger than you, I’ll make you pay for the humiliation you’ve inflicted on me today.”
“Oh, I remember. You said something similar once before.” Aina carelessly rubbed her ear, where Xia Lun had left a faint bite mark during their earlier pleasure. Then she smiled slyly. “So, when exactly do you plan to rise up? Right now?”
Xia Lun was momentarily rendered speechless.
“Wasn’t the last time you said that five years ago?” Aina gave a merciless snort of laughter, then flashed him a cunning smile. “Keep at it, Xia Lun. I believe in you.”
Xia Lun gazed at the faint smile lingering at the corners of Aina’s lips and silently added this grievance to his ledger.
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
y came from. The chests contained supplies, currency, class-change scrolls, skills, talents… and even godhood! The laws of the world were completely rewritten. This became a world where everyone gambled with their fate! Some people, despite having nothing, opened a divine artifact and rose to the top, eventually ruling the world. Others went bankrupt, opened nothing but worthless junk, and leaped from skyscrapers in despair. Lin Ye arrived in this world from another reality, utterly bewildered. “What is going on? Why is everyone a gambling addict?!” “Opening chests? No way. I refuse to gamble. I’ll start with myself!” Until— On his first chest, he obtained a Mythic Talent: Void Incarnation! He could become completely intangible, pass through all things, and reduce everything to nothingness! … On his fiftieth chest, he obtained a Mythic Weapon: Blade of Karma! With a single slash, karma shattered, twisting the universe and overturning the myriad phenomena of creation! … On his ninety-ninth chest, he obtained a Mythic Divine Treasure: Primordial Purple Energy! It could split open the heavens and earth, create all things, and evolve countless worlds with a single thought! Lin Ye: “Now that I think about it… shouldn’t someone have told me that every chest is guaranteed to contain something Mythic?!”
