Aina led Xia Lun through one spatial rift after another. All around them, streams of multicolored light shifted and transformed without end, like a palette overturned and spilling its colors recklessly through the void.
The Aina before him felt somewhat unfamiliar to Xia Lun, yet strangely familiar at the same time.
She possessed both the coldness of a thousand years ago and the tenderness of the present, as though the two had merged into one.
Those two qualities blended perfectly within her, creating a unique air about her—decisive yet gentle, resolute yet carrying a hidden concern for others.
She could wipe out a large group of enemies before her without changing expression, then immediately take Xia Lun’s hand and hurry toward their next destination.
“Aina, why don’t you go on ahead by yourself?” Xia Lun suddenly said as they traveled through the spatial rifts. His voice sounded faint in the void, as if it might be torn apart at any moment by the energy surging through the rifts.
“I’ll just wait here.”
“W-Why… why, Xia Lun?” Aina’s tone suddenly grew tense. She turned to look at him, the panic in her eyes plainly visible, like ripples spreading across a still lake after a stone had been thrown into it. “You don’t plan to act with me?”
“I can’t keep up with you. You’ll be able to move faster on your own and save more people.” Xia Lun shook his head and looked earnestly into Aina’s crimson eyes. “I’m not much help right now.”
“Don’t say things like that!” Aina suddenly seized him by the wrist, gripping so tightly that she nearly crushed his bones.
“I have never considered you a burden. Quite the opposite, Xia Lun…” Her voice suddenly softened, like the night breeze brushing through the treetops. “With you by my side, I can use my power more effectively. Your presence is what allows my heart to remain at peace.”
Aina continued to hold Xia Lun’s hand tightly, as if she feared that the moment she let go, he would vanish without a trace.
“Go, Aina.”
“I…” Aina bit her lip, her eyes still filled with reluctance.
“Otherwise, I’ll go wait for you at the Star Temple. Hopefully, by the time I arrive, you’ll already have dealt with those guys.” Xia Lun smiled and offered a compromise. “If I get back early, I might even make it in time for lunch with Xia Yi and the others.”
“Then… be careful, Xia Lun.” Aina finally relented.
She knew how proud Xia Lun was at heart, and she understood the struggle he must have gone through to make such a suggestion.
She could not let his feelings go unanswered.
“Don’t worry. I may not be as strong as you, but I’m still pretty powerful.” Xia Lun reached out and patted Aina on the head. “Nothing is going to happen to me.”
Aina leaned forward and planted a forceful kiss on Xia Lun’s lips. Then her figure transformed into a crimson shooting star and swiftly vanished from his sight.
Xia Lun breathed a sigh of relief before looking around and scratching his head.
So… where was he?
The surrounding void stretched endlessly. The nearest planet was still tens of millions of kilometers away, like a lonely pearl suspended against black velvet. The stars glittered coldly, scattered across the heavens like diamonds.
As for the Star Temple’s location… Aina had given him its coordinates. At that moment, they existed like a faint, intangible thread, guiding him through the depths of space.
With his current strength, he could certainly fight the monsters spawned by the Chaos Demon Gods. However, he lacked the wide-area attacks possessed by Aina and the Mechanical Prophet—attacks capable of covering everything in their range.
At most, he could smash those monsters into pieces, but he had no way to purify them all.
No matter how finely he chopped those things up, it would ultimately be pointless. They would quickly recover, like nightmares that could never truly end.
Physical attacks were basically useless against those monsters.
The Fire Sword’s output was limited as well. Xia Lun obviously could not rely on a single weapon to unleash magic on the scale of the Hellforge.
He was merely a weak and helpless warrior. There was very little he could do to help.
With Aina’s strength… she clearly did not need him to stay by her side and protect her.
A meteor several kilometers in diameter flew straight toward him. Xia Lun was in such a gloomy mood that he had no intention of dodging.
He clenched his fist, and the muscles in his arm suddenly tensed. The instant the meteor entered his range of attack, he threw a punch.
Boom!
The meteor shattered amid a deafening roar, breaking into countless fragments that shot in every direction.
“Ah…”
Xia Lun let out a long, melancholy sigh.
He took one last look in the direction Aina had gone. His figure gradually turned transparent, finally dispersing through the void like smoke.
…
“Aunt Liyana, where did Father and Mother go?”
Xia Yi tilted his little head back and asked Liyana.
Liyana paused slightly before putting on a bright smile. “Who knows? Perhaps they went off to save the world.”
“Will they still come back for breakfast?”
Xia Yi looked at the breakfast set aside for Xia Lun and Aina, now nearly cold. A trace of worry appeared in his eyes.
“They probably won’t make it back in time for breakfast.” Liyana’s smile gradually turned bitter. “Don’t worry. They’ll definitely come back.”
“Really? They won’t make it back in time?” Xia Yi drooped his little head, looking rather dejected. Then he suddenly raised it again. “Then can I eat Father’s pancake?”
Liyana blinked. “Huh?”
“Only Father’s,” Xia Yi emphasized as he swallowed.
He didn’t dare sneak a bite of Mother’s pancake. If Mother came back halfway through and discovered that he had eaten it while she was away, he had no idea what might happen afterward.
Of course Xia Yi knew that Mother loved sweets.
“Go ahead, go ahead.” Liyana rubbed Xia Yi’s head with an exasperated laugh. “You little rascal. Aren’t you worried about them?”
“Nope. Father is a hero, so no monster can possibly defeat him… And Mother is really strong too. She seems even stronger than Father… No, wait. Maybe Father is still a little stronger.”
Xia Yi frowned, apparently unable to decide who was stronger, his father or his mother.
In his memories, Father would sometimes shrink back and admit defeat in front of Mother. Yet at other times, Mother would obediently follow Father’s suggestions…
The world of adults was truly impossible to understand.
“Just eat your pancake.”
Liyana ruffled Xia Yi’s hair roughly, not even bothering to hide her annoyance.
This time… Xia Lun and Aina might really have run into some trouble.
After all, as far as Liyana could remember, they had never rushed off so frantically before. No matter what happened, they had always seemed completely calm and unhurried.
Naturally, she did not tell Xia Yi any of this. It was a good thing that the little fellow was so carefree, and Liyana did not want to see him wearing a worried frown.
Xia Yi took a bite of the sweet pancake in his hand, then pursed his little lips.
For some reason, it seemed to have no flavor at all.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
