"Wow, it's really crowded."
Ye Shuang couldn't help but remark as he looked at the stream of people filling the hallway. Just then, he felt a tug on his clothes and turned to find An Shiyu standing there.
The two had just walked out of the parking lot together.
"What's up?"
"Treat me to this." An Shiyu pointed at a shooting game nearby—the classic toy gun balloon pop, where the number of balloons hit determined the prize.
At least this was better than ring toss. Those rings were usually weighted unevenly, making it nearly impossible to land one on a prize.
Ye Shuang chuckled at her request. "Why should I treat you?"
"I saw you agree immediately when Bai Yuyou tugged your sleeve," An Shiyu said lazily.
Ye Shuang's lips twitched. "Yuyou is different."
"Oh." An Shiyu thought for a moment, then suddenly switched her tone, pulling at his sleeve again in a soft voice, "Ye Shuang... play... this..."
Ye Shuang stared at her in disbelief. "Why are you copying Yuyou's way of talking?!"
"Don’t you like this kind of thing?" An Shiyu reverted to her usual tone, even adding a hint of disdain. "Luring young girls into roleplay—what a perverted old man you are."
Ye Shuang: "..."
Who asked you to roleplay?!
Still, he walked over to the shooting stall and asked the student running it, "How much per round?"
"Five yuan for ten shots," the student holding the toy gun replied cheerfully.
"Alright, give me twenty shots." After scanning the QR code to pay ten yuan, Ye Shuang took the toy gun from the student and handed it to An Shiyu. "Here."
An Shiyu glanced at the toy gun in his hand, then averted her gaze. "Actually, I don’t feel like playing anymore."
Ye Shuang: "..."
"Just kidding, old man. Violence against a cute girl like me is a crime, you know?" An Shiyu gave him a pointed look when she saw his expression, as if he wanted to flip her over his knee and spank her. "I’m adorable—how could you bear to hit me?"
"Very easily."
"Tch."
An Shiyu took the toy gun and began aiming at the balloons. Her posture was oddly precise, giving Ye Shuang a strange sense of dissonance—it looked correct, but something about it felt off.
Pop!
The crisp sound of a balloon bursting rang out.
Then another, and another…
An Shiyu seemed to be a natural at this. Twenty shots later, she hadn’t missed a single one, leaving Ye Shuang mildly impressed.
"Congratulations! Twenty hits in a row!" The student running the stall immediately pulled out a few prizes. "Here’s your reward."
A small, plush Doraemon keychain, no bigger than the palm of a hand.
"Twenty shots for this? You’re seriously stingy. Shouldn’t I get, like, ten or eight of these—" An Shiyu’s deadpan complaint was cut short when Ye Shuang clapped a hand over her mouth. He gave the stall owner an awkward smile before dragging her away with the prize.
"Ten yuan and you’re trying to rob them?"
Once they were a distance away, Ye Shuang shot her an exasperated look. This girl was practically a bandit.
"I’m the customer. Why should I care about their business expenses?" An Shiyu retorted, but her gaze soon drifted to an ice cream stand nearby. "Old man, treat me to this."
"No."
"Ye Shuang... want... this..." She tugged at his sleeve again, mimicking Bai Yuyou’s tone.
"Stop copying Yuyou." Ye Shuang rubbed his temples, already regretting leaving the parking lot with this troublemaker.
The ice cream stand sold classic soft-serve cones. The student running it brightened when he saw Ye Shuang and An Shiyu.
"Hello! What flavor would you like?"
An Shiyu stuffed her hands in her pockets. "Give me one I’ve never tried before."
"Uh…"
"One strawberry, one chocolate." Ye Shuang chopped An Shiyu lightly on the head before smiling at the vendor.
"Got it!"
Once he had the ice creams, Ye Shuang held them out to An Shiyu. "Alright, pick one."
"I want both."
"No. Choose one."
An Shiyu took the strawberry cone but quickly stood on her tiptoes to bite the tip off the chocolate one.
Ye Shuang: "..."
He stared blankly at the teeth marks left on his ice cream. "How am I supposed to eat this now?"
An Shiyu smirked lazily. "Guess you’ll have to give both to me."
Not one to be outplayed by a brat, Ye Shuang took a deliberate bite of the chocolate ice cream and looked down at her. "Nah, I don’t mind."
An Shiyu blinked, clearly caught off guard. Her eyes flickered behind her bangs before she turned away to eat her own ice cream in silence.
A faint, muffled mutter in dialect slipped out—something Ye Shuang didn’t catch.
He also didn’t notice the faint pink tinge coloring her ears.
Just then, his phone buzzed.
A message from Tang Keke:
Bro, come try the lemon tea Zhixia’s selling.
[Selfie.jpg]
The photo showed four girls posing together. Ye Shuang replied with an "Okay" before looking up—only to find An Shiyu already gone.
"That girl..."
Shaking his head, he headed straight for Zhixia’s lemon tea stall.
Business seemed decent. By the time he arrived, a small crowd of students had gathered, each holding a cup of lemon tea—and a stick of candied hawthorn.
"Bro, over here!"
"Mr. Ye!" Zhixia, wearing an apron, greeted him cheerfully as she muddled lemons.
Ye Shuang smiled. "Why are there candied hawthorns at a lemon tea stall? That’s an unusual combo."
"Yuyou bought them," Tang Keke explained, recounting what had happened earlier.
"I see." Ye Shuang turned to Bai Yuyou, who immediately leaned against him. "Still hungry?"
Bai Yuyou nodded. "Mhm... got hungry again..."
"Need any help?" Ye Shuang asked Zhixia.
The girl in the apron just smiled sweetly. "Mr. Ye, why don’t you take Yuyou for a walk? We’ve got things covered here."
"Yeah, bro, take her around. She’s been wanting to spend time with you," Tang Keke chimed in.
Linlin nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Oh? You want to walk around?" Ye Shuang asked Bai Yuyou.
"Mm." She hugged his arm and looked up at him.
Tang Keke playfully pushed them. "Go on, go on! There’s a themed event in the academic building too—you could spend days exploring."
"Alright, I’ll take her for a stroll and come back later."
"Or don’t come back at all."
"..."
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
iemie, male, Race: Moon. Hobby: Collecting anomalies. At first, he thought he possessed two systems: the Crimson Rainbow Moon and the Clear Cold Frost Moon. One day, he discovered that he himself could also become a system for others, holding the chessboard of fate. The Eighth Epoch, also known as the Eternal Moon Epoch. Humans, witches, elves, bloodline descendants, specters, demons, and spirits together compose a new history. Walking the path on behalf of the moon, before he knew it, Chen Miemie's footsteps were followed by all manner of strange and wondrous anomalies. As time passed, many titles circulated about him—The King in Yellow, Lord of Anomalies, Heart of the Eternal Moon, and more. "Me? I'm just a traveler who enjoys collecting interesting creatures," Chen Miemie said.
