After Huang Zhao and the other person left, Ye Shuang glanced at their hurried retreat before turning to ask Zhixia beside him, "Are those two acquaintances of yours?"
Zhixia nodded, though she seemed somewhat downcast. "Yeah, former club members. They left to join another club... Linlin even had a big argument with him when he left."
Ye Shuang was a little surprised that someone as quiet as Linlin would get into an argument, but he didn’t press further.
"So... is their club doing a singing and dancing performance?" Ye Shuang turned to look at Huang Zhao’s "IKUN Music Group." Unlike their own Light Music Club, which was preparing instruments for their performance, the other group seemed to be doing a dance routine—each member even held a basketball.
"Should we try singing and dancing too?" Tang Keke chimed in, holding up her phone. "Look, this dance is really trending right now."
Keke’s phone played a short video—a petite girl dancing for just over ten seconds, yet the clip had already amassed five million likes.
"Huh?" Ye Shuang took a closer look at the girl’s face, particularly the familiar golden twin-tails, before slowly registering who it was.
Wasn’t this the same Alice from last night?
"This girl… she dances?" Ye Shuang asked.
"She’s kind of a famous child star. See? She has over twenty million followers." Keke tapped on the profile, where the follower count clearly displayed 23 million.
Though follower counts could be inflated, the sheer number of likes suggested she was genuinely popular.
Ye Shuang glanced at the name again and noticed a Chinese name in the bio: Zhou Aili.
"Brother?" Tang Keke tilted her head, puzzled by Ye Shuang’s dazed expression.
"It’s nothing. Our performance format isn’t really suited for dancing." Ye Shuang snapped out of it and gestured to their instruments. They couldn’t just drop them mid-performance to start dancing, could they?
But the lead singer could incorporate some extra movements. With that thought, Ye Shuang glanced at Linlin, who immediately understood his meaning and shook her head vigorously like a rattle-drum.
"Let’s just drop the idea."
Seeing how resistant Linlin was, Ye Shuang didn’t push further.
Though they hadn’t known each other for long, Linlin’s quiet, introverted nature made dancing far too demanding for her.
After a short break, they resumed practicing their setlist.
They had prepared two songs for the performance: "Slippery Egg" and "Out of Control," both fairly well-known and within Linlin’s comfort zone. Originally, they had planned to include "Call of Silence," but Linlin lacked confidence in singing it, so they had shelved it for now.
"......"
After another round of practice, Ye Shuang, who had been playing the piano, suddenly sensed something off. He paused, then turned to Linlin, who was holding her guitar. "Linlin."
"Yes, what’s wrong?" Linlin looked back.
"Are you... feeling unwell?" Ye Shuang asked. He had noticed her hitting several wrong notes in a row, and even her singing sounded strained.
Linlin’s expression darkened slightly, but she lowered her head and murmured, "I’m... fine."
Ye Shuang didn’t press further, simply glancing at the others. "Let’s keep going then."
"Linlin..." Zhixia watched her with concern.
Another break came and went.
Linlin still hadn’t regained her usual form, prompting Zhixia to approach her. "Are you okay, Linlin? Is this about Huang Zhao?"
"Mmm." Linlin seemed downcast but managed an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Zhixia. I need to use the restroom."
With that, she set down her guitar and hurried off toward the bathroom.
"Linlin!"
"Zhixia." Ye Shuang walked over. "What’s going on with her?"
"Probably because of Huang Zhao. We used to be really close, but after he quit the club, Linlin had a huge falling-out with him." Zhixia sighed. "She’s always wanted to prove the Light Music Club’s worth... I think Huang Zhao’s taunts got to her. She probably wants to perform well to show him up."
"So the pressure’s making her underperform?" Ye Shuang mused.
"Yeah. When Linlin’s stressed, she makes mistakes, and the mistakes just stress her out more." Zhixia understood the issue but had no solution—Linlin had always been the type to bottle things up.
Soon, Linlin returned, seeming slightly more composed, and they resumed practice.
Compared to Linlin’s struggles, Bai Yuyou and Tang Keke were faring much better. The two girls diligently practiced their guitar parts, with Bai Yuyou—still a beginner—staying up late every night to rehearse for the performance. Sometimes, even Yi Wan could be seen sleeping in his nest, paws clamped over his ears.
"I want to perform well..." Bai Yuyou murmured to Ye Shuang during a break.
"Of course. Aunt Xian is coming to watch, and I heard Chen Qin and Chen Hai will be there too." Ye Shuang smiled. "With so many people watching, we’ll have to give it our best."
Bai Yuyou shook her head. "Not because of them..."
"Because I’m performing with Ye Shuang... so I want to do well..."
Ye Shuang blinked, then gently pinched her soft cheek. "Alright."
Time flew, and evening soon arrived.
The sky burned with streaks of crimson as dusk settled, the heavy clouds unable to smother the lingering glow.
The campus buzzed with energy, the air thick with the lively clamor of students—this was their favorite festival, so much so that even the usual "go-home club" members weren’t in a rush to leave.
After grabbing a quick dinner at the food stalls, Ye Shuang and the others returned to the gymnasium.
The stage was set up just outside, and as another round of seventy fireworks lit the sky, rows of chairs—hauled in by students—filled the area. The front seats were reserved for special guests: the principal, faculty, school board members, and invited celebrities.
At the side of the stage, student hosts rehearsed their scripts for the upcoming acts. The performance schedule placed music-related shows near the top.
Ye Shuang checked the posted lineup—the Light Music Club was slotted at 16th, right after the IKUN Music Group.
As students took their seats and night fully descended,
The stage performances finally began.
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!
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.
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
