Gu Wanqing looked at the man in a white lab coat standing before her, panting heavily as if struggling to catch his breath, with a hint of surprise in her eyes.
"……"
"You are……"
"I’m from Yinshan Academy… the school doctor at the third infirmary… and, well, I also counsel students on… huff… their psychological issues." Ye Shuang tried to steady his breathing before straightening up slightly. "Could you come down first, please?"
"There’s still so much beauty in this world. Don’t make a rash decision."
"……" Gu Wanqing’s face was covered in bruises and scars. She glanced at Ye Shuang briefly before turning away.
"No need…"
"Thank you…"
The wind on the rooftop was fierce, as if burying her frail voice within its gusts.
After uttering those words, she leaped off without hesitation.
"W-Wait?!"
Ye Shuang rushed to the railing and looked down, just in time to hear the sickening thud of the girl’s body hitting the ground.
Ye Shuang: "……"
"Why?" His fist slammed against the railing before he spun around and bolted downstairs—but just then, he noticed the clock in the upper right corner ticking toward twelve.
Tick. It landed precisely on the twelfth mark.
"Bzzz—"
Another sharp, buzzing noise pierced his ears as his vision dissolved into blinding white light.
……
……
"School doctor?" Everything around him seemed to have returned to the infirmary. Gu Manman was now sitting in a chair, giving him a puzzled look. "Did you… zone out?"
"……"
"……"
"My apologies…" Ye Shuang rubbed his throbbing temples and glanced at the virtual clock, which had rewound itself.
Ye Shuang: "……"
"Right, go on," he said, addressing the girl who claimed to be Gu Wanqing’s cousin.
"Like I was saying earlier, my cousin had a terrible relationship with her uncle’s family. They abused her regularly." Gu Manman continued, "Her suicide… it’s definitely tied to them. If possible, I hope you can share this with the reporters."
"I see." Ye Shuang nodded.
Twenty minutes later…
"Thank you, school doctor. I feel much better after talking to you."
"Don’t mention it."
"I’ll head back now. Goodbye."
"Take care."
After she left, Ye Shuang stared at the countdown clock, baffled. What had just happened?
A hallucination?
Unlikely.
Time travel?
Since when did this thing have that kind of power?
But based on what had just occurred, Ye Shuang pieced together a few things—
The countdown clock seemed to function like a rechargeable battery. Once he entered that time-warping state, the clock would start moving forward again.
Once the hour hand struck twelve, he’d return.
"Haah… If this is real, what’s the point of such a short window?" Ye Shuang estimated that the time he’d spent climbing the stairs and talking to the girl was roughly ten minutes.
Ten minutes—could that really change anything?
No…
Ten minutes could.
Even if it was just calling his parents back then, telling them to leave two minutes later, or reassuring them not to come looking for him…
Ye Shuang’s entire body prickled with goosebumps.
It’s possible…
It’s possible…
He stood up, his breathing erratic as he paced back and forth in the infirmary, rubbing his hands together. His mind raced, replaying every detail to ensure he missed nothing.
"What’s wrong with you? You look insane." An Shiyu’s voice cut in from the side. She’d never seen him so unhinged before—like he’d lost his mind after that conversation.
Ye Shuang suddenly seemed to remember something and lunged at An Shiyu, gripping her shoulders.
"An Shiyu!"
"What the hell?!" She recoiled, her face flushing as she struggled against his hold before finally kicking him square in the stomach.
"Get a grip!"
Ye Shuang collapsed to the floor, laughing hysterically. "Hahahaha… If it’s really possible…"
"……" An Shiyu shot him a disgusted look and muttered something in dialect.
Then she added,
"So what if you were too slow to reach the rooftop? It’s not your fault. Why are you acting like a lunatic?"
Ye Shuang’s expression instantly stilled—so calm it was unsettling. He stared at her. "What… did you just say?"
"Huh?" An Shiyu frowned, wondering if his ears were malfunctioning too.
"Why are you acting like a lunatic?"
"No, before that…"
"You didn’t make it to the roof."
"I did!" Ye Shuang insisted.
"Tch, so you’re saying I misremembered?" An Shiyu gave him a deadpan look. "Weren’t you the one who just said you saw her fall from the window because you didn’t get there in time? Old man, are you senile?"
Ye Shuang fell silent.
He stood up, pulled out his chair, and sat down. The infirmary plunged into an eerie quiet.
"……" An Shiyu crossed her arms, studying him.
After witnessing his manic laughter followed by this deathly stillness, she couldn’t help but ask, "Old man… what’s wrong with you?"
"Let me ask you something," Ye Shuang suddenly said.
"Mm?"
"If someone travels back in time, changes something, and returns, would the future change?"
"Probably trigger the butterfly effect," An Shiyu mused.
The butterfly effect—where even the tiniest change could set off an enormous chain reaction.
"Then why hasn’t anything changed? Even though… Was it just a simulation?" Ye Shuang muttered to himself.
The emotional whiplash left him nauseous.
Just then, An Shiyu added, "But not necessarily. Maybe the future stays exactly the same."
"Why?" Ye Shuang blinked.
An Shiyu eyed him curiously, wondering why he’d suddenly taken an interest in this topic.
"Ever heard of the grandfather paradox?"
"If you go back in time and kill your grandfather, then your grandfather wouldn’t have your father, and your father wouldn’t have you. But if you were never born, how could you have traveled back to kill your grandfather in the first place?"
"So, the more widely accepted theory is that killing your grandfather would create a new timeline—like a branch sprouting from a tree. The original timeline you return to remains unchanged. Only the new one diverges."
Ye Shuang: "……"
So, does that mean nothing will change in the future?
No… wait, if a new timeline really emerges, even though my own future won’t change, my parents could have a new future—they could live well in another world.
An Shiyu’s words ignited a fire in Ye Shuang’s heart.
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
