"Can the medication really not be developed within these few months?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. An Shi, we’re already doing our best in the research… but Miss An Shiyu’s condition is inherently complex. A heart transplant would be the best solution, but relying solely on medication is just too difficult," the researcher in the white lab coat sighed.
"And as you know, Miss An Shiyu wasn’t expected to live past 16 in the first place… her current state is already far beyond expectations."
Facing the researcher’s answer, the gaunt old man standing before him had reddened eyes but still rubbed his wrinkled hands together. "You may go for now. I hope there’ll be some good news."
"Understood."
After the researcher left, Anshi Yilang sat in his office chair, lost in thought. He took out his phone—the wallpaper showed a family photo. A short-haired girl was being held by a pair of young parents, all smiling brightly.
"Ah…" Anshi Yilang sighed, only to suddenly hear a sound from the office door.
"I’m not seeing anyone today. Whatever it is, we’ll discuss it this afternoon."
"It’s me." The voice outside was all too familiar.
Hearing this, Anshi Yilang slowly snapped out of his daze. "Come in."
The office door opened, and a short-haired girl walked in—her hands in her pockets, her face tanned as if sunburnt, with even white streaks visible on her bare shoulders.
"You… got tanned?" Anshi Yilang asked.
"Yeah. Had a lot of fun," An Shiyu replied, then noticed the bloodshot eyes of the old man. She spoke plainly, "The medication… wasn’t developed, was it?"
"...No." The word barely escaped Anshi Yilang’s throat.
An Shiyu wasn’t surprised. She smiled faintly and said, "Let’s stick to the original plan, then. Here—"
She pointed at her chest.
"Mine is fine."
"No. Xiaoyu would never agree." Anshi Yilang shook his head. "Because of what happened to your parents, that child still hasn’t fully forgiven me…"
An Shiyu simply said, "This is the best solution. After all…"
"Isn’t this the reason I exist?"
"You’re my granddaughter too!" Anshi Yilang’s voice rose sharply, his emotions flaring.
"Well, I know. But this is enough." An Shiyu seemed to smile at his words.
"Today is my tenth birthday."
"So… you know what that means, right?"
Anshi Yilang: "…"
He fell silent, as if he had long known the answer.
"Every part of me ages faster than a normal person’s. Except for this one…" An Shiyu touched her chest but didn’t finish her sentence.
She turned around slowly and placed her hand on the doorknob.
As she opened the door, she suddenly glanced back, as if making a request.
"If you truly want to keep one of us… please decide quickly."
"Grandpa."
The door closed gently behind her. Watching it, Anshi Yilang slumped into his chair, looking as though he had aged ten years in an instant.
"Why did it have to come to this…" He covered his face in agony, the sound of his labored breaths the only noise in the room.
……
……
"Beep beep—"
"Honk honk—"
The congested highway was crawling with cars moving at a snail’s pace.
"Wow, why is there traffic on the highway too?" A voice came from the backseat. Tang Keke pressed her face against the window, seeing nothing but an endless line of vehicles ahead and behind them.
"It’s summer vacation. Traffic jams on highways aren’t unusual," Ye Shuang said, though the navigation system beside him indicated construction ahead. In situations like this, lanes were likely narrowed, slowing everything down.
Or maybe there was an accident.
"Alright, but at least it’s not the Spring Festival travel rush. That would be terrifying." Tang Keke recalled last year’s pre-Lunar New Year chaos—a sudden cold snap had left countless people stranded on highways for an entire week.
Some were even driving those tiny electric cars with barely 100-200 kilometers of range. Once stuck, they could only wait for rescue.
Then again, even rescue vehicles couldn’t get through.
"More and more people own cars now. Back when I was learning to drive, the roads were wide and parking spaces weren’t even marked," Ye Shuang chuckled. "It’s not a bad thing, really. Just that navigation wasn’t as convenient back then. If you got lost near a highway exit, there used to be professional ‘direction guides’ waiting to help."
"But as technology advanced, free navigation apps appeared, and those guides vanished overnight."
Ye Shuang instinctively glanced at the rearview mirror, his gaze landing on the girl in the backseat. A thought crossed his mind—if Bai Yuyou had been confined for so many years, even as an adult, emerging after a decade would make the world feel completely different, wouldn’t it?
When time stands still for you, it doesn’t take long to realize you’ve been left behind by an entire era.
"Hm." Bai Yuyou seemed to notice Ye Shuang watching her through the mirror and responded with a cute peace sign.
Ye Shuang smiled, then turned his attention back to the road. A thought struck him.
"Now that you’re both adults, why not get your driver’s licenses this summer?"
"Driver’s license?"
"Yeah. Learn how to drive," Ye Shuang said.
"Oh right, I can get my license now!" Tang Keke tugged at Bai Yuyou’s sleeve. "Yuyou, let’s sign up together!"
"Drive?" Bai Yuyou tilted her head.
"Yeah."
"No…"
"Huh? Why not?" Tang Keke blinked.
Bai Yuyou answered very seriously, "If I learn to drive… I can’t sit in the car with Ye Shuang anymore."
"You really are clingy, huh?" Tang Keke couldn’t help but laugh—this was such a Bai Yuyou-like response.
"I can sit in the passenger seat," Ye Shuang offered with a grin.
"Okay." Bai Yuyou nodded.
"Wait, you agree just because he can sit next to you?!"
……
Despite the traffic crawling at 30 km/h, Haizhu City and Heshan were close—only about a hundred kilometers apart—so they arrived in Heshan’s urban area fairly quickly.
"Let’s switch to the national highway. The expressway’s a lost cause right now."
Ye Shuang exited early and changed routes.
"Keke’s hometown… looks a lot like Haizhu City," Bai Yuyou murmured, gazing at the high-rises outside the window.
"Not really! This is Heshan’s downtown area. My actual hometown is in Laixu, Gonghe Town," Tang Keke pulled out her phone and showed Bai Yuyou the map.
"It’s a small town with really beautiful scenery."
"I just checked—there’s a scenic spot nearby too. Let’s stop by later," Ye Shuang added as he drove.
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
. 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!"
【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.)
esick Sect? Well, at least it's considered a respectable orthodox sect. Wait a minute— What kind of vibe are you all giving off? Shouldn’t this be a love-struck, romance-obsessed sect? Why does everyone here sound more like demonic cultivators? "Master, today he’s getting married. This disciple wishes to descend the mountain and crash the wedding, then toy with him to death right in front of his wife..." "Elder, I only got into your sect through connections, so why won’t you teach me anything?" "Because I also became an elder through connections." Thankfully, Su Ji was just an outer sect labor disciple. Surely, nothing too crazy would— "Junior Brother, you’ve broken through to Qi Refining. Once you sever your useless spiritual root, you can officially become an outer sect disciple." "The Great Dao is merciless. Don’t let a worthless spiritual root waste your essence and spirit, hindering your cultivation." Is this really the Lovesick Sect? ... Three years later, Su Ji sat in the seat of the Lovesick Sect’s sect master, sighing with emotion. His rise to this position all started when his junior sister adamantly insisted on preserving his "spiritual root." "Mmm... Senior Brother, what’s our relationship now?" "Stop talking. Keep going." "By the way, that newly promoted top-tier sect—didn’t they come to buy our Love Beans?" "One top-grade spirit stone per Love Bean—is that really so expensive?" "I suspect they’ve eaten too many Love Beans." "Now they’re lovesick." Well, this really is the Lovesick Sect after all.
