As Christmas approached, Ye Shuang gave himself a few days off—or rather, Chen Qin quite straightforwardly told Ye Shuang to take a break. After all, the group's affairs, big and small, had now stabilized, and Ye Shuang didn't need to work so hard for the time being.
"Gurgle, gurgle—" The kettle beside him was steaming. Ye Shuang poured out hot water and made himself a cup of soy milk to drink.
Yu You and Keke had already gone to school. Ye Shuang, enjoying a rare day off, sat on the sofa resting, suddenly feeling a sense of boredom.
Even Yi Wan, curled up sleeping in the corner of the sofa, offered no response.
An empty-nester old Ye.
"Once you get busy, it seems you just can't stay idle. I used to love this kind of leisure so much," Ye Shuang couldn't help but think. Once you get used to a busy rhythm, it doesn't seem easy to return to this kind of life.
Back in that small, shabby apartment building, keeping each other warm with Bai Yuyou—that really did seem like an unforgettable experience.
"Might as well tidy up the house." Ye Shuang finished his soy milk in one go, stood up, and stretched his body, producing a series of cracking sounds.
He first went to the rooftop and took in all the laundry. Although there was a dryer at home, Ye Shuang preferred to hang clothes outside in the sun when possible. Besides, with the strong winds lately, the clothes dried quickly.
"Hmm?" Ye Shuang's gaze fell on a certain spot, as if noticing something. He took down a piece of underwear.
"This size... must be Keke's? She hasn't stayed over to shower recently..." Holding the underwear, Ye Shuang didn't dwell on it. After gathering all the clothes from the rooftop, he sorted and organized them.
Carrying the clothes belonging to Bai Yuyou and the others, Ye Shuang opened a bedroom door, then neatly hung all the clothes in the wardrobe.
Inadvertently, Ye Shuang noticed the desk nearby, which seemed to have some drawing paper and various pencils for sketching on it.
"Has Yu You been learning manga recently?" Ye Shuang had been quite busy for a while and hadn't entered Yu You's room.
And for some reason, Yu You had been giving off a strange vibe lately.
"Hmm..."
Ye Shuang reached out and picked up the girl's drawing paper, only to find a little dolphin drawn on it.
There were also some human figure sketches.
Ye Shuang looked for a while but ultimately put the drawing paper back down. If Bai Yuyou wanted to pursue an artistic path like music or painting, he was quite supportive. It suited the girl's temperament, and he didn't need to worry too much about the expenses.
He had a bit of money now.
Thinking that Bai Yuyou might become a musician or painter in the future, Ye Shuang couldn't help but nod in satisfaction. He then carefully arranged the drawing paper back to its original state.
He'd pretend he never saw it. Hopefully, that child would give him a nice surprise in a while.
After tidying up the house a bit more, Ye Shuang decided to go out for a walk.
"Where to go?"
"..."
Ye Shuang got into his little white sports car. Originally, he just wanted to drive around aimlessly, going wherever the road took him. But when he came to his senses, he found he had unconsciously driven to the gate of Yinshan Academy.
"Maybe I'm just born to work?" Ye Shuang slowly rolled down the car window and looked inside. Seeing the familiar main gate, he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
Though, being the school doctor for a day was actually quite comfortable for Ye Shuang.
Thinking this, Ye Shuang withdrew his gaze and drove straight into the academy's underground parking garage.
Skillfully slotting his car between two others, Ye Shuang locked the doors and took the elevator up.
As he was heading to the school clinic, Ye Shuang saw an old man walking towards him from afar. He looked somewhat surprised. "Old man."
"Oh, are you coming to work today?" Anshi Yilang noticed Ye Shuang and gave him a once-over. "Finally planning to put more effort into my little fish?"
"Uh, not really."
"What?!"
Seeing Anshi Yilang about to go into repeater mode, Ye Shuang immediately cut him off. "By the way, where is An Shiyu?"
"How should I know? I don't see her all week!" Anshi Yilang glared.
But then, crossing his arms, he changed his tone. "Hmph, but I guess you don't see her often either."
Me?
I see her almost every day.
After all, An Shiyu was always holed up in his office playing games, and she completed her work exceptionally well. Whether it was his illusion or not, he even felt Kou Kou had been bored to the point of dozing off lately.
Afraid of giving Anshi Yilang high blood pressure, Ye Shuang ultimately didn't mention these things. Instead, he brought up An Shiyu's condition. "That, old man, Little Fish's physical condition... isn't very good."
"Nonsense! Her recent check-up was perfectly healthy. Her heart function has been steadily recovering," Anshi Yilang immediately retorted.
"No, I mean the other one."
With that one sentence from Ye Shuang, Anshi Yilang instantly fell silent, his expression turning complex, as if something deep inside had been touched.
Seeing this, Ye Shuang was a bit puzzled. So, did he know about the issues with the hyperthymesia fish?
"Kid, you've got a sharp eye," Anshi Yilang said, his eyes complicated. He slowly turned around. "If it's convenient, come with me to the office."
"Hmm?" Realizing the old man seemed to have something to tell him, Ye Shuang quickly followed.
After arriving at the school board chairman's office, Anshi Yilang sat down in his office chair. He let out a long sigh, then scratched his head, as if struggling to find the words.
He repeated these motions for a good ten minutes.
Ye Shuang sat across from him, not rushing, just quietly waiting for Anshi Yilang to speak.
"Actually... sigh, where to even begin." Finally, Anshi Yilang seemed to give up. "How about... you ask me questions instead."
Seeing the old man seemingly trapped in endless entanglement, Ye Shuang slowly spoke up.
"Anything?"
"Most things."
"You once said An Shiyu particularly dislikes you because of something involving her parents. Why?" Ye Shuang asked. "And why do the two An Shiyus share an identity? Just to avoid exams? I find it very strange."
These were actually things Ye Shuang had long found odd, and they were also topics An Shiyu avoided discussing, as if they involved some secret.
Anshi Yilang hadn't expected Ye Shuang to ask this. He hesitated for a few seconds but still spoke. "This..."
Perhaps thinking of how Ye Shuang had once saved An Shiyu, Anshi Yilang continued,
"I did do something that made Little Fish deeply resent me. And this matter is also related to the other Little Fish."
"Since you've asked this far, I don't need to hide too much."
"Do you know about clone experiments?" Anshi Yilang's words made Ye Shuang freeze.
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?"
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.”
. 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!"
] [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!"
