The clamor inside the venue continued to surge, refusing to settle.
On the screen, the glaring "9,326 points" hung like an insurmountable monument, weighing heavily on everyone.
Yet, all this commotion seemed irrelevant to Liu Yuan, who stood quietly in the corner.
Leaning against the cold wall, she kept her head slightly lowered, her long lashes casting faint shadows beneath her eyes.
Words like "record," "top scorer," "domination," and "clown" drifted into her ears but failed to stir even the slightest ripple in her heart.
Her world, at this moment, was unusually still.
Her fingers glided lightly across her phone's smooth screen, unlocking it. The glow illuminated her delicate face.
She ignored the flood of news notifications about the martial exam.
Instead, she went straight to Yuanxin and tapped on the pinned name at the top.
[Iris: I’m done with the test! Are you busy, brother? Can I come find you~?]
Send.
Then she stayed like that, motionless, staring at the screen, her fingertips absently tracing the edge of her phone.
Someone passed by, waving their arms excitedly while discussing with a classmate: "Did you see that? Nineteen thousand kilograms! My god, is that even human?"
Liu Yuan paid no attention, her gaze fixed on the screen, waiting for the familiar avatar to light up with a new message.
She didn’t care who the top scorer was or who broke the record.
She only cared about one person’s whereabouts.
The screen flickered slightly.
Almost instantly, her eyes caught the new notification.
[IWantToSleep: I’m in Rest Area B, by the window.]
The corner of Liu Yuan’s lips lifted—just a fraction, so slight it was almost imperceptible—yet it melted away the faint coolness in her expression.
Her beautiful eyes brightened, shimmering with tiny sparks of light.
Liu Yuan immediately pocketed her phone and straightened up.
Her movements were swift and precise, without a trace of hesitation.
She strode toward Rest Area B.
Navigating through the noisy crowd, she dodged someone who nearly bumped into her while gesturing wildly.
"Hey, did you see—?"
The person tried to share their excitement, but Liu Yuan simply sidestepped with a soft "Excuse me," never breaking her stride.
The speaker blinked, watching her retreating figure, then muttered, "Weirdo. Doesn’t even care about Jiangxia’s big celebration..."
The sign for Rest Area B grew clearer as she approached.
She could already make out a faint silhouette by the window.
Compared to the bustling corridors, this area was noticeably quieter.
A few examinees who had finished early sat scattered around—some looked tense, others whispered among themselves, while a few still buzzed about Yun Huang’s record-breaking performance.
Liu Yuan didn’t pause. Her eyes swept across the room.
By the window...
Her gaze skipped over empty seats, past figures hunched over their phones or resting with closed eyes.
Then—she stopped.
The sunlight by the window was bright, outlining the profile of a young man.
He lounged casually against the back of his seat, one arm draped over the empty space beside him, his head slightly tilted as if dozing.
The light traced clean, sharp lines along his features.
The moment she spotted him, her steps quickened—from a walk to a jog, then almost a sprint, as if carried by the wind.
A faint creak of the chair.
Su Qi, who had indeed been on the verge of sleep, suddenly felt a soft figure crash into him.
The impact nearly toppled him backward, chair and all.
Luckily, his reflexes kicked in—his hands braced against the armrests, barely steadying himself.
Warmth pressed against his chest, carrying the faint, sweet scent of a girl.
The person in his arms buried herself against him, her arms locked tightly around his waist, her face hidden in his chest. Though he couldn’t see her expression, he could feel it—dependency?
Su Qi raised a hand and patted her back lightly.
"You’re back."
His voice was rough with sleep but laced with a trace of gentleness.
Liu Yuan didn’t answer. Instead, she nuzzled deeper into him, as if trying to press her cheek even closer.
He didn’t say anything else, letting her hold him.
The position was a little awkward, but it was warm.
After about half a minute, Liu Yuan’s grip loosened slightly, though her arms remained wrapped around him.
Few people were in the rest area. Some glanced over curiously but soon looked away.
Liu Yuan tilted her head up to look at Su Qi. In her bright eyes, only his reflection remained.
"I just... finished the test and suddenly missed you."
Her voice was soft.
The sunlight outside slanted in, wrapping the two of them in a warm, golden glow.
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
transmigrates into the role of a villainous rich second-generation kid in an urban fantasy novel, and gets bound to a god-tier choice system. Right at the start, he catches the female lead stealing exam papers! This triggers the villain's choice options! [Choice 1: Pretend you didn't see anything] [Choice 2: Loudly call her out, drawing everyone's attention] [Choice 3: ...] And thus, a twisted villain is born. To avoid getting killed by the protagonist, he has no choice but to take down all the protagonists first. Jiang Che: Nobody understands being twisted better than me!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
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!
