"Brother... how could you do this?!" Liu Yuan pointed at the empty cup, her fingers trembling slightly.
"Did you really... drink both cups all by yourself?!"
The free milk tea!
The special straw!
Her romantic surprise!
All gone!
Su Qi watched as his sister's cheeks flushed red with anger, her expression resembling a puffed-up kitten. He leisurely wiped his mouth with a napkin.
With an utterly sincere tone, Su Qi remarked, "Hmm, it was pretty good. Just a bit too filling."
"......"
Liu Yuan felt a lump of frustration stuck in her chest, unable to rise or fall.
Was this about the taste?!
Was this about whether he was full or not?!
Ugh, just burst already...
She glared at Su Qi’s oblivious face, then at Yun Huang beside him, who was clearly struggling to hold back laughter.
With a pitiful "hmph," she turned her head away, wearing an expression that screamed, "I’m never talking to you again!"
Her small shoulders quivered slightly from anger.
Su Qi hadn’t expected his sister to react so strongly to his teasing...
He glanced at his data panel.
[Not every danger can be strolled through as casually as a walk in your own backyard.]
[True strength lies in power earned by oneself, not borrowed from another’s light.]
[Punishment Task: Collect 9,999 points of Joy within 24 hours as ‘protection fee.’]
[Optional Punishment Task: Embark on an... interesting adventure.]
So...
Given that his delightfully foolish—and point-rich—little sister was the only viable source...
If he wanted to gather 9,999 points in a day, he had no choice but to target her.
Hence, the earlier scene.
Su Qi might lack romantic experience, but he wasn’t actually dense enough to do something so ‘unbelievably stupid’ without reason.
"Brother... you did that on purpose!" Liu Yuan’s voice wavered with the threat of tears.
Su Qi had done it on purpose.
But would he admit it?
Clearly, he was bold in action but not in confession.
"Alright, alright." Su Qi reached out, intending to ruffle her hair as usual.
Liu Yuan dodged with lightning reflexes, evading his "claws" and shooting him a wary glare. "What?!"
His hand hovered mid-air, but he didn’t seem embarrassed. Instead, he smoothly withdrew it and gestured toward the door. "How about we head to the next spot?"
Liu Yuan pouted. Despite her anger, she hadn’t forgotten today’s plans.
She shot him one last glare, punctuated by a loud "hmph," signaling a temporary ceasefire.
But her expression made it clear: This isn’t over!
She latched onto Yun Huang’s arm, deliberately walking ahead and leaving Su Qi behind to emphasize her displeasure.
Her head drooped slightly, strands of hair veiling her profile, leaving only a sulky back-of-the-head visible.
Her shoulders continued to tremble, as if silently protesting her brother’s "tyranny."
Su Qi followed at a leisurely pace.
The afternoon sun was harsh, and the streets bustled with people.
Liu Yuan seemed to cool off a little, chattering animatedly to Yun Huang while occasionally glancing back to shoot Su Qi a sharp look—either checking if he was still there or continuing her silent condemnation.
Meanwhile, Su Qi pondered his next source of [Joy].
9,999 points. In one day.
The optional task mentioned an "interesting adventure."
Su Qi had little faith in the system’s idea of ‘interesting.’ Past experience told him that its version of ‘fun’ rarely aligned with his own.
So, the "protection fee" had to be paid.
But simply annoying Liu Yuan wasn’t efficient enough, and pushing her too far risked her actually ignoring him—which would backfire spectacularly.
Sensing the "pufferfish" had mostly deflated, Su Qi quickened his steps to catch up.
"Alright, don’t be mad." His voice softened slightly. "My bad."
Liu Yuan blinked, caught off guard.
Su Qi... actually apologized?
It wasn’t the most heartfelt apology, but still...
"Hmph!" She turned away again, though the tension in her face visibly eased.
"Next time, whatever you want to drink or eat," Su Qi continued casually, though his words carried weight, "just point it out. I’ll buy it for you."
Liu Yuan peeked at him from the corner of her eye.
Anything?
Really?
Her internal scales began to tip.
Sure, the free milk tea was gone... but in exchange, she could get anything she wanted? And, more importantly, it’d be bought by her brother...
Maybe... this wasn’t so bad?
After a long internal struggle, Liu Yuan finally succumbed to the temptation of "I’ll buy you anything."
In a small, reluctant mumble, she said, "You said it yourself..."
"Yeah." Su Qi agreed.
"No take-backs!"
"No take-backs."
Only then did Liu Yuan’s mood fully clear, though she couldn’t resist grumbling under her breath, "Brother’s such an idiot... He doesn’t get girls at all..."
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
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!
] [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!"
