Chapter 131
In the dimly lit bedroom, there was only the faint blue glow of the monitor.
Gu Ran's slender fingers hit the Enter key. After a brief loading spin, the App Store Connect backend interface popped up a string of green numbers.
Total Sales: $127,489.32
One hundred twenty-seven thousand dollars.
Based on the 2011 exchange rate, it was approaching nine hundred thousand RMB.
Gu Ran stared at the screen, his pupils slightly contracting, before he sank heavily into the back of his chair.
Nine hundred thousand.
In this wild era where smartphones were just beginning to rise, this wasn't just a string of numbers; it was his lever to pry open the future!
"Phew..."
He exhaled a breath of stale air. There was no anxiety of a corporate wage slave, only the thrill of a surging adrenaline rush.
He didn't have time to be intoxicated by it. He quickly opened a brand-new leather-bound notebook and began to plan his future business empire.
Making money was just the beginning; making waves was the goal.
Step one: register a company and recruit talent. Being a sole proprietor was small-time; only a professional army could topple the giants. A one-man band wouldn't cut it. Art and operations had to keep up... Maybe the English teacher, Li Sinan, could be a breakthrough?
Step two: copy... ahem, pay tribute to the classics.
As the saying goes, great minds think alike when it comes to good design, right?
Gu Ran's lips curled into a wicked smile, and his pen flew across the paper:
Project A: Fruit Ninja - The ultimate stress relief of multi-touch, slicing away all unhappiness. This thing could become so popular that even grandmas and grandpas would get addicted.
Project B: Subway Surfers - The culmination of 3D parkour, a future cash cow.
At this time, the Penguin Empire was still lying back and counting money from CF and DNF, completely looking down on the "petty profits" of mobile games. Not to mention, the popularization speed of smartphones in China wasn't exactly optimistic yet.
Who could have imagined that in less than three years, smartphones would sweep the globe like a virus?
This was the time difference.
By the time the giants turned around, he would already be the new giant.
"Ding-dong—"
The phone screen lit up, interrupting Gu Ran's ambition to top the Forbes list.
A QQ pop-up window. The avatar was a proud Ragdoll cat.
Note: [Dr. Ye].
This was the exclusive nickname he had just changed for Ye Zhenzhen.
[Dr. Ye: Are you asleep?]
This was followed by a meme: a cat frantically scratching a door with the text "Let me out."
Gu Ran's ambition instantly melted away, and he transformed back into the boy next door, even feeling a little urge to laugh.
[Gu Ran: Not yet, just finished counting money, my hands are sore.]
[Dr. Ye: ...You have everything in your dreams. Go to sleep early, in your dreams you can even be the richest man.]
[Gu Ran: Being the richest man is too tiring, I'd have to have meetings every day. My ideal is to be the man behind the richest man, or... let the richest man be my wife.]
In the next room.
Ye Zhenzhen was huddled under her air-conditioning blanket, exposing only a pair of bright, almond-shaped eyes.
Seeing the word "wife," her cheeks instantly burned hot. She subconsciously flipped her phone over onto her chest, her heart beating like a drum.
"Shameless..."
She muttered softly, but she couldn't suppress the corners of her mouth from rising.
They had put down the same university for their college applications, and for the past few days, it had just been the two of them at home.
This kind of ambiguous, push-and-pull atmosphere was even more scorching than the thirty-eight-degree summer heat.
The phone buzzed again.
[Gu Ran: Dr. Ye, tell me... if I had a million dollars, what should be the first thing I do?]
A million?
This dog was daydreaming again.
And what the hell was Dr. Ye?
[Dr. Ye: What the hell is "Dr. Ye"?]
[Gu Ran: This is a title of respect for a badass who dares to go straight from a bachelor's to a master's and Ph.D., studying for eight consecutive years!]
[Dr. Ye: Badass?]
[Gu Ran: A little bit more than just ruthless...]
Ye Zhenzhen rolled her eyes and typed rapidly:
[If I were a doctor, my advice to you would be to first go get your brain treated, and then go get your waist checked.]
After sending this, she tossed her phone aside and pulled the blanket over her head.
Sleep!
If they kept chatting, she would definitely suffer from insomnia tonight.
...
Gu Ran looked at the terminated chat, not annoyed at all, but smiling even deeper.
Treat his brain?
Check his waist?
Sure, he would go follow the doctor's orders. He was all about taking advice.
Mr. Lu Xun once said: Using the front door makes you a guest, climbing the balcony makes you a lover.
He put down his phone, stood up, pushed open the French doors, walked out onto the balcony, and arrived in front of the French doors next door.
Through the gap, he could see the warm yellow halo of the bedside lamp and the bulging "silkworm baby" on the bed.
He pressed his palm against the glass and gave it a gentle push.
The tracks slid smoothly, without any resistance.
Unlocked?
Gu Ran raised an eyebrow. This girl's security awareness was basically zero. It was a good thing she met a "house thief" like him; anyone else would have emptied the place long ago.
He slipped inside sideways and closed the window behind him, shutting out the cicadas' chirping from outside.
The room was well air-conditioned, and the air carried the unique fragrance of a young girl, like a faint scent of locust flowers.
Gu Ran lightened his footsteps, approaching the bed step by step.
Just then, the "silkworm baby" on the bed seemed to sense a murderous aura, violently throwing off the blanket and sitting up.
Four eyes met.
The air froze.
Ye Zhenzhen, wearing a loose cotton nightgown with messy hair, stared wide-eyed at the boy who had appeared out of thin air, her brain completely crashing.
"You..."
"Shh."
Gu Ran raised his index finger to his lips and crossed to the bed in a few strides.
He leaned over, resting his hands on either side of the girl, completely enveloping her in his shadow.
A standard "bed-pin."
Ye Zhenzhen instinctively tried to shrink back, but her retreat was blocked by the headboard. She could only watch helplessly as that handsome face drew closer and closer.
"Dr. Ye, I'm here for my follow-up."
"You just said I should get my brain treated."
Ye Zhenzhen: "???"
Gu Ran, are you sick in the head!!!
Just as their noses were about to touch, Gu Ran stared into her panicked eyes and slowly spoke:
"I think you're right."
"My mind is completely full of you right now. I'm definitely very sick."
Ye Zhenzhen: "!!!"
Definitely sick!
And very sick at that!!
Did this guy grow up soaking in a vat of grease?
He was way too cheesy!!!!
The next second, the young girl, bursting with embarrassment, suddenly sat up, re-established her sisterly authority, and delivered a righteous headbutt to the younger boy who didn't know his place.
"Thump!"
A muffled sound.
Gu Ran was stunned at first. Before he could react while clutching his forehead, a pillow carrying the girl's scent flew right at his face.
"Holy crap, woman, you're playing with fire!"
"I was wrong, I was wrong, good sister, I'm leaving now..."
"I'm never seeing a doctor again, you quack!"
.......
After kicking the illegal intruder out, Ye Zhenzhen locked the balcony door with a "click."
She slid down to sit against the balcony door, hugging her knees. Her heart was trembling wildly, and her face was as red as a ripe tomato.
She felt like things couldn't go on like this.
Gu Ran, that dog, his obvious intentions were becoming known to everyone, and she... seemed to be losing her grip more and more.
But when she heard the cursing and grumbling coming from next door, she couldn't help but burst into a laugh on her tense little face.
She rolled her eyes charmingly toward the next room.
"Pfft, idiot!"
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
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.”
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
