Chapter 174
Ten minutes later, the battle ended.
"I lost! Are you a demon?!"
Pei Susu slammed her cards onto the coffee table and slumped back onto the sofa, completely abandoning her image, looking as limp as a boneless fish.
Her usually radiant eyes were now filled with despair as she glared at the man opposite her, who was wearing a dangerously sweet smile.
"Good game, Ms. Pei."
Gu Ran unhurriedly tapped the bamboo drawing tube and pushed it in front of Pei Susu.
"Accept your defeat and draw. Stop struggling, it's the last shred of dignity for a carbon-based lifeform."
Pei Susu reached out through gritted teeth, her movements as stiff as if she were defusing a bomb.
The moment her fingertips touched the bamboo stick, her heart skipped a beat, and a strong sense of impending doom welled up inside her.
On the card, a line of bold black text was particularly glaring:
Dare: Lock eyes affectionately with a person of the opposite sex in the room for 30 seconds. Rules: Distance must be less than 20cm. No laughing, no blinking, no looking away.
"..."
The air suddenly froze. The living room became so quiet that the humming of the refrigerator's compressor could be heard.
Pei Susu's hand, holding the card, trembled slightly. She mechanically turned her neck, locking her gaze onto Ye Jinliang beside her, who was holding half a can of cola with a "who am I and where am I" expression on his face.
"Pfft—"
Gu Ran couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking like a leaf.
He casually speared a piece of cantaloupe from the fruit platter, popped it into his mouth, and mumbled a finishing blow:
"Brilliant. What goes around comes around. This boomerang hit with pinpoint accuracy."
Beside them, Ye Zhenzhen covered her mouth, her peach-blossom eyes curving into crescents. Her shoulders bobbed up and down like a little hamster that had just stolen a treat.
Only Ye Jinliang was still completely out of the loop.
He blinked his rather small eyes in confusion, squeezing the cola can until it crackled. "Wha... what's wrong? You guys are laughing so much it's giving me the creeps. Should I leave...?"
"Don't you go anywhere." Gu Ran, always eager for more drama, pointed at Pei Susu. "Sit tight, don't move, and prepare to receive Ms. Pei's 'affectionate baptism'."
"Come on, Susu." Ye Zhenzhen immediately transformed into a ruthless timekeeping machine, staring at the wall clock ready to start. "The rules of the game are ironclad! Those were your exact words just a moment ago~"
Pei Susu took a deep breath and viciously glared at her best friend who was siding against her. "Ye Zhenzhen, you boy-crazy traitor!"
"I am not, no I'm not, stop talking nonsense..." Ye Zhenzhen muttered softly, her face reddening, but her determination to keep time remained unwavering. "Ready—"
Pei Susu accepted her fate.
She spun around suddenly, planted her hands on the edge of the sofa, and leaned her upper body right in, forcefully closing the distance between them to a dangerous sub-twenty centimeters.
"Look at me!"
This low shout carried a certain desperate, nothing-left-to-lose resolve.
Ye Jinliang jumped in fright, nearly spilling his cola.
He hurriedly slammed the can onto the coffee table and pressed his hands firmly against his knees, sitting as upright as an elementary school student receiving a scolding from the principal.
"L-look where?" he stammered, his eyes darting around wildly, completely afraid to focus.
"My eyes! Look at my eyes! Stop looking around!"
"Begin!" Gu Ran ordered.
The countdown started.
The air in the living room seemed to be instantly sucked dry, leaving only their two intertwined gazes.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
At first, Pei Susu looked at him with a "screw it, let's just get this awkward punishment over with" mentality.
Her gaze was fierce, carrying an intensity that looked ready to bore a hole straight through Ye Jinliang.
But as time ticked by, this intensity slowly began to crumble, replaced by a subtle, unprecedented panic.
It was too close.
So close that she could clearly see her own slightly bewildered reflection in Ye Jinliang's pupils.
Actually... looking closely, this chubby guy's features weren't ugly at all.
His skin was surprisingly good, fair and tender, flushed with a charmingly naive rosiness. His eyelashes were actually longer than many girls', fluttering gently with his breathing like two little brushes.
As for Ye Jinliang, he felt like his brain capacity was overloading; his mind was blaring with warning sirens.
Pei Susu's eyes were so big and sparkling, with curled lashes and a tiny bit of leftover glitter at the corners of her eyes, looking like stars that had fallen into a lake.
That faint citrus scent, mixed with her unique girlish fragrance, aggressively invaded his nose and rushed straight to the top of his skull through his bloodstream.
A wave of heat shot up from the base of Ye Jinliang's neck, instantly burning his entire face bright red. Even the tips of his ears were so red they looked like they might bleed.
He held his breath, his gaze starting to drift. He wanted to hide but didn't dare to move, looking as if his whole body was practically steaming.
"Don't move!"
Pei Susu seemed to notice his retreat and subconsciously snapped at him.
But her voice was soft and lacked any real threat; instead, it carried a hint of coquettishness that even she didn't realize.
To Ye Jinliang's ears, this voice was nothing short of a death warrant.
His heart pounded wildly in his chest like a beating drum, vibrating so hard his eardrums were buzzing.
"Why... why are you blushing?" Pei Susu looked at the large face in front of her that was as red as a baboon's butt. Her heart inexplicably softened a bit, and to cover up her own fluster, she deliberately mocked him, "It's only been fifteen seconds, can't you show a little spine?"
Prompted by this question, the string in Ye Jinliang's mind that had been stretched to its absolute limit finally snapped.
Extreme nervousness left his mind completely blank. His legs, which had been crossed on the sofa, were suddenly hit by an intense wave of numbness due to prolonged tension and accelerated blood circulation, feeling as if countless ants were gnawing at them.
"I... I'm not..."
He subconsciously tried to adjust his posture to relieve the numbness in his legs.
However, Murphy's Law exerted its most ruthless effect at this very moment.
The numbness made his lower half completely unresponsive, and combined with the softness of the sofa, Ye Jinliang lost his center of gravity. His upper body suddenly pitched forward.
"Holy shit!"
Accompanied by a cry of alarm, Ye Jinliang's nearly 160-pound frame plunged straight forward under the call of gravity.
Pei Susu's pupils quaked.
Given her usual temper, when faced with this kind of sudden "attack," her body's defense mechanism would normally be: lift leg, bend knee, knee to the groin—a silky smooth combo that would send the guy straight to meet his maker.
But at this moment, watching that flushed, terrified large face closing in, her defense system bizarrely... lagged.
Her brain straight up threw a 404 error.
There was no nutcracker kick, nor was there a shoulder throw.
Pei Susu subconsciously reached out both hands, not to push him away, but instinctively catching Ye Jinliang.
"Thud!"
A muffled thud echoed.
What was supposed to be a "car crash scene" froze into an incredibly ambiguous pose.
To avoid crushing Pei Susu, Ye Jinliang unleashed a staggering will to survive at the very last second. He planted one hand firmly against the back of the sofa right beside her, the veins on his arm bulging as he forcefully supported his own weight.
His entire body formed a textbook pinning-against-the-sofa pose.
Pei Susu, having absorbed part of the impact, was forced to lean her upper body back, sinking deeply into the soft cushion.
Their faces were barely two inches apart.
Their breaths mingled, the tips of their noses almost touching.
At that moment, time seemed to stand still.
Pei Susu could even make out the fine fuzz on his face, along with the cold sweat of lingering shock.
His burning breath washed over her face unreservedly, so hot it made her heart flutter.
Ye Jinliang's entire body went rigid. His eyes darted around wildly, but he absolutely dared not focus on the pretty face that was right in front of him.
If this were a comic book, steam would be sizzling out of the top of his head right now, complete with the whistling sound of a boiling kettle.
"..."
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
] [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!"
