Chapter 255
Pushing open the glass door of the "Starry Sky Private Cinema" covered with dark explosion-proof film.
A blast of air mixed with cheap aromatherapy, the cloying burnt sweetness of popcorn, and an indescribable dampness hit them in the face.
Falling from the bright and sunny afternoon into this purplish-red, hazy room.
Ye Zhenzhen subconsciously narrowed her eyes, and the grip of her hand tightened a bit more.
Her nails almost dug into Gu Ran's arm.
This place...
Why didn't it look like a proper place to watch a movie?
Behind the counter, a middle-aged boss with a greasy face wearing a loose floral shirt was slouched in a swivel chair.
Holding a phone in his hands, he stared at the screen with a sleazy gaze, giggling foolishly.
Hearing the door open, the boss didn't even lift his eyelids, his voice lazy.
"Private room or the main hall? Main hall is fifty, private rooms start at one hundred and twenty, extending the time costs extra."
The young man didn't rush to answer, scanning this so-called "dating holy land."
A few movie posters with curled edges were pasted on the wall.
Avatar and Twilight occupied the center spots.
But under this pinkish-purple lighting filter, even proper posters revealed an improper ambiguity.
The boss waited for a long time without hearing a sound.
Only then did he reluctantly put down his phone and look up.
Those eyes, squeezed into slits by fat, instantly lit up.
Whoa!
These girls were gorgeous!
One was as cold and pure as snow, the other as hot as fire.
Jia Baoyu was right, women are indeed made of water.
Especially eighteen-year-old college girls, that tender skin...
The boss secretly labeled the four of them in his mind.
His originally slouched posture immediately straightened up.
He revealed the greasy smile of a "guy who knows what's up."
Then he dug out a catalog from under the counter.
"How many of you students together?"
The boss chuckled, his gaze darting between Gu Ran and Ye Jinliang.
"It's high noon, and I just happen to have two 'Cozy Round Bed Rooms' available!"
"The soundproofing is absolutely top-notch, the sound system kicks ass, and I guarantee no one will disturb you."
"Who cares about beds!"
In order to show off his manly "I'm here to seriously watch a movie" aura in front of Pei Susu, Ye Jinliang stepped forward first, slamming his large hand on the counter, making the catalog jump.
He shouted at the top of his lungs.
"We want the one with the biggest screen! The most explosive sound system! We want that immersive, hair-raising feeling, understand?"
The boss froze, giving him a weird look.
Was this chubby kid truly innocent, or was he just pretending to be a badass?
Coming to a private cinema and asking for a big screen and explosive sound?
You might as well go sit in the front row of a regular movie theater.
A few other guys around them, who were holding their girlfriends waiting for rooms, also cast teasing glances.
Ye Zhenzhen noticed the atmosphere was off, her ears turning completely red from embarrassment.
She kept her head down, shrinking behind Gu Ran.
Gu Ran remained calm, reaching back to hold the young girl's cold little hand.
His thumb gently rubbed the back of her hand.
"Ugh, don't listen to his nonsense."
Pei Susu pushed Ye Jinliang aside, rolling her eyes in disgust.
She took the catalog, her fingers quickly swiping past the romance and comedy films.
Finally, she stopped at the "Thriller & Suspense" section.
"These lovey-dovey ones are too boring."
Pei Susu bit her lip, a flash of excitement in her eyes.
"Boss, do you have anything really thrilling? Preferably the kind that will scare someone so much they can't sleep for nights."
The corners of the boss's mouth twitched.
Were college girls these days playing this wild?
He pointed to a few posters for domestic thrillers.
"These are pretty good, like Mysterious Island, lots of pretty girls, loud screaming, especially suitable for... ahem, suitable for deepening your bond."
The boss's suggestive winks were completely wasted on her.
"No way, domestic ones are lame."
Ye Jinliang leaned in again.
"If we're going to watch, we want the fiercest! The original Japanese versions, or Thai ones, the hardcore stuff that makes people wet their pants, do you have any?"
The boss: "..."
Where did these weirdos come from?!
Did they actually come here to watch a proper movie?
He took a deep breath, bent down, and rummaged through the bottom drawer of the counter for a good while.
Finally, he pulled out a dusty black disc case.
"Here, the uncut original Japanese version of Ju-On: The Grudge, my personal collection. I don't usually let just anyone watch it, afraid they'll get psychological trauma and come back asking for compensation."
On the cover, a pale little boy with dark circles around his eyes was crouching at the corner of a staircase.
His hollow eyes seemed to pierce right through the glass, directly poking at a person's soul.
Ye Zhenzhen only took one look, and her physiological fear instantly erupted.
Her pretty little face turned even whiter than the ghost kid on the cover.
She gripped Gu Ran's sleeve tightly, her voice carrying a hint of a sob.
"Gu Ran... let's go, I don't want to watch, I want to go home..."
Gu Ran looked at the young girl's pitiful appearance, comforting her softly on the surface, while inwardly feeling completely unyielding.
"Sigh, since we're already here..."
"Look how excited they are. If we leave now, it'd be such a buzzkill."
He leaned close to the girl's ear, his hot breath tickling her neck.
"Don't worry, I'm here. If you get scared, just close your eyes, and I'll hold you."
"I don't need you to hold me!"
The aloof girl's entire body went soft, except for her stubborn mouth.
But those hands tightly wrapping around the young man's arm betrayed her true thoughts.
Gu Ran smiled, ignoring the girl's struggles.
He pulled some cash from his wallet and, with a flick of his fingers, slapped it on the counter.
"Boss, open two 'Supreme VIP' rooms for us, the quietest ones at the end of the hall."
The boss was about to agree, but then Gu Ran caught sight of a certain item.
He then let out a dry cough and added:
"And... make sure the 'amenities' are fully stocked. We're watching a movie, after all, the most important thing is to enjoy ourselves."
"..."
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.
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
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."
