Chapter 311
Steam rose from the private hot spring.
Ye Zhenzhen stared at the water surface, quietly inching toward the edge of the pool.
Gu Ran caught sight of the girl's movement and found it amusing.
This girl's sense of shame really came and went in waves.
They soaked without bothering each other for a long time. Ye Zhenzhen casually picked up a "drink" from the poolside and began sipping it. Before long, she felt her head growing heavier and heavier.
Her limbs turned as limp as noodles, becoming soft and weak, and her body began uncontrollably sliding down into the water.
Gu Ran let out a helpless sigh, stepped forward, and scooped up the girl who had nearly turned into a drowned cat.
"Ye Zhenzhen, wake up. We need to go."
"Soak any longer, and you'll be drinking your own bathwater here."
Although Ye Zhenzhen's brain was nearly fried, she was stubborn as ever, especially with her mouth.
"Stop talking nonsense. I just need a moment to adjust to this temperature. I could soak another half hour no problem. And also..."
The girl raised her rosy, delicate face and shot him a sharp glare.
"Show some respect. Call me sister!"
Those words were so familiar. He hadn't heard them in a while and even missed them a little.
Gu Ran smirked.
Forget it. No point arguing with a fool.
The young man half carried, half supported the person in his arms as he slowly walked toward the pool's edge.
"Fine, sis. Really, we have to hurry. If we don’t leave soon, you might end up camping in the pool tonight."
Ye Zhenzhen felt as if she were walking on cotton, her legs too weak to support her, forcing her to lean on the person beside her.
"Nonsense! I'm perfectly clear-headed. Let go of me. I want to stay and keep soaking!"
Despite her words, her body honestly followed the young man's steps, not falling behind at all.
Gu Ran looked at her face, as red as a ripe tomato, and began teasing her mercilessly.
"With your weak constitution—barely level five on a good day—if you soak another five minutes, I'll have to carry back a dried fish specimen."
Hearing this, Ye Zhen glared at him indignantly.
Such a decent person cursed with such a sharp tongue.
Hmph.
Bastard!
The two reached the shore and were about to put on their bathrobes and open the door when a familiar voice drifted in from outside.
"This private spring really helps with the fatigue, but the water's a bit too hot."
It was Gu Xiangcheng's voice!
"Exactly. I wonder how Xiao Ran and Zhenzhen are doing. Want to go check on them?"
Ye Shulian's voice followed right after.
Ye Zhenzhen snapped awake for a second, terrified, and pressed her whole body hard against the heavy wooden door, not daring to breathe.
Outside, Gu Xiangcheng, in a rare moment of enlightenment, quickly responded.
"Young people have their own circles. Let's not butt in. Let's go back to the room—we have important business to attend to."
Gu Ran didn't catch the last part, but Ye Shulian did. She blushed and scolded him coquettishly.
"You! Saying things like that in public—so improper ~"
As they talked, the couple moved closer to their room. Inside, Ye Zhenzhen looked like she'd had too much to drink.
Overwhelmed by the stress of the situation and the high indoor temperature, her already fuzzy mind completely shut down.
Just as she was about to pass out from holding her breath, Ye Zhenzhen lifted her head in a daze.
Her eyes glazed over, fixed on Gu Ran, who stood only inches away. She began to ramble.
"Huh? Gu 'Dog' Ran, have you been sneaking fertilizer behind my back? Why have you suddenly shot up in height?"
"And so fast!"
The girl exaggerated wildly, her eyes widening along with her words.
Gu Ran was so amused by her bizarre train of thought that he let out a frustrated laugh.
“Ye Zhenzhen, what kind of junk is packed in that brain of yours? What the hell, growing taller by eating fertilizer?”
Ye Zhenzhen reached out a finger and poked the tip of his nose in the air.
“You didn’t just grow taller—you grew two heads and four eyes!”
The footsteps outside suddenly paused.
“Lao Gu, did you hear something in there?”
Ye Zhenzhen was so startled she clamped her mouth shut, her eyes wide as brass bells.
Gu Ran lowered his voice, leaning in to whisper in her ear.
“Keep it up, and Aunt Ye will bust that door down. Then we’ll really be ‘stark naked’ in front of the elders.”
Gu Xiangcheng outside waved a hand.
“What noise? Probably the water. Come on, let’s head back and get our big thing done.”
The footsteps finally faded away.
Gu Ran was both speechless and amused—this girl could still curse even in this state.
Looking at her dazed expression, he decided to be the bigger person and let it slide.
Taking one for the team, he figured.
He scooped up Ye Zhenzhen, who kept slipping down, and shook his head helplessly.
“Ye Zhenzhen, you’re the only one in the world who can get drunk from a hot spring.”
Wait... drunk?
The thought hit him, and the young man finally realized—where was his cocktail?
Gu Ran turned to look at the corner by the pool. A glass lay quietly there, already empty.
Gu Ran: “...”
When did this little girl sneak a drink? He hadn’t noticed a thing. A rookie mistake!
He’d specifically asked for that drink to be stronger, meant to help him relax and sleep well.
No wonder she was this dizzy...
He poked the drunken girl in his arms and asked with a laugh.
“Ye Zhenzhen, why’d you steal my drink? Putting anything in your mouth—aren’t you afraid of trouble?”
Ye Zhenzhen squinted. “Who stole it? It was sitting right there. If you dare put it out, you dare let me drink it?”
Gu Ran shook his head, thinking, you really can’t argue with an idiot—especially a drunk one.
After listening carefully to make sure Gu Xiangcheng was far away,
Gu Ran grabbed a big bathrobe, wrapped her up tightly, and hoisted her into a princess carry.
Holding her in his arms, he nimbly opened the door, checked again, then snuck off through the elevator on the other side.
The girl in his arms curled up obediently, blinking as she started to complain.
“Gu ‘Dog’ Ran, your eyes are spinning in circles—they’re making me dizzy...”
Gu Ran frowned, his tone laced with mock disgust.
“In your state right now, you can’t even tell north from south. Close your eyes and rest.”
Ye Zhenzhen wriggled in protest in his arms.
“Nonsense! I can hold my liquor, I never get drunk. Put me down, I’ll walk a straight line for you!”
Gu Ran tightened his grip, afraid this little terror might fall.
“Yeah, yeah, you can walk a straight line—you can fly up and walk side by side with the sun. Just shut up and rest a bit.”
He secretly cursed himself for not pulling out his phone to record this for blackmail material, something he could play on loop for her later.
As the elevator doors opened, Gu Ran carried her quickly back to the room.
Back in the spacious suite, the young man carefully tucked her into the soft bed.
He adjusted the air conditioner, brought over some warm water, and fed her in small sips like a kitten.
“Drink slowly, no one’s racing you.”
Ye Zhenzhen gulped down half a glass of water and let out a long, satisfied sigh.
Gu Ran reached out and felt her forehead, confirming that the fever had gone down. The dizzy sensation Ye Zhenzhen felt, like she was "drunk on oxygen," had faded quite a bit.
But since she was still drunk, the dizziness lingered.
"Feeling better? Still warm?"
Ye Zhenzhen rubbed her eyes. As she adjusted back to the room temperature, she became a bit more sober.
"Much better, Gu 'Dog' Ran~ I'm a little hungry~"
Soaking in the hot spring had indeed been tiring. Gu Ran ordered room service, asking for some light rice porridge and small snacks.
They pulled a small table onto the bed, ate everything quickly, and the girl patted her little belly with satisfaction.
After eating, her mind was much clearer. She simply ignored the awkward things she had just done.
"The food at this mountain resort is pretty good. You really know how to pick a place~"
Gu Ran tidied up the table swiftly and, without a fuss, pulled the still-grumbling girl into his arms.
"Now that you're full and warm, time to sleep, right?"
Ye Zhenzhen leaned into his embrace and, with practiced ease, found a comfortable position.
"Sleep? Fine, you're so naggy."
Gu Ran was taken aback for a second but didn't snap back. He silently tightened his arms around her.
Holding each other, they drifted off into a deep sleep amid the quiet of the night.
......
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
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.
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
