Chapter 9
Her back was perfectly straight, her hair tied up in a high ponytail. Her small hands were casually tucked into her jacket pockets, and her school uniform pants were crisp and wrinkle-free.
That fair, delicate face bore a meticulous expression, as if she treated even every step she took with the utmost seriousness.
It had to be said, being beautiful really made a difference. Even the dowdy school uniform looked like a runway piece from Fashion Week when she wore it.
Gu Ran's gaze swept down from top to bottom, finally resting on the cotton socks peeking out between her pant cuffs and her size 36 little white shoes.
Beneath those pristine white cotton socks, there should be... a pair of exquisite, petite feet?
His mind unconsciously conjured up images of toes like tender lotus roots, naturally unfurled, with plump toe pads, slender digits, and insteps as smooth as jade...
This outfit completely hit his XP.
Ahem, the computer operating system, of course...
As these enchanting images slowly unfolded in his mind, he quickly shook his head, tossing those messy thoughts to the back of his mind.
Watching Ye Zhenzhen walk further and further away, his eyes still couldn't help but follow those gently swaying little feet.
No, no, no!
He was absolutely not a pervert and didn't have any weird hobbies. He hurriedly retracted his disobedient gaze and silently recited the Gu Family Swordplay in his heart to calm himself down.
How could a true man, born between heaven and earth, remain depressed and subservient to others for long?!
With no women in the heart, one's swordsmanship naturally becomes masterful.
He silently chanted the swordplay mantra in his mind:
First stance: Forget the one you love;
Second stance: Sever the soul of infatuation;
Third stance: Draw the sword to slay the god of love;
Fourth stance: Wave a hand to extinguish the mortal realm's desires...
All the way to the tenth stance: Return to me my free self!!!
On the way to the cafeteria, Ye Zhenzhen was full of anxiety, thinking about the meeting with her stepfather's family the day after tomorrow.
Hearing her mother mention this morning that her soon-to-be stepfather actually had a son filled her with even more unease and fear regarding her future.
Although she usually only loved reading, she would occasionally be dragged by classmates to watch anime, so her imagination was by no means lacking.
Now, the words stepfather and stepbrother had become heavy burdens in her heart.
Especially after hearing that her stepfather's son was around her age, the tension in her heart grew even stronger.
She had to admit that she was indeed very popular with boys.
From childhood to adulthood, the number of times she had been confessed to was countless.
It was only when she reached high school that she started learning to maintain an icy expression to avoid awkwardness.
But even so, requests to add her on QQ, asking for her phone number, passing notes, and delivering love letters continued to emerge endlessly.
She worried that once she moved into her stepfather's house, his son might develop feelings for her. This could lead her stepfather to mistakenly believe she was seducing his son and distracting him from his studies.
This worry strengthened her resolve: once the college entrance exams were over, she would no longer live at home.
After all, with her mother remarrying, she didn't want to become a burden to her, much less cause any problems while living under someone else's roof.
As the girl in the distance gradually walked further away, Gu Ran finished practicing his mental swordplay, and his eyes regained their clarity.
He turned to Ye Jinliang, who was staring just as intently, and said, "What are you still looking at? Never seen a woman before? Let's go, time to eat!"
Ye Jinliang: "......"
He was somewhat speechless, forced to admire Gu Ran's ability to act so self-righteous and serious the very next second after practically having his eyeballs glued to someone else.
Absolutely unreal!
The two quickly went to a restaurant at the school entrance to grab a bite, and then Gu Ran returned to the classroom to start a new round of studying.
Armed with the ultimate weapon, the memory of the college entrance exam papers, he readjusted his plans.
He decided to do targeted studying at school during the day and go home to write code at night.
For the very first game he was going to create, after filtering through his memories, he tentatively settled on "Temple Run".
This game had simple original art, novel gameplay, and was immensely popular, making it perfect for building his reputation.
Although it seemed relatively simple from a modern perspective, in the upcoming era of the mobile gaming market, it would be an absolutely mind-blowing phenomenon.
The person who designed this game was an absolute genius, cleverly utilizing the smartphone's built-in gyroscope, which not only enriched the gameplay but also started a whole new trend.
Moreover, the code for this game wasn't complicated; he could handle it entirely on his own.
Aside from the original artwork and voice acting, which he would need to outsource, he was fully capable of doing all the remaining work.
If push came to shove, he could even bite the bullet and do the art and voice acting himself.
While it might not be as exquisitely polished, as a programmer with over a decade of experience, writing code wasn't the only thing he knew how to do.
The reason he dabbled in such a wide range of skills was, of course, thanks to his exploitative boss from his previous life, who had cleverly come up with the "345" work method.
On the surface, this method seemed like a pay raise, but in reality, it was a disguised form of exploiting the employees.
Three people doing the work of five, but only getting paid the salary of four.
The boss saved on payroll, and while the employees technically got a raise, their working hours became much longer, requiring them to work overtime every single day.
However, in an increasingly competitive work environment, employees rarely got off work early anyway, so they figured it was better to at least earn some practical overtime pay.
Recalling his work experience from his previous life, Gu Ran couldn't help but smile and shake his head. He sighed, acknowledging that his skinflint boss was quite the talent, and wondered if he should introduce this "excellent" working method once he founded his own company.
From hating the boss, to understanding the boss, and finally becoming the boss, this was probably the trilogy of a successful person...
......
For the entire afternoon, Gu Ran sat as steadily as Mount Tai in his seat, studying diligently.
Whether it was during class or between periods, no matter how noisy his surroundings got, it didn't affect him in the slightest. His main vibe was absolute tranquility.
The teachers of various subjects also let him do as he pleased, as long as he didn't disturb the others.
However, his uncharacteristically focused behavior today caught the attention of several people, including his homeroom teacher and his English teacher.
Hao Cuiyun stood at the back door, looking through the glass window. Seeing Gu Ran break from his usual habits to sit quietly and study, she couldn't help but nod, feeling deeply gratified.
Meanwhile, the English teacher, Li Sinan, conducted an in-class pop quiz.
When she walked up to Gu Ran's desk to check on him, she knew that he usually wouldn't even pick up his pen to answer the questions.
But to her surprise, she found that not only was Gu Ran writing furiously, but everything he was writing was in English.
It was just that... it looked like a complete mess...
Pieces of white paper, scribbled with lines of code, were haphazardly piled up on the desk next to him.
Since Gu Ran didn't have a desk mate and the seat next to him was empty, that desk had become his dumping ground for scratch paper.
Seeing the English words on the paper, Li Sinan was slightly taken aback.
As a coding master with over a decade of experience, Gu Ran usually used shorthand when writing code, omitting formulas and symbols. As long as he could understand it, that was all that mattered.
However, the results of his scribbling were not very easy for a non-professional to understand.
Li Sinan found it somewhat difficult to read those lines of elegantly scrawled English sentence structures. She tried to translate them in her head, but the sentences just didn't seem to make any sense.
Moreover, it was filled with a massive amount of brackets and numbers, making it look exactly like... code?!
The thought surprised even her.
Back in 2010, in this small northern county town, few families even owned a computer, let alone a high school student who knew how to write code.
If she hadn't taken a programming elective in college, she would never have made the connection.
But there was no denying it, this genuinely looked like written code...
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."
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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!
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?!
