Su Yang glanced at Ren Lingxi and nodded with a smile. "Alright."
"This lovely Lingxi is too polite, buying us coffee as soon as she arrives."
Ren Lingxi smiled at Zhang Ziming, who had spoken. "Don't mention it. It's only right since it's our first meeting."
As she said this, she and Su Yang walked towards the coffee shop.
Soon, the two of them returned, each carrying three bags of coffee, and placed them on the table.
Looking at the twelve cups of coffee, Meng Wenzhou chuckled. "Lingxi, did you know there were twelve of us?"
"Mmhmm, Brother Yang told me. You six each need to find a teammate, so that makes twelve, right~"
"True, but then again, we don't know if those three who haven't arrived yet will be able to find teammates."
Hearing this, Zhang Ziming laughed. "Haha, that Old Chu guy was the first to go look, and he still hasn't come back~"
"Yeah, he's the loudest but the slowest to act."
After the group sat around the table drinking coffee and getting to know each other for a while, a familiar figure finally appeared in the distance.
"Look, Ji Bo is back," Zhang Ziming said, pointing at Ji Bo approaching from afar.
"Oh? Didn't expect him to be back first."
At that moment, Ji Bo and a girl walked briskly towards the group.
As they got closer, Ji Bo looked at the six seated people and stammered, "You guys..."
His eyes flicked to Ren Lingxi beside Su Yang, and his expression immediately cracked. He closed his eyes, rubbed them, and looked again.
Seeing this, Meng Wenzhou glared at him. "What are you doing?"
"Ah? N-n-nothing, nothing at all..."
Ji Bo scratched his head and introduced the girl beside him. "Let me introduce you first. This is my teammate, whom I had a hard time finding. Her name is Yang Xiaoling."
After saying this, he turned to Yang Xiaoling. "Xiaoling, these are the friends I told you about."
This Yang Xiaoling next to Ji Bo looked slightly plump, about 160 cm tall, and probably weighed around 120 pounds.
Her face was round, but her features weren't bad. She had shoulder-length hair and looked quite cute and well-behaved.
She wore a white floral short-sleeved blouse, with black athletic shorts and a pair of white sneakers on the bottom. Her legs were fleshy but well-shaped.
Seeing this, Su Yang thought to himself, 'Oh? A bit chubby, but not bad looking.'
—System, scan.
[Yang Xiaoling, Appearance Score: 78]
—Indeed not bad. This kid Ji Bo knows how to pick them.
—Might as well check the other two's scores.
[Wang Shuyue, Appearance Score: 77]
[Chen Chen, Appearance Score: 75]
—Well, well, who would've thought this Yang Xiaoling has the highest score among the three.
—Not bad.
Yang Xiaoling stepped forward, exchanged greetings with everyone to get acquainted, and then sat down with Ji Bo next to Su Yang and Ren Lingxi.
Meng Wenzhou then suggested, "I think we should book the restaurant first. Otherwise, it'll probably be crowded later. Originally, it was Old Chu's treat, but since he's not back yet, let's just book it ourselves."
"Sounds good. Let's do it. What does everyone want to eat?" Zhang Ziming asked.
Su Yang looked at the four girls. "How about we let the four new friends choose?"
"Sure, sure. You guys discuss it. You can eat anything you want. It's on us guys~" Zhang Ziming said with a smile, looking at the four girls.
The personalities of these four girls were all relatively outgoing and cheerful. They weren't shy and were easy to get along with.
Introverted 'i' people definitely wouldn't come to participate in this kind of activity with strangers anyway.
The four of them had already become familiar with each other in this short time. Hearing Zhang Ziming's words, Ren Lingxi thought for a moment and said, "There's a wild mushroom and yak meat hotpot place in the ancient town. I just searched for it on Little Red Book, and the reviews are pretty good. Do you guys want to try it?"
Ren Lingxi said this while smiling and looking at the other three girls.
The others nodded. "Sure, we're not picky~"
"Haha, great. Then let's go for that~"
"Okay."
Seeing this, Su Yang confirmed, "Lingxi, what's the name of this place you mentioned?"
"Let me see... It's called 'Old Fatty Yak Hotpot'."
"Old what? Old Fatty?"
"Yeah~"
Hearing this, the guys couldn't help but laugh. "Haha, when did our Fatty Brother come to Li City to open a hotpot restaurant?"
Meng Wenzhou leaned back in his chair and joked, "Who knows."
"Haha, alright, enough of that. So, we're set on this place then."
"Mmhmm."
As he spoke, Su Yang opened the Tuan Tuan app to book a private room.
Seeing this, Zhang Ziming reached out to stop him. "Yang Yang, what are you doing? You won last time. Tonight's on me."
"Oh, right. I forgot about that. Okay then~"
Su Yang said, turning off his phone.
At that moment, Ren Lingxi beside him turned and asked with a smile, "What did Brother Ziming just call you? Yang Yang?"
Su Yang was taken aback and explained, "Uh... for some reason, he's called me that since the first time we met. I guess I've gotten used to it~"
"Hehe, really? Then can I also call you Yang Yang like Brother Ziming does?"
Hearing Ren Lingxi's words, the others exchanged knowing smiles.
Zhang Ziming teased, "It's allowed, Lingxi. I give my approval~"
Su Yang looked up with a helpless smile. "Fine, call me whatever you like~"
Ren Lingxi's big eyes sparkled mischievously. "Then I'll change how I address you from now on. I'll call you Yang Yang too~"
"Okay~"
......
As they chatted, Zhang Ziming quickly found "Old Fatty Yak Hotpot" on Tuan Tuan and booked a private room.
After securing the dinner spot, the time was 5:50 PM.
Everyone had finished their coffee, but Liu Bo and Chu Qiunan still hadn't returned.
Zhang Ziming stood up, looked around at the people on the street, and frowned. "Why aren't those two back yet?"
Meng Wenzhou said with his eyes closed, "Maybe we should ask. Waiting like this isn't great. If they really can't find anyone, our group of ten is enough anyway. Didn't Ji Bo say the minimum is ten people?"
Ji Bo nodded. "Yeah, when they two get back, we'll have exactly ten, which is enough."
"Alright then, I'll ask."
Zhang Ziming took out his phone, opened the guys' exclusive group chat, and tagged Liu Bo and Chu Qiunan.
Zhang Ziming: What's going on with you two immortals? We're getting hungry waiting. Why aren't you back yet? If you really can't find anyone, just forget it. Hurry back for dinner. We have enough people now anyway.
Two minutes after sending the message, Chu Qiunan finally popped up to reply: Coming, coming. What's the rush? Who said we couldn't find anyone?
Zhang Ziming: So you found someone?
Chu Qiunan: Obviously~ Of course we did.
Zhang Ziming: What about Fatty?
Chu Qiunan: Old Fatty is with me. I found two girls. They both agreed to join us. I saw Fatty hadn't found anyone, so I gave one to him as a teammate.
Liu Bo: You're talking nonsense! Wasn't it me who found them?
Chu Qiunan: How did it become you who found them? Clearly, I was the one who invited them.
Liu Bo: Hey? Trying to steal my credit now?
Seeing that the two were together yet still bickering on WeChat, Zhang Ziming typed impatiently: Alright, alright, stop bickering. Just come back, okay?
Liu Bo: Coming, coming~
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
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.
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.”
