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?"
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.”
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
] [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!"
