Lin Yu ducked into the bathroom, and Qing Mo quickly straightened the silk quilt on the bed, covering the scattered clothes before slipping under the covers herself, wearing nothing but a sheer black lace bra.
No sooner had she concealed the evidence than a woman appeared in the doorway of the unclosed bedroom.
The woman didn’t look old—her cheeks, full of collagen, suggested she might not even be twenty. Yet her style was mature, with a head of wine-red curls that exuded boldness and glamour, enhancing her striking beauty.
The moment she stepped into the room, her sharp phoenix eyes swept the space with lethal intensity, like a husband armed with irrefutable proof, here to catch a cheating spouse.
"What are you looking for?"
Qing Mo didn’t let her continue her search. Instead, she frowned slightly, her voice laced with displeasure.
"Qing Mo-jie, where is that man?"
The woman’s chest heaved with anger, but her tone softened when addressing Qing Mo.
"What man?"
Qing Mo played dumb, feigning ignorance.
"Stop being so cryptic."
The woman’s eyes widened, her breath hitching in fury. Realizing she wouldn’t get answers from Qing Mo, her gaze turned even sharper as she scanned every possible hiding spot in the room, her frustration mounting as if she were ready to tear the place apart herself.
Qing Mo saw through her intentions and cut her off before she could act.
"Xu Mingyao!"
The reprimand worked instantly. The woman’s murderous expression vanished, replaced by a pitiful, wounded look that tugged at the heartstrings.
But Qing Mo wasn’t swayed. Her voice remained icy.
"If there’s nothing else, you can leave."
"Qing Mo-jie, you can’t do this..."
The woman’s voice trembled, on the verge of tears.
"Can’t do what?"
Qing Mo shot back coldly.
"Xu Mingyao, just because I didn’t like men before doesn’t mean I like women now."
"Put those thoughts of yours away, or don’t blame me for cutting ties."
"Now, get out."
Her tone brooked no argument.
"Qing Mo-jie..."
The woman’s face twisted with reluctance, still hoping to plead her case.
"Do I need to call security to escort you out?"
Qing Mo’s glare was unyielding.
"I—!"
The woman bit her lip, resentment flashing across her face.
Under Qing Mo’s unrelenting stance, she finally left, though with clear reluctance.
This time, Qing Mo took no chances. She called the security desk downstairs to confirm Xu Mingyao had truly left before letting herself relax.
After instructing them to bar any further visitors, she turned to the closed bathroom door and spoke softly.
"She’s gone. You can come out now."
The door swung open, and Lin Yu strode out.
Nearly naked, he marched straight toward Qing Mo. Reaching the bed, he ignored her nervous expression, yanked the quilt aside, and grabbed his clothes to dress.
"Lin Yu, you—"
Qing Mo’s delicate brows furrowed in surprise, confusion clouding her eyes at his sudden shift in demeanor.
"Let’s call it a day. We’ll talk another time."
Lin Yu spoke calmly, as if the man who had sprinted up three flights of stairs with a heavy load moments ago wasn’t him.
Once dressed, he headed for the door without hesitation.
"Lin Yu..."
Qing Mo’s voice was urgent, pleading for him to stay.
He paused, half-turning to cast her a frigid glance over his shoulder. His words were merciless.
"If you’re itchy, take care of it yourself."
With that, he left without a backward glance, leaving Qing Mo stunned and alone in the vast bedroom.
...
Beside a snow-covered bench on the roadside, Lin Yu swept off the thick layer of frost and sat down to rest.
The cold night wind blew through him, scattering the last remnants of warmth in his mind, leaving only an inexplicable sadness in its wake.
Deep down, Lin Yu knew Qing Mo hadn’t done anything wrong tonight.
The fact that things had fallen apart, that he was now out here in the freezing night instead of by her side—it all came down to his own oversensitivity.
This was just a transaction, after all.
Qing Mo had given him the money he needed, and he should have upheld his end of the bargain, doing what both of them had wanted.
Besides, what was wrong with her asking him to hide?
Nothing.
He had chosen to be a kept man. He had no right to talk about dignity, no right to be seen.
And yet...
Lin Yu lifted his head, gazing at the scattered stars in the night sky. A wave of sorrow, sharp enough to sting his nose, surged out of nowhere.
This feeling was unbearable.
This need to hide, to stay out of sight—it was all too familiar.
Lowering his head, he stared blankly at his palm before shaking it with a bitter smile.
Who would’ve thought?
Without even realizing it, he’d become the very person he used to despise.
Old memories resurfaced.
When he was young, there was a beautiful senior at the martial arts school. She appeared to be single, but in secret, she was involved with one of the senior brothers.
Lin Yu hadn’t known at first—not until the day the brother’s girlfriend came looking for them.
That beautiful senior had scrambled into the small room where he did his homework, disheveled and panting, as if she’d stolen something.
Back then, young and naive, he hadn’t understood.
Why had she barged into his room to hide? Why was she so frantic?
All he knew was that her cowering, furtive demeanor looked ugly—utterly pathetic.
He’d sworn never to be like her.
In the end, nothing had happened that day. The girlfriend found nothing, apologized to the senior brother, and left empty-handed.
Later, through snippets of gossip among the seniors, Lin Yu learned the truth: the brother had been two-timing, nearly caught in the act.
He remembered his confusion back then.
Why would the senior brother juggle two relationships?
Did he not like his original girlfriend anymore?
Then why not just break up and be with the senior sister?
Or did he still care for his girlfriend?
But that didn’t make sense either.
If he couldn’t let her go, why get involved with someone else?
It was a simple choice—pick one, commit, and end things with the other. How hard could that be?
As a child, he couldn’t fathom why the senior brother refused to make that choice, why he dragged it out until everything blew up in his face...
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.
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
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?!
