Holding a bucket of popcorn, Lin Yu entered the movie theater and found his seat according to the number on his ticket. When he saw the two people sitting next to his seat, he froze for a moment, unsure of what to say.
Could this be any more of a coincidence?
Xia Yueshan also noticed Lin Yu and, naturally, the girl behind him. He was the first to snap out of his shock, quickly standing up and moving past his sister, switching from the seat on Xia Muzhu’s left to the one on her right.
By the time Lin Yu regained his composure, what was supposed to be two adjacent seats had turned into two single seats separated by Xia Yueshan and Xia Muzhu.
A vein throbbed on Lin Yu’s forehead.
He lightly kicked Xia Yueshan’s shoe and shot him a look that clearly said, "Get lost."
Xia Yueshan, however, slumped lazily in his seat, putting on a shameless act.
He wasn’t budging.
What are you gonna do about it?
Lin Yu gritted his teeth in frustration, but with so many people around, he couldn’t exactly give Xia Yueshan a "loving education" right then and there. He had no choice but to sit down next to Xia Yueshan and hand one of the two popcorn buckets to Tang Manman, gesturing for her to take the other seat.
Tang Manman looked a little unhappy but, being the understanding person she was, she complied. Before leaving, she even handed Lin Yu a bottle of cola.
And so, the two of them sat separated by Xia Muzhu and Xia Yueshan, the atmosphere growing oddly tense.
After a round of commercials, the movie finally began.
Lin Yu decided not to bother with Xia Yueshan’s childish antics and generously placed the popcorn bucket between them, letting him share.
Xia Yueshan, however, had no gratitude for the gesture. He shoveled handfuls of popcorn into his mouth while occasionally shooting Lin Yu a glare—utterly shameless.
Lin Yu ignored him, peering past the not-so-tall boy to check on Xia Muzhu and Tang Manman, worried that something unpleasant might happen between them…
Wait.
Logically speaking,
there was no way they’d get along, right?
Fortunately, both of them were gentle souls. Even if their relationship wasn’t exactly harmonious, they could at least maintain surface-level politeness.
Tang Manman, in particular, played her part well, placing her own popcorn bucket between them for sharing.
Seeing that nothing had escalated, Lin Yu let out a small sigh of relief.
Thank goodness it was these two considerate and kind-hearted people sitting together.
If it had been two hotheads like Qing Mo, he wouldn’t even dare imagine the chaos.
With his mind at ease, Lin Yu leaned back in his seat and started competing with Xia Yueshan for popcorn.
Maybe it was the unique recipe, or maybe it was just psychological, but Lin Yu always thought movie theater popcorn tasted way better than the stuff outside.
At the very least, it smelled amazing!
After a while of snacking, Xia Yueshan’s mouth grew dry, and he shamelessly reached out, demanding Lin Yu’s cola.
Lin Yu glared at him. Despite his annoyance at Xia Yueshan’s earlier behavior outside the theater, he still handed over the drink.
Just then, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw a message from Tang Manman.
SugarCube: Refund the coupon!
Lin Yu knew she was upset about not being able to sit next to him, hence the protest. Suppressing a laugh, he typed back:
DragonOverlord: "No refunds."
DragonOverlord: "You already used the complimentary claw machine service. No takebacks."
SugarCube: O(≧口≦)O (Angry)
SugarCube: Then this movie doesn’t count!
SugarCube: You have to take me to another one later!
DragonOverlord: We’ll talk about it later.
Lin Yu employed the classic stall tactic.
SugarCube: No "later"! O(≧口≦)O (Angry)
Buzz~
Another message came through.
Seeing the sender ID—Xia ProudEarth—Lin Yu turned to Xia Yueshan beside him, wanting to say something but not knowing how to phrase it.
Well… he wasn’t wrong.
Even though they were sitting close, it was better not to talk in the theater and ruin others’ experience.
With that in mind, Lin Yu lowered his head and started texting with Xia Yueshan, who was less than twenty centimeters away.
Xia ProudEarth: Is she your girlfriend?
DragonOverlord: Not yet.
DragonOverlord: But soon.
Xia ProudEarth: ?
Xia ProudEarth: Then what about my sister?
Xia ProudEarth: You know she likes you.
DragonOverlord: ...
DragonOverlord: Your sister and I aren’t a good match. Stop stirring the pot—your top priority right now is getting into high school. Stay out of this.
Xia ProudEarth: ?
Xia ProudEarth: I’m only in seventh grade. Why am I worrying about high school already?
DragonOverlord: Seventh grade is no excuse to slack off. You’ve only got about 800 days until the high school entrance exam. Get studying.
Xia ProudEarth: ...
Xia ProudEarth: I wanna punch you.
After some back-and-forth banter, Xia Yueshan eventually got absorbed in Kung Fu Panda 4, leaving Lin Yu relieved to no longer have to deal with him.
Distractedly making it through the movie, Lin Yu didn’t even bother saying goodbye to Xia Muzhu afterward. He quickly sent Tang Manman a "Let’s bolt" message and whisked her out of the theater.
Once outside, Tang Manman wanted to retrieve the plushies they’d left at the front desk, but Lin Yu stopped her.
"Let’s leave them there for now. We’ll grab them after we finish shopping," he reasoned.
"Carrying them around now would just be a hassle."
Tang Manman thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
Leading her away from the theater, Lin Yu was about to head to the supermarket on the basement level to stock up on New Year’s snacks when a sudden, spine-chilling sensation crept over him.
Turning toward the source of the cold aura, he came face-to-face with a familiar, icy beauty.
Lin Yu couldn’t help but sigh.
Really?
You just had to show up the second I thought of you?
Qing Mo!
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?"
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.”
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
