A flicker of surprise crossed Lin Yu’s face, but once he realized there was a gift involved, he quickly smiled and took the scarf. However, after just a glance, Lin Yu couldn’t help but smirk at how ugly the scarf was.
“No way.”
“Where did you buy this scarf?”
“This ugly?”
Lin Yu spread out the scarf to see it in full.
The scarf was a dull yellow, with a simple pattern—just a basic cross-stitch knit. But even in this most basic stitch, there were plenty of mistakes. The edges weren’t even straight. Clearly, whoever knitted this was a complete novice.
Still, the material felt pretty good to the touch, so the yarn itself was of decent quality.
Another notable detail was that at each end of the scarf, there was a small brown bear’s head sewn on, which looked quite cute.
“T-This isn’t ugly, right?”
Gu Yue tried to defend the scarf, but her voice was hesitant and lacked confidence.
“Ugly? You really think this isn’t ugly?”
Lin Yu unfolded the scarf again and held it up right in front of Gu Yue, making sure she could clearly see the whole thing. Then he asked again:
“Take a good look and tell me if it’s ugly or not.”
Gu Yue stiffened her neck, clearly wanting to argue back, but faced with this hideous dull yellow scarf, she quickly lost her nerve.
Seeing Gu Yue no longer resisting, Lin Yu put the scarf down and examined it from different angles. Curiously, he asked:
“Where did you get this scarf from?”
“Did the manufacturer purposely make it look like this?”
Under Lin Yu’s relentless teasing, Gu Yue’s forehead grew more and more furrowed. Finally, unable to hold back, she blurted out the truth.
“I knitted it myself!”
“Ah?”
Lin Yu’s mouth dropped open in shock, his expression one of pure surprise. But soon, he realized the deeper, more subtle meaning behind the scarf, and the smile on his face vanished faster than snowflakes in boiling water.
Seeing Lin Yu’s smile disappear, Gu Yue showed no sign of panic. Instead, in a very natural tone, she huffed angrily:
“I made one for my dad, one for my mom, and one each for my two best girlfriends.”
“They didn’t say anything, but you just keep calling it ugly!”
“You’re so mean!”
“I should’ve just thrown away the leftover yarn.”
“That would’ve been better than making one for you!”
Gu Yue crossed her arms, turned her face away, and wore a classic “I’m mad and not talking to you” expression.
Hearing Gu Yue’s half-explanation, half-complaint, Lin Yu breathed a sigh of relief inside. Then, grinning sheepishly, he said:
“Oh, come on.”
“I didn’t even know you made it at first.”
“If you’d told me earlier it was your handiwork, I’d have lied through my teeth and praised it just like your parents and friends did.”
“You!”
Gu Yue snapped her head back around, glaring at Lin Yu angrily. Lin Yu could almost hear her grinding her teeth.
“Heh heh.”
Lin Yu chuckled, picked up the ridiculously ugly little bear scarf, and stood up.
“Alright, alright.”
“I’m gonna head out now.”
“I’ve got some things to do later.”
“Wait!”
Gu Yue stopped Lin Yu and held out a soft, pale hand toward him.
“My New Year’s gift?”
Lin Yu paused for a moment, then quickly caught on and blinked at her.
“Haven’t I already given it to you?”
“When did you give it to me?”
A flicker of confusion sparkled in Gu Yue’s eyes as she asked, genuinely puzzled.
Lin Yu nodded toward the red dinosaur plush toy resting on the sofa and said,
“Isn’t this it?”
Gu Yue turned her head to look at the red dinosaur, then back at Lin Yu. Her expression was off—like something felt wrong, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what.
Seizing the moment, Lin Yu quickly got up, waved goodbye to Gu Yue, and said,
“Bye-bye. Happy New Year in advance!”
Like the wind, Lin Yu slipped away, leaving Gu Yue alone on the sofa, staring blankly out the window at the fireworks display that was still going on.
“Is it really that ugly?”
“...”
Before Gu Yue could sink into sadness, a voice called out and interrupted her.
She turned her head to see Lin Yu half-leaning out the café door, tilting his head curiously.
“Is this fireworks show only at six o'clock?”
Gu Yue shook her head.
“No, there’s one at eight, and another at ten.”
“The last one’s at midnight. I heard that’s the biggest and the best.”
“Okay!”
Lin Yu flashed an ‘OK’ hand gesture, then disappeared without looking back.
Gu Yue gazed absentmindedly toward the café entrance for a while. When she realized Lin Yu was gone, she turned back to the window, hoping to catch more of the unfinished fireworks show.
But when she looked out again, the sky had returned to its pitch-black night, with the white smoke from the fireworks already dissipated into the air, vanished without a trace.
Gu Yue stared at the night sky for a moment longer, then turned back, feeling a wave of disappointment.
Bored, she looked down at the still-warm coffee and the delicate pastries on the table, but her appetite had completely disappeared.
She turned her head away, and her gaze quickly landed on something interesting.
She picked up the plush toy that Lin Yu—no, the claw machine god had bestowed with divine luck—had just caught. Gu Yue’s beautiful eyes lit up instantly.
Holding the dinosaur plush close, she faced it and huffed angrily, pretending to be fierce as she spoke to the red dinosaur,
“You’re a bad dragon!”
“You’re a bad dragon too!”
As she spoke, Gu Yue suddenly laughed. She stared at the red dinosaur in her arms for a while longer, then shifted her gaze to the row of triangular spikes along its back, up to the ones on its head.
She reached out and playfully flicked the red spikes on the plush’s head from side to side, grinning mischievously.
“I wish these were yellow instead...”
“...”
...
Under the streetlamp, a girl wrapped in a padded coat hugged herself, standing at the corner, looking expectantly down the street.
A cold winter breeze blew by, carrying a few snowflakes that clumsily drifted into the warm white glow of the streetlight.
Under the bright lights, countless tiny snowflakes shimmered like scattered diamonds, casting a dazzling glow around the girl standing right beneath the streetlamp.
At a glance, the stunningly beautiful girl seemed like a charming princess straight out of an anime, breaking through the dimensional barrier to radiate her magical aura in this cold, three-dimensional world.
She was so breathtakingly beautiful that it was impossible to look away.
From inside the car, Lin Yu caught this scene through the window mirror and was momentarily stunned by her beauty.
But very quickly,
the thought that such a gorgeous girl actually liked him made Lin Yu so overwhelmed that he almost had snot bubbles coming out of his nose!
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
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.”
] [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!"
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
