"Alright, thanks, Brother Hu."
Lin Yu nodded at Black Tiger.
After some casual chatting, Lin Yu grew bored and made an excuse to leave...
Early the next morning, after packing his schoolbag, Lin Yu slung it over his shoulder and headed downstairs.
Walking along the bustling streets, he noticed the crowd was denser than usual. The further he walked, the more something felt off.
It wasn’t until the fifth time he spotted groups of casually dressed teenagers fooling around that it suddenly hit him.
Damn!
What day is it today?
Lin Yu pulled out his phone.
Thursday.
But—Mid-Autumn Festival!
Seeing the red "Holiday" label under the Mid-Autumn Festival on the calendar, Lin Yu rolled his eyes.
The one time I actually feel like studying.
And you ruin it like this.
Screw it!
No studying today!
Back to bed!
He turned around, ready to head home for a nap. But after just a few steps, he reached a crossroads.
Stopping at the intersection, Lin Yu glanced left, then right.
The left path was the way he’d come—the route home. Originally, he’d planned to backtrack and sleep the day away. But now his stomach was growling. Still, going home wasn’t a bad option. There was an egg pancake stall along that road.
The auntie running it had serious skills.
An egg pancake would be the perfect breakfast.
The right path, though, led close to the 24-hour "First Encounter" bar. The breakfast there was bound to be way more lavish than a simple egg pancake. And best of all—it was free!
But...
Was it worth the trip just for a meal?
Lin Yu stood frozen, his gaze flickering left, then right.
The traffic light cycled through multiple changes, yet he still couldn’t decide.
"Whatever," he muttered to himself.
"Time for a change. As good as those egg pancakes are, you can’t eat ’em every day."
"Besides, it’s been a while. I should check in on the place."
Decision made, Lin Yu turned right and headed toward First Encounter.
At the bar, he ordered some food at the counter.
No payment, of course.
The bartender had seen him the day before and knew better than to ask for money.
Lin Yu found an empty seat and started eating, planning to leave right after.
The bar was nearly empty. At 6 a.m., most patrons had already gone home, and the few passed-out drunks weren’t waking up anytime soon. The place was dead silent.
Just as Lin Yu thought the peace would last until he left, a noisy commotion erupted. A rowdy group barged in.
His peaceful breakfast ruined, Lin Yu scowled but kept quiet. It wasn’t his place to complain—free food was free food.
He kept eating quietly, but the group spotted him and zeroed in.
"Holy shit!"
"It’s Brother Long!"
A guy in a blue denim jacket and ripped jeans shouted excitedly at the sight of Lin Yu.
"Brother Long?"
"Where? Where?"
The lethargic group suddenly perked up, scanning the room.
"Are you blind, dumbass?"
"Who else is here?"
The denim-jacket guy snapped at his friend before pointing at Lin Yu in his school uniform.
Their eyes followed the gesture, landing on the quiet figure eating in the corner.
At first, their expressions were dismissive.
The school uniform made them think he was just some student—not the infamous Lin Yu.
But once they got a good look at his unmistakably cocky hairstyle, recognition hit.
"No way!"
"It really is Brother Long!"
They swarmed around him, shouting greetings.
"Brother Long!"
"Yeah, hey."
Lin Yu gave a half-hearted nod, baffled.
Since when was he this popular?
"Brother Long, I’ve heard all about what you did. You’re a legend."
The denim-jacket guy from the Black Blood Gang gave a thumbs-up.
"What’d I do?"
Lin Yu frowned.
"You taking a bullet for the boss, obviously!"
"You’ve been laying low, so you might not know."
"Word’s spread like wildfire in the gang!"
"You risked your life to lure those Fire Scorpion bastards away from Boss Li Yuan."
"Loyal as hell. A real... uh..."
The guy’s vocabulary failed him. He stammered until his friend elbowed him and whispered:
"‘Peerless heroism.’"
"Yeah, that!"
"Peerless heroism!"
The praise kept pouring in, and Lin Yu rubbed his nose, suddenly self-conscious.
But then he reconsidered.
Forget intentions—what mattered were actions!
That night, if not for him, Li Yuan would’ve—
...
Actually, Li Yuan would’ve bolted way earlier...
And his own injuries?
...
Probably wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t tried to screw Li Yuan over...
But—
But he still led four pursuers away, right?
Like the old saying goes:
"A gentleman’s judged by deeds, not thoughts!"
I’m a goddamn gentleman!
A stand-up guy!
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...
] [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!"
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
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.”
