At first glance, Lin Yu even hoped he was mistaken. Could that girl by the roadside, with slightly disheveled hair looking like she hadn't rested well, possibly be Tao Yaoyao?
After all, he often mistook her for her.
But when Lin Yu looked closer, that last shred of hope, fragile as a life-saving straw, quietly shattered.
The gentle and proper Tao Yaoyao would probably never let herself become as disheveled as the girl before him.
She seemed to have just gotten off a train not long ago, her body bearing the weariness of a long journey. Even the hem of her plain white dress showed creases from sitting for too long.
She stood by the roadside now, holding her phone with both hands, seemingly hesitating about something.
Looking at her, Lin Yu felt a complex mix of emotions—both touched and heartbroken.
But what rose above all else was relief.
Thank goodness.
Thank goodness.
At least they had both come on the same day. If she had run into Sister Zhuzi tomorrow, that would have been real trouble!
After a moment's thought, Lin Yu actively walked over, intending to greet her.
As he got closer, Lin Yu realized just how haggard Tang Manman looked.
Dark circles under her eyes, her usually lively gaze now dull and numb, as if she had pulled an all-nighter with hardly any sleep.
Lin Yu frowned. Looking at her state, could she have come here on an overnight train hard seat?
Don't even say it!
But really, don't even say it!
Given her frugal nature that hated spending money, it was entirely possible she had come exactly that way!
Perhaps she was truly exhausted, for she didn't even notice Lin Yu walking right up to her. She still held her phone, staring down at it blankly.
Lin Yu quietly stood behind Tang Manman without a word, stealing a glance at her phone screen.
It was a chat window where only Tang Manman herself had sent messages, with no replies.
In the input bar at the very bottom was a line of text, followed by a cute emoticon.
Guess where I am right now? ✧｡(ˊᗜˋ)✧｡
Looking at it, Lin Yu's eyes darkened. A sour ache spread in his heart, gradually overwhelming all other emotions, rising straight to his eyes.
Tang Manman suddenly moved her fingers, tapped a few times on the screen, and deleted that line with the cute emoticon. Then she paused, deleted all the text in the input bar, and typed a new line that seemed less intimate.
I'm in S City. Tomorrow is your birthday, do you have time...
Tang Manman stopped typing halfway, as if she still hadn't figured out how to say it.
She seemed to have been standing here like this for a while now, hesitating, writing and deleting, unable to send a single message for the longest time.
Lin Yu quietly took a deep breath, blinked to hold back the surging ache in his eyes. After calming the emotions in his heart, wanting to lighten the mood and make this reunion a happier one, he raised his hand and pointed in front of Tang Manman, saying loudly:
"Look!"
"There are two old ladies fighting over there!"
The sudden, familiar voice made Tang Manman freeze. She looked up, but her gaze didn't follow the direction pointed by that big dark hand. Instead, she turned to look at the owner of the hand.
She would never forget this voice.
Never...
...
Lin Yu had read many novels and watched many romance movies.
Their storylines told him that at this moment.
At this moment after the girl's surprise, this tearful moment, he should gently cup her face, use his thumb to softly wipe away her tears, gaze at her deeply, and gently plant a kiss on her cheek, giving her full love and security.
But Lin Yu couldn't do that.
He could do nothing.
He could only watch as Tang Manman's emotions crumbled, unable to hold back her tears, and then saw her frantically wipe them away, hastily pulling herself together.
This wasn't just because Qing Mo was standing not far away, watching.
More importantly, Lin Yu couldn't betray Xia Muzhu, and even more so, he couldn't betray the vow of pure love he had once made to himself!
"What brings you here?"
"Perfect timing."
"We're going to get something to eat. Want to join us?"
Lin Yu didn't ask too much about why Tang Manman was here, just glossed over it with a sentence, then invited her to eat as if to change the subject.
Tang Manman had already composed herself by now. She nodded, indicating she was willing to go.
Lin Yu brought her back to where Qing Mo and Gu Yue were.
When the three met, Tang Manman's face showed some surprise, as if she hadn't expected to see these two here.
Gu Yue, on the other hand, looked awkward, clearly also not expecting to run into Tang Manman here.
Only Qing Mo remained her usual cold, detached self, showing no surprise at Tang Manman's appearance, just as she had when she saw Gu Yue with Lin Yu earlier, as if she had always known this person would show up.
Lin Yu glanced at her, feeling something was off, but couldn't pinpoint what it was.
Wanting to avoid any more unexpected acquaintances popping up, Lin Yu thought to hurry the three of them into the car to go eat. But before he could get the words out, his phone rang in his pocket.
Lin Yu's face stiffened. He took out his phone and saw the caller was Sister Zhuzi. His heart tightened, but he quickly realized he was just being nervous.
Sister Zhuzi had already agreed with him. She was on a flight tomorrow morning, arriving around noon, and then they would go out in the afternoon and evening.
She wouldn't secretly change plans and come a day early without a word.
Someone with her honest and conservative personality just wouldn't do that kind of thing!
Maybe this call was just her wanting to confirm the temperature here and other information in advance, to prepare early...
Thinking this, Lin Yu relaxed and answered the call, putting the phone to his ear.
"Lin Yu, where are you right now?"
Xia Muzhu's soft, warm voice came through, carrying clear happiness and even a hint of playfulness.
"I'm at the school gate right now."
"About to go eat with a few friends."
Lin Yu didn't hide anything, honestly stating his current situation and what he planned to do next.
"The school gate?"
"Which school gate are you at?"
Xia Muzhu asked curiously.
"The main gate of S University."
"Why?"
The moment he blurted out the answer to Xia Muzhu, Lin Yu vaguely sensed a feeling of impending doom.
The next instant, Xia Muzhu's words immediately confirmed the unease in his heart.
"The main gate of S University?"
"Why don't I see you?"
BOOM!!!
An invisible thunderbolt struck Lin Yu's head, scattering his wits.
Finally snapping back to his senses, Lin Yu's first action was to look at Qing Mo.
He saw her peerless face, usually so cold, now completely swept clean of its usual chill. The corners of her lips were curved in a smile, her eyes teasing, the picture of someone about to watch a good show.
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
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?!
