The gas stove was still burning on its own.
The iron pot that should have been resting on top of it was now overturned on the floor.
A large puddle of steaming water pooled at their feet.
Xu Mingyao immediately rushed toward Tao Yaoyao, who was slumped on the floor, and anxiously checked her for injuries.
Seeing the large wet patch on Tao Yaoyao's pants and the scalded, red skin on her arm, Xu Mingyao's mind went completely blank with panic.
Just then, Tao Yaoyao's voice sounded, her tone soft and apologetic.
"I'm sorry."
"I was so tired. I dozed off while boiling the water and accidentally knocked the pot over."
Hearing Tao Yaoyao's voice, Xu Mingyao subconsciously looked up, a surge of anger mixed with heartache welling up inside her.
She wanted to scold her.
You're the one who got hurt, so why are you apologizing to someone else?
Can't you think about yourself for once?
But as soon as she looked up, Xu Mingyao froze.
How did Tao Yaoyao end up looking like this?
She had just taken a shower and removed her light makeup. On her fair skin, those two dark circles under her eyes were incredibly prominent.
The thin layer of hot water on the floor was still scalding even now. Xu Mingyao didn't know how hot the water was when Tao Yaoyao knocked over the pot.
But it definitely wasn't low.
Yet on her face, pain and contortion only made up a small fraction; what showed more was a deep sense of exhaustion and weariness.
She knelt there.
Looking so tired that she didn't even seem to have the strength to feel pain.
Why is it like this?
Looking at Tao Yaoyao, who was worn out from the struggles of life, a question couldn't help but arise in Xu Mingyao's heart.
Why did things turn out this way?
Her original goal...
Was to let this pitiful girl live an easy and happy life by her side.
Why...
Did things turn out like this?
After a brief moment of daze, Xu Mingyao remembered the most pressing matter at hand.
She looked back down at Tao Yaoyao's scalded red arm. Ignoring the sudden, inexplicable sourness in her nose, she suppressed her voice that was about to break and asked urgently:
"Where is the first aid kit?"
"In the cabinet against the wall in the storage room."
Tao Yaoyao softly pointed out the direction.
Without even lifting her head, Xu Mingyao turned and left the kitchen. Walking barefoot quickly to the storage room, she swiftly found the first aid kit in the cabinet.
Hastily wiping her eyes with her arm, Xu Mingyao grabbed the kit, quickly returned to the kitchen, and, with her head down, silently began to treat Tao Yaoyao's wounds.
Xu Mingyao was very anxious.
She desperately wanted to treat Tao Yaoyao's injuries quickly.
To ease some of her pain.
But lacking basic life skills, she had no idea how to treat wounds, let alone a complicated burn like this.
Tears gradually blurred her vision.
Xu Mingyao didn't dare to wipe them, afraid that Tao Yaoyao would notice she was crying, so she could only lower her head more, and more.
Intense emotional fluctuations caused Xu Mingyao's hands to tremble.
This made her, who already didn't know how to treat wounds, even more clumsy.
Xu Mingyao!
Why are you so useless!
Xu Mingyao buried her head deeply. Her fiery red hair hung down from both sides, hiding the tears and weakness she didn't want anyone to see.
Why can't you do anything right?!
Why are you so useless...
...
Xu Mingyao put down the medical supplies in her hands, lowered her head, turned, and walked away.
Leaving behind Tao Yaoyao and the large area of wounds she hadn't finished treating.
Actually, Xu Mingyao knew very well that leaving the burns for Tao Yaoyao to treat herself was the wisest choice.
She didn't know how to do anything; if she stayed there to help, she might even worsen the injuries.
Xu Mingyao left.
Kneeling on the floor, Tao Yaoyao gently breathed a sigh of relief.
Standing up from the floor, Tao Yaoyao walked to the sink and turned on the faucet. She let the cold water run over the burned areas on her skin, and her tense emotions gradually relaxed along with the refreshing coolness flowing over her flesh.
Actually, Tao Yaoyao had only told half the reason for knocking over the pot.
Besides being so unbearably tired that she took a little nap, her legs giving out was also a big part of the reason...
...
Bang!
The bedroom door was slammed shut heavily.
Xu Mingyao leaned against the back of the door, slowly sliding down to sit on the floor as if she had lost all her strength.
Why...
Why did things turn out like this...
Helplessly, Xu Mingyao buried her face in her arms. She curled up her proud legs, shrinking into a small ball, sobbing with trembling shoulders.
She clearly didn't want to do this...
Long-dusty memories were stirred up again.
Xu Mingyao remembered that summer once more.
Back then, having gotten into trouble, she was forced to transfer from a private school to an ordinary public school.
On her first day after transferring, she met her in the school corridor.
She was wearing a neat and clean school uniform, yet she gave off a feeling of poverty.
It wasn't just because of those worn-out sneakers on her feet that no one would pick up even if thrown on the side of the road.
It was more because of the unconcealable inferiority and evasion in her eyes when she saw her own glamorous appearance.
She looked as if she had just been bullied.
Her beautiful peach-blossom eyes were slightly red, and she didn't even dare to look up at people while walking, which was why she accidentally bumped into her.
Later?
Later, she taught a lesson to those who spread rumors and bullied her.
And naturally, she kept this girl, who was stunning at first glance, by her side.
Even later, Xu Mingyao remembered being begged by the girl to visit her home, seemingly to prove something for her.
It was as if to prove that she wasn't trading her body for money.
But their relationship at the time...
...
Seemed to be exactly that.
Fortunately, the person they needed to prove it to was a conservative elder with one foot in the grave.
She couldn't even imagine that any feelings beyond friendship could occur between two girls.
So she went.
Xu Mingyao still remembered everything she saw at that time...
...
Xu Mingyao didn't know how to describe that impoverished home.
She could only say that the poverty there had shattered her imaginative limits of the word poverty.
At that time, the young girl stood awkwardly to the side, her fair white fingers behind her back almost twisted into knots.
Xu Mingyao remembered it was an evening, not hot at all.
But the young girl looked as if she had fallen into a furnace, her face flushed red with shame.
She must have felt so inferior then that she wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide in, right?
But what she didn't know was that the mud-house-like environment didn't subtract from her appeal.
Instead, it made her seem even more precious.
Like a white lily growing in an earthen kiln.
She also remembered that hunched old person holding her hand and saying many words of gratitude.
Xu Mingyao had forgotten how she managed to endure her disgust for the environment and listen to it all.
Xu Mingyao only remembered that her mind was filled with just one thought at the time.
She didn't want to let her live in this poor and toilsome life anymore.
If she stayed by her side, she would give her a very good life.
She could live on happily and easily.
But, but why did things turn out like this now?
Xu Mingyao hugged her legs even tighter, tears spilling uncontrollably from her eyes.
Why.
Why was life still so incredibly hard for her.
Why.
Why did she have to become her burden...
...
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
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!"
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...
