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...
...
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!
] [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!"
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?!
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
