Walking on the street in the early hours of the morning.
Lin Yu finally understood what it meant to dodge the first of the month, only to be caught on the fifteenth—you can't hide from the inevitable forever.
Just like right now.
Could he really accompany Tang Manman all the way until dawn?
And even if dawn came, wouldn't he still have to say what needed to be said?
Thinking of this, Lin Yu took a deep breath.
Knowing he couldn't avoid this hurdle no matter what, Lin Yu gathered his courage, planning to bid Tang Manman goodbye.
But just as he turned his head, before he could even open his mouth, Tang Manman suddenly tilted her head to look at him and asked without any warning,
"Are you leaving?"
The dark night.
The deserted streets.
A slightly eerie Tang Manman.
If a few snowflakes were falling from the sky right now, Lin Yu would have reacted instinctively, hissing and arching his back like a startled cat.
However, thinking about how happy Tang Manman had been today, and the not-so-cold expression on her small face right now, Lin Yu bit the bullet, nodded, and gave a soft affirmative hum.
But that was it.
Lin Yu wasn't stupid enough to mention his upcoming itinerary and provoke Tang Manman.
Wouldn't that be like plucking a tiger's whiskers—purely courting death?
Almost the exact second Lin Yu gave his definite answer, Tang Manman made her move.
Because they were so close, and Lin Yu was preoccupied with his own thoughts, he had absolutely no time to react.
It wasn't until he was enveloped in Tang Manman's soft embrace that his scalp tingled with a delayed sense of fear, as if an electric current had just shot through him.
After a brief moment of shock, Lin Yu realized that he wasn't in any pain anywhere on his body. Snapping back to reality, he immediately raised his arms and hugged her back.
The two held each other for a short while.
Tang Manman let go, and Lin Yu followed suit.
The two looked at each other, one tall and one short, as Tang Manman said softly,
"Bye-bye."
Lin Yu blinked. He looked at Tang Manman, speechless for a moment.
Because Tang Manman's behavior was just too abnormal.
How did she seem so calm? Her eyes weren't even red.
This wasn't like her at all!
Even if she didn't summon her second personality, the regular version of Tang Manman should be weeping right now, staring at him silently in an attempt to make him change his mind.
Why was she being so cooperative?
Could Tang Manman be hiding a third personality he had never seen before?
Lin Yu felt a bit scared.
But anyway, long story short.
Tang Manman had at least agreed to let him leave on the surface.
Coming back to his senses, Lin Yu nodded subconsciously, said his goodbye, and turned to leave.
However, after only taking a few steps, Lin Yu felt increasingly uneasy.
He felt that the surroundings were eerily quiet, and unseasonable gusts of cold wind kept blowing against his neck, giving him patches of goosebumps.
He hadn't gone far.
Still worried, Lin Yu stopped and glanced back at Tang Manman. Seeing her still standing there obediently watching him, her hands not hidden behind her back, nor suddenly wielding a knife or anything of the sort,
Lin Yu finally relaxed a little.
It seemed he really needed to watch fewer of those messing-with-your-head movies.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Lin Yu was about to leave when he suddenly realized his mistake. He quickly slapped his forehead, turned around, and walked right back.
"Let's go."
"I'll walk you home."
Saying that, Lin Yu took Tang Manman's slightly cold little hand, turned her around, and headed toward her home, keeping an eye out for any passing taxis...
...
When he opened his eyes again, it was almost noon.
Lin Yu nestled in the quilt, stretched his free arm, and let out a huge, silent yawn.
Beside him, Su Yuyao lay there like a little kitten, sleeping peacefully.
Lin Yu carefully moved the arm she had been using as a pillow, adjusting his position so she could sleep more comfortably.
Since Su Yuyao was fast asleep, Lin Yu couldn't bear to disturb her. So, he lay there quietly, his mind wandering to all sorts of random things.
Actually, there was only one thing Lin Yu could really think about.
It wasn't that he didn't have other things on his mind.
But rather that this matter was his most pressing priority.
If he went to see Xia Muzhu, he definitely wouldn't be able to avoid Xia Yueshan.
If he couldn't avoid Xia Yueshan...
...
He raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose in distress.
To be honest, Lin Yu was genuinely quite intimidated by Xia Yueshan right now.
In recent years, the kid had been eating and sleeping like a monster, and with puberty hitting, his body had developed incredibly fast.
His height had shot up like a bamboo stalk.
He heard that the kid had never slacked off on his physical training, and had even started hitting the boxing gym recently?
He really was putting in the effort.
He sighed.
Lin Yu knew very well that times had changed.
Subduing this young-adult version of Xia Yueshan was no longer a walk in the park for him.
Back in the day.
Lin Yu could hold him back by pressing one hand against his head, and even if the kid turned into a wild boar, he wouldn't be able to push through.
Now, he figured he'd need to use both hands and about seventy or eighty percent of his strength to fully pin him down.
But even that wasn't a sure bet!
Things like groin strikes, hitting specific pressure points, and ultimate moves to defeat a stronger opponent—he had pretty much taught the kid all of them.
If he used all those dirty tricks on him.
Assuming they weren't fighting to the death.
Even Lin Yu would have a hard time fending him off!
Thinking of this, Lin Yu couldn't help but put a hand to his forehead, questioning what kind of monster he had created.
As for the matter with Su Yuyao, Lin Yu knew that Xia Muzhu definitely wouldn't tell that brat Xia Yueshan.
But given his crafty and inquisitive nature, it was hard to say whether he'd peel back the layers and uncover the truth through some subtle clues.
After all, there was precedent for it.
"Sigh."
He couldn't help but sigh again.
Right now, Lin Yu could only pray to the heavens that Xia Yueshan didn't know about this.
Otherwise.
He felt the kid's threat level wouldn't be much lower than Tang Manman's second personality.
Having finished stressing over Xia Yueshan, Lin Yu didn't have the energy to think about any other messy affairs.
He subconsciously wanted to grab his phone and scroll through some brainless short videos to kill time, but looking at the sleeping Su Yuyao, he decided against it.
Best not to wake her up.
Bored, Lin Yu naturally rested his gaze on Su Yuyao beside him.
This was the first time he had observed her from such a close distance.
Looking closely.
Lin Yu noticed that Su Yuyao's lips were actually somewhat similar to Qingmo's; both were on the thinner side.
Their thin lips didn't look mean; instead, they accentuated a person's aura.
Qingmo's thin lips made her overall temperament seem colder and more noble, giving off an unapproachable vibe.
But Su Yuyao's similar thin lips, set on her tiny, palm-sized face, gave off a completely different feeling.
On her face, the thin lips didn't look mature or aloof, but rather more youthful.
They looked like the thin lips of a child who hadn't yet hit puberty.
They made her look even more green and loli-like!
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!
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
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?!
