Uesugi Akizuki lay flat on the bed, while Su Ze placed her legs on his knees, carefully and meticulously trimming her toenails.
Su Ze was genuinely surprised—there was no unpleasant odor at all, and her feet were fair, long, and beautiful.
Is this what they call racial talent? Waking up with hair still neat and feet without any smell—is this a race evolving toward perfection?
She playfully wiggled her cute little toes, making Su Ze chuckle. Seeing him laugh, the little shrine maiden, lying on the soft bed under the warm orange light, also giggled sweetly.
Gradually, her smile began to waver, showing signs of hesitation. She stared at the ceiling, her small hand gently tugging at Su Ze’s sleeve.
Su Ze wrapped the trimmed nails in a tissue, tossed it into the trash, and then lay down beside Uesugi Akizuki. “Let’s sleep,” he said.
Uesugi Akizuki nodded but quickly shook her head. “No sleep…”
Su Ze was puzzled. While he was pleased that she was gradually using words to respond to him, what was this about? If not sleep, what did she want to do?
Uesugi Akizuki turned to her side, holding Su Ze’s hand and looking into his eyes. Su Ze sensed her hesitation but didn’t press her.
He knew she probably had something to say but was still deciding how to phrase it. He didn’t rush her.
Outside, the rain grew heavier, pattering against the window. The wind howled, shaking the trees, and the river’s surface rippled with splashes of water.
Compared to the stormy chaos outside, the atmosphere inside was peaceful and warm.
Under the dim orange light, the little shrine maiden with her wine-red hair gazed into Su Ze’s deep black eyes. After a long moment of hesitation, she seemed to make up her mind, her expression serious and stubborn as she said:
“Let’s get frisky!”
“…”
The room fell silent for a moment. “What… did you say?”
Su Ze thought he must have misheard. Was this something the little goofball would say?
Uesugi Akizuki’s face was adorably serious and stubborn, clearly dissatisfied with Su Ze’s lack of response. She repeated firmly:
“Let’s get frisky!”
“No, no frisky!” Su Ze finally managed to respond after a long pause.
“Let’s get frisky!” Uesugi Akizuki insisted stubbornly, wrapping her arms around Su Ze’s neck but making no further move.
Staring at Uesugi Akizuki’s beautiful, soft face under the orange light, Su Ze’s heart began to race. Yet, he shook his head. “No frisky!”
Tears welled up in Uesugi Akizuki’s eyes, her voice almost hoarse. “Let’s… get frisky.”
Was Situ Jiajia right after all? Did Su Ze not like her? Had this test… failed?
Uesugi Akizuki couldn’t accept the idea that Su Ze didn’t like her.
He had always been so kind to her—this test shouldn’t have failed.
She had hesitated because she was afraid of facing this outcome.
“Why… are you crying?” Su Ze’s heart ached. After a moment of hesitation, he gently patted her head, seemingly making up his mind. “Just once…”
What did ‘just once’ mean? Situ Jiajia hadn’t explained, and Uesugi Akizuki didn’t understand.
But it didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered in this moment except for this one time!
Su Ze slowly leaned in, and Uesugi Akizuki, still dazed, suddenly felt her lips soften. Her eyes widened, her body tingling, and she instinctively held Su Ze tighter.
The storm outside seemed to quiet down, as if it didn’t want to disturb the tenderness of this moment.
Su Ze slowly pulled back, a thin, glistening thread connecting them.
Under the orange light, his cheeks were as red as the evening clouds.
Uesugi Akizuki’s eyes were dazed, her mind a tangled mess.
The glistening thread broke.
Her lips were moist, reflecting the faint light.
The girl’s blush was more vibrant than the sunset.
Uesugi Akizuki’s face was slightly flushed.
“Alright… time to sleep,” Su Ze said, his voice slightly unsteady, as he gently wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.
Uesugi Akizuki nestled into his arms, and Su Ze held her gently.
Hours passed, and the two remained in this position.
Su Ze wasn’t asleep, and perhaps Uesugi Akizuki wasn’t either, as he could feel her heart still racing.
Now, as he calmed down, Su Ze regretted his impulsive decision earlier.
It must have been Situ Jiajia who taught the little goofball this.
At the time, he had been so confused and overwhelmed by Uesugi Akizuki’s actions.
He regretted it, not because he didn’t want to take responsibility, but because he might not be able to.
After all, in his line of work, living to fifty was considered a long life. He didn’t know when he might die on the battlefield.
What would happen to the little goofball then?
But now that things had reached this point, Su Ze knew he had to shoulder the responsibility.
If he could survive the calamity, he would go to Russia.
“Can’t sleep either?” Su Ze whispered, gently stroking Uesugi Akizuki’s head.
Uesugi Akizuki lifted her head from Su Ze’s chest, her lips pressed together, her gaze complex as she looked at him.
She didn’t fully understand what had just happened, but her instincts told her it was a significant moment that bound her and Su Ze together.
That moment felt so incredibly magical.
“Let’s go for a walk. I want to talk to you.”
Uesugi Akizuki nodded, her mind still in a daze, forgetting her earlier promise to respond to Su Ze with words.
Su Ze gently picked her up, putting on her white knee-high socks and white high-top shoes.
The little shrine maiden hopped off the bed, taking Su Ze’s hand.
It was 4 a.m.
The two walked in silence under the clear moonlight, the shimmering river on their left and a dense forest on their right.
Su Ze suddenly stopped, and Uesugi Akizuki, still holding his hand, stopped as well, turning to look at the handsome silver-haired boy under the moonlight.
Su Ze thought for a moment, then gently took her hand.
The little shrine maiden gazed at him with innocent eyes, the moon and the sparkling river behind her forming a serene backdrop. Her wine-red hair fluttered gently in the breeze, and the moonlight made her even more beautiful.
The silver-haired boy hesitated, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he steadied himself. Then, with a serious expression, he said, “Would you be willing to become my lover, with the intention of becoming my bride in the future?”
Su Ze’s cheeks were slightly flushed.
Su Ze was the first ray of warm sunlight that had pierced through the darkness of Uesugi Akizuki’s life, and she had already come to see him as the most important person.
And Uesugi Akizuki, in turn, was the first ray of warmth that had entered Su Ze’s dark life.
From childhood, his life had been filled with tragedy—or rather, he was the embodiment of tragedy.
Life often gives you hope only when you’re at your lowest.
The little goofball—or rather, Uesugi Akizuki—was the hope that heaven had placed under a streetlamp, waiting for him to claim it.
The first time their eyes met, it was a collision of hope.
Their encounter was like a withered tree coming back to life in spring.
Even if Uesugi Akizuki was a bit slow, she understood this was an important moment. Her eyes sparkled with joy as she smiled and nodded:
“Okay.”
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
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.”
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
