23:59
By the desk.
Li Guanqi propped her forehead up with her elbow, her eyes slightly closed, her entire body swaying as if about to fall into slumber.
A strand of dark hair slipped from her temple, obscuring her delicate and beautiful profile, lending her a hazy, melancholic beauty under the lamp light.
Just then, the time turned to 00:00.
Suddenly, Li Guanqi's eyes snapped open, a faint, dark glimmer flickering in her pitch-black pupils.
She urgently grabbed the pen in her hand and began writing furiously on the paper. The scratching sound of the pen tip against the paper was especially clear in the silent night, a testament to her haste.
Because she had just had a dream. In it, a few profound truths echoed incessantly in her ears, leaving her no room to think of anything else. She felt these phrases would have a significant impact on her life, so without a second thought, she picked up the pen, intending to record them before she forgot.
She wrote with astonishing speed, as if afraid the characters in her mind would flee. Soon, two passages were written down on the paper in one go.
As her rationality gradually returned, she stopped writing, bit her lip, and her gaze fell upon the sentences she had written.
'The bigger the orange, the bigger the peel. The bigger the peel, the smaller the fruit. The bigger the orange, the smaller it is.'
'Everything in this world falls into two categories: either it is an orange, or it is not an orange.'
Li Guanqi stared blankly at these sentences, the corner of her mouth trembling slightly as if she wanted to laugh at herself, but her stiff facial muscles couldn't form even a hint of a smile.
"Ding-dong~" Her phone suddenly chimed, a new message notification popping up on the screen: "You have a new text message."
Li Guanqi snapped back to attention and tapped in. A line of eye-catching, brief text came into view —
Liu Qingyue: "Today's content."
Seeing the message, Li Guanqi rubbed her temples. After confirming she was fully awake, she suppressed her emotions and placed The Basic Laws of Web Novel Heroines on the desk.
Chapter One: Detailed records concerning the Sun God.
Chapter Two: Giving the book to Su Cheng to awaken his talent.
Chapter Three: No content. Its profound meaning remains unknown to this day.
And now, Li Guanqi was about to read the content of Chapter Four.
She flipped through page by page, finally stopping at Chapter Three, the page where she had left her own writing last night.
Now, she only needed to turn this page to access the new content of Chapter Four.
Her right hand, tightly clutching the page, trembled slightly, and her breathing grew heavy.
Unconsciously, she began to pray, hoping the content of Chapter Four could save Su Cheng from his peril.
After her prayer, she slowly released the page.
Unexpectedly, the content of Chapter Four was a proverb, its meaning unclear to her at first.
So, she subconsciously read it aloud —
'The sun, sometimes large, sometimes small; sometimes long-lasting, sometimes brief; sometimes near, sometimes far; it may shine upon the vast universe, or it may scorch and cleanse the mortal world.'
The superficial meaning of this sentence was very simple: the sun is changeable and unpredictable, much like fate.
But if the sun were compared to Su Cheng, then the severity of the problem became apparent.
Because the latter part implied that Su Cheng possessed both the light to illuminate the earth and the potential to scorch it to ashes.
Realizing this, Li Guanqi's heart sank. She quickly took a photo of this passage and sent it separately to Liu Qingyue and Gu Ruoxue, hoping everyone could work together to decipher its deeper meaning as soon as possible.
After sending the messages, she instinctively looked at the 'the bigger the orange, the bigger the peel' she had just written and suddenly noticed a slight similarity between these two phrases and the content of Chapter Four. She couldn't help but fall into silence again.
"Ding-dong~" Her phone chimed with another message notification, from that familiar name again.
'Liu Qingyue invited you to join a group chat.'
Seeing this message, Li Guanqi was momentarily stunned, then clicked to join. She found there were three people in the group chat: unsurprisingly, the Ji family master and servant, and Gu Ruoxue.
The creation time wasn't today, but some time ago. It seemed, in a sense, she had been isolated?
However, Li Guanqi didn't have an excess of self-consciousness.
Since childhood, she had often been overlooked due to her low presence. Over time, she had grown accustomed to it.
Even so, she still felt somewhat uncomfortable. But she could numb herself, thinking it wasn't a big deal, as this was precisely the restraint the Ji family master and servant had over her.
The discussion in the group began, mostly revolving around the content of Chapter Four. After watching for a while, she turned her gaze back to The Basic Laws of Web Novel Heroines.
Since they were unconsciously ignoring her in the discussion, Li Guanqi once again found herself instinctively browsing the book alone. After all, this was all she had to rely on.
"Huh?" She suddenly noticed a faint trace on the corner of the Chapter Four page, left by a pencil. Clearly, someone had written something in pencil and then erased it with an eraser.
"Is this... left for me?"
Li Guanqi's beautiful eyes lit up with surprise and delight. She eagerly held the book up to the light for a closer look.
Yes, this handwriting was Su Cheng's.
It was a message specifically left for her.
As if anticipating she would take a photo and send it to others, it was deliberately written in pencil and then erased, leaving only a faintly visible trace for her to discover.
Seeing the content, her heartbeat inexplicably quickened.
Because the content was —
'Come to my place tomorrow at seven.'
With this message, her original feelings of loss and helplessness instantly vanished, replaced by excitement and anticipation.
"Ding-dong~"
Liu Qingyue: @Li Guanqi
Liu Qingyue: "Do you have any thoughts, junior?"
The phone chimed again. Li Guanqi collected herself and glanced at the topic being discussed in the group.
She found that the master and servant duo had elaborated on the records of the 'Sun God' from ancient to modern times, offering a definition.
That is: Life and War.
Appearance, Causing Chaos, Resistance, Fall.
Simultaneously representing several stages of the system's punishment.
Huh... system punishment?!
Seeing this conclusion, some vocabulary surfaced in Li Guanqi's mind. She then recalled the descriptions she had seen in the web novel setting book, and her expression gradually turned grave.
Li Guanqi: "He has the abilities of a system from web novels?"
Liu Qingyue: "Correct."
Gu Ruoxue: "Because of this factor, he has brought trouble with him from the very beginning. It is precisely because I have personally experienced the disastrous consequences that I have stayed by his side to observe his behavior. He himself is a major destabilizing factor for society."
Ji Qingyi: "Your statement lacks rigor. The cause of the disastrous effects is not him personally, but the system. I hope you can improve your wording, as he is also a victim and should not be blamed as the source of the trouble."
Gu Ruoxue: "The system generates new changes based on his demands. I do not believe he is purely a victim. Moreover, even if I change my wording, can it alter the essential nature of the facts regarding him?"
Liu Qingyue: "You're just calling him 'trouble'?"
For some inexplicable reason, the group chat erupted into argument again, but Li Guanqi did not participate, instead quietly pondering her own doubts.
She couldn't help but recall the various tropes she had seen in online novel settings, such as transmigration, body possession, and so on. She wasn't sure if Su Cheng's situation fell into one of these categories, yet some details seemed oddly fitting when applied to him.
Tonight was destined to be a long one. The controversy stirred by the content of Chapter Four left them all without any desire to sleep. They argued incessantly until late into the night before gradually quieting down.
………………
Early morning, seven o'clock sharp.
A luxury car slowly approached and came to a stop in front of Su Cheng's apartment building. Li Guanqi stepped out of the car, her footsteps slightly hurried. Her mood at this moment was extremely complex—a mix of anticipation and nervousness, tinged with unease and even a trace of dread. In short, it was an indescribably strange feeling.
The reason for this emotional state was naturally because: Su Cheng was very likely waiting for her at home.
But soon, this emotion of hers transformed into surprise.
As she reached the hallway outside Su Cheng's door, she saw a profile that made her feel both astonished and familiar.
A petite girl, dazzling head-to-toe in gold, was standing at the doorway. Golden twin-tails, fair and delicate skin, a face as exquisite as a finely carved doll.
"Co...Cornelia?"
"Glo...gloomy girl?!"
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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...
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
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!
