"Chuan Chuan, my mom made some soup this morning. Let's share it with everyone." Around noon, Luo Xi arrived carrying a thermal soup pot, along with a bag full of groceries.
"Sure." Ye Chuan was still sitting on the sofa, watching the news on TV, and responded absentmindedly.
Luo Xi walked into the kitchen, stuffed the groceries into the fridge, tied an apron around herself, and started bustling about. She had been coming over to help with cooking lately.
According to her, there were too many tenants at Ye Chuan's place, and without her help, Chuan Chuan wouldn’t be able to handle everything alone.
"The number of rifts is still high, and the monsters are getting stronger." Ye Chuan listened to the news report, which aligned with the updates he’d received from the alliance.
Although the impact of the rifts had been somewhat contained, their sudden appearances remained unpredictable and destructive.
If only they could foresee when the rifts would emerge.
"Should I ask Ke Ning?" Just as Ye Chuan was lost in thought, a pair of fair arms wrapped around his neck from behind.
"Hey, Chuan Chuan, wanna go shopping with me later?"
He turned his head to see a pair of bright eyes blinking at him. "What? No time today?"
"Alright, let’s go." Ye Chuan didn’t mind accompanying Luo Xi. After all, she was his girlfriend, and he didn’t want to spend all his time training. Enjoying life was important too.
The city had mostly returned to normal. Despite the casualties, life had to go on.
"Wow, that was so half-hearted!" Luo Xi teased.
"Was it?" Ye Chuan chuckled, pinching her cheek. "Fine, we won’t go then."
"Hmph, no way. We’re still going." She patted him playfully.
By lunchtime, everyone except Ke Ning—who was still fast asleep—had gathered. Bai Qianshuang and Lan Xiaoke were already at the table.
Bai Qianshuang seemed unusually reserved, especially around Ye Chuan, and silently focused on her meal.
"Qianshuang, is the food not to your liking?" Luo Xi noticed her unusual silence and couldn’t help but ask.
Bai Qianshuang: "…"
She shook her head lightly, picking at the rice in her bowl, though her eyes occasionally flickered toward Ye Chuan.
"Don’t mind her, she’s always like this," Ye Chuan said with a smile.
After what happened last night, it was no surprise she was acting shy. She’d loosen up eventually.
"Really?" Luo Xi didn’t press further. Instead, she asked, "Qianshuang, wanna come shopping with us later?"
"…" Bai Qianshuang shook her head.
"Got other plans?"
"No."
"Then come with us! We can pick out some pretty clothes together," Luo Xi insisted.
Bai Qianshuang glanced around before finally nodding with a quiet "Mhm."
After lunch and a short break, Luo Xi announced it was time to leave. "Let’s go!"
Bai Qianshuang changed into a white T-shirt and black jeans, while Luo Xi wore a light-blue tee with denim shorts. Their outfits were similar, yet they carried completely different vibes.
As they stepped out, Ye Chuan walked in the middle, flanked by Luo Xi and Bai Qianshuang.
Today, he didn’t call Wang Yanran to drive them. Instead, they took a regular taxi to the nearby shopping plaza.
Throughout the ride, Bai Qianshuang seemed distracted. Her gaze drifted out the window, but she kept stealing glances at Ye Chuan.
Memories of last night flooded her mind—how he had touched her, reshaping her curves in ways that left her flustered yet not entirely displeased. She just didn’t know how to face him now.
"Qianshuang." Ye Chuan suddenly spoke, making her stiffen. "Huh?"
"Luo Xi and I were just discussing what kind of clothes would suit you best," he said, amused by her nervousness.
Was she still hung up on yesterday?
"What clothes…?" Bai Qianshuang turned to Luo Xi.
"Yeah! I think you’d look amazing in dresses. You’ve got such an ethereal vibe," Luo Xi said confidently, tapping a finger to her chin.
"I don’t really care what I wear," Bai Qianshuang replied. Material things had never mattered to her.
"In that case, black stockings and cat ears it is," Ye Chuan quipped to Luo Xi.
"No way we’re buying that!" Luo Xi rolled her eyes.
But she noticed Bai Qianshuang’s dazed expression and the way her eyes lingered on Ye Chuan. A flicker of understanding crossed her face.
After getting out of the taxi, Bai Qianshuang surveyed the plaza. It wasn’t her first time here, but compared to before, the area bore scars of destruction—workers busy repairing buildings while shoppers came and went.
"Everyone seems… normal," she remarked.
"Life goes on. People still need to eat," Ye Chuan said, his eyes landing on a nearby store. "Let’s go."
As they entered, a saleswoman greeted them warmly.
"Welcome!"
"Chuan Chuan, this place looks expensive…" Luo Xi glanced at a price tag—3,000 for a scarf—and stuck out her tongue.
Way too pricey.
"Don’t worry about it. Just pick what you like," Ye Chuan said.
"Really?"
"Keep hesitating, and I’ll punish you later," he teased, crossing his arms.
Luo Xi was about to retort but quickly caught his meaning. She flushed and huffed, "You’re the worst."
"Here." Ye Chuan showed her his phone screen—the balance displayed an eye-watering number of zeros.
"…" Luo Xi blinked, momentarily dazzled.
How much was that?
Had Chuan Chuan struck gold again?
Seeing her stunned expression, Ye Chuan gave her a light smack on the rear. "Alright, start picking."
Though unused to splurging, Luo Xi began browsing the racks. The saleswoman was ecstatic—since the rift incidents, most people prioritized survival supplies like non-perishable food, generators, and emergency gear.
Some were even building doomsday bunkers.
Luxury stores like this had been deserted, and she’d been considering quitting.
"These look nice. Wanna try them, Qianshuang?" Ye Chuan held up a few outfits.
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?!
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!
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
tions: attribute allocation, analysis, proficiency, and simulation. Specializing in mechanical alchemy, from crafting sorcerous battle armor to handcrafting mechanical maidens, his mechanical legion conquers endless realms... Relying on his wits, he begins with a student-teacher romance, wins over a female director, enslaves a female assassin and a underworld queen, becoming the husband of a Grand Duchess... He enslaves the Goddess of Magic from the divine realm, developing his power simultaneously in both the Wizard World and the Realm of Gods...
