Upon hearing the sum, Ye Yue tilted her head in thought for a few seconds before smiling and accepting the money.
It didn't matter how much her brother gave her; she would just ask him for more regularly anyway.
If she claimed she had spent it all, surely he wouldn't look too closely into it.
Armed with snacks and drinks, the two walked into the theater.
Perhaps because it was a re-release, the audience was sparse. After Ye Chuan and Ye Yue took their seats, they didn't notice many other customers.
"It's so quiet," Ye Yue remarked, looking left and right.
"I suppose. Maybe it would have more atmosphere with more people?"
"No, no, no. Fewer people is better," Ye Yue said, suddenly hugging Ye Chuan's arm. "Brother, it's so cold."
Ye Chuan didn't say much as he watched her cling to his arm.
"Hee hee."
...
"I'm going to become an idol! I will save the Titanico!"
"Guh, it's already sinking! Stop singing and dancing on the deck!"
"Nico Nico Nii!"
On the screen, the female lead was stretching her arms out against the wind on the deck, singing.
"..." Ye Yue held her popcorn, sugar granules stuck to the corner of her mouth.
Truth be told, she rarely watched movies.
But still, this plot seemed a bit strange.
Meanwhile, two guys sitting in the row in front of them hadn't stayed idle. They hadn't stopped chattering since they sat down.
"That girl is dressed way too frumpy. And she wants to be an idol?"
"Tell me about it. I'd rather be next door watching Lu Bu Battles Dong Zhuo: The Twist Where Diao Chan is a Man."
"Is she going to save the world by singing again? And why does it turn into 3D animation whenever she sings..."
Their voices weren't too loud, but they weren't quiet either—just the right volume for Ye Yue in the back row to hear every word clearly.
She furrowed her brows, her crimson eyes darkening. Her grip on the popcorn bucket tightened unconsciously, and faint, tiny black tentacles began to emerge from between her fingers before she forcibly suppressed them.
So noisy.
Why did they have to ruin the movie experience for others?
She turned to look at Ye Chuan beside her. He was watching quietly, seemingly unbothered by the noise in front, so she remained silent. It wasn't easy getting her brother to come watch a movie with her; she couldn't mess this up.
But the two in the front row went overboard, starting to point at the screen and letting out occasional sneers.
Ye Yue's hand on her knee clenched tight. In the shadows beneath her skirt, countless slender tentacles were quietly writhing, and a faint, eerie, sweet-yet-metallic scent began to permeate the air.
"I drank too much Coke. I'm going to the restroom." Ye Chuan stood up and rubbed Ye Yue's hair.
"You keep watching."
"Okay! Come back soon, Brother!" Ye Yue immediately beamed, the gloom in her eyes vanishing instantly as she resembled an obedient kitten.
As soon as Ye Chuan left, the man in the front row scoffed again.
"Hahahaha, what a trash movie, hahahaha..."
"Hahaha, what a stupid-ass film..."
Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck, as if something slimy had brushed against it.
He whipped his head around but saw nothing except Ye Yue, who was still holding her popcorn, staring innocently at the screen.
"?" The man froze for a moment, subconsciously touching his neck.
"What did you do to me?"
Ye Yue blinked, her voice soft and sweet. "Big Brother, I don't really understand what you mean."
The man turned back around suspiciously. He was just about to continue his roasting when he suddenly realized his companion's face had gone deathly pale. His friend was pointing in Ye Yue's direction, lips trembling, unable to speak.
"Th-th-th-th-that..."
He followed his companion's gaze—only to see Ye Yue's shadow twisting and distorting under the light of the silver screen. Countless pitch-black, oily tentacles extended from the shadow, flailing in the air. Tiny eyes grew on every tentacle, emitting a sizzling sound.
Meanwhile, Ye Yue's originally crimson eyes had turned completely pitch black, her pupils filled with spiral patterns. Her mouth split open in an exaggerated grin, revealing rows of fine, sharp teeth.
"M-M-Monster!" The man was scared out of his wits. He scrambled to his feet, stumbling and crawling. "There's a ghost!"
He dragged his companion along as they stumbled and ran out of the theater, even dropping his phone on the ground. Their screams echoed through the entire hall.
The other viewers were startled and looked over, but all they saw was Ye Yue sitting obediently in her seat, looking at the fleeing men with a bewildered expression, as if everything just now had been a hallucination.
Ye Yue's eyes returned to their crimson hue. She picked up the phone the man had dropped, toyed with it for a moment, and then tossed it back onto the floor. For daring to disturb her movie time with her brother, this punishment was light.
Considering she didn't eat them, she was being incredibly even-tempered.
Not long after, Ye Chuan returned.
He had just sat down when he felt his arm being hugged tightly. Ye Yue pressed her face against his shoulder, speaking in a sweet, coquettish voice,
"Brother, there were two bad people who were being really noisy just now, but they've already left!"
"Hmm? Is that so?" Ye Chuan had been thinking about his cultivation training, so he hadn't paid attention.
"I don't know. They just suddenly ran away. Maybe the movie wasn't good?"
Ye Yue blinked her large, innocent eyes and held the popcorn up to Ye Chuan's mouth.
"Have some popcorn, Brother."
Ye Chuan looked at her well-behaved demeanor, then glanced at the empty row in front. He vaguely guessed what had happened.
He patted Ye Yue's head but didn't expose her, simply smiling as he said,
"Alright, let's keep watching."
...
After the movie ended, Ye Chuan and Ye Yue walked out of the cinema.
"The movie was really good! I didn't expect that character named Kotori Minami to actually grow wings and save everyone."
"It was a bit of a pity, though. After they got to land, she got captured by a passerby with a Poké Ball."
Ye Chuan simply smiled as he listened to Ye Yue chattering away.
It was quite pleasant.
From the outside, Ye Yue was just a little girl. Who would have thought she was actually a major boss from the World of Weirdness?
"Where to next?" Ye Chuan asked.
"Brother, I want to go to the arcade."
"Let's go, then."
After playing for the entire day, a satisfied Ye Yue finally followed Ye Chuan home.
Walking down the street, Ye Yue held a plushie in one arm and hugged Ye Chuan's arm with the other. She looked up at the sky; the evening glow had plated the heavens with a layer of orange.
"The sky is so beautiful."
Ye Chuan looked up at the sunset and gave a light chuckle. "The sky is most beautiful at that moment when it's about to turn dark, but hasn't yet."
"Isn't that just the sunset?"
"Oh, right."
"It's so nice..." Ye Yue murmured, unable to resist glancing at Ye Chuan. "Brother, will you be my brother for our whole lives?"
Ye Chuan understood what she meant.
"If you wish it, then I am your brother." Ye Chuan paused for a moment. "Even if you didn't wish it, we are family. No one can change that."
Ye Yue remained silent for a long time after hearing those words. Finally, she hugged Ye Chuan's arm a little tighter. "You are my favorite brother. No one can change that."
Ye Chuan smiled.
Having a younger sister really was quite nice.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
