"The painting is... quite good?"
Shang Wu blinked and patted Li Mo's shoulder.
She didn't know much about art, but at a glance, it did look impressive.
"Not bad."
Ying Bing nodded slightly, a hint of surprise in her eyes.
Even without facial features, she could recognize herself in the painting.
This meant the artist had mastered the essence and atmosphere so deeply that the work carried an almost lifelike spirit.
"Just a trivial skill, hardly worth mentioning."
Li Mo curled his lips.
He wasn’t being modest—he just knew his limits.
This level of skill had taken him sixty years of relentless dedication!
But.
Seeing Ying Bing’s gaze linger on the painting, her expression momentarily dazed,
Young Li suddenly felt the pain in his heart ease a little.
"Why didn’t you draw the face?"
Shang Wu pointed at the blank visage of the girl in the painting.
Li Mo sighed.
"It’s my first time painting a portrait. I wanted to capture a smiling expression."
"Besides, the composition is set in the brilliance of midsummer. If the subject isn’t smiling, it would ruin the entire mood."
"Isn’t smiling just..."
Shang Wu trailed off as she realized—
She couldn’t recall ever seeing Ying Bing smile.
Li Mo struggled to remember too.
In his memory, Ying Bing’s smiles were as rare as the sun rising in the west.
Not only had he never seen her laugh,
He couldn’t even imagine what the "ice block" would look like if she did.
"Little Bing, why don’t you... try smiling?"
Shang Wu coaxed.
Ying Bing’s delicate brows furrowed slightly. After a moment of hesitation, she relented.
After all, she owed Li Mo another favor.
Since she’d agreed to be his model until the painting was complete,
She had no choice but to...
Ying Bing parted her jade-like lips, slightly narrowing her eyes, forcing her usually frosty expression into something resembling a smile.
"Heh..."
Beautiful?
Yes.
But...
"Yikes—"
Li Mo and Shang Wu both recoiled, a chill shooting up their spines.
This was a smile, but it was undeniably a cold one!
Ethereal and merciless, like the moon gazing down on mortals, silently uttering two words:
"Insects."
If he painted that, the artwork would instantly be rated R.
Any minor who saw it would be traumatized for life.
"What to do..."
Li Mo pondered, then suddenly crossed his eyes (imagine the classic goofy face) and stuck out his tongue.
"Pfft— HAHAHA, are you stupid?!"
Shang Wu clutched her stomach, laughing uncontrollably.
"?"
Ying Bing’s frown deepened, utterly baffled by this bizarre behavior.
Li Mo reset his face to normal and said solemnly,
"Looks like it’s time for the Joke King to make his grand entrance!"
"Today, I will make you laugh!"
The Qiushui Pavilion Comedy Challenge begins!
First up: Contestant Shang Wu, the beautiful master!
Full of determination, she vowed to crack the ice block’s stoicism!
She began with a deadpan expression.
"A little butterfly was flying along when suddenly, she got so hungry she couldn’t fly anymore... HAHAHA... and then... and then—"
Before she could finish the joke,
She was already wheezing with laughter.
"And then... she fell into the mud and drowned in it, HAHAHA—"
Shang Wu doubled over, gasping for air.
"?"
Li Mo and Ying Bing exchanged glances.
Was this funny?
Where was the punchline?
"Master, what’s the joke supposed to be?" Li Mo asked.
"Hungry mud butterfly."
Shang Wu wiped her tears.
Li Mo: "..."
What a garbage pun.
Due to Contestant Shang Wu’s use of a cringe-worthy pun, Judges Li Mo and Ice Block unanimously disqualified her.
Well.
Mainly because the master’s sense of humor was so rotten that she’d laugh herself to death before finishing any joke longer than three words.
Next up: Contestant Li Mo!
He decided to deploy his ultimate secret weapon:
"A man’s farts were incredibly loud. Guess why?"
"Why?" Shang Wu shook her head.
Li Mo: "Because he was wearing bell-bottoms."
"HAHAHAHA—"
"?"
Ying Bing tilted her head, watching Shang Wu collapse in hysterics, utterly lost.
Was this... supposed to be amusing?
"Still not laughing?"
Li Mo’s competitive spirit ignited.
He refused to accept defeat!
......
Half an hour later.
Li Mo sat in stunned silence.
The beautiful master was clutching her abs, begging him to stop.
Meanwhile, Ice Block’s head was just collecting more and more question marks.
Li Mo, parched and defeated, slumped.
He was starting to suspect Ying Bing simply lacked a funny bone.
"I’m such a fool."
"Give up. Little Bing might just be born without the ability to laugh. Your jokes were great, dear disciple," Shang Wu consoled, finally catching her breath.
"How can we make her smile?"
Li Mo racked his brain, absentmindedly poking his cheek with a brush.
So absorbed was he that he didn’t notice—
He’d grabbed the brush backwards.
The inked tip left streaks of black across his handsome face.
"Pfft—"
"Master, stop laughing at me."
Li Mo wiped his mouth irritably, smearing the ink further until he resembled a certain cartoon cat.
"Huh?"
Shang Wu turned to him.
One glance at his new look, and her barely-contained laughter erupted again.
"Honk honk honk—"
Clearly, this laughter was different from before.
"Hm?"
Li Mo turned.
The last stubborn rays of sunset clung to the horizon,
Casting a warm glow on Ying Bing, her ice-mirror eyes shimmering between light and shadow.
The evening breeze tousled her hair, softening her features—
But the fledgling artist reflected in her eyes was crystal clear.
For a moment, Li Mo felt time freeze.
A masterpiece stood before him.
"Quit staring and paint," Shang Wu nudged him.
"Ah! Right!"
Li Mo snapped back to reality.
Focusing intently, he lifted his brush and finally filled in the blank face on the canvas—
With a smile both delicate and radiant.
Strangely,
As those strokes settled, a wave of exhaustion washed over him.
"Done? Let me see!" Shang Wu leaned in.
"Is this... me?"
Ying Bing stared at the painting, transfixed.
The girl in the artwork felt both foreign and familiar.
Even she couldn’t remember her own smile.
Yet,
With just a few strokes, Li Mo had captured it—
A perfect blend of cool elegance and vivid warmth.
That smile seemed eternal, so lifelike it was as if another version of her stood there, gazing back.
Under the moonlight, an indescribable emotion stirred in her chest.
Rustle—
The night wind whispered through the leaves.
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."
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!
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
