"Are you waiting for someone?"
Shang Qinqing sat down with a grin, casually picking up a skewer of grilled meat.
"No."
Seeing that Shang Qinqing had come alone, Ying Bing pursed her lips as if nothing were amiss:
"He didn’t return with you?"
"No, he still has some unfinished business."
Shang Qinqing shook her head.
Tsk, what had that brat Li Mo said before? Swearing he’d never deceive her, with a look so firm it could split iron.
Yet in the blink of an eye, he told her it was for the sake of... "surprise," a white lie.
"Hmm..."
A delicate hand quietly pulled the plate of skewers back in front of her.
"?"
Shang Qinqing watched, momentarily speechless.
So just because she didn’t bring back your precious "wife-blessing battle soul," you won’t even let me have a skewer?
"Admit it, you miss him."
"Ah, so it’s because Young Master Li has been gone too long."
The Proprietress, after all, had been through it all before and quickly pieced it together.
"......"
Ying Bing’s cheeks twitched slightly, her face an icy mask. "These skewers are quite fragrant."
"Little Bing’er, look at your doll—its head’s nearly bald from how much you’ve been tugging at it, shiny as a mirror."
Shang Qinqing pressed on, undeterred.
Ying Bing tilted her head.
The ice block didn’t quite understand what you were talking about.jpg.
"Speaking of which, Young Master Li’s been gone so long without a word—could something have happened?" the Proprietress mused.
"!"
Ying Bing’s lashes trembled, nearly dropping her skewer.
Shang Qinqing, grinding her teeth, suddenly had an idea.
She adopted a hesitant expression, as if reluctantly delivering bad news:
"After all, he did snatch something right from the jaws of the Demon Sect..."
Ying Bing froze, her jade-like face finally showing emotion.
Right, Li Mo had gone to gather the Power of the Multitude, and in the Southern Border, that power had long been secretly controlled by the Summoning Demon Sect.
The Summoning Demon Sect was ancient, its influence vast—just look at how the Hundred Beasts Hall had stirred up chaos in the Southern Border.
Even among the Nine Heavens, revered as the strongest in her past life, some had vague ties to them.
If they saw Li Mo as a thorn in their side...
Ying Bing shot to her feet.
"How is he now? Where is he?"
"Hmph, see? I told you."
Shang Qinqing sighed.
"Go pack your things and come with me to the Azure Phoenix Clan’s territory. After all my hard work, I don’t even get a skewer? Really..."
But before she could finish, Ying Bing was already lifting her skirts and rushing upstairs, pushing open the door to the private room.
Instantly, her sharp yet unfocused gaze steadied, taking in the scene before her with stunned silence.
The dim glow of candles illuminated the quiet depths of her eyes—candles stuck into a cake, and beside it stood a figure.
"You... weren’t you...?"
"Happy birthday! Surprise?"
Li Mo grinned brightly.
After a moment of shock, Ying Bing’s gaze darkened as she stared at him.
"When did you get back?"
"Just now. I asked Clan Leader Shang to call you up."
Li Mo beckoned her over to blow out the candles but noticed the ice block’s expression was off, her chest rising and falling slightly.
The instigator, Shang Qinqing, had quietly followed, hoping to savor some sweetness, only to realize things weren’t going as planned.
Oh no...
She’d only improvised earlier.
Had she messed up?
Ahem. "Li Mo, really, a surprise is fine, a birthday is fine, but why drag me into tricking Little Bing’er? That’s a bit much, don’t you think?"
Shang Qinqing put on a stern face.
Li Mo: "???"
"Are these candles supposed to be blown out?" Ying Bing glanced at the cake.
"Yep, and you can make a wish first."
Ying Bing lowered her eyes and exhaled softly.
Whoosh—
They didn’t go out.
Damn these stubborn candles! They flickered out, only for the wind from the window to revive them.
Not now!
"Ice block, you didn’t wish for something extreme, did you?"
Li Mo blinked in confusion.
"I wished for you to never lie to me again."
Ying Bing’s gaze was piercing.
"......"
Li Mo felt somewhat wronged, unsure what Shang Qinqing had just told her.
"Maybe I’ve got too much yang energy lately—even the candles won’t die. Try again..."
This time, the candles finally went out.
"What did you wish for this time...?"
"Call me jie jie (older sister)."
"Call you jie jie to find out? Uh... actually, wishes don’t come true if you say them, so no need to tell me."
Li Mo’s famously stubborn mouth twitched.
I’m not that curious anyway, and you’re only two months older, seriously...
"The wish was for you to call me jie jie," Ying Bing said calmly.
The iron-mouthed Li Mo stiffened.
His resolve crumbled, his traitorous mouth surrendering:
"... Jie jie."
"Be good from now on."
Ying Bing lifted her chin, tying up her loose hair.
"Try this—I baked it in an alchemy furnace. Should taste alright."
Li Mo brandished the Crimson Sky Sword, ready to slice the cake.
The cake’s design showed a girl reading under a tree, with a boy watching her.
But then—
A slender finger dipped into the frosting and smeared it across his face.
"????"
Li Mo turned, nose itching, finally noticing the gleam of mischief in Ying Bing’s previously stoic eyes.
She’d genuinely been worried at first, but not after seeing him—at least not while blowing out the candles.
She was happy to see him.
But she’d also wanted to hear him call her jie jie, so...
Gasp!
"Ice block, you planned this?"
Li Mo was 90% sure.
"Planned what?"
Ying Bing frowned, maintaining her icy composure with utmost seriousness.
"Fine, it’s your birthday—you’re the boss today."
Best Actor Li Mo suspected Best Actress Ying Bing’s performance but lacked evidence.
Wait.
He had evidence!
Li Mo realized a small, warm hand had somehow slipped into his grasp.
When did that happen?!
"......"
Ying Bing, mid-cake-cutting, also paused in confusion.
She didn’t recall offering her hand.
Had she given it, or had he taken it at some unnoticed moment?
"Heh, now this is the good stuff. What flavor is this cake anyway? Smells amazing. Let me try—see if it’s as sweet as you two."
Shang Qinqing shivered. If she didn’t eat some cake soon, she might start rolling on the floor in delight.
] [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!"
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...
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.”
