After dropping Li Zhiyi off at her dorm at Renmin University, Chen Zhi took a cab back to Peking University. As the night breeze blew, he felt that the campus air was still the freshest.
He pushed open the door to Dorm 404.
Guo Yang was wearing headphones, intensely battling it out in the Rift. Li Zicong was holding an iPad, watching some video and letting out occasional gasps of amazement.
Chen Zhi tossed his backpack onto the desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
Hearing the noise, Li Zicong turned his head and froze for a few seconds.
"No way, bro, did you walk into the wrong room?" Li Zicong rubbed his eyes.
Guo Yang's screen had just turned gray. He took off his headphones, looked back, and said, "I thought we got a new roommate."
"Damn, the missing person has returned."
Chen Zhi rolled his eyes and grumpily opened his wardrobe to find some clean clothes.
"Where the hell have you been these past few days?" Li Zicong leaned in, looking him up and down. "I thought you ran off to Myanmar."
Holding a towel, Chen Zhi tossed a reply over his shoulder, "Starting a business. I've been super busy."
"What exactly are you doing for this business? You're always MIA. Do you not even need to go to class anymore?" Li Zicong curled his lip.
Chen Zhi replied with a straight face, "I'm researching how to tile the Pacific Ocean."
Li Zicong: "?"
Guo Yang laughed, "And putting wallpaper on the Great Wall while you're at it, right?"
Chen Zhi nodded. "Exactly. The next step is installing a sightseeing elevator on Mount Everest. I'm just short a few tens of billions for the startup capital."
"Get out of here." Li Zicong flipped him off and went back to looking at his tablet. "Keep bragging. Come look at this guy, this is a real big shot."
Chen Zhi leaned over to take a look.
Playing on Li Zicong's tablet was the replay of the "Singer" finale. The screen was paused right at the moment Lin Wanwan and Taylor Swift were singing together.
"See that? Lin Wanwan won the championship! And the guest was actually Taylor Swift!" Li Zicong slapped his thigh in excitement. "The internet is going crazy. They're saying the mysterious capitalist backer behind Lin Wanwan is actually her boyfriend, who threw hundreds of millions just to get Taylor here. That is so freaking cool!"
Chen Zhi rubbed his nose and nodded modestly. "It is pretty cool indeed."
"Too bad this big shot is hiding too well. The paparazzi dug three feet deep and couldn't even find a single photo of him." Li Zicong sighed, then looked at Chen Zhi. "We're all human, but he can drop hundreds of millions to woo a female celebrity, while you can only brag in the dorm about tiling the Pacific Ocean. That's the gap between you two, Chen Zhi."
Guo Yang chimed in, "The power of capital is terrifying. Getting Taylor Swift just like that—this big shot's background must be out of this world."
Chen Zhi patted Li Zicong on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Read less gossip and read more books. Who knows, maybe one day that big shot will be standing right in front of you."
"Yeah, right."
Chen Zhi finished washing up and climbed into bed.
The busiest period was finally over. Deep Space Technology's funding had landed, Lin Wanwan had won her championship, and Pei Ningxue and Li Zhiyi had both been properly appeased.
He decided not to go anywhere for the next few days. He would just stay at school, be an ordinary college student, attend some classes, and get some good rest.
The next day.
Sunlight peeked through the gap in the curtains and shone on Chen Zhi's face.
He rolled over and habitually reached out to feel beside him. He didn't feel a soft body, only the cold wall panel.
Chen Zhi opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling in a daze for a few seconds before realizing he was in his single bed in the dorm.
No Lin Wanwan, no Pei Ningxue, and no Li Zhiyi.
He had been sleeping with his girlfriends for the past few days. Sleeping alone this time actually felt a bit unnatural.
He pulled out his phone and lit up the screen.
10:30 AM.
WeChat was completely quiet. For once, there were no deadly back-to-back calls.
Anyone who has been to college knows that once you touch a dorm bed, you shouldn't expect to get up easily.
It was already 10:30 anyway. Going to class now would make no difference; he'd only be there in time for the dismissal bell.
Chen Zhi rolled over with a clear conscience, opened TikTok, and started scrolling through short videos.
After scrolling for who knows how long, a flurry of footsteps echoed in the hallway.
With a bang, the dorm door was pushed open.
Li Zicong let out a burp, holding an iced coconut latte in his hand, followed by Guo Yang and Zhang Tianyang.
The three of them walked in, talking and laughing.
Chen Zhi poked his head out from behind his bed curtains and spoke faintly, "Why didn't you guys wake me up for the 8 AM class today?"
This sudden voice sounded especially jarring in the quiet dorm.
"Holy shit!" Guo Yang shuddered in fright, almost throwing the book in his hand. "Who's there?"
Li Zicong was also startled. He looked up toward the sound.
"Oh, it's just you." Li Zicong patted his chest and rolled his eyes. "I totally forgot you came back yesterday."
Lying on the edge of his bed, Chen Zhi said with mock heartbreak, "Is this how you treat your roommate? Just watching me miss out on the opportunity to acquire knowledge?"
Zhang Tianyang put down his backpack, pushed up his glasses, and hit the nail on the head: "The number of classes you attended all of last semester can be counted on one hand. Why do you suddenly want to go to class? Are you cosplaying as a college student?"
Guo Yang echoed from the side, "Exactly. We're still not used to suddenly having an extra person in the dorm. When I left this morning, I didn't even glance at your bed."
Chen Zhi was speechless.
These bastards, their roasts were more savage than the last.
He threw off the covers and climbed out of bed. His stomach growled right on cue.
"Did you bring me any food?" Chen Zhi asked.
"Nope." Li Zicong took a sip of his coffee. "Who knew when you were gonna rise from the dead."
Chen Zhi sighed, resigned to his fate, and grabbed his jacket to go forage at the cafeteria.
Just as he put on his shoes, his phone on the desk suddenly vibrated.
Chen Zhi picked it up and saw it was a WeChat message from Pei Ningxue.
No text, just a photo.
The background of the photo was the familiar entryway of the Wanliu Estate.
Right in the middle of the frame was a silver-gray Rimowa metal suitcase, and next to it was a black men's backpack.
He remembered that yesterday morning at the Wanliu Estate, in order to coax Pei Ningxue, he had promised to accompany her on a business trip to Shanghai to discuss the pre-installation contracts for autonomous driving kits with the auto executives from Nio and Li Auto.
But he clearly remembered saying it would be in a few days.
Chen Zhi hurriedly typed a reply.
[Chen Zhi: Didn't we say in a few days? Why are we going today?]
The top of the screen immediately displayed "The other party is typing...".
Two seconds later, a message popped up.
[Pei Ningxue: Are you going or not?]
Chen Zhi quickly ran through his upcoming schedule in his head. Lin Wanwan had to run gigs recently to consolidate her championship hype, and Li Zhiyi was going into seclusion to write her thesis, so neither had time for him for the moment.
Going to Shanghai to lay low for a bit, and pushing forward Deep Space Technology's business while at it, seemed like a pretty good choice.
Most importantly, he didn't dare say no.
[Chen Zhi: Alright, wait for me.]
Chen Zhi pocketed his phone, turned around, and started packing.
Seeing him put his shoes on only to start stuffing a charger and clean clothes into his bag, Li Zicong asked in confusion, "Where are you off to now? Didn't you say you were gonna stay at school and chill for a few days?"
"Change of plans." Chen Zhi zipped up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "There's a multi-billion dollar deal that needs me to take charge."
"Keep bragging," Li Zicong scoffed. "With the way you're acting, it looks more like you are being kept by a sugar mama, completely at her beck and call."
Chen Zhi thought to himself, in a certain sense, you actually hit the nail on the head.
He waved a hand dismissively, pushed the door open, and walked out of the dorm room.
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
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!
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
