Boston Logan International Airport.
Chen Zhi had just stepped off his private jet when he pulled a black baseball cap from his pocket and placed it onto his head. Reaching into his bag, he fished out a black mask, covering himself completely. By now, he was something of a global celebrity.
Four hours ago, his face had been flashing across several massive screens in New York’s Times Square. The champagne was probably still flowing back at Nasdaq, but here he was—the CEO of a company valued at hundreds of billions of dollars—making a run for it.
If some paparazzi caught the founder of Deep Space Technology ditching the celebration party to wander the streets of Boston, tomorrow’s front page on Wall Street would turn into some ridiculous headline.
Chen Zhi turned to look at Pei Ningxue, who was walking beside him.
She was still wearing the black suit skirt from the bell-ringing ceremony, exuding an aura of power. Walking through the airport corridor like it was a runway, she drew plenty of stares.
“President Pei,” Chen Zhi said, moving half a step to the side. “Maybe you should wear a mask too?”
Pei Ningxue didn’t slow down. She shot him a sideways glance.
“What, afraid I’ll embarrass you?”
“No,” Chen Zhi pointed at her. “You’re also a familiar face in financial news now, the CFO of Deep Space Technology. The two of us together are too obvious. What if someone recognizes us?”
Pei Ningxue stopped walking and let out a cold laugh.
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on walking with you.”
She raised her wrist to glance at her Patek Philippe.
“I’ve got my own schedule in Boston. Tomorrow morning, I’m meeting with a few professors to discuss university-industry partnerships.”
Pei Ningxue brushed her long hair back behind her shoulders, her tone flat.
“As for you, go see your childhood sweetheart. I have no interest in being the third wheel.”
Chen Zhi looked at her, all businesslike, but he knew exactly what was going on inside her head.
She was just stubborn. All talk and no action.
If she really needed to discuss partnerships, why not do it any other time? Why fly all the way here on his private jet overnight?
But he didn’t call her out on it right now. Instead, he raised his hand solemnly.
“President Pei, you know my feelings for you have always been the same.”
Pei Ningxue stared at him for three seconds.
“Hmph.”
With those two words, she turned around and walked straight toward the VIP pickup area of the airport.
A black Cadillac SUV was parked by the curb. Pei Ningxue opened the door and slid inside with effortless grace.
The window rolled down, and she looked at Chen Zhi, still fully covered, standing by the roadside.
“Chen Zhi.”
He leaned closer.
“Tomorrow at 5 p.m., the private jet flies back to New York. If you’re late, I’ll announce your resignation right away.”
With that, the window rolled up, and the Cadillac merged into traffic with a press of the accelerator.
Chen Zhi stood there, rubbing his nose.
“This temper of hers is getting worse and worse.”
He pulled out his phone and checked the location Su Man had sent him.
Berklee College of Music.
Chen Zhi hailed a taxi and gave the driver the address.
Half an hour later, he stood near the Berklee campus. The area was filled with young people carrying instruments and dressed in eclectic styles; scattered guitar notes drifted out from a corner café.
Chen Zhi adjusted his cap brim, strolling along the street.
Su Man had only said Lin Wanwan had an internal performance tonight, but hadn’t mentioned which venue. Berklee was huge—dozens of rehearsal rooms and performance halls, big and small. He couldn’t exactly push open every door to look for her.
He glanced around and spotted a white guy sitting on a bench by the roadside, smoking a cigarette.
Next to the guy was a bass guitar. He wore ripped jeans and a messy mop of curly hair.
Chen Zhi walked over and struck up a conversation in fluent English.
“Hey, buddy. Sorry to bother you.”
The white guy blew out a smoke ring and looked up at him.
“What’s up?”
“Have you seen an Asian girl around here?” Chen Zhi gestured with his hands. “Short hair, very pretty. Should be a student at your school.”
The guy frowned, studying Chen Zhi with suspicion.
A man wearing sunglasses, a mask, and a baseball cap, out late at night, asking about a pretty girl near a campus?
This looked like a textbook stalker situation.
“Dude, there are plenty of Asian girls at our school,” the guy said, stubbing out his cigarette. “Who exactly are you looking for?”
“Lin.” Chen Zhi used Lin Wanwan’s surname. “She’s a great singer.”
“Lin?”
The guy blinked, then realization hit.
“Yeah, yeah. You mean the one Smith the old man couldn’t stop praising in composition class lately?”
Chen Zhi’s eyes lit up.
“That’s her, exactly.”
The guy’s expression turned even more guarded. He even reached toward his bass case, as if ready to swing it like a weapon if things went south.
“What’s your relationship with her? Paparazzi? Or one of those annoying suitors?”
He gave Chen Zhi a thorough once-over.
“Lin does have a gig tonight, but there’s no way I’m giving the address to some shady dude hiding his face.”
Chen Zhi sighed, a little exasperated.
Students here in Boston sure had strong safety awareness.
He let out a breath, then pulled down his mask and took off his sunglasses.
“I’m not some creep,” Chen Zhi said, pointing at his own face. “I’m her friend.”
The guy was about to fire back a sarcastic remark, but when he saw Chen Zhi’s face, he froze completely.
His eyes went wide, his mouth hung open, and he kept switching his gaze between Chen Zhi’s face and his phone screen.
Just a few seconds ago, he’d been scrolling through Twitter.
And the number one trending topic was the live footage of DeepSpace ringing the bell at Nasdaq.
In the video, the young Asian billionaire, surrounded by global capital bigwigs, pressing the bell—that face looked exactly like the man standing right in front of him.
“Holy shit…”
The guy cursed under his breath and shot to his feet.
“Chen?!”
He pointed at Chen Zhi, his voice cracking.
“You’re that Chen from DeepSpace?!”
Chen Zhi quickly pressed a finger to his lips.
“Shh.”
“Oh my god!” The guy couldn’t control his volume, flailing his arms with excitement. “It’s really you! I’ve seen your launch events! Moss OS is a genius design! I even registered for an account on your developer platform!”
He grabbed Chen Zhi’s arm.
“I’m your fan, Chen! Call me Mike! Man, a billionaire CEO standing right here, asking me about a girl!”
Chen Zhi felt a little dizzy from being shaken.
“Mike, take it easy.”
He pulled his arm free and put his mask back on.
“Right now, I’m just a CEO who sneaked out. I don’t want to cause a scene.”
Mike nodded frantically, lowering his voice, but the excitement was still plain as day.
“I get it! I get it! Big boss going incognito!”
He suddenly realized something, his eyes bulging like brass bells.
"Wait, you were just asking about Lin... Are you and Lin friends?"
Chen Zhi came up with a reason.
"It's her birthday today, so I flew over specially to surprise her. But I don't know where she's performing."
Mike wore an expression like he had stumbled onto a huge scoop, rubbing his hands together excitedly.
"Buddy, you've come to the right place! Lin is performing tonight in the underground theater at the red brick building number 114. It's an independent music festival only open to students."
Mike grabbed his bass case.
"Come on! I'll get you in! You can't get in without a student ID, but I have a warm-up set there tonight!"
Chen Zhi grinned.
This fan was pretty useful.
"Thanks, Mike."
The two walked along the street.
Along the way, Mike was as hyped as a chatterbox, eagerly giving Chen Zhi a rundown of Lin Wanwan's "legendary deeds" at school.
"Chen, you have no idea how popular Lin is around here."
"When she first arrived, she barely spoke. Everyone thought she was a good little girl."
"Then last month, some arrogant rich kid made crude jokes at her in the rehearsal room. She threw a hot coffee right on his crotch and yelled at him to get out."
"After that, nobody dared mess with her."
Chen Zhi walked beside him, listening to these words, pausing slightly in his step.
One year.
She had really grown up.
"We're here."
Mike stopped in front of an old red brick building.
Going down the stairs, the heavy metal drumbeats and distorted guitar sounds already made the floor tremble.
Two students were checking IDs at the entrance.
Mike flashed his pass and pointed to Chen Zhi behind him.
"He's the keyboardist for my band—just flew in from New York today."
The student guarding the door glanced at Chen Zhi, who was bundled up tightly, didn't ask questions, and waved them through.
The small theater was packed, the lighting dim, with only a few blue-purple spotlights hitting the stage.
Mike leaned close to Chen Zhi's ear and shouted,
"Lin is the headliner! She should be on soon!"
Chen Zhi nodded, patted Mike on the shoulder in thanks, and squeezed his way to the edge of the crowd, finding an inconspicuous corner to stand.
A punk band on stage just finished their set, the lead singer screaming and smashing the mic stand, drawing whistles and cheers from the crowd.
The venue lights dimmed.
Students around started murmuring.
"Isn't Lin up next?"
"Yeah, I heard she's singing a new Chinese song she wrote herself tonight."
"Even Smith praised her arrangement. I want to hear how good it really is."
Standing in the shadows, Chen Zhi stared fixedly at the center of the stage.
One minute later, a soft white light hit the stage.
A girl carrying an acoustic guitar slowly walked up to the microphone.
She wore a simple loose white T-shirt, jeans, and a pair of canvas shoes.
The most striking thing was her hair.
Her once waist-length hair was now cut into a short bob that brushed her ears, the ends slightly curled, giving her a cool, aloof vibe.
Her face, under the light, was still stunningly beautiful.
She adjusted the microphone height, plucking the guitar strings lightly.
The entire venue fell silent.
agon king storylines. At the start, I obtained the "Ultimate Lackey System" - the more I act as a lackey, the stronger I become. What else could I do? I chose to become the personal henchman of the ultimate villain, Su Muwan. I provoke all sorts of chosen ones, snatch away their opportunities, and commit every evil deed imaginable. You ask who's behind me? Hmph! You're not worthy of knowing my lady's name! ...... ....... I am Su Muwan, the eldest daughter of the Su family. Since childhood, I've possessed extraordinary talent in martial arts, which led to my arrogant and domineering personality in my past life. I was even foolish enough to repeatedly challenge those favored by heaven, ultimately resulting in a tragic death. In this life, I must behave and absolutely cannot walk the same path again!! However... SLAP!! "So you're the Dragon King, huh?!" When I saw my little lackey swagger over and viciously slap the Dragon King who was hiding his identity, I felt my heart sink. Su Muwan's suspended heart finally died as she watched Qin Luo, her utterly loyal lackey, standing before her. She fainted on the spot from shock. Heaven is determined to destroy me!! (Pure love 1v1, light-hearted, no angst, single female lead, villain, reincarnation, lackey)
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...
] [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!"
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?"
