"Ugh..."
On the other end of the phone, Shen Mengli hung up and carefully placed Xie Yuyan's phone back into the bedside drawer. Her disheveled hair made it clear how agitated she was, and her usually fair face had darkened, as if weighed down by sorrow.
"Xiao Feng..."
Shen Mengli murmured Ye Feng's name as she gazed at the empty living room, her eyes filled with deep concern for him.
"Why... why does it have to be like this..."
......
"Huh? R-Really?"
"Yes. Though I don’t know why Shen Mengli suddenly reached out to us, something must have happened."
Li Mucheng replied calmly before Su Yuxin's voice came through the phone.
"Alright... I understand. I’ll come early tomorrow. But Mucheng, be careful—don’t take Shen Mengli’s words at face value. I don’t hate her now, but for Ye Feng’s sake, we can’t afford to be careless."
"Don’t worry, Yuxin. I know what I’m doing."
"Good! I’ll get ready on my end too. See you tomorrow."
As the call ended, Li Mucheng let out a sigh.
"Did Su Yuxin say something upsetting?"
Xie Yuyan, seated on the sofa, turned her gaze from the moonlight outside and looked at Li Mucheng.
"No, it’s just... I feel uneasy about Shen Mengli suddenly contacting us. I’m worried something might have happened to Teacher."
"But no matter what happens, we’ll face whatever secret Ye Feng is hiding, right? As long as we can make him trust us, I believe everything will work out."
Xie Yuyan’s words were like a soothing balm to Li Mucheng.
"Yes! No matter what, I’ll make sure Teacher knows we have the strength to help him!"
"That’s the spirit."
Xie Yuyan gave Li Mucheng an approving glance before gracefully rising and heading toward the guest room.
"Then we’ll find out the truth tomorrow. Get some rest tonight."
"Okay, goodnight."
"Goodnight."
......
Click.
The door opened, and Ye Feng stepped inside, holding a box of cake. As soon as he entered the living room, he spotted Shen Mengli sitting alone on the sofa, silent and still.
"Mengli, I got the cake you wanted. Please don’t cry anymore, okay?"
"Xiao Feng..."
Hearing his voice, Shen Mengli slowly lifted her head. The emptiness in her eyes vanished the moment she saw him, and she immediately threw herself into his arms.
Feeling the warmth of Ye Feng’s embrace, the turmoil in her heart gradually settled.
But the secret he had just revealed to her left her utterly devastated.
......
"Xiao Feng, tell me. I’m ready!"
After dinner, Shen Mengli tightly held Ye Feng’s hand, her tone firm, as if prepared for whatever he might say.
"Alright..."
Ye Feng let her lean against his shoulder, gathering his thoughts before finally speaking.
"The reason I didn’t tell you this secret before is because it involves both you and me—and others too."
"U-Us? You mean... the others as well?" Shen Mengli gasped.
"Yes. Mengli, do you remember what I told you about the concept of 'life time'?"
"Yes! You said the missions assigned by the system were all to earn more 'life time'—that you had no choice but to complete them."
Shen Mengli recalled every word he had ever said about it. After all, this concerned Ye Feng—how could she forget?
"Right. Running around, doing all these things... just to survive. I’ve done so much I never wanted to do, all for this damned countdown. And in the end, the punishment is mine to bear."
"Don’t say that!"
The moment Ye Feng spoke self-deprecatingly, Shen Mengli reacted as if the words had struck her instead. She immediately pressed her hand over his mouth, glaring at him fiercely.
"I won’t let you talk about yourself like that, or I’ll get mad!"
"Fine, fine. I can’t even criticize myself now?"
"No! Xiao Feng is the best—always the best in my heart!"
Her words slowly eased the bitterness in Ye Feng’s heart.
"Am I really that great? I don’t feel like it."
"That’s because you’re always giving, never letting yourself receive the same kindness in return. The way you are... any girl would fall for you."
Her voice grew softer, barely audible by the end.
"What was that, Mengli?"
"Nothing! Don’t change the subject! Keep talking!"
"......"
Ye Feng sighed at her stubborn expression before continuing.
"But one day, I unlocked a new mission—one with a reward I wanted more than anything."
"The thing you wanted most?"
Shen Mengli didn’t rush him, instead carefully considering his words. She couldn’t assume everything he told her was the full truth—not just for her own judgment, but for his sake too.
"Xiao Feng, do you mean... the life you’ve always wanted?"
"No... that’s just a dream. The system’s reward was to completely erase this 'life time' countdown. If I complete the mission, all my worries would disappear."
"Then... isn’t that a good thing? Why wouldn’t you want to do it?"
The thought excited her. If Ye Feng succeeded, they could finally be together without the system’s chains holding him back.
"Because the condition to complete it... is something I refuse to do."
"Refuse? Is... is the condition too harsh?"
Ye Feng shook his head. "It’s not about difficulty. To fulfill it, I’d have to make all of you... fall in love with me. By any means necessary."
His voice was heavy with guilt.
esick Sect? Well, at least it's considered a respectable orthodox sect. Wait a minute— What kind of vibe are you all giving off? Shouldn’t this be a love-struck, romance-obsessed sect? Why does everyone here sound more like demonic cultivators? "Master, today he’s getting married. This disciple wishes to descend the mountain and crash the wedding, then toy with him to death right in front of his wife..." "Elder, I only got into your sect through connections, so why won’t you teach me anything?" "Because I also became an elder through connections." Thankfully, Su Ji was just an outer sect labor disciple. Surely, nothing too crazy would— "Junior Brother, you’ve broken through to Qi Refining. Once you sever your useless spiritual root, you can officially become an outer sect disciple." "The Great Dao is merciless. Don’t let a worthless spiritual root waste your essence and spirit, hindering your cultivation." Is this really the Lovesick Sect? ... Three years later, Su Ji sat in the seat of the Lovesick Sect’s sect master, sighing with emotion. His rise to this position all started when his junior sister adamantly insisted on preserving his "spiritual root." "Mmm... Senior Brother, what’s our relationship now?" "Stop talking. Keep going." "By the way, that newly promoted top-tier sect—didn’t they come to buy our Love Beans?" "One top-grade spirit stone per Love Bean—is that really so expensive?" "I suspect they’ve eaten too many Love Beans." "Now they’re lovesick." Well, this really is the Lovesick Sect after all.
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
+【Epic Battles!】 "Your Highness, they say Linxi Temple is miraculous. Won’t you make a wish?" "A wish? It should be making wishes to me." "That may be so, but since you’re already here..." "..." "Fine. Then grant this princess a consort to play with." "He must be obedient, devoted, and utterly infatuated with my body—so much so that he’d kneel and kiss my feet." "Your Highness, that’s not a consort. That’s a dog." "Then add clever, witty, heroic, ambitious yet pragmatic..." "Hmm, that’s enough for now. I’ll add more later." After tossing out these words half in jest, Princess Anle departed the temple—only to catch a fleeting glimpse of the Bodhisattva statue smiling at her. Meanwhile, Yang An, fresh out of university, was having a very bad day. Good news: He’d transmigrated into another world with a cheat granting tenfold combat power. Bad news: He’d immediately fallen into the clutches of a certain villainess. Good news: Said villainess possessed peerless beauty and royal status. Bad news: She was absolutely monstrous!!! In the frozen wilderness, Yang An knelt beneath Qin Guo’er’s feet, drenched in sweat despite the cold. Desperately clutching her porcelain-perfect foot—the very one poised to crush his throat—he could only think: How do I survive this?! Need answers NOW!
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
