The night of New Year's Eve.
Far livelier than usual.
Colorful lanterns flickered like shooting stars, casting a kaleidoscope of light through the windows, harmonizing with the bursts of fireworks outside.
Faintly, the delighted laughter of children could still be heard.
Yet.
At this very moment.
Xu Xi felt somewhat uneasy.
All because an uninvited "intruder" had joined him on his bed this New Year's Eve.
"Krisha, aren’t you going back?"
"No," the witch shook her small head. "I was afraid you’d feel lonely."
That’s what she said.
But as Xu Xi glanced at the witch beside him,
he couldn’t shake off a peculiar sense of amusement.
The girl clutched the blanket tightly, bundling herself up until only her two small eyes peeked out, fixed unwaveringly on Xu Xi.
By all appearances, the lonely one seemed to be the girl herself.
Xu Xi chuckled.
"Then thank you for keeping me company, Krisha," he said, reaching out to smooth her disheveled hair, smiling as he indulged his witch.
The scene reminded him of their first New Year together during the second simulation, back when the girl was still a child.
Time had flown.
The little girl had since ascended to godhood.
Yet that same dependence remained, as thick as it had been in his memories.
"Mentor."
In the quiet of the night, Krisha’s voice came out soft and dazed: "You’re not sending me away?"
Before her nighttime visit,
the witch had braced herself for a scolding.
But Xu Xi didn’t do that.
Instead, with gentle fingers, he combed through her silver-gray hair: "Krisha is usually so well-behaved. I thought… it’s alright if she acts a little spoiled just this once."
Krisha seemed happy.
Though her expression remained calm, her eyelashes fluttered faintly.
"Mentor."
She called to him softly, tugging at the blanket until it covered both of them: "Thank you."
Her gratitude came in clumsy words,
delivered in a tone as plain as still water.
Such was the peculiar charm of the witch.
"There’s no need for thanks," Xu Xi murmured, his fingers trailing down her hair before stopping at the tip of her nose, giving it a playful flick.
The night deepened.
It was time to sleep.
But with the witch’s sudden intrusion, Xu Xi found himself wide awake.
So there they lay, side by side, staring at the ceiling, sharing stories from their lives.
As they talked,
moonlight spilled through the window,
slanting across the room in a divide of light and shadow.
Xu Xi lay on the illuminated side, his face youthful, his body vibrant—no trace of the aging the witch had feared.
"Mentor."
"Could you tell me… about your past?"
Krisha lay beside him,
utterly still.
Her hands still gripped the edge of the blanket, her mesmerizing eyes fixed on Xu Xi.
"Krisha, what part would you like to know about?"
Xu Xi had assumed she wanted to hear about the years in the magical world, the time before they’d met.
But the witch’s answer surprised him.
"I want…"
"to know about your life on Earth."
There were many things the witch wished to say, yet in Xu Xi’s presence, her courage faltered.
And so,
she settled on this topic.
"You might be disappointed, Krisha. My life on Earth was dull, even mediocre."
Drifting memories floated like the wind.
Fragments of the past chased the light.
On the bed, in the quiet of the room, the man’s expression turned wistful.
"The most recent years, you and Mo Li already know—I was confined to a wheelchair after my legs were injured."
"And further back…"
"I was an orphan, raised in a welfare home. Bland, uneventful, nothing worth mentioning."
"Even among ordinary people, I was decidedly unremarkable."
Some memories weren’t beautiful.
But they were still part of life.
Gently, Xu Xi recounted his past to the witch—a life as plain and patchy as he’d described.
Drab and flavorless.
Bland and uninspiring.
"Pretty ordinary, right, Krisha?" he asked, turning to the girl after summarizing it all.
She shook her head.
Her expression was puzzled, as if the question confused her.
How could it be ordinary?
How could it possibly be ordinary?
A witch who had wandered alone since childhood knew better than anyone how hard it was to survive on one’s own.
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
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...
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...
ave】 Shen Qingling was a man with peerless looks, a cunning mind, and the ability to play both the aloof noble and the innocent sweetheart—a master of seduction who could outplay any player. But after an untimely death, he found himself bound to a system and transmigrated into the tragic "true young master" of a melodramatic novel. In the original story, his childhood sweetheart treated him as a backup plan, his fiancée swore to break off their engagement for the sake of the "fake young master," and his own sister saw him as the family's disgrace. He was nothing more than a rat everyone wanted to stomp on. System 077: "Your mission is to change the original fate and conquer the goddesses." Shen Qingling: "Thanks for the invite. If seduction had tiers, I’d be max level." His childhood sweetheart knelt, begging for forgiveness: "Qingling, I was wrong. Please give me another chance." His ex-fiancée refused to marry anyone else: "Shen Qingling, I was blind before. In this life, I’ll marry no one but you." A yandere CEO went mad for love: "Shen Qingling, you can only like me. I’ll stop at nothing to make you mine!" His green-tea sister clung to him daily: "Brother, look at me, won’t you? I’m more obedient than them—I love you the most~" At first, they scorned and trampled on him. Later, they burned themselves like moths to a flame, all for his sake. His looks were his weapon, his sweet words the bait—heroines obsessed over him, villains turned to madness for him. Shen Qingling became a true male siren, igniting battlefield after battlefield of women fighting for his affection. Years later, when System 077—now one of the elites—was asked how to become as outstanding as it, it lazily exhaled a smoke ring and replied: "Just know how to cheer ‘666’ at the right time."
