Early in the morning at the office, Shen Yi was revising the proposal he hadn't finished the day before. Taking time off was nice at first, but coming back was like walking into a crematorium - various tasks were in complete disarray, disturbing his peace of mind.
The vacation days were scattered about, and working days were mentally chaotic, making it feel like a bargain hunt, desperately trying to piece things together.
"Shen Yi, you need to submit your proposal tonight, the client needs it tomorrow," Little Liu from the neighboring desk said casually as he walked past Shen Yi's workstation carrying some files.
Shen Yi heard him but didn't even look up, just mumbling a response. Little Liu didn't seem to mind, letting out a snicker before walking away with his head held high.
Liu Changjiang pulling this kind of stunt was within Shen Yi's expectations. The reason was simple - it was all about the time off.
The company policy stated that only one person per team could take regular time off, with special arrangements possible for schedule adjustments. Since Shen Yi had applied one day earlier, it disrupted Liu's plans, and he had secretly begun to harbor resentment toward Shen Yi.
Liu Changjiang was a petty person with a narrow mind, always keeping score and fond of tattling - your typical office troublemaker. Every workplace has one, and everyone knew what he was like, mostly choosing to keep their distance.
"Xiao Shen, the previous version needs some minor adjustments, the team leader is waiting for the report."
Just as Shen Yi had managed to push Liu Changjiang out of his mind, another voice caught his attention, and he quickly responded:
"Oh, sure, Wang Ru, I'll get right on it."
Wang Ru was a young married woman who had helped Shen Yi a lot when he first joined the company. She was generally kind to everyone, always smiling before speaking, and was quite popular in the company.
Unlike with Liu Changjiang, Shen Yi didn't dare slack off when she made requests, immediately nodding in agreement.
But just as he sat down, someone from the Planning Department came looking for him, urging him about the brand promotion draft that was due Monday.
Shen Yi froze, checked his phone, and realized - damn, today was Monday.
Recalling last week's team arrangements, this draft was supposed to be Liu Changjiang's responsibility.
The Planning Department staff waved off Shen Yi's explanations - they didn't care who wrote the draft, they just needed it from Team Three on time, everything else was irrelevant.
After they left, Shen Yi sat at his desk and realized what had happened - that bastard Liu Changjiang had taken emergency leave today, deliberately leaving this mess for him to deal with.
After gritting his teeth for a while, Shen Yi gave up. This wasn't the time to be angry - he had a huge pile of work to handle and time was tight, leaving no room for extra emotions.
Office work was strange like that - some days you're killing time browsing the internet, other days tasks pile up one after another, like suddenly remembering to do the dishes when food's already on the table, or realizing your nose is running only after it reaches your mouth.
Ten-thirty at night.
Shen Yi stood up and stretched, trying to work out his stiff muscles.
"That's it for this goddamn shift today!"
The client's proposal was done, and the team leader's report materials had been placed on his desk long ago - he could finally go home.
As for the Planning Department's draft, whoever wanted to write it could write it - he sure as hell wasn't going to. Shen Yi coldly smiled as he grabbed his bag and clocked out without hesitation.
He wasn't the type to let people walk all over him - his kindness was reserved only for those who were kind to him in return. For someone else, Shen Yi might have quietly taken the hit and helped out, but Liu Changjiang definitely didn't qualify.
Shen Yi had managed to complete his own work even after taking time off yesterday to move houses, so what right did Liu Changjiang have to deliberately dump his work on him under the guise of taking leave?
The subway stopped running at 10:50, and Shen Yi hurriedly caught the last train, finding a seat while clutching his laptop bag.
He could already imagine the team leader's fury tomorrow, but he didn't care. At worst, he'd be accused of not being a team player. After working there for over two years, he had no ambition for promotion anyway, so let them yell.
Finding a seat, Shen Yi pulled out his phone to relax with a game.
"Teamfight Tactics, let's go!"
After graduating from university, intense competitive games had become too demanding, and Shen Yi gradually started preferring casual games.
Games he could start and stop at any time, preferably with auto-play features, something he could just tap occasionally to relieve stress.
"Nice! Eat that!"
Shen Yi muttered excitedly under his breath as his composition was unstoppable, crushing everything in its path.
"Damn, what luck, how did they manage to chase me down?"
But before he could celebrate for long, another player desperately chased him down with a three-star legendary unit, sending him to eighth place.
Putting down his phone in frustration, the subway coincidentally arrived at his stop, and Shen Yi grabbed his bag and followed the crowd out.
After an eight-minute walk, Shen Yi opened his door and collapsed onto the bean bag chair, not wanting to move anymore.
This was his new home that he'd just moved into yesterday, so it still looked neat and organized, a far cry from his previous dump - the difference was like heaven and earth.
His previous apartment, though close to the company, was small and expensive. Shen Yi felt the burden was too heavy and had been wanting to move but couldn't find the time. He finally managed it during his time off, only to return to a pile of work at the office, making him even more exhausted than before.
Curled up in the soft chair, Shen Yi opened a food delivery app and casually ordered dinner, having not eaten since being busy since noon.
While waiting, Shen Yi thought about playing another round of TFT, but remembering the lucky player from before made him lose interest, like he'd swallowed a fly.
Feeling bored, Shen Yi opened the App Store, looking for a casual idle game to play.
His finger scrolled through the rankings, seeing all familiar faces - either games he'd played before or types he had zero interest in.
"These rankings are getting worse and worse..." Shen Yi muttered while scrolling down.
Just then, a pink APP caught his attention, something he hadn't seen before, sitting right at the hundredth position - the very last spot in the rankings.
"Dating Simulator, just made it to the charts?"
The rankings only showed the top hundred, so this APP had clearly fought its way up from among thousands, suggesting it must have some merit.
Of course, what really caught Shen Yi's attention was the app's icon - a pink heart pierced by Cupid's arrow.
However, unlike normal Cupid's arrows that pierce two hearts, this arrow had a string of hearts skewered on its shaft, making the whole Cupid's arrow look rather crowded and strange.
'What is this, a kebab?' Shen Yi couldn't help but joke, but his curiosity was piqued nonetheless.
With one tap, Shen Yi started the download, casually reading the description while waiting for the progress bar to fill.
[Dating Simulator! A blessing for the romantically challenged, a bible for dating novices, hurry and match with your dream goddess! Earn rewards through successful dating strategies, unlock exclusive achievements with perfect runs!]
Looking at the description, Shen Yi had a strange expression, "Sounds pretty legit, hope it's not pay-to-win..."
The simulator wasn't large, and it quickly showed the download was complete.
Exiting the store, Shen Yi decided to try it immediately, skipping the reviews as usual.
Developers these days were quite crafty with fake reviews, and there was nothing worse than getting excited by glowing praise only to find garbage after downloading.
Clicking the icon, a pleasant melody played, followed by a flash of white light that made Shen Yi's vision blur momentarily before the APP loaded completely.
His body felt strangely hot for an instant, so brief he wasn't sure if he'd imagined it. Before he could think about it further, a simple window popped up, prompting him to name his character.
] [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?"
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.”
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
