Luo Shuhe's voice was youthful, yet carried a hint of detachment that didn't match her age.
"Shuhe, guess who won first place in the math competition?" Luo Shuning hurried over to her and said,
"Guess, guess!"
"I don't know." Luo Shuhe replied expressionlessly.
"You don’t know who got first place, but I know who only got second." Luo Shuning extended her small hand, pointing straight at her:
"That’s right—it’s you."
"......"
Luo Shuhe turned her head away, saying nothing more.
Yet Luo Shuning seemed completely oblivious to her sister’s disinterest, still basking in her own triumph as she jumped right in front of her.
Raising both index fingers with pride, she declared:
"Oh, and I also won first place in the piano competition."
"I’m always first."
"Oh..." Luo Shuhe gave only a slight nod.
Unfazed, Luo Shuning continued her relentless bragging:
"As a reward for winning, Father is buying me a new piano."
She paused, tilting her chin up slightly:
"And he’s taking me abroad to visit Mother during summer break. I haven’t seen her in half a year—she must miss me so much."
Luo Shuhe remained unmoved, ignoring the topic and instead asking, "Why do you call them 'Father' and 'Mother'? Doesn’t it feel awkward?"
"Not at all."
Luo Shuning blinked, answering with an innocent expression:
"Father told me to call them that. He says it gives him inspiration for writing scripts and filming."
Hearing this, Luo Shuhe merely nodded faintly. "Alright. Anything else?"
She didn’t want to hear any more of these trivial matters.
Mother was busy with the family business, often gone for entire years. Father was absorbed in his career, spending most of his time on film sets, only occasionally returning to see the three sisters.
Day-to-day, they were raised by nannies.
Luo Shuhe couldn’t understand why Father and Mother, who had long since become strangers, still refused to divorce.
Whatever. It didn’t matter.
"Hmm... Well, Father is going to France for an event this summer, so he’s taking me to see Mother. You and Shuling will have to go to our grandparents’ place in the countryside." Luo Shuning hesitated for a moment before adding, her tone strangely conflicted:
"...Shuhe, what if I let you win next time? You must miss Mother too, right?"
"I don’t."
Luo Shuhe shook her head without hesitation.
"You’re lying. You do miss her." Hearing this, Luo Shuning inexplicably raised her voice, her expression turning stern.
"No, I don’t miss her at all."
"You liar! You’re lying!" Luo Shuning shouted angrily.
"Suit yourself."
Without another word of explanation, Luo Shuhe turned and walked toward her room.
Her heart was calm.
She didn’t need parents.
Their existence was just a formality. The only one she truly cared about was Shuling.
As for Shuning?
She was just a pitiable older sister.
But everyone had their own way of thinking.
Luo Shuhe had long grown indifferent to it all.
When she was older, she would take Shuling and escape this home—no, this cold, lifeless house.
Just then—
"Shuhe! Shuning!"
The round-cheeked Luo Shuling suddenly pushed open the bedroom door, running out excitedly with a beaming smile:
"Look! I won a prize from my snack!"
She waved the winning card high in the air:
"Three free packs! Three!"
"We can each have one! Heehee!"
............
............
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
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!
