Gu Luo patiently posed for photos with Lu Xuexue, his gaze always gentle.
Seeing that she had taken enough pictures, he cut straight to the point and asked:
"Xuexue, have you and Little Man had some kind of disagreement lately?"
At these words, Lu Xuexue's heart skipped a beat. It took her several seconds to stammer out a reply: "N-no... not at all..."
What lay between her and Man Man wasn't exactly a disagreement—it was a far more complicated emotional issue.
Extremely complicated.
So complicated that neither of them could pierce through that thin layer of unspoken tension.
Seeing Lu Xuexue's evasive eyes and the blatant "I'm lying" written all over her face, Gu Luo found her rather adorable.
He adjusted his hold on her slightly and continued softly:
"I'm your older brother. If there's any trouble between you two, you can tell me. I’ll help mediate."
"......"
Lu Xuexue glanced up at the very 'culprit' behind this entire situation, but after barely a second of eye contact, she quickly lowered her head again, utterly unsure of where to even begin.
Maybe... confess to Gu Luo right now?
The moment this thought surfaced, her heart began racing uncontrollably, faster and faster, as if it might burst out of her chest.
Her cheeks instantly flushed crimson.
Honestly, considering their current position—held in a princess carry—this seemed like the perfect moment for a confession.
But the next instant, another thought doused her burning enthusiasm like a bucket of cold water.
What would happen when Man Man returned?
How would she face her?
Most importantly... would Gu Luo even accept her feelings?
And if he rejected her... would they still be able to stay friends?
Countless questions swirled in her mind, leaving her thoughts a tangled mess.
What should she do?!
What should she do?!
What should she do?!
Just confess! Just confess!
"Gu Luo... actually, I..." Lu Xuexue forced the words out with great difficulty, but she couldn’t bring herself to continue.
Her mind went completely blank.
It felt like her body wasn’t even her own anymore.
Seeing her like this, Gu Luo couldn’t help but sigh softly.
"I know."
"Ah... Ah?!" Lu Xuexue was stunned. Had Gu Luo already seen through her feelings?
At this realization, her entire body burned with embarrassment, and she nearly bolted on the spot.
Gu Luo continued calmly, his voice steady as ever:
"I know you two probably don’t want to share private matters between best friends with others. But as your brother, I really don’t want to see any rift between you."
Pausing, he added seriously:
"Let me apologize on Man Man’s behalf. That girl’s been spoiled by me since she was little—she’s too proud to admit when she’s wrong, but deep down, she’s really kind. A good kid."
"So... could you do me a favor and give Man Man a way to save face? If you just give that silly girl an out, she’ll take it without hesitation."
Hearing these words—spoken with such brotherly concern—Lu Xuexue felt both relieved and deeply pained.
Gu Luo truly, truly adored Man Man, in every possible way.
And that was exactly why she had fallen for him in the first place.
After a moment to collect herself, Lu Xuexue took a small breath and nodded.
"Gu Luo, don’t worry. I promise I’ll handle things properly with Man Man."
"Good. And as thanks, I’ll help you overcome your shyness around guys." Gu Luo inwardly sighed in relief, glad that his efforts had finally paid off.
Though it had taken a lot of work to mediate between the two girls...
For Gu Ximan, it was all worth it.
And so, the two chatted back and forth, their conversation never straying far from "Man Man," laughing and enjoying themselves.
Lu Xuexue gradually relaxed, her earlier tension melting away as she lost herself in the conversation, a sweet smile occasionally gracing her lips.
But at that very moment...
Below the stage.
At the edge of the crowd.
Gu Ximan, who had just rushed back from the restroom, stood frozen, staring blankly at the two on stage—laughing, talking, so intimate with each other.
One was the older brother she had relied on and adored since childhood.
The other was her closest, most inseparable best friend.
They looked...
So perfect together.
But.
Her heart.
It hurt.
So much.
She wanted to cry.
......
......
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!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
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?!
