"Bro, bro, bro, bro, bro."
"I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here."
"Hehe."
Luo Shuling was thoroughly pleased with Gu Luo's prompt responses to every call, fluttering around him like a lively little butterfly.
One moment she'd skip ahead, the next she'd trail behind like a tiny shadow, all while steadily carrying a cat carrier in her hand.
Gu Luo held an identical cat carrier, though his gaze wasn't fixed on his lively little sister but rather on a familiar figure in the distance—his "best friend," Situ Wenyao.
True to his role in the Public Service Department, the guy was the picture of helpfulness.
Their club activity for the day was rounding up stray cats in Donghu Park for neutering.
Since the park didn't have too many strays, only four members had joined the effort.
"Bro."
"I'm here."
"Bro."
"I'm here."
"Bro, you sound like a chatbot."
"......"
Gu Luo couldn't decide whether to laugh or sigh. He reached out and lightly flicked Luo Shuling's forehead.
She immediately clutched her head dramatically, eyes brimming with exaggerated hurt. "Bro! When did you learn this move from Shu Ning? That really stings!"
"Serves you right. I humored your call-and-response game, and you call me a robot."
"Not a robot—a chatbot!"
"Looking for another flick, are you?"
"Hehe." Luo Shuling quickly dodged out of reach, scampering ahead.
Seeing this, Gu Luo instinctively called out, "Slow down. Watch your step."
"Got it, Chatbot Old Bro—"
"Eek—!"
Just as Luo Shuling turned her head to reply, her foot caught on a protruding rock.
In an instant, she pitched forward and landed flat on the ground.
The cat carrier slipped from her grip, tumbling away with a clatter.
"......"
Gu Luo resisted the urge to facepalm, sighing inwardly before hurrying over. He crouched down to inspect her injuries.
"Just a scraped knee. Should be fine."
"Bro... it hurts... so much..." Luo Shuling sat pitifully on the ground, cradling her knee, looking even more woeful than when she'd gotten flicked.
"My chatbot of a sister... How do you trip on flat ground like some anime heroine?"
Luo Shuling pointed accusingly at the offending rock. "It's all that rock's fault."
"...... Wait here."
Gu Luo stood and jogged toward a nearby refrigerated snack cart, returning shortly with a bottle of water.
He unscrewed the cap and carefully rinsed her wound.
"Ow ow ow...!" Luo Shuling winced, her face scrunching up.
"If you don't like pain, be more careful next time." After cleaning the scrape, Gu Luo pulled disinfectant wipes and a bandage from his pocket.
"Bro, you carry these around?" Luo Shuling blinked in surprise.
In her experience, most guys didn’t even carry tissues—and if they did, they were crumpled into a ball.
Gu Luo’s preparedness was practically saintly.
"Yeah. Ximan’s always falling over too."
As he spoke, he gently dabbed her knee dry with the wipe, then applied the bandage with care.
"Wow, no wonder Ximan’s always calling you a ‘kind-hearted siscon’!"
"......"
Gu Luo responded with another light flick to her forehead.
"Oww..."
Luo Shuling yelped theatrically.
"Quit faking. That was barely a tap. Get up."
"I can’t." She clutched her leg dramatically. "My leg’s broken. I can’t walk."
Pausing, she batted her eyes and added, "If only a sweet big brother would carry me..."
She peeked up to gauge his reaction.
"......"
Gu Luo’s eye twitched, torn between exasperation and amusement at her antics.
After retrieving the fallen carrier, he crouched down.
"Hehe."
Luo Shuling immediately sprang up and latched onto his back, arms locking around his neck like a vise.
"Don’t choke me..."
"Nope! I’ll die if I fall!" She clung tighter, as if her life depended on it.
"......Chatbot little sister."
"Chatbot big bro, giddyup!"
And so, Gu Luo—now dubbed "Chatbot"—trudged forward, a carrier in each hand and his human backpack in tow.
Luo Shuling rested her chin on his shoulder, her cheek nearly touching his, and whispered playfully:
"Bro, am I heavy?"
"Huh?"
Gu Luo was momentarily baffled by her phrasing, mentally noting that her language skills needed work.
(And her grades were slipping toward the bottom ten...)
"I mean, bro, do I weigh a lot?"
"You’re light. Just ease up on the death grip—and stop breathing in my ear." He shuddered as her exhales tickled him.
Instead of backing off, Luo Shuling squeezed tighter and abruptly changed topics. "Bro, your cooking is sooo good."
"......That segue needs work." Gu Luo snorted at the clumsy shift.
"I’m addicted. I can’t go a single meal without it." She barreled on, "Bro, how about you never get married? Just stay with us forever, okay?"
The "us" clearly meant herself, Luo Shuning, Luo Shuhe, and Gu Ximan.
The sister squad.
Gu Luo chuckled. "So you want me as your lifetime housekeeper?"
"Well, if you must marry, just pick Shu Ning or Shu He!"
Luo Shuling tilted her head, grinning. "Or me! I wouldn’t mind~"
"Any of us three except Ximan—your choice!"
"Total win, no regrets~"
"Don’t volunteer them on their behalf." Gu Luo shook his head, dismissing it as childish nonsense.
"But what if I want to eat your food forever?"
"Then come eat. An extra mouth won’t break the bank."
Luo Shuling’s smile widened like a kid handed a candy store.
"Bro."
"I'm here."
"Bro."
"I'm here."
"Confirmed chatbot bro!"
............
............
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
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!
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...
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?!
