Despite Gu Shaoting's desperate attempts to defend himself, the fallout from the incident was too severe—his small shop was ultimately shut down, and he once again found himself unemployed.
Listening to the system's report about the protagonist's diminishing aura, Jiang Ran couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction.
Crushed by the setbacks, Gu Shaoting couldn't understand what was wrong with him. Why had nothing gone right these past few years? Suddenly, it dawned on him—his streak of misfortune seemed to have started after he got together with Lin Xue. No, even earlier—ever since he met her!
He stared at Lin Xue, a flicker of fear in his eyes. Could it be? Was this woman somehow jinxing him?
Meanwhile, Lin Xue was enduring a scolding from her mother over the phone.
"You even stole money now? Have you lost your mind? Every penny of that was earned through my sweat and tears! You don’t make a single cent yourself, yet you dare say you’ll pay it back? With what? Huh? Relying on that orphan, are you? Mark my words, you’ll regret this!"
Lin Xue retorted defiantly—even if Gu Shaoting was an orphan, he was still the one she had chosen.
Enraged by her defiance, Lin's mother snapped, cutting ties outright. When Lin Xue tried calling back, the line was busy—she had been blocked.
"Shaoting... I have no home now," Lin Xue murmured, tears welling up.
Gu Shaoting’s suspicions wavered at the sight of her tears. His heart softened slightly. "It’s alright. We have plenty of time to turn things around. One day, I’ll make sure everyone knows—Gu Shaoting is no ordinary man!"
Yet as Lin Xue gazed at him, another figure crossed her mind.
Fang Zhiyi was surprised when Lin Xue called. He had assumed he’d already strayed from the protagonist’s storyline.
"Um, Fang Zhiyi... could you lend me some money?" Lin Xue’s tone lacked its usual arrogance, even sounding somewhat pleading.
"Money, cars, wives—none of them are for lending," Fang Zhiyi replied flatly, flipping through a book.
"You... After all this time, don’t you trust me?"
Oh, I trust you alright—just like how, in the end, the original owner never saw a single penny repaid.
But Fang Zhiyi glanced at Little Hei and changed his tune. "Fine. But you’ll sign an IOU."
"An IOU? Fang Zhiyi, I never took you for this kind of person!" Lin Xue’s composure shattered. She had swallowed her pride to ask, and now he demanded a written agreement?
Fang Zhiyi stared blankly at the phone before chuckling and shaking his head.
Sure enough, a few hours later, Lin Xue texted:
"Fine. I’ll write you an IOU."
"An IOU—I’ll send you the format," Fang Zhiyi replied, leaving no room for negotiation.
He had studying to do. With Jiang Ran fixated on the protagonists, this was his chance to recharge. He couldn’t let her win too soon.
When Lin Xue handed Gu Shaoting the money, he froze. Upon learning it was borrowed from Fang Zhiyi, his expression darkened. The thought had always bothered him, but faced with the cash, he bit back his words.
The protagonist remained the protagonist. Gu Shaoting decided to start a campus business, and Jiang Ran, of course, wouldn’t let him off easily—she sabotaged him at every turn. Yet despite her efforts, his venture survived.
"Fang Zhiyi funded their business?" Jiang Ran tapped her fingers. "No wonder. That human charger is such a nuisance."
But she wasn’t worried. With the system, she had endless tricks up her sleeve.
The points she’d earned from undermining the protagonists were still in her account. Jiang Ran splurged on a slew of tools.
The system was thrilled. This performance was outstanding. Sure, the host was a bit obsessive, but she sure knew how to spend points.
For the next three years of university, Jiang Ran pulled out all the stops to crush the protagonists. Delivering food? She couldn’t touch Gu Shaoting, so she targeted his part-time student workers. Setting up stalls on campus? She filed five complaints a day.
Under her relentless assault, Gu Shaoting’s protagonist aura wore thin.
Of course, it wasn’t just her doing. Gu Shaoting himself played a part. Having tasted the thrill of money, he indulged whenever he had cash to spare. While Lin Xue was at school, he’d play the big shot at nightclubs—only to realize how quickly money vanished.
When funds ran low again, Lin Xue turned once more to Fang Zhiyi. He lent without hesitation. To him, money was trivial—a small price for peace. Thanks to this human ATM, Gu Shaoting and Lin Xue barely scraped by for three years.
Yet repeated failures left Lin Xue numb. The once-proud girl was now too beaten down to lift her head. Gu Shaoting, meanwhile, gave up entirely, resigning himself to any job after graduation.
Just before graduation, Lin Xue vanished—her diploma mailed to her by proxy.
Only when Gu Shaoting came looking for her did he realize she was gone. Furious, he couldn’t believe she’d abandoned him—after he’d saved her life! It never crossed his mind that without Lin Xue’s help, his fate might’ve been worse.
She must’ve run to Fang Zhiyi! Recalling how easily she’d borrowed from him over the years, Gu Shaoting was convinced they’d been involved. But then again, maybe losing this jinx was for the best. Whistling smugly, he moved on.
Lin Xue wanted a fresh start elsewhere. Reflecting on her years with Gu Shaoting, her heart was a storm of emotions.
"Was my judgment that poor?" She gazed at the sky—homeless, with nothing to her name.
"From today on, I’ll live for myself," she vowed silently.
Post-graduation, Gu Shaoting’s life spiraled. As Jiang Ran’s primary target, he faced her schemes daily—showing up late to interviews, "accidentally" spilling drinks on bosses, even shattering dishes in restaurant kitchens. Over time, he gave up, living hand-to-mouth, working one day and loafing for three. His protagonist aura had shattered completely.
Jiang Ran wasn’t done. She revealed herself to Gu Shaoting, flaunting her company, luxury cars, and lavish meals.
As expected, regret consumed him. Heart pounding, he drunkenly confessed his feelings to Jiang Ran, the once-overlooked girl next door.
Jiang Ran burst into laughter. Gu Shaoting mistook it for approval—until she pointed at a mirrored wall. Turning, he saw his reflection: a crumpled suit, disheveled hair, a drinker’s nose, and sunken eyes. The bright young man was long gone.
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?!
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.
orn and Humiliation】【Forced Love】 In his past life, Lin Ran was betrayed and murdered by his girlfriend and family, while the yandere female aristocrat, who had treated him as a mere plaything, avenged him by doing in his enemies. Upon seeing the yandere female aristocrat lying in the same coffin, ready to die with him, Lin Ran realized how profoundly mistaken he had been. Reborn, he abandoned the fickle campus beauty and wholeheartedly embraced the yandere female aristocrat's arms. "Ran! If I dig out your eyes and turn them into a specimen, you'll only be able to look at me!" Lin Ran: "Darling, kiss me!" "Ran! If I break your legs, you won't run away anymore, right?" Lin Ran: "Love, hold me tight!" "Ran! If..." Lin Ran: "Hush now! Love me more!" Luo Yao: ... Seeing his scumbag dad: "Take him out!" Seeing his stepmother: "Get rid of her!" Seeing his brother: "Eliminate him!" Seeing his white moonlight: "Send that to Southeast Asia!"
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!
