1:45 PM.
Lin Mu carried all the freshly brewed coffee upstairs.
Seeing Lu Qing deeply engrossed in writing, she didn’t dare to speak too loudly. Instead, she turned to Su Ling, who was sitting beside him, and introduced the drinks:
"This one, a Spanish Condensed Milk Latte, is my specialty."
"Mm-hmm," Su Ling nodded slightly.
"This one, a Humbera Americano, it’s a bit on the sour side."
"Oh, okay," Su Ling responded, not entirely sure what that meant.
"This one, a Hot White Chocolate Mocha, sweet."
"Ah," Su Ling acknowledged.
"And this one, he wanted a Flat White, but I didn’t make it. Instead, I made a lemon special to reduce his caffeine intake. Hmph, I’ll let him off the hook this time~"
"You’re really thoughtful," Su Ling whispered in approval, watching as Lin Mu carefully placed the beautiful glass cups on the table mats.
Lin Mu continued, "And finally, this one’s for you."
"Eh? For me?"
"Yep, you’ll definitely love it."
She took the last green drink from the tray and gently placed it in front of Su Ling, proudly saying,
"Hot Matcha Latte, a brand-new creation! Hehe, take a whiff, isn’t it fragrant? And look at the color, isn’t it vibrant?"
"…"
Su Ling took the fifth drink, holding it in her hands. Internally, she thought, *Kids say the darndest things*, but on the surface, she forced a small nod and said,
"It’s definitely very green."
"Hehe, A-Ling, since your brother’s so busy today and you don’t have much to do… why don’t you come downstairs and hang out with me?"
"Huh?"
Su Ling was caught off guard by the sudden, unreasonable request from the mischievous girl.
She turned to Lu Qing for help, seeking his opinion.
"Sure, go ahead if you want to," Lu Qing replied, too absorbed in his writing to pay much attention. He reached for the iced Americano on the table, took a big gulp, and as his Adam’s apple bobbed, his eyes narrowed in satisfaction.
Su Ling glanced at Lin Mu, noticing the smug look on her face, clearly pleased with herself.
*Well, she’s beyond help now.*
The young girl reluctantly stood up, picked up her latte, and said to her brother, "I’ll go downstairs for a bit then. It’s quieter up here for you to focus on your writing."
"Good girl," Lu Qing replied contentedly. He grabbed his mouse, clicked on the "Word Sprint" system in his writing software, and created a room, waiting for other authors to join—
He was already gearing up for a "word sprint battle" with his peers.
Unbeknownst to most, this was a system that prioritized speed over quality, allowing authors to team up and compete to see who could write faster and more. It seemed pointless, and honestly, it was, serving more as a psychological boost than anything else.
Seeing that he was already getting into the groove, Su Ling knew there was no point in staying. She followed Lin Mu downstairs, intending to chat more about music and, at the same time, get a closer look into Lin Mu’s mind to figure out if she was genuinely clueless or just pretending.
"I’m heading down now."
"Alright."
The two girls quickly made their way to the first-floor lobby.
"Hehe, A-Ling, how many girlfriends does your brother actually have? As his sister, do you know the details?"
As soon as they reached the counter, Lin Mu started prying into gossip.
Her question was sharp and invasive, showing no regard for the "player’s" privacy.
"…How many?"
Su Ling broke into a cold sweat, unsure how to answer.
But she instinctively started counting in her head, pondering—
*Bai Xing probably counts as one, since she’s practically part of the family, just waiting to meet the parents.*
*The stalker… not sure if she counts, but judging by the way she talks to my brother, she’s clearly holding back some strong feelings, just biding her time for the right moment.*
*I don’t count. In my brother’s eyes, I’m just someone he needs to take care of. The way he looks at me is completely different from how I see him. So, I’m definitely out of the running.*
So, rounding it off…
"He only has one girlfriend."
For some reason, Su Ling awarded the "Best Girlfriend Award" to Bai Xing without hesitation.
"Oh! Really? So he’s actually pretty loyal… Do you think he’d get mad if I kept calling him ‘Ah Hai’?"
Lin Mu seemed a bit conflicted, wiping a glass as she asked.
"It’s fine, just pretend his last name is Hai," Su Ling replied mercilessly, convinced that her brother had the potential to live up to that title sooner or later.
But Lin Mu pressed on:
"Then, when you see your brother with a girlfriend, don’t you feel a bit… uncomfortable or upset?"
"…"
There was no doubt that the mischievous girl’s question was both absurd and cutting, with a hint of armor-piercing insight.
Su Ling was at a loss for how to respond.
Instead, she shot back, "Why would I feel upset? I’m not a brother complex type. Why would I care?"
Her expressionless reply came off as slightly stiff.
And this only fueled Lin Mu’s curiosity further:
"Eh? You don’t? That’s weird. If I were you, I’d probably feel a bit off."
"…Why?"
"Because, think about it, normally, your brother’s affection at home is all yours, right? But once he gets a girlfriend, wouldn’t he suddenly shift that attention to someone else?
In other words, imagine a cake. At first, you get to enjoy the whole thing, all to yourself. But once the cake’s owner decides to share it with someone else, you’re left with only half. You can never go back to that initial, full experience. Do you get what I mean? Is my analogy on point?"
Lin Mu made a slicing motion with an imaginary knife, about to continue with, "And if your brother had two girlfriends, you’d only get a third of the cake…" when she noticed Su Ling’s shoulders trembling slightly.
*Oh no.*
She sucked in a breath, her teeth slightly clenched, and muttered regretfully, "Did I hit a nerve…?"
*She’s so pretty, and when she first came here, she seemed really clingy, to the point where I even mistook her and Ah Hai for a couple… Now that I think about it, there’s definitely something there.*
Though Lin Mu wasn’t great with social cues, she occasionally had moments of insight.
Seeing Su Ling lost in thought, she realized this topic needed to be dropped immediately. If Su Ling got upset and stopped coming, what would she do?
After all, the shop only had these two regular customers. She didn’t want to deal with new ones—meeting strangers was exhausting and unpredictable, and honestly, she wasn’t keen on trying.
So, she had to keep them both happy, especially Su Ling.
With that in mind, Lin Mu quickly decided to change the subject.
She wiped her hands, stepped out from behind the counter, and offered,
"A-Ling, how about I play some music for you? Today, I’ll play the acoustic guitar to prove I’m not a one-trick pony. I’ll wrap up last time’s challenge. Hehe, pretty thorough, right?"
"Huh? Acoustic guitar? Are you singing too?"
Su Ling perked up at the mention of something within her expertise.
But then…
"Yeah, singing. I want to practice an original song and warm up my voice too."
"An original? What’s it called?"
"Ah, it’s a song I wrote last summer. It’s called ‘One-Sided Love,’ written for someone special."
"…"
…
…
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.
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
