Friday morning sunlight was a bit glaring.
After a hazy breakfast made by his sister, Lu Qing hazily stepped out the door and drifted to the subway station. Gripping the handrail, he zombied through the 30-minute commute, drowning out the chaotic mix of noise and mechanical hum with his earphones turned up to full volume.
The music playing was piano pieces by "Mose."
"Crying Sea Lily."
"Some August Night, Stars Bright."
And her latest recording, "Moonlit Walk of a Maiden."
"So good..."
He silently gave it a thumbs up.
Though they were all covers, they showcased impressive skill and a personal touch of emotion. It brought back some unpleasant memories.
"Sigh."
Lu Qing muttered, "It's been so long since I dared to touch that again..."
— ACG and all that.
His fingers itched, but he had promised himself not to look back, no matter what.
"Feels nostalgic though."
...
His phone screen glowed, showing the personal page of NetEase Music.
— "Level 9."
5,244 more songs to reach max level.
0 more days to log in.
The official musician certification and annual black VIP badge stood out prominently in the corner of his avatar. His message list had 99+ unread fan comments.
"Forget it."
"I'll just help her with sound effects and post-production.
— Absolutely no more composing."
Mm-hmm.
...
Time flew by, and he arrived at the classroom.
The morning's memories faded like blank paper, leaving no trace in his mind.
Same Friday, same seat.
Everything in the classroom felt familiar, just like last week.
Bai Xing wasn't here in the morning, probably still asleep.
They had an appointment at noon, skipping lunch to meet at Cheng Kai Center.
"Ahem!"
"Ahem!"
As soon as he sat down, he saw a bespectacled otaku squirming in his seat, making strange noises that seemed to mean "You should speak first."
His restless demeanor resembled a big fat worm.
Lu Qing glanced at Wen Le.
He knew that even if he didn't speak, Wen Le would soon come over and start chattering.
Three seconds later.
"Alright, alright, you little brat, you stole Rinae from me, and now you won't even give me a way out! I've got you figured out!"
Wen Le wiggled over with a mischievous grin, his skinny face full of eagerness to talk.
His antics instantly dispelled Lu Qing's gloomy mood.
"..."
He observed, "What's got you so happy? You in love?"
"?!”
At the taboo word, Wen Le slapped his shoulder with one hand like a nun, denying vehemently:
"No way. That's impossible."
"Then why are you grinning like that? You seem weird today." Lu Qing gave him a sidelong glance.
Sure enough,
The guy seemed to have forgotten his past sorrows, eagerly spilling, "Hehehe... I'm telling you, it's a good thing I didn't listen to your long-winded lectures and experienced it myself..."
"Huh?"
"You know, in life, you've gotta rely on practice."
He boasted with great feeling, "Although, I admit, the maid outfit on Jing Jing isn't as high-end as you said, but! She provided me healing, comforted my shattered heart! Even made me not jealous of you being Rinae's old man anymore, so I'm fully recharged! And it only cost me three grand! Let me tell you, I'm terrifyingly strong now!!”
"???!?!? Dude, you?"
A flood of information suddenly hit Lu Qing, nearly making him pass out from shock.
"You mean you spent 3,000 at that maid café?"
"Yeah." Wen Le nodded naturally.
"..."
Lu Qing pressed, "Didn't you tell me a drink there costs 50 yuan?"
"Yeah."
"Then what did you buy to spend 3,000?"
"Didn't buy much, just had three maids play games with me, table games, you know? Little cards, with role-playing, I had a great time." Wen Le recalled.
At the same time, he showed a wise expression.
"..."
"Are you being rational?! Also, who's Jing Jing? Is there really such a person at that place??"
Lu Qing was baffled, feeling like something mysterious was dragging his good friend into a weird place.
"Of course, one of the three maids, she kept playing with me, brought me milk tea, made omelet rice, and even cast magic on my omelet rice!!"
Wen Le grinned, mimicking in a high-pitched voice:
"Moi~Moi~Chu!... Oh my god, it's so awesome, I wanna go again! Qing, you coming with me?"
"Spare me."
"Tsk, good, you don't want to, I'll be more free."
Wen Le showed a madman's grin, "But hey, I gotta compliment you on one thing, I found out that maids are way better than 2D waifus!"
"?"
"I can't touch my 2D waifus, but this maid café is different! These maids can stand by you, accompany you, smile at you, listen to you, and they're real! That's something, huh? It's got me so hooked I haven't been watching VTubers lately!"
As he said this, Wen Le's eyes glazed over, as if brainwashed, rubbing his palms.
"..."
Lu Qing rubbed his forehead, thinking it was bad.
Last time he didn't stop him, this time it seemed like a full-blown case.
Even a simple board game shop could take him down, what if it was a real high-end maid café...
Tsk.
Lu Qing didn't dare to imagine.
"Wen Le."
"Huh?"
"You know what your spending level is close to?"
"Close to what?"
"Close to what Old Li spends on a night of foot massage." He bluntly said.
"No way, is it really that exaggerated? Also, how do you know how much Old Li spends on a foot massage? Did you go with him?" Wen Le attacked fiercely, countering with SSS-level ability.
"? He bragged about it himself, you were busy playing eroge and pushing dragon girls, of course you didn't hear." Lu Qing was never outdone.
"Alright, alright, you little rascal, you're full of bad intentions. To be honest, you must have already hooked up with Rinae, enjoying yourself every day, and then don't want your buddy to be comfortable, so you try to stop me from finding new happiness! Your heart is terribly bad!
Let me tell you, our relationship is very dangerous now, the friendship boat can capsize anytime, a line segment can break anytime. If you keep stopping me, we won't be good friends anymore, I'll go play with my Jing Jing, not be friends with you."
Wen Le had an annoying expression, speaking like a primary schooler with a university student's identity.
"..."
Seeing his willingness to be scammed, Lu Qing thought he might not have been scammed enough yet.
After all, the leeks had grown too high, perhaps with their own ideas.
So, he couldn't be bothered to talk to him anymore, just reminded, "Be careful of scams."
Then he turned his head to prepare for class.
"Hey, you, I haven't finished talking yet, why do you act like you're going to study..."
Wen Le muttered, but Lu Qing ended the conversation.
He didn't plan to continue persuading Wen Le because the guy usually hid his true nature well, so Lu Qing never figured out his financial situation.
What if he earnestly advised, only to find out the guy was richer than Old Li, then wouldn't he look like a clown?
Lu Qing didn't do such things.
He knew that although Wen Le seemed silly on the surface, he always gave off a vibe of a hidden rich guy when it came to spending money.
For the simplest example—
Like in the dorm, Wen Le never played mobile games, nor did he spend money on in-game currency;
But his Switch bag contained over seventy authentic game cartridges neatly inserted, which ordinary people definitely couldn't afford.
Also, his computer, besides Galgames, had a small black box software, apparently with many purchased games inside.
Lu Qing, though he hadn't touched games in recent years, was well aware that Wen Le's purchases were almost exclusively AAA titles, with a penchant for high-quality games. He was particularly picky, only playing the best experiences. As he put it, "MMOs are too expensive, mobile games are full of tricks, only AAA games won't deceive you. Console games are our ultimate destination!"
Indeed, one time when passing by his back, Lu Qing caught a glimpse of the numbers at the end of his game library...
It seemed to be a three-digit number starting with 5.
"..."
Never mind.
If he gets scammed, so be it.
Seeing how he didn't even blink when gifting Admiral to his favorite Vtuber, and how he evenly distributed his support across over eighty different streamers,
always listening to multiple streams at once,
muting some, using a tablet for one, and two phones each running two streams.
It was like some thousand-armed, hundred-eyed black Guanyin,
terrifyingly impressive.
So, Lu Qing stopped bringing up money-related matters with him, knowing that someone who finds a 50 RMB cup of instant Bird's Nest reasonable wouldn't appreciate being interrupted while enjoying his magical omelette rice.
In any case, as long as he's happy.
"Wait, no."
Just as he was about to send a couple of messages to remind someone not to be late, Wen Le suddenly leaned over, grinning mischievously, and probed:
"Qing, although I'm semi-retired from the scene, I'm still a bit curious. You, have you met Rinae offline?"
"Huh?"
Lu Qing's wrist jerked, reflexively flipping his phone screen onto the book.
"Don't spread rumors, of course not."
But at this moment.
Wen Le noticed something, pushing his black-framed glasses.
His smile grew wider.
"..."
Lu Qing suddenly felt uneasy.
Wen Le grinned and analyzed:
"Based on my understanding of you, you must have, after our last conversation, become even more aware of how the Vtuber scene works, and couldn't resist throwing a lot of money at her. And I'd conservatively estimate, that amount would have to be more than an Admiral. I'm guessing around 20,000."
"???"
Lu Qing felt the pressure.
"Don't spread rumors, Rinae isn't even streaming anymore, where would I even gift an Admiral to her?"
He tried to deflect further.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, he suddenly thought of something.
Sss.
The puppet he had ordered for Bai Xing...
The price seemed to be...
Emm...
"You think I'm stupid? Not streaming is not streaming, why not? Isn't it because she's got an old man?"
At this point, Wen Le's grin turned sinister, "Pretend all you want, but don't try to fool me. I've been in the Vtuber scene for so long, don't I know more than you?"
He calmly analyzed, "I checked Rinae's account, it's still there, and she hasn't issued a stop-streaming notice, which means it's not a definite graduation. If that's the case, then it's most likely she's been taken by an old man. Buddy, who in our class do you think looks most like her old man? Come on, tell me."
"..."
For a moment, Lu Qing didn't know how to continue the conversation.
Truth be told, he had indeed spent 20,000 on a puppet for Bai Xing.
And not just that, there would be more expenses in the future.
Originally, he had planned to recommend a more reliable Vtuber to Wen Le in the future, as a way to repay the favor of being introduced to his favorite female lead,
but now, this guy wasn't even watching Vtubers anymore, he had ascended to a new level—
studying maids.
Next level play, huh.
Alright, alright.
Lu Qing decided not to engage with him, nor did he plan to say more, knowing that Wen Le had always been relatively rational when it came to Vtubers, whether spending money or otherwise, he was quite sober (for his circumstances).
Now that he's obsessed with maids, at least he hasn't reached a point of no return.
"If one day he really falls ill, I'll accompany him to that 'Kuroro Café' for a visit..." he thought to himself.
Tsk.
Come to think of it, the name of this café is weird.
It doesn't sound like a maid café, but more like a magical girl card dueling association.
He retracted his gaze.
...
In front, the female lecturer's class began as usual.
Time flowed quietly.
The ambient noise in the classroom was soothing, making one want to sleep.
After an unknown amount of time,
just as his attention was about to drift off and he was on the verge of falling asleep—
suddenly, a voice caught the attention of the entire class.
"Sorry, teacher, I'm late. Can I come in?"
At this moment, the time was already approaching eleven, almost time to end the class.
However, that familiar voice, that sweet, top-tier frequency, made Lu Qing feel as if his cheeks were being pinched and a cup of sweet spring water was being poured into his mouth—
he reflexively jolted.
Then, immediately turned his head towards the classroom door.
...
There stood a girl with gothic sweet-style twin tails, wearing a black mine-style long dress, a Mars cross, and black bow-tie thigh-high socks.
walking with a girlfriend-level charm,
Her Don Quixote high-end custom shoes making light tapping sounds.
with a perfect, energetic smile, she slowly entered the classroom under the gaze of dozens of eyes,
and purposefully made her way to the second to last row, sitting next to him on his left.
"..."
Today, her makeup was flawless, her features exquisitely drawn.
The aura that was so different from usual,
the smile that could heal hearts without even speaking, was cute enough to melt anyone's heart.
It seemed she no longer needed to cover herself completely when going out.
It also seemed she had finally let go of some long-held, hard-to-open knot in her heart.
The black tide receded.
In its place came a brighter, warmer light.
Under the gossiping gaze of the entire classroom's teachers and students,
Bai Xing naturally and confidently smoothed her skirt, crossed her legs, leaned slightly towards him,
adorably hugged her beloved's arm, and then, in a voice that declared it to the whole world,
sweetly, in a girlfriend's tone, said:
"Senior, did you miss me?"
...
...
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
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)
g Yu was preparing for retirement when her organization decided to eliminate her. She transmigrated to a zombie apocalypse world. However, a tiny unexpected situation occurred: She somehow transformed into an adorable little girl?!
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
