Agreed.
Although Lu Qing had the power to veto Bai Xing's proposal, he thought it wasn't entirely without merit.
After all, "Lubia" was the artist ID of Tang Hua. What if someone traced it back and exposed her as the same person from Twitter? That could lead to potential "scandal" risks.
With Tang Hua's fragile psyche, another round of online bullying from trolls could easily lead to serious issues.
"Her mind is already quite dark, largely due to the massive wave of keyboard warriors she faced on Twitter before. I have to protect her."
Based on this, Lu Qing believed Bai Xing's proposal was quite good.
In fact, it was brilliant.
"Alright, it's decided. I'll have her change her nickname from now on. She'll be 'Maybia' from here on out."
Rubia—Maybia, it sounded like a flower name, and there was no issue with that.
"Yay!"
Bai Xing, having successfully schemed, sneakily took the half-finished "Lemon Tea" that Lu Qing had left behind and drank the rest in one gulp.
"..."
Well, Bai Xing had learned to reward herself.
Lu Qing chose to turn a blind eye and then led her to the subway station, heading back to their apartment.
...
Night fell.
Watching her brother live a fulfilling and perfect day.
Watching the surveillance footage of Bai Xing returning home with him.
Su Ling's emotions stirred slightly as she hugged her "Black Cat," hiding in her room and trying to self-hypnotize.
Though, to her, Bai Xing's actions hadn't yet posed any real danger.
Though, compared to the "milestone" she aimed to achieve, the petty antics of this "thieving cat" weren't worth spending any energy on, not even a bit.
But for some reason, she still felt annoyed.
It was the kind of annoyance one feels when watching a small creature prance around arrogantly in front of a deity, yet not bothering to crush it underfoot.
"Hmph."
Su Ling let out a cold laugh.
Her displeasure grew.
Extreme displeasure.
"If it were someone else, they might have already lost their composure by now, right?"
She didn't know when she had started using "the Way" to describe her state of mind.
"Lu Qing is already a sophomore. It's perfectly normal for him to find a girlfriend. Bai Xing's qualifications are more than enough for that position. No one is losing out here.
It's just that I didn't expect her progress to be so fast, already moving to the next stage and breaking through Lu Qing's defenses."
Su Ling calmly analyzed, her perspective completely open.
"Generally, Lu Qing wouldn't be swayed by her looks. Her voice acting skills, at most, would just help him complete his projects, not lead to the kind of relationship they have now."
"For things to have reached this point, there must have been some unexpected twists."
The girl's fingers brushed over the strings of her guitar, unplugged.
Feeling the texture of the thin metal, it was like stroking the fur of a house cat.
"Could it be that there's some factor I haven't noticed yet, something that has escaped my attention until now?"
Suddenly, she looked toward the door.
Outside, Lu Qing was busy typing something on his tablet with an external magnetic keyboard, looking like he was about to pull an all-nighter.
Su Ling wouldn't disturb Lu Qing.
Just as he hadn't noticed anything unusual about her when he came home, everything remained calm and natural.
[Even if the sky were to fall outside, it would be hard to see Su Ling lose her composure.]
"That's right. Last time, he borrowed my body for a dress-up game, but after so long, he hasn't made the same request again."
Recalling Lu Qing's agonizing expression while working on the outline, Su Ling immediately deduced—
"Perhaps, he's found a replacement."
"He no longer needs me as the prototype to continue studying the 'appearance' of the female lead."
Analyzing the cause and effect,
a sense of unavoidable sadness welled up in her heart,
but the girl could still hold back her grievances and remain calm—
"Generally, Lu Qing would conduct meticulous 'research' before starting a new project, collecting all relevant materials and real-life references.
This research is the theoretical foundation for all his explosive ideas, the indispensable evidence to defend against the attacks of jealous peers and haters.
So, he wouldn't just stop halfway through preparing for his new book. From the looks of it, the outline has already taken shape, and he's entered a new phase."
Su Ling's reasoning was clear.
"Therefore, he must have found someone more suitable than me to be the female lead."
"He's found this person and is now exploring and depicting her in every possible dimension."
"This person must be someone who exists in his real life."
"Only then could he confidently portray her with 100% accuracy, even imbuing her with a soul."
Su Ling took a deep breath.
Recalling the moment she stood behind Lu Qing in his bedroom, watching him open the WPS mind map, she pieced together all the information she had gathered.
Hmm.
Among the dense tree-like structure of the mind map, aside from sections like "Worldview," "Major Settings," and "Original Materials," there was a crucial branch labeled by Lu Qing as "SSS-Level Inspiration"—
"The Emotional Core."
This was likely the most important aspect of Lu Qing's creative process, the secret to his past successes.
Su Ling understood that, in Lu Qing's eyes, only something that could truly move people, something that was genuinely infused with a soul, could be called a "work."
Otherwise, it was just "toilet paper."
"It seems my guess is correct. The person chosen as the female lead must be you, right?
Bai Xing."
...
Su Ling wasn't the least bit surprised.
Because she had also noticed that Bai Xing was different from the average college girl.
Her apparent timidity,
her hidden courage,
the subtlety behind her actions,
and her fearless advances.
Could an ordinary, clueless college girl possess all these traits?
She wasn't foolish, nor was she as helpless and timid as she had seemed when Su Ling first confronted her.
On the contrary.
She was improving.
She was constantly moving forward, constantly challenging Su Ling's bottom line.
"Impressive, 'Master of the Eight Strikes.'"
Su Ling muttered to herself.
In fact.
It was precisely because she had discovered these traits in Bai Xing that she felt at ease letting Lu Qing out of the house, allowing the "thieving cat" to guard him and keep other potential threats at bay.
"Bai Xing's combat power has been slightly boosted by me, so she shouldn't have any trouble dealing with ordinary opponents."
Su Ling didn't mind that Lu Qing was being "shared" by Bai Xing.
After all, everything was superficial, temporary.
The current "charity" didn't signify ultimate victory.
Using Bai Xing to fend off stalkers,
while reaping the benefits of her efforts.
Meanwhile, she would focus all her time and energy,
pushing through the "third stage" bottleneck, leaving everyone far behind.
This was Su Ling's ultimate goal.
"While you're all still stuck in the facade Lu Qing has deliberately created, I've already dissected his thoughts, unraveled his past, and obtained crucial information related to 'music.' I'm on the verge of reaching the next stage—'the Way of Creation.'"
Why did he choose "creation" after giving up music?
For Su Ling, this was an unsolvable puzzle.
And certainly not something the other little ones could even begin to understand.
The intelligence network provided extremely rare information—
"The music Lu Qing has collected is of the highest quality."
After some time studying it, Su Ling was increasingly able to understand why Lu Qing had uninstalled all music-related apps but couldn't bring himself to delete "Cloud Music."
Because it contained too many of his memories.
His over 700 "favorite" songs, accumulated over the years as his musical taste evolved, were added one by one.
Each song represented a profound memory from a specific moment in his life.
—"He would never casually add a mediocre song to his 'favorites,' just as he wouldn't add a subpar work to his bookshelf for analysis in his writer's backend."
Lu Qing wasn't a careless person. He had extremely high standards for any work, whether it was games, comics, anime, movies, or books. If it didn't meet his criteria, he wouldn't easily consider it a treasure to be stored in his collection.
His account had always followed a minimalist style, just like the household products he bought for his solitary life at home.
Therefore, the "favorites" in the music player can reveal a lot of information.
Su Ling believed—
If one day she became strong enough, she could decipher the timeline of his favorite songs, understanding what experiences he had at those moments and how his mindset had changed. This would be an SSSS-level complex piece of intelligence.
Only by reaching this level could she have a sliver of hope to trace back and catch the mastermind behind "hurting her brother."
Otherwise, it was all pointless.
Su Ling knew very well that she wasn't capable of this yet.
She needed to keep training.
She had to seize every moment to improve.
After reaching a "small milestone," she couldn't afford to pause; she had to rush toward the "big milestone" without delay.
Only by uncovering the root of the chaos early could she save her brother from his suffering.
Before it became irreversible.
Right.
"It's better to stay calm and move forward steadily," Su Ling reminded herself.
Being impatient wouldn't help, and there was no one else whose progress she needed to worry about.
"Surely no one else could do it, right? Completely dissect his music and understand everything he once loved."
No one could do it.
That stalker couldn't do it.
Bai Xing definitely couldn't do it.
—After all, this level of skill was already at the late stage of the second phase.
The "fateful connection" between her brother and "music" was the only bridge to the third phase.
Without breaking through this, there was no way to overtake her.
[For the first time.]
[She made a wrong judgment about the undercurrents around Lu Qing.]
...
...
Shifting her gaze back from outside, Su Ling sighed inwardly:
She wouldn't be able to check her brother's phone again tonight.
"Why has he been staying up all night these past two days? It's so unhealthy."
Looking at his increasingly dark eye circles, Su Ling wanted to advise him to sleep earlier.
But she knew that various matters were weighing on her brother, forcing him to keep moving forward. The time a normal person could spare each day was clearly not enough to meet his work demands.
"Sigh."
She could only remain silent.
Her heart ached as she pursed her lips, wanting to do something for him, but realizing that her brother had no extra time to spend with her.
Well,
being able to spend an entire day with her on the weekends was already the limit of what he could do at this stage.
After all, he still had to attend school, earn money, and it couldn't be just a small amount.
A normal college student would have already collapsed, but he was still pushing forward, making use of every fragmented moment.
She absolutely couldn't complain about him.
She couldn't let him feel even the slightest bit of sadness.
"Brother hasn't noticed my progress yet. It seems that matter is settled."
Su Ling hugged the black cat tightly, her mind calculating.
According to her plan, she needed to achieve a "small goal" before the holiday arrived,
namely, "playing his favorite song flawlessly in front of him," to touch his long-sealed heart and make him stop avoiding the piano.
This was crucial.
Of course, the requirements were also quite strict—
First, when playing in front of him, she couldn't be nervous. She had to achieve a full combo and record those beautiful moments with a recording device;
Second, her remaining practice time was limited. Even with eight hours a day, she had to give it her all to master that song. Slacking off would mean she wouldn't make it in time.
Then, there was the issue of disguise.
She had to disguise her skill level, not letting him discover it early. Otherwise, the surprise would lose its "wow factor," and the impact on him would be greatly reduced.
That wouldn't do.
She absolutely couldn't let him find out that her piano skills had already improved significantly.
She had to strike with precision, locking the outcome into the scene she wanted to see, and bringing the "second phase" to a perfect conclusion, thus opening a new chapter.
"I already know what his favorite song used to be."
Su Ling was confident.
To uncover this top-secret piece of information, she had put in a lot of effort.
Blindly guessing would have been like searching for a needle in a haystack—completely futile.
But Su Ling had opened her brother's "secret safe."
The collection of sheet music inside had almost perfectly narrowed down the song's existence.
That collection contained 31 songs, covering four albums by Yorushika.
Picking out the one and only from them would generally be quite challenging.
Fortunately, she could log into her brother's "NetEase Cloud Music" account on his computer.
This software, once logged in on the PC, would automatically log in for anyone who used it afterward, and it wouldn't conflict with the mobile app.
So, a strange phenomenon occurred—
Even if Su Ling and Lu Qing were listening to music at home and outside with headphones on their phones, respectively, both using Lu Qing's account, there would be no account conflict… They could even listen simultaneously.
This made Su Ling feel like a fish in water, immediately uncovering a major piece of intelligence from his "listening history"—
[In the annual "Year-End Listening Reports," the song that was listened to the most in the final year completely matched one of the songs in the sheet music collection.]
This song had been played over 1,980 times, far surpassing the second-place song, "The Child Being Compared," which had been played 1,461 times.
Thus, the answer was clear.
"A song that my brother has looped so many times must hold significant meaning in his heart."
Su Ling thought so,
"After all, all songs can cause auditory fatigue. The more you listen, the less they can match the initial sense of wonder.
But if he kept listening and increasing the play count, it clearly showed that his feelings for this piece were no longer just between a listener and a creator."
"It's irreplaceable. It has depth."
So.
"Why is it this one?"
Su Ling's gaze drifted down to the sheet music on her phone's memo.
"The Sunny Day Only for You."
...
...
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Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
