One minute later.
Maomao wiped the sweat from her forehead.
She watched nervously as Xia Yiwei lay limp on the sofa, while Lin Yu stood before her...
Maomao: "!!!"
What's going on?!
Everything happened too fast, Maomao didn't even see what Lin Yu did.
Coming back to her senses.
Xia Yiwei was already slumped in a paralyzed state, leaning against the sofa.
"Crunch... Crunch..."
Lin Yu rummaged through a snack bag next to the sofa and pulled out a few individually wrapped rice crackers.
He started eating them nonchalantly, as if no one was around.
Sigh.
Couldn't resist again.
Still ended up targeting Xia Yiwei.
Lin Yu even wondered if this person had some sort of taunting skill naturally.
"Maomao, be careful!"
"If the Sunflower Acupuncture technique gets you too, we'll be done for today."
"Your innocence will be greatly compromised!"
Maomao: "..."
To be honest.
If someone had said this to Maomao when she first met Lin Yu.
She wouldn't have believed it at all.
After witnessing Lin Yu's "brutal" side at the martial arts school...
Maomao sneaked a glance at Lin Yu's back.
When she saw Lin Yu turning his head, she quickly looked away.
Maomao: "It's none of my business."
Lin Yu: "..."
No wonder Director Xia would hit his sister without restraint.
If he had such a sister, hitting her eight times a day wouldn't be too much.
Xia Yiwei: "Maomao, are you really going to be so disloyal? Don't forget, I've been your guardian these past few days."
Maomao didn't even turn her head: "I've been an adult for a long time."
Xia Yiwei: "Are you afraid of being hit by the young master? Don't worry, he's very principled and rarely hits women... He only hit three today."
Maomao: "..."
Lin Yu: "..."
"Crunch!"
"Crunch!!"
Lin Yu continued eating the rice crackers while observing Xia Yiwei's slender neck.
"Let me think, which part to hit..."
"That would make the vocal cords lose their strength?"
Xia Yiwei's throat jumped in fear, and she quickly apologized:
"I was wrong, wrong, wrong, haha."
"Young master, I don't think that's necessary, right?"
"Let's talk about serious matters, serious matters."
"Maomao~ good Maomao~~"
"Come to the bowl~"
"I'm afraid I'll say something wrong out of nervousness and make the young master angry again."
Lin Yu understood.
Xia Yiwei referred to "saying the wrong thing."
In her view.
As long as Lin Yu wanted to maintain the image of "Substitute ZerO," Maomao was the best shield.
She naively believed she still had leverage over Lin Yu.
Little did she know.
Lin Yu had already been promoted from substitute to the real deal!
Maomao listened to the next words, hesitated for a moment.
In the end, she obediently sat beside her.
Lin Yu took a deep breath, calming his emotions:
"Alright, I'm quite busy too, have some coding to do later."
"If there's anything important, don't beat around the bush, just say it."
Xia Yiwei smiled silently.
Unexpectedly.
This kid is putting on a show?
Has coding to do.
Xia Yiwei didn't expose Lin Yu but spoke seriously:
"Young master, it's because it's Maomao's first day here."
"This is also her first experience of communal living; at most, she's only lived with me and my sister before."
"Don't think that I brought her here to stay because I have some ulterior motives."
"I'm doing this out of pure goodwill. Maomao will definitely sense that..."
As she spoke, Xia Yiwei turned to Maomao, her eyes soft and gentle.
For a moment, Lin Yu actually felt that Xia Yiwei’s words might have some truth to them.
Having never experienced a life of "elite education," he couldn’t imagine what kind of life Maomao had lived from childhood to adulthood.
Now that she had come here and become a member of the "sect," showing her a little extra care was only natural.
"Click... So what you mean is..."
"You’re planning to do something special for her first day here?"
Xia Yiwei nodded quickly and said, "Little Master, you’re so clever!"
"I want to organize a dinner gathering, not the fancy kind."
"During dinner tonight, whoever’s in the apartment can join us. We’ll go out and have a meal together."
"I’ll take care of all the food and drinks!"
"We’ll head to the 'Food Street' near your university!"
Lin Yu: "..."
Every major city with a top university—or a cluster of universities—usually has a place called "Food Street."
The name is straightforward and easy to understand.
The prices are affordable and student-friendly, making it a perfect spot for college students who rely on their parents’ money to enjoy some good meals.
It wasn’t that Lin Yu had any particular feelings about Food Street itself.
It was just that hearing this suggestion from someone who had dined at an international hotel the night before felt oddly jarring.
Perhaps noticing the complicated expression on Lin Yu’s face, Xia Yiwei quickly added:
"Don’t compare me to my sister. She’s her own person, and I’m mine."
"I’m just a nurse. How much money do you think I make?"
"Aside from buying clothes, my savings are pitiful."
"Food Street’s small roadside diners are great! I’ve been eating there for almost two years and still haven’t grown tired of it!"
Lin Yu nodded and affirmed, "Alright, I haven’t been there in a long time myself. There are a few spots I used to frequent—perfect chance to revisit them."
It truly had been a long time.
So long, in fact, that it had been nearly ten years.
Finding an excuse to go back and explore sounded like a good idea.
After settling on the plan, Lin Yu prepared to leave.
Suddenly, Maomao, who was sitting on the sofa, quickly stood up:
"ZerO!"
Lin Yu stopped in his tracks:
"Don’t call me that at home. Just use my name."
Maomao nodded and, with a hint of embarrassment, said:
"Yu... From today onward, I won’t lose ever again."
Lin Yu: "..."
This singular use of his name felt a little dangerous, didn’t it?
Would it kill her to call him by his full name?
Why insist on being so unconventional?
Aside from that, Maomao’s competitive spirit once again left Lin Yu feeling helpless.
He casually said:
"When the teacher randomly quizzes students to recite 'The Song of the Autumn Wind Breaking the Cottage,' if Maomao, Little Dog, Little Pig, and Little Tiger all raise their hands, who do you think the teacher will call on?"
Maomao: "!!!"
A blind spot...
Yet another blind spot in her knowledge!
Calm down.
Carefully analyze the question. Perhaps there’s a clue.
'The Song of the Autumn Wind Breaking the Cottage'...
Cottage... Cat Cottage?
So the answer might be Maomao?
No.
Whenever Lin Yu posed a question, it could never be approached with conventional thinking.
Perhaps this option was intentionally planted as a trap.
Maomao pondered for half a minute and answered:
"It's the tiger!"
"Because among the twelve zodiac animals, it ranks the highest!"
Lin Yu clicked his tongue and shook his head:
"Maomao, just how boring was your childhood?"
With that, Lin Yu tossed the last remaining piece of senbei to her.
Maomao hurriedly caught it.
When she came back to her senses, Lin Yu had already left the room.
Maomao: "???"
"What... what does that mean?"
"Yiwei, why did he leave?"
Xia Yiwei secretly admired Lin Yu's quick thinking and teased:
"Isn't the answer in your hand?"
Maomao processed this for a few seconds: "!!!"
...
Back in his room, Lin Yu locked the door behind him.
There was one thing he hadn't lied about.
He really did have some urgent coding to do at the moment!
The newly acquired skill had to be put to use while it was still fresh...
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
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.
