2014.
In Pingchuan City—a non-first-tier, non-tourist, non-priority development zone—the concept of "morning rush hour" barely existed yet.
Ride-hailing apps had only just begun gaining popularity in cities that year.
The roads were orderly, moving forward without congestion.
Who could’ve imagined?
This small city would, in just over a decade, not only have morning and evening peaks but also see its downtown perpetually gridlocked, barely navigable.
Gazing at the streets outside the car window, Lin Yu found himself lost in thought.
Why rush so fast, people and eras alike...
"Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter!"
"Pitter-patter..."
The drizzle arrived unannounced, drumming against the car windows.
Not a gentle onset—it came down hard from the start.
This timely rain was just the first step in Lin Yu’s "counterattack."
Smiling, he turned to Chi Qingshui and said,
"Hey, Da Chi, look—it’s raining, isn’t it?"
"Was my prediction spot-on or what?"
"Heh, once we meet up with everyone at the cinema, I’ll send her a message."
"Let’s see how she responds!"
"Hey, Da Chi... do you think she’ll keep sending me those shopping pics?"
Chi Qingshui struggled to steady her breathing: "!!!"
This was a disaster.
With Lin Yu right beside her, even if she managed to snap photos after getting out of the car, they’d only capture nearby scenes—hardly convincing.
Might as well not bother!
But if she stopped now, wouldn’t that just confirm Lin Yu’s suspicions...?
Never in her wildest dreams did she expect that she, Chi Qingshui, would be the one to inadvertently convince Lin Yu that his online crush was Lv Rou!
How to solve this puzzle?
So. Damn. Hard.
...
Around 9 a.m.
The exclusive screening of Those Green Years began with students entering first.
Per the organizers’ arrangements,
Pingchuan University’s film students were seated in rows six through ten—
center-section seats, the prime viewing area.
This was rare for internal screenings.
Usually, such spots were reserved for professional critics or VIP guests.
Dedicating them to young students hinted at the film’s thematic focus.
Clearly, the production team valued their audience.
A movie made for the youth? Then their tastes held the most weight.
In the middle of row seven,
two girls clutched their tickets, settling in with giddy excitement.
One—a denim-shorts-wearing, pink-lipped girl with blunt bangs—tugged her friend’s arm, squealing:
"Rou Rou, see that poster of Peng Yuyan? That’s my idol!"
"You’re the best, seriously! Thanks so much for scoring these tickets!"
"Mmm, do you think he’ll make a surprise appearance later?"
The speaker was none other than Wu Chuntian, the "midnight sprinting girl" behind that viral news story!
Also the dorm crush of class monitor Zhao Bin.
The girl holding her hand was Lv Rou, sporting trendy wispy bangs and shoulder-length hair.
A few strands framed her delicate face, accentuating its petite charm.
A black-framed accessory glasses perched atop her head.
Her outfit? Boldly avant-garde for a student.
A white striped bandeau top cinched her waist,
paired with curve-hugging shorts that highlighted her most eye-catching assets.
An oversized unbuttoned shirt draped over it all—ready to slip on or off—
giving off a "borrowed-from-the-boyfriend" vibe.
Even if her looks weren’t extraordinary,
her styling outshone most girls effortlessly.
"Now you know who treats you best in the dorm, huh?"
Lv Rou grinned, swaying playfully.
Wu Chuntian linked arms with her, teasing:
"I know you’ve got my back, but don’t think I’ll go easy on you!"
"Last time we drank, whose idea was that risqué dare, huh?"
"Almost turned me into the college laughingstock! Today’s your turn—no backing out."
"I’m here to enforce the dorm’s collective supervision!"
Lv Rou nonchalantly pulled out a compact, adjusting her hair.
She tweaked the strands by her cheeks to perfection:
"Since when do I welsh on bets? How many drinking games have I ducked?"
"Funny though—just when we couldn’t pick a target last night, the monitor added us to a group chat."
Wu Chuntian poked her arm, smirking:
"Careful. Even nice guys have naughty thoughts."
"Today’s dare: you can’t refuse any of his requests, plus he’s treating you to a fancy meal!"
Lv Rou snapped the mirror shut, correcting:
"With a condition! I said it upfront—no bedroom stuff."
Wu Chuntian fake-gasped, hands wandering:
"Pfft, obviously! Someone like Lin Yu wouldn’t dare ask to ‘do it’ once."
"Seriously, what’s your secret? Who’s been kneading these melons so plump?"
Lv Rou swatted her away, laughing:
"Ugh, get lost, you perv! Who’s been ‘kneaded’?"
"Keep it down—you’ll ruin my reputation!"
Wu Chuntian scrolled through their group chat, pulling up screenshots:
"Rou Rou, what if you miscalculated?"
"Maybe he’s genuinely a decent guy with zero dirty fantasies about you."
"Look how cleanly he rejected you!"
Lv Rou prodded Wu Chuntian’s forehead:
"Do I look like I’m fantasizing about him?"
"This was all your guys’ wild dare!"
"Bunch of repressed college nymphos, I swear."
"You don’t get guys. ‘Da Shuai’ here? Textbook... stealth horndog!"
"During group projects, his eyes kept drifting—my chest, my legs..."
Wu Chuntian made grabby hands:
"With peaks like these, good luck finding a guy who wouldn’t stare!"
Lv Rou: "Ugh, die already!"
...
A row behind, in seat nine,
Lin Yu and Chi Qingshui edged toward the middle aisle.
From the moment they entered,
Lin Yu caught every word of Lv Rou and Wu Chuntian’s exchange.
Honestly?
No wonder stereotypes persisted about wild college artsy girls.
Huo Huo’s dorm played way dirtier than expected.
They’d reinvented "Truth or Dare."
Past-life Lin Yu had been way too damn naive!
In their eyes, he was practically a coward—too timid to seize obvious opportunities.
The biggest simp in all of Pingchuan!
At least the Chi sisters didn’t live on campus.
Otherwise,
they might’ve been corrupted too.
...
(First update today. Bonus chapter tonight—keep the support coming!)
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!
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
