"Bang, bang, bang!"
"Ying'er, are you in your room? I'm back."
Lin Yu knocked on the door, wanting to see what was going on inside.
Ying'er was usually a cheerful girl.
What could have happened to make her hide in her room and cry in secret?
At that moment,
Lin Yu thought back to the WeChat message Ying'er had sent him.
Aside from the teasing tone, could there have been a subtle "cry for help" hidden in it?
As he knocked,
the system's notification chime suddenly rang out.
[Ding!]
[Time-limited Mission Issued: The Array Hall Elder has entered deep meditation but suffered a qi deviation, nearly losing his sanity. The Saint is urgently needed to protect and guide him through this crisis!]
[Time Limit: One hour.]
[Rewards: 150 Sect Contribution Points, 300 Spirit Stones, 1 free draw in the System Mall.]
Deep meditation? Qi deviation?
Nearly lost his sanity?
The sudden mission left Lin Yu even more confused.
What had Ying'er done?
This didn’t sound like an addiction she was trying to handle on her own.
For her, what kind of situation would require Lin Yu's protection to overcome?
"Bang, bang, bang!"
"Ying'er? Are you there?"
Growing anxious, Lin Yu knocked again, waiting for her response.
"Creak..."
The door opened just a crack. The curtains inside were drawn, and the lights were on.
Peering through the gap, Lin Yu couldn’t see Ying'er at first glance.
He knew—
she was hiding behind the door, but this time, she wasn’t just avoiding him.
Every light in the room was on?
This was completely unlike Ying'er’s usual style!
Her room was always dark, even during the day—curtains drawn tight, no light allowed in except the glow from her computer.
What was going on today?
"I'm coming in, okay?"
Lin Yu gently pushed the door open, careful not to hurt Ying'er if she was standing too close.
"Thud!"
The moment Lin Yu stepped inside, Ying'er, who had been waiting by the door, immediately pushed it shut behind him.
When she looked up, Lin Yu’s heart clenched in shock.
Ying'er’s eyes were swollen and bloodshot.
She must have been crying for a long time.
Had she been crying since she sent him that message?
"Ying'er, what happened?"
"Who upset you like this?"
"Don’t tell me you played some weird game and got a bad ending?"
Lin Yu stepped closer, his voice gentle but laced with lighthearted teasing.
Ying'er was usually easy to cheer up.
Besides, his guess wasn’t entirely baseless.
People who fixate on something often let their emotions get tangled up in it.
And the only thing Ying'er ever fixated on…
was her computer.
As Lin Yu ruffled Ying'er’s hair affectionately,
she suddenly lunged forward and clung to him tightly.
"Wahhh… Lin Yu, why did you take so long to come back…?"
Her petite frame melted into his embrace, her head barely reaching his chin.
Hearing her heartbroken sobs, Lin Yu felt a pang of guilt.
Without hesitation, he scooped her up—bare feet and all—and carried her to her oversized, plush gaming chair.
Sitting down, he settled her onto his lap.
"Hey, stop crying, okay? You’re breaking my heart."
"Won’t you tell me what’s wrong?"
Lin Yu grabbed a tissue from the desk and gently wiped the tears from Ying'er’s cheeks.
But who would have thought, the more she wiped, the more the tears flowed, unstoppable.
Fortunately.
Ying'er finally spoke, her voice choked with sobs:
"Wuwu... I stayed up really late last night, you know."
"This afternoon, around three, I suddenly felt so, so sleepy—like I couldn’t keep my eyes open."
"So I lay down for a nap and didn’t wake up until past six..."
"When I opened my eyes, it was already dark outside, and it was raining."
"The room was pitch black, completely silent. I reached for my phone, but there wasn’t a single message."
"I just... I just stared at the dark sky, at the dark room..."
"I felt like the whole world had abandoned me, wuwu..."
"Pretty ridiculous, huh?"
After hearing Ying'er's explanation.
Lin Yu secretly let out a sigh of relief.
So that’s what it was!
Before his rebirth, Lin Yu had experienced this exact feeling countless times.
Loneliness—perhaps a mandatory lesson for every adult.
Even someone as cheerful as Ying'er had moments of vulnerability like this.
Lin Yu didn’t feel like laughing. If anything, he was a little happy.
If anything.
Their Thursday meetup had started as mere curiosity, unrelated to emotions.
But now.
They had taken another step closer to understanding each other, deepening their bond.
Because in that moment when she felt "forgotten by the world."
The first person Ying'er thought to message was him.
"How could I laugh at you? I completely understand how you feel."
Lin Yu responded earnestly, without a trace of mockery.
Ying'er wiped her eyes and stared at him:
"You’re not laughing on the outside... but I bet you are on the inside."
Lin Yu shook his head. "Not even on the inside, I promise."
Ying'er sniffled, her eyes puffy. "Really?"
Lin Yu looked at her adorable expression and couldn’t help it—"I... hahaha..."
Ying'er threw a playful punch. "I knew it!"
Lin Yu: "You made me laugh! Have you seen yourself? You’re like a tear-streaked monkey."
Ying'er: "Hmph!"
With a defiant snort.
She rested her head on Lin Yu’s shoulder.
Her legs curled tightly, as if she wanted to melt into him completely.
As if only this way.
Could she feel truly safe inside.
Neither Lin Yu nor Ying'er spoke, letting the emotions settle in comfortable silence.
"Lin Yu... did I embarrass myself?"
Ying'er fiddled with the hem of his shirt, folding it absentmindedly.
Lin Yu gently stroked her shoulder, his voice tender:
"Of course not. Feeling lonely after waking at dusk is a memory etched in our DNA."
Ying'er lifted her head curiously, her eyes clearer now:
"Are you going to spin a story to cheer me up?"
Lin Yu booped her nose:
"It’s not a story—it’s the truth."
"In ancient times, dusk was when primitive humans gathered."
"That fear you felt upon waking alone? It’s your genes reminding you, 'I’ve fallen behind the group.'"
Ying'er listened intently.
After a moment, a thoughtful expression crossed her face.
"Hmm... sounds like some NPC backstory."
"But I like your... story."
She deliberately paused mid-sentence, then burst into giggles at her own joke.
Her playful, lively demeanor made Lin Yu grin helplessly.
...
(Bonus chapter delivered! Only 346 more "Power of Love" supports until the next bonus update—keep them coming, everyone!)
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.
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?!
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.”
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!
