After looking around, there wasn't anything particularly noteworthy.
Mao Ruirui was itching to ask questions.
But she politely restrained her curiosity.
If Lin Yu wanted to share, he would have brought it up himself.
What if it was something private he didn’t want to discuss? Prying might only make him uncomfortable.
Judging by Lin Yu’s expression, the message seemed to have put him in a sour mood.
"Ah…"
A long sigh cast a subtle atmosphere over the scene.
Mao Ruirui, seizing the cue, quickly asked:
"What’s wrong, Lin Yu?"
"Did something happen?"
"Is it… related to yesterday?"
She hadn’t forgotten today’s morning jog—she had another mission.
Her youthful, vibrant sportswear.
Was partly meant to be seen by "that girl."
At the very least.
She had to show that Lin Yu hadn’t chosen some… older woman.
She was still in the prime of her youth.
Lin Yu nodded along with Mao Ruirui’s words and said:
"That classmate from yesterday showed up again."
The moment he said it.
Mao Ruirui immediately scanned the surroundings, looking for her.
Lin Yu stopped her just in time:
"Ruirui-jie, don’t look around!"
"If she notices us searching for her,"
"Everything we do from now on will seem like an act to her!"
Mao Ruirui: "!!!"
Right!
Lin Yu made perfect sense!
She’d almost made a huge mistake.
In this situation, they absolutely couldn’t go looking for her.
"That girl" was truly terrifying and extreme.
Hiding somewhere in the shadows of the field, secretly watching them?
What could they do to help Lin Yu shake off her obsession for good?
Just as Mao Ruirui was lost in thought.
Lin Yu presented the perfect solution…
"Ruirui-jie, can I hold your hand while we walk around the field for a bit?"
Mao Ruirui: "!!!"
Holding hands…
The two of them?
This… might actually be the best way forward, right?
Couples in love often held hands or linked arms in public.
If "that girl" saw how inseparable they were as a couple.
She’d probably back off… right?
Mao Ruirui’s body reacted faster than her brain.
By the time she processed the thought.
Her hand was already hovering mid-air.
Flustered, she hurriedly said:
"Of course I’ll help Lin Yu…"
"So… let’s hold hands!"
Her outstretched hand.
Was like an olive branch—but also more than that.
It wasn’t just about the physical touch.
It was the first crack in a dam!
Once a trickle of water seeped through.
There’d be no stopping the flood that followed!
Lin Yu firmly took Mao Ruirui’s hand in his.
Despite the long jog and the summer heat.
Her hand remained cool, smooth, and pleasant to hold.
But the way it tensed and relaxed, relaxed and tensed.
Made one thing clear.
Its owner was nervous!
[Ding!]
[Masterful move—your first intimate contact with your destined soulmate sends her heart racing!]
[Reward: 50 Spirit Stones]
Mao Ruirui: "!!!"
The last time a boy had held her hand like this and walked with her.
Was probably back in kindergarten, lining up for dismissal.
Even though she knew it was just pretend.
Being led by Lin Yu like this… felt eerily like the real thing.
Was this how couples in love acted?
No wonder that single mom who often boarded pets at her shop always said:
Haven’t dated yet? Girl, find a guy and try it—it’s amazing!
Just pretending was enough to make her heart flutter.
If she were really dating Lin Yu…
Mao Ruirui: "!!!"
What was she thinking?!
This was just a necessary act, nothing more.
Yet she’d practically imagined their future kids’ names.
Since when was she this… unrestrained?
Lin Yu stammered:
"Ruirui-jie, should we… talk about something?"
Mao Ruirui: "Yeah, probably…"
Lin Yu: "Ruirui-jie, I’m… really nervous. So nervous I don’t know what to say. This is my first time holding a girl’s hand like this."
Hearing this, Mao Ruirui’s nerves settled a bit.
The best way to calm your own anxiety?
Have someone next to you who’s even more nervous!
With her mind clearer now.
She took the initiative:
"Want to talk about that girl? If you’re comfortable sharing?"
Lin Yu squeezed her hand slightly and nodded:
"Of course. Out of respect for her privacy, I won’t mention her name."
"My story goes like this—back when I was eighteen, and so was she…"
For the next five minutes of their hand-in-hand stroll.
Lin Yu spun a tale on the fly, half-improvising as he spoke.
The "unrequited love story" between him and "that girl."
He’d only learned about it himself seconds before.
By the time he finished, his expression was grave.
His story perfectly aligned with the trending romantic tropes that would later dominate pop culture:
Loving a yandere is a story; being loved by one is a disaster.
After hearing this, Mao Ruirui completely believed the impromptu tale.
Her heart ached a little for Lin Yu.
Of all people, why did he have to run into such a terrifying girl?
This only strengthened her resolve to help him.
"Ding dong!"
"Ding dong!"
"Ding dong!"
"..."
The sound of WeChat notifications struck again!
Lin Yu suppressed a grin as he eagerly pulled out his phone.
Beside him, Mao Ruirui politely turned her head away, avoiding any glimpse of his screen.
Such manners!
This was exactly the kind of girl who respected privacy—no peeking at phones!
Equally admirable was the girl who knew just the right time to send messages.
「Shen Buyao: Exhausted. My whole body hurts, but I can’t pinpoint where (sad).」
「Shen Buyao: Please tell me you didn’t make something delicious again this morning (sad).」
「Shen Buyao: I’m a woman deprived of culinary blessings (sad).」
「Shen Buyao: (moon) Goodnight—no, good morning (sun).」
Who said this antique of a sister was a lone wolf?
Wasn’t she just a little sunbeam here to brighten the world?
Just these two perfectly timed messages alone meant Lin Yu owed her a special treat later.
Especially this barrage of four texts in a row.
Each chime hammered straight into Mao Ruirui’s heart.
"Lin Yu, that girl’s still nearby, right?"
"With so many messages, does she not believe we’re actually a couple?"
Mao Ruirui hadn’t read the texts, but she’d shrewdly guessed their gist.
Lin Yu sighed, nodding in confirmation.
Then he added:
"She still thinks I’m just using someone to trick her, trying to make her give up..."
"Ruirui, the steps over there aren’t wet from the rain. Want to sit for a while?"
...
(Bonus chapter delivered! Next bonus unlocks after 483 more 'powered by love' clicks. Thanks for feeding this little author with ad views—back to the grind tomorrow!)
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
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)
