【The True and False Thief】
"Maomao: Thank you, Ying, for being willing to help. And thank you, Yu, for agreeing as well."
"Mo Shangying: Oh, don’t be so formal! We’re all family here. Anything my master can do, I can do too."
"Maomao: That’s amazing! (clasps hands together)"
"Mo Shangying: Master should be awake by now. Why don’t you come to my room so we can align the granularity?"
"Maomao: Granularity? Such a professional term. Thank you, Ying."
"Mo Shangying: Didn’t you already thank me earlier?"
"Maomao: Uh…"
"Mo Shangying: @Lin Yu, can Master come over now?"
"……"
Lin Yu: "..."
He had never initiated this group chat himself.
This was entirely Shangying’s idea!
Did they really need an offline meeting to discuss this?
He couldn’t even imagine what kind of results this meeting would yield.
By the time Aunt Ru Xue arrived, the main focus would still be on Shangying anyway.
Lin Yu had essentially agreed unilaterally and then informed Shangying afterward.
Now that she wanted to take some initiative, there was no reason to refuse her request.
"Lin Yu: I’ll be right there."
Chen Qimeng heard the rapid chime of Lin Yu’s phone and knew he must have something urgent to attend to.
The matter she had been concerned about had already been resolved ahead of time, without any unexpected issues.
Chen Qimeng was thoroughly satisfied.
"Xiao Yu, go ahead and take care of your business."
"I’ll head upstairs to grab a few things, then go to the shop with Rongrong later."
"And then… we’ll see each other this afternoon."
Lin Yu slung his bag over his arm and said pointedly:
"No problem. I’ll pick you up just like this in the afternoon."
Chen Qimeng watched him and couldn’t help but laugh warmly.
……
A few minutes later.
Inside Mo Shangying’s bedroom.
Maomao had arrived early and was admiring the computer equipment and electronics in Shangying’s room.
"Wow, these are all high-performance devices!"
"Ying, I never expected that besides Yu, there’s another tech expert like you in the apartment."
"The models are almost identical to what I use—just some differences in peripherals."
After looking around, Maomao was thoroughly impressed.
Even though Shangying’s computer wasn’t turned on, making it impossible to see the software inside,
Maomao’s experience told her at a glance that Shangying was undoubtedly a tech wizard.
Ordinary computer enthusiasts wouldn’t invest in such expensive professional equipment.
Shangying wasn’t worried about exposing the truth.
After all, Lin Yu’s computer setup was even newer and more extravagant.
Just from these devices alone, nothing suspicious could be inferred.
Besides, she had already prepared an answer for this exact question.
"Owning such high-end gear is all thanks to my master, Lin Yu."
"This one I’m using is actually his hand-me-down."
"Have you been to Master’s room yet?"
"It’s packed with the latest hardware—totally over-the-top!"
As she spoke, Shangying subtly elevated Lin Yu’s status even further.
Maomao nodded repeatedly, her eyes filled with admiration.
Clearly, she believed every word Shangying said.
"Master has so many incredible skills you don’t even know about."
"I’ve heard a little about the history between you two."
Maomao’s expression froze.
"Yu… talked about what happened between us?"
"How… how did he describe it?"
The previously calm Maomao was now visibly tense.
Shangying didn’t think much of her reaction—assuming it was just embarrassment over the trash talk from past defeats.
Little did she know,
Maomao’s nervousness had nothing to do with that.
"Oh, he’s told me tons of things!"
"I’m his one and only formal apprentice in networking tech."
"Pretty much every single thing that happened between you two, Master has shared with me!"
Maomao: "!!!"
Every single thing?
Does that mean…
At that moment,
Lin Yu stood outside the door, hearing every word of their conversation.
Sigh.
Letting these two meet so soon might not have been the wisest decision.
Given Shangying’s personality, a few more minutes and she’d probably bring up the gas stove incident!
Knock knock knock!
Lin Yu didn’t dare take the risk—he decisively knocked and entered.
"Master, the door’s unlocked~ I left it open just for you!"
Her sweet, sing-song voice sent chills down Lin Yu’s spine.
Normally,
she would never speak like this!
Oh, great.
She’s really going all out, huh?
Lin Yu steadied himself and walked in with a forced smile.
"Oh? Maomao’s already here?"
"Perfect. That makes it easier to start discussing our strategy."
"So… what were you two talking about just now?"
Feigning ignorance, Lin Yu glanced between them, leaving the question open to either.
He was curious to see how the cunning Shangying and straightforward Maomao would respond.
Shangying: "We haven’t started yet."
Maomao: "We talked about a lot already."
Shangying stared at Maomao: "!!!"
Maomao stared back at Shangying: "???"
Lin Yu: "..."
He maintained his stiff smile.
"So… did you talk or not?"
"Maomao, you go first!"
Abruptly shifting tactics, Lin Yu directed the question squarely at Maomao.
At the same time,
he shot Shangying a warning look.
Shangying took a step back, sticking out her tongue sheepishly.
Maomao scratched her cheek, unsure why Shangying had denied their conversation.
When it came to Lin Yu, she was always completely honest—holding nothing back.
After a brief pause, she truthfully recounted everything they had discussed.
After all,
Lin Yu was the one who would ultimately help her.
She needed to share every detail in real time.
"After I came in, I first looked around at Ying’s computer setup."
"Her professional-grade hardware is even more advanced than what I use now."
"And then…"
Maomao’s blunt honesty was on full display.
Starting from the moment she entered, she recounted everything, including her chat with Shangying—
matching almost word-for-word what Lin Yu had overheard.
Shangying stood obediently to the side,
looking like a subordinate awaiting orders!
Lin Yu: "..."
That little schemer, Shangying!
A few more sentences from her, and his reputation would be in ruins.
Once Maomao finished,
Lin Yu nodded understandingly.
"Shangying wasn’t wrong—the important stuff hasn’t been discussed yet."
"I’ve already sent Shangying all the details about Aunt Ru Xue."
"Now, let’s focus on how we—"
"mainly Shangying—should handle the conversation when Aunt Ru Xue arrives."
The moment Lin Yu finished speaking,
Mo Shangying immediately raised her hand, elbow propped on her other palm—like a student eager to answer in class.
Lin Yu: "..."
Judging by her expression,
she was definitely up to no good!
……
(Update delivered! That’s all for today—more to come tomorrow. Just 101 more "powered by love" clicks until the next bonus chapter! Take a moment to check out an ad—it really helps this little author out!)
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
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?!
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!
