1:30 AM.
The competition event for the Xuanwu Dance Troupe had just ended.
Using the excuse of driving Lin Yu home, Shen Buyao hung up the phone with Huang Feirong.
The usually open-all-night Wubao Antique Shop had its doors unusually locked tonight.
Only to maintain tradition, the lights inside remained on.
The computer in the corner of the counter had already entered the blue-screen standby mode.
On the countertop lay Lin Yu’s clothes and Shen Buyao’s qipao dress.
Even though she knew no one outside could see inside,
Shen Buyao still felt her heart leap into her throat, unable to form a complete sentence.
"L-Lin Yu… actually, there’s a bed in the inner room where I usually rest…"
"Do we… do we really have to do it here?"
Shen Buyao leaned against the counter, not daring to look back.
She could only keep pleading, hoping Lin Yu would change his mind.
Backing out now?
Lin Yu wouldn’t let Shen Buyao have her way!
"Buyao, didn’t you say this was my reward?"
"How the prize is unwrapped, and where it’s unwrapped—shouldn’t that be up to me?"
Shen Buyao’s eyes trembled slightly, her lips parting as if to say something.
But the next moment, she quickly covered her mouth.
Even though she’d experienced it once before, the memory of that day’s pain came rushing back.
Lin Yu’s logic was impossible to argue with, yet it left Shen Buyao with no room to protest.
Hiss—
Lin Yu sucked in a sharp breath.
Before him was the smooth, flawless beauty of Shen Buyao’s back.
Doing this with the "antique lady" in an antique shop…
Such a scene had only ever existed in his imagination.
He never thought it could become reality.
The same went for Shen Buyao.
The one who’d proposed the "mysterious reward" was Huang Feirong.
She’d just wanted an excuse to lure Lin Yu over and hand out the in-game event rewards.
Yet in the end, it was Shen Buyao who had to pay the price to fulfill this "reward."
Right now,
any warnings from "Big Mother Cow" had long been tossed aside.
Her entire consciousness, along with her back, was firmly pinned down by Lin Yu.
"The counter… the lights…"
"Damn you, Lin Yu, can’t you at least turn off the overhead light…?"
Shen Buyao gritted her teeth, pointing at the faint shadows cast on the window.
Though the silhouettes weren’t clear, a closer look would reveal their entangled forms.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, Lin Yu reluctantly pulled away and turned off the overhead light.
However.
Shen Buyao must have failed physics.
When a space loses its primary light source,
the surrounding illumination only makes the shadows more pronounced.
Seeing her own figure slumped over the counter, Shen Buyao "whooshed" down,
ducking beneath the counter.
But when she looked up, she saw Lin Yu’s unmistakably suggestive shadow…
Panicking, she waved her hands:
"H-hey! Damn it, Lin Yu, move! Don’t stand there!"
Lin Yu turned the light back on, softening the silhouette.
"This won’t work, that won’t work… hmm…"
"Buyao, how about we just turn off all the lights?"
Shen Buyao hesitated: "…"
At this point, aside from turning everything off, there didn’t seem to be any other solution.
This was all Lin Yu’s fault!
Why did it have to be here?!
If they’d just gone inside, none of this would’ve happened.
Something so simple had to be made so complicated.
At the same time,
Shen Buyao began confronting her own feelings.
It seemed she couldn’t even voice this tiny request to Lin Yu.
Afraid that doing so might ruin the mood.
Even more afraid that Lin Yu would be dissatisfied…
Had she really grown to care so much about someone else’s feelings?
Shen Buyao nodded weakly.
"Fine… go turn off the lights then."
"I don’t want to… keep running around like this."
And so,
the ever-glowing Wubao Antique Shop broke tradition—its lights went dark.
With the lights off, it was as if all restraints had been lifted.
Not just the counter.
Every corner of the shop became a canvas for Lin Yu and Shen Buyao’s memories.
……
3:30 AM.
Lin Yu returned to his apartment.
The moment he got back, he sent a WeChat message to Aunt Qimeng to check in.
Whether it would wake her or not, this message was non-negotiable.
He couldn’t let her think he’d stayed out all night.
When he left, Shen Buyao—slumped in her computer chair—had insisted on driving him home.
But Lin Yu silenced her with a kiss so deep it left her breathless and compliant.
Only then did he manage to save his own skin, taking a taxi back alone.
The night had been wonderful, but time was running out.
No matter when he slept, the system would activate at exactly 7:00 AM.
Entering the previous day’s recap phase.
He still had four Dream Entry chances left unused tonight.
Something as simple as sleeping could bridge relationships—no way he’d waste that.
After a quick shower, Lin Yu sprawled on his bed and opened the system interface.
On the ride back, he’d already decided.
Tonight’s dream targets were clear.
[Ding!]
[Advanced Dream Entry activated (4-person version)!]
[Host will encounter the Joyful Sect’s Holy Maiden (Du Ruxue) in tonight’s dream. Please select an appropriate dream type!]
First up—
Still Du Ruxue!
After a day of digging, Lin Yu had pieced together most of Du Ruxue and Maomao’s past.
Much of the mystery surrounding "Aunt Ruxue" had faded.
Even so,
for a "Holy Maiden" qualified to compete for sect succession, Lin Yu wasn’t about to let go.
In the [Virtual Du Ruxue] simulation, he’d once found a path to victory.
Now,
with the added layers of "friend’s nephew" and "adopted daughter’s crush,"
would that old strategy still work?
Probably not.
But experience was experience. With it, maybe he could uncover something even more interesting.
Immediately, Lin Yu scanned the dream-type options:
[1. Maomao lives alone, drinking herself into loneliness late at night.]
[2. Company crisis: the crushing weight of a gamble-gone-wrong.]
[3. Martial arts training abroad: the inexplicable ties to the Xia family.]
[4. Absolute nothingness—what does "void" truly mean?]
[5. None of the above—random dream.]
Lin Yu: "!!!"
Again!
Option four was identical to last night’s.
"Void"?
What the hell was "void" supposed to be?
When choosing dreams for others, Lin Yu never hesitated.
But with Du Ruxue, every decision required agonizing deliberation.
After a long pause,
Lin Yu still avoided the "void."
Not choosing four, he struggled between one and three before settling on three.
Abandoning "lonely drinking."
Better to continue the serial dream!
Let’s see what really went down between Du Ruxue and the Xia family!
……
(Second update. There’ll be bonus chapters tonight. Hope you’ll shower us with your love—thanks, everyone!)
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)
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
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?!
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.
