"Lin Yu, there's really no one else inside. Maybe we should just..."
Xia Xiashan stood at the doorway, attempting a final blockade.
After all, everyone currently hiding was part of a united front.
Little Chi had held out for so long in the car without betraying his teammates.
Even though Xia Xiashan was a newcomer, she intended to do her part for the team as well.
"Sister Shanshan, you know me..."
"Stop struggling in vain. Just close the door for me, would you?"
Lin Yu looked at Xia Xiashan and couldn't help but reveal a "kindly" smile.
That single glance was enough to make Xia Xiashan shudder. It was as if the demon from the car had appeared before her once again.
She hurriedly stepped aside and pulled the door shut behind her.
Clang!
The light within the utility room instantly dimmed.
Finally.
In the corner behind a storage shelf, Lin Yu spotted a dark silhouette.
The creativity was on par with Little Fufu's; the person had chosen to balance a brand-new floor mat on their head, attempting to use this crude disguise to slip past Lin Yu's gaze.
Just think about it.
Lin Yu had done so many tasks in the public areas.
How could he not know exactly what was in the utility room on every floor?
Did they really think they could fool him with such an out-of-place floor mat?
They really weren't treating Lin Yu like a detective, were they?
Even though he wasn't one.
Whoever came up with such a clumsy hiding method had to be one of the apartment's "geniuses."
Lin Yu didn't lift the mat immediately. Instead, he reached in with his large hand and firmly grabbed the person's arm first!
"Still trying to hide? Heh heh, let's see who this is!"
As he spoke, Lin Yu exerted a little force, easily pulling both the person and the floor mat out from behind the shelf.
The moment the mat fell to the floor, Lin Yu finally got a clear look at the gi—woman he had caught.
Lin Yu: "!!!"
Du Ruxue: "..."
Their eyes met in the dim light.
For a split second, Lin Yu really wanted to stuff Auntie Ruxue back in there.
He wanted to start over and "catch" her again in a relatively more gentle and polite manner.
There was a long silence.
Du Ruxue finally raised her arm. Lin Yu's hand was still firmly gripping her wrist.
"What a domineering 'Sheriff.' Is this how you caught the previous 'thieves' as well?"
Lin Yu quickly let go and chuckled awkwardly.
"No, Auntie Ruxue, I thought..."
Du Ruxue: "Thought I was who?"
Lin Yu: "..."
He couldn't answer that!
It was a massive trap!
How could he say who he thought it was?
If he actually named someone...
In Auntie Ruxue's mind, wouldn't that mean Lin Yu was mentally inseparable from that person?
Lin Yu's gears turned quickly. "That's not what I meant. I just thought..."
Du Ruxue's expression remained unchanged. "It doesn't matter. You don't need to explain to me. It's your birthday; you're the boss."
Lin Yu: "..."
His mental gymnastics had been for nothing.
Outside the door, Xia Xiashan was currently as anxious as an ant on a hot pan!
She had just wanted to find a temporary hiding spot, but as luck would have it—or rather, as bad luck would have it—she had stumbled upon Auntie Ruxue's spot!
Recalling the scene when she had tried to hide earlier, Xia Xiashan felt a wave of trepidation.
She had run into the dark utility room and specifically asked, "Is anyone here?"
Auntie Ruxue was truly a committed hide-and-seek player!
She hadn't answered Xia Xiashan at all.
Naturally assuming the room was empty, Xia Xiashan had squeezed her way to the very back.
She had even casually lifted the floor mat off Auntie Ruxue's head.
What followed was...
Xia Xiashan: "???"
Auntie Ruxue: "Put it back."
Xia Xiashan: "Oh... okay."
Auntie Ruxue: "Scoot over a little."
Xia Xiashan: "..."
The scene was simply too bizarre.
So much so that Xia Xiashan couldn't even begin to describe her feelings at that moment.
The Auntie Ruxue in her memories—always so dignified and aloof—was actually taking a game of hide-and-seek seriously?
She even knew how to use her companion as cover so she could tuck herself deeper into the hiding spot.
Was this normal?
It made absolutely no sense!
Before Xia Xiashan had time to dwell on it, Lin Yu and Auntie Ruxue walked out of the utility room together.
Xia Xiashan stared at the pair. "..."
It wasn't that she didn't want to say anything.
She honestly just didn't know what to say!
Du Ruxue gently patted Xia Xiashan on the back and said calmly:
"It couldn't be helped. We both got caught."
Xia Xiashan's brain completely short-circuited; it was hard to imagine such words coming out of Auntie Ruxue's mouth.
She could only force a smile and reply:
"Yeah, I guess we didn't hide well enough."
Du Ruxue: "If you hadn't come in, I think I was hidden quite well."
Xia Xiashan: "..."
Was she assigning blame now?
Was that really the point?
Did she really need to care about winning or losing over something like this?!
Du Ruxue continued, "Shanshan, how about you be the seeker next time?"
"Let's see if you can find me."
Xia Xiashan: "???"
So it wasn't about blame; she was actually addicted to the game?
Did Auntie Ruxue always like hide-and-seek this much?
Without waiting for Xia Xiashan's reply, Du Ruxue turned to Lin Yu:
"You've received the gifts from Shanshan and me."
"The next step should be writing the cards, right?"
Lin Yu reacted quickly, using the railing as a makeshift table to write the cards for Auntie Ruxue and Xia Xiashan.
Naturally, he wrote the one for Auntie Ruxue first.
[Sharp reasoning, gentle resilience, and occasional childishness.]
[Every facet is the composure and wisdom you possess after seeing through life.]
Du Ruxue looked at the content of the card, then gazed at Lin Yu with a complex expression:
"Why does this feel..."
"Less like a message to an [enemy] and more like one to a [lover]?"
Lin Yu: "..."
Lin Yu didn't dare touch that comment.
Sister Curator was still watching nearby!
Flirting with someone's aunt right in front of Sister Curator?
That would be tantamount to blowing his own cover and self-destructing on the spot!
Of course.
Regardless of how Lin Yu responded, Xia Xiashan didn't have the time to pay attention to it right now.
Her entire attention was focused on the card she was holding:
[A true opponent never loses their luster after a single fall; they only forge their defeat into harder bones and sharper blades.]
[I am waiting at the summit for a stronger you.]
Xia Xiashan felt like she had been struck by lightning!
The words were incredibly arrogant, yet they struck a chord deep within her heart.
Lin Yu didn't look down on her just because she was a "defeated opponent."
Instead, he was encouraging her to become a stronger version of herself.
No mockery, no belittling—this was the greatest respect one could show to the defeated.
Watching Xia Xiashan's reaction, Lin Yu knew that his pretentious, "condescending" words had hit the mark.
"Auntie Ruxue, Sister Shanshan, the cats are waiting for you downstairs."
"I'm in a hurry, so I'm taking off!"
Lin Yu didn't waste any time and quickly ran down the corridor.
Besides the utility room, there was also a small communal tea room on the third floor.
However, everyone usually boiled water in their own rooms.
As a result, this small area didn't see much use.
Auntie Qimeng had placed quite a few plastic bins here, using them to store various odds and ends.
Could someone be hiding here?
...
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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?!
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)
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
