"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?
...
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)
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
