Suddenly, an eagle’s cry pierced the sky, shattering the warm atmosphere.
Luo Yao shuddered, her body trembling slightly as a flicker of fear flashed in her eyes.
After a moment’s hesitation, she quickly grabbed Lin Ran’s hand and hurried toward their secret hideout.
Her footsteps were rushed, as though something terrifying was chasing them.
Only after the two of them slipped inside did Luo Yao finally let out a relieved sigh.
"No one knows about this place," she said, her eyes glimmering with a trace of relief.
This was her last sanctuary, the only safe place she and Lin Ran had left.
"Luo Yao, I’m sorry for leaving without saying goodbye last time," Lin Ran said guiltily, knowing how much his sudden departure had hurt her.
Little Luo Yao looked up at him. "You promised you’d marry me when we grew up. They say only husband and wife can stay together forever."
Her eyes sparkled with hope, bright as the most radiant star in the night sky.
Lin Ran nodded, his gaze steady as he met her eyes. "I didn’t just say it—I’ll make it happen."
[Little Black: "Oh—" Shut up.]
"But… do you have a wife now? I heard that marrying someone means taking a wife," Luo Yao asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.
Lin Ran was taken aback, not expecting such a question from her.
He smiled softly. "If you nod, then I do."
His eyes brimmed with affection, looking at Luo Yao as though she were the most precious treasure in the world.
Luo Yao didn’t quite understand at first, but after a moment, realization dawned, and she nodded emphatically.
The two stayed in the hideout for a while longer before Lin Ran checked the timer in his hand.
"This time, I can stay with you for six more hours. And I brought you some things."
He thought it was only fair to tell her exactly how long they had, but he never imagined he’d break that promise so soon.
Luo Yao’s face fell instantly. The hopeful light in her eyes dimmed, like a brilliant star plummeting into an abyss of endless darkness.
Her head drooped slightly, her lips trembling, her shoulders slumping as if all the life had drained out of her.
The joy of their reunion, so vibrant just moments ago, shattered like fragile bubbles against the harsh reality.
"Luo Yao, the reason I came to see you this time is to tell you… you have to be brave in the days ahead. I’ll be waiting for you someday in the future."
Lin Ran’s voice was gentle yet firm, like a faint light kindled in the dark.
His eyes were filled with reluctance and heartache, every word wrenched from the depths of his soul, carrying his deep longing and hope for her.
He knew they might not meet again for a long time, but these were the only words he could give her for strength.
If he could, Lin Ran would have taken Luo Yao away right then—far from this cruel, merciless world, away from this place steeped in bloodshed and slaughter.
Every breath of air here reeked of death; every shadow concealed unseen dangers.
But he only had a few hours. In such a short time, escaping with her was impossible.
Time hung over him like a merciless blade, a constant reminder of his powerlessness.
Besides, Little Black had warned him from the start—no one else could cross time with him.
It was an uncrossable chasm, a cruel shackle fate had clamped around him.
Lin Ran’s heart ached with helplessness and pain. He despised his own weakness, yet there was nothing he could do to change it.
This time, Luo Yao didn’t have an episode. Instead, she seemed to be struggling to suppress the storm of emotions raging inside her.
"I call this place the Star-Gazing Cave. You’re like the stars in the sky—appearing and disappearing without warning. Stars are beautiful… but they’re also despair."
Night had fully fallen. Lin Ran looked up and saw the starry sky through the opening above them.
"Stargazing from a well… One day, you’ll stand under the open sky and see the most beautiful stars."
Luo Yao glanced at the stars, then at Lin Ran, and for a moment, happiness felt simple.
Lin Ran: "Do you have a wish?"
At his words, Luo Yao seemed to remember something.
"I do."
"What is it? Tell me. Maybe I can help make it come true."
Little Luo Yao reached behind her neck and untied a cord.
"This wish… only you can fulfill."
The cord looked worn but well-preserved, as though it carried something priceless.
"Last time, you vanished without leaving me anything," she murmured, her voice tinged with sorrow—the kind born from endless nights of painful memories.
"This time… you have to leave me something."
Hanging from the cord was a small vial, glimmering faintly in the dim light.
Lin Ran recognized it instantly. The familiar sight made his heart skip a beat.
[So… it was written at this time?]
But inside the bottle, there seemed to already be a note.
Luo Yao carefully opened the small bottle, her movements as gentle as if she were handling the most fragile treasure in the world.
She softly pulled out the note inside—it was slightly crumpled, clearly having been unfolded and read many times before.
She lifted her head, her gaze firm as she looked at Lin Ran, her eyes shimmering with longing and anticipation.
Lin Ran froze for a moment, staring blankly at the note in Luo Yao’s hand, a surge of complex emotions rising in his chest.
So this was the context in which the note had been written. Every crease seemed like a mark of Luo Yao’s lonely waiting, every word brimming with her yearning for him.
Slowly, he raised his head and looked up—sure enough, the night sky was filled with stars, dazzling and magnificent like an enormous painting. Yet to Lin Ran, there was an indescribable eeriness to it.
So this was the well from his dreams. Everything around him felt surreal yet undeniably real, making him question whether he was still dreaming.
"Big brother, will you do it yourself?"
Luo Yao’s voice pulled Lin Ran back from his thoughts.
Lin Ran saw the words Luo Yao had written on the note long ago, though he didn’t know when.
"[When I grow up, I’ll marry]—" The rest was left blank.
The handwriting was crooked but brimming with childlike innocence and hope, every stroke looking as though Luo Yao had poured her heart into it.
"Don’t call me ‘big brother.’ Call me A-Ran."
Lin Ran forced a faint smile, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere.
"A… Ran."
Luo Yao murmured the name softly, and the way it rolled off her tongue carried an unusual tenderness.
"Yao Yao!"
Lin Ran responded, his voice warm and affectionate.
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.
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...
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!
