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.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
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.
