[Little Black: "Lin Ran, time paradoxes are incredibly difficult to explain. Honestly, even I don’t fully understand them. Let’s just hurry to where you want to go."]
Little Black’s voice carried a hint of urgency as it tried to pull Lin Ran out of his chaotic thoughts.
It knew that in this time tunnel, meddling with the past could trigger a chain of unpredictable consequences.
Lin Ran had to admit—this was beyond his imagination.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "Alright… Wait, what’s that? Is that… the future?"
His gaze was drawn to another scene, one that left him stunned all over again.
[Little Black: "Yes, but this future no longer exists. Just treat it as a timeline that never happened."]
Little Black’s voice echoed mysteriously in the vast space.
Lin Ran saw something he never wanted to witness—himself desperately trying to stop Luo Yao from leaving the basement in a distorted timeline. His face was etched with panic.
In his haste, he stood up too quickly and slammed his head straight into a hanging lantern above.
The lantern swayed violently from the impact, creaking ominously.
[Little Black: "If you don’t stop her this time, Luo Yao will be in danger. She’ll get hurt… and then hide it from you—"]
Before Little Black could finish, Lin Ran already knew the outcome—he’d just seen it.
The moment Luo Yao was involved, Lin Ran lost all rationality.
His eyes burned with desperation as he shouted, "Dammit, you have to help me!"
His voice reverberated through the space, filled with unshakable resolve.
[Little Black: "How am I supposed to help? I’m just a cat Luo Yao stabbed, meow— She’s ruthless, meow meow—"]
[And this isn’t even real! It’s just a projection, like a movie. It won’t actually happen—you already changed the outcome. This is just a possible scenario based on time predictions…]
But before Little Black could react, Lin Ran suddenly grabbed it with lightning speed.
Like a crazed pitcher, he hurled Little Black straight at the lantern, yelling:
"Go, Pikachu!"
[Little Black: "Holy— Lin Ran, you absolute monster!"]
Little Black let out a horrified shriek as its tiny body flew through the air in a perfect arc. Its eyes widened in terror and fury—it never expected Lin Ran to do something like this.
Mid-air, Little Black twisted its body and landed a solid kick on the lantern.
The lantern swayed even more violently, teetering on the brink of collapse.
With feline agility, Little Black leaped back into the time channel, quick as a startled rabbit.
—In the time projection, the lantern wobbled wildly before finally crashing down with a loud smash.
Lin Ran’s eyes widened. "Look out!"
He shoved Luo Yao out of the way just in time—she narrowly avoided the falling debris, but he wasn’t so lucky.
Blood seeped from the wound, staining his clothes crimson.
"Ah Ran—!"
Luo Yao noticed immediately. Panic flashed in her eyes as she rushed to his side, her voice trembling with worry. Her hands steadied him, her gaze filled with heartache.
—
[Little Black: "What the hell was that for, meow meow meow?!"]
Little Black yowled in outrage, its fur bristling with anger.
It glared daggers at Lin Ran, looking ready to spit fire.
Lin Ran scratched his head awkwardly, offering a sheepish smile.
"Sorry, got a little carried away. Won’t happen again."
He tried to placate the furious cat, but his mind was racing. Why did this happen? And why is Little Black keeping secrets from me?
["Can you think about anything other than Luo Yao for once?"]
"I can’t help it. Even if I know it’s just a projection, I still want to stop it. You’ll forgive me, right? You’re the cutest cat in the world, after all."
Little Black’s eyes gleamed—it seemed to have an idea.
["We can go back now."]
Its voice was suddenly cheerful, as if it had already forgotten its earlier rage.
Lin Ran nodded, clutching a note in his hand—a promise to Luo Yao, something he could never forget.
Little Black sidled up to him with an eerily human-like grin, leaving Lin Ran baffled.
"What’s with that look? Why are you smiling like that?"
Lin Ran eyed the cat warily, a sense of unease creeping in.
Little Black didn’t answer. Instead, it kicked him hard and shouted:
["Go, dumbass!"]
Lin Ran: "…"
Before he could process what was happening, an overwhelming force surged like a tidal wave, hurling him out of the time space. His vision blurred with light—and when it cleared, he was back in the cave.
[Little Black: "You’ve got one minute, max."]
Its voice echoed in Lin Ran’s mind, firm and unyielding.
The cave was just as damp as he remembered. Luo Yao sat motionless, her hollow gaze fixed on empty air. Her lonely figure looked especially fragile in the dim light.
"Luo Yao."
Just two words—but her eyes instantly lit up.
"I only have a minute. Here, I made these snacks for you. You have to remember to eat, or you’ll get stomach problems."
Lin Ran hurriedly pulled out an ornate box from his pocket, filled with homemade pastries—though they’d gotten squished from his "backflip" through time. Still, Luo Yao cradled it like a treasure.
"And this… It’s a doll of me. If you miss me, take it out on this thing. When we meet again, you can take it out on me instead. Remember—I’ll be waiting for you in the future."
He handed her a plush doll resembling himself, his eyes brimming with reluctance.
"Oh, and here’s that rope you like using to tie me up. Keep it. You can use it on me anytime in the future."
Hope flickered in Luo Yao’s eyes, replacing the emptiness.
If I tie Ah Ran up with this… I’d be so happy.
She threw herself into his arms…
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)
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!
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.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
