As Miss Shen's final finishing move appeared, the plush toy hanging from the claw dropped down, landing perfectly through the exit chute.
Shen Qinghan's pupils dilated in surprise.
Ye Cheng quickly crouched to pick up the freshly grabbed plushie and handed it to her.
"You're amazing, Miss Shen! You got it in one try!"
In reality… Shen Qinghan had been completely hands-off the entire time—Ye Cheng had done all the heavy lifting.
Just as he had initially claimed, it was only a "tiny bit" of help.
The rest was purely Shen Qinghan's own effort and hard work!
The plushie was an adorable rabbit—at least from the back. Ye Cheng didn’t inspect it closely, but these kinds of rabbit plushies were usually cute, right?
Curious, he took a closer look.
And then he froze.
It was indeed a rabbit, but… why was it smoking? The rabbit’s face bore the standard "Longtu" expression—its face plastered with the word "HAPPY" as it held a lit cigarette between two fingers.
Ye Cheng: "…"
The plushies in this claw machine were getting more and more abstract.
He recalled the "vomiting banana cat" he had grabbed earlier for another kid—equally bizarre.
Shen Qinghan hugged the plushie, staring at it motionlessly.
A faint glimmer flickered in her usually calm eyes.
Ye Cheng: "…"
Damn, she actually likes this kind of weird stuff?
His lips twitched. These days, it seemed like young ladies from wealthy families all had some hidden quirks.
Instinctively, an image of Dongfang Zhixia’s haughty demeanor flashed through his mind.
Would the student council president also have a hidden side?
Probably not… right?
But what if?
Before actually interacting with Shen Qinghan, he never would’ve guessed she’d be into plush toys. If even she could be this unpredictable, what about the council president?
Like, what if late at night, the president…
Ahem. Of course, Ye Cheng wasn’t thinking anything weird.
At least, he didn’t think so. It was just that most guys had probably fantasized about something like this at some point in their youth.
You know—the untouchable, ice-cold student council president falling head over heels for him, ignoring everyone else while being hopelessly smitten, giving him a hundred disdainful glances a day before eventually…
Anyway, he was completely normal!
Shaking off the stray thoughts, Ye Cheng suddenly remembered something and hurriedly pulled out his phone to check the time.
10:29 PM.
One minute left before the dormitory gates closed.
Ye Cheng: "…"
Well, no going back tonight.
"Ruined," he groaned, slumping lifelessly against the claw machine seat.
Shen Qinghan noticed his sudden shift and snapped out of her plushie-induced euphoria.
"What’s ruined?" she asked, a hint of confusion in her eyes.
She was in a good mood, so she’d humor him with a few questions.
"Ruined… everything’s ruined…"
Ye Cheng sprawled across the chair like a corpse, unresponsive no matter how much Shen Qinghan prodded him.
After a moment of thought, she spoke.
"You haven’t eaten dinner yet. I’ll treat you."
"Ruined… ru—wait, what?" Ye Cheng’s eyes lit up as if resurrected.
He sprang up from the chair, suddenly full of energy, and beamed at Shen Qinghan.
"Let’s go, Miss Shen! Food first!"
Not a trace of his earlier despair remained.
Shen Qinghan narrowed her eyes—had he been acting this whole time?
"You just said everything was ruined. What exactly is ruined?"
"My life. Completely destroyed," Ye Cheng lamented dramatically.
Before she could respond, he continued, rambling to himself.
"Didn’t you read the freshman handbook? The dorms lock at 10:30 PM, and the student council does room checks. If you’re not there, they report it, and your record gets branded with a big red 'STAYED OUT ALL NIGHT' stamp…"
After listening for a while, Shen Qinghan finally pieced it together.
"Are you… planning to take the civil service exam?" she asked, her expression odd.
"Yeah, can’t you tell? I want to be a state-sanctioned parasite—clock in on time, abuse my power to hassle citizens coming for paperwork, clock out the second my shift ends, and take home all the office supplies I can carry…" Ye Cheng nodded, elaborating on his "noble" aspirations.
"You just want free food, don’t you?"
Shen Qinghan saw right through him.
Ye Cheng stiffened.
"Cough—what nonsense! Can’t I just want to serve the people?" he sputtered indignantly.
Shen Qinghan stared at him blankly.
"…Are you done with the jokes? If so, carry me out. Do you still want dinner or not?"
Ye Cheng immediately dropped the act and crouched in front of her.
"Hop on, Miss Shen! Don’t hold back just because I’m delicate!"
Shen Qinghan: "…"
She paused mid-motion.
For some reason, his phrasing made her skin crawl.
But she quickly composed herself and climbed onto his back, returning to their usual arrangement.
This time, however, the heartless young lady in his grip was clutching a plushie, and a faint spark of life had returned to her previously dull eyes.
The two headed out.
Once outside the arcade, they began searching for a place to eat.
"What do you want?" Shen Qinghan asked, her chin resting on Ye Cheng’s shoulder, her tone as cool as ever.
"Chicken drumsticks, burgers, spicy pig ears…"
Ye Cheng rattled off a laundry list of dishes.
Shen Qinghan: "…"
"You can pick something expensive," she said, assuming he was just being polite.
"That is expensive!" Ye Cheng gasped in disbelief.
Shen Qinghan: "…"
Never mind.
They ended up at a fast-food joint, ordering a tableful of food. Ye Cheng went to the counter to collect their meals while Shen Qinghan watched, still hugging her smoking rabbit plushie.
He lingered at the counter for a while, muttering something under his breath.
Shen Qinghan knew a bit of lip-reading and could roughly make out his words.
But when she pieced them together, she fell silent.
"Can I get a bigger drumstick? Like, more meat for the same price? And if the ketchup’s free, can I get extra? Oh, and two more pairs of gloves—my girlfriend’s a germaphobe and likes doubling up when she eats…"
After haggling with the cashier for a while, Ye Cheng returned triumphantly with their food.
As he sat down, he noticed Shen Qinghan staring at him.
"Miss Shen, why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, puzzled.
Shen Qinghan: "…"
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
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.
