In the academy, on another hilltop not far from Dongfang Zhixia's villa.
A luxurious villa stood on the hilltop. A majestic flag fluttered in the wind, displaying a large "Xia" character, accompanied by patterns resembling a child's graffiti and handprints...
This was Xia Tongxin's villa in the academy.
On the second floor of the villa.
Xia Tongxin was sound asleep, hugging a giant teddy bear. The room had been tidied up; after arriving at the villa, the Head Maid had cleaned this nap room first before moving on to the rest of the house.
According to the plan, the Head Maid should have already organized the staff to clean the entire villa by now.
But as mentioned, that was just a plan. The Head Maid probably hadn't checked the almanac before going out today. The plan was ruined, and she was now lying in a hospital.
Outside Xia Tongxin's room stood a large group of anxious young maids. These were the Head Maid's "minions"—though, of course, "minions" was Ye Cheng's way of putting it.
In short, bringing a huge entourage of maids when going out was very flashy, way cooler than bodyguards or secretaries. By the same logic, carrying a large box of iced tea while out and about was also considered a very prestigious and grand thing to do.
"Has the young miss woken up yet?"
"Should we knock and wake her up?"
"We can't. Sister Xia Yu said the young miss cannot be disturbed while sleeping, otherwise she will have nightmares, which is bad for her health..."
"Then what should we do?"
"This..."
Outside the door, the large group of young maids was whispering, wanting to wake Xia Tongxin up to tell her about the Head Maid. Although the Head Maid was an "employee" working under the noble lady just like them, she had been by Xia Tongxin's side since childhood.
Whether it was their emotional bond or anything else, it naturally wasn't something the rest of them could compare to.
With the Head Maid now in the hospital, Xia Tongxin would surely be very worried. It was only reasonable to notify her, but the problem was that these two matters were now in conflict.
Without the Head Maid acting as their big sister, the large group of young maids was spinning around the villa like headless flies, completely losing the mood to clean.
The quiet discussions outside eventually reached the inside of the room.
In her sleep, Xia Tongxin furrowed her little brows. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly as she slowly opened her eyes, gradually waking up from her dreams.
"Hmm?" Xia Tongxin sat up, hugging her big teddy bear. Her pale blue eyes looked incredibly clear under the sunlight streaming in from the window, just like the ocean.
Strictly speaking, Xia Tongxin wasn't considered mixed-race. The mixed heritage of the noble lady's ancestors was from an unknown number of generations ago.
The noble lady had completely typical Dragon Country features, possessing a very classic "qipao beauty" look. However, when it came to Xia Tongxin, she had mutated into a "foreign doll."
Platinum blonde hair, pale blue eyes as clear as sapphires, a tall and delicate nose...
Under the sunlight, she looked as if she were glowing. This wasn't just a simple adjective, nor did it mean Xia Tongxin merely seemed to be glowing... she was literally glowing.
Glowing like a several-hundred-watt light bulb!
So... it was an atavism.
Yes, atavism.
"Where is Xiaxia?" Xia Tongxin blinked her big eyes, stretched out her small hands to rub them, and turned her cute little head around the room twice without seeing anyone.
She was even a bit unaccustomed to it. The layout here was indeed the same as her room at home, but... the room was much smaller. Xia Tongxin could still feel the difference.
At this moment, Xia Tongxin finally remembered that she had left home to go to school, and that certain evil cow...
Wu, she missed the cow a little...
Although the Head Maid was several years older than Xia Tongxin, Xia Tongxin always called her "Xiaxia", just like the cow plushie Xia Tongxin currently placed next to her pillow.
It also had a name, Grandpa Niu.
The custom iced tea short-sleeved shirt she ordered online for her "Grandpa Niu" hadn't arrived yet. Once it arrived, she would put it on the plushie, and then she could start going "Ora!"
The noisy discussions outside entered the room once again, drawing the attention of Xia Tongxin's simple little brain.
"Ugh... so noisy." Xia Tongxin covered her ears, bounced twice, and jumped out of bed. Her bare feet went patter-patter on the floor as she walked toward the door, intending to tell the people outside to lower their voices.
Hearing the discussion, Xia Tongxin slowed her pace and leaned against the door to listen for a moment, and then...
"Sister Xia Yu won't be in any serious trouble, right?"
"Such a big box hit her on the head, Sister Xia Yu even rolled her eyes back."
"Wuwuwu, do you guys think sister will die, wuwuwu..."
Xia Tongxin: "???"
Hearing the discussion outside the door, a giant question mark appeared over Xia Tongxin's cute little head. Hearing that something seemed to have happened to the Head Maid, and that she might even die, her heart skipped a beat.
"Click!"
She hurriedly opened the door.
"What are you talking about? What happened to Xiaxia!" Xia Tongxin's exquisite, doll-like face was written with anxiety, her small hands clenched tightly.
...
Meanwhile.
In the hospital.
The ward where the Head Maid stayed was unusually quiet; you could hear a pin drop.
The heart rate monitor next to her recorded the Head Maid's heartbeat. It wasn't as steady as she appeared on the surface; it went up and down, fluctuating high and low, which was a sign of nervousness.
In front of the Head Maid, Ye Cheng stood rubbing his smooth chin, putting on a thoughtful look.
"Grandpa Niu? Isn't that someone from Big-Headed Son and Small-Headed Dad?" Ye Cheng blinked, looking at the Head Maid.
Head Maid: "???"
Beep, beep, beep...
The Head Maid's heart rate began to rise, and her blood pressure started to soar.
Was this the result of Ye Cheng thinking for half a minute?
What the hell was Big-Headed Son and Small-Headed Dad, wasn't it Big Ear Tutu?
The Head Maid's childhood was not very happy; it was even miserable. Growing up in the slums, let alone cartoons, even eating a normal meal was a luxury. Most of the time, she had moldy bread or rotten vegetable leaves picked up from the market...
Naturally, she didn't have a complete childhood, nor had she seen many of today's animated works.
Later, she was sponsored by the noble lady and successfully escaped the slums. She studied incredibly hard, cherishing this hard-won educational opportunity. Any thought of playing or slacking off felt like a sin.
Her childhood experiences reminded her time and time again when she was exhausted and sleepy that any entertainment activities were sinful, a denial and forgetting of her past.
The Head Maid's life was very simple: study, work, eat, and sleep... repeating the cycle over and over.
Living up to expectations, the Head Maid returned from her studies. Even when it came to taking care of Xia Tongxin, she still did it best, standing out among all the maids.
Because of her blank childhood, the first time she saw Ye Cheng's avatar and name, her immediate reaction was confusion. She felt like she might have seen this cartoon character playing on someone else's screen while picking up vegetable leaves as a child?
Later, in order to further understand and figure things out to help her young miss solve her problems, the Head Maid crammed the cartoon Big Ear Tutu, and even watched other anime from the same period.
She didn't do it to relax and enjoy herself, but treated it as a mission, a job, taking it extremely seriously.
It is hard to imagine someone watching cartoons while holding a pen and paper to take notes and make annotations. The Head Maid's top-three-in-the-world university doctoral degrees were really being put through the wringer with her.
Now, as soon as Ye Cheng opened his mouth, the Head Maid knew he was spouting nonsense and trying to fool her.
It was clearly Big Ear Tutu!
Talking nonsense was just to interfere with her judgment. The real intention behind it must be to distract and disrupt...
The Head Maid conducted a series of professional psychological analyses on Ye Cheng and finally confirmed that Ye Cheng's serious nonsense right now was an attempt to deny the fact that he was Grandpa Bull, pretending he didn't understand what she just said!
This is how battles between powerhouses go. With just one sentence, the Head Maid's brain had already applied formulas and translated it all.
"It doesn't matter if you don't understand, but how do you explain the iced tea behind your back?" The Head Maid looked calmly at the iced tea and spicy gluten strips stuffed in Ye Cheng's pants pocket.
"Damn, can you not be such a pervert, kid? Why are you always staring at my ass? Bah, what a creepy woman!"
Ye Cheng spoke with shame and indignation, pointing at the Head Maid and beginning his moral condemnation. Looking at his agitated appearance, it seemed he was ready to post the Head Maid on the Little Blue App to brutally cancel her!
Head Maid: "???"
A giant question mark appeared over the Head Maid's head. She was visibly boiling over, her face turning red and her heartbeat accelerating. The heart rate monitor next to her, which had been jumping within a normal range, suddenly started climbing Mount Everest, beginning to experience the free and brave eighteen-year-old life that rich people talk about...
Child, is there a possibility that your so-called freedom is just called being freaking rich!
Facing the Head Maid's Eye of Truth that saw through everything, Ye Cheng chose to reply to her logic with absolute nonsense. Fighting magic with magic... hey, he understood this, he knew how to do it, it was very simple!
She thought she had grasped the undeniable evidence that Ye Cheng was Grandpa Bull, catching him by the tail so he couldn't refute it, but she ended up having her defenses shattered by Ye Cheng's metaphorical elbow strike.
When you are out on the streets, who talks about evidence with you?
If people really cared about evidence, would there still be so many brain-dead internet trolls?
"Ahhh, bro, you are just a soft and fragrant..." Starting off with a battle cry to disrupt your central nervous system, interfere with your logic, and hijack the surrounding public opinion.
Before the fight even started, this one shout had already won half the battle.
Oh, if you don't understand, it doesn't matter. Put simply, it means... being shameless, pestering unreasonably, and seeing who has the louder voice.
It was a rather rogue and shameless fighting style, but moves don't need to be numerous; they just need to be effective. The Head Maid was obviously a cultured person who had never seen Ye Cheng's rogue tactics. Right now, her brain was still spinning in circles, searching her mind for a way to deal with him.
She still suffered a loss for being cultured and too reasonable. If the eldest miss, the student council president, or anyone who had long-term contact with Ye Cheng knew, they would tell you not to waste your breath on Ye Cheng at a time like this.
If you can solve things with your hands, try not to argue.
The title of a logic wizard wasn't just for show. You not only needed to lay the evidence right in front of him, but you also needed to trade blows with Ye Cheng, and only by winning physically could you possibly win the argument against him.
Rather than doing that, it was better to just elbow him right from the start or... bam!
High-end debating methods often only require the most basic dialectical approach... physical attacks!
"Twenty thousand." The heaving of the Head Maid's chest gradually disappeared. She calmed down and looked at Ye Cheng, speaking flatly.
Ye Cheng raised an eyebrow. "What twenty thousand? Stop mumbling. Put on some white thigh-highs and kick me a couple of times first..."
"Fifty thousand." The Head Maid continued to up the ante with an expressionless face.
"Are you trying to dismiss a beggar? Fifty thousand, eighty thousand... if my brothers on the streets heard about this, they would think I can't even make a living!" Ye Cheng looked disdainful.
The Head Maid narrowed her eyes. "One hundred thousand. If you don't admit it, forget it. I have the information in my hands too, and when the time comes, you..."
"Yes, I am Grandpa Bull." Ye Cheng's eyes suddenly became clear, blinking his big, sparkling anime eyes, his face full of righteousness.
Ye Cheng fumbled around his body for a moment, then pulled out a business card and handed it to the Head Maid in front of him.
The Head Maid frowned and looked at the business card Ye Cheng handed her...
"Number One Booster in the Canyon! Tearing through 2600 Elo! King of Map Running! OP King..."
"Boosting, Escorting, Looking for e-Date..."
"Desperate situations, Suppression, Mechanics, Breakthroughs..."
"Interested parties please contact phone number 1..."
Signature: Grandpa Bull.
Head Maid: "???"

] [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!"

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."

world slacker. But a genius female disciple just had to get clingy, insisting that he take her as a disciple. Not only that, she was always making advances on him, thoroughly disrupting his peaceful slacker life...

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?!