On the rooftop of the Dong family villa.
“What exactly did this guy say to that jerk to change his attitude so completely?” Dongfang Zhixia stared with a strange expression at Ye Cheng, who was a thousand meters away in the great hall below, “weeping and wailing” profusely.
That was no easy feat!
Ye Cheng was anything but an easy nut to crack. The usual methods that worked on normal people were useless on him, because Ye Cheng was hardly normal to begin with. If those methods worked, that would be a real miracle.
But Shen Qinghan had effortlessly subdued Ye Cheng with a single move, and that really grated on Dongfang Zhixia's nerves.
She could also tell that this particular troubled child seemed to have a higher compatibility level with Shen Qinghan than with anyone else around her. In fact, it seemed higher than with anyone at all.
It gave her the feeling that Shen Qinghan knew a lot of things—things others didn't know…
And that “others” included her. She didn't want to admit it, but it seemed she wasn't the special one after all. Shen Qinghan was.
Shen Qinghan even seemed to know what Ye Cheng was thinking, as if their frequencies could match up to a certain degree.
She just couldn't do that.
This feeling stirred a vague sense of crisis within her. She kept feeling like Shen Qinghan was cooking up something big. If it were only Shen Qinghan, she wouldn't be this anxious. But throw that wicked old hag into the mix and it was a whole different ballgame.
That old hag was no fool…
“Tch… such a pain.” Dongfang Zhixia furrowed her brows, looking somewhat displeased, and continued watching through the telescope. Another gust of cold wind blew over, and the coat draped over her shoulders felt a little too thin.
She shivered slightly, but didn't think much of it, and kept her gaze fixed on the scene in the villa's great hall downstairs.
Down below, the little secretary curled up under her blanket, letting out silly “hehehe” laughter while watching low-IQ short videos, completely lost in her own little world. Cute to look at, fun to watch.
…
Inside Xia Tongxin's villa, in the main hall.
“So what you're saying is, your gums were bleeding?” Shen Qinghan asked with a calm expression.
Ye Cheng nodded enthusiastically: “Yeah, yeah! I've been eating too much spicy snack lately and my body's running hot—my gums started bleeding. And wouldn't you know it, that vicious woman saw it and twisted the facts around! Missy, she's trying to sow discord between us classmates!”
“Missy!”
Shen Qinghan: “…”
Shen Qinghan remained stone-faced, silently resuming her payment ritual… The detail was that the money being spent came from Ye Cheng's own wallet.
“Payment failed: Insufficient Balance!”
Shen Qinghan: “???”
The pop-up message stunned her. Even if Ye Cheng was dirt poor, how could there not be a single cent in his wallet?
“Phew…” Ye Cheng let out a sigh of relief. Good thing he was a broke bum with zero cash—otherwise he'd have been ruined.
Shen Qinghan narrowed her eyes, exited the game, and opened the Green Bubble app, navigating to Xia Tongxin's contact page.
“River Crab.” Yes… that was Xia Tongxin's contact name.
The profile picture was equally fitting—a semi-transparent little figure dragging a pile of gold coins through a river…
Xia Tongxin peeked over at that moment, curious to see what nickname Ye Cheng had for her. Her note for him was “Dear Grandpa Niu”...
Wow… River Crab!
Xia Tongxin: “???”
You could practically see Xia Tongxin turning beet red with embarrassment, her cheeks flushing pink. A girl's blush says more than any sweet words.
Yeah… just like that.
Shen Qinghan took Ye Cheng's phone and clicked to accept the 100,000 yuan transferred over from Xia Tongxin, then resumed the six-yuan first-recharge ritual.
Tap to pay, circle spins, circle spins, circle spins…
“Payment failed: Insufficient Balance!”
Shen Qinghan: “???”
Xia Tongxin: “???”
The head maid: “…”
“Where's your money?” Shen Qinghan broke a short silence. Everyone had clearly watched as 100,000 yuan just arrived, and then seconds later it vanished!
Was this some kind of sorcery?!
Ye Cheng shook his head: “No idea. Maybe it ended up in the hands of someone who needed it more…”
Shen Qinghan: “…”
For the next half-minute, Shen Qinghan tried repeatedly—repeatedly accepting, repeatedly paying, repeatedly attempting the feed. Eventually she confirmed… Ye Cheng's account was cursed. No—his wallet was cursed.
It was like a bottomless pit. No matter how much money arrived, it would disappear within seconds. When she traced where the funds were going, they were automatically transferred through background software to a series of different bank accounts, all protected by facial recognition plus combination locks, with a passcode required to withdraw anything…
Shen Qinghan: “…”
Now… she understood why she had given Ye Cheng so much money in the past, yet he still looked so broke. He wasn't gambling it away—it was all going elsewhere.
“What are these bank accounts for?” Shen Qinghan asked.
“For improving meal rations.” Ye Cheng blinked, putting on his most innocent look.
“You eat this much by yourself?” Shen Qinghan's expression turned odd.
Ye Cheng blinked again: “What's wrong with that? Those people over in Korea eat tens of thousands of tons of beef every year. I'm a growing teenager—is a little extra food a crime?”
Shen Qinghan: “…”
“Thump, thump, thump…”
Shen Qinghan finally reached her limit. She stood up and started kicking Ye Cheng relentlessly. She didn't say a word, but silence spoke louder than words—as if each kick carried the sound of: I'll give you beef, I'll give you beef! I'll give you growing teenager, give you growing teenager!
A thousand meters away on the rooftop, Dongfang Zhixia frowned: “What is she doing?”
She had deliberately set this up today, pretending not to know there were others nearby—not so Shen Qinghan would randomly beat up Ye Cheng, but so she could pressure him into a medical checkup!
Now she's hitting a sick patient without even batting an eye!
Fortunately, she knew Ye Cheng's bones were tough, and Shen Qinghan didn't have much fighting strength anyway. Otherwise, Dongfang Zhixia would have rushed over right now.
Talk if you need to talk—don't use your hands. He was already sick; what if he got hurt?
Soon enough, Shen Qinghan calmed down, pulled out her own phone, tapped on “friend pays for me” at the payment page, and a QR code popped up…
Ye Cheng: “???”
Oh no—I completely forgot about that trick. How despicable!
“Missy, nooo!” Ye Cheng scrambled up from the floor, latching onto Shen Qinghan's leg.
“Gums bleeding?”
“Uh… probably… maybe…” Ye Cheng's eyes went shifty.
“Payment successful!”
“Aaaaaah—!”
Dongfang Zhixia: “…”
“What the hell are these people doing?” Dongfang Zhixia's brow creased with displeasure, especially seeing Ye Cheng clinging to Shen Qinghan's leg.
What annoyed her even more was how Shen Qinghan, who usually kept everyone at arm's length, was now playing dumb and actually letting him cling to her.
When did this problem child learn to act smart?
Dongfang Zhixia kept looking through the telescope as the face-off in the hall continued…
Meanwhile.
At the Tang residence, in the youngest son's room.
"I'm so done with this — not a single one of them is replying, are they all just ignoring me?!" Tang Yuyao gritted her teeth. Every message she sent had vanished into thin air.
She was absolutely certain something must have happened on Ye Cheng's side, but it was late at night, and she couldn't just call him directly — that would seal the deal and give everything away. And if the person who picked up turned out to be either Shen Qinghan or Dongfang Zhixia, she'd be in an awkward spot either way...
"Damn it!"
Tang Yuyao didn't dare log out of the game, so she stayed parked there, her tone dripping with irritation. She caught sight of her youngest son lying on the bed beside her, "sleeping like a log," and her annoyance surged.
She was up pulling an all-nighter, and this kid was sleeping like a baby?
How utterly outrageous!
Right as Tang Yuyao was about to blow her top, her youngest son suddenly sat up: "Auntie, is it over?"
Tang Yuyao: "..."
"What do you mean, why aren't you asleep yet?" Tang Yuyao said, a tinge of silence in her voice. She'd thought the little chubby guy was out cold — and now she felt a bit embarrassed to snap at him.
Her son replied, "Auntie, if you're not asleep, I can't sleep either."
His tone carried a hint of complaint.
Tang Yuyao: "..."
"Cough, cough. Go to sleep, go to sleep — Auntie will hit the sack soon too. Get some rest already. Little kids shouldn't stay up late, or you won't grow tall..."
"Thud."
Tang Yuyao got up and left her son's room with those words, and as she headed out... she casually swiped his phone on the way.
Her son: "..."
The world has left me isolated, and let it mock me...
...
The Shen family mansion.
One of the lady of the house's secret hideouts — a small private movie theater.
On the big screen in front, a horror movie kept playing nonstop. The wealthy woman beside seemed to have dozed off, quiet for quite a while now.
The popcorn sat untouched.
Da Huang and Du Wanyi — one person and one dog — stared at the vengeful ghost on the screen, utterly captivated, munching away nonstop.
"Da Huang, I didn't expect you to enjoy this stuff. Real classy taste. There aren't many dogs left with such refined tastes as yours. By the way, are you still single? Want me to set you up with a couple of fine little... dogs?"
"Woof."
"Eh, you're not into that? Such a pity. Well then, how about Big White? Let me hook you up — the kind with long, gorgeous legs. And, of course, she's got plenty of legs to spare."
When one plan failed, she tried another. And by the way, for those wondering: Big White is Da Hei's wife. She's also a spider, but a rare breed — pure snow-white all over, absolutely stunning.
A... female spider.
One person and one dog communicated like this without any barriers, although the wealthy woman still had no clue how the two of them were managing to understand each other — whether Da Huang actually comprehended human speech, or Du Wanyi somehow decoded his every bark. Either way, it shattered the woman's worldview.
The horror movie on screen kept jabbing at the wealthy woman's brain, and after yet another jump-scare face-plant, it finally hit her limit. She shut her eyes, stretched out her legs, and... conked out.
Ah, to be young — she could just fall asleep on the spot!
Halfway through the movie, the "slumbering" woman heard a commotion and woke up. She'd learned from experience by now — the first thing she did was squeeze her eyes shut and lower her head, refusing to glance at the screen.
Otherwise... she'd probably nod off again for another round.
So then, here's the thing: the audio in the theater had been constant the whole time. It hadn't woken the woman up before — why would it now?
Because Du Wanyi had decided to open up a game, show Da Huang her skins and rank, and finally... show off just a little bit...
But the moment she opened the game, a red ban notice popped up on screen.
"System has detected that you have maliciously disrupted the game environment, including but not limited to: feeding kills, refusing to group..."
"Remaining ban time: 43,185 minutes and 23 seconds!"
Roughly translated, that's thirty days.
Du Wanyi: "???"
"AHHH—"
Du Wanyi let out a piercing screech — the volume at that moment surpassed even the male and female leads' screams in the horror film — and jolted the "dozing" wealthy woman awake.
"My account!!!"
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!
iemie, male, Race: Moon. Hobby: Collecting anomalies. At first, he thought he possessed two systems: the Crimson Rainbow Moon and the Clear Cold Frost Moon. One day, he discovered that he himself could also become a system for others, holding the chessboard of fate. The Eighth Epoch, also known as the Eternal Moon Epoch. Humans, witches, elves, bloodline descendants, specters, demons, and spirits together compose a new history. Walking the path on behalf of the moon, before he knew it, Chen Miemie's footsteps were followed by all manner of strange and wondrous anomalies. As time passed, many titles circulated about him—The King in Yellow, Lord of Anomalies, Heart of the Eternal Moon, and more. "Me? I'm just a traveler who enjoys collecting interesting creatures," Chen Miemie said.
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!
