"Seriously, dude, do you even dare to read this mission reward out loud yourself?
Ultra-defined muscle lines?
He’s not even surnamed Ma, what’s with the ‘ultra-defined muscle lines’ nonsense?"
But since the mission had already popped up, Ye Cheng had no reason to refuse—it wasn’t anything too outrageous, just going in for a cup of tea and sitting around for a bit.
As for the absurdly abstract description from this godforsaken golden finger, Ye Cheng had already tuned it out.
He’d been messed with before, like that one time the mission description demanded he "do something" for the young lady and the student council president… Ugh, forget it. Just end the world already. Nothing matters anymore.
"Alright then, since you’re begging me so pitifully, Dr. Tang, I’ll reluctantly agree!"
Ye Cheng put on a magnanimous act, "reluctantly" accepting Tang Yuyao’s request.
Thud!
...
Inside the house.
Ye Cheng sat on the sofa, now sporting yet another lump on his head.
Tang Yuyao busied herself tidying up, stacking things in an inconspicuous corner of the living room so they wouldn’t be an eyesore.
Only after finishing did she finally turn her attention to Ye Cheng.
"What would you like to drink?" Tang Yuyao gathered the loose strands of hair framing her face, tying them into a small bun—though given how thick her hair was, the "small" bun ended up looking more like a large, fluffy dumpling.
For some reason, it looked oddly squishy, tempting one to give it a pinch.
"Coffee, black tea, green tea, milk, beer..."
She opened the fridge and recited the options like a menu.
"Black tea. The other stuff makes me choke," Ye Cheng replied after a moment of serious contemplation.
"Got it." Tang Yuyao closed the fridge and rummaged through the kitchen cabinets for tea leaves.
Gurgle gurgle—soon, the sound of boiling water came from the kitchen.
Before long, Tang Yuyao returned with a freshly brewed cup of black tea, its fragrant aroma filling the room with an oddly intoxicating scent.
She took a sip of her own cup. "Didn’t expect you to go for this. I thought brats like you would prefer coffee or something."
Though coffee was her favorite, tea wasn’t bad either—refreshing, less jittery than caffeine, and gentler on the body.
Ye Cheng picked up his cup, blew on it lightly, and took a sip.
He closed his eyes, savoring the flavor, then opened them again.
"Smooth and sweet on the palate, with a lingering aftertaste and a robust, mellow finish..."
His masterful critique left Tang Yuyao stunned. She knew a thing or two about tea, but compared to Ye Cheng, she might as well have been a rookie.
A greenhorn standing before a seasoned connoisseur.
"You actually know your stuff?" Tang Yuyao arched an eyebrow, her tone laced with surprise. Her impression of Ye Cheng shifted slightly.
Ye Cheng took another sip before replying, "Just a little."
This humble?
His sudden modesty threw Tang Yuyao off. Was this really the same shameless brat she knew?
Was he… playing dumb to hide his skills?
Her interest piqued. Back when she was a young miss at home, she hadn’t watched much TV, but after becoming a carefree slacker, she’d gotten hooked on brainless dramas and cheesy shorts.
And the most common trope in those? Undercover experts.
Masters returning to the mundane world, heirs to secret legacies, domineering CEOs with hidden pasts...
Tang Yuyao’s eyes sparkled as her imagination ran wild, conjuring up an entire soap opera in her head. Suddenly, Ye Cheng’s odd behavior made sense.
He must be one of them!
Her voice brimming with excitement, she pressed further. "How do you know all this? Why are you so knowledgeable? Is it because you’re...?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
Ye Cheng feigned surprise. "Wow, you actually saw through me? Dr. Tang, you’re sharper than I thought."
His response only fueled her enthusiasm.
Ye Cheng continued, adopting the air of a sage. "It’s nothing special. Just practice. Tasting tea isn’t that hard—drink enough, and you’ll get the hang of it."
His "wise master" act had Tang Yuyao practically vibrating. She eagerly took another sip, trying to discern the nuances he’d described.
And… it actually worked!
Gulp.
She swallowed. "That’s amazing! By the way, what brand of black tea do you usually drink?"
"I prefer big-name, master-crafted, traditionally brewed stuff. Figured this would do… sigh, I guess it’s passable." Ye Cheng glanced at his cup, sighing like a man forced to settle.
Tang Yuyao blinked. "Which big name? I’ll buy some too!"
She was fully invested now, taking another sip and savoring it slowly, trying to catch the subtleties she’d previously overlooked.
Ye Cheng nodded solemnly. "Oh, that? I’m partial to Master Kong’s—especially the iced kind. But the old guy’s gotten greedy lately, raised the price by half a yuan. So I’ve switched to Uni-President."
He delivered this analysis of iced tea market trends with utter seriousness.
Tang Yuyao froze.
Master Kong?
Iced?
Pffft—!!!
Realizing he was talking about bottled iced tea, she spat out her mouthful in shock, drenching Ye Cheng.
Ye Cheng: "..."
"You mean ICED TEA?!" Tang Yuyao’s voice cracked as her composure shattered.
"Yeah. Big brand. Black tea. What’s the issue?" Ye Cheng wiped the tea off his face, blinking innocently.
Tang Yuyao: "..."
She’d thought he was playing dumb to hide his brilliance. Turns out, he was just playing dumb to shovel nonsense!
And she’d bought it—hook, line, and sinker. An invisible slap seemed to strike her face as her cheeks burned crimson with humiliation.
"AAAAAHHHH!!!"
"You little brat, I’ll kill you!!"
"Hey, that’s unfair! Iced tea is tea! Keep this up, and I’ll sue you for discrimination—OW!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
...
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.
and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!
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!
