"The other party has accepted your invitation!"
Xia Tongxin's heart leaped with joy as she quickly stopped her little fingers from incessantly tapping on the phone screen. This time, she couldn’t afford to make the same mistake as before.
"Perfect!"
Seeing that Ye Cheng was still in the room, Xia Tongxin’s excitement bubbled over. Her adorable, delicate face lit up with sheer delight, and her tiny feet, which had been idly swaying while she lay on the bed, now kicked happily in the air.
"iiOiiO is blooming~"
Xia Tongxin's fingers danced rhythmically across the screen—tap-tap, pause, tap-tap, pause—as she carefully considered which letter to press next.
What Xia Tongxin didn’t notice was the microphone icon beneath Ye Cheng’s avatar, continuously pulsing as if he were spewing a torrent of expletives—likely some "mother-laden" tirades.
Unfortunately for Ye Cheng, Xia Tongxin had both her microphone and speaker turned off, rendering her completely deaf to his passionate outbursts.
And because Xia Tongxin typed at a snail’s pace, the "typing" indicator kept flashing, leading Ye Cheng to assume his opponent was crafting some grand, scathing retort. This only fueled his fury, driving him to escalate his verbal assault to epic proportions—so much so that he even started insulting himself in the heat of the moment.
Half a minute later, Xia Tongxin’s first message finally arrived.
"Dare to 1v1 me? The loser has to..."
What followed was a massive block of duel rules and penalty clauses—things like the loser barking like a dog, loudly admitting inferiority, and offering a formal apology, among other absurd demands. Ye Cheng was left utterly dumbfounded.
Having just finished unleashing his "ninjutsu" (a.k.a. his verbal onslaught), Ye Cheng was parched—figuratively in need of a mid-battle breather—when he paused to see what trash talk his little noob opponent had mustered.
Hmm… "puppy," "idiot," "trash fish"...
Ye Cheng: "???"
After reading Xia Tongxin’s wall of text, Ye Cheng fell into stunned silence, a giant question mark hovering over his head. Who am I? Where am I? What am I even doing?
The sheer childishness of the messages made Ye Cheng seriously question whether he’d been verbally battered into delirium. Was he hallucinating? Since when was he arguing with a kid?
Suddenly—
A realization struck Ye Cheng like a bolt of lightning. His pupils shrank, and he scrambled away from his phone, his back pressing against the wall as if seeking refuge. His signature red "limited-edition distressed sandblasted" underwear clung to him, now damp with cold sweat.
His chest heaved, his forehead glistened, and his eyes reflected a man grappling with existential guilt.
He… had just spent the last few minutes ruthlessly berating a child?
Now that he thought about it, Xia Tongxin’s gameplay and those painfully naive messages didn’t resemble anything an adult would say. This was clearly a kid—a very young, very innocent one—playing on their parents’ phone after school, just trying to have some fun.
And what had he done? Opened fire with his most toxic insults and even pulled out his "ninjutsu."
Holy hell, Ye Cheng, you absolute monster!!!
Ye Cheng could vividly picture the poor kid’s stunned, wide-eyed expression after enduring his verbal combo. The weight of his actions crashed down on him, and for a moment, he felt like nailing himself to a cross. Maybe cosplaying as Jesus would alleviate some of this guilt.
Swallowing his shame, Ye Cheng picked up his phone, ready to make amends—only to find Xia Tongxin still diligently typing away, sending more rules and penalties for their would-be duel.
It was as if she hadn’t heard a single word of his earlier tirade.
Huh?
A fresh question mark materialized over Ye Cheng’s head. Wait, since when did kids have such unshakable mental fortitude?
Then he noticed the status icon next to Xia Tongxin’s avatar—her speaker was grayed out. She’d had it muted the entire time.
Everything he’d said… had gone unheard.
All that effort—wasted.
Ye Cheng: "..."
Silence was the bridge of tonight, and Ye Cheng was crossing it with extra steps.
Good news: The world hadn’t gained another traumatized child.
Bad news: It had gained a thoroughly humiliated Ye Cheng.
Ye Cheng slumped into self-loathing. He’d just poured his soul into that verbal massacre, and the kid hadn’t even heard it. What kind of clown was he?!
Well, at least this was a silver lining. His original plan to "communicate" with Xia Tongxin was now scrapped—bullying a kid was beneath him.
As the saying goes: What kind of adult loses their temper at a child?
After skimming through Xia Tongxin’s "Rule Apocalypse," Ye Cheng didn’t hesitate. His reply was swift and merciless:
"No."
Two simple letters shattered Xia Tongxin’s dreams of vengeance.
——
Da’ao City
Xia Tongxin lay sprawled on her soft pink bed, her little feet kicking absently as she painstakingly typed out her final message. After a thorough review, she smirked in satisfaction and hit send.
The instant her message went through, Ye Cheng’s reply popped up:
"No."
Xia Tongxin blinked, her big eyes widening in disbelief. The sheer audacity of his refusal left her stunned.
He… wouldn’t take the bait?
All her carefully crafted taunts, all those minutes spent drafting rules—rendered useless because Ye Cheng simply wouldn’t engage.
It was like studying for a decade for the college entrance exams, only to arrive on test day and be told, "Never mind, everyone gets into university automatically."
Her world crumbled.
Why wouldn’t he fight her?!
Xia Tongxin clenched her tiny fists, her flat chest heaving with barely contained fury. Flames of indignation burned in her eyes.
In her rage, her brain seemed to undergo a forced upgrade—her typing speed skyrocketed as she fired off one last desperate plea:
"Please… don’t say no, okay…?"
Yes, this was her "fiery declaration of war."
She was out of ideas.
Xia Tongxin’s mental capacity was limited, and having grown up sheltered by doting parents and adored by older siblings, she’d never faced real adversity. She didn’t even know how to trash-talk properly.
Against Ye Cheng’s unexpected refusal, she was utterly defenseless.
Her entire "evil revenge plot" hinged on Ye Cheng taking the bait and accepting her challenge in a fit of rage. But… he hadn’t bitten.
Two days of meticulous planning, dead on arrival. Anyone else might’ve shrugged it off and devised a new strategy—but not Xia Tongxin.
This was the end of the world.
Xia Tongxin gazed pitifully at her phone screen, her beautiful eyes glistening with unshed tears. The delicate bridge of her nose had turned faintly red at the tip, like a clown’s painted button.
"Please... sniff... I'm begging you..."
Ye Cheng: "..."

't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.

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.

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."

transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”