Night fell after class, and Shen Nian returned home.
Shen Yue had already gone to her room and fallen asleep. Shen Nian lay on his bed, lost in thought.
Among the people he knew, who was most likely to be the Goddess of Fate?
Wait, who even was the Goddess of Fate?
First of all, the system never played by the rules. The lazy office worker Shen Yue was the Saintess, yogurt was holy water, and the Goddess of Fate was definitely no ordinary person. It wasn’t impossible for their roles to overlap.
Maybe in the system’s script, Shen Yue was both the Saintess and the Goddess of Fate?
Hidden quests were truly hidden—no hints, no clues, just cryptic nonsense. How was anyone supposed to figure it out?
If this were a game, he could just look up a guide. But in reality, he had to figure it out himself.
In the blink of an eye, it was Sunday.
Last night, he had crammed English like crazy, finally making up for the days he’d slacked off. He’d blasted through Yan Yuzhu’s English study plan in one night.
Slaying monsters all night—was there any rookie adventurer more dedicated than him?
Shen Nian slept for four hours, woke up pumped, brushed his teeth pumped, and played Naruto pumped.
After getting swept 3-0 and being roasted the entire time, Shen Nian accepted his fate and uninstalled the game with fiery resolve.
At 10 a.m., Shen Yue woke up, stretching lazily with a yawn.
Shen Nian’s door was open, cold air wafting out. Seeing him sitting upright at his desk, studying seriously, Shen Yue’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“I thought you’d gone fishing. Not going today?”
“Might check later.”
“Wow, little bro, actually studying hard on a Sunday?” Shen Yue patted her ample chest, satisfied. “Alright, I’ve decided—your big sis is cooking dinner tonight. Tell me what you want, and I’ll make it.”
Shen Nian shuddered. He listens to her and studies, and now she wants to poison him?
This woman was truly vicious.
“Haha, sis, what are you talking about? I was just pretending.” Shen Nian closed his book. “Anyway, I’m off to fish.”
“You little…”
“Bye.”
Shen Nian bolted out the door, still in slippers, without even grabbing his fishing rod.
Fishing was just an excuse, but he did head to the park—the fishing uncle had invited him at 8 a.m.
The uncle still hadn’t given up on proving his gold-medal fishing skills to Shen Nian.
At the park, Shen Nian immediately spotted the familiar figure.
“Uncle, how’s it going today?” Shen Nian leaned on the railing, chatting with Chen Guangming.
He wasn’t here to fish today, just killing time.
Chen Guangming didn’t say a word—he just slid his bucket over. Inside was a fish the size of two palms. Enough said.
“Damn, Uncle, you’re legit. Got skills.” Shen Nian grinned.
“Heh, when it comes to fishing in this park, if I say I’m second, no one dares claim first.” Chen Guangming puffed out his chest, the middle-aged man reclaiming his glory.
With a gold medal in a fishing competition under his belt, his earlier failures were just bad luck. Fishing was all about luck—even a national champion couldn’t guarantee a catch.
As they talked, a dark-skinned man approached.
“Hey, do you know how to get to Wanxiang Pavilion?”
The man lifted the massive fish in his hand—half again as long as his forearm. “I think I’m a bit lost.”
“Wanxiang Pavilion? Should be in the west side of the city, right?” Shen Nian rubbed his chin. Getting lost across half the city—classic fisherman behavior.
“Oh, really? Haha, I’ve got no sense of direction. Thanks.”
Chen Guangming’s eyes gleamed. He handed his rod to Shen Nian. “Hold this for me, kid.”
Shen Nian blinked as Chen Guangming walked over to the dark-skinned man and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
A moment later, Chen Guangming returned, packing up his gear with a smile.
“Heard a little tip—better fish ecosystem upstream, bigger catches. Let’s go, kid.”
“…”
“Little tip”? Even a blind man could tell he’d just asked for directions.
Shen Nian wanted to join, but he hadn’t brought his rod, and Chen Qiuyu wasn’t here either. Nothing fun to do.
The uncle had to be at least 45. Besides fishing and the fact that their daughters were classmates, they had zero common ground. Standing around making small talk was torture.
After a few half-hearted exchanges, Shen Nian hopped on his scooter and zipped back to the neighborhood.
Poking the sleeping stray cat in the garage with a stick, Shen Nian took the elevator up and plopped at his desk under the AC.
You know what’s coming.
Study, take a photo, send it to Chen Dong—trying to trigger the underlying code.
Who programmed Chen Dong like this? Oh right, it was him. Well, that felt good.
[Shen Nian]: (Picture of English vocabulary book) Memorized 50 words today. Weekends are the best for studying. You? Playing congee or something?
[Shen Nian]: (Grin) (Grin)
[Chen Dong]: Flirting with someone.
[Chen Dong]: (Hand-holding.jpg)
[Shen Nian]: ?
Chen Dong, are you glitching?
Wait, who the hell are you? Where’s the real Chen Dong?
Chen Dong’s mom, do something! Your product’s malfunctioning.
[Shen Nian]: Haha, using stock photos to mess with me? Nice try, buddy. Don’t lie to yourself, though.
[Chen Dong]: (Fingers-interlaced.jpg)
[Chen Dong]: (Grin) (Grin)
[Shen Nian]: Left hand holding right hand, phone in your mouth? Going all out to prank me, huh? Can you delete that? My friend’s kinda losing it. Not me, obviously.
[Shen Nian]: Bro, I’m not feeling great. Mom told me to defrost pork. Gotta go.
Must’ve opened this wrong.
Chen Dong, when are you getting a job? I’m considering homicide. Looking for a victim—3k per day, cremation included. Wanna apply?
Shen Nian’s favorite little S-word didn’t even feel fun anymore. Damn it, how dare Chen Dong? Never mentioned a girlfriend in the past two years.
Zero motivation to study now. Why did he have to rub the flirting in my face? Screw you, Chen Dong!
Love and studies—the two things high schoolers care about most. Chen Dong was top five in class, and now he might have a girlfriend too? What a winner. Post this online, and people would envy him.
So everyone’s high school life is this colorful? Thought it was just me suffering. Earth OL sucks. Time to delete my account.
Why is auto-follow enabled?
Delete this, bro. My friend’s losing it.
Shen Nian’s high school years so far weren’t miserable, but they weren’t remarkable either. Just average. Back in freshman or sophomore year, he might’ve envied Chen Dong.
He slumped on the desk, idly fiddling with the hair tie lying there.
As much as he hated to admit it, ever since Chen Dong mentioned being close with Xia Yanchun, he’d started noticing it too.
Flirting? Who doesn’t do that? I’ve held a girl’s hand in class.
Her hands were soft, her hair bouncy, her hair tie fragrant. The flirting wasn’t just childhood stuff anymore.
Buzz.
His phone vibrated. Shen Nian lit up the screen—a message from Xia Yanchun.
Yes! Time for some flirting of my own!
Wait a second, what’s this "PDD Billion Subsidy Cash Reward" all about?
Yan Xi reminds you: Due to Tomato's daily requests exceeding 3 million+, the server is under heavy strain. We now recommend switching to other top-tier sources.
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
spital. Good news: I've bound a system. Bad news: I'm still a baby. "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, do not bully the middle-aged for being poor — Divorce Comeback System." "Your marriage may have failed, but your luck in love has never run dry. Your childhood sweetheart, out of contact for twenty years, reappears. Her beauty remains, yet her eyes are brimming with tears." [Listen to the childhood sweetheart's sorrowful story.] Chen Zhi looked down at the diaper he was wearing, then at the little childhood sweetheart crying her heart out beside him, and fell into deep thought. Can anyone relate? I'm having a midlife crisis at an age where even rolling over is a struggle.
] [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!"
