Six o’clock, dawn.
Shen Nian emerged from his room with dark circles under his eyes, mechanically brushing his teeth and washing his face. He pressed a cold, damp towel over his eyes for a while before finally shaking off the lingering exhaustion from his all-nighter.
[Combat Skill Learning Efficiency Boost]—a 12-hour limited-time effect—had worn off before 5 a.m. Waking up at six after just an hour of sleep would only leave him more drained, maybe even with a migraine, so he’d decided to power through the night instead.
Senior year of high school, all-nighters, studying, classes the next day... The combination was downright brutal.
His schedule was already packed with study time, and now he was sacrificing rest for more learning...
"Genius? Please. I just use my downtime to study."
Mr. Zhou Shuren was born a century before me—was it a case of two kings never meeting, or was he simply avoiding my brilliance?
As he got ready to leave, he noticed a message from Shen Yue.
What’s this about? Feels kinda off.
Shen Yue was still asleep, so he replied with a random emoji and, at 6:10, slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed out.
By coincidence, Xia Yanchun opened her door at the same time.
She wore a blue-and-white short-sleeved shirt and black pants, her hair tied into a small ponytail that swayed lightly with each step.
"You..." Xia Yanchun took one look at the heavy dark circles under Shen Nian’s eyes and immediately knew he’d pulled another all-nighter.
Another short-lived burst of motivation, huh?
"What? Got something on my face?" Shen Nian rubbed his chin.
"You stayed up again, didn’t you?"
"Damn, you stalking me or something?"
"Even if you were Wu Yanzu, I wouldn’t spare you a glance. Stalking you? Please. More like ignoring a stray dog on the street." Xia Yanchun rolled her eyes. Were all guys this delusional?
She strode ahead to press the elevator button. Still pulling all-nighters in senior year? Doesn’t even look like he’s studying.
If he’s already studying all day at school, why bother staying up late to study at home? Might as well believe those scam texts about Qin Shi Huang needing 500 bucks to reclaim his throne.
Even if he was studying, using rest time for learning and then trying to catch up on sleep during study time was just plain dumb. Totally backwards.
Shen Nian, baffled, followed her to the breakfast stall near their neighborhood and bought two steamed buns.
The walk to school was silent.
Xia Yanchun finally broke the quiet. "What’s on your mind?"
"Tell me... is Wu Yanzu really more handsome than me?"
"Tell me something I don’t know."
"Once, I snuck into your house and stole one of your peanut butter sticks."
"So it was you!"
"Hey, hey—ow! Stop hitting me!"
......
After staying up all night, he was dead tired.
The moment he got to school, Shen Nian face-planted onto his desk, arms folded under his head. In what felt like a blink, 6:40 became 7:10.
If Chen Dong hadn’t turned around and shaken him awake for morning reading, he would’ve kept sleeping.
"Rewarding yourself hard last night?"
"What if I was pulling an all-nighter to study? Ever think of that?"
"What kind of study materials?" Chen Dong smirked.
Shen Nian rubbed his chin. "Western ones, mostly."
"Ah, a man of culture. Not a fan of the Japanese or Korean stuff myself."
"??? Are we even talking about the same thing here?"
This damn kid. A true gem of society, a shining beacon of the nation’s future.
Share the link.
With teachers patrolling during morning reading, no matter how exhausted he was, Shen Nian had to force himself to stay alert.
Since the freshmen were doing military training this week, the sophomores and seniors were spared morning exercises, leaving them with a bit more free time between classes.
The moment Shen Nian slumped back onto his desk, a faint floral scent tickled his nose.
He lifted his heavy eyelids. "What’s up?"
"Pop quiz. Like we agreed yesterday." The morning sun cast a soft glow on Xia Yanchun’s face, and for a split second, Shen Nian was mesmerized.
Then he remembered that this sweet-looking girl had once been the type to set off firecrackers in cow dung, and the spell broke.
Ugh. For a second there, I actually found this menace charming. Must be the sleep deprivation.
"Bring it on!" He flipped open his notebook and handed her the vocabulary list.
Xia Yanchun played the role of strict teacher perfectly, her peach-toned elbows resting lightly on Shen Nian’s stack of books.
"Ability—talent, skill."
"Abolish—to eliminate."
"Abrupt—sudden, unexpected."
With each word Xia Yanchun recited, Shen Nian scribbled it down. Normally, he’d forget half of what he’d memorized overnight, but this time, the words stuck. The moment she spoke, the spelling and meaning flashed into his mind like second nature.
This feeling of being an English prodigy... chef’s kiss.
The system’s buff was no joke. It was like in games—it didn’t just hand you levels. You still had to grind, but the EXP gains were boosted.
Put in the effort, and it might as well be a free level-up. Slack off, and the reward was worthless.
A little cheat never hurt anybody.
Word by word, Xia Yanchun tested him on thirty terms. Shen Nian nailed every single one.
"Check it yourself." He flashed a smug grin.
"Ugh, that grin’s terrifying." Xia Yanchun rolled her eyes (gracefully, of course) and began comparing his answers to the list.
Her eyes widened. He’d... gotten all of them right.
"Did you actually have an epiphany or something?"
"You doubting me?"
"Not exactly... It’s just that you don’t seem like the type to take studying seriously. Plus, you did stay up all night."
"I study in my sleep. None of your business. Now scram, I need my beauty rest."
Shen Nian tucked away his notebook and rearranged his book barricade to shield himself from the teacher’s line of sight. Sure, they’d still notice him snoozing, but blatantly sprawled out would be downright disrespectful.
"Sleep yourself into a coma, then!"
Xia Yanchun huffed and returned to her seat just as the bell rang. By then, Shen Nian was already face-down on the desk, leaving her with nothing to look at but the back of his fluffy head.
Out cold.
First period was English. The teacher was going over a test, but Shen Nian could afford to skip it. For someone averaging 40-50 points, memorizing vocabulary was priority number one. No point learning grammar if you didn’t know the words to use it with.
Still, it was good to see Shen Nian putting in effort.
Even if they bickered constantly, Xia Yanchun genuinely wanted him to do well.
Life was looking up.
Shen Nian slept straight through until the long break. The last two periods were Su Kexi’s literature class, and sleeping through that would be suicide.
He splashed water on his face, hit the bathroom, then leaned against the hallway railing to let the breeze clear his head.
The air in senior year carried the scent of... books?
Wait, no—who the hell ate leeks for breakfast?!
Shaking off the drowsiness, Shen Nian plopped back into his seat. The sleep deprivation was hitting hard now—his head throbbed, his eyelids weighed a ton, and his brain felt like mush. He was basically a walking corpse.
But the thought of memorizing 600-700 English words in one night—and retaining them—made him crack a tired smile.
Literature class. Time to power through.
Su Kexi was a dedicated homeroom teacher, usually warm and approachable.
But fall asleep in her class? Instant exile to the back of the room.
Pathetic. You think mere exhaustion can challenge my iron will?
"Are you seriously looking down on me? Fine... let me show you what I’m really capable of."
Five minutes later—
Su Kexi pinched the back of Shen Nian’s neck, her tone icy. "Sleeping in class, huh? Go stand in the back until you’re awake enough to return."
"Teacher, I was just studying..." Shen Nian attempted to argue.
"I’ve been watching you for the past few minutes."
"Understood, teacher. Right away, teacher."
Shen Nian gave up and shuffled one step back, moving from his chair to the space behind it.
He was already in the last row anyway.
Glancing over, he saw Chen Dong, that little bastard, trying hard not to laugh.
"Chen Dong, you think this is funny? Join him in the back."
Chen Dong: ???
The smile didn’t disappear—it just transferred from Chen Dong’s face to Shen Nian’s.
Getting punished alone was awkward, but getting punished with your best friend? That was a whole different story.
"Chen Dong, let me ask you something. How do girls compliment a guy who’s both cute like a puppy and handsome like a heartthrob?"
"Uh... school heartthrob? Oppa?"
"Wrong. Milky and dreamy."
"...Pfft."
Su Kexi frowned. "What’s all the chatter? Chen Dong, stand outside the door."
"?"
Chen Dong turned to see Shen Nian’s smug, troublemaker grin.
Damn, bro. I keep you in my heart, and you stab me twice?
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] 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)
] [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!"
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
