Upon returning to the dormitory door, I was startled by the commotion coming from inside before even opening it. "Damn, have these guys lost their minds?"
Pushing the door open, the blaring music from a phone hit me. Three shirtless guys were inside—one wiggling his butt in a bizarre dance, another spinning a T-shirt in the air, and the last, cigarette in mouth, scribbling furiously at the desk.
"It’s a miracle the neighbors downstairs haven’t come up to complain."
The three grinned. "Long Aotian, you’re back!"
"So, what’s got you all so hyped up today?"
Xu Shuai stopped his butt-wiggling and exclaimed excitedly, "I sat at the same table as Wang Lijuan today! We even talked!"
Li Longlong tossed his shirt aside. "Same! I finally spoke to Han Xiaojing. It wasn’t as hard as I thought."
Long Aotian nodded, then turned to Huang Fei. "And you?"
Huang Fei exhaled a puff of smoke, stubbed out his cigarette, and picked up his notebook. "Aotian, check this out—my notes. Spending time with Shen Mengjie today made me realize gaps in my theories. I’m revising them. Once I win her over, I’ll publish this. I’ll be the grandmaster of romance!"
Long Aotian gave a solemn nod. "Solid plan."
He walked to the balcony and opened the window, letting the smoke escape. Gazing at the sky, he stretched. "The moon’s really bright tonight."
"Yeah," Hu Yuying murmured, looking at the moon on the horizon. "It’s so beautiful."
"Yuying, did you know you look just like Long Aotian right now?" Li Qingxue teased beside her.
Hu Yuying froze for a moment, then smiled. "Really?"
"Mm-hmm," Li Qingxue nodded. "Back at the bay, when Long Aotian watched the sunset, he had the same expression. Your mannerisms and tone are so alike."
Hearing that she resembled Long Aotian sent a warm flutter through Hu Yuying’s heart. Propping her chin on her hand, she gazed at the moon. "I wonder what he’s doing now?"
They were still in the same city, not far apart, yet they couldn’t meet as freely as before.
So, Hu Yuying missed him. She missed him often, restless with the urge to see him, even if just to sit quietly together.
The longing didn’t fade with time—it only grew heavier.
"Ugh, that guy’s fine wherever he goes. He’s way more adaptable than us."
But then she remembered how, after asking him to wait for her at the school gate, girls had swooped in for his contact the moment she stepped away. The thought soured her mood.
At this point, Li Qingxue bit her lip and hesitantly asked, "Yuying... you’ve known Long Aotian for a long time. Do you..."
She trailed off, struggling for words, her ears tinged pink with nerves.
Finally, in a small voice, she asked, "Do you know what kind of girls he likes?"
The question left her face flushed, a delicate shyness coloring her features.
Hu Yuying was stunned by Li Qingxue’s confession and the vulnerability in her demeanor.
Some words were hard to say, but once spoken, they brought relief.
Li Qingxue met Hu Yuying’s gaze earnestly. "I know you’re close to him, that he cares about you most. Please tell me. I... I think I might like him."
After admitting it, she fidgeted, as if her deepest secret had been laid bare, leaving her bashful and briefly exposed.
Hu Yuying’s smile stiffened. Li Qingxue’s bluntness was jarring, stirring something indescribable in her chest.
Her eyes dimmed slightly, and a hollow feeling spread inside her—weightless, like the emptiness she’d felt before meeting Long Aotian. It was disorienting, almost suffocating.
Qingxue... likes him?
The idea had never crossed her mind. Li Qingxue had always seemed to treat him as just a friend. The revelation left Hu Yuying’s mind blank.
"Yuying? Are you okay?" Li Qingxue’s momentary shyness faded as she noticed Hu Yuying’s dazed expression.
Hu Yuying shook her head instinctively, her voice quiet. "You... like him?"
Though embarrassed, Li Qingxue pressed her lips together and nodded. "Yes." The coyness of a girl in love looked enchanting on her flawless face.
"At first, I thought you two were together. But when you said you weren’t, I decided to try."
Li Qingxue had her pride. If Long Aotian and Hu Yuying had been a couple, she would’ve buried her feelings and kept her distance—remaining a friend who joked, bickered, and shared meals without crossing lines.
Long Aotian was easy to like. Falling for someone like him felt almost inevitable.
She’d considered waiting, giving it more time. But seeing other girls approach him for his number or ask him out made her impatient.
She understood how those girls felt—the ones Long Aotian had helped.
She’d been one of them, by the bay. She knew the warmth of that stolen light in her heart.
The memory of him pulling her into his arms had planted a seed in her, quietly growing ever since.
Faced with Li Qingxue’s eager sharing, Hu Yuying shook her head on instinct. She didn’t want this. A surge of unease and dread rose within her.
"You don’t know either?" Li Qingxue assumed Hu Yuying was saying she didn’t know Long Aotian’s preferences.
tions: attribute allocation, analysis, proficiency, and simulation. Specializing in mechanical alchemy, from crafting sorcerous battle armor to handcrafting mechanical maidens, his mechanical legion conquers endless realms... Relying on his wits, he begins with a student-teacher romance, wins over a female director, enslaves a female assassin and a underworld queen, becoming the husband of a Grand Duchess... He enslaves the Goddess of Magic from the divine realm, developing his power simultaneously in both the Wizard World and the Realm of Gods...
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!
n Our Village Many years later, Xiushui Village had transformed from a remote, impoverished hamlet into the renowned and flourishing Xiushui City of the Shifang Continent. All of this, solely because it was the birthplace of the Shifang Continent's number one sect—the Lingxian Sect. This is the story of a group of village youths, family, and friends, building a sect and growing together. Lin Xiao: As the sect master, my days are filled with countless tasks. Cultivating really gets in the way of building the sect. System: Received. Understood. Arranging it immediately. [Ding—Congratulations, Host, on successfully activating the Auto-Cultivation Function] Lin Xiao: Oh no, we're out of spirit stones. System: Received. Understood. Arranging it immediately. [Ding—Sect Mission issued. Mission Reward: Spirit Stones xN] No one loves their host more profoundly than this System!
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)
