"What's this thing?"
Unable to tell, Chen Guan stopped guessing and just asked An Changqing directly.
"I mentioned it to you once before, back at the Northern Border Ruins."
Chen Guan thought for a moment, and yes, that was true.
Back then, at the Northern Border Ruins, just as he was about to face that voice, An Changqing had stopped him, saying he wanted to give him something when they got back.
But then various things came up, and the matter was set aside.
"I remember now."
Chen Guan placed the box on the table, leaned against the edge, and crossed his arms, watching An Changqing.
"Still, coming all the way here in the middle of the night just to give me a gift—isn't that a bit too dramatic?"
That was what he couldn't figure out. Giving a gift—was it really worth rushing over so late, and with his hair still wet?
An Changqing's lips curved slightly into what was barely a smile.
"Because I was afraid that if I waited any longer, I might never get the chance."
The words were spoken softly, like an offhand joke, but there was no hint of humor in his tone.
Chen Guan's fingers stopped moving on the wooden lid. He looked up at An Changqing.
That was heavy.
It felt like a bunch of red flags were suddenly being planted all over him again.
An Changqing didn't avoid his gaze. He walked to the window and pushed one side open. The night wind poured in, rustling the loose papers on the desk.
"Tonight, underground, Yue Teng said you were swallowed by the cocoon."
An Changqing stood outlined in the moonlight, his voice softer than before.
"In that moment, I realized there was nothing I could do."
"I couldn't even get close to the altar."
"I'm a fifth-rank, the student council president, the son of the Association President."
He turned around, his face complicated, a tinge of melancholy in it.
"All those titles were worth nothing in that scene."
Chen Guan said nothing.
An Changqing leaned against the window frame and continued.
"I've always believed I could protect the people around me—that's how I was raised, and it's what I demand of myself."
"But this time, if you hadn't come out of that cocoon on your own, I don't dare imagine what the outcome would have been."
A few seconds of silence hung in the room.
"So you came all the way here in the middle of the night just to tell me this?"
Chen Guan broke the quiet. He thought it was something serious.
This kid, An Changqing, was always acting like he was some kind of savior.
A very textbook protagonist, sure, but as a person, it was just exhausting.
"An Changqing, you're overthinking it."
"I'm not overthinking."
An Changqing shook his head.
"So you think I would have died in a place like that?"
An Changqing was choked by the question and gave a helpless smile.
How was he supposed to answer that? Say yes, and it'd be admitting defeat. Say no, and he'd be contradicting himself.
"You really never make it easy for anyone, do you?"
Chen Guan shook his head. "You're being sentimental. I'm not great at handling that kind of talk."
An Changqing was taken aback for a moment, then let out a laugh—much more natural this time.
"Fine, let me put it another way."
He pointed to the wooden box on the table, skillfully steering the topic away.
"Open it first and take a look."
Chen Guan looked down and pushed the lid open with his thumb.
A piece of pure white jade appeared before him.
An overwhelming surge of life force all but crashed into him, becoming almost tangible.
Chen Guan's fingertips hovered over the jade. Even before touching it, warmth crept from his skin into his bones.
The warmth felt different from spiritual power—closer to the beating pulse of life itself.
"Soul-Renewing Jade."
An Changqing spoke. "It can repair damage to the soul level and has a soothing effect on spiritual fissures."
Chen Guan's fingers froze. He didn't look up, his gaze locked on the white jade.
Soul damage.
Spiritual fissures.
He thought of the other self in the coffin.
"This thing wasn't cheap, was it?"
Chen Guan's tone sounded casual, but his expression gave him away.
An Changqing leaned against the window frame, moonlight streaming in behind him, casting his long shadow across the floor.
"I came across it and bought it."
An Changqing said it with an easy face, showing no concern over the cost.
Chen Guan's mouth twitched. "If President An finds out how much you spent, he's going to want to have a word with you."
"My dad doesn't get involved in things like this."
An Changqing's tone was light, but Chen Guan could tell the gift's value was far heavier than it seemed.
A thing like Soul-Renewing Jade—if it were up to him, he wouldn't be able to buy it through any channel. It was beyond any monetary measure.
Chen Guan was silent for a moment, then closed the lid and tucked the wooden box into his storage ring.
"I'll take it."
That was what An Changqing had been waiting to hear. He nodded, not adding any more sappy words.
"Thank you, An Changqing."
Chen Guan nodded, the gratitude for An Changqing's thoughtfulness ringing true in his heart, even if he could never say it out loud.
The state of the entity inside the coffin had always been a constant worry for him. That black hole was an endless pit, and waking up every day to count the gaps in it was draining, even for him.
The Soul-Renewing Jade came at just the right time.
But An Changqing didn't leave after handing over the gift.
"There's something else. I can't quite make up my mind, and I want to hear what you think."
"What do you make of those spells Yuehe used tonight?"
Chen Guan thought back, recalling the moves Su Yuehe had pulled underground.
His first reaction... honestly, he was a bit surprised.
"You're worried about the backlash from the forbidden arts on her?"
"The backlash is just one part of it."
An Changqing's brow furrowed. He sat up straight, cross his hands on his knees.
"I've known her for over a decade. We grew up together. Her ability is word-based, a knowledge-type, support-specialty."
He paused.
"But what she used tonight was way beyond the scope of her word system."
"Soul extraction, deep slumber—all those forbidden arts came with a blood-red spiritual energy fluctuation."
An Changqing lowered his voice.
"Her spiritual power is white, leaning toward the warm spectrum—that's basic knowledge."
"But when she released those arts, a blood-red color lingered around her fingertips. Other forbidden-arts users don't change the color of their spiritual glow. So I'm worried she might have modified these spells herself."
Chen Guan sat on the edge of the bed, arms crossed over his chest.
He was thinking of one thing.
Baal.
That being had once said something cryptic.
"Su Yuehe is made of two parts."
He still couldn't grasp the meaning of those words. But well, Baal didn't usually speak without reason.
Together with what An Changqing had just said, it didn't look like a good sign.
"I've never heard of a case like this before, but after class tomorrow, I happen to be heading to the library anyway."
An Changqing nodded. "Sorry for the trouble."
Different fields required different expertise. An Changqing got decent grades, but that was only for textbooks. Asking him to dig into something off-syllabus was as hard as making a deaf-mute cry in pain.
And finding an outsider was out of the question—was this the kind of thing you could just tell anyone?
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
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!
