The next day.
Fog had rolled in. Thick mist surrounded the valley, creating an atmosphere that felt like a fairyland on earth.
Su Bai woke up early as usual. After taking a glance at the scenery outside the window, he decisively made up his mind to go out for a stroll.
His hometown was in the plains, so he hadn't seen much scenery like this. It was quite a novelty for him.
Then again, the so-called concept of traveling was just moving from a place you were tired of to a place someone else was tired of.
The gorge for rafting didn't seem to fall into this category. Very few people lived here, and the surrounding area was generally quite desolate. In fact, the threshold for camping here was quite high; it required thorough preparation.
Su Bai didn't feel any inconvenience at all. All the necessary supplies were fully stocked in the super RV.
This had to be credited to Driver Huang's professionalism and thoughtfulness.
In a sense, professional personnel were more precious than the vehicle itself.
A car could always be bought with money, but service personnel available for long-term cooperation were actually much more precious in wealthy circles. For example, live-in nannies—the highest quality aunties in that exclusive small circle basically only circulated among a specific group of people in a city.
The same logic applied to maternity nurses.
"By the way, Driver Huang, do you know any maternity nurses?"
Thus, after taking a walk outside and returning to see Driver Huang already up and getting the RV ready, Su Bai asked.
The question was a bit abrupt, but fortunately, Driver Huang had recently gotten somewhat used to Su Bai's erratic train of thought.
Su Bai had a very lively personality but wasn't outrageous. This was a rare balance. Driver Huang even felt that Su Bai had the aura of the perfect neighbor's kid about him.
Plus, his academic grades were quite good.
Young people who excelled at studying usually had children relatively late. After all, they had to pursue higher education and focus on their careers. By the time they had the free time to date, they were already in their late twenties.
Su Bai wouldn't be restricted by such objective conditions, so it was normal for him to want a child earlier. But eighteen was still far too early.
"Are you already planning for a baby, Boss?" Driver Huang asked with a smile.
"You know what, it's actually entirely possible."
"Sigh, there really aren't many young people interested in kids nowadays," Driver Huang sighed. "When I was driving abroad before, I knew a few children of wealthy Chinese businessmen. Good lord, just to avoid getting married and having kids, they argued with their parents every day. It was fierce."
"True... mainly because the pressure of raising a child is too great."
Su Bai deeply agreed.
Ordinary people had to consider the financial pressure of having children. After all, nowadays, anything related to the maternal and infant sector skyrocketed in price. It was ridiculously expensive.
Even with a well-off family background, raising a child required a great deal of effort and dedication.
"I do know some maternity nurses, but their main area of activity is around Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai... If you offer a slightly higher price, Boss, I can definitely find you a top-tier one."
"That works. Budget isn't an issue."
As long as there was a channel, it was fine. It wasn't an urgent matter anyway.
Su Bai chatted with Driver Huang for a while. He waited until the sun rose before he started preparing breakfast.
Today, they were having scrambled egg and cheese toast.
This was quite simple. Using the kitchenware in the RV was basically idiot-proof.
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Wan Xinyan took a bite of her bread and habitually scrolled through her social media feed.
Her expression suddenly changed.
Su Bai leaned over and glanced at her phone.
"So many comments. They all look like your old classmates... Is this an old friend of yours?"
"Friend? Haha, of course not. That's my nemesis from high school."
"What, did she used to bully you?"
"Not quite. My sister and I aren't that easy to push around!" Wan Xinyan waved her small fist and pouted. "She just liked to ostracize us in class. Her family is somewhat powerful in the county, and she has a rather high-profile personality."
"Understood."
Hearing Wan Xinyan say this, Su Bai instantly understood.
This was probably the legendary local county royalty.
There actually was such a demographic: people with prominent influence and good financial conditions in their hometowns. Although they couldn't compare with the young masters and ladies of big cities, when these people were young, they tended to be even more arrogant than the rich kids from the metropolis.
Small places had lax rules and relatively closed environments.
As the saying goes, small temples harbor big demons, and shallow ponds are full of snapping turtles.
Fortunately, the Wan sisters were no pushovers either; both had very resilient personalities.
When these local county elites bullied others, they only picked on the easy targets.
Wan Xinyan had just checked that high school classmate's profile and posts on a whim.
Meanwhile, the classmate in question was currently in a large villa in Banshan County, doing a face mask while looking at the updates on her social media feed, deep in thought.
"Hey, who do you think Wan Xinyan is clinging to? How did she get so impressive? I almost thought these pictures were photoshopped, or that she was starting a pyramid scheme and trying to recruit people..."
Shi Yajing complained wildly.
In terms of family wealth, Shi Yajing was definitely top-tier among her high school classmates.
The situation at the county high school was just average, and Banshan County wasn't a particularly wealthy place. Being able to ride in her family's Audi A8 to the provincial capital for a concert on the weekend already made her a supreme existence in the eyes of the female students.
However, Shi Yajing's academic performance was far from ideal.
Her college entrance exam score was only enough to get her into a rather unrespectable junior college.
Her parents felt it was too embarrassing. After all, they had pulled strings to get her into the county's First High School, only for her to bomb the exam.
So, her father spent money to send her to a university in Southeast Asia.
At least in terms of the school's international ranking, they had it covered.
As for what she could actually learn?
Hilarious. It would be good enough if she could smoothly coast to a diploma. Her old man knew exactly what kind of person Shi Yajing was and didn't expect her to make any academic breakthroughs. As long as she didn't embarrass the family, it was a victory.
Even so, Shi Yajing quickly entered her trouble-making mode after school started.
She discovered a local proxy-class service run by Chinese people. This meant that all her university courses could be handled by someone else for a fee. Her transcript would look beautiful, and all she needed to do was travel and play all over the world.
Take right now, for example. November was a time when coursework was relatively intense for the vast majority of proper universities.
Even someone as capable as Su Bai only dared to take a week off to play around by relying on the system's indulgence rewards, and even then, he used the excuse of White Night Holdings business.
Pretending to be an entrepreneur, so to speak.
In a good university, if you want to gain more freedom than ordinary students, the best way is to pretend to be an entrepreneur, dress it up with some high-end tech company packaging, and then sponsor the department a bit.
As for Shi Yajing, she didn't need to go through all that trouble. Universities in Southeast Asia that focused on the international study business—those who know, know.
These past few days, she happened to be staying at home. Perhaps it was a coincidence of fate, but last night she scrolled past a post from Wan Xinyan.
Actually, she had seen one the night before as well. Once could be ignored, but the second time made her seriously consider what exactly Wan Xinyan was up to now.
In her memory, they were just a pair of twin country bumpkins. Their faces and figures were somewhat decent... Could it be that they had found a rich guy willing to spend money on them right after starting college?

] [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!"

and couldn't return to the real world. Finally, I gave up and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that writing a diary could make me stronger. Since no one could read it, Su Luo wrote freely, daring to pen anything and everything. Female Lead #1: "Not bad. This diary helped me steal all the protagonist's opportunities. I just want to get stronger." Female Lead #2: "I don’t care about reaching the peak of the cultivation world. Right now, I just want to enjoy the chaos." Female Lead #3: "What? Everyone around me is a spy? I’m the Joker Demon Lord?" ... It’s so strange. Why is the plot completely off track, yet the ending remains the same? Are you all just messing with me?!

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.”

lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...