The last two days before the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday passed unexpectedly quietly—nothing noteworthy happened.
Zhou Jialu, the senior student, was absorbed in her butler training, while Chen Yusheng was deep in her research work.
As for Su Bai himself, he was "absorbed" in attending classes that required in-person attendance... Well, not exactly absorbed!
He experimentally sat through one lecture, only to realize that the learning outcome paled in comparison to the automatic knowledge absorption granted by the system's "indulgence debuff removal."
In other words, attending lectures might be useful, but it was highly unlikely to be useful.
Time to slack off!
So Su Bai focused on huddling in a corner with his laptop, occasionally discussing next season's anime lineup with Wang Haoran.
Then, on the evening before Mid-Autumn Festival, Su Bai privately messaged both girls, asking if they wanted to stay out tonight.
Both answers were no.
Zhou Jialu explained that her butler training program had arranged a sharing session with a senior butler—a woman with thirty years of experience—at a business hotel near campus. The session would likely run late into the night, so she planned to return straight to her dorm afterward.
She had been unusually diligent these past two days, even more so than when she first started her major courses.
Chen Yusheng's reason, however, was more amusing.
"If I sleep with you tonight, I definitely won’t be able to get out of bed tomorrow morning!"
Clearly, Chen Yusheng still very much enjoyed traveling with Su Bai.
Su Bai thought this was normal—after all, they were still in the honeymoon phase of their newly official relationship—and didn’t dwell on it further.
But Chen Yusheng had her own little concerns.
This trip included Jiang Qiuran, who was as delicate as a porcelain doll, and the Wan sisters—a pair of dangerously alluring, legally petite yet curvaceous twins.
She needed to conserve her energy to face these threats head-on!
From Chen Yusheng’s perspective, these women had no prior connection to Su Bai.
But Su Bai was outstanding, and forming connections with unfamiliar women was all too easy for him!
Su Bai didn’t mind either way. Tonight, he’d just switch things up and game with his dorm buddies.
The Silver Duo strikes again!
Along the way, he also witnessed another live broadcast of the "Local vs. Shanghai Elite" debate.
"Lunch isn’t that important. We’ll be touring the ancient town in the afternoon anyway, so we can just grab something quick at McDonald’s."
"What are you talking about? We’re traveling—of course we should eat something good! I have relatives who run a countryside restaurant there. Authentic Jiangcheng-style home cooking, guaranteed to give everyone a taste of local flavor..."
"Hah, 'Jiangcheng flavor'—sounds like a recipe for stomachaches. What if everyone gets food poisoning and ruins the afternoon plans?"
"Ruining the plans wouldn’t be the end of the world. I booked a specialty homestay with great views. Resting there wouldn’t be so bad..."
The overall itinerary had already been finalized by Xue Tao days ago and shared in the group chat as a document.
Su Bai skimmed through it and had to admit—it wasn’t half bad. At the very least, it was miles better than the PowerPoint Xue Tao had slapped together for their elective course group presentation.
Proof that when it came to impressing girls, the local guy put in real effort.
Group assignments? Not even worth half-hearted participation.
But the finer details of the trip were still up for debate—like what to eat for their first lunch after departure.
Xue Tao insisted on treating everyone to authentic Jiangcheng countryside cuisine, while Chu Mingzhe was firmly against it.
The two had been arguing about this for days, and even on the night before departure, no consensus had been reached.
Su Bai hadn’t been present for their earlier clashes.
Clearly, in the eyes of these two, Wang Haoran wasn’t worth consulting—just a background NPC of a shut-in.
But Su Bai was different. In Xue Tao’s eyes, he was at least a guy who had successfully gotten into a relationship, making him more credible than the average classmate.
"Su Bai, you decide—what should we eat tomorrow for lunch?"
"Me? I’m fine with anything."
"Come on, man, don’t give me that 'anything' crap. This is our first meal after setting off—it’s important! If we screw this up and the three girls end up unhappy, wouldn’t that be a total failure?"
After cycling through envy and resentment toward Su Bai, Xue Tao had since adjusted his mindset.
"He’s just splurging because he suddenly came into some money, using it to chase girls. Once the cash runs dry and Chen Yusheng gets over the novelty, they’ll probably break up soon anyway."
Only a well-rooted local like Xue Tao could sustain a real relationship, after all.
So he shifted his focus to the other three girls in the travel group.
This trip was his chance to leave a good impression.
If he could win over even one of them, he wouldn’t hesitate to dump Liu Yuanyuan for an upgrade.
What was that phrase again? "Striving for better horizons!"
And this countryside meal was Xue Tao’s opportunity to flex his local expertise.
Yet here was Chu Mingzhe, pushing for McDonald’s...
Su Bai thought for a moment and said, "I think the local food sounds more fun—at least it’ll be an experience. If anyone doesn’t like it, they can always go grab McDonald’s separately."
This wasn’t a grade-school field trip.
If someone didn’t like the food, they could figure out their own meal—no need to force fake collectivism.
Chu Mingzhe grew agitated. "No, no—Su Bai, look at the map. That place is way out in the sticks, even more remote than the ancient town we’re visiting later. It’s practically in the mountains. Where would they even find a McDonald’s?"
"Fair point. Then we could just buy some burgers and fries to bring along as backup, in case someone can’t handle the local food."
"Oh, sure, easy for you to say. Who’s gonna foot the bill?" Xue Tao sneered.
Su Bai, mid-invasion of the enemy jungle with Wang Haoran, glanced at Xue Tao with an amused smirk.
"Sure, I’ll handle it. We’ll stop at a McDonald’s on the way out of town, grab some stuff at 10 AM, and I’ll cover it."
"..."
Since buying food for S-tier goddesses with high favorability triggered cashback rewards, Su Bai had no reason to turn down this chance to game the system.
Xue Tao instantly felt stifled.
He’d assumed Su Bai would balk at the expense, never expecting him to agree so readily.
"Damn it, this guy’s gone off the deep end lately. Just how much did he win from that lottery?"
Now Xue Tao just looked stingy in comparison.
"Just to be clear, it’s not like I’m unwilling to pay for McDonald’s—it’s pocket change anyway..."
"Shh, shh—this is a critical teamfight!"
Su Bai cut off Xue Tao’s weak rebuttal and refocused on the game.
Three missed spears later, what was supposed to be a jungle domination turned into a double suicide mission with Wang Haoran.
"Dude, where was your Q just now?" Wang Haoran laughed in exasperation.
"Ugh, what a garbage champion!" Su Bai couldn’t help but laugh at himself too.
Clearly, high-skill champs weren’t meant for low-tier players like him.
Now Chen Yusheng—she could pull it off.
Seeing the two fully engrossed in their League session, Xue Tao opened and closed his mouth before sulking into silence.
Left with no other outlet, he went to vent to Liu Yuanyuan.
But Liu Yuanyuan, busy with who-knows-what, ignored him too.
Explosive Plot Song Gua crossed over into another world, bringing along a whole crew of his doppelgangers—all of them mischief-makers. This was a world where everyone could choose a class. Song Gua became a "Bondweaver," capable of borrowing power, while his doppelgangers took on a wide variety of classes, covering just about everything. The number of doppelgangers grew day by day, each one a talented individual with a charming way of speaking. Under Song Gua's brilliant leadership, they would "greet" each other daily and engage in friendly "sparring," pulling off one major scheme after another on Earth. Sometimes they were bandits—stealing bosses, plundering mines, snatching resources. Sometimes they were saviors—descending like divine warriors to face world bosses threatening to massacre cities. Sometimes they even went undercover, infiltrating various major factions to stir up trouble from within, keeping their enemies constantly on edge. To prevent their doppelganger abilities from being exposed, Song Gua made them wear masks with mahjong tile patterns and don Taoist robes in various colors. "Remember, in front of outsiders, call me 'The Dice.'" "Got it! Boss!" "Not 'Boss'—it's 'The Dice.' Think about the vibe, pay attention to the vibe." "Yes! Boss!" "For crying out loud..." From then on, whenever they appeared, they would have their own theme song playing: ~Hey~ paying respects at the mountain stronghold at night~ whose arm is draped over whose shoulder~ gather your courage and follow along...
Heart] Chen Yi traversed the cultivation world for eight hundred years, charging his way to the Tribulation Transcendence stage. Just as he was outwitting his 81st Heavenly Tribulation to ascend to immortality, he was suddenly pulled into a chat group called the "Multiverse Transmigrators Support Group." To his surprise, the group was filled with nothing but fresh-faced newbies who had just transmigrated. [Help! I transmigrated into a disgraced concubine in the cold palace, and the tyrant emperor is about to execute me!] [I ended up as a cannon-fodder villain, and the protagonist is still chasing me—WTF!] [I woke up as the protagonist’s father, but I’m about to be sacrificed in a ritual! What do I do? Urgent!!!] Chen Yi stared at the chaotic flood of desperate pleas in the group and fell into deep thought. "Seriously? You drag me into a newbie transmigrator chat group… only after I’m one step away from becoming an immortal?"
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
