The bell rang for the end of class, and class monitor Wang Yang collected the test papers and handed them to Xu Cong.
The next class was still Advanced Mathematics, so Xu Cong didn’t bother returning to the office.
Mainly because he was getting older, and going up and down the stairs was exhausting.
The old professor, wearing glasses, sat seriously at the podium grading the papers, surrounded by students who watched intently, afraid he might make a mistake due to dizziness or poor eyesight.
For these top students, this was a silent battlefield.
As for Zhou Yi... he was sprawled across his desk, fast asleep.
The subject of everyone’s gossip slept soundly, completely unaware that he had become the center of attention in the class.
"Hey, Ningning, what’s really going on with Zhou Yi? I feel like he’s a completely different person from before."
"Who knows? Whatever he does has nothing to do with me."
Just as Su Ning and her deskmate Zhang Lili were discussing Zhou Yi, the girl sitting in front of Su Ning suddenly turned around and whispered mysteriously, "I heard Zhou Yi used to be an orphan and only just found his parents a few days ago. Could that be why?"
Su Ning finally looked up and murmured, "An orphan? Where did you hear that?"
The girl in front lowered her voice. "He told the counselor himself today. I accidentally overheard. He missed the class meeting because he was moving."
Zhang Lili gasped in surprise, covering her mouth. "Seriously!? But even if he was an orphan, that doesn’t explain such a sudden change, does it?"
Suddenly, Zhang Lili’s imagination ran wild. She clapped her hands together. "Unless... he was hiding his true abilities all along?"
The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became.
"Think about it—he’s so good-looking, so why did he hide his face behind that ugly fringe before? Girls are drawn to looks. If he’d shown his face earlier, would Ningning have disliked him so much?"
Su Ning raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I’m that shallow? Don’t project your own standards onto me."
Zhang Lili giggled. "Oh, come on, I’m just making a point. But if he’d lived like this from the start, his life would’ve been way better, right? And don’t you think his whole vibe is different now too?"
Su Ning nodded. "Yeah, that’s true."
Zhang Lili continued excitedly, "So, there must’ve been a reason he acted like that before. And didn’t Old Xu say Zhou Yi’s skills were too good for his bottom-of-the-class grades? I bet he was hiding his true potential!"
The girl in front widened her eyes in realization. "So his change is because... his parents found him?"
A thoughtful glint flashed in Su Ning’s beautiful eyes. After a moment of silence, she said, "Actually, there’s another possibility, one that’s pretty common in wealthy families."
Zhang Lili and the girl in front turned to her expectantly.
"Either he’s an illegitimate child who couldn’t risk being discovered, or he had to downplay his abilities to avoid drawing attention from the family."
"Or his parents had some special status, and to protect him, they had to keep him hidden and living a low-profile life. Now that the danger’s passed, they’ve reclaimed him, which explains his sudden transformation."
Su Ning wasn’t just speculating blindly. Growing up in the Su family, a prominent wealthy household, she’d seen her fair share of drama—far more exaggerated than anything in novels.
Illegitimate children raised in secret until they turned eighteen, then brought forward to replace the heir after the original was eliminated.
Families living under false names for over a decade, even sending their children to be raised by others, only reclaiming them after exacting revenge.
Cases like these were everywhere. So while Zhang Lili’s theory might’ve sounded wild, Su Ning found it plausible.
Zhang Lili nodded thoughtfully. "No wonder Zhou Yi said there were reasons he couldn’t explain before."
Suddenly, the girl in front grinned mischievously. "So, do you think his feelings for Ningning were real or fake?"
Su Ning’s heart skipped a beat. She blinked rapidly and turned her head toward the window. "Who cares if they were real or fake? It’s not like I’d ever like him anyway."
Truthfully, Su Ning’s dislike for Zhou Yi had already faded.
If everything he’d done before was just an act for survival, she had no reason to resent him anymore.
Plus, the fact that he’d been an orphan made her feel a little guilty about how she’d treated him.
Zhang Lili clasped her hands together, her eyes sparkling.
"If it was fake, then you two are like the leads in a romance novel! Zhou Yi reveals his true, domineering self, returns to his wealthy family to take over the business—total male protagonist material. And with your family background and his looks, you’re practically a match made in heaven!"
"If it was real, then it’s even more touching. A man who suffered in silence for years, pouring his love for you into his diary, living such a hard life... and you were his only salvation—"
Su Ning shuddered at Zhang Lili’s dramatic words. With a rare, faint smile, she nudged her friend.
"Alright, alright, I told you to cut back on those romance novels. What nonsense are you even thinking? If you ever go broke, just become a novelist—don’t waste that overactive imagination of yours."
"Hey! Ningning, that’s actually not a bad idea!"
......
While sleeping, Zhou Yi vaguely heard System 077 say something.
He woke up groggily and asked, "System, what did you just say?"
077: "Congratulations, Host. Su Ning’s regret value increased by 10."
Zhou Yi paused. "Why? Just because of that exam? She realized I’m not a loser and now regrets how she treated me?"
077: "You’ll have to figure that out yourself."
Zhou Yi could only assume it was because he’d shown a bit of his ability, impressing the success-driven Su Ning.
In reality, it was just the girls’ wild imaginations at work.
Still, their speculations aligned pretty well with Zhou Yi’s goals.
How else could he explain his sudden transformation?
If he suddenly became rich, what would be the reason?
He needed a backstory.
The best solution was his identity.
If his biological parents were wealthy, his sudden fortune would make sense.
His drastic change could be explained as him dropping a long-held act—pretending to be an unremarkable underachiever out of necessity.
As for why? He’d let others fill in the blanks themselves. The more room for imagination, the more mysterious and believable it became.
He didn’t need to script every detail—his audience’s creativity would surpass anything he could come up with.
The bell for the next class rang. Zhou Yi stretched lazily.
Time for another performance.
As a playboy who thrived on showing off and charming girls, he always looked forward to moments like these.
Showmanship and face-slapping were the defining themes of Zhou Yi’s life.
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
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.
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
