4 AM.
The streets had completely quieted down. Even the energetic young boys practicing basketball couldn't resist drowsiness and had fallen asleep.
The streetlights cast a dim glow, their faint creaking accompanying the night breeze, lending an eerie atmosphere.
The night air was chilly, carrying a biting coldness.
Lan Ruoxi stole a glance at An Yi beside her, her lips curling into a sweet smile.
This path, which would usually fill her with fear at night, no longer felt terrifying.
An Yi noticed her thin clothing and asked, "Cold?"
"A... a little."
Lan Ruoxi bit her lower lip lightly.
Without hesitation, An Yi took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. "It's chilly at night."
"Mhm, thank you."
Lan Ruoxi's cheeks flushed as she gave a shy smile.
This was a scene she had only seen in romantic dramas—a boy draping his jacket over a girl as they walked in sync down an empty street.
"But... you're not wearing much either."
Lan Ruoxi glanced at An Yi’s thin short sleeves and spoke softly.
An Yi replied nonchalantly, "It's fine. I’ve got another one."
With that, he pulled out another jacket seemingly out of thin air and put it on.
Lan Ruoxi: "..."
"Cool, right? It's magic!" An Yi boasted playfully.
Lan Ruoxi giggled and nodded. "Mhm, so impressive."
An Yi chuckled helplessly.
Girls were different from one another.
When he had shown this trick to the adorably clueless Shen Muxuan, she had been stunned for ages, even pestering him about how he did it for three whole days afterward.
But Lan Ruoxi was too clever—and too kind—always careful not to overstep boundaries.
Not far from the city center lay the urban district.
An area where urbanization was still incomplete, giving off the vibe of a rural-urban fringe.
Once considered an eyesore by the residents of Jiangbei.
"An Yi, I’m home. Thank you for walking me back."
Lan Ruoxi stopped in front of a modest house and turned to An Yi.
An Yi smiled at her. "Get some rest. Don’t go to the company tomorrow—take the day off."
Lan Ruoxi let out a soft laugh. "Not going to school must have messed up your sense of time. Tomorrow’s Saturday."
"Oh, right. Then rest well over the weekend. Don’t think about work for now."
An Yi watched as Lan Ruoxi entered, a faint smile on his lips. "Goodnight."
"Mhm, goodnight!"
Lan Ruoxi waved with a smile.
Just then, the slightly rusted iron gate creaked open.
"Ruoxi, why are you back so late?"
A middle-aged woman stepped out, her voice laced with worry.
"Mom! Y-you shouldn’t be staying up so late with your health like this. Why aren’t you asleep?"
Lan Ruoxi hurriedly replied.
An Yi observed quietly. He recognized her—this was Lan Ruoxi’s mother, Liu Yuefen.
Back when he had secretly treated her illness in the hospital, she probably hadn’t known it was him.
"How could I sleep when you’re out so late?"
Liu Yuefen’s gentle face was etched with concern as she frowned slightly. "Ruoxi, didn’t you say university classes were light? It’s only the start of the semester, so why—"
Mid-sentence, she noticed An Yi standing nearby and paused. "And this is...?"
Her daughter had been staying out late for days, and now she was being brought home by a boy in the dead of night—
Instantly, Liu Yuefen tensed up.
"Mom, he’s... he’s..."
Lan Ruoxi hesitated before finally saying, "A classmate."
"A classmate?"
Liu Yuefen gave An Yi a skeptical look.
Seems like Lan Ruoxi hadn’t told her mother about dropping out.
An Yi took a deep breath, his expression turning serious. "Auntie, hello. I’m An Yi. I’m... Ruoxi’s boyfriend!"
"B-boyfriend?!"
Lan Ruoxi’s face burned crimson, her heart pounding so hard she could hear it. Even her delicate earlobes turned red.
Thankfully, the dim night concealed her embarrassment.
An Yi was nervous too.
A well-behaved girl suddenly bringing home a boyfriend—most parents would have a hard time accepting it.
But to his surprise, Liu Yuefen’s face broke into a warm smile. "So you’re Xiao Yi! Ruoxi talks about you often."
"Mom! I-I don’t—"
Lan Ruoxi’s protest was barely audible.
An Yi exhaled in relief.
Lan Ruoxi’s mother was far more amiable than he’d expected.
He had braced himself for a scolding.
Liu Yuefen chuckled, looking at her daughter. "I knew it. This girl never used to mention boys, but lately, she keeps bringing up An Yi’s name. So she’s got a boyfriend now."
Lan Ruoxi’s face burned hotter.
She still hadn’t recovered from An Yi’s declaration that he was her boyfriend.
It felt like she was floating in a dream, unsure if this was real.
An Yi scratched his head. "It’s really late. Auntie, Ruoxi, I should get going."
"Mhm. Goodnight."
Lan Ruoxi nodded shyly.
"It’s so late already. Why don’t you stay the night?" Liu Yuefen offered warmly.
"Mom!"
Lan Ruoxi protested weakly.
Liu Yuefen shot her a look before smiling at An Yi. "Our place isn’t big, but we’ve got room for a guest."
An Yi rubbed his neck awkwardly. "I-I don’t think that’s appropriate..."
Deep down, he was still a reserved guy.
Night deepened.
An Yi lay in bed, wide awake.
No meditation techniques, no fear of hair loss—just pure insomnia.
Because right beside him was Lan Ruoxi, her faint, sweet fragrance filling the air.
Yes, they were sharing a bed.
As for where Liu Yuefen had said he could sleep?
Lan Ruoxi’s bed.
At first, she had said she’d find him a place.
But then she claimed the other rooms were too messy to tidy up at this hour, so he’d have to make do in Lan Ruoxi’s room for the night...
Her bed was a double, so space wasn’t an issue—but that wasn’t the point!
An Yi stole a glance at Lan Ruoxi’s graceful silhouette beside him, his pulse refusing to calm down.
Never had he imagined that he, a certified virgin and hopelessly single straight guy, would find himself torn between choices when it came to girlfriends.
Back in the ancient continent, it was simple—the more wealth and power a man had, the more wives and concubines he could take.
The more beautiful women by his side, the higher his status.
In that regard, An Yi was a traditionalist at heart.
But in Xia Country... that probably wasn’t acceptable.
Lan Ruoxi lay with her back to him, breathing evenly, but An Yi would bet anything she wasn’t asleep.
Compared to the adorably clueless Shen Muxuan, sharing a bed with the gentle and composed Lan Ruoxi gave him an entirely different feeling.
Indescribable, really.
"Uh... Ruoxi, you asleep?" An Yi whispered.
"Ah? N-no..."
Lan Ruoxi’s voice trembled nervously. "To be honest, An Yi... I-I’m not really ready yet."
An Yi: "..."
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!
iemie, male, Race: Moon. Hobby: Collecting anomalies. At first, he thought he possessed two systems: the Crimson Rainbow Moon and the Clear Cold Frost Moon. One day, he discovered that he himself could also become a system for others, holding the chessboard of fate. The Eighth Epoch, also known as the Eternal Moon Epoch. Humans, witches, elves, bloodline descendants, specters, demons, and spirits together compose a new history. Walking the path on behalf of the moon, before he knew it, Chen Miemie's footsteps were followed by all manner of strange and wondrous anomalies. As time passed, many titles circulated about him—The King in Yellow, Lord of Anomalies, Heart of the Eternal Moon, and more. "Me? I'm just a traveler who enjoys collecting interesting creatures," Chen Miemie said.
villain is the number one simp for the book's leading female protagonist, Shen Wan'er. As expected, he later becomes a tool for the main character to show off and slap faces, ultimately meeting a tragic end with his family ruined and his life in shambles. Fortunately, he awakens the [Universal Pure Love System], which allows him to earn points by performing acts of pure love. To change his fate, Gu Yan makes a decisive choice to seek warmth and companionship with the book's biggest villain—Cold Qingqiu. ........... My name is Leng Qingqiu. To find the murderer who killed my parents years ago, I deliberately blinded myself so that everyone would lower their guard around me. Just as I was secretly accumulating power and capital according to my initial plan, a man walked into my world. "Lengleng, Qingqing, Qiuqiu, which nickname do you prefer?" I don't like any of them. You'd better leave quickly! "Why aren't you saying anything? How about I call you my baby wife?" Leng Qingqiu thinks to herself, this man is truly annoying! (Stubborn pure love warrior + single female lead + true pure love + 1v1)
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
