The azure sky rolled with pristine white clouds, and pink cherry blossoms blanketed the streets like snow. April in Tokyo resembled a vibrant watercolor painting that could brighten one's mood with just a glimpse.
However, Shimizu Yuu, who had lived here since childhood, had long grown tired of such scenery, and her current mood could only be described as rather gloomy.
Walking to school, Shimizu Yuu sighed like a wilted cabbage. Her request for an advance on her allowance had just been rejected by her mother, and her little piggy bank only had a few jingling coins left.
This meant she couldn't even afford to buy the latest volume of "Spirit Detective Notes" that she was currently obsessed with.
Of course, she didn't blame her mother; she just regretted her own previous lack of spending restraint...
Fortunately, Shimizu Yuu was naturally optimistic. After feeling sorry for herself for a brief moment, she immediately bounced back and began thinking of solutions.
For a high school student, there were only a few ways to get money: allowance, scholarships, or part-time work. Shimizu Yuu immediately ruled out scholarships - she knew herself well enough. Although she had stunning looks that could score 95 points and impressive kendo skills worth over 90 points, none of that changed the fact that she was essentially a poor student.
So really, there was only one option left for Shimizu Yuu.
Clenching her fair fist, Shimizu Yuu lifted her head with determination, her beautiful almond eyes sparkling with resolve. It was decided! She would quit the club activities this semester and work part-time after school!
The determination had just been made when doubt crept in the very next second, because at that moment of looking up, something familiar entered Shimizu Yuu's field of vision.
It was a book, with a vaguely familiar cover. A light bulb went off in Shimizu Yuu's head - wasn't that "Spirit Detective Notes"?! She quickly shifted her gaze to the person walking and reading.
The person wore the same school uniform as her, had a tall, straight posture, and from the side-back view, she could see a bit of their profile - fair skin and attractive features. Shimizu Yuu immediately recalled their name.
Hoshino Gen, her classmate!
Although the semester had just started, Shimizu Yuu had a very strong impression of this male classmate, though it had nothing to do with his behavior. After all, he usually just sat quietly at his desk reading books, so quiet that Shimizu Yuu had never even heard him speak!
Even when several female students tried to talk to him, attracted by his unfairly good looks from his mixed Japanese-English heritage, he would just stare at them with a smile until they walked away - quite an odd and low-key person.
But such a person had an extraordinary twin sister - the idol Hoshino Rin, who hadn't appeared at school since the entrance ceremony but remained the center of school gossip.
Yes, this guy had an incredibly cute idol sister! It was enough to drive one mad with jealousy!
But that wasn't the important part! The fact that he was also reading "Spirit Detective Notes" - could he be a fellow fan?! In that case, as his classmate, couldn't she just build a better relationship with him and borrow his books for free? Then she could avoid the hardship of working part-time and continue attending the kendo club with her good friend Suzuki Sawami, competing in the national tournament during summer break like in middle school...
At this thought, Shimizu Yuu's eyes began to sparkle. She took a few quick steps forward and called out loudly, "Hoshino-kun!"
The boy ahead paused his steps and turned slightly, fully revealing his doll-like, beautiful face to Shimizu Yuu. Especially that left eye, like a clear blue sapphire set in its socket, seemed to outshine even the azure sky above.
Oh, like his idol sister, he had those extremely rare heterochromatic eyes. Shimizu Yuu felt a bit envious - she wished she had such cool eyes too.
Meeting his heterochromatic gaze, Shimizu Yuu gathered her spirits and energetically ran up to Hoshino Gen's side, saying enthusiastically, "Hoshino-kun, so you take this route to school too? I've never seen you before!"
The boy just smiled at her, showing no intention of speaking.
Shimizu Yuu felt slightly awkward - here it came, the "death smile" as the girls in class called it, making people so uncomfortable they just wanted to get away quickly. But! For the sake of being able to read books without having to work part-time, she was determined to make him speak today!
Taking a small breath and suppressing the urge to curl her toes, Shimizu Yuu walked alongside Hoshino Gen while maintaining an even friendlier smile, "Do you also live in the neighborhood?"
The boy still only smiled, but he had closed his book, and at that moment, Shimizu Yuu could clearly see that what he held was indeed the latest volume of "Spirit Detective Notes" that she had been yearning for!
Her expression immediately changed to feigned surprise, with "I want it" practically written all over her face. Shimizu Yuu could barely contain her excitement as she said, "Ah! So you're reading this book too? I love it so much! Oh - you're already reading the latest volume? I just finished the previous one. I wonder if that grandmother from the Taisho Era ever got to meet her husband..."
Before Shimizu Yuu could finish speaking, Hoshino Gen's eyebrows suddenly twitched, and in a flash, he darted to her other side. Crouching down, he placed both hands on her shoulders and applied slight pressure to make her face away from him, widening the blocking area. In that split second, a car sped past, splashing brown mud from yesterday's rain puddles all over Shimizu Yuu's uniform and face.
Shimizu Yuu's expression turned blank. She stiffly turned to look at the completely clean Hoshino Gen behind her.
Hoshino Gen calmly handed "Spirit Detective Notes" to Shimizu Yuu with both hands, his face solemn: "Thank you."
With that, Hoshino Gen quickly stepped into a waiting taxi nearby, and in the blink of an eye, both he and the vehicle vanished from Shimizu Yuu's dazed and confused field of vision.
......
Shimizu Yuu was nearly furious, not just because Hoshino Gen had used her as a shield against the muddy water, but also because after going home to clean up and change clothes, she was, predictably, late! As punishment, she had to run several laps around the school's 400-meter track, nearly running out of breath by the end!
During the break after first period, Shimizu Yuu didn't even look at the latest volume of "Spirit Detective Notes" that she had been dying to read. Instead, she sat at her desk, glaring fiercely at a certain inconsiderate jerk sitting by the window in front of her.
That guy acts all cool and aloof at school, but he's actually the kind of scoundrel who would use a pretty girl as a mud shield!
"Yuu, why were you so late today... huh? What's wrong? Why do you look so angry?"
The voice of her good friend Suzuki Sawami rang in Shimizu Yuu's ears. She turned to see a well-figured, pretty girl standing before her with a curious expression.
When asked by her good friend, Shimizu Yuu's expression immediately crumpled. She didn't want to share her embarrassing experience, but seeing this, Suzuki Sawami's eyes followed Shimizu Yuu's previous line of sight, and a thoughtful look immediately appeared on her pretty face: "Did he bully you?"
Shimizu Yuu pouted, indicating she didn't want to talk about it.
However, Suzuki Sawami got excited, as if she couldn't wait to see some drama unfold: "What happened? Tell me quickly." Then, lowering her voice, she added provocatively, "If it's really something terrible, I have a way for you to get revenge!"
Hearing this, Shimizu Yuu, who already didn't want to talk about it, became even more hesitant. She furrowed her delicate brows and said quietly, "It's not really a big deal, let's forget about revenge..."
"Oh come on, if not revenge, at least teach him a small lesson. You can't just be a pushover and swallow this grievance like a turtle, can you?" Suzuki Sawami wouldn't let it go - partly to stand up for her friend, but also because the idea of messing with that handsome, quiet guy seemed quite interesting!
Being called a little turtle by her good friend was something Shimizu Yuu couldn't quite tolerate. She opened her mouth to speak but ended up just sighing, then proceeded to tell the whole story about how Hoshino Gen had used her as a shield against muddy water on the way to school, which had also caused her to be late.
After hearing this, Suzuki Sawami immediately slammed her hand on the desk and exclaimed indignantly, "That's too much! Is he even a man?!"
She was radiating righteousness and appeared ready to fight for her friend's honor. Of course, if her eyes hadn't been sparkling quite so brightly and her lips hadn't been curved up quite so high, it might have been more convincing.
The commotion drew the attention of many classmates, but Suzuki Sawami paid them no mind. She waved her small hand and patted Shimizu Yuu's shoulder, declaring, "Don't worry, this young lady will help you get revenge!"
"..." Shimizu Yuu gave her a sidelong glance.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
. 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!"
] [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!"
