Lu Qianqian felt a pang of envy towards Ji Wushuang.
She envied her ability to control and regulate her own bodily functions under any circumstances.
Lu Qianqian turned over in bed.
She looked out the window at the night sky, illuminated by scattered lights and the occasional tracer round streaking past.
She thought of home, in Jingzhou.
She thought of her mother's warm embrace.
She thought of the security her eldest brother provided by arranging everything for her.
Tears, unbidden, streamed down her face.
She buried her head in the pillow, not daring to make a sound.
She didn't want Ji Wushuang to see her weakness.
Just then.
A hand gently patted her shoulder.
It was Ji Wushuang.
She didn't know when she had woken up.
Ji Wushuang handed her a small object.
It was a pair of military-grade, noise-canceling earplugs.
"Put these in,"
Ji Wushuang said.
"Then, sleep."
"You need to conserve your strength."
Lu Qianqian took the earplugs and inserted them into her ears.
The world instantly fell silent, leaving only the sound of her own heartbeat.
She looked at Ji Wushuang's silhouette in the darkness.
The immense fear that had risen from the depths of her heart seemed to dissipate a little.
"Wushuang-jie,"
she whispered.
"Thank you."
"Sleep."
After saying this, Ji Wushuang lay back down.
Lu Qianqian also closed her eyes.
This time, she fell asleep quickly.
In her dreams, she saw the girl with the severed leg she had seen during the day.
She dreamed of the greedy look in the checkpoint officer's eyes.
She dreamed of Ji Wushuang's cold, stern profile as she lit the officer's cigarette.
And she dreamed of the soul-deep fear in that officer's eyes when he looked at Ji Wushuang.
The night passed without further incident.
Even with the earplugs, Lu Qianqian could still feel the faint tremors from distant explosions.
But she slept, and after that, slept deeply.
The body's extreme exhaustion overpowered the mind's fear.
The next day, her internal clock woke her.
Six in the morning.
Dawn was just breaking.
She opened her eyes to see Ji Wushuang already dressed and ready.
Ji Wushuang was by the window, assembling a firearm Lu Qianqian had never seen before.
Every component seemed alive in Ji Wushuang's hands.
These parts returned to their positions silently and with precision.
Seeing Lu Qianqian awake, Ji Wushuang did not look up.
"Awake?"
"Mhm."
The two did not discuss the events of the previous night.
After breakfast.
Ji Wushuang asked, "Any plans for today?"
"I'd like to go see the town market,"
Lu Qianqian said.
"Sister Annie said it's the most direct place to understand the lives of the locals."
"I want to do some research on the prices of basic local supplies."
Ji Wushuang looked at Lu Qianqian.
The girl before her no longer wore yesterday's panic and bewilderment on her face.
It was replaced by a calm, focused expression.
As if last night's gunfire had been nothing more than irrelevant background music.
"Alright,"
Ji Wushuang said.
"Sister Annie is going too. She needs to buy some medicine."
"More people, bigger target."
Ji Wushuang's brow furrowed slightly.
But then she seemed to think of something, and said,
"Jacob will drive us."
"Okay."
"We leave at nine."
Nine in the morning.
Jacob's car appeared right on time at the aid station gate.
Annie was already waiting there.
She looked tired.
"Last night, three gunshot wound patients were brought in,"
she explained to Lu Qianqian.
"Worked all night. Only saved one."
Her tone was calm, as if speaking of a routine matter.
The market was in the center of town.
This place had more life to it than anywhere Lu Qianqian had passed through yesterday.
Narrow streets were crammed on both sides with all sorts of small stalls.
Selling fruit, vegetables, hand-woven goods.
And also selling strange spices and meats that Lu Qianqian couldn't even recognize.
The air was a mix of sweat, spices, and dust.
Noisy, chaotic, yet brimming with a raw and vivid vitality.
Lu Qianqian took out her notebook and pen.
She began earnestly recording the price of every item.
How much for a carrot.
How much for a bag of cornmeal.
Annie translated and explained for her beside her.
Ji Wushuang followed behind them like a shadow.
Ji Wushuang was like a ghost, seeming to blend completely into the surrounding environment.
Lu Qianqian walked up to a fruit stall.
The vendor was a very young mother.
In her arms, she held an infant still in swaddling clothes.
Another boy, about four or five years old, hid behind her, looking shyly at Lu Qianqian.
Lu Qianqian smiled at him.
She took a piece of candy from her pocket, brought from Jingzhou.
It was a habit she'd formed while doing volunteer work at the Spring Breeze Community.
It was the kindness passed on when an old lady from the Spring Breeze Community gave Lu Qianqian her first piece of candy.
Lu Qianqian had preserved this kindness, and now, upon seeing children, passed it on again.
Today, Lu Qianqian once again offered such a piece of kindness-attached candy to the boy.
The boy looked at his mother.
The young mother gave Lu Qianqian a friendly smile and nodded.
Only then did the boy take the candy.
He clumsily unwrapped it, put the candy in his mouth, and a look of sweet satisfaction spread across his face.
Lu Qianqian's heart felt a touch of sweetness too.
She bought some locally grown fruit.
The price was so cheap it seemed unbelievable to her.
She asked the vendor a few more questions about income and cost of living.
Annie patiently translated for her.
The young mother was somewhat reserved, but answered her questions earnestly.
Just then, a sudden change occurred.
"Bang!"
A single, abrupt gunshot tore through the noisy market, sharp and piercing.
A man who had been selecting something at a fabric stall not far away had a blossom of blood burst from his forehead.
He didn't even have time to cry out before he toppled stiffly backward.
After a frozen second, the crowd erupted with a landslide of screams and wails.
The market instantly plunged into massive chaos.
People scattered in all directions like headless flies.
Immediately after, five or six masked bandits armed with rifles rushed in from a lane entrance.
They fired wildly into the air.
"Everyone down! Money! Hand over all your money!"
One stall owner instinctively tried to pull his cash box under his stall.
A bandit saw this, grinned savagely, and raised his muzzle.
"Bang!"
Another gunshot.
The stall owner was hit in the chest, looking down in disbelief at the bloody hole blooming there before slowly collapsing to his knees.
The bandits brazenly used their rifle butts to smash open cash boxes, grabbing valuables, kicking and punching the wailing civilians.
At the instant of the first gunshot.
Ji Wushuang's reaction was faster than anyone's scream.
Without the slightest hesitation, she grabbed Lu Qianqian and Annie, shoving them violently behind a stall counter made of thick stone blocks.
"Get down! Don't move! Don't make a sound!"
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
] [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!"
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"
