After holding her breath for a long time, An Xiaowei finally stretched out a slender hand from under the table.
The computer screen still displayed the message Ning Moqing had sent her.
"Bottle opener? What bottle opener? I don’t drink," An Xiaowei typed back in a flurry.
Ning Moqing: …
"Then you can choose orange juice. But, have you thought about my question?"
Ning Moqing clearly wasn’t fooled by An Xiaowei’s deflection.
While An Xiaowei was still racking her brain for a way to dodge Ning Moqing’s question, another message popped up.
"Let’s talk in person. I’ll wait for you at the café. Or, I can pick you up if you prefer."
Below the message was a location pin sent by Ning Moqing.
"Can I choose not to go?" An Xiaowei resisted inwardly.
She was a guy. What happened yesterday was already beyond her expectations, and she still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that she’d been… well, with a girl.
"I can come get you."
An Xiaowei: …
"Fine, I’ll go."
Taking a deep breath, An Xiaowei resigned herself—no matter what, she had to face this.
She even touched up her makeup before leaving. At the café entrance, she bought a pack of gum from a convenience store, chewing it nonchalantly as she walked in.
Ning Moqing, as usual, was dressed in a smoky green floral dress, sitting in a corner of the café. Her fingers tapped lightly on the keyboard of a pastel pink laptop that looked slightly out of place in her hands.
"One cappuccino, no sugar. Oh, and these two cakes as well."
After paying, An Xiaowei stuffed her hands into her pockets and sauntered over to Ning Moqing with an air of indifference.
Ning Moqing had spotted her from afar but almost didn’t recognize her.
"What’s with this getup?" Ning Moqing frowned as An Xiaowei took a seat.
"Rebellious, free-spirited, bad girl persona," An Xiaowei replied, crossing her legs and flashing a pair of peach-pink-shadowed eyes that gave her a striking allure.
Ning Moqing: …
Xu Ya definitely needed a beating.
"What kind of nonsense has Xu Ya been teaching you?" Ning Moqing closed her laptop and fixed her gaze on An Xiaowei.
An Xiaowei avoided eye contact, blowing small bubbles with her gum instead.
"Do you prefer dinner, movies, or amusement parks?" Ning Moqing asked.
"I prefer sleeping," An Xiaowei quickly interjected.
Ning Moqing glanced at her crossed legs, leaned back against the booth, and chuckled softly.
"You’re really going to mess with me, huh?"
An Xiaowei looked up, her big eyes brimming with innocence and cluelessness.
She was just a poor, adorable little Shih Tzu.
What bad intentions could she possibly have?
"I think feelings can develop. For us, it wouldn’t be difficult." Ning Moqing pulled two sheets of paper from a stack of documents and slid them toward An Xiaowei.
An Xiaowei’s eyebrow twitched as she skimmed the contents.
A Relationship Schedule?!
What kind of nonsense was this? It even planned out their daily meals.
Was Ning Moqing… serious about this?
"Or, if you’d rather treat what happened as a one-time thing, I can accept that too."
An Xiaowei fell silent for a long moment.
Then, something suddenly occurred to her.
"Didn’t you say you liked guys?" She looked up at Ning Moqing.
She was starting to suspect she’d been tricked.
"Girls… aren’t off the table either," Ning Moqing said flatly.
An Xiaowei instinctively covered her chest. When she noticed Ning Moqing’s gaze growing peculiar, she coughed lightly and dropped her hands.
"What happened before was an accident," An Xiaowei offered weakly.
Ning Moqing raised an eyebrow.
"Did I say it wasn’t?"
An Xiaowei choked.
Great. She’d met her match. Now the question was whether she could unleash her ultimate move and take Ning Moqing down.
"Can I just say I don’t mind any of this?" An Xiaowei wiped her mouth clean of gum, then leaned forward across the table.
"I really don’t mind."
Ning Moqing retrieved the two sheets of paper.
"Okay. I understand."
A giant question mark popped up over An Xiaowei’s head. What did she understand?
"You haven’t eaten yet, right?" Ning Moqing said.
An Xiaowei nodded reflexively.
Yeah, yeah, sure.
"I’ll take you to dinner first. We’ll talk about the rest later." Ning Moqing checked nearby restaurants on her phone—the area had plenty of good options.
Of course, An Xiaowei couldn’t actually be with Ning Moqing. She didn’t dislike her, but "like" was a stretch.
Besides, she was just a passerby in this world. How could she possibly stay with Ning Moqing forever?
Ning Moqing picked up her laptop and led An Xiaowei out of the café.
"What do you want to eat?"
"Noodles. I’m easy to please," An Xiaowei declared, stretching lazily.
Ning Moqing turned to look at her.
"Are you saying you want me to take care of you?"
An Xiaowei: …
Maybe she should just seal her mouth shut. Why did she keep spouting nonsense?
"That’s not what I meant! I just meant I’m not picky about food."
"So, easy to raise," Ning Moqing concluded.
An Xiaowei decided it was better if Ning Moqing just stopped talking.
"Easy to raise" referred to having wide hips—not her…
Never mind. She swallowed the thought.
Ning Moqing did take her for noodles—but at a high-end private kitchen. The dishes were delicate and tiny, and the prices nearly made An Xiaowei’s eyes pop out of her head.
Then she remembered she was technically rich now and immediately straightened her back, brimming with confidence.
But then Ning Moqing glanced over, her gaze lingering on An Xiaowei’s chest.
An Xiaowei hurriedly covered herself.
"What are you doing?" She glared—Ning Moqing was clearly the real villain here.
Ning Moqing paused. Wasn’t An Xiaowei the one drawing attention there?
"The chicken wings here are good. Try them."
She ignored the question and placed a few wings on An Xiaowei’s plate.
The meal was painfully awkward. To avoid further mishaps, An Xiaowei buried her face in her bowl like a hamster, barely tasting anything.
By the time they left the restaurant, An Xiaowei wanted to hang herself with a pink ribbon.
Being around Ning Moqing was just too much.
"Should I take you home?" Ning Moqing asked, watching An Xiaowei shiver in the cold with her arms wrapped around herself. After a moment’s thought, she took off her coat.
"Give me your arm."
An Xiaowei looked up.
"I’ll help you put it on. Otherwise, you might catch a cold on the way back," Ning Moqing said softly.
The reasoning was sound. An Xiaowei figured there was nothing weird about wearing another girl’s clothes, so she slipped it on without protest.
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
] [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!"
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?"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
