The Leng Family.
Outside the window, the cold wind howled.
Gu Yan sat by the bedside, silently watching Leng Qingqiu as she slept.
He could feel it.
Feel the pain and struggle in Leng Qingqiu's heart.
He understood her—because once the dagger was lost, Leng Qingqiu would lose the Power of Night.
But...
Taking the dagger was an unavoidable step in the plan.
Gu Yan's ultimate goal was to sever Leng Qingqiu's connection to the Night King completely.
So that... she could truly stand in the sunlight.
Time passed, but Gu Yan did not leave.
Instead, he waited for someone.
Before long.
The temperature around them plummeted.
Xiao Leng took control of the body and opened her eyes.
She sat up, her cold gaze sweeping over Gu Yan's conflicted expression before she sneered, "Regretting it now?"
"......"
Gu Yan remained silent for a moment before shaking his head. "No regrets."
He then looked at Xiao Leng seriously and stated his purpose: "Give me access to the Night Dagger."
"I don’t need much—just enough to borrow a sliver of its power."
No matter how much he resembled the Night King in appearance,
without the ability to wield the Power of Night, the deception would never be flawless.
If they were going to do this, it had to be airtight.
Hearing this, Xiao Leng gave Gu Yan a surprised look. "You... are serious?"
"Just being able to touch the dagger is already pushing your body to its limit."
"You, the catalyst meant to unleash the Power of Night—if you use the dagger’s power, once might be fine, but multiple times..."
Xiao Leng’s tone shifted slightly, but before she could explain further,
Gu Yan cut her off. "It won’t happen."
"I’ll be fine."
He looked at Xiao Leng earnestly. "Please, Xiao Leng, help me this once."
"......."
"Is it really necessary to go this far?"
Xiao Leng stared at Gu Yan for a few seconds.
Finally, she averted her gaze and extended a finger, speaking flatly, "Come closer."
Gu Yan pressed his forehead against her fingertip.
Tap.
The finger pierced effortlessly into the center of his brow.
Instantly,
a strange sensation surged through Gu Yan’s heart.
[Congratulations, Host! Your beloved has granted you the ‘Power of Night’!]
[You can now wield the power of ‘Night’!]
At the same time, the system’s voice echoed in his mind.
Xiao Leng withdrew her finger and said indifferently, "Leave. Don’t come back for the next few days."
"Why?"
Gu Yan touched his slowly healing forehead, momentarily confused.
Xiao Leng looked at him again, studying the face that had appeared in her thoughts so many times, and finally explained: "The other me knows your identity now."
"And yet... she still loves you."
"Let her be alone for a while."
As the words fell,
it felt like a sharp blade had been plunged into Gu Yan’s heart.
His expression twisted with bitterness.
How...?
He had taken every precaution to conceal himself, yet Leng Qingqiu had still figured it out...
This...
"As expected of my wife!"
Gu Yan smiled—though whether it was bitter or happy, even he couldn’t tell.
Xiao Leng gave him an exasperated look. "You can still smile at a time like this? I don’t know if you’re just thick-skinned or something else."
She shook her head. "It’s late. You should go."
"You must have other things to attend to these days."
Gu Yan nodded and stood up. Just as he was about to leave, he hesitated and glanced back at Xiao Leng. "Hey... Xiao Leng."
"Have you... become more emotional?"
Maybe it was his imagination, but this version of Xiao Leng seemed very different from before.
Xiao Leng stared at him expressionlessly. "You talk too much."
Gu Yan coughed lightly and left.
And in the darkness, Xiao Leng let out a soft sigh.
......
......
The next day.
In an alleyway somewhere.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Ugh! I’ll pay it back, I swear!"
"Stop hitting me! I’ll get my sister to pay you back!"
Shen Tian, Shen Wan'er’s younger brother, curled up in a corner, his face bruised and swollen as he shielded his head.
"Hmph! Listen here, Shen Tian, the only reason we lent you money was because you said you still had connections with Young Master Gu!"
"Now it turns out you were lying? Do you have any idea how much risk I took lending you 5 million?!"
The debt collector, furious, grabbed Shen Tian by the hair and slapped him repeatedly across the face—smack smack smack!
Only when his arm grew tired did he finally toss Shen Tian to the ground, sneering, "I’ll give you one more day. If you don’t pay up tomorrow, I’ll dump you in the river for the fish!"
"Oh wait—it’s not just me. Plenty of others would love to do the same."
Shen Tian was too beaten to speak. Only when he heard the threat of death did he let out a muffled whimper of pleading.
The debt collector left.
Shen Tian lay in the alley, pale and gasping for air.
No, no, no...
Why did this have to happen to me?
I can’t die. I absolutely can’t die.
Shen Tian’s pupils trembled uncontrollably.
If I just get a little more money, I can win back everything I lost!
The truth was, Shen Tian didn’t just owe 5 million. Across various underground gambling dens, his debts had already piled up to tens of millions.
If the others found out he couldn’t pay... he was truly finished.
Wait—
Shen Tian suddenly remembered something.
Back when he had lost everything yet again, a mysterious man had approached him.
He had offered to provide funds—but at a cost.
"That’s right... if I can find that person..."
Hope surged in Shen Tian’s chest. There was still a way. If he could just get money from that man,
he could turn everything around!
......
......
Three days later.
Shen Wan'er sat in her office, restless.
"What’s going on? I have this awful feeling..."
She muttered to herself. For the past few days, her chest had felt heavy, as if something terrible was about to happen.
Speaking of terrible things...
Shen Wan'er opened her phone’s messaging app.
The first pinned chat was her work group. The second was Xiao Lin.
After confirming her relationship with Xiao Lin, she hadn’t felt much change in her life.
Truthfully, she had only agreed to date Xiao Lin because she had been provoked by Gu Yan and Leng Qingqiu—settling for someone beneath her standards.
But it was what it was. Xiao Lin was decent enough. As long as he could protect her, that was fine.
Then—
Buzz buzz buzz!
Her phone suddenly vibrated. She picked it up.
Mom?
She froze. Ever since the falling-out with her family and moving out, they hadn’t contacted her.
Was this another call to pressure her into marriage?
Shen Wan'er deliberately waited a few seconds before answering.
But the moment she did, a heart-wrenching scream tore through the line.
"Wan'er!!! Xiao Tian gambled away the entire Shen Family fortune and then jumped off a building!!!"
"Please come back quickly, we... we don't know what to do anymore!"
"Now we can't even go home!!"
Clatter~!
Shen Wan'er stood frozen, her phone slipping from her palm and landing on the desk.
Shen Tian... jumped off a building?
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)
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
] [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!"
ress Kneels to Admit Wrong] [Dealing with Love-Struck Fools] [Forced to the Throne] Ren Tianye transmigrated into a female-oriented novel world, only to find everyone in it was utterly insane. He risked his life to save a young girl from barbarians, but was accused of arriving too late and branded the real murderer. He held a knife to a military officer's neck, demanding the troop tally, but the officer only cared about questioning his wife: "Do you not love me anymore? All these years of affection and time together, they were all a mistake, a mistake!" After seizing Yunji City, the original defending general, to save face with the Empress, knelt on the ground: "You must give Yunji City back to me, or I'll hang myself at the city gate and let everyone know you're a villain!" The young lord of the Duke's mansion, to please a woman, directly ordered a merchant: "The menstrual pads you buy for her must be studded with diamonds. Loving her means giving her the best." Having become a great general, he was about to marry a merchant's daughter, who set a pre-nuptial rule: "I can divorce you anytime. When that happens, you must give me half of your troops and soldiers!" Even the Empress was a severe love-struck fool, who ordered the execution of 70,000 elite troops simply because they stood in the way of her romance. Ren Tianye was speechless. He was done. Let it all burn! This deranged female-oriented novel world! ...
