His pupils contracted rapidly twice before slowly opening again.
A faint trace of moisture clung to his eyelashes, barely noticeable.
Whether it was sweat from the stuffiness, or something else, no one could tell.
On the whites of his eyes, a single, extremely fine red thread stretched from the corner all the way to the edge of the pupil.
Like a dried-up red creek painted on rice paper.
Lin Qingyan looked at Gu Chengyin.
Gu Chengyin looked at Lin Qingyan.
They gazed at each other for about three breaths.
Then Lin Qingyan suddenly buried her face into his chest.
So fast, so fierce—like a frightened rabbit diving headfirst into the nearest burrow.
Her forehead pressed against his collarbone, the tip of her nose brushing his shirt, her entire face buried in the fabric.
Her hands broke free from the tangled blanket, as if summoning strength from nowhere, clutching tightly at the cloth by his waist—like she was holding onto something that might vanish at any moment.
Gu Chengyin lowered his head, able only to see the crown of her head.
Her messy strands of hair brushed against his chin, tickling slightly.
He could feel Lin Qingyan’s breath seeping through his shirt—rapid and disordered.
Like a small animal that had just run a very, very long way and finally found a safe haven.
He didn’t speak. He didn’t move.
He just sat there quietly, letting Lin Qingyan’s face stay buried in his chest.
Letting her fingers grip his shirt, letting her breath slow down, bit by bit, from frantic to calm.
After a long while, Lin Qingyan finally spoke.
“Chengcheng.”
Her voice was muffled by his shirt, sounding fuzzy and indistinct.
“Mm.”
“Do you think you’re really something special?”
Gu Chengyin raised an eyebrow slightly.
The question came out of nowhere, and her tone was off.
Not accusatory, not reproachful—but a soft, aggrieved complaint.
“No,” he said.
“You’re lying.”
Lin Qingyan’s voice turned even stuffier, as if she’d rubbed her face against his shirt.
“You shook your head when you left this morning. You thought I didn’t see?”
“Did you think the ‘Jingzhe’ of the Heavenly Masters’ residence was nothing special?”
Gu Chengyin said nothing.
His silence was taken by Lin Qingyan as confirmation.
Her fingers tightened on his shirt again, her knuckles pressing into his side.
Not too hard, not too soft—just enough for him to feel it.
“I knew it!”
Her voice was gritted through her teeth, but because she had no strength, it came out more like a petulant growl.
“You, on the surface all proper and serious, but deep down you’re rotten to the core.”
“Last night was on purpose. Those three rules—just to watch me make a fool of myself.”
Gu Chengyin looked down at her messy crown of hair, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
“I didn’t,” he said, his tone flat, as if stating a fact.
“You did.”
“I didn’t.”
“You did, you did, you totally did!”
Lin Qingyan lifted her head from his chest, her flushed face once again exposed to the light.
Her eyes were still red, the corners still damp, but now a spark of stubborn defiance flickered in them.
She glared at Gu Chengyin, her lips slightly pouting.
Like a cat that had been bullied, finally caught its breath, and was ready to settle scores with the one who’d messed with it.
“You did it on purpose! You knew full well… you knew I can’t take that.”
“And you still made me beg you. And after I begged, you made me say it louder.”
“Chengcheng, are you some kind of pervert?”
Gu Chengyin watched her—her flushed face, her huffy expression, laced with grievance and embarrassment.
And that look that said I want to fight you but I don’t really have the guts.
He suddenly leaned down and gently bit her pouted lower lip.
The pressure was very light—light as if biting into a fully ripe cherry, afraid of breaking the skin and letting the juice spill.
His teeth grazed her lower lip once, then let go, then grazed it again.
Lin Qingyan’s accusations came to an abrupt halt.
Her eyes went wide, her pupils dilated, her lips stayed in that bitten position, slightly parted, revealing just a hint of teeth and the tip of her tongue.
Her breath paused for a beat, then quickened even more furiously than before.
“You!”
Her voice floated, unsteady. “You bit me!”
“Mm.”
Gu Chengyin’s expression remained calm, but something stirred in the depths of his eyes.
Like mud disturbed at the bottom of a deep pool—the surface still clear, but chaos brewing beneath.
“What right do you have to bite me?”
Lin Qingyan’s voice grew even flimsier, her confidence clearly draining.
“Because you needed it.”
Lin Qingyan opened her mouth, as if to say something, but in the end, nothing came out.
She just stared at him for about two breaths, then the corner of her mouth lifted.
“Chengcheng.”
Her voice suddenly dropped.
“Mm.”
“When you left this morning…”
She paused, her gaze shifting from his face to his shirt.
Her fingers were still clutching his clothes, loosening slightly, then tightening again, as if hesitating.
“When you went to find Zhao’er,” she repeated, her voice even softer. “Did you think of me?”
Gu Chengyin answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“Yes.”
Lin Qingyan’s eyes lit up.
Not the defiant glint from before—this was softer, like something lit from within.
Her eyelashes quivered, the curve of her lips widening a little more.
“Liar,” she said, but her tone held no trace of doubt.
“I’m not lying.”
“Then how long did you think of me?”
“A moment.”
“Just a moment?”
Lin Qingyan’s eyebrows shot up—for real this time, not just for show.
“Two moments.”
Gu Chengyin changed his answer without changing his expression.
“Two moments is still…”
Lin Qingyan’s words stopped mid-sentence.
Because she saw the corner of Gu Chengyin’s mouth twitch.
That curve wasn’t a smile, nor was it a lack of one—it was a barely suppressed grin.
“Gu Chengyin!”
Lin Qingyan suddenly raised her hand and punched his shoulder.
The force was light—in her current state, she probably couldn’t even kill a mosquito.
But the sound was loud, smacking in the quiet hall, sharp and clear.
Gu Chengyin didn’t dodge.
He didn’t even furrow his brow.
Instead, he caught Lin Qingyan’s hand.
Her fingers were slender and soft, the tips flushed red, her palm slightly damp with a thin layer of sweat.
He held her hand in his, his thumb slowly rubbing over her knuckles.
Lin Qingyan’s breath grew unsteady again.
She could feel the ridges of his thumb—rough and warm, calloused.
As it moved inch by inch across her knuckles, the sensation was like sanded wood:
Not smooth, but with a real, raw texture.
“Chengcheng.”
Her voice dropped again.
“Mm.”
“Then… what were you thinking about me?”
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
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!
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?!
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
