In her mind, Shangguan Yunying's words echoed endlessly.
I have decided to resign as Chief Female Official.
I have decided to resign as Chief Female Official.
I have decided to resign as Chief Female Official.
......
Over and over again, like someone taking a hammer and striking her chest.
Each blow landed on the softest part, hurting her deeply.
Luo Zhao was stunned.
She was truly stunned.
Even when she heard that Emperor Luo was going to summon Gu Chengyin to be the imperial consort, she hadn't been this stunned.
That matter, though sudden, was at least within the bounds of what she could accept.
But Shangguan Yunying wanting to resign as Chief Female Official was completely beyond her expectations — and beyond anything she could endure.
Who was Shangguan Yunying?
She was the person Luo Zhao trusted most, the one who knew her best, the one who had been by her side since before she was even the heir apparent, walking with her every step of the way to where she was now.
Shangguan Yunying was not just her Chief Female Official — she was her friend, her confidante, someone she absolutely could not afford to lose.
Now, this person was telling her she wanted to resign.
Luo Zhao's mind went completely blank. Every thought she had was crushed to pieces in that instant.
She even forgot that she had just been thinking about the imperial consort matter, forgot that Lin Qingyan and Gu Chengyin were still watching from inside the hall.
In this moment, her world contained only Shangguan Yunying — only those words.
After a long while, Luo Zhao finally snapped back to herself.
She shot up from the main seat, her movements so swift and forceful that the low table before her rattled.
A teacup toppled over, tea spilling everywhere and soaking the memorials on the desk.
But Luo Zhao didn't spare it even a glance. She rushed over to Shangguan Yunying in three quick strides and grabbed her hand tightly.
"Yunying! Are you abandoning me?"
Luo Zhao's voice carried an urgency she had never shown before. She clutched Shangguan Yunying's hand fiercely.
Her fingers interlaced with the other woman's, like a drowning person grasping at the last floating piece of driftwood.
Her phoenix eyes no longer held their cold arrogance and aloofness; instead, they were filled with a nearly shattered panic.
She looked at Shangguan Yunying, the rims of her eyes red, her lashes trembling.
She looked like an abandoned young beast, brimming with anxiety and dread.
"You cannot leave me! I cannot live without you!"
Luo Zhao's voice grew even more frantic, her grip tightening, her nails almost digging into Shangguan Yunying's skin.
At that moment, all the dignity of a crown princess, all the composure of nobility — none of it mattered anymore. It was all cast to the winds.
She was no longer the cold, proud heir apparent. She was just a little girl about to lose something precious.
Frightened, helpless, at a loss.
Shangguan Yunying looked at Luo Zhao like this, and her heart softened instantly.
She had served Luo Zhao for so many years and had never once seen her wear such an expression.
Luo Zhao had always been proud, hard-edged, and impenetrable.
Even when facing Emperor Luo's reprimands, the censure of court officials,
or enemies who wanted her dead, she had never shown even a sliver of weakness.
But now, because she wanted to resign as Chief Female Official, Luo Zhao had been reduced to this state.
Shangguan Yunying's eyes reddened slightly. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Luo Zhao.
"Your Highness, don't overthink this."
"I'm only resigning as Chief Female Official. I'm not leaving you."
"Your Highness, rest assured — I will never leave you."
Luo Zhao stared at Shangguan Yunying, the panic in her phoenix eyes gradually receding. She tested cautiously:
"Really?"
"Really." Shangguan Yunying affirmed with absolute certainty. "I swear it."
Luo Zhao studied her for a moment, and only after confirming she wasn't lying did she slowly let her guard down.
She let out a long, deep breath, as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Her entire body relaxed.
As long as Shangguan Yunying wasn't leaving her, that was all that mattered.
As for whether she was Chief Female Official or not — that was irrelevant.
Luo Zhao thought this, and her taut nerves finally eased a little.
But soon, a new question surfaced in her mind.
For no apparent reason, why would Shangguan Yunying suddenly want to resign as Chief Female Official?
Luo Zhao blinked, her mind racing.
Shangguan Yunying would never make such a decision without cause.
Someone must have said something, or something must have happened, to put this idea in her head.
And the person who could make Shangguan Yunying come to this decision — there was only one in the whole world.
Luo Zhao's gaze instantly locked onto Gu Chengyin, fire blazing in her phoenix eyes.
Still holding Shangguan Yunying, she took a few steps back, putting distance between herself and Gu Chengyin.
Only then did she raise her hand, point at Gu Chengyin, and demand angrily:
"Yunying, did this Red Egg Gu Chengyin threaten you?"
Her full fury and discontent echoed through the quiet hall.
Gu Chengyin stood where he was, watching the scene, a slight smile curling at the corner of his lips — an innocent, harmless smile.
He stood with his hands behind his back, robes rustling gently, radiating an air of calm detachment.
He paid no mind to Luo Zhao's wary glare or her openly hostile look.
In fact, he found Luo Zhao like this rather amusing.
Like an angry cat, puffing up and hissing, all claws and noise — but posing no real threat.
“Your Highness, it’s not what you think.”
Shangguan Yunying said softly, reaching out to pat Luo Zhao’s back, soothing her emotions:
“No one threatened me. This was my own decision.”
Luo Zhao didn’t believe her. She looked at Shangguan Yunying with suspicion.
Shangguan Yunying then quietly told Luo Zhao everything that had just been discussed.
Including the arrangements Gu Chengyin had made, and the intentions behind them, and so on.
After hearing it all, Luo Zhao couldn’t help but furrow her brow.
Wait—she’d only just gotten back, and Gu Chengyin had already found a way to counter this?
The imperial edict summoning the emperor’s son-in-law hadn’t even been issued yet, and it was already dead in the water?
This Red Egg—was he even human?
Could a person really be this clever?
She was human too!
Why was it that compared to Gu Chengyin, she felt like her brain hadn’t even developed?
Luo Zhao cursed Gu Chengyin a hundred times in her head, but after she finished cursing…
She had to admit, this move of Gu Chengyin’s was truly formidable.
If it were her, she definitely wouldn’t have come up with a counter like that.
All she could think of was going to the palace to beg her imperial father, or stubbornly accepting the edict and then trying to figure out what to do next.
But Gu Chengyin was different.
He didn’t beg anyone, didn’t bow his head, didn’t meet force with force.
Instead, he made sure the edict could never even be issued.
Luo Zhao gritted her back teeth, racking her brains, but she couldn’t think of any way to break this deadlock.
She’d probably have to go to the palace again and ask her imperial father what to do.
After all, Emperor Luo was the one playing the game—only he would know how to respond to Gu Chengyin’s move.
So for now, Luo Zhao put those worries aside.
She hugged Shangguan Yunying tightly, then glared at Gu Chengyin and cursed through gritted teeth:
“Gu Chengyin, you Red Egg, don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to.”
“Sleeping with your aunt wasn’t enough—now you’re going after Yunying too.”
“Are you planning to sleep with me as well someday!”
Gu Chengyin: “¿”
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!
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?"
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
