“A weasel paying a New Year’s visit to a chicken—clearly up to no good.” Su Ze grew wary. The woman before him had a history of conflict with him. He had once sent her to the police station, so why was she now giving a phone to little Akizuki?
“A chicken? You’re more like a duck!” Situ Jiajia scoffed, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Don’t overthink it, okay? What could I possibly want from you? With your looks…” Situ Jiajia glanced at Su Ze’s strikingly handsome face and swallowed hard, “Well, you’ve got something going on, but just a little. I’m not interested in you.”
Su Ze took the cigarette from his mouth and rolled his eyes. “Then why did you just swallow your saliva? Don’t get any ideas about me. Messing with a minor is a death sentence.”
“You’re such a legal illiterate. At most, you’d get ten years. Only those under fourteen could face the death penalty, and you’re seventeen. You probably couldn’t even sue me.” Situ Jiajia also rolled her eyes and turned to Uesugi Akizuki. “Do you want it or not? My arm’s getting tired.”
Situ Jiajia had her reasons for giving Uesugi Akizuki the phone. She wanted to ship the couple, and subtle hints would do the trick. The secret technique of the Rakshasa could only deduce the broad strokes; the finer details remained hazy.
As long as she acted with discretion, she wouldn’t be discovered. Moreover, she had obtained a mysterious object from a beggar-like old mystic, something that seemed to obscure the workings of fate, making the Rakshasa’s technique even harder to detect.
Uesugi Akizuki stared at the phone, torn. She knew it would make it easier to contact Su Ze, but Su Ze seemed reluctant to let her take it.
Su Ze noticed the longing in her eyes. He took the phone, examined it, and confirmed it was just an ordinary device with no issues. He then handed it to little Akizuki. “Take it.”
Situ Jiajia asked, somewhat unrealistically, “Shouldn’t you pull out a hundred thousand from your pocket, toss it to me, and say domineeringly, ‘I never owe anyone favors. Since my woman likes it, I’ll buy it.’?”
Su Ze was speechless. “If you’re giving it away, why should I buy it?”
“Besides, this phone probably costs less than ten thousand. Why would I spend a hundred thousand on it? Am I out of my mind, or do I have too much money?”
“You must have read too many domineering CEO novels.”
“Who carries a hundred thousand in cash in their pocket?”
Seeing Su Ze’s matter-of-fact attitude, she felt a bit lost. “Is he really this shameless?”
It wasn’t that he was shameless; it was just that Su Ze was too pragmatic. She had indeed read too many domineering CEO novels.
But Su Ze, a man who exuded dominance in battle and was incredibly handsome, should have fulfilled at least some of her fantasies.
Even though Su Ze’s words were reasonable and realistic, why did they still give her a sense of shamelessness?
Su Ze smiled faintly. “I can be shameless, but I can’t be broke.”
Situ Jiajia was stunned.
What she didn’t know was that Su Ze’s seemingly joking remark was his heartfelt truth. He had been scarred by poverty as a child.
He had experienced three days of drinking tap water in a park to stave off hunger. He had stolen food with his younger brother, only to be beaten for it. Later, he stopped his brother from joining him and stole alone.
Even as a thief, he had principles. He only stole food, never money, and he kept track of which families he had stolen from.
At fifteen, he ventured into a mysterious realm, fought for money, and then repaid every family he had wronged.
From a young age, he understood the importance of money far better than his peers.
So he wouldn’t waste it, nor would he be foolish enough to spend a hundred thousand on a phone worth less than ten thousand, just to show off in front of little Akizuki, who had little understanding of money.
“By the way, what’s your deal? When you ran into me last time, it wasn’t just because you were into me, was it?” Su Ze suddenly asked.
“My deal? You’re already checking my background?” Situ Jiajia tilted her head. “Then I’ll check yours too. Let’s grab our household registers and head to the civil affairs bureau. After we register, I’ll give you a thorough background check.”
“…” Su Ze was speechless. Talking to this woman was exhausting. He was already unserious, but she matched him perfectly. He had met his match.
Little Akizuki listened to their back-and-forth, utterly confused. She understood every word, but when put together, it was like listening to gibberish.
Though she had gained more common sense and wasn’t as naive as before, this kind of divine dialogue still overloaded her brain.
Su Ze shrugged, deciding not to engage further. “Thanks for the phone. We’ll be going now.”
Hand in hand, Su Ze and little Akizuki walked down the empty street. The warm sunlight, like a smiling angel spreading its wings, embraced the silver-haired boy and the wine-red-haired girl, a match made in heaven.
The trees on either side of the road cast dappled shadows. Su Ze sneakily reached behind the girl and tapped her shoulder. Little Akizuki turned around, puzzled, but saw no one. As she turned back, Su Ze pinched her soft, pale cheek, amused by her reaction, and chuckled warmly.
The girl stared at the boy in confusion. His smile was like sunlight breaking through after rain, warm and flowing into her heart.
Somehow, as if infected by his warmth, the little red-haired shrine maiden in her red-and-white miko outfit also smiled under the gentle orange light. Her amber eyes met the boy’s as he pinched her cheek, and she smiled back, her expression innocent and pure.
“Kiss! Kiss!” Situ Jiajia whispered excitedly, her blood pressure rising as she recorded the scene on her phone.
Unfortunately, the two walked further and further away, disappearing from her sight without any further progress.
Her eyes burned with frustration, and she gritted her teeth so hard that her phone creaked under her grip, the screen cracking.
It felt like she was ready for something, but then it just didn’t happen. What could she do? She was nothing!
After calming down for a while, Situ Jiajia smiled faintly. As long as that phone was in Uesugi Akizuki’s hands, everything was set!
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
