Shen Yi neither agreed nor refused, but instead handed over one end of the clothes,
"Here, hold this end, let's wring it out together."
Cheng Jun was startled but instinctively began to follow Shen Yi's movements.
Working together, they quickly wrung out one piece of clothing after another, and Cheng Jun went to get some hangers.
Shen Yi had cleared away the clutter from the front door, creating a large open space.
A thin wire stretched from the doorframe all the way to the streetlight by the road.
Cheng Jun hung the clothes on the wire with spaces between them; with the abundant sunlight, they should be dry by afternoon.
This way of drying clothes would have certainly been considered an eyesore before.
But now there was no one around to enforce such rules.
"Work should be done gradually, don't overexert yourself. Alright, I'm heading out."
Shen Yi shook the water from his hands, opened the car door, got in, started the engine - all in one smooth motion.
Cheng Jun unconsciously waved,
"Be careful, come back soon."
Shen Yi didn't answer, just honked the horn in acknowledgment.
As she watched the car disappear, Cheng Jun stood motionless.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps between the hangers onto her face, creating a golden-red glow with gently swaying halos.
Suddenly, Cheng Jun smiled, as if remembering something.
The sunlight seemed to lose its color in that instant.
It was a shame no one was there to appreciate this breathtaking scene.
...
Three days later, in the afternoon.
Shen Yi parked the car and called out as soon as he got out,
"Cheng Jun, Cheng Jun, come quick and see what I found!"
Hearing his voice, Cheng Jun came down from upstairs, where she had been sorting through the vegetable seeds Shen Yi had found earlier, planning to plant them in a few days once the ground was prepared.
"What is it? What good things did you find?"
She asked with a smile as she descended the stairs.
"Come, look!"
Shen Yi enthusiastically opened the truck bed, revealing two black metal machines.
"They're diesel generators!"
Cheng Jun's eyes lit up with excitement as she rushed to Shen Yi's side.
Shen Yi chuckled and patted the machines,
"Yeah, took quite an effort to bring them back."
Over the past few days, besides looking for seeds, Shen Yi had visited all the locations Cheng Jun had previously marked.
Today, he finally discovered these two generators in a residential property's electrical room.
According to their labels, they were 220-volt generators.
Shen Yi estimated each one weighed at least eighty to a hundred kilograms, extremely heavy.
"Step back a bit, I'll move them to the basement. Whether we'll have power depends on these."
Shen Yi announced as he unfolded a four-wheeled cart from the truck.
Without this tool, he wouldn't have been able to bring them back no matter how hard he tried.
Then Shen Yi went to the back of the truck, flexed his arms with his muscles tensed, and with a mighty effort, lifted the generator.
Turning slowly, he carefully lowered the machine onto the cart.
Cheng Jun stepped back a bit, knowing she couldn't help much with this.
Although Shen Yi's movements were steady, the bulging veins in his neck showed just how strenuous this was.
Just these few movements had Shen Yi dripping with sweat.
If not for his gift of quick physical recovery, allowing him to rest between lifts, he would never have been able to get them out of the electrical room.
After much effort, they finally managed to move both diesel generators to the basement.
This had been the original plan.
These machines were extremely noisy, and keeping them below would muffle the sound.
In the dim basement, Shen Yi crouched in front of the machine, examining and tinkering with it.
Cheng Jun held a flashlight to provide light.
Neither of them knew much about generators.
They had grown accustomed to powerful search engines and had become lazy about learning and memorizing certain knowledge.
After all, whenever they had questions or needed answers, a simple search would suffice.
Shen Yi was slightly better off, as his neighbor had owned a generator when he was young.
He remembered it was simple: add oil, connect the battery, turn on the switch.
Before moving them, Shen Yi had checked that there was fuel inside.
But now, after pressing the switch repeatedly, there was no response; the machine wouldn't start.
Their entire power plan depended on these generators - if they couldn't figure this out, they'd be in trouble.
Fortunately, Shen Yi had brought back the instruction manual.
"Move the flashlight closer."
Using the flashlight's beam, their heads nearly touching as they studied the manual, they finally understood.
To start with the switch, the generator needed power from a battery, but the battery Shen Yi had brought back had been idle for who knows how long and was probably dead.
There was one other option: manual rope start.
After putting down the manual,
They suddenly realized how close they were, close enough to hear each other's breathing.
Shen Yi coughed and stood up, moving to the front of the generator,
"I'll try the rope start."
In the darkness, her expression wasn't visible, but she softly acknowledged and directed the flashlight toward Shen Yi's position.
Following the manual, Shen Yi added coolant and disconnected the mains power.
Then, taking a deep breath, he gripped the starter rope and pulled hard.
The machine made a muffled sound, as if awakening from sleep, but quickly fell silent again.
Shen Yi guessed the engine speed wasn't high enough and pulled the rope again without losing heart.
After several attempts, the speed finally picked up.
With a ding, the indicator light came on.
The generator roared to life, officially starting up!
Shen Yi and Cheng Jun exchanged glances, both seeing the joy in each other's eyes.
"Cheng Jun, quick, go get the power strip and camping lights."
"Oh, okay."
Cheng Jun quickly agreed, handed the flashlight to Shen Yi, and ran out.
She returned shortly with the items.
Shen Yi took them and connected the power strip to the battery.
Then he brought out the camping lights they'd found at the outdoor goods store.
All these lights needed charging, and none had worked when they brought them back.
With nervous anticipation, Shen Yi plugged in the lights.
Seeing the green indicator light up, he immediately pressed the switch.
"Click."
With a crisp sound, incandescent light filled the entire basement.
The sudden bright light made them squint.
But they hardly noticed this discomfort, their hearts overflowing with joy.
They spontaneously embraced, smiling happily at the bright light source.
Arms tightening, Cheng Jun felt her feet leave the ground as she was spun around.
The soft, delicate body in his arms made Shen Yi's heart race, his thoughts wandering.
Cheng Jun also sensed something unusual, and blushing, she avoided Shen Yi's gaze,
"Put me down quickly..."
"Oh."
Shen Yi immediately set Cheng Jun down, and they awkwardly separated.
The generator's hum marked a small step for humanity in this apocalyptic world.
But it was a giant leap for them into the electrical age.
This beam of light meant more than just electricity.
It was a ray of hope illuminating their future life.
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.
lan, the Luo family, tracked him down - along with the babies in their arms. Mo Xuan stared pensively at the paternity test results from over a dozen top institutions, both domestic and international, showing a 99.99% match between himself and the two baby girls. At 23, Mo Xuan, a doctoral student, had become the father of two three-year-old children. The kicker? The mothers weren't even the same person! He gradually realized he was being lured step by step into an elaborate trap designed by these two yandere sisters. "Be good, little Xuan. Sister's life belongs to you entirely." "Brother, if you try to run away, I'll have no choice but to tie you up." Mo Xuan: "Do whatever you want, ladies. I give up."
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
] [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!"
