"Come in."
Shen Yi stepped aside and let her in.
Cheng Jun entered the room and looked around curiously.
"Have a seat. My place isn't as nice as yours, a bit smaller," Shen Yi said, guiding her to the sofa while he sat on a chair by the table.
Cheng Jun sat on the sofa, her hands resting on her knees as she glanced around.
Once seated, her loose T-shirt revealed her fair and delicate collarbone, which seemed deep enough to hold a handful of water. Her long, slender legs reflected the light, almost blindingly white, and her bare feet in flip-flops unconsciously curled her tender toes.
"It's quite clean," she commented after looking around.
"The place is small, and there’s not much stuff, so it looks tidy," Shen Yi replied casually, glancing at the room he hadn’t lived in for long.
Cheng Jun pointed to a paper bag on the table and said,
"Try this, I... I made it."
"Sure," Shen Yi replied, taking a piece and putting it in his mouth. After chewing for a while, he nodded in approval,
"Not bad, it's delicious."
Cheng Jun's eyes lit up with a hint of hesitation,
"Really?"
She had been practicing her cooking skills recently. Being naturally smart and eager to learn, her progress had even surprised the housekeeper who taught her.
"Of course," Shen Yi said sincerely. The cookies were sweet but not cloying, no worse than those sold in stores.
Cheng Jun smiled, a genuine smile that blended with her inner expectations, forming a sense of joy.
Seeing her efforts recognized by Shen Yi, she felt it was all worth it.
Even this small sweetness was something she wanted to share only with him.
Shen Yi was almost dazzled by her smile.
"Ding~"
A notification sound came from Shen Yi’s phone.
He opened it and saw that Fu Nanzhi had arrived home and was letting him know she was safe.
He instinctively smiled and sent back a "received" emoji.
Cheng Jun's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and her happiness seemed to fade instantly.
She vaguely guessed something, her lips twitching as if she wanted to say something but held back.
The atmosphere quickly cooled, and not long after, Cheng Jun excused herself. Shen Yi stood up and saw her out.
After she left, Shen Yi walked to the bed and lay down.
He sighed softly and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.
...
The next morning, the sunlight was pleasant, and Shen Yi went out for his usual run.
Just as he exited the neighborhood, a car pulled up beside him.
The window rolled down, and Cheng Jun, wearing sunglasses, greeted him.
Shen Yi waved back. One headed to work, the other to jog, and they went their separate ways.
Watching the taillights of the car, Shen Yi shook his head. A brand-new Porsche in such a modest neighborhood seemed out of place.
Preoccupied with thoughts, Shen Yi only ran for half an hour this time, grabbed a quick breakfast on the roadside, and headed home.
After freshening up, he sat down and pulled out his laptop to start a new day of simulations.
Several web pages were open on the laptop, all containing knowledge he had picked out the night before to study.
A screen unfolded, and Shen Yi clicked on [Text Simulation].
He skipped a long list of instructions and prepared to start the matching process.
"Dating Assistant Reminder: Text Simulation is a reality-based simulation that randomly retrieves players' surroundings for suitable targets. Two targets will be selected, and you can choose one to pursue."
...
...
"Begin matching?"
"Begin matching!"
[Searching...]
"Detected passive gaming behavior!"
"Warning: Passive gaming may lead to unknown risks. Please proceed with caution."
[Penalty: Number of matched targets reduced from 2 to 1.]
[Matching successful!]
Shen Yi's eyes widened in shock at the information before him.
"What?!"
His brilliant idea had barely been used once before it was doomed to fail.
From the system's warnings and penalties, it was clear that exploiting bugs wasn’t possible.
This was a dating simulation game, and it was best not to stray from the main theme.
Clearly, what he had done in yesterday’s simulation was considered slacking off by the system.
"Now I can’t freeload, and I’m being punished..."
Since the system had set these rules, Shen Yi had no choice but to accept them.
The unfortunate part was that his options for pursuing characters had narrowed. From now on, no matter who the system randomly selected, he’d have to grit his teeth and go along with it.
As for the unknown risks mentioned in the warning, Shen Yi didn’t want to test them. He didn’t want to risk losing the system altogether.
There was no use dwelling on it. For now, he had to focus on seriously completing this simulation with the selected target.
With that in mind, Shen Yi prepared to look at the character the system had matched him with.
Name: Shu Yunyi
Gender: Female
Age: 34
Charm: 91
Cup: E
Marital Status: Single
Number of Dates: 7
Experience: 0
Preferences: Aloof, Travel (Details require unlock with pursuit points)
Overall Rating: 94
"This is..."
Shen Yi was stunned, his gaze unfocused.
Despite this being another highly-rated character, Shen Yi felt little joy.
Because he knew her.
Shu Yunyi—such a distant name, or perhaps not so distant, as she had been one of the youngest lecturers during Shen Yi’s university days.
She had also been a prominent figure on campus back then.
A beautiful lecturer in her late twenties, kind-hearted, with a great figure, a gentle voice, and strong expertise.
A single photo of her could set the campus forum ablaze.
She was the object of admiration for countless students, including Shen Yi at the time.
In the naive days of youth, a figure like her had entered their lives, radiating charm effortlessly.
Though unintentional, she had left a profound mark in everyone’s memories, like ribbons of beauty fluttering in their minds.
"It’s her. She’s probably a professor by now," Shen Yi muttered to himself.
The last time he had seen her before graduating, she had already been an associate professor, qualified to mentor graduate students.
Shen Yi’s gaze lingered on the "Single" status, feeling a bit dazed.
"Didn’t I hear she had a boyfriend? She’s 34 now and still unmarried?"
This was something Shen Yi had heard from his seniors. Back then, many had lamented, feeling as though they had all collectively lost their chance.
Now, she was a "leftover woman," still unattached.
Shen Yi looked at the glowing [Start Simulation] button below, and his memories slowly came alive.
"Pursue her?"
[Selected: Shu Yunyi]
[Simulation begins!]
[You are Shen Yi, a 25-year-old high-quality male, physically strong, energetic, handsome, and outstanding, ranking among the best in the crowd.]
[Your goal is to find Shu Yunyi and successfully pursue her.]
[After some thought, you realize you actually know her, though you’re unsure of her current situation.]
[You’ve come up with an idea on how to find her, and based on this clue, you decide to...]
A. Use your college student’s naive wisdom and charge ahead recklessly.
B. Seek out a senior who stayed at the university for clues, letting a familiar face guide you.
C. Put up a banner at the school gate to find her, accusing her of abandoning you.
D. Take free action.
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
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...
