Ning Yu carefully pondered this question.
After quite a while, she answered sincerely and directly:
"I would be sad."
She didn't hide her feelings, because that sensation had been very clear in the dream.
Shen Yiyue hadn't expected Ning Yu to be so straightforward; she had thought Ning Yu would beat around the bush.
"So... am I an important person to you too?"
She tentatively asked a question she had always wanted to ask but never dared to.
"Of course."
This time Ning Yu didn't hesitate, but nodded directly.
Shen Yiyue, as if she had been waiting for this answer for a long time, suddenly covered her mouth, looking like she was about to cry.
"Did I say something wrong? Why are you suddenly..."
Ning Yu, seeing her like this, thought she had made her sad.
"No, no, I just... I'm just really happy..."
Shen Yiyue quickly shook her head.
"I just received an answer I didn't dare hope for, so I'm very happy."
She showed a genuine smile and said to Ning Yu:
"So I won't disappear, and you can't disappear from my side either."
She wrapped both hands around Ning Yu's arm, acting coquettishly, making a sort of promise with Ning Yu.
"Alright."
Ning Yu agreed and turned to look at her, noticing Shen Yiyue's black hair was somewhat messy from sleep, and reached out to gently tuck it behind her ear.
This revealed her cute ear, which was already slightly red at the base.
Shen Yiyue seemed to realize her shy reaction had been noticed, so she turned her head away again, feeling too shy to look at Ning Yu.
However, seeing how gently Ning Yu helped arrange her hair made her heart feel warm.
Although Ning Yu usually appeared cold, now she could occasionally see emotions flowing from her heart.
She didn't want to be greedy; Ning Yu was already changing, and that was enough. She could and was willing to wait.
The night was still long, and Ning Yu didn't return to her own room to rest.
They chatted casually until the sky began to lighten, when Ning Yu realized Shen Yiyue had accidentally fallen asleep while listening.
She looked at Shen Yiyue's cute appearance as she slept sitting up and shook her head with a smile.
This silly girl didn't say anything even when she was tired, just forcing herself to stay awake to talk with her.
Ning Yu gently helped her lie down, covered her with a blanket, and then left her room.
Now she no longer had any doubts.
Because she had an unprecedented sense of existence.
......
Several days later.
Ning Yu sat in an empty apartment, waiting for Lin Hao.
He had contacted her again today, seemingly having made new discoveries. Ning Yu guessed it was about the virus metadata information.
Ning Yu had arrived at the agreed apartment early in the morning, waiting for Lin Hao.
Today was also Ji Mengyao's birthday. Last time, Shen Yiyue said Ji Mengyao had invited them over for drinks and dinner, so they would be going to Ji Mengyao's place tonight.
She and Shen Yiyue had both prepared simple birthday gifts for her.
Ning Yu was wearing the black baseball cap that Ji Mengyao had given her last time, though this time she hadn't tied her hair in twin tails. Ning Yu thought it was too troublesome, so she simply let her silver hair fall loose from behind the cap.
However, this did nothing to hide her beauty; in fact, her charm had been increasing lately.
After waiting a while longer, Ning Yu checked the time and noticed it was about 30 minutes past the agreed time, which seemed a bit odd.
Lin Hao was never late, and she usually arrived about 15 minutes early.
Such a long delay today was quite unusual.
Ning Yu narrowed her eyes in thought and waited another 10 minutes. By now, she had a thoroughly bad feeling.
Could it be... he had discovered something extraordinary?
This strong intuition made Ning Yu absolutely certain that something might have happened to Lin Hao.
She didn't hesitate any longer, left a note on the table in their special code that only the two of them could understand, and then climbed out through the window.
......
In a dark room, Lin Hao groggily woke up.
He felt a splitting pain in the back of his head, and his whole body felt dizzy with a strong sense of vertigo.
Where was he?
He touched the back of his head, and immediately felt something wet and warm, which alarmed him.
Looking at his hand, it was covered in blood.
His head must have been struck by some heavy object and was now bleeding, which was a very dangerous situation.
He struggled to stand up, having just pulled in his outstretched legs and trying to use his core muscles to rise.
"Bang!"
Intense light suddenly blazed on, making his eyes blur, forcing him to shield them with his hand.
"You're awake?"
A man's cold voice rang out.
Lin Hao's eyes hadn't adjusted yet, making it impossible to see who was there, but hearing that voice felt incredibly familiar.
"Yan Xing?"
Lin Hao spoke the person's name, and his eyes finally slowly adjusted, revealing a man wearing the same research team clothes as him.
He had short hair and slightly chubby cheeks, looking honest and simple, but his eyes now held cruelty and playfulness.
"What did you do to me? Wasn't I supposed to be in the team..."
Yan Xing was his colleague from the same research team, and like him, one of Zhuang Wugou's right-hand men.
However, Lin Hao's knowledge and talent far exceeded Yan Xing's, so Zhuang Wugou often favored Lin Hao, giving him many privileges and important tasks.
"I never thought you would do such a stupid thing."
Yan Xing said with a gloomy smile.
"Wh...what?!"
Lin Hao was shocked, not understanding what stupid thing he was referring to.
But he had indeed been keeping secrets from the Ark Organization, researching the virus serum's secrets, and had left a backdoor in the system database machine.
"You thought no one knew what you were doing, but old Zhuang discovered you long ago."
"I thought I had no hope of being valued and would have to work under you, following your orders."
"You, you, you just handed over this great opportunity to me? Hahaha!"
Yan Xing blurted out everything, seeming delighted at Lin Hao's misfortune.
"What... what are you talking about? What do you mean working under me, what opportunity?"
Lin Hao felt a chill in his heart, knowing he had been exposed. He hadn't expected Zhuang Wugou to have discovered him so early, so why act against him only now?
But he really didn't understand what Yan Xing was talking about, what opportunity, what about being above or below.
"You're still pretending?!"
Yan Xing seemed triggered by Lin Hao's questions, gritting his teeth and saying viciously:
"All your hard work and research, trying to curry favor, wasn't it just to gain old Zhuang's trust and become the second-in-command of the base! Stop acting like a good person!"
Lin Hao looked at him and finally seemed to understand what he was talking about.
Unfortunately, he had never thought about any of these things. Everything he had done was for his wife, Lin Xiaolu.
He just wanted to avenge her with his own hands.

close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"

e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”

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."

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.