[Lakeside Clearing — September 16, 6:50 PM]
"Has anyone been to the moon?"
Zhang Tingting stared at him.
For the past hour, she'd watched him stub out five cigarettes and light a sixth while dismantling his own ego with surgical precision — his relationships, his failures, all of it laid out on the grass between them like evidence.
And now he was asking about the moon.
"To the... moon?" She repeated it slowly, like testing whether the words would make more sense the second time. They didn't.
Lin Feng's hand was still raised toward the sky, fingers spread against the bright disc hanging above the treeline. The cigarette had gone cold between his other fingers, and the evening breeze off the lake carried the last of its smoke sideways into nothing.
"Yes. The moon." His voice was quiet, almost gentle. "Has anyone ever gone there?"
Is he... serious right now?
She searched his face for the punchline, for the grin that would tell her this was some bizarre joke after an hour of emotional surgery. But his eyes were steady, and his hand was still half-raised toward the sky, and there was nothing in his expression that looked like humor.
He was serious.
"I — no?" Zhang Tingting's brow furrowed, and she shifted on the grass to face him more directly. "Nobody's been to the moon, Lin Feng. That's... no one's ever done that."
His eyes widened — just for a second, just enough for her to catch it — and then his hand dropped from the sky and he stared at the lake without blinking.
Before Zhang Tingting could respond, movement rustled from the treeline behind them.
----------------------
Lin Weiwei stepped out of the treeline first. Xiao Yue came out beside her half a step later, both of them stopped at the same time with leaves still caught in their hair.
Bark dust streaked Lin Weiwei's left sleeve, and a twig hung from the hem of Xiao Yue's jacket that she hadn't noticed yet.
"Big Brother!" Lin Weiwei brushed her hands on her skirt and crossed the clearing toward him. "We've been looking all over for you, do you know how big this district is—"
"We checked the campus first," Xiao Yue said, pulling a leaf from her shoulder. "Then the mansion grounds. Then the surrounding streets."
"We've been at it for like an hour," Lin Weiwei added.
Zhang Tingting turned on the grass and scooted sideways, patting the ground beside her. "Oh good, you're here! I was just about to text you guys—"
Lin Feng didn't move.
His eyes went to Lin Weiwei first — to her sleeve, where bark dust had ground into the fabric from elbow to wrist. Then to Xiao Yue, who was pulling a leaf from her shoulder with steady hands and even breathing. No flushed cheeks on either of them, no sweat at the hairline.
Been at it for an hour, huh.
The evening breeze came off the lake and pressed against his back, carrying toward the treeline like it had been doing all night.
So every word I said out here went straight into those trees. And you two came out of those same trees.
He glanced at the gap where they'd come out, then looked away.
Well, at least I now know that you two are terrible liars.
"Since when do you smoke?"
Lin Weiwei was already beside him. She plucked the dead cigarette from between his fingers before he could respond, held it up between two fingertips like something she'd found on a bathroom floor, and flicked it into the grass.
"Today was my first time," Lin Feng said.
"Your first time." Lin Weiwei sat down on his left and folded her arms. "You smoked like half a pack on your first time!"
"I only smoked six." Lin Feng smiled, looking at Lin Weiwei as if he got her. "And how did you know I smoked half a pack already?"
"Don't you dare deflect things, Big Brother. Smoking is still bad. Six sticks are not better, not even close."
Xiao Yue settled onto the grass on his right, close enough that her knee almost touched his. Zhang Tingting looked down at the shrinking gap between the three of them, then quietly shifted herself another half-meter out.
Okay. I'm over here now, I guess.
"Well, I'm not asking you to stop," Xiao Yue said, her eyes on the lake instead of him. "At least cut it down. It's not good for you."
Lin Weiwei's head whipped toward Xiao Yue, her jaw tight. "Hey, I'm the fiancée here. Don't you dare butt in to our affairs, you stalker bitch."
"Oh, just a fiancée." Xiao Yue didn't even look at her. Her eyes stayed on the lake, one hand resting on her knee. "What about it? Are you two married already? And besides, if you got married already, you can still file for divorce, right?"
"Okay… okay, I'll listen to both of your advice."
Lin Weiwei's mouth was already open for the next volley, but the words died when Lin Feng's voice landed. She closed it, shot one last look at Xiao Yue, and then wrapped both hands around his arm and held on. Xiao Yue brushed a piece of grass from her skirt and said nothing else.
The silence lasted about three seconds before the evening air settled over all four of them — the lake lapping softly against the shore, the last of the cigarette smoke dissolving above their heads.
Zhang Tingting looked left at Lin Weiwei pressed against Lin Feng's side, then right at Xiao Yue sitting close enough that her knee was almost touching his. Then she looked down at herself, half a meter further out than she'd been just a minute or two ago.
When did I end up all the way over here?
----------------------
A pause settled over the four of them. The lake reflected the city lights now, scattered and trembling across the surface, and the moon had climbed higher above the treeline — bright enough to cast faint shadows in the grass.
Xiao Yue's gaze drifted upward.
"Right after we found you, I heard you ask something about the moon. What about it?"
Lin Feng glanced at her, then looked away. He leaned back on both hands and tilted his head toward the sky, keeping his voice casual.
"I was just thinking about it earlier. It's right there, you know? Right above us." He lifted his chin toward the bright disc hanging over the lake. "And nobody's ever gone up there. Doesn't that seem strange to you?"
Lin Weiwei leaned forward to look past Xiao Yue at him, her brow creased. "Strange? Big Brother, why would anyone go to the moon?"
"I don't know? Maybe because of some top secret project? Or perhaps for glory?" Lin Feng scratched the back of his head and let out a small laugh. "Well, to be honest, I'm not so sure since I'm not an attentive student. If anything, I'm a terrible student and I spent the last four years chasing Qingxue. Not to mention, my memories aren't that good either."
Lin Weiwei's expression softened for just a second. She wrapped her arms tighter around his arm and lowered her head.
"Fair enough," Xiao Yue said. She was still looking up at the moon. "But you're right about that. Ever since the twelve Imperial Families formed the Imperial Federation some fourteen hundred years ago, some top secret missions did exist. And even during the Great War and the era of the Benevolent Emperor, space missions had been attempted."
Lin Feng shifted on the grass to face her, elbows on his knees.
Keep talking.
Lin Weiwei's hands curled in her lap, but she said nothing. Zhang Tingting glanced between the three of them, her lips slightly parted.
"The first attempts were with the Benevolent Emperor during the Golden Age, about sixteen hundred years ago. All the rocket launches failed, though. One made it past the atmosphere, but they lost contact with it after that."
Xiao Yue paused, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, and continued.
"The next attempts were during the Great War between the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Xia Dynasties and the tributary states, the era of the Romance of the Three Xia Kingdoms. The plan was to weaponize space. They all failed too, but that's when they figured out the pattern — every failed launch was caused by electronic failure."
Zhang Tingting's lips parted. She'd never heard any of this.
"After the Great War ended and the Imperial Federation was born, there were a few more secret launches. But no one was ever able to solve the electronics problem."
"Why secret?" Lin Feng asked.
"So you really don't know that much, huh..." Xiao Yue glanced at him sideways, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly. "Well, I understand. It's because of the Imperial Federation Treaty. To make sure nothing could spark another war like the Great War, the Church, the Academia, and all twelve Imperial Families agreed to freeze all technological research and development."
Lin Feng nodded slowly, his face blank.
A technology freeze. Fourteen hundred years of enforced stagnation. That's why nobody's been to the moon — they're not allowed to try.
And then there's the other problem. An electronics problem. The hardware bottleneck.
He looked at Xiao Yue — the 7-star heroine sitting on the grass beside him, casually reciting classified imperial history like bedtime stories she'd heard growing up.
Interesting.
Meanwhile, Lin Weiwei had been quiet through all of it, her fingers curled in her lap.
I knew something was wrong with that stalker bitch! No normal person would buy a plot of land in front of the Lin Family mansion and build a coffee shop there. Or have all information of her expunged from all government servers.
So… are you from that family?
Regardless, even if you're the empress yourself, I never give my Big Brother to you. Over my dead body, bitch.
Lin Weiwei filed the information away and leaned toward Lin Feng, tugging lightly at his sleeve.
"Big Brother, it's evening already and you're tired. How about we go and get dinner?"
Lin Feng rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. Let's head back to the mansion."
"The mansion?" Lin Weiwei tilted her head. "Big Brother, your bedroom door is still broken. Qingwan's people smashed it in two nights ago, remember? The frame is cracked and everything. You can't even close it."
Right. The battering ram and my battered door.
"Then where—"
"We could go to your penthouse." Lin Weiwei said it casually, already looking at her nails. "You know, the one in the Zhao Building? It's closer anyway."
The penthouse. I have a penthouse. I keep forgetting I have a penthouse.
"Yeah," Lin Feng said. "Good idea. Let's do that."
Lin Weiwei turned to Xiao Yue, her chin lifting just slightly, the corners of her mouth curling up.
Xiao Yue's hand stilled on her skirt.
Zhang Tingting perked up. "Oh, the Zhao Building? I've been there before. I helped Big Brother pick out some of the furniture when—"
"See?" Lin Weiwei's smile widened. "Even Tingting knows about it."
She let that sit for exactly one second before standing up and brushing the grass from her skirt.
Xiao Yue stood up after her, her face perfectly still. She didn't look at Lin Weiwei. She didn't look at Zhang Tingting. She looked at the lake, and her hands smoothed down her skirt once before falling to her sides.
Fine. You win this round.
Lin Feng pushed himself to his feet and pulled out his car keys, then paused. He looked at the keys in his hand, then at the three women standing around him.
I don't actually know where this penthouse is.
"Tingting." He tossed the keys to her. "You drive."
Zhang Tingting caught them with both hands and turned toward the parking lot without hesitating.
Lin Weiwei's eyes flicked to Xiao Yue. Xiao Yue's eyes flicked to Lin Weiwei.
If I ride with Big Brother, she loses her mind. If she rides with him, I lose mine.
Lin Weiwei broke the look first and turned toward the SUV. Xiao Yue fell into step beside her without a word.
Meanwhile, Zhang Tingting slid into the driver's seat of Lin Feng's two-seater and adjusted the mirrors. Lin Feng dropped into the passenger side and leaned his head back against the headrest.
Two vehicles pulled out of the lakeside parking lot and merged onto the evening road — the two-seater ahead, the SUV following at a distance that was exactly close enough and exactly far enough.
----------------------
[Long Tian's Bedspace Apartment — 7:02 PM]
The door stuck on the frame like it always did. Long Tian shouldered it open, stepped inside, and kicked off his shoes.
Four meters by two and a half. A floor mattress pushed against the wall, sheets bunched from this morning. One folding table with a hot plate on it. An electric fan oscillating in the corner, clicking on every rotation. Clothes hung from a line strung above the bed — two shirts, a pair of pants, underwear drying in the stale air.
No fridge. No closet. No window that opened more than a crack.
He'd walked Su Qingxue to her dorm first, then Zhang Yuting to hers. Su Qingxue had leaned into him at the door, her hair brushing his jaw, her perfume still clinging to his collar. Zhang Yuting had squeezed his hand goodbye and held on two seconds longer than she needed to, her fingers warm and small inside his.
Su Qingxue's waist under his palm. Zhang Yuting's hip pressing against his in the café booth. The way Zhang Yuting's blouse had ridden up just slightly when she leaned into him, and he'd caught a glimpse of bare skin above her waistband that made his mouth go dry.
And now this!
The fan clicked. The shirts swayed. The ceiling was close enough to touch from the mattress.
He sat down on the edge of the mattress and stared at his hands — the same hands that had been on Qingxue's waist two hours ago, the same fingers that had brushed Yuting's cheek.
"What am I still doing here?" he muttered at the ceiling.
This room had been fine last week. Better than the group home. Better than the shared dormitory he couldn't afford. Better than the street.
But today he'd sat in leather seats with ambient music and two women pressed against him on either side. He'd ordered food without checking the price first. He'd left a tip without flinching.
And now I'm back here. Staring at my own underwear drying on a clothesline.
He opened the system.
----------------------
[HEROINE DASHBOARD — Current Status]
[System Level: 1]
[Conquest Points (CP): 3,400]
[Cash: ¥54,680]
[Unlocked Heroines: Tier 1 (Common Beauties)]
[Available Targets:]
[★★☆☆☆☆☆ Su Qingxue - The Campus Goddess (Affection: 72)]
[★☆☆☆☆☆☆ Zhang Yuting - The Class President (Affection: 80)]
[★☆☆☆☆☆☆ Wang Xiaoling - The Coffee Shop Girl (Affection: 61)]
[★☆☆☆☆☆☆ Liu Meimei - The Library Assistant (Affection: 61)]
[★☆☆☆☆☆☆ Chen Ruolan - The Art Student (Affection: 61)]
[Note: Higher tier heroines will unlock as you level up! Current heroines available: 5/3000]
[Active Missions]
[Chance Encounter: Zhang Tingting — In Progress]
[Reward: Zhang Tingting added to the roster. ¥10,000. 1000 CP]
----------------------
54,680 yuan.
Long Tian stared at the number and let out a long breath. Two months ago he'd been counting coins for instant noodles. Skipping meals so he could afford bus fare. Washing his two shirts in the sink because laundromats cost money.
Now he had more cash than most students saw in a year.
Then he looked at Zhang Yuting's profile. Long Tian smiled and raised his hand, as if to touch her name on the screen.
Yuting is at 80. Twenty points more and we will be together!
He leaned back on both hands and grinned at the ceiling.
Twenty points. That's maybe a couple more dates. One more good night where I hold her close and tell her she's the only woman in the world. Where she presses up against me and I can feel her heartbeat through her shirt.
And then she's mine. Completely.
Then, Su Qingxue at 72. She's harder to read than Yuting — quieter, more guarded. But when she leaned into me at the door tonight, her hair smelled like jasmine, and she closed her eyes like she felt safe.
I can wait for her. She's worth waiting for.
He closed their profiles and scrolled through the three untouched ones. Liu Meimei — the Library Assistant. Chen Ruolan — the Art Student. Both at base affection. Both just names on a screen.
He tapped Wang Xiaoling's profile.
----------------------
[Wang Xiaoling — The Coffee Shop Girl]
[★☆☆☆☆☆☆ — Common Beauty]
[Affection: 61 — Unlocked]
[Occupation: Barista, Moonlight Café]
[Background: Working to repay mother's medical debt. Current debt: ¥100,000]
----------------------
100,000 yuan of medical debt. And I'm sitting on 54,000 in cash.
He looked at that number for a long time.
That's someone's mother. Sick, maybe dying, and her daughter is pulling double shifts at a café to keep her alive.
And nobody helps. Nobody even notices. Those rich families sit in their mansions counting their billions, and girls like Xiaoling work themselves to death over 100,000 yuan that wouldn't cover one of their dinner parties.
That's the world I live in. People like the Lin family — born rich, born powerful, born with everything handed to them — they don't even see people like us. We're invisible to them. We're nothing.
But the system chose me! Not them!
Not some spoiled young master with silver hair and a trust fund!
Me!
54,000 isn't enough. But it's a start.
He sat up on the mattress, his jaw setting.
And when I meet her, I'm going to help her. Even if I have to eat instant noodles three times a day again. Even if I have to go back to skipping meals and washing my shirts in the sink.
I've been poor my whole life. I know how to survive on nothing. She shouldn't have to.
The system gave me this money for a reason. What's the point of having it if I can't use it to take care of the people who need me?
This world is broken. The people at the top don't deserve to be there. And one day, when I have real power — not just a system, but real influence — I'm going to change that. All of it.
Starting with Yuting. Then this one girl and her mother's medical bills.
I will make the world better for everyone!
He closed the profile and pulled up his mission log. The Chance Encounter notification for Zhang Tingting was still blinking — active, unresolved.
Zhang Tingting. One-star heroine. That's all the system's given me so far.
Well, I'll find out more when I meet her.
He scratched his jaw and stared at the ceiling, mapping out his week.
I'll find the Moonlight Café tomorrow, see what Xiaoling looks like in person. And Tingting... the system will point me to her when the time is right.
Four women. One week. It's all just timing.
The fan clicked past another rotation. A shirt brushed his shoulder from the line above.
Lin Feng.
The name had been rattling around in his head ever since he saw him yesterday — surfacing at the edges of every thought and every plan.
The second young master of the Lin family. Silver hair, cold eyes, and a reputation as a pathetic bootlicker that should have made him irrelevant.
Should have.
"So why do I keep thinking about you?" Long Tian said it to the ceiling, one arm behind his head.
The system hadn't flagged Lin Feng as a threat. No warnings, no alerts, no special notifications.
The system knows best. If he mattered, it would tell me.
And it hasn't said a word.
He closed the interface and lay back on the floor mattress. The ceiling was right there — stained plaster, a crack running corner to corner, the clothesline cutting across it with his meager wardrobe swaying in the fan's draft.
Today was the best day of my life.
Money in my account. Two beautiful women who kissed me goodnight. Everything falling into place, piece by piece, exactly the way it should.
This is what I was born for. This is what the system chose me for.
And tomorrow will be even better.
He picked up his phone from the mattress and opened his messages. Typed one to Qingxue first, then one to Yuting. Sent both without hesitating.
The replies came back almost immediately. Both of them. Within seconds of each other.
Long Tian smiled at his phone in the dim light of his 10-square-meter room.
Every single one of them will know my name.
Everyone shall know my name.
----------------------
[Underground Parking — Huanghe Financial Tower — 7:28 PM]
Zhang Tingting pulled the two-seater into the basement level and swung it neatly into a spot against the far wall. Engine off. Headlights out.
Lin Weiwei's SUV appeared ten seconds later, tires echoing through the concrete silence, and parked beside them.
Lin Feng stepped out and stopped.
The parking structure stretched out in every direction — hundreds of spaces marked by faded lines under buzzing fluorescent tubes. Concrete pillars in rows. Drainage stains on the floor. Emergency exits marked in green at the far walls.
Every space was empty.
Only two cars.
Lin Feng's sports car and Lin Weiwei's SUV in a garage that was built for hundreds.
The fluorescent hum bounced off the ceiling and came back as something hollow.
Zhang Tingting was already moving, keys in hand, walking toward the elevator bank at the center of the structure with the kind of autopilot stride that came from repetition. She didn't check directions. Didn't hesitate at the turn. Just walked.
Lin Weiwei fell into step behind her and said nothing. But her eyes followed Zhang Tingting's path like she was measuring it.
She knows this place better than I do.
Three elevators stood side by side in the lobby wall. Two on the left — standard residential, call buttons lit, tenant directories mounted beside each one. Floors 1 through 13, names listed in neat rows.
The third elevator sat apart on the right. No tenant directory. No call button. Just a keypad.
Zhang Tingting walked to it, punched in a code without looking, and the doors slid open.
Lin Feng followed her in. Lin Weiwei and Xiao Yue filed in after.
The interior was clean. Brushed steel walls, mirrored ceiling, soft lighting. And a panel of buttons that told a story.
B3, B2, B1. Then G through 13, each with a small nameplate beside it.
Then 99. 100.
With nothing in between.
Eighty-five floors reduced to a blank strip of brushed steel. No numbers. No nameplates. No evidence that floors 14 through 98 existed at all.
Zhang Tingting pressed 99.
The doors closed. The elevator hummed.
Xiao Yue's eyes moved across the panel. Down to B. Up past 13. The gap. 99. 100.
"Only thirteen floors?"
"They expected at least fifty by now." Lin Weiwei leaned against the back wall, arms crossed. "The building's not even a year old and it's already a disaster."
The counter read 4. Climbing.
Lin Weiwei glanced at Xiao Yue — almost casual.
"Big Brother's penthouse is the top two floors. Remember, Big Brother?" She didn't wait for an answer. "He bought it two months ago, during summer vacation. Well — I helped him buy the place and went into the auction sale as his representative. I also handled the paperwork."
8.9.
She examined her nails.
"The Zhaos originally wanted 30 million per floor but no one was willing to buy it at the time so they auctioned it instead. And I got both floors for 20 million each."
12.13.
The last floor with a nameplate. After that — nothing. The counter kept climbing through numbers that didn't correspond to anything on the panel.
17.22.28.
Xiao Yue's hand rested on the elevator rail. Her fingers were still. "So where did you get the money from? And why did you buy this place?"
"Lin Feng liquidated more than 25% of his shares despite my and Big Sister Qingwan's advice." Lin Weiwei wasn't looking at Xiao Yue anymore, but every word was aimed right at her. "And don't ask me why Big Brother wants this place. Ask him yourself. I don't want to say that person's name. Not now."
34.39.
"I'm talking to Lin Feng, not you!" Xiao Yue's voice cut across the elevator.
"Actually... I—" Lin Feng started.
"Well, I'm his fiancée, so you can talk to me instead." Lin Weiwei didn't even look at him. "I know quite a lot of things about my fiancé."
44.48.
After that quick exchange the two went quiet, only staring at each other while holding one of his arms.
Meanwhile, Lin Feng turned his gaze to the panel.
Twenty-six percent of my net worth. Gone. For an apartment in a ghost building owned by the family whose daughter hates me on instinct.
I do remember that during her birthday, the original Lin Feng in the novel gifted this penthouse to Su Qingxue…
Well, let's see what that Lin Feng has for this place...
55.61.67.
"Actually, I've been thinking about picking up the two floors below us as well." Lin Weiwei spoke again and said it the way someone might mention picking up groceries. "The Zhaos are getting desperate. Their white elephant is losing value and only incurring losses. Give it another six months and I could probably get them for half price."
73.79.84.
The conversation settled. Just the hum of the motor and the counter ticking through floors that had never seen a human footstep.
Zhang Tingting watched the numbers from the front of the elevator, hands clasped in front of her.
88.93.96.
"Maybe I should liquidate some of my shares as well and buy the next two floors below Big Brother's place. Maybe three, so no bitches can come to his place. What do you say Big Brother?"
"Oh? That's a good idea actually!" Xiao Yue's eyes lit up. "To prevent some whore from going to Lin Feng, maybe I should buy this entire—"
98. 99.
Ding!
The doors parted, and ninety-nine floors of empty building stretched beneath their feet.
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[End of Chapter 33]