Another day with no customers seeking help.

Lu Feng powered up his laptop and launched his daily gaming session—miHoYo’s latest blockbuster. Complaints spilled out instantly.

"Why’s leveling up so slow?"

"Stamina gone before fifty meters? Are you some out-of-shape couch potato from the Great Middle Kingdom taking a PE test?"

"With this massive map, can’t NPCs just give clear instructions once? I’ve passed the same city gate a dozen times for one quest—seriously!"

"What soul does a 'masterpiece' have if you can’t even see the leggings right?"

Fuming, Lu Feng clicked the single gacha pull.

A violet-haired girl in a purple dress, twin tails swaying, appeared.

"Can’t I get a burly guy for once? Real men don’t play female characters—real men play men!" he grumbled.

Still, a five-star unit. He reluctantly took her climbing. "Camera angle all the way down," he muttered.

After hours of struggle—drowning ten times swimming, plummeting ten times off walls, smashed ten times by robots—he finally hit Level 13.

His secondhand laptop’s GPU burned hot. He touched the casing, jerked his hand back slightly, sighed, closed the game, and opened the backend of a pink-themed writing site.

Might as well try writing. With Yuzi now living here, he should step up.

Three comments awaited. A flicker of joy—*Readers already? Am I going god-tier?*

He opened them:

"First!"

"Second!"

"Followed & favorited—pls return visit!"

"Return visit? Like hell! Do I look like someone who begs for reciprocal follows and favorites? An author this brilliant—would *I* PY with a total nobody?"

Righteously indignant, he clicked the avatar, liked and favorited the novel, and typed: "Reciprocated."

He knew it was useless. But single-digit favorites felt painfully pathetic.

Yuzi’s ears drooped as she curled asleep on the sofa. Lu Feng leaned back, draped a blanket over her gently. Watching her pointed ears twitch now and then, he smiled softly, gaze drifting to the window.

*If only a wealthy loli would take me in…*

A knock.

Auntie Li, who ran the breakfast stall, stood at the door, placing a container on the table. "Haven’t seen you lately, Xiao Feng. Brought your tofu pudding."

"Been busy," Lu Feng said.

*(Truth: mostly just cuddling Yuzi.)*

"You’re a good kid—business’ll pick up!" she chuckled.

*Business…* Hard to put into words. Only two visitors lately: a rain-seeking girl, an older sister with heatiness. Gave away brown sugar ginger tea, traded chrysanthemum tea for a mural—zero income.

"Seen any girls lately?" Auntie Li asked.

Lu Feng shook his head.

"You’re at the age. Be proactive—you’ll find someone."

*Here we go. Elder marriage patrol.*

Two questions haunted every working adult: salary? girlfriend? *"So little pay? Go back to the village!" "No girlfriend? Your cousin’s kid’s already three!"*

Why chase girlfriends? Games bring joy; dating brings chaos. Why bother when keyboard, mouse, monitor, and screen make the perfect foursome?

…Though, not *all* women.

A beautiful, wealthy woman noticing his efforts, wrapping him in tender care, soothing his fragile heart, letting him game and keep a cat-girl?

Meet those terms—loli or mature beauty—and Lu Feng would sprint to the civil affairs bureau.

*But… possible?*

"Ah… I’ll look after things settle," he deflected vaguely.

"Good! I know two girls your age. Go on dates—eat, stroll, build hope," she said, patting his shoulder.

"Mm." Flat reply.

Dates? Strolls? Meals? Nope. Why fund a woman who might end up with another man?

After Auntie Li left, Lu Feng returned to gaming.

…

"What? The team sent to Lingjiang Town vanished?"

In the Nanzhou Heroic Guild office, an elderly man—gray-streaked hair, a jagged scar across his face, still powerfully built—frowned.

"I ordered investigation. You didn’t even assess their strength?" Shen Zhan leaned back, eyes sharp on the trembling reporter.

The failure cost them Luo Xuanming, a fourth-tier expert—and alerted the enemy.

"Tsk. No wonder Nanzhou Heroic Guild’s record keeps slipping. Can’t handle trivial matters?" A middle-aged man in the room sneered.

He was an official of Azure Feather Society—a Nanzhou psychic organization. Originally grassroots bounty hunters with abilities, now absorbed by the Eastern Empire, recruiting young psychics. Officially allied with the Hero Association against demons. Unofficially? Everyone knew: a tool for the Eastern Empire to balance power.

"The Nanzhou situation is complex. Chasing glory blindly only costs more lives," Shen Zhan said calmly, ignoring the Azure Feather Society man. He turned to his team.

"Prepare. I’m going myself."