Long Jinyu's sobs gradually subsided, dwindling into broken sniffling.
The wrenching pain in his chest was still there, but it seemed he had cried all his tears dry.
He raised a hand and roughly wiped his face. It was soaked.
"What good is crying..."
He spoke to himself in a hoarse voice, his words thick with a nasal edge.
"There's no going back... If Mother Jin knew you were in this state, how heartbroken would she be?"
A profound sense of helplessness enveloped him. He couldn't keep drowning in his emotions forever.
Gritting his teeth, he suddenly raised a hand and gave himself two slaps—not too hard, not too light.
Smack!
Smack!
The crisp sounds rang especially clearly in the quiet room.
His cheeks burned. The sting actually helped clear his muddled, swollen head.
"Calm down... Long Jinyu, you have to calm down."
He took a deep breath, trying to suppress the lump in his throat.
Once his emotions had settled a little, he found the cold sweat from crying clinging unpleasantly to his skin.
He needed to do something else to distract himself.
He took off the white robe, wrinkled and streaked with tears after his Soul Power had gone berserk and he had cried, and prepared to take a shower.
Outside the door, Ma Xiaotao was sitting with her back against the wall when the sudden sound of slaps from inside made her jump!
"He hit himself?!"
Remembering his breakdown and sobbing just moments ago, Ma Xiaotao panicked.
Was the kid about to hurt himself?!
He looked so refined and gentle. Who would've thought he had such a fiery temperament?
"Hey! Kid! What are you doing?!"
She no longer hesitated or worried about intruding. She shot to her feet, flung open the door, and rushed inside!
"Are you okay?! Don't do anything st—"
Her words died the moment she saw what was happening in the room.
Long Jinyu had taken off his shirt, leaving his well-built upper body exposed. He held a bath towel in his hand and was clearly about to head to the bathroom.
Ma Xiaotao's sudden entrance startled him. His hand slipped, and the towel dropped to the floor with a soft thump.
Thankfully, he still had his pants on.
But that was more than enough.
Ma Xiaotao's gaze instantly locked onto him.
The boy looked slender, but his physique was surprisingly impressive. Smoothly defined muscles covered his frame—not grotesquely bulging, but lean and packed with explosive strength.
His six-pack stood out in clear definition, and his V-line disappeared beneath the waistband of his pants.
Most striking was his back—not tattooed, but seemingly grown naturally over his skin, covered in a dazzling, intricate, faintly visible nine-colored dragon pattern.
Like some ancient and exalted totem, it stretched from beneath his shoulder blades to his waist. In the light, it shimmered with a faint, mysterious glow. Against his fair skin, it created a striking contrast, its wildness and divinity woven into an uncanny beauty.
Ma Xiaotao's fiery red eyes widened slightly. She stared blankly, forgetting how to speak or move. She even held her breath without realizing it.
She had never seen a body that combined strength, beauty, and an indescribable, mysterious majesty quite so... breathtakingly.
Long Jinyu was stunned too.
This scene... felt a little familiar.
Back when he stayed up late studying and couldn't get up in the morning, Mu Yao would occasionally barge into his room just like this and pull off his blankets...
He quickly came to his senses. He was calmer than he'd expected. Without a word, he bent down, picked up the towel, and wrapped it around his waist again, covering his abs and part of the dragon pattern. His chest and arms remained bare.
He looked at Ma Xiaotao, who was still frozen in a daze, and spoke with a trace of helplessness but not the slightest anger.
"Senior, next time you come in... could you knock first?"
His words brought Ma Xiaotao back to her senses. Her cheeks flushed bright red, like ripe peaches.
She whipped around, stumbling over her words. "I... I didn't... Who told you to hit yourself in there! I thought you were... you..."
She couldn't bring herself to say "hurting yourself."
"Oh, that," Long Jinyu said, rubbing his still slightly numb cheek. "I'm fine... I was just trying to clear my head."
With her back to him, Ma Xiaotao tried to compose herself and change the subject, reclaiming her senior's authority. "Ahem... I came to call you for dinner! You... why are you taking a shower now? Didn't you wash before bed?"
Long Jinyu rubbed his still-red eyes and murmured, "Yeah. I was too tired earlier, so I went straight to sleep."
Hearing that, Ma Xiaotao pursed her lips on purpose, trying to cover up her embarrassment and momentary daze with teasing. "Oh~ So the kid's a little slob after all? You didn't even shower before bed~"
She wanted to help him loosen up and keep him from sinking back into sadness.
Just as she'd hoped, her words made Long Jinyu a little bashful. His cheeks reddened as he muttered, "That's not true..." He tugged at the towel over his shoulder. "Senior, stop looking... Go wait in the living room for a bit. I'll be done soon, and then I'll go eat."
"Who said I was looking at you?!"
"Just hurry up! I'm starving!"
Ma Xiaotao immediately retorted, then hurried out, walking so fast she nearly forgot how to coordinate her arms and legs.
Her mouth might have been full of complaints, but her body told the truth...
She couldn't help glancing back...
Once,
Twice,
Three times...
Just one last look!
One last, last look...
"No, no, no! I can't!!"
"How can I be like this?!"
Bang!
The door shut behind her.
She leaned against it and let out a long breath. Her cheeks were still burning, and the image of that muscular upper body covered in dragon patterns and the towel slipping to the floor wouldn't leave her mind.
"...This is going to kill me."
Water pattered in the bathroom.
Long Jinyu took a hot shower. The warm water did help calm his emotions.
His transmigration was a fact. Breaking down wouldn't help. All he could do was... look ahead.
After his shower,
he dried himself off and opened the system's storage space to change clothes. Then he froze.
It was completely empty.
There was only one neatly folded outfit inside.
But it wasn't normal men's clothing. It was a... finely made, blue-and-white JK uniform, complete with a necktie and pleated miniskirt.
Long Jinyu: "???"
[Ding~ The host has finished bathing! Here's a fresh change of clothes for you!]
The system's voice chimed in at just the right moment, sounding like it was holding back laughter.
[Points are a little tight right now, so this is the only outfit available: the "Invincible Cute Youth Battle Robe"! Make do with it, host?]
"...System, are you messing with me?"
"If I remember right... I'm... a guy, aren't I?"
[Oh, host, don't sweat the small stuff~ Wearing a skirt is an essential part of being strong!] [Just think of the God of Destruction. Didn't he look pretty dashing in that little skirt in the legends of the Divine Realm?] [And Huo Yuhao, Tang Wulin, Lan Xuanyu—all the main characters of the Douluo Calendar generations have worn them! (See the postscript at the end of the chapter.)] [Trust System Treasure. You won't go wrong!]
The system launched into its specious arguments.
[Besides, just look at how great this body is: fair skin, gorgeous looks, and long legs... (eight hundred words of praise omitted). It'd be such a waste not to try it at least once! Think of it as a change of mood~]
Long Jinyu fell silent for a few seconds.
He knew the system was using this ridiculous stunt to cheer him up and distract him.
He looked at the skirt, then at the face in the mirror—undeniably far too pretty—and the long, damp hair hanging down.
He had just spent a while crying. Now his mood was low and numb. The system's interruption stirred up a reckless, self-mocking thought: if things were bad already, he might as well go all in.
"All right... I'll wear it."
He sighed, then actually started getting dressed.
"My mood's bad enough as it is. Might as well find something amusing to do. I'll call it... an experience."
He clumsily put on the sailor uniform and pleated miniskirt, pulled on over-the-knee socks, and slipped into a pair of little leather shoes.
He stood in front of the mirror.
The "girl" in the reflection had exquisite features. Her mismatched eyes looked slightly damp and hazy from crying, making her seem all the more pitiful and endearing.
Her skin was fair and her legs were straight and slender. The blue bow at her collar was tied to perfection, while the pale-blue skirt and white socks added a touch of pure, youthful charm.
It suited him perfectly.
In fact... it looked damn good.
Long Jinyu: "..."
He blinked at his reflection and struck a pose without thinking.
He was a little taken with his own beauty...
[The host is the most beautiful person under heaven! A peerless beauty who could topple kingdoms!]
The system heaped on the praise.
Long Jinyu was amused. "...At least you know how to talk."
He stared at the mirror, his attention settling on the conspicuous streak of white-gold hair. Suddenly, he muttered, "But why is only one lock of my hair white? Can't it all turn white?"
As everyone knew, Hanxia people were devoted fans of white hair.
[Host, I understand Hanxia people's tastes! A white-hair fan, huh? Consider it done! The Dragon God Bloodline affects hair color to begin with. Silver-white dragon hair—noble and elegant!]
The moment the system finished speaking, Long Jinyu felt his scalp grow slightly warm.
In the mirror,
his black hair turned pure silver-white from the roots, as if washed by moonlight!
Even the lock that had originally been white-gold blended completely into the silver, leaving only a faint nine-colored shimmer at the very tips.
In the blink of an eye, the person in the mirror had a head of flowing, lustrous silver-white hair. Paired with the JK uniform and mismatched eyes, his whole aura shifted—
He seemed a little less bewitching and a little more delicate and ethereal, like an elf from another world...
Or perhaps a white-haired little girl?
Long Jinyu stared at his reflection, now completely white-haired. He froze for a moment, then couldn't help laughing in disbelief.
"Well, would you look at that... I haven't even gotten myself a white-haired girl, and I've turned into one first."
His mood lifted a little.
He took one last look at his impossibly beautiful reflection, drew a deep breath, and opened the door.
Living room, first floor.
Ma Xiaotao was sprawled on the sofa, feeling a little restless as she wondered what she could take Long Jinyu out to eat to cheer him up.
Hearing the door open behind her, she turned around as casually as she could and said, "All washed up? What do you want to eat... uh..."
Her words caught in her throat. Her eyes widened even more than before.
What was she looking at?
A "beautiful girl" with silver-white hair, a short skirt, white over-the-knee socks, and little leather shoes?
That face was so beautiful it took her breath away. Mismatched eyes glistened with the moisture of a recent shower as they gazed at her, innocent and bewildered.
Th-that was Long Jinyu?!
Ma Xiaotao's brain crashed again. Her CPU burned for a full half minute before she finally managed to find her voice, stunned and uncertain.
"...K-kid?!"
"What... what are you wearing?!"
"And... what happened to your hair?"
Seeing Ma Xiaotao's utterly petrified expression, Long Jinyu felt a mischievous impulse rise in him. He actually wanted to laugh.
He tried to make his voice sound natural, but for some reason it came out tinged with innocence and grievance.
"It's... clothes."
"Ever since I was little, people thought I looked too much like a girl, so they... raised me as one."
"So the clothes I wear... are either hanfu or skirts. I don't have anything else."
"As for my hair... white hair is a characteristic of my Martial Soul."
He made up an explanation on the spot, and almost believed it himself.
Ma Xiaotao was even more stunned. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she finally managed, "T-there's really a story like that?!"
She looked at the "pitiful" white-haired "junior sister" before her, feeling as though her entire worldview had been shaken.
But the outfit looked so striking—and suited him so perfectly—that she couldn't help believing at least some of it.
She sprang up from the sofa and walked over to Long Jinyu. After circling him twice, her expression turned utterly conflicted. In the end, she couldn't resist reaching out to poke his cheek and arm.
"No, no! Tomorrow! Tomorrow I'm taking you to buy some men's clothes! You're a boy, after all!"
She tried to make her tone firm, but there was something indescribably conflicted in it... and a whole lot of protectiveness.
"Although... although you look especially... especially cute dressed like this, it's way too easy for people to get the wrong idea! You'd make people swoon just walking around outside! No, no!"
She couldn't even imagine how much of a commotion this guy would cause wandering around Shrek in a JK uniform.
Long Jinyu watched her try to act calm despite her shock, worrying about him all the same. The gloom in his heart lifted a little.
Pinching the hem of his skirt, he deliberately spun lightly in front of her. His silver hair flew, tracing a graceful arc, and he lifted his head with what he considered a well-behaved smile:
"Mm, okay, Senior. I'll do whatever you say~."
Ma Xiaotao looked at his "I'm so sweet and well-behaved" expression, paired with that outfit and his dazzling silver hair, and felt like half her HP bar had emptied. She nearly lost her composure.
She forced herself to stay calm and turned her head away, the tips of her ears faintly red. She tried to keep her voice at its usual pitch, but a hint of awkwardness still slipped through:
"...L-let's go... You little rascal, it's time to eat! We'll go out to a restaurant and broaden your horizons!"
"Mm-hmm!"
Long Jinyu's differently colored eyes curved as he obediently followed her.
PS: When it comes to cross-dressing, it's practically an inherited tradition among our Douluo male leads!
Huo Yuhao: In his second year, Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao teamed up to "trick" him. Uniform skirt try-on experience card +1! (See Douluo II manga, chapter 51, "Sea God Pavilion Meeting"—he was publicly put on trial~)
Lan Xuanyu: He went straight to earning the title "Golden Dragon Princess," officially certified as a cross-dressing expert! ✓ (High-energy warning for Douluo IV manga, chapter 439, "The Peerless Beauty: Lan"!)
Tang Wulin: It's unclear whether he cross-dressed in the novel, but the manga cover shows him in a little pink skirt! The cover of chapter 7, "Three Years Later," in the Douluo Dalu III manga is off-the-charts adorable. Round that up, and he totally wore one!
So—the "inherited cross-dressing" skill is confirmed! Who still doesn't know? Raise your hand!
Before you continue