Zhang Wansen

"Looking for the owner..."

Miss Xu directly posted the ID and profile picture of "Donghai's Deepest Romantic" on Donghai's largest social platform.

Pinned it. Bolded it.

She even bought a Gold Membership to keep the post floating on the homepage for three days and three nights.

The key was that the profile picture wasn't even a proper photo. It was a hand-drawn Shiba Inu wearing tiny sunglasses, with a starry sky in the background.

That was it.

She had been in an online relationship with someone for eight months over a stupid Shiba Inu avatar.

The post read as follows.

[LOOKING FOR THE OWNER OF THIS ACCOUNT!!!]

[100,000 Federation Credits for valid leads.]

[1,000,000 if you bring him directly to me.]

The comments immediately exploded.

"??? An online dating partner???"

"Miss, you don't even know what he looks like and you're offering a million??"

"Wait, I think I've seen this Shiba Inu avatar somewhere before."

"Donghai's Deepest Romantic... this ID... damn, he's a player too."

"Eight months of texting without ever turning on video, and you never suspected he might not be real?"

"Big sis, do you care about gender?"

Xu Xiaoyan ignored them, then immediately dropped a huge block of text in the comments. Her typing was so fast and her wording so humble that the spectators collectively fell silent for three seconds.

[You haven't replied to my messages in a long time. I know you might just be busy, or have bad signal, or think I'm too annoying. But could you at least send me a period, just so I know you're not dead? Don't block me!!!]

[Last night, I listened to every voice message you ever sent me. There were 327 in total. You coughed once in the third one. I asked if you had a cold, and you said no. I listened to it again just now. You lied to me. You did have a cold.]

[You said you liked coconut water, so I bought two cases. I thought that if you ever gave me your address, I could send them to you right away. But you still haven't told me where you live, and the coconut water is about to expire.]

[You said you would meet me on January 32nd, but January doesn't even have a 32nd...]

The comments exploded again.

"Wait... she listened to all 327 voice messages??"

"She took notes on his coughs??"

"Miss, this isn't dating anymore. This is field research."

"She's approaching online dating with the dedication of a scientific researcher. I surrender."

That still wasn't enough for Xu Xiaoyan.

She switched to an alt account and pretended to be a passerby under the post.

"I know this Donghai's Deepest Romantic. He's really gentle, and his voice is nice too. OP, keep it up."

She was exposed on the spot.

"Miss, your alt account is using the same selfie as its profile picture."

"Even the IP address is identical, hahaha."

"She couldn't even be bothered to use a proxy before acting."

"I'm dying. The hardest-working online dater of the year."

Xu Xiaoyan's expression did not change. She deleted the exposed comment and posted another one.

[Don't call his avatar tacky. I drew that Shiba Inu, I added the sunglasses, and I'm the brightest star in the background. I told him that if he used it as his profile picture, then whenever he looked up at the stars, he could think of me. And he really used it. He hasn't changed it in eight months.]

The spectators were completely won over.

"Alright, Your Love-Brained Majesty, we'll shut up."

"Honestly, why am I kind of touched?"

"She drew a Shiba Inu and said, 'That star is me.' That's way too romantic."

"So why exactly did this man disappear? I'm dying to know!"

"If I were Donghai's Deepest Romantic, I'd take the million and deliver myself to her right now."

The post stayed up for two full days.

Its reposts broke the all-time record for Donghai's social platform. Media outlets of every kind swarmed in, their headlines getting more absurd by the minute.

<Mysterious Female Tycoon Offers Million-Credit Reward to Find Online Dating Partner, Who Has Only a Shiba Inu Avatar>

<Eight Months Without Video Calls: She Drew Him a Star Map and Stockpiled Coconut Water>

<Donghai's Deepest Romantic: The Entire Federation Is Helping Find You, So Get Online Already>

Inside the Xu family's private residence.

The blue-haired girl with twin ponytails lay sprawled over her desk, her entire face buried in the soft crook of her arms.

The typhoon outside was raging fiercely.

Howling winds drove torrential rain, lashing it violently against the large trees in the courtyard.

Raindrops hammered against the floor-to-ceiling windows with a rapid crackle, dense trails of water streaming down the glass.

The sky was unbearably gloomy, a vast expanse of gray. Strangely enough, after the rain, snow had begun to fall as if by magic.

It was exactly like Xu Xiaoyan's current mood.

Xu Xiaoyu stood beside the desk, holding a cup of warm water.

He was caught between advancing and retreating.

"Little sis... this really isn't my fault."

Xu Xiaoyan remained motionless on the desk, giving no response whatsoever.

Xu Xiaoyu cautiously raised his hand and gently nudged the cup closer to her.

With a sigh, he left the room.

"This person must be from Donghai Academy too..."

Xu Xiaoyu pondered it silently. Anyone who knew about him could only be a student of Donghai Academy. And it looked like they had some sort of grudge against him.

"Who could it be...?"

Meanwhile, in the Donghai Academy dormitory.

The man rumored to have kidnapped the God of Love, the man who held the underlying code of Douluo Continent, sat by the window and gazed into the distant sky.

Affected by the extreme weather, the final match of the Promotion Tournament had been postponed.

Lin Xun appeared to be looking outside, but he was actually browsing the system shop. The benefit of having a scumbag's reputation was a massive surge in system points.

Together with the breakup points he had earned from Xu Xiaoyan some time ago, he could now be called downright loaded.

If he had to put it in an analogy, he was like the foolish son of a wealthy landlord.

His soul communicator chimed.

It was a friend request.

"The day you deleted me, I stared at that red exclamation mark and fell into deep thought for a long time. Then I understood. Red represents passion—you want to marry me."

"Mumu, don't look for me at the dog market anymore. I escaped from the simp cage. If you miss me, come find me at the seafood market. I'm a fish there now, though an auto repair shop is trying to poach me and make me their spare tire."

"Wuwuwu, can you accept it?"

"I can't live without you!!!"

Lin Xun did not accept it. He merely replied to the friend request from her alternate account.

"Thank you for once appearing in my life like a beam of light..."

"Ahhh!? Really? I knew it, Mumu, you were just joking with me."

"But I'm a firefly. You're the unnecessary one!"

He deleted and blocked the alternate account again.

Lin Xun calmly finished doing all that, then logged out of the account directly.

The account he used with Hidden Radiance was another one; only the avatar was different, while the name was the same.

He checked the system shop again.

Lin Xun decided to buy five levels of soul power.

Soul power could also be purchased from the system shop, and it would not affect the foundation of his cultivation. His foundation would remain exceptionally solid. Soul power was relatively cheap in the early stages, but became very expensive later on.

The reason Lin Xun had been able to rise to fame so quickly in every life was inseparable from his strength. And the system shop was the best means for him to rapidly increase that strength.

Just as he closed the system shop, Xie Xie suddenly sprang up by the window and pointed outside. "Brother Xun! Look outside!"

Heavy snow was falling beyond the window.

Donghai City's athletic field had been covered in a white blanket. A student from the senior division was running desperately through the snow, not even wearing a coat—only a thin training uniform. He staggered through the snow, shouting something at the top of his lungs.

The wind was too strong and the snowfall too dense. His cries drifted over in broken fragments, impossible to hear clearly.

"I heard he got dumped by a girl from another academy."

Xie Xie leaned over the windowsill, watching the figure still sprinting through the snow. "She's from Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy. They say that since junior academy, he'd poured all the money he earned from part-time work into her.

He bought her tutoring materials, paid for her training courses, and even covered her round-trip travel and lodging expenses whenever she went to Sun Moon City for exams. He himself ate the cheapest meals in the cafeteria and mailed every penny he saved to her."

"And then?" Yun Xiao unusually took the initiative to ask.

"She got into Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, while he was still happily fooling around in Donghai City, thinking they would get married when she graduated and came back."

Xie Xie could not help sighing. "A few days ago, he finally scraped together enough money for the trip and took a train for three days and three nights to Sun Moon City, wanting to give her a surprise. When he reached the academy gates, he saw his goddess walking out arm-in-arm with an upperclassman from Sun Moon Royal, smiling like a flower.

He hid behind a tree and didn't dare approach them. Then he heard the senior ask, 'Who was that guy just now?' His goddess replied, 'Don't know him. Probably some food delivery guy.' He stood behind that tree for a full two hours, then took the train straight back the way he came."

The corner of Lin Xun's mouth twitched. What a melodramatic story.

Of course, he meant nothing else by it. After all, he himself was an even bigger scumbag.

Though he still could not make out what the person outside was shouting, he seemed to know anyway.

"Zhang Wansen, it's snowing!!!"