Douluo Dalu: I Can Become Stronger by Pitfalling Yu Xiaogang

"Can't sleep either?" Zhu Zhuqing asked.

"Yeah. Besides, I think the evening breeze feels nice," Zhang Tianyu said.

Zhu Zhuqing leaped up. Her full, well-proportioned legs burst with powerful force as she took several steps along the dormitory wall before lightly landing on the roof.

Then she sat beside Zhang Tianyu.

"Uh..." Zhang Tianyu said. "Is there something you want to ask me to do? Or...?"

"I want to know how to make a man less fickle and promiscuous." Zhu Zhuqing looked at Zhang Tianyu.

Oh, so it was for Dai Mubai.

How boring.

But it also showed that this girl was the more "traditional" type of woman.

The kind who had been indoctrinated with feudal garbage like "marry a chicken and follow the chicken, marry a dog and follow the dog."

Women like that had one advantage: once they set their sights on a man, whether he was good or bad, they would generally follow him wholeheartedly. In other words, they were highly loyal.

"That... depends on the person's temperament and mindset," Zhang Tianyu said. "I think it's pretty hard to change. After all, it's easier to change mountains and rivers than a person's nature."

"So it can't be changed..." Zhu Zhuqing's mood immediately sank.

Zhang Tianyu: ...

Did you have a system too? Was your system deaf as well? And did it infect you with that?

I said it was very hard to change. How did that become impossible to change when it came out of your mouth?

"Uh, Host..."

"Shut up." Zhang Tianyu stopped the system from speaking in his mind.

"Are you asking this because of Dai Mubai?" Zhang Tianyu asked Zhu Zhuqing.

Zhu Zhuqing nodded.

"You knew him before this?" Zhang Tianyu asked.

Zhu Zhuqing nodded again.

"Ah, I see," Zhang Tianyu said with a smile. "Looks like Old Dai is pretty lucky. Even though you usually ignore him and mock him, you still care about him deep down."

But Zhu Zhuqing shook her head. "If I had a choice, I'd rather never have known him. I'd rather not have any of this life."

"What do you mean?" Zhang Tianyu asked with a puzzled expression.

Zhu Zhuqing looked at Zhang Tianyu quietly. "If you were a woman, and the man you had no choice but to marry was a bastard whose mind was full of women, fooling around with them all day, would you be happy?"

Uh... with my temper, either we'd never meet again, or one of us would be dead!

"Eugh," the system said.

"Eugh your head. Shut up. Don't interrupt my train of thought."

Zhang Tianyu thought for a moment. Rather than answering directly, he tested the waters. "Old Dai comes from a noble family, right? From what I've seen, men with ability, status, and position on the continent all have multiple wives and concubines. Old Dai was probably influenced by the others in his family, wasn't he?"

"No. Having multiple wives and concubines is different from being promiscuous," Zhu Zhuqing said.

"Huh? Those are different things?" Zhang Tianyu had already expected an answer along those lines, but hearing Zhu Zhuqing say it herself still gave him a small shock.

"Multiple wives and concubines means proper marriages, nothing more than adding a pair of chopsticks to the household," Zhu Zhuqing said. "But being promiscuous? Going outside to fool around with all kinds of wild women. Filthy. Disgusting!"

Zhang Tianyu: ...

This person had been poisoned far too deeply by feudal garbage.

Still, his test had worked.

Zhang Tianyu mainly wanted to see what this girl thought about the practice of "multiple wives and concubines."

After all, he had to pave the way for his future life.

"So, I'd rather not have this life. I'd rather live out my life as an ordinary person, plain and simple. I'd rather have never known him," Zhu Zhuqing said.

Zhang Tianyu sighed. "People are born free—that saying is a joke. People aren't even free when it comes to being born. No one can decide whether they want to be born, or what kind of family they'll be born into."

Zhu Zhuqing felt it deeply and let out a soft sigh.

"Notice: Mission received [The World Is Big, and So Are You]. Mission objective: Ask Zhu Zhuqing out, deepen your relationship with her, and lay the groundwork for subsequent missions. Mission reward: Reward Points +5. If Zhu Zhuqing does not leave the academy with you, the mission will fail. Failure penalty: Hair growth speed becomes 50 times Oscar's."

Zhang Tianyu: ...

This mission penalty was getting more and more ridiculous, holy shit!

Did it know how terrifying Oscar's hair growth speed was?

If he didn't shave for two days, he'd turn into a bearded uncle. What kind of concept was hair growing fifty times faster than his?

Just from the few sentences I exchanged with Zhu Zhuqing, I'd go from a handsome young man with a face like jade to a wild man covered in hair!

So this mission had to succeed. He had to ask Zhu Zhuqing out!

Zhu Zhuqing, I advise you not to refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit.

If you agree, then fine. If you don't, I'll knock you out and carry you away!

"Talking about this is such a waste of such a beautiful night," Zhang Tianyu said with a gentle smile. "I want to go out and clear my head. Would you like to come with me?"

Zhu Zhuqing froze, not expecting Zhang Tianyu to invite her so directly.

Her instinct was to refuse. What a joke. Who was Zhu Zhuqing? A cold and aloof goddess. How could she be so easily asked out by him?

But...

The bright moon hung overhead, a cool breeze brushed her face, and everything was silent.

The young man before her was handsome, breathtakingly beautiful, gentle and courteous, and he kept himself clean...

Even if she went out alone with him, there was nothing to fear.

Dai Mubai could go out and find other women. Why couldn't she go out with a classmate to relax?

"Okay," Zhu Zhuqing said.

Zhang Tianyu smiled gently, summoned Huangquan, and stepped onto it.

Then he held out his hand to Zhu Zhuqing. She hesitated for only a second before extending her fair little hand and taking his.

PS: I never expected to come down with a fever. My whole body feels awful! It's so hot out, yet I'm sitting in a room without air conditioning and somehow feel cold. But I'll keep writing. Here are two updates!

Also, a friendly reminder to all readers: be moderate with air conditioning! Frequently switching between cold air-conditioned rooms and hot outdoor weather can easily cause problems, so take care of yourselves! Don't end up like me...

Turning the Tables

A bright moon hung high in the sky, with stars filling the heavens.

Whoosh—

A black bolt of lightning streaked across the night sky, shooting into the distance.

"Do you like this feeling?" Zhang Tianyu asked Zhu Zhuqing, who stood in front of him.

Zhu Zhuqing slowly nodded.

Freedom!

This was what freedom felt like!

The world was vast, and she could go anywhere she pleased!

"Notice: Congratulations, mission [The World Is Big, and So Are You] completed. Reward obtained: Reward Points +5. Current Reward Points: 2054."

"I really didn't expect it to succeed." (muttered quietly)

"Hm?" Zhang Tianyu caught that key detail. "What did you say?"

"Notice: Mission activated [Leap Over Suotuo City]. Go sightseeing in Suotuo City with Zhu Zhuqing and further increase her favorability toward you. Mission reward: Reward Points +5. Failure penalty: Hair growth speed becomes 51 times Oscar's."

Zhang Tianyu: ...

Why were you always picking on Oscar?

Couldn't you use someone else as the standard for mission failure penalties?

For example, Dai Mubai—

Failure penalty: The number of twins around you becomes five times Dai Mubai's.

Or Ma Hongjun—

Failure penalty: Your X ability increases to ten times Ma Hongjun's.

See? Those mission penalties would be great!

They'd punish me and teach me a lesson, but I personally wouldn't be all that resistant to them. Everybody wins!

System: "Uh, this..."

"See? What I'm saying makes sense, right? You can't keep shearing the same sheep. Mission failure penalties need to change things up too, right? Like you said before, you can't just pitfall Yu Xiaogang all the time. You need to change your taste and pitfall other people too, right?"

Zhang Tianyu's skin was cosmically, invincibly thick. As long as there was even the tiniest crack, he would desperately squeeze into it and widen it. Then there was a high chance he'd get the result he wanted.

Zhang Tianyu had summed it up long ago: why was it so hard for many people to chase women, while others could get one with barely any effort?

The most important thing was—

You had to be thick-skinned.

You absolutely had to be thick-skinned.

Men had to remember one thing at all times—chasing women wasn't fucking charity.

My money didn't blow in on the wind, and my time wasn't endless. So what was the purpose of chasing women, if not getting into bed?

A responsible man would get married after sleeping with her.

An irresponsible man naturally had plenty of women and wouldn't care about losing one.

But no matter what the reason was, the goal had to include [getting into bed].

Yes, that's right. You had to remember your original intention when chasing women.

Whether it was simply to make love or to get married, you had to stay true to your original intention!

The time and money you spent had to bring returns.

If there was no return, if the other person gave no response, or if her response was cold—

Listen to me: immediately call off the operation! Move on to the next target!

Even if you became a single dog, never become a simp.

They were both dogs.

But a single dog was ten thousand times nobler than a simp!

At the very least, a single dog's quality of life wouldn't decline.

When a single dog got home, his handheld console, his VR, his AR, his computer, his massage chair, his motionless wives, and his teacup would all welcome him home!

When a simp got home, it would be cold, lonely, and miserable...

Starting today, don't be a simp. Learn to use Thick-skinned Tactics to deal with everything!

When chasing women, never be thin-skinned. Don't think getting rejected means Social Death. You had to shamelessly persist!

As long as the other party showed even the slightest opening—even the slightest interest in you—you had to immediately press your advantage and relentlessly pursue her, with asking her out as your ultimate goal!

Of course, if the other party used this method to string you along—meaning you got along well in conversation but she simply wouldn't meet you—

Or if she kept you at arm's length, sometimes warm and sometimes cold, then immediately call it off and move on to the next target.

Don't be afraid of being rejected and laughed at by others.

So what if they laughed at you?

When you had a girl in your arms as you headed to a hotel, the people laughing at you would only be able to entertain themselves in their little dark rooms.

Zhang Tianyu had taken this set of [Thick-skinned Tactics] to the extreme, which was why he had lived so freely on Earth.

Even without The Art of Wooing, he could still get by just fine with this set of [Thick-skinned Tactics].

After hearing Zhang Tianyu's words,

the system fell into even deeper hesitation. "Uh..."