Futile Devices Scans

Mai Ding’s grandmother lived in an extremely remote place. Before the roads had been properly built, getting there required more than an hour by boat. There was a reservoir in the area and only a dozen or so households nearby. Even the electricity fluctuated wildly; sometimes it was too weak to power a television, much…

Mai Ding had no idea how he had eventually fallen asleep the previous night. He had thought he might come up with some way to handle the situation, only to discover that his mind was completely blank. Forget it. Things had already come this far. Even if there was a gun pointed at him, he…

An Zi Yan looked at the money and decided they had enough for at least one meal. After singing only one song, he put the guitar away. Mai Ding had somehow been swallowed by the crowd and squeezed somewhere out of sight, so An Zi Yan stood and called, “Hey!” At a disadvantage because of…

After Mai Ding begged him again and again, An Zi Yan finally bought him another ring. Looking at the ring on his finger, Mai Ding sighed thoughtfully. “An Zi Yan, do you think our love is built on money? If you didn’t have money, you wouldn’t be able to afford a place for us to…

There was one very reasonable piece of background worldbuilding in this dangerous game world. —After generations of oppression by anomalies, humanity had been forced to advance technologically at an astonishing pace simply to survive. The Anomaly Containment Agency alone possessed high-precision technology, weapons, and medical equipment far beyond anything available in the real world. At…

Dong Wei sucked in a sharp breath and stared at Jiang Shao, caught between fear and disbelief. He and Liu Long from Song’an had hit it off because they were birds of a feather. Privately, they were good friends and often went out drinking and fooling around together. But some time ago, Liu Long’s dirty…

The downside of talking by candlelight all night was that once morning came, Fu Xi Yan was exhausted. Unfortunately, the person summoning him was the emperor, so rescheduling was obviously out of the question. He hurriedly splashed his face with cold water, had a servant bring out his Brocade Guard uniform, changed into it, and…

The horror-movie marathon was immediately put on emergency hold. Qin Shu unplugged the computer tower outright, making sure they could not be dragged into some inexplicable story again. Then he pulled Pei Zhao downstairs, grabbed two cold drinks from the kitchen, and sat with him on the sofa by the window, choosing the corner where…

Winter gave way to spring. The ice and snow melted, and all things stirred back to life. It was the perfect season to pray for a destined match. Men and women streamed endlessly past the entrance of the Guanyin Temple. Gu She and Tao Mo made their way through the crowd and were soon swallowed…

A knock sounded at the door. Wu Qian got up to answer it and found a smiling young woman standing outside with a bag of fruit in her hand. “Auntie, it’s been a long time.” Wu Qian looked her over but could not immediately place her. The girl handed her the fruit. “Auntie, you don’t…

Ignoring Ning Xuan’s mockery, Feng Xuanyi neither acknowledged his carefree grin nor reprimanded him for insolence. Instead, he abruptly changed the subject. “Marquis Dingbei submitted a memorial today. He says the two of you are remarkably compatible, so he wishes to take you as his adopted son.” Perhaps Ning Xuan’s teasing had struck directly at…

At three quarters into the Hour of the Snake, Ning Xuan entered the imperial study dressed entirely in crimson and bowed respectfully. “This subject pays his respects to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty enjoy endless blessings and peace.” His fine boots, embroidered with gold-thread cloud patterns, made not the slightest sound as he walked. Sunlight…

Mai Ding cursed An Zi Yan viciously over the phone. After his parents had seen that photograph, his mother had nearly twisted his ears off, and it had taken several days before Mai Ding finally convinced them that the picture was fake. “An Zi Yan, you’re absolutely forbidden from doing something like that again. What…

It was their last night staying at Grandpa An’s house. The night was completely quiet, with nothing but the ticking of the clock audible in the room. Mai Ding opened his eyes and gently nudged An Zi Yan. “An Zi Yan?” There was no response. Mai Ding waved his hand several times in front of…

Suppose there really came a day when life no longer pressed down on people so heavily they could barely breathe, when every day stopped repeating itself, when there were no irritating voices in your ears and money no longer mattered. Everything went exactly the way you wanted. Everyone you disliked disappeared one after another. You…

Mai Ding sat nervously on the sofa, constantly playing with his fingers in an attempt to calm himself down, but it was completely useless. He simply could not relax in front of Grandpa An. On top of that, he had chosen to wear a thick, dignified outfit in the middle of hot weather, so sweat…

An Zi Yan turned around, took the MP3 earbuds out of his ears, and looked at Mai Ding as though absolutely nothing had happened. “Oh, you’re back.” Mai Ding raised his head, and the tears that had been on the verge of spilling immediately retreated. Oh, you’re back? What kind of opening line is that?…

“You have to believe me! I have never, ever said I wanted to be the top. She completely distorted what I said.” The more Mai Ding explained, the more agitated he became, terrified that An Zi Yan might actually believe Bai Xiao Si. “You don’t have the talent to be a top anyway. What’s this,…

“Come on, let’s go have some fun. I won’t even mind you being the third wheel.” Now fully recovered, Mai Ding was eating the leftover watermelon from the other day, which had been sitting in An Zi Yan’s refrigerator. Bai Xiao Si flipped listlessly through a magazine. “You called me over first thing in the…

Early the next morning, Mai Ding woke feeling dizzy, his whole body covered in clammy sweat. He could barely stand and weakly called for his mother. Mai Ding’s mother hurried over, took one look at his half-dead appearance, and immediately knew he had caught a summer cold. Then she looked at the air conditioner. “You…