[Paper Bride Series] Great News! My Secret Crush Asked Me to Survive a Love Trial!

The main story is complete. Extra chapters are being posted at random.

Xiao Xiao once had a secret: she loved Nie Moli, but never dared to say it, even on the brink of death.

But later, the System threw her a deadly choice:

Become Schrodinger's Cat and gamble on a 50% chance of getting home, or become an unresolved sacrifice and gamble on that person's true feelings?

Ha, true feelings?

She trusted herself more.

"Help me get through my love tribulation."

Burning forbidden incense, Nie Moli tore open the divide between yin and yang. Her voice remained cold and rational. "I'll bring you back. Then we'll be even."

Xiao Xiao laughed softly and agreed, her voice gentle. "Don't say we'll be even... You know I hate that more than anything."

You want to sacrifice me to become an immortal? Then I'll make you the sacrifice that turns me into a grown woman.

Before everything was laid bare:

Someone smiled in the mortal world and offered cinnabar. "Would you like to exorcise me?"

Someone formed hand seals in a dungeon and branded her with a life talisman. "If you die, how will I survive this tribulation?"

After their schemes were exposed:

Nie Moli clamped a hand around Xiao Xiao's throat, sneering amid the spreading stench of blood.

"Once we've worshipped Heaven and Earth and become bound to the same fate, you'll have to die."

Xiao Xiao poured the nuptial wine into Nie Moli's mouth, a matching madness burning in her eyes.

"Sharing a fate with the dead? Looks like you'll have to cross the River of Oblivion for me."

Until the Six Hidden Ones descended, until their souls were torn apart,

Xiao Xiao stood in front of her, her breath ragged, yet still smiling. "Are you all right?"

Nie Moli offered up her own path to immortality and destiny, just to seize the fading figure among the fragments of light. "My sacrifice belongs by my side, even in death."

On a night no one knew about, someone raised a cup and drank it dry.

To the crimes we kept between us.

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"Good news! My crush asked me to help her through a love tribulation!"

"Bad news: she thinks I'm a sacrifice."

"Worse news: I feel the same way about her."

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Reader's guide:

√ A love-hate relationship: a lovesick, secretly ruthless sacrifice x a sharp-tongued, secretly dark ghost immortal

√ Folk horror x livestreamed infinite-flow games

√ Heartwarming moments and a romantic rivalry intertwined

√ HE

√ A mash-up of various horror games, with elements from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio and my own take on the Paper Bride world. Major OOC warning.

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"You scheme against my mortal identity, and I covet your immortal fate..."

"Why don't we just make do? The Heavenly Dao says we're 'the same person,' anyway."

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Coming soon, here's the next batch of upcoming novels:

[1] A lighthearted couple who are always at each other's throats: pure-love succubus x flirty celestial master

Pure-Love Succubus Has Something to Say

"M-Miss,"

On the first day her tail got her into trouble, the long-suffering succubus said she had something to say. "I'm a one-person-only kind of girl."

"...So could you let go of my tail?"

The fluffy tip of her tail felt lovely to the touch. Shen Yanqing gave it a curious little squeeze, her voice bewitching.

"And what if I say no?"

Ah, her fur's standing on end.

Watching Ning Su'an walk away, looking soft and fluffy and thoroughly annoyed, the dashing young celestial master found herself rubbing the fingers that had just touched the other's tail.

...It's like petting a cat.

On the N+1th day of her tail getting her into trouble, the succubus, now used to it, said she had something to say. "No, no, no one-night stands, bar dates, candlelit dinners, none of that! If you've really got so much energy and nothing better to do, go mop the floor."

Ning Su'an pushed her away with a finger to her forehead. The moment she picked up her dinner knife, she turned around, suddenly alert.

"Oh, and don't steal the cat's snacks!"

Shen Yanqing, who had just swiped a specially made dried fish snack: "!"

"H-How could I..." Shen Yanqing melted back against her like she had no bones, draping herself over Ning Su'an's shoulder as if nothing had happened. "It's a long night... And there are things I'd much rather have than snacks~"

Ning Su'an: "Get lost."

Shen Yanqing: "Sure thing."

On the first day her tail curled around her lover's thigh, the pure-love succubus said she had something to say. "...You've been seducing me in every way imaginable for so long, and now you can't follow through?"

Then what was the point of all that mental preparation I did before?

The woman who usually only talked big smiled as if she could read her mind, her eyes rippling with light.

"It means you like me."

Ning Su'an: "!"

It took her a while to find her words again. She pressed a soft kiss to Shen Yanqing's forehead, almost reverently.

"No. I love you."

[2] The mighty empress makes her dazzling entrance! Family loyalty forever!

What Did I Do Wrong?

Wei Li had been frail since childhood, spending most of her life surrounded by medicine jars.

Everyone thought that simply staying alive would be quite an achievement for her.

And besides, women couldn't hold office at court.

The dragon throne was far beyond her reach, as distant as something from another world.

Wei Li had never imagined it for herself, even as she helped her father support the imperial clan and plan to restore the rightful ruler.

Until one day, her younger sister slammed the table and shouted:

"If that good-for-nothing can do it, why can't my sister?"

It was an outrageous thing to say.

Yet Wei Li suddenly realized she was seriously considering it.

If they had to fight for power anyway, why prop someone else up?

If they had to fight anyway, why not do it herself?

Then she would seize the throne!

She gathered fiefs, won people's hearts, subdued the imperial clan, and brought the powerful ministers to heel.

She took her seat upon the dragon throne.

Women can't be emperors? I'm already sitting here. Who dares answer me when I ask:

What did I do wrong?

Theme: Always follow your heart