Zhan Long - Chapter 9 — Bramble Bear King1

Xia Ye is pressured by her mother to either land a golden rice bowl (good paying job) or find a golden turtle (rich husband).

So the stakes are high at her latest job interview. Driven by desperation, Xia Ye comes up with a devious plan to drive away the other candidate. Of course, things do not go as plan when the other candidate turns out to be her interviewer!

From Shusheng Bar:

I: “General manager, I only said I will cook but did not agree to wash the dishes.”

He: “If you don’t wash the dishes, do you expect me to wash them?”

I: “Do you know a woman is most attracted to a man who can do housework? Especially when he is wearing an apron and washing the dishes. This is the ideal image of a good man in the thinking of a majority of the women. In order to create the prefect image of a good man, I feel it is necessary for you to wash the dishes.”

He: “A man who washes the dishes is really very attractive?”

I: “Really!”

He: “Well, I will believe you this once.”

He: “Xia Ye, come into the kitchen.”

I: “Do you need me to help you with something?”

He: “Just stand there and don’t move.”

I: “…..?”

I: “If there is nothing I can help you with, I’ll go out.”

He: “Standstill!”

I: “You asked me to come in, just to….. watch you wash the dishes?”

Me: “If you don’t watch, what is the point of me washing the dishes?”

I: “…..”

He is distressed: “I fell in love with a person, but I do not know how to say to her.”

I suggested: “This is simple! Directly tell her I love you, should be all right?”

He is worried: “But …… I’m worried that she will not accept me.”

I comforted: “How can since you are such an outstanding man? There must be something wrong with her brain if she doesn’t accept you!”

He nodded: “Well, I love you!”

I: “…… Huh, there is something wrong with my brain ……”

He: “……”

Kai’s life was small—coffee-stained mornings, cracked recipes, and a system in his head that tweaked toasters and dough like it was nothing. Then the sky shattered. Aliens—Skraiths, jagged and brutal—invaded, tearing his city apart with green-glowing weapons and relentless claws. Superhumans rose to fight back, fire and lightning blazing through the chaos, but Kai’s world crumbled with them.Hiding in his apartment, Kai stumbles on blood—human and alien, smeared on his wall after a superhuman battle. His system, once just a tinker’s tool, awakens, offering him a choice: mimic their powers, temporary and wild, through the blood itself. Desperate, he takes it—stealing pyrokinesis, then electrokinesis, then kinetic energy, each power burning through him, fading fast. But it’s not enough. Armed with a humming Skraith weapon and a body tougher from alien blood, Kai joins a ragtag crew of enhanced fighters—Liv, Rylan, Jace, and Tucker—scraping to survive in a warzone where every shadow hides death.As Skraiths swarm and the city burns, Kai’s system pushes him deeper, analyzing, integrating, crafting minor enhancements—durability, strength, sparks of power that could make him a target or a savior. Government factions, rogue scientists, and the aliens themselves start sniffing around, drawn to his strange tech and blood-stolen abilities. By the time Kai crafts his first super-powered enhancement—an artificial strength boost—he’s no longer just a tinkerer. He’s on the edge of something bigger, something dangerous, where blood and sparks could forge a hero—or break him entirely.In a world unraveling, Kai’s fight for survival becomes a desperate race to master his system, outrun the Skraiths, and confront the truth: the power he’s chasing might destroy him—or remake the world.

Whenever our ship encounters a tenth-level storm, my comrades-in-arms will not have the slightest worry, because they know that I still have me on board.

- Description from Uukanshu

The story is about a man whose compulsive tendencies make it impossible for him to keep a job, and a young girl who skips school and loves insects. The two meet, come to support each other in reintegrating into society, and fall in love. There’s a problem, however: namely, the parasites in their heads.