Honkai Impact 5 vs. Genshin Impact, I'll provide the venue.

Lisa: Hehe, looking forward to it.

[Kaiya: Hurry up, hurry up, I love watching this.]

All eyes were on Diluc, and they wanted to see how he would perform in the face of this Emperor of Smoke.

As evening approached, Diluc and Liu Ruyan stood outside a KTV room.

"Mr. Diluc, I'll have to trouble you later. I'm forced into this situation."

"I see."

Diluc nodded; he already knew the whole story.

That is... someone was pursuing her employer, but Liu Ruyan had clearly rejected him. However, he continued to pester her, which made Liu Ruyan consider hiring a bodyguard.

"Hmm... I hope so." Liu Ruyan's eyes revealed worry: "That person has never been very reasonable."

"It's alright. If he's reasonable, that's good. If he's unreasonable, I also have ways to deal with unreasonable people."

"Thanks, and please don't fight."

After giving Diluc a few more instructions, Liu Ruyan led him into the private room.

[Lisa: Hmm...this doesn't seem like what Su Ze said?]

[Qin: Yeah, he looks pretty normal.]

[Su Ze: Hehe, just keep watching, you'll find out soon enough.]

[Yae no Miko: I'm even more excited now.]

Upon entering the private room, a large group of people were already waiting inside.

In one of the corners sat a handsome man who seemed unusually aloof.

[Su Ze: Attention, everyone! The protagonist has appeared.]

[Silver Wolf: The protagonist, is he the one in the corner?]

[Jingyuan: He stands out from the crowd; that's a certain charm.]

[March 7th: Look closely, this person's name is Xiao Shuai...]

"Ruyan, you're here. Please have a seat."

Upon seeing Liu Ruyan arrive, the girls quickly stood up to greet her warmly.

"Happy birthday, please come and sit here."

[Yae no Miko: Birthday party!!! This is a crucial plot point.]

[Sambo: I, old Sambo, don't believe I won't cause some trouble.]

"Hey, Ruyan, who is this young man?"

"Yes, tell us about it quickly."

Liu Ruyan's face flushed slightly: "This is Diluc, a good friend I recently met."

"Gentlemen, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Diluc greeted everyone in a very gentlemanly manner.

This made the man sitting in the corner extremely uncomfortable, so he immediately got up and walked over.

"Happy birthday, Ruyan."

A beautifully crafted gift box was handed over, and Liu Ruyan accepted it with a smile.

"Thank you."

The people around immediately egged him on, saying, "Open it and see!"

Liu Ruyan hesitated for a moment, but finally opened the gift box.

Inside was a beautiful necklace, but the brand was not discernible.

"Thank you."

Liu Ruyan carefully put it away and gave a perfunctory thank you. But inwardly she cursed, thinking, "This thing looks exquisite, but anyone with a brain knows it's a counterfeit."

After all, this person didn't come from a wealthy family; even this necklace was earned through countless hours of hard work.

On the contrary, Diluc immediately recognized that the necklace was quite expensive.

[Su Ze: Here comes 507, here comes, here comes the classic trope of the protagonist pretending to be poor, then being rejected by the female lead, followed by a mad dash for her love.]

Su Ze, who was well-versed in literature, immediately understood what the plot was all about. After all, eight out of ten urban novels were written like this, and it was even written at the beginning, which gave him a strong sense of déjà vu.

[Jingyuan: Pretending to be poor? Why?]

[Fu Xuan: Pretending to be poor?]

[Yae no Miko: This is the usual formula; how can you elevate someone without first suppressing them?]

[Star: I have a feeling there's something seriously wrong with me.]

[March 7th: I don't understand, what's the point? Can't you just say it directly?]

[Silver Wolf: If we don't do it this way... how will Emperor Ruyan overcome her tribulation?]

[Su Ze: That's right... we've seen this tactic eight hundred times already.]

[Lisa: But what does this have to do with Diluc?]

[Yae no Miko: After the male protagonist's identity is exposed, do you think Diluc will be able to get along with Liu Ruyan?]

[Jean: This...this is also Diluc's fault?]

[Kafka: What else?]

Bronya: I don't understand why Diluc is being blamed.

[Su Ze: You don't need to understand the ways of "scumbag women."]

Bronya: Okay.

Since Su Ze didn't want to figure out what was going on, he decided not to bother. After all, it was just irrelevant knowledge.

[Silva: I wish Bronya would learn from her.]

[Natasha: I think so too.]

[Seele: What's so great about learning this?]

[Mirror Flow: .........]

Jingliu had a feeling that these two were implying something, and wondered if they were targeting him.

Chapter 98 Where is your employer?

Seeing Liu Ruyan accept the necklace, the man's face lit up with joy, and then he magically produced a small box from behind his back.

He then opened it and knelt down on one knee.

"Ruyan, today is your birthday, and I'd like to make it a double celebration."

The box was opened, and inside lay a ring.

"Marry me, Ruyan."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ruyan lowered her eyes, making it impossible to see her face, but Diluc beside her seemed to hear some extremely faint snickers.

"Huh, this girl seems nice, why is she making that kind of sound?"

Diluc wondered if he had misheard. He had a pretty good impression of this person, and even if he didn't want to, he wouldn't make such a sound, right?

"Brother Ye Linxiao, you...you get up first. I...I don't want to think about these things right now. We can start by being ordinary friends."

"Just friends!"

Now it was Ye Linxiao's turn to be dumbfounded. Aren't we dating?

How did we suddenly drop to just friends?

He quickly stood up and grabbed Liu Ruyan's hand: "Ruyan, aren't we dating?"

"Huh? Dating... I don't think so."

Liu Ruyan leaned back slightly and stood next to Diluc.

"No...you said no?"

"Then why do you still ask me to bring you breakfast every day?"

"And you expect me to pay for your university tuition too?"

"Even your current living expenses are the result of my frugal living. You're telling me we're not boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Ye Linxiao seemed very excited and held onto Liu Ruyan's hand tightly.

"Ah this..."

This left Diluc stunned. How come this wasn't what was agreed upon before?

Wasn't he supposed to be a persistent, clingy guy? He doesn't seem like that at all.

On the contrary, Liu Ruyan seems a bit of a jerk at this moment.

Sensing something was wrong, but considering this was his employer, Diluc stepped forward and pulled him away.

"Sir, please calm down."

He would have been fine if he hadn't spoken, but as soon as he did, Ye Linxiao's gaze immediately fell on him.

"It's him, you're with him, aren't you?"

"Yes."

At that moment, Liu Ruyan stepped forward without hesitation and grabbed Diluc's arm.

It's him, so what?

"Fine, fine." Ye Linxiao smiled bitterly, and let go of Liu Ruyan's hand: "You just think I'm poor, don't you? You'll regret it."

"What are you saying, Brother Ye? How could I possibly look down on you? It's just..."

While speaking, he didn't forget to glance at Diluc again.

"Fine." Ye Linxiao gave a disdainful smile, then shoved Diluc aside, opened the door to the private room, and left dejectedly.

"I remember you."

Before leaving, he didn't forget to give Diluc a deep look.

"What does this have to do with me?"

Diluc was speechless. "You two, just get to the point. Why did you bring me in here?"

"I'm sorry... I had no choice... I just..."

"fine."

Diluc's lips twitched. "You have no way to do anything? You're using me as a shield."

I sat down alone in a corner, no longer wanting to participate.

Fortunately, this is just a game, otherwise he would have wanted to slap this person. It's too much! He received so much help from this person, and you didn't even give him a little bit of benefit.

[Yae no Miko: Pfft~~~ So this is Emperor Ruyan? He's got some skills.]

[Star: I know, this is called fish farming.]

[Silva: Bronya, watch carefully and learn well.]

Bronya: Why would I study this?

[Natasha: It will be useful in the future.]

[Hiluva: It will be useful in the future.]

[Su Ze: What's the point of learning this? You guys aren't trying to turn Bronya into a scumbag, are you?]

[Silva: Not at all, it's just to give Bronya more experience dealing with men.]

[Su Ze: Come on, just watch, Liu Ruyan is definitely going to fail her tribulation this time.]