Chapter 63

Chapter 26: About Normalcy

Bai Ling had a little plan in mind, just waiting for tomorrow afternoon’s banquet.

“Bai Ling,” her desk mate suddenly asked her, “Are you going to participate in the provincial competition?”

“What provincial competition?”

“It’s the basketball tournament. I heard the school basketball team wants to formally invite you to join them for city-level competitions, provincial ones, and even the national tournament.”

“Not interested, I won’t participate,” Bai Ling shook her head. “If you hear anything, please help me decline their invitation.”

She only played that game yesterday because she wanted to see Ning Ning’s cheerleader uniform.

Her desk mate agreed and took out her mobile phone to send a message to her basketball team friend —— the basketball team had asked her to inquire about inviting Bai Ling.

“Do we have any couples in our class?” she heard Bai Ling ask.

“Couples? You mean like you and Yuan the Big Campus Beauty Queen?” her desk mate replied without hesitation.

Bai Ling twitched at the corner of her mouth. “I mean other people.”

Normal couples, normal couples made up of two normal people.

“There probably are some, but I don’t know specifically. Anyway, the most envied couple in the whole class is you and Yuan Xiaoling… By the way, why are you asking this?”

“No reason, just bored.” Bai Ling evaded.

She just wanted to see what normal couples were like. Don’t ask why, it’s just boredom.

Even though she couldn’t personally witness any couple interactions for long, Bai Ling still found a post on the campus forum —

[(Help Post) First time dating, what should one do in a relationship? — Love from Computer Science Class 9.]

[Best Answer: Dear fellow student, pure campus love is hard to come by, so I hope both you and she will cherish it. In a relationship, besides adding small bursts of excitement to daily life, little details such as caring about each other’s clothing, food, shelter, and transportation also matter. Asking each other’s opinions on matters, etc., etc…]

Bai Ling’s eyelid twitched.

Tsk, relationships among normal people are so troublesome.

[… Additionally, topics about memories are the most precious things between the two of you. This requires a long time together to accumulate enough memories. So I hope you can spend as much time together as possible, preferably measured in years…]

Measured in years…

Thinking carefully, Yuan Xiaoling has been with her for ten years now, creating quite a few memories.

It’s just that the other party doesn’t remember.

…

[Don’t you find it curious?]

Facing Yuan Xiaoling who goes out to eat and drink extravagantly, then goes back to the dormitory to lie down and play on her phone after eating, the System couldn’t help but ask.

“Curious about what?”

[Why would Bai Ling die in the future when she’s obviously the main character? Death is simply illogical for the protagonist.]

With its formulaic thinking, the System found it hard to imagine the core protagonist dying. It thought Yuan Xiaoling should be as perplexed as itself, but Yuan Xiaoling was only concerned about playing the role of a female ghost in her previous life.

Could it really have chosen such an airheaded and foolish host?

“What’s there to be curious about? You’re stuck in a rut.”

Yuan Xiaoling hugged the potato chips she just bought, munching while saying, “You always talk about Bai Ling dying, but she’s not dead, right?”

[But if there was no rebirth, she would have died. In other words, in some future timeline, as the protagonist, she has already died. But if that’s the case, that timeline should have collapsed…]

“I told you, you don’t get it.”

Yuan Xiaoling sat up on the bed, gesturing with her hands. “What future timeline? You view time as a straight line. But what if there isn’t another future? Look, when she dies, the timeline bends and reconnects with ten years ago.”

“In the long river of time, these ten years are just a knot, a loop, but it doesn’t affect the line continuing forward… As long as Bai Ling doesn’t die again in ten years.”

“So for Bai Ling, the death ten years ago in her past life is merely an experience where ‘the protagonist encounters hardships during growth, almost dies, but gains benefits due to misfortune and becomes stronger.’ This kind of plot is extremely common in novels, anime, movies, and TV shows.”

The System didn’t speak for a long time, seemingly experiencing a system crash.

Yuan Xiaoling shook her head and sighed, “You just haven’t read enough novels.”

Lacking an overall understanding of the entire plot.

After a long pause, the System finally recovered: [Then aren’t you curious about what happened and what you did during those ten years in your past life?]

“Of course I’m curious, and maybe I can find some useful intelligence. But… the cost is too high. Let’s take it slowly.”

Getting dizzy once restored only a small segment of memory, and each recovery was random. That timeline spanned a full decade, and restoring everything would likely take at least a year or half.

“So, instead of dwelling on your riddles, let’s think about how to handle this week’s Weekly Task,” Yuan Xiaoling mused. “How to shock her.”

Indeed, she should study more “private techniques,” like last night, surprising Bai Ling so much she couldn’t close her mouth.

Also, according to her past-life memories, next week’s Children’s Day wasn’t a good day for Bai Ling. She’d definitely be in a bad mood, so Yuan Xiaoling decided to prepare a small gift to comfort her.

At this moment, her phone buzzed, receiving a new message.

[Bai Ling: Are you in the dorm? I’ll come over later to discuss something important.]

[Ning Ning: Important thing… talking kind or doing kind?]

Bai Ling, who was in class, twitched her lips. She really didn’t know when the Blonde-haired Maiden turned into someone with all sorts of naughty thoughts.

[White-haired Maiden: It’s something that can be discussed in public, although it’s best if no one hears.]

Yuan Xiaoling blinked her eyes, thinking it was indeed serious business.

[Ning Ning: Then let’s go to the bubble tea shop at the school gate.]

Today was Monday, so her roommate couldn’t go to the neighboring dorm room.

Ten minutes later, Yuan Xiaoling saw Bai Ling at the bubble tea shop, who had arrived even earlier than her.

The White-haired Maiden seemed a bit different. After being refreshed by the Water Dragon Lord overnight, her complexion appeared softer.

“You’ve arrived.”

Specifically what had changed, Yuan Xiaoling couldn’t pinpoint, but she was certainly different from the cold white-haired woman under the broken bridge in her memories.

“I’ve arrived. What’s the urgent matter?”

Yuan Xiaoling picked up the strawberry juice on the table, clearly ordered by Bai Ling for her, and gulped a few mouthfuls.

Delicious.

Bai Ling didn’t rush, watching her sip the strawberry juice, finding it somewhat cute.

At the same time, she was a little curious — why was it strawberry-flavored on top but lemon-flavored underneath? What happened in between?

If Yuan Xiaoling knew her thoughts, she would say, “Of course you wouldn’t understand. Those were task rewards from mocking twice in my past life’s ten-year career as a female ghost.”

That’s the power of rules, something even rebirth couldn’t reset. Impressive, right?

When Yuan Xiaoling put down the strawberry juice, Bai Ling unlocked her phone and handed it over. The screen displayed the message sent by Mu Ron Han.

“Tianhai Grand Hotel, apologizing?” The Blonde-haired Maiden blinked her eyes. “How could someone like him apologize?”

Not because Ning Ning judged people by appearance, but if Mu Ron Han awakened any other abilities, she might believe it. However, he’s the type who strengthens his foundation stone, muscles growing in his brain. How could he suddenly become gentle and refined?

“What do you think?” Bai Ling looked at her.

Yuan Xiaoling thought, this was testing her wit.

“Definitely a scam. First, he chose the place, he chose the time, giving himself home-field advantage and preparation time, indicating he’s definitely prepared. I think he’s probably gathering people and looking for a venue.”

“Hmm, that’s what I thought too.”

Bai Ling sipped her flower tea, the kind with added lemon juice, making the taste more layered. She never drank it this way before, but recently she suddenly liked it.

She didn’t know why herself, but just wanted to drink it this way.

“Are you still going?” Yuan Xiaoling curiously asked.

Bai Ling didn’t answer immediately, first checking her phone, then looking at her, and counter-asked, “Do you have any suggestions?”

Yuan Xiaoling was momentarily stunned.

“… You’re actually asking for my opinion?”

This was rare because ever since that night she was dragged back, Bai Ling always made decisions alone, wherever she said they’d go, they went. If she said they’d stay at a hotel tonight, they definitely wouldn’t return to the dormitory. If she said they’d spend the night together, they definitely wouldn’t wait until morning.

This was the first time she asked for her opinion.

“Hmm, I want to hear your thoughts,” Bai Ling said. “And I have a small question.”

“What?”

“As you said, it’s a treacherous feast, but going once doesn’t matter because teaching them a lesson might attract their superiors.”

Mu Ron Han was the rich young master of Yunhai Company, something she naturally knew.

“But the problem is, if I use too much force, I might face the fiercest retaliation afterward. But if I hold back, facing their unknown strength, I might suffer losses.” Bai Ling continued, “My ideal outcome is to display only Fourth-tier strength and struggle hard against them, barely winning.”

Yuan Xiaoling nodded. “Understood.”

“Do you have any methods?” Bai Ling asked her.

“Simple,” Yuan Xiaoling confidently said, “I’ll just go with you.”

“I’m Third-tier peak perfection, semi-Fourth-tier. Together, we’ll easily teach those kids a lesson.”