Startled, Wen Yun instantly snapped back to reality, turning around in astonishment to see the sports committee member beaming with delight, readily agreeing, "Alright, I'll write it down for you right away!"
Although everyone in the class is always quite enthusiastic about signing up for events, the 3000-meter race is still an event that everyone hesitates to participate in every year.
The journey is quite long and takes a toll on physical strength and willpower. Even if you can earn admiring glances and receive an encouragement award to boost your class's score just by finishing the run, the pain you endure during the process is something most people simply cannot bear.
In previous years, no one signed up, so the sports committee had to grit their teeth and sign up themselves. They never expected that they wouldn't have to run this year, and they were overjoyed.
Some are happy while others are sad; Wen Yun is quite sad right now.
This is another plot point not found in the original text. In the original text, before the selection exam, Ruan Yu was pushed by someone who disliked her during morning exercises, injuring her hands and feet. During the sports meet, she could only sit in the stands and minimize her activities, making it inconvenient even to deliver broadcast scripts.
Now that she and Ruan Yu have teamed up to deal with two vicious female supporting characters before the selection exam, the scene of being pushed during the morning exercise has not happened yet, and Ruan Yu is able to greet the upcoming sports meet with a healthy body.
This is actually a good thing. Wen Yun can understand why Ruan Yu would participate in one or two projects to make up for the regrets of her previous life.
The problem is, Ruan Yu chose the 3000-meter race!!
What if someone in the class conspires with their rival and deliberately bumps into Ruan Yu while running?! An injury scenario seems inevitable!
But since it was Ruan Yu's own choice, Wen Yun couldn't stop her. After muttering to herself for a while, she could only sigh and let it go, then took out her phone to send a message to Lin Qiqi.
Cloud: [Xiaoyu signed up for the 3000m race. Keep an eye on that small group during this time. If there are any plans targeting Xiaoyu, be sure to let me know immediately!]
Lin Qiqi was in the bathroom when she came back and saw the message. She was so shocked that she sent her a "Holy crap" emoji.
Cute and sweet little Qiqi: [3000 meters!!! Warriors!! Glory to our class! Yunyun, don't worry, I promise to gather intelligence properly!!]
Even with her best friend's assurance, Wen Yun still felt it wasn't enough, so she started searching for lightweight protective gear that could prevent falls.
The next day, Ruan Yu returned home and was secretly unpacking the newly arrived cushions in the warehouse where she was storing packages when she heard footsteps behind her.
She turned around alertly and saw Wen Yun standing at the warehouse door carrying a delivery box.
Their eyes met, and Wen Yun hesitated for a moment before carrying the box in and helping her unpack it, intending to give her the protective gear in advance.
They silently unpacked their items without looking at what the other had bought.
However, the pillow that Ruan Yu bought was too obvious. Wen Yun caught a glimpse of something huge out of the corner of her eye and looked over curiously. She saw Ruan Yu holding a long tabby cat pillow and couldn't help but exclaim "Hey!"
"This is a pillow for you!" Ruan Yu quickly said, afraid that she would misunderstand. "Actually, I placed an order the day you bought me the pillow, but the seller never shipped it, so I canceled the order and reordered it, which is why it only arrived today!"
"A gift for me?" Wen Yun asked, puzzled. "Why did you suddenly think of giving me a body pillow?"
“You said that a pillow can give people a sense of security,” Ruan Yu said, unconsciously recalling what happened that night in the countryside, and suddenly felt her ears burning slightly.
Wen Yun suddenly realized and quickly said, "Actually, it's not necessary. You've gone to so much trouble!"
After saying that, she remembered that she was still holding the things she wanted to give Ruan Yu, so she quickly tore open the remaining packaging and said as she did so, "Here, these are the protective gear I wanted to give you. You can get used to them in the next few days and see if they fit or if the material will cause any allergies. Wear them before you run the 3000 meters!"
Ruan Yu was stunned as she watched as the woman took out the knee pads, waist support, patellar brace, leg brace, and ankle brace one by one from the box and showed them to her. She was completely dumbfounded.
“Uh… there are more dark colors in these protective gear, especially black.” Wen Yun thought she didn’t like the color, so she explained, “I think the patterns on the light-colored ones are too ugly, so I didn’t buy them. If you don’t like dark colors, I can show you some online stores, and you can choose one yourself.”
Ruan Yu composed herself, shook her head, and said, "It's alright, I really like the gift you gave me. But... you seem quite worried about me running the 3000 meters?"
“Just think of me as the kind of person who tends to think the worst,” Wen Yun sighed. “Luo Qin came back recently, but things have been calm all along. I’m afraid she’ll take advantage of the sports meet and have someone bump into you in public. You probably know that during strenuous exercise, if the collision is well covered up, it can actually cover up the truth.”
“Yes, I understand your foresight.” Ruan Yu nodded quickly, thought for a moment, and handed over the cushion in her hand. “Since it’s my gift, I’ll tidy it up here.”
As soon as Wen Yun left, Ruan Yu packed up all the protective gear while trying to organize the chaotic thoughts in her mind.
She had a vague feeling that the person, like herself, seemed to know what would happen in the future.
Otherwise, it could only be paranoia; otherwise, why would someone think of such an extreme event as being hit by a car at a sports meet?
She had already been confused once before, when that person handed in their paper early and waited for her at the exam hall entrance, explaining their reason for doing so.
Now, recalling how that person fought for Grandpa Wen and her aunt, and how that person always stayed by her side during thunderstorms, all sorts of details gradually surfaced, and a bad thought suddenly appeared in Ruan Yu's mind.
But she didn't allow the thought to linger in her mind for even a few seconds before forcefully banishing it.
It wasn't her.
That person... could absolutely not be Wen Yun!
But she couldn't explain why that person knew so much about her situation, and why they could always try to turn the situation in her favor before things even happened.
All she knows now is that the person genuinely wanted to help her and was giving his all for it.
But what was that person's reason for doing this? And what was her background?
For some reason, Ruan Yu suddenly remembered what Abbot Huiheng had said about that person having one last chance to escape after being tainted by karma.
She had thought that it might be a separation, such as her leaving the Wen family after graduation while that person remained in the Wen family. Although they would still keep in touch, there would be no more ties between them.
However, now she thought of an unbelievable situation—
Does that mean that once certain conditions are met, that person will completely disappear from her life?
A note from the author:
The second update is here!
Wen Yun's intuition was right; Xiao Yu was indeed a seemingly innocent but actually cunning person.
Chapter 39
Although the idea was absurd, Ruan Yu couldn't deny it.
Because that person was definitely not Wen Yun. They were completely different in personality and behavior. Apart from their appearance and voice, they were completely different people.
She felt empty inside, so she sat down on the bed and hugged a Shiba Inu pillow.
The Shiba Inu plushie has been with her for many days now. Perhaps it's just psychological, but she hasn't had any nightmares lately, though she occasionally dreams about the future.
There was the long vacation after the college entrance exam, and the campus life during her university years—all futures she couldn't experience in her previous life. And in every dream, there was that person's figure.
This can no longer be called trusting the other party, but rather dependence.
The experiences of her past life had reminded Ruan Yu more than once not to have any expectations of anyone. But when she was reborn and met someone who had good intentions towards her, she couldn't help but give him her trust like a moth to a flame.
And as time went by, she had gotten used to the sense of security that he had by her side.
She was so dependent on that person that even just imagining him leaving would make her feel incredibly uneasy.
Besides, if that person leaves, to whom will the remaining body belong?
Will Wen Yun come back? Or will that person's departure cause the body to die as well?
Ruan Yu became increasingly frightened as she thought about it, and after much deliberation, she finally shared her doubts with He Sheng.
That person often said that He Sheng had a "wild imagination," and she was always happy to talk about any strange or unusual topic.
But considering how bizarre her experience was, she decided to confide in He Sheng by describing her dream:
[I had a strange dream. In the dream, I was bullied by a family member who looked a lot like Yunyun. She targeted me at every turn, and in the end, I committed suicide to end my suffering.]
[But after I died, I returned to the day I first came to the Wen family. Everyone else was the same as in my previous life, except for Yunyun, who had bullied me. Her personality changed drastically, and she became the person you and I know now.]
No matter what I want to do or say, she respects me, supports me, stands firmly by my side, plans my future, and encourages me to strive for success.
The more wholeheartedly Yunyun treats me, the more afraid I become.
I'm afraid she'll suddenly leave one day, just like the person who used to bully me might suddenly disappear.
So I tried every means to keep her by my side, watching over and protecting her, not letting anyone take her away, and not giving her any chance to leave.
Even so, one day in the future, Yunyun still left. The person who bullied me was left behind; she laughed as she grabbed my neck, threatening to take everything from me…
[She choked me so hard I could hardly breathe, I felt like I was suffocating, and then I woke up.]
She tried to describe the future she was worried about as calmly as possible, but after sending it, she felt that she was not being rational enough. Even if it was just a dream, the content should not be told to outsiders, so she long-pressed the message to prepare to recall it.
Before she could even press recall, He Sheng sent her a message:
[That was really a strange dream~]
[But I can tell that you actually care about Yunyun a lot! So much so that you subconsciously want to force her to stay by your side, hehe~]
After reading the reply, Ruan Yu couldn't help but ask: "If you care, why do I dream that she's a different person?"
"Then there are many interpretations," He Sheng replied. "You could interpret it as not wanting her to have the dark side you dislike. Or you could interpret it as you did experience the events in your dream, but reliving them has temporarily made you forget them."
The next sentence sent a chill down Ruan Yu's spine, and her fingers twitched slightly: "Do you really believe such a thing exists?"
"Why can't we believe it?" He Sheng countered. "More and more research shows that as technology advances to a certain level, humanity has the potential to travel through time and space. Whether it's rebirth or time travel, both are forms of time travel. I may not have experienced such high technology in my current state, but that doesn't mean I haven't in parallel universes. And I'm just one individual in this small world. The universe is vast, and no one is a god. How can we be certain that such a thing absolutely doesn't exist?"
Ruan Yu was actually convinced by her seemingly serious words. After thinking it over, she tentatively asked, "Then do you think that if time travel really exists, is it possible for a time traveler who has already arrived in this world to return to their original world?"
"That depends on what type of transmigrator they are," He Sheng replied seriously. "If they are transmigrators with advanced technology, such as those carrying or bound to systems from higher dimensions, they are very likely to return after completing their mission."
[Higher Dimensional System? Mission?] Ruan Yu was puzzled.
"It seems you're not familiar with this kind of popular culture." He Sheng said with a hint of helplessness. "It's okay, if you're interested, I have a lot of online novels on similar themes here, I'll recommend them all to you!"
As a result, Ruan Yu received more than twenty links from legitimate online novel reading apps.
-
Today, Wen Yun managed to complete all the questions within the time limit, which was quite rare. After checking her answers, she was surprised to find that she scored 115 points.
"This mock exam is too easy..." she muttered, carefully correcting the wrong questions on the scratch paper, circling the advanced questions she couldn't figure out, reading the solutions and then trying to solve them herself, but she was still stuck and had no clue. She wrote them down again and went downstairs to find Ruan Yu.
After knocking twice without any response, Wen Yun panicked, raised her voice to remind the doorman, and opened the door to go inside.
Ruan Yu was sitting at her desk with her earphones in, an open history textbook in her hands, the pages covered with notes, as if she was reviewing the key points for the exam.
Seeing that she was alright, Wen Yun breathed a sigh of relief. She quietly moved her usual chair next to Ruan Yu, sat down quietly, and then gently patted her shoulder.
Perhaps Ruan Yu was engrossed in her review, for even a light tap startled the girl, who quickly grabbed her phone from the table, tapped a few times, then hurriedly took off her earphones and apologized, "Sorry."
"It's okay, I just got here anyway." Wen Yun didn't mind at all, and even joked with her, "How is it? The noise isolation of these headphones is good enough, right?"
Ruan Yu composed herself and smiled at her as usual: "That's great, I didn't hear a thing about you coming."
Holding the exam paper with the ink still wet in her hand, Ruan Yu's thoughts were still on the novels she had just been reading.
She reads very quickly and focuses on the key points. In less than two hours, she had read five or six books and roughly understood what He Sheng meant by "system" and "task".
In short, the system can be divided into two categories: one is a "golden finger" that provides convenience to the host, and the other is a monitor that forces the host to perform various tasks. If the host refuses to cooperate, it will be punished or even eliminated.
As for the types of tasks, most of them are linked to the types of systems.
For example, the "Villain Reform System" will give the host tasks to reform villains; the "Sarcastic System" will force the host to be sarcastic at any time to maintain the original character of the transmigrated person and ensure the stability of the current small world; the "Plot Repair System" will give the host stage tasks from time to time to "make the plot lead to a reasonable ending".