Chapter 121
Chapter 121
It wasn’t that they couldn’t beat her.
It was that every time they were just about to hit her, something bizarre would always happen.
Either one bully’s accomplice would somehow slap one of their own instead, or their feet would mysteriously slip, sending them crashing to the ground right in front of Fan Jiangnan.
Before they could even scramble back up, Fan Jiangnan had already kicked them away.
Ning Shuo watched his girl punch and kick like an old father watching over his daughter. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of a figure staggering toward the rooftop.
He hurried over at once. He couldn’t let his girl’s best friend end up dead again. “Hey, hey, they’re bullying you this badly. Don’t you want to give them a couple slaps and get revenge?”
You Ge no longer looked the way she had when he first met her, with light in her eyes. Her brows and eyes were numb and lifeless. Before she could say anything, Ning Shuo gently pinched her cheeks, shaping her face into a smile. “Come on, smile a little. Look over there.”
He pointed at Fan Jiangnan. “He went to a lot of trouble just to come here and see you.”
You Ge only glanced in that direction once. “I know.”
Ning Shuo looked at her in surprise, only then realizing that this You Ge should already be the version of You Ge who had recovered the memories from the first timeline.
You Ge said, “I don’t think what’s already happened can be undone. It’s like spilled water. No matter what you do, you can’t take it back.”
Even with another chance.
“At least right now, even if there are no visible injuries, even if there’s nothing else, I still don’t dare step onto that stage.”
You Ge had always remembered that one time, when she was dancing alone on an empty stage and those bullies walked out from behind the curtain.
From that moment on, she developed an indescribable fear of the stage.
Since those people already knew that You Ge no longer dared to dance, why did they still have to break her leg?
You Ge remembered how Fan Jiangnan’s eyes always shone whenever he saw her.
Especially when he watched her dance.
So, on Fan Jiangnan’s birthday, You Ge said, “I’ll dance for you. Just for you alone.”
But before she ever got the chance to dance-
You Ge’s leg was broken, and then she leaped from the rooftop.
She didn’t resent Fan Jiangnan. It was just that seeing him would inevitably remind her of the agony of that day, when her leg was broken.
So perhaps subconsciously, in this timeline, she never said again that she would dance for Fan Jiangnan.
After listening, Ning Shuo patted her head. “Silly girl. Your dancing is beautiful. Art itself should never be burdened with any cruel meaning.”
You Ge knew that.
But the fear inside her was something she couldn’t avoid.
The commotion from the fight over there began to die down. Looking at You Ge, who stubbornly kept her back to Fan Jiangnan, Ning Shuo said softly, “Since you know it wasn’t Jiangnan’s fault, then just looking at him shouldn’t hurt, right?”
You Ge’s fists clenched.
A few more steps and she’d be at the rooftop edge. If she jumped, time would rewind, and she could still return to the previous timeline and go back to being someone who knew nothing.
Even though the bullying would still go on for a long time, once she lost her memory, she could at least forget the pain she was feeling now.
You Ge exhaled deeply, then turned around.
…It was just one look, anyway. Nothing bad would come of that.
And then she froze.
Fan Jiangnan was taking off his conservative school uniform jacket and smoothing out the dress underneath, already wrinkled all over.
He muttered that this dress was really hard to keep hidden, and he’d almost torn it while fighting.
Sensing the gaze on him, Fan Jiangnan turned his head.
His eyes were just like they had been when they first met.
Bright.
“You Ge! When did you get over there? Come watch me dance!”
The girl’s radiant smile was in front of her, while behind her, the young man said in his usual lazy tone, “Little Swan, go on.”
Bullying should never exist anywhere, and art should never be divided into high and low.
Every child is a white swan in their own field.
…
If he broke the loop in this segment of spacetime, Ning Shuo would be able to get out.
The moment he got out, the first thing Ning Shuo did was check the time.
Only half an hour had passed since he went to the Second Timeline.
Ten minutes earlier, the System had already notified him that Zone F’s Murderer Mission and Innocent mission had been completed first. In other words, both the Accusation and escaping the Accusation had succeeded.
The Script was quiet. It looked like the Players from both Star Zones had already left.
Although he didn’t want Ning Wang to know he’d gone to the Second Timeline, if Ning Wang had really forgotten him just like that, then honestly, Ning Shuo felt a little awful about it too.
He had just been about to confirm his exit from the Script when he suddenly noticed something strange:
This Script seemed a little too quiet.
Ning Shuo frowned and rushed toward the College Entrance Exam Venue.
The closer he got to the College Entrance Exam Venue, the more clearly he could sense the commotion there.
Ning Shuo’s temples throbbed.
Crap.
He’d pushed things too far.
…
Ning Wang only went to provoke the NPCs after getting the other Players out of the Script.
Rao Lin wanted to take him out with them, but he couldn’t beat him.
As he was leaving, he shouted himself hoarse, “Fuck! Who the hell is Ning Shuo?!”
Ning Wang waved a hand. “No time to explain. Captain, get them out first. Once you’re out, you’ll remember who he is.”
“What, you think I’d just be holding you back if I stayed here or something?”
“Yeah.”
Rao Lin: “…”
Ning Wang kept it short. “In a minute, every NPC in the whole Script is going to come after me. Captain, you can’t fly.”
Rao Lin: “…”
He lowered his voice and looked at Ning Wang, who was being serious for once. “You’ve already met the conditions to clear it anyway. If you really can’t find him, just leave.”
“If that Player you mentioned really exists, maybe he left as soon as he met the conditions to clear the Script.”
Ning Wang waved him off. “You’re serious for once, Captain. You’ve actually got me listening.”
Rao Lin: “…”
Only after Ning Wang was the only one left in the First Timeline did he go look for the place where the exam papers were kept.
He was going to change the scores by hand.
Ning Wang knew Ning Shuo well. If Ning Shuo really came out of the Second Timeline, then as long as nothing unusual had happened in the Script, he would most likely choose to leave.
So Ning Wang was going to make sure this Script had something unusual in it.
He had to confirm whether Ning Shuo had gotten out, and whether he was safe and sound.
Besides, he had already drawn all the NPCs over. Even if Ning Shuo came out, he wouldn’t be in danger.
If he managed to change his own score, then all the better-he could go look for Ning Shuo in that missing segment of spacetime.
If he couldn’t, then his actions would just happen to draw all the NPCs’ attention onto him. That way, when Ning Shuo came out, there was no way he wouldn’t notice something was wrong.
Since only those two Players were left in the Script, every screen in the Arena Match, large and small, was split evenly between them.
The whole Script was in the middle of an upheaval. On one big screen, Ning Wang darted through the school buildings, with countless NPCs behind him, led by a Clown who still hadn’t managed to catch him even now.
On the other big screen, Ning Shuo was hurrying toward the College Entrance Exam Venue.
In the end, almost miraculously, the two of them ran into each other at the entrance to the College Entrance Exam Venue.
Ning Wang was clearly exhausted, and he was covered in injuries.
The moment their eyes met, they instantly understood each other and confirmed their exit from the Script together.
…
Any injuries suffered in the Script healed automatically once you left it.
Except emotional ones.
Ah, heartbreak.
Even though this time Zone F had won by a narrow margin, it was only because a certain Player from Zone F-namely him-had a miraculous and mysterious Lightness Skill buff.
But once emotional wounds existed, they weren’t so easy to heal.
Including the deeply guilty King who had caused those emotional wounds.