【Bzzzt—System connection successful—】
【Hello, Host Lin Le. I am your System.】
A strange, cold voice rang out in his mind. Lin Le jumped in fright and clutched his sleeve.
It took several seconds before he came back to his senses. 【H-Hello.】
The System did not respond to his greeting and simply continued on its own. 【Host, you died in a traffic accident. If you can complete the missions, we will revive you and restore your sight. Would you like to sign the contract?】
Lin Le did not process it. 【W-What?】
【Contract successfully signed. Transmitting world background now.】
Still completely bewildered, Lin Le received the background information for this world.
This was a “stock-picking” romance about the sunny protagonist Han Jinyan and several male love interests. Lin Le himself was little more than background decoration among those love interests: a blind boy who wanted to join Fu Ji and the other two. Yet no matter what he did, Xiang Chi and the others did not like him. Han Jinyan, on the other hand, won Fu Ji and the others’ attention with ease. That made the original Lin Le terribly jealous. So his mission was to join Fu Ji and the others’ three-person group and stop Han Jinyan from joining.
The System said that for every ten missions he completed, he would receive ten minutes in which he could see again.
The System asked, 【Do you understand the mission?】
Lin Le nodded earnestly. 【Mm! I understand! I need to join them, and then keep Han Jinyan from joining!】
The System said, 【Correct. Host, rest assured. The missions will not require anything cruel or unconscionable, will not violate morality, and will not break the law. Please complete them without worry.】
【Welcome—】
In the bitter cold of November, icy water mixed with chunks of ice came splashing down, instantly snapping Lin Le awake. He opened his eyes, only to find nothing but darkness.
The noisy sounds around him gradually became clearer. Male voices mixed with female ones, clamoring beside his ears until his head began to ache.
“You damn blind freak. Don’t you know what kind of trash you are? You still dare cling to Brother Xiang Chi and the others? Shameless!”
“All you know how to do is act innocent in front of them. Pah! Don’t you love pretending to be innocent? Fine, we’ll let you keep pretending! Let’s see who comes to save you!”
“Dead blind freak, stinking blind freak. Who knows what’s wrong with the government, setting up some disability-care program and letting someone like you get lucky enough to enter our school.”
The vicious, grating insults came one after another in shrill voices. Lin Le curled in on himself.
Cold wind swept over him. His entire upper body had already been soaked with icy water, and every gust made him shiver. His mind felt rusted solid, unable to turn at all, but somewhere inside he vaguely understood that he had probably run into school bullying.
The cursing did not stop. Lin Le could not see who they were. He was blind, so all he could do was keep his eyes open and lower his head helplessly.
Someone took off a jacket and whipped it across Lin Le’s body. The metal end of a chain on the jacket struck him, hurting terribly. Lin Le bit his lip and tried to struggle up from the ground and run, only to be forced down even harder.
“Look at him! He actually wants to run? We’re beating you because we’re giving you face. Be good and take it from us, all right? Hahaha!”
Lin Le had never been treated like this before and truly had no idea what to do. When he was three, a high fever had damaged his eyes. He had no father or mother and had grown up in a welfare home under government care. All his education had been one-on-one; he had never taken part in group life. Ever since he became old enough to understand things, he had always hidden inside his little snail shell and had barely gone outside.
He was afraid of interacting with people. He did not like interacting with people.
Now that he had come to this strange world, would anyone discover that he had died? Would anyone cry for him, grieve for him, feel sad for him?
Lin Le did not know. Maybe someone would, maybe no one would. He thought of the kind neighbor he had met and wondered whether that man would be sad.
Lin Le had only that one friend.
The pain all over his body grew stronger and his head spun. Lin Le had always been frail. After being drenched in ice water and blasted by cold wind, he began to run a fever.
What should he do… Who could come save him…
Lin Le curled up in the corner, not daring to cry.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Xiang Chi walked over with a puzzled frown. He had only meant to skip class, but somehow he had stumbled straight into a scene of school bullying.
Looking at the student huddled in the corner, Xiang Chi strode over. “What are you doing?”
The moment those people saw Xiang Chi, panic crossed their faces. They tried to block Lin Le from view and gave a feeble explanation. “Nothing, Xiang Chi. We were just having a friendly conversation.”
Xiang Chi looked at the trembling boy, his expression ugly. “What class are you from?”
The students shoved at one another, none of them daring to speak. Xiang Chi had no interest in waiting for them to work out an answer. He forcefully pushed aside the students blocking Lin Le, and only when he came closer did he realize this was the student their school had been instructed to pay special attention to.
Seeing Lin Le’s dripping hair and pale, tightly pressed lips, Xiang Chi understood everything. He bent down and lifted him up, only to realize at once that Lin Le’s body was burning hot.
He stared coldly at the cluster of students. “Lin Le was specially approved by the government to come here under our school’s care. He’s one of our school’s key protected students, and you dare treat him like this? I’m calling the police and telling the principal. Just wait to be expelled.”
Xiang Chi had nothing to say to trash like them. Lin Le was in very bad shape right now; he needed to get him to the infirmary quickly.
But once he started walking, the wind hit them and Lin Le began trembling even harder. Seeing that all of Lin Le’s clothes were wet, Xiang Chi clicked his tongue, set him down for a moment, took off his own jacket, and wrapped it around him.
Once the warm jacket was around him, Lin Le’s frozen mind cleared for a few seconds.
Xiang Chi picked him up and broke into a quick run, still swearing under his breath. “Damn it, this weather is fucking cold. Those people really had the nerve to pour water on him too. Achoo!”
Lin Le opened his eyes hazily. He could not see anything. Everything before him was black.
The arms holding him were warm, and the jacket wrapped around him kept the cold wind out. Lin Le felt miserable, and after only a few breaths, he fainted.
Xiang Chi hurriedly carried him to the infirmary and put him on a bed. The school doctor took one look and was startled too.
Everyone in the school knew how important Lin Le was. Each school selected for special observation received only one precious student like him. Now he was lying there pale-faced and breathing weakly, nearly scaring the school doctor to death.
“W-What happened? Oh my god!”
Xiang Chi irritably swept the hair off his forehead. “I was passing by and saw a bunch of trash bullying him. They even poured cold water on him. Looks like he has a fever now. Hurry up and treat him.”
The school doctor quickly took his temperature and put him on an IV. Only then did he relax.
Xiang Chi sat beside the bed. Watching Lin Le’s complexion gradually regain some color, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He said, “I’ll leave him with you, then. I’m heading out.”
He still wanted to go outside and have fun. It was rare for him to get the chance to skip class.
The school doctor hummed in acknowledgment twice.
Xiang Chi looked at the jacket pinned beneath Lin Le’s body and reached over to tug it out. It did not budge.
Obviously he needed his jacket back. The infirmary had blankets. If he went outside without his jacket, he would freeze to death.
The jacket did not come free, but the tug woke Lin Le instead. Feeling the jacket being carefully pulled away from his body, Lin Le jumped in fright and reflexively grabbed Xiang Chi’s hand.
Xiang Chi jumped too. “Y-You—why are you awake?”
Lin Le parted his lips, his voice hoarse. “Were you… the person who saved me just now?”
Seeing that he was awake, Xiang Chi could hardly keep yanking at the jacket. He could only frown and sit back down. “Yeah. But you don’t need to thank me that much. I just happened to help.”
“And, uh, give me my jacket. I’m going outside.”
Lin Le said, “Ah. S-Sorry.”
He struggled to prop himself up so Xiang Chi could take the jacket. Then Lin Le lay on the bed in a daze. He still had not figured out what exactly was going on. It really did seem as if he had arrived in a strange world.
The jacket had been trapped beneath Lin Le, taking on his body heat and carrying a faint trace of his scent. Xiang Chi put it on and zipped it up. When his nose brushed the collar, he could smell a light, clean fragrance.
Xiang Chi froze for a moment. Looking at Lin Le’s blank, pitiful expression, his lips moved before he finally said, “From now on, stop following us around. I’ll report those students who bullied you to the police and the school. They’ll get the punishment they deserve, so you don’t need to worry.”
Lin Le stiffly turned his head toward Xiang Chi’s voice and obediently nodded. “Okay.”
Seeing him like this, Xiang Chi clicked his tongue. After thinking for a long while, he called out, “School doctor! How long until he gets better?”
The school doctor came back holding the medicine he had prescribed and handed it to Xiang Chi. “Take this three times a day, after meals each time. Three days of it and he’ll be fine.”
The school doctor touched Lin Le’s forehead, and the chill of his hand made Lin Le narrow his eyes.
“The fever’s gone. Once this IV finishes, you can leave.”
Lin Le nodded, his voice soft. “Okay. Thank you, Doctor.”
Xiang Chi tossed the jacket back to Lin Le. “Here. Wear my jacket. Go back to class by yourself later, and if the teacher asks whether you’ve seen me, say you haven’t.”
Lin Le nodded again. Since he did not understand the situation yet, it was probably safest to do what they told him.
Xiang Chi walked outside, immediately sneezed again when the cold wind hit him, rubbed his arms, and left.
After the IV finished, Lin Le put on the jacket and stood at the infirmary doorway, his head full of questions.
Where was his classroom?
Without a white cane, how was he supposed to get back?
He softly called for the System. 【Mr. System, where is my classroom?】
The System fell silent for a few seconds. 【I’ll guide you. Walk according to my instructions.】
Lin Le softly said okay. Guided by the System, he slowly returned to his classroom.
The three potential male leads—Fu Ji, Xiang Chi, and Zhou Zhongshe—as well as the protagonist in the receptive role, Han Jinyan, were all in the same class. The mission would be difficult. Lin Le needed to gather his energy.
The thought that he could see again filled Lin Le with fighting spirit. He would definitely complete the missions!
Lin Le buried his face in the jacket collar and felt his way forward.
Fortunately, class was in session and there were not many students in the corridor, so Lin Le did not have to worry about accidentally feeling his way straight into someone.
When he reached the classroom door, Lin Le called, “Reporting.”
The teacher was in the middle of hunting down students who had skipped class. He looked over sharply, immediately recognized that the ill-fitting jacket Lin Le was wearing belonged to Xiang Chi, and snapped in anger, “Lin Le! Did you skip class with Xiang Chi?”
Lin Le froze at the shout and hurriedly explained, “Ah, no, Teacher.”
The teacher was still angry, but when he saw Lin Le standing there frightened, not even daring to lift his eyes, he gradually forced his temper under control. “Then do you know where Xiang Chi went?”
Lin Le shook his head. “N-No, I don’t.”
He had only thrown down his jacket and disappeared.
Since Lin Le said he did not know, there was nothing the teacher could do, so he let him return to his seat for the time being.
Lin Le had barely sat down when a lazy voice came from the doorway. “Reporting, Teacher
