“The homeroom teacher has already informed me in advance, so you don’t need to report to me for future PE classes.”
“Okay, thank you, teacher!”
After retrieving the special permission slip from the PE teacher, Xia Mengxi walked with Lin Xue’er toward the edge of the playground. Both quickly moved past the earlier incident without any lingering awkwardness, only parting ways when they reached the shade of a large tree.
“I’ll head back to the gathering spot first, Xiao Xi. I’ll come find you during free activity time later.”
“Mm, see you later, Xue’er.”
Finally alone, Xia Mengxi sat contentedly on the grass, enjoying the summer breeze brushing against her cheeks.
Yet, having grown accustomed to a tense lifestyle, she felt oddly unsettled during this rare moment of leisure.
Watching Lin Xue’er doing warm-up exercises with their classmates, Xia Mengxi couldn’t help but reminisce about their journey since first meeting. Comparing the timelines before and after the reset filled her with quiet emotion.
“Ha… The changes brought by different choices are truly earth-shattering…”
Originally, her first day had been her last-captured by the corrupted Lin Xue’er and imprisoned in the Underground Prison for months, never returning to normal life.
This time, not only had she safely passed the first day, but by midday on the second day, she could practically pop champagne in celebration.
But it all felt too smooth, unnervingly so-like an illusory dream. Now alone with a clear head, she decided to carefully review the morning’s events.
First was completing the conquest at Progress Stage Three. Analyzing this suggested the God recognized three stages for successful conquest.
Judging by Lin Xue’er’s shifting attitudes: Stage One was establishing friendship. Stage Two… perhaps involved revealing her feelings, given the option she’d chosen was confessing her heart to Lin Xue’er.
The final stage was obvious-mutual acceptance of each other’s feelings, essentially a love confession.
Summarized, the three conquest stages were: Meeting, Understanding, and… Loving (?).
Why the question mark? Because on her end, she hadn’t fallen in love.
Don’t call her heartless! As a conqueror, how could she be shackled by emotions? She… was merely an emotionless conquest robot, muahahaha!
Ahem-she’d been feeling increasingly spirited lately!
Blushing slightly, Xia Mengxi fiddled awkwardly with her long sidebangs.
This wasn’t a mental breakdown! Months of imprisonment had simply reshaped her psyche, teaching her one thing: facing someone like corrupted Lin Xue’er required ironclad mental resilience. One emotional slip, and disaster would strike.
Hence, she’d begun these theatrical internal monologues-to maintain composure, regulate emotions, and ensure she could think clearly during crises.
Although among the three targets currently identified, only Lin Xue’er would turn hostile, it was still best to be mentally prepared before gaining a deeper understanding of the others.
“I truly am a master of psychology, capable of perfectly regulating even myself. But since the conquest has been confirmed successful, does that mean my earlier speculation about the promise she mentioned was correct?”
Don’t underestimate the fact that the conquest progress only had three stages. Normally, for two strangers to reach the final stage together —unless it was love at first sight—it would take at least one or two months. Some might even take longer—half a year, a year, or more.
Therefore, the reason she could conquer Lin Xue’er so quickly must be due to that so-called promise. Otherwise, given Lin Xue’er’s initial friendly attitude toward her-the starting affection level-it would have been unlikely to succeed in less than a day.
case,
In that the priority of the promise Lin Xue’er mentioned could be temporarily set aside. For now, the most important thing was to consolidate the current relationship while quickly gathering information about Lin Xue’er’s childhood emotional knot.
“Xiao Xi, I’m back for you.”
Hearing the familiar voice, Xia Mengxi snapped out of her thoughts and looked toward the approaching Lin Xue’er. But at this glance, she froze momentarily.
Due to the school’s regulations, even though the uniform was already quite convenient for movement, they still had to change into sportswear.
Thus, Lin Xue’er, now dressed in sportswear with her hair tied into a single ponytail, exuded a youthful and energetic vibe. For Xia Mengxi, who was used to seeing Lin Xue’er in conservative attire, this was a refreshing sight.
“Xue’er, is this the sportswear for P.E. class?”
“Mhm.”
In the early days of summer, the sleeveless top and ultra-short sports shorts looked refreshing just at a glance.
Subconsciously, Xia Mengxi lifted the hem of her knee-length skirt, but the opaque white tights clinging to her legs blocked any breeze from reaching her skin.
As a result, her action not only proved futile but also caused her body temperature to rise gradually.
“It’s so hot… I want to take off these tights…”
“Xiao Xi, fidgeting like this will only make you feel hotter.”
Hearing Xia Mengxi’s complaint, Lin Xue’er sat beside her and reached out to stop her movements.
With her hands restrained, Xia Mengxi pouted slightly and looked at Lin Xue’er with a hint of grievance.
“Xue’er, how about we go buy some cold drinks?”
“What do you think?”
At this moment, Xia Mengxi experienced yet another downside of her frail constitution—she couldn’t drink cold beverages.
In the scorching summer, being unable to enjoy ice-cold drinks was nothing short of torture. A thought immediately popped into Xia Mengxi’s mind: to take three days off, combined with the weekend, and wait until her frail constitution passed before facing the summer heat.
Of course, taking leave was out of the question. But being unable to do this or that left her feeling somewhat frustrated.
“Xiao Xi, do you want to take a nap?”
Lin Xue’er, who had been watching Xia Mengxi closely, patted her own thigh and made the suggestion when she noticed Xia Mengxi’s expression drooping.
“Then I won’t hold back?”
“Mhm, make yourself comfortable.”
Since Lin Xue’er had extended the invitation, she naturally accepted.
And so, Xia Mengxi adjusted her sitting position, then leaned back, resting the back of her head on Lin Xue’er’s fair and smooth thighs.
As the saying goes, a calm heart naturally cools. Lying like this, Xia Mengxi gradually felt less hot, and without realizing it, she slowly closed her eyes, her breathing steadying.
Noticing that Xia Mengxi had fallen asleep, Lin Xue’er’s delicate face blossomed with a smile brighter than the sun.
How she wished that she and Xia Mengxi could remain like this forever, until their hair turned white with age.