Chapter 45: Who’s Looking for Me?

Shen Ning exchanged a glance with her reflection—
Yes, she knew how weird this was, but given the situation, it had to be done.

“What happened on your side?” asked the repressed personality reflection.

Yeah, what happened? How did things end up like this?

The new reflection was silent for a long time, then let out a faint sigh.
“One time, she was bored and said she didn’t want to wait anymore. Even without evidence, she exposed them anyway, and ended up falling into a trap. After that… she waited quietly in a hospital bed—but there was never any response again.”

Due to the constraints of spacetime continuity, the reflection could only talk about Xu Chuyao. It couldn’t reveal the identities of others involved.

“I see,” the repressed reflection said. “So she fell into a trap and ended up in a coma.”

Yeah, that’s a rough one. That’d wreck anyone.

“How can you speak about it so lightly?” the ruined reflection snapped. “Do you know how painful it is?”

Shen Ning didn’t know exactly how painful it was, but she did know that this version of herself—this one from another timeline—was the one who respected Xu Chuyao the most across the multiverse.

And the one who respected her the least? Definitely the repressed version.

“Well, it’s your fault for not screwing her enough,” the repressed reflection snorted. “If you’d worn her out, she wouldn’t have gotten bored. If she wasn’t bored, she wouldn’t have gone looking for trouble. No trouble, no trap.”

“Is there a way to prevent this from happening?” Shen Ning asked.

“Convince her not to act without solid proof,” the ruined reflection said hesitantly. “And… try not to let her get too bored.”

The repressed reflection didn’t even need to speak. She just crossed her arms smugly, like: Didn’t I just say that?

It was a little weird to keep talking to herself in a public phone store, so Shen Ning left after she finished downloading what she needed, heading back through quieter streets.

As she passed a glass door of a shop, she saw the ruined reflection looking incredibly sad.

“If… if possible, could I see her again sometime? I know it’ll cost something, but even just once…”

Just as Shen Ning was about to say something, the repressed reflection beat her to it:

“Are you stupid? Being summoned once is enough. If you want to come back, just come.”

The ruined reflection froze.

Shen Ning rubbed her temples with both hands, groaning internally: Great. This is gonna be a mess.

…

After leaving the phone store, Xu Chuyao returned to the exhibit area to wait for the team to gather. She glanced at the system in her mind and clicked her tongue.

“Only 50?”

With what just happened, Shen Ning should’ve been stewing in rage—yet it only netted 50 villain points. That meant she was only slightly irritated at the start, then pretty much got over it.

Oh well. At least it was barely enough for a ten-pull.

A few minutes later, a delighted voice piped up from beneath the stage:

“Nice! That was huge, Shen Ning! Not a lot of points, but amazing luck!”

Then another voice called out:
“Uh… Xu Chuyao? So you were here.”

Yu Yuwei had been looking all over for her commanding officer. Unable to find her, she returned to wait for the team—only to be startled by the voice from behind. She rushed over and saw Xu Chuyao sitting there, holding a cute mini megaphone.

“What’s up, Xiao Yu?” Xu Chuyao looked up at her.

“Xiao… Xiao Yu?”

To be fair, Yu Yuwei didn’t mind being called that—Xu Chuyao was the undisputed commander of the group, and as someone who’d once ridden shotgun with her, Yu Yuwei felt nothing but respect.

Still, until now Xu Chuyao had always used her full name. The sudden switch to a nickname… Yu Yuwei felt it signaled some kind of deeper bond or recognition.

But what kind?

“Xiao Yu?”

“Oh, right, business.” Yu Yuwei snapped out of her thoughts. “I told the parking lot manager what you said. He’ll take care of it. Also, I bumped into the foreign trade delegation at the entrance—their leader wants to meet you.”

“Meet me?”

Xu Chuyao was surprised. The other party didn’t know her, so why the request? But since they asked, she might as well go. This was, after all, the first major story boss.

…

“How could you let Chuyao get bored? You seriously didn’t do her enough?”

“I don’t want to talk about the past. Please excuse me.”

“What’s your problem? We’re not mocking you—we just want to learn from your mistakes. As Chuyao herself says: ‘Regret for the past cannot change it; but the future is still within reach.’”

“…”

Lucky for Shen Ning, the two reflections chatted all the way back. Even though they were both versions of her from other timelines, their personalities couldn’t be more different.

The repressed one spent a lot of intimate time with Chuyao and had clearly absorbed her sass and sarcasm. She was sharp-tongued and smug.

The ruined one, by contrast, had likely barely touched her. She’d neglected Chuyao, something tragic had happened, and now she wallowed in regret—melancholic and poetic.

Only Shen Ning herself felt like a normal person.

Eventually, the ruined one fell silent again, and the repressed one got bored too. With Chuyao gone, they had nothing more to talk about, so they vanished—one after the other.

Finally, Shen Ning had some peace.

It was only 9:00 a.m.—still half an hour until the scheduled meeting. For the commercial plaza in winter, 9:00 felt like a sleepy start to the day. Some people hurried by; others paused; a few leaned in corners yawning.

“Too early. Most places aren’t even open yet,” she overheard a fifth-year student say. “Does the leader really think something dangerous is going to happen today?”

Another replied: “Don’t question Leader Xu’s command. Besides, getting up early isn’t so bad.”

To be honest, there was a sense of danger, and yes, they’d arrived too early.

Shen Ning asked around to find out where Xu Chuyao had gone. Apparently, the foreign trade group had just arrived and wanted to meet her, so she’d already gone to see them.

“Where exactly?”

“No clue. They said they just got here, so probably somewhere near the entrance.”

Crazy fanatic Cheng Li liked to call even a casual meeting a “summit,” but he wasn’t wrong—Xu Chuyao was near the main entrance now.

By the fountain behind the front gate, Xu Chuyao came face-to-face with the foreign trade group—and their leader, Professor Swina.

Contrary to the assumptions of many classmates, the so-called “Professor” Swina was actually quite young, barely in his thirties. He was the archetypal blond-haired, blue-eyed foreign hottie, complete with a vintage monocle, looking every bit the aristocratic gentleman.

Considering he hailed from the Lockmorgan family, he pretty much was aristocracy.

“I’m here. I heard someone wanted to see me.” Xu Chuyao pretended not to recognize him. “Who was it?”