Just a little more, just a little more was all she needed!
Why?!
Xia Mengxi struggled with all her might, but Lin Xue’er’s strength was so overwhelming that her resistance seemed like a child’s futile attempt against an adult-completely suppressed.
Seeing this, Xia Mengxi turned around, hoping to reason with Lin Xue’er and persuade her to let her go.
However, when she noticed the metal blade in Lin Xue’er’s hand and the intent to swing it downward, her face instantly paled in terror.
“N-no! Lin Xue’er… please don’t! I’m begging you! Don’t!!!”
Her pleas, of course, went unanswered. After all, the current Lin Xue’er was even more unreasonable, more ruthless, and more… deranged than before.
“Xiaoxi, the game is over! Starting today, we’ll get along just~ fine~!”
After all the effort she had put in, enduring until the very end, only to fall short at the final step-it was utterly despairing.
If she could do it all over again, she would never let Lin Xue’er reach this state of corruption.
As the hand holding the metal tool swung down in a deadly arc, Xia Mengxi tightly shut her eyes, clenched her teeth, and braced for her fate.
But at that very moment, the necklace around her neck emitted a blinding light, enveloping her entirely.
The moment the light faded, she… had vanished.
“……Huh?”
The excruciating pain of losing her freedom never came.
Slowly, Xia Mengxi opened her eyes to see what had happened.
Yet, the scene before her wasn’t the staircase between the underground prison and the wooden cabin above—it was her own room in this world, the home she had come to know.
The sudden change made all the tension in her body instantly dissolve.
“I-it’s over… Waaah!!!”
Overwhelmed by the sight, tears of joy streamed down her face-tears of survival after a brush with death.
Returning to her room meant that the time-reversal ability granted by God had taken effect.
However, one thing worried her: which day had she been sent back to?
Just as Xia Mengxi was puzzling over this, a familiar voice came from outside her room:
“Mengxi, time to wake up. Xue’er from next door has been waiting for you in the yard for a while now.”
These words, which she had heard before when she first arrived in this world, made her instinctively look up.
Sure enough, lines of text slowly appeared in midair—the long-lost “options” had returned.
It seemed she had gone back to the very beginning the morning of September 1st!
[Discovered potential romance target: Lin Xue’er. Choose your next move, young lady!] [Option A: Greet her normally]
Choosing this option will maintain your frail constitution for one week!
[Option B: Greet your childhood friend enthusiastically]
Option B will increase Lin Xue’er’s corruption level by 10%.
The exact same question, with identical options and consequences.
However, there was one difference: back then, the side effect of Option B had been displayed as a question mark, whereas now it was explicitly labeled as “corruption level.”
Xia Mengxi naturally took note of this detail, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.
Since she had returned to September 1st, she wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
So, she quickly responded to the “God’s text”: “Option A! I choose A!”
The moment she selected Option A, Xia Mengxi immediately felt changes in her body.
First, she became as mentally exhausted as if she had stayed up for three days and nights, feeling dizzy and lightheaded.
Then, her body seemed completely drained of strength, making even lifting her hand a struggle.
“Oh… my… God!”
This… this is a sickly constitution?
This is practically knocking on death’s door!
If not for her incredibly strong willpower supporting her, with such a fragile body that could break at the slightest touch, she probably wouldn’t even be able to stand up.
Even so, just getting out of bed took Xia Mengxi a considerable amount of time, leaving her panting as if she had run a marathon, her sweat soaking through her cute pajamas.
“Huff… huff… huff!”
Although this sickly constitution was absurd, it was still better than increasing Lin Xue’er’s darkening level.
Thinking this, Xia Mengxi’s willpower turned into perseverance, allowing her to adapt to her weakened body at an unusually fast speed.
However, time waits for no one.
Half of the limited time had already passed since Xia Mengxi made her choice.
Seeing the sand in the upper part of the hourglass dwindling rapidly, she grew extremely anxious.
“Damn it! It’s just… changing clothes… why is it… so hard!”
Due to her sickly constitution, Xia Mengxi’s situation was just as difficult as when she got out of bed.
But no matter how hard it was, she had to give it her all.
She feared the punishment that would come if she exceeded the time limit-one she would absolutely regret.
Unfortunately, despite her efforts, by the time she finally managed to take off her pajamas, there was almost no sand left in the upper part of the hourglass.
“Damn…!”
It’s over! There’s… no time left to get dressed!
Xia Mengxi was filled with regret.
She should have judged the situation and decided whether to act according to common sense.
If she had chosen to greet Lin Xue’er first and then come back to change clothes, she definitely could have made it.
After finally getting a fresh start, things were already going so badly at the very beginning wouldn’t the future be even worse?
Wait, she couldn’t give up yet!
The option she chose was simply to greet Lin Xue’er.
As long as she went somewhere where she could see the courtyard gate and greeted Lin Xue’er from there, wouldn’t that count?
Ugh!
This sickly constitution was even restricting her thinking, wasn’t it?
She couldn’t even come up with such a simple logic.
“Second-floor balcony, go!”
Xia Mengxi forced her weakened body forward, arriving at the door of her room.
After opening it, she headed down the hallway to the right.
Fortunately, she made it to the second-floor balcony just before all the sand in the hourglass ran out.
Leaning over the balcony railing, she waved at the girl outside the courtyard gate below.
But unfortunately, she had forgotten one thing.
“Good morning, Xue’er!”
“…Xiao Xi?!”
Lin Xue’er’s surprised tone snapped Xia Mengxi back to reality—she was only wearing her underwear.
Embarrassment instantly flushed her face red.
But after a moment’s thought, she realized Lin Xue’er had seen her like this before—even completely naked-so she quickly brushed it off and stopped worrying about it.
“Ah… sorry! Xue’er, please wait for me a little longer…”
With that, Xia Mengxi turned to head back to her room without waiting for Lin Xue’er’s reply.
To be honest, although she could now separate the ‘normal’ Lin Xue’er from the ‘darkened’ version in her mind, the recent actions of the darkened Lin Xue’er were still hard to forget.
That’s why she didn’t quite dare to meet Lin Xue’er’s gaze.
Meanwhile, outside the courtyard gate, Lin Xue’er was quite worried about Xia Mengxi’s confused behavior.
After calling out to her, she stepped into the courtyard and made her way toward the second floor where Xia Mengxi was.