Chapter 2 : Desire

As Xu Chuyao shared an earth-shattering secret, Mi Xiaolu opened her mouth slightly:
“Yaaawn~”

She let out a sleepy yawn.

“You don’t believe me?”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you. There are two questions. First, if this is top-secret information, how do you know about it?” her roommate asked seriously.

“And second, why are you telling me?”

Xu Chuyao was stunned.

It was top secret, and yes, she did know — because before crossing into this world, she had read it in a novel.

And as for why she was telling her, of course it was to let her see just how strange and boundless this world could be.

—But there was no way she could say that aloud.

“Look, if you know, you know,” Xu Chuyao said vaguely.

“People in the inner circle are all keeping it on the down-low. Anyway, just believe me. I’m telling you…”

Xu Chuyao kept going, then suddenly realized Mi Xiaolu wasn’t reacting at all.

She glanced up and saw that the girl was already fast asleep, obviously not taking anything to heart.

Fine. Then she’d sleep too.

Zzzz.

“I don’t know… I… why is everything red? I want to go up… My body itches so much. I remember now — they’re waiting for me up there. My wife and kids. They come to bring me lunch every day…”

That familiar face appeared before her, half-covered in crystals, with tumors like clusters of gemstones sprouting from his skull.

One eye glowed red as he gazed up at her in desperation.

“Xiao Ning… I’m begging you, please… don’t let me — don’t let them — return to the surface alive.”

Ding~ dong~ dong~ dong~

The distant chimes of the academy’s bell tower echoed, announcing the end of lunch break.

Time to wake up and head to class.

Shen Ning slowly opened her eyes, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and felt her strength return.

She was no longer startled awake by these nightmares — she was used to them.

Every day at lunch, during her nap, she would relive that hour-long massacre in her dreams.

She got up, washed her face, and glanced at her schedule.

Afternoon was literature class, a rare period where she could slack off.

Leaving the dorm, Shen Ning walked toward the classroom.

On the way, she passed many familiar and unfamiliar classmates.

Under the dorms, a group of girls were making plans to go shopping.

On the path by the trees, a couple whispered sweet nothings.

Near the library, a boy in glasses held a newspaper, sharing some conspiracy theory with his friends.

And some other guys were arguing over who was prettier — the newspaper’s cover star or the school beauty Xu Chuyao — only to unanimously conclude that Xu Chuyao was better looking.

Everyone at Ascension Academy was busy with their own things.

None of it had anything to do with her.

That was until she reached the classroom door and spotted Xu Chuyao and her little sidekick.

Shen Ning instantly froze, tense, reflexively checking herself over.

Her backpack was zipped up properly.

Nothing was missing, nor were there any additions.

No doodles had appeared on her books.

Finally, she glanced down — even her shoelaces were properly tied.

With everything in order, Shen Ning let out a sigh of relief and sneaked a look at Xu Chuyao.

The girl was wearing a white blouse and a brown skirt, the fabric of her top pulled tight across her chest.

Her long legs were wrapped in white thigh-highs, making her look utterly innocent and adorable.

Tsk. What a good pretender.

Just you wait. One day you’ll end up at my mercy.

“Strange,” Mi Xiaolu said as she noticed the white-haired girl’s behavior.

“Why would she stop like that just because she saw you and then check her backpack?”

Xu Chuyao noticed too and chuckled coldly.

“She’s on guard against me,” she replied.

“What, does she really think I spend all my time thinking of ways to bully her? That’s seeing a lady’s heart through a villain’s eyes.”

And true — it was ridiculous to be so guarded.

Mi Xiaolu was just about to agree when Xu Chuyao added, “But then again, it’s every other day at most.”

“…”

Mi Xiaolu thought that Shen Ning’s defenses were still too lax — she ought to be even more careful.

One more thing puzzled her:

“You’re always teasing Shen Ning like this. Why doesn’t she ever take revenge?”

Xu Chuyao glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping before lowering her voice.

“I told you at noon — she did something like that before. The school doesn’t trust her. The moment they see signs of violent behavior, they lock her up in the dark room.”

In short, she doesn’t want to get revenge, right?

Mi Xiaolu still wasn’t sure she bought that story.

Mainly because she couldn’t believe that top-secret information would just land in her lap so easily.

But after working it out logically, she couldn’t help saying, “Shen Ning’s actually really kind. If it were me, I’d definitely get back at you.”

Xu Chuyao smiled.

“No, you wouldn’t, Xiaolu. Do you know why I picked you as my sidekick? From the first time I saw you three years ago, I could tell — cough, cough — I mean, I could see that you’re gentle, don’t compete, don’t fight, don’t make a fuss, and you’re great at playing along. Basically like some background NPC.”

I’d already picked you when I was reading the novel in my past life.

You’re one of those characters who might not help with practical stuff, but you definitely add emotional value — and most importantly, you’re someone I can trust.

“An NPC?” Mi Xiaolu blinked.

“Isn’t that a bit too harsh?”

“Sorry. Let me put it another way: baby, you’re like a harmless breeze.”

That did sound a lot nicer.

The class bell rang, and everyone took their seats.

Xu Chuyao glanced back and, sure enough, saw Shen Ning sitting at the very back by the window — clearly intending to slack off.

Not to brag, but Xu Chuyao could outclass her forever when it came to cultural classes.

After all, the subjects here were high-school-level Chinese and some middle-school math.

“Hello, class.”

“Hello, Miss Li~”

The students greeted her lazily, but Miss Li on the podium didn’t mind one bit.

Her full name was Li Xueli, a young woman in her twenties who loved studying the culture of the world before the spiritual energy explosion — what Xu Chuyao simply thought of as pop culture.

After graduation, she stayed at Ascension Academy to become a cultural studies teacher.

“Students, I have an announcement,” Miss Li said, hugging her lesson plan seriously.

“The morning after tomorrow I have to… uh, I mean, I will be busy… uh, well, the point is that morning’s cultural class will be switched to P.E., so I’ll cover a bit more material today.”

Xu Chuyao kept a straight face.

The first time she’d heard that excuse three years ago, she couldn’t keep a straight face.

Who could have imagined that one day cultural class would be sacrificed for gym? But she soon learned that gym class here was nothing to take lightly — it was a full, intense workout every session.

No wonder there was a chorus of sighs across the room.

Clearly, most of them preferred cultural classes where they could slack off.

“Alright, everyone,” Miss Li continued.

“Let’s begin today’s text… as the ancients say, ‘There is a path up the mountain of books through diligence; there is a boat across the sea of learning through hard work.’ Uh, well, you don’t have to take it too seriously — but reading a bit in your free time is still a good idea.”

Although everyone had sighed a moment ago, nobody was really enthusiastic about cultural class.

Miss Li went on lecturing, and the students busied themselves chatting.

Sitting by herself, Shen Ning looked around.

The girls were still talking about their next shopping trip.

The couple was still whispering sweet nothings.

The boy with glasses was still sharing his conspiracy theories.

The whole classroom was alive with its own little worlds.

She turned her gaze to the window, her thoughts drifting far away on the breeze that passed the bell tower.

Shen Ning was an orphan — nothing special there.

Many kids at the mining zone had no parents.

Anyway, there was always work to do up and down the mines.

When she was little, she’d help deliver meals to miners, and as she got a bit older, she’d follow them underground, making a life with everyone’s help.

Every morning, she’d go down into the mines, come up at noon, eat lunch with the uncles, aunts, and their children, then repeat the cycle in the afternoon and head into town for a drink at night.

She thought life would go on like that forever — until the day the crystal deep in the mine shattered.

A strange white light flooded the tunnels, and the kindly miners she had known became monstrous.

They lost all reason, attacking anything that moved.

It was midday.

On the surface, everyone was unguarded — all those family members waiting for their lunch.

Shen Ning understood what she had to do.

That was why she answered Uncle Zhong’s pleading with one final, silent mercy and left them all forever underground.

And afterward…

“You’ll go to school in the central city,” the Overseer of Mine Zone 13 had told her coldly.

“But you must remember, what happened in the mines is top secret. If you leak even a single word, you’ll spend the rest of your life in a lab. Do you understand?”

He sat across from her, his powerful aura suppressing her so much that she couldn’t speak.

What happened in the mines was declared an accident.

As for the wives who’d lost their husbands and the children who’d lost their fathers, the Overseer never even mentioned them.

Nobody left to care about them anymore.

When Shen Ning departed from the mining zone, she saw them searching hopelessly on the surface, heard Auntie Zhong’s heart-rending sobs.

They just wanted to see their husbands’ bodies — even that tiny wish was denied.

That day, Shen Ning finally understood the truth of this world — strength is power.

If you have enough strength, you can’t be manipulated.

You won’t have to watch your back at school, worrying about being thrown into some white cell.

If you have enough strength, you could go back to Mining Zone 13, face the Overseer, and tell the truth to everyone.

If you have enough strength… you could pin down that annoying big-chested girl who keeps bullying you, teach her a harsh lesson so she’d never dare to bother you again.

Exactly how she’d punish her? No concrete plan yet — this was fantasy time, after all.

The girl yawned softly.

The sound of Miss Li reading an ancient poem from the podium became more and more lulling, like a hypnotic spell.

And somewhere, a voice whispered in her ear:
Do you long for strength?

“Of course…”

Suddenly a white light burst through her mind like a hammer blow.

Shen Ning collapsed to the floor.

Just before losing consciousness, she saw a pair of slender legs in white stockings dash toward her, heard a sweet voice cry out:

“Oh no, the small fry fainted — someone call a doctor!”