“Hey… what’s wrong with Lin Jiaxin?”
“Yeah, she’s way too quiet, isn’t she?”
Inside Dormitory 403, the roommates hid in the shadows, staring at Lin Jiaxin lying silently on her bed, muttering among themselves.
Normally, they didn’t bother acknowledging her.
But Lin Jiaxin always forced her way into the conversation anyway.
Today, she’d come back to the dorm, showered, and gone straight to bed.
Without even a single greeting.
“Xiaomin, go check on her… find out what’s up.”
Roommate Sister A nudged Roommate Sister C with her elbow and whispered.
The latter glared at her in annoyance. “Why me?”
“Aren’t you the one who’s closest to her?”
“No way, okay? Don’t start spreading that. Who’s close with her?”
“Fine, if you’re not going, then I’m going to sleep.”
Roommate Sister A pursed her lips and climbed into bed. She was just curious, not dying to know.
“I’m turning in too. We’ve got spell class tomorrow.”
Roommate Sister B also got into bed and started playing on her phone.
Only Roommate Sister C was left standing on the floor, her expression shifting uncertainly.
She was hesitating over whether to go check on the situation.
Because if she did go, and it somehow led to conflict later…
She’d risk being labeled as part of Lin Jiaxin’s faction by the others.
Then she’d end up isolated along with Lin Jiaxin.
That wouldn’t be good at all.
But if she didn’t go… that was also a problem.
After all, Sisters A and B both wanted her to go gather intel for their entertainment.
If she refused, she might get isolated too.
At that moment, Roommate Sister C finally understood a bit of Lin Jiaxin’s situation.
So this was what it felt like—being quietly bullied by a few people. It was suffocating.
But she knew very well.
She was nowhere near as mentally strong as Lin Jiaxin…
……
Was Lin Jiaxin’s heart really that strong?
She reached out, her hand loosely grasping at the ceiling light, questioning her own heart like that.
If she were truly strong, how could she have been utterly crushed by her own anticipated words after that reverse sweep?
If she were truly strong, how could her Dao Heart shatter and weaken over something this small?
Lin Jiaxin closed her eyes and tried to circulate the Manifestation True Qi within her body.
The true qi was still there.
But there was a noticeable obstruction as it flowed toward her dantian—like a massive boulder lodged in a riverbed.
No longer did it surge with the same torrential momentum.
[When the Dao Heart is tarnished, the Dao cannot gather…]
The Dao Heart wasn’t just confidence—it was conviction.
Belief that she could succeed, belief that the path she walked was right, belief that she—as a person—had value.
These three convictions had all belonged to Lin Jiaxin until today.
But today, all of them were gone.
The first was shattered by the humiliating reverse sweep.
The second was stomped on by that steel-toothed fat bastard’s “nice try.”
The third was exposed to the bone by that high schooler named Jiang Huaiyan with a single line: “You’re a beam of light to me.”
But when she searched her own heart…
Lin Jiaxin eventually realized that none of this had existed from the start.
Or rather, back then, she hadn’t possessed such powerful convictions at all.
Lin Jiaxin… remembered a lot of old times.
She remembered going collectively insane in the classroom with Wang Haozhe not long ago.
She remembered the Freshman Gala, where she sang that ridiculously over-the-top “Li Bai Remix” with the confidence of a spellcasting master.
She remembered how, at the start of military training, she’d barely managed to drop her weights, only to fake regret and show off in front of everyone.
And what was that crap about “you’re still twenty thousand years early”?
So annoying!
Were these things even things a human could do… or dare to do?
Why hadn’t she realized how cringe all of it was back then?
Lin Jiaxin’s face kept cycling through bitter smiles, despair, anger, struggle, conflict, pain, madness, numbness.
All these emotions converged, finally coalescing into that mysterious expression—like someone who thought they’d bitten into chocolate shaped like a rock, only to realize it was actually a rock shaped like chocolate.
“AGH, DAMN IT!”
Lin Jiaxin suddenly sat up, clenching her teeth and letting out a low growl.
Her ten toes instinctively curled into the bedsheet, bunching it up into a wad, desperately trying to fold it into a three-bedroom apartment to hide inside.
God damn it, she didn’t want to live anymore!
She wanted to die!
This Silly Fortune Technique had really turned her into a complete joke!
But why was she only realizing this now?
“Tch… Lin Jiaxin! What’s wrong with you now? I’m so done… Do you know what time it is? We still have class tomorrow. Can you keep it down?!”
Roommate Sister A clicked her tongue and yelled at Lin Jiaxin in annoyance.
She always called out her frustration whenever Lin Jiaxin disturbed her.
“Oh…”
This time, Lin Jiaxin surprisingly didn’t crack a grin.
She responded weakly, then lay back down.
Roommate Sister A was satisfied at first.
Finally, Lin Jiaxin was being obedient for once…
But lying in bed, the more she thought about it, the more something felt off.
They’d been living together for a while now.
Was Lin Jiaxin really this kind of person?
Obviously not!
When an E-person who explodes with energy suddenly goes quiet…
Even quieter and more reserved than an I-person…
That usually meant something huge was about to happen!
Especially when she recalled that sudden “AGH, DAMN IT!” from Lin Jiaxin…
A news story from years ago suddenly flashed through Roommate Sister A’s mind.
Ma Jiajue…
She remembered that case clearly.
The culprit was someone who seemed normal on the surface, even pretending to be cheerful and squeezing into crowds sometimes.
But in reality, the culprit’s heart was extremely repressed, lonely, with no one to talk to.
And Lin Jiaxin… on the surface, she seemed carefree, like she had no concept of embarrassment or social atmosphere.
But… was that really her?
Or was that confident exterior just a protective color she worked hard to maintain?
So… OH CRAP!!!
Could it be that Lin Jiaxin… because of how they’d been ostracizing and bullying her…
Had finally reached her limit?!
Harboring hatred, she wanted to wait until the middle of the night when they were all asleep, then take them out with a blade?!
Roommate Sister A remembered this perfectly clearly too!
Lin Jiaxin was top three in talent in the entire grade, number one in the whole class.
By now… she should have already opened her Eye Aperture, right?
Didn’t that mean she could easily take out all three of them by herself?
Even if they fought back… they couldn’t win?!
The more Roommate Sister A thought about it, the more terrified she became.
Even though she’d just used the bathroom not long ago, a sudden strong wave of urgency hit her, making her instinctively clench her legs together.
So… if she begged for mercy now, would it still be in time?
She recalled the scolding she’d just casually thrown out.
Great, no way it would work now!
Maybe Lin Jiaxin would even come for her first…
Roommate Sister A suddenly shuddered, swallowed hard, and carefully crawled out of bed.
Then she pushed open the dorm door, slipped out, and ran to hide in the neighboring dorm.
The whole time, she made no sound—and didn’t dare to.