Chapter 1: The Abnormal World

“I like you!”

The setting sun cast a hazy yellow glow over the earth.

Jiang Yueming stood there, feeling a bit flustered as he faced the love letter the girl had handed him. 

Cherry blossom petals drifted down from the trees, landing at their feet and glowing with a warm hue under the sunset.

By now, all the students had left the campus. 

The vast school grounds were empty, and in the distance, the clock tower stood tall under the warm light, its chimes echoing through the world.

Jiang Yueming stared blankly at the girl’s rosy lips moving up and down, wondering if he had misheard her.

Did she just say she likes me?

The young miss of the Xia family?

He observed the girl in front of him. 

Her eyes sparkled like rare gems, reflecting his own flustered figure in the sunset.

He wasn’t unfamiliar with her—the Xia family was a prominent household in this city. 

Her name often came up in conversations among his classmates. 

Some envied her family background, others gossiped about her appearance, but no one truly knew her.

Now she stood before him, no more than two steps away.

Her loose school uniform couldn’t hide the budding contours of a young woman. 

Her shoulders were slender yet resilient, and her waist formed a pleasing curve beneath the fabric. 

He didn’t dare casually describe her as “sexy”—the word felt too crude and unworthy of her.

She was like a flower that hadn’t fully bloomed, possessing all the potential for beauty, just waiting to open.

And now the petals had loosened slightly, revealing the tender yellow pistil inside, still retaining that fresh, pure innocence of the bud stage.

She had handed him a pink envelope sealed with a heart-shaped sticker. 

Combined with the “I like you” she had just said, Jiang Yueming easily guessed this was a confession.

But…

Why?

Jiang Yueming looked at her—the slight bend of her waist, her expectant eyes, and how her fingertips had wrinkled the letter paper from the slight pressure.

The sudden confession left his mind in chaos. 

He couldn’t utter a single word, standing there as if petrified while the girl continued speaking on her own.

She said that the first time she noticed him was during the opening ceremony. 

He was standing in line, sunlight hitting him from the side, and she thought his profile looked really good.

She said that afterward, during daily exercises, she would secretly glance toward his class. 

During breaks, she would run to the door of his classroom pretending to pass by, just to catch a glimpse of him. 

She had gathered her courage for a long time before staying behind today to wait for him.

After talking for a while, her voice gradually grew softer until it was almost inaudible.

Only then did Jiang Yueming snap back to reality, his gaze focusing on the letter right in front of him.

“I…” His voice sounded a bit stiff. “I’m sorry… I can’t accept this.”

The light in Xia He’s eyes dimmed.

“Why…”

Jiang Yueming felt as if the girl before him had shattered in an instant. 

She looked at him in disbelief.

“Is it because I’m not good enough?”

“No!”

Jiang Yueming jerked his head up, the movement so abrupt that even he was startled.

“It’s just… we don’t really know each other that well. I might not be as great as I seem,” Jiang Yueming said, carefully observing the girl’s expression and choosing his words. “Before today, we didn’t even know each other.”

Xia He listened in a daze.

“To be honest, confessing on our first real meeting caught me completely off guard.”

The distant clock tower rang out again with a loud chime. 

He watched Xia He’s eyelashes tremble slightly, as if the sound might shake tears from those fragile eyes.

“If I accepted, it would be irresponsible toward you.”

Xia He’s hand slowly dropped. 

She lowered her head, her voice filled with reluctance.

“…Are you saying this because you already like someone else?”

Jiang Yueming paused, then shook his head subconsciously.

“No.”

“Then why are you rejecting me… I, I like you so much…”

Jiang Yueming saw a few teardrops fall from her lowered head. 

He panicked, raising his hand to comfort her, but unsure where to place it. 

He could only gesture awkwardly in the air.

“No, no, no. Like I said, we just don’t know each other well yet. We can start as friends first. Don’t cry…”

Xia He’s shoulders shook as she stared down at her tears falling onto her shoes from her blurred vision, forming wet spots at the tips.

“If… if we start as friends first… will you accept me then…” Xia He asked with a sob in her voice.

Jiang Yueming replied awkwardly, “Starting as friends… who knows? After you get to know me better, you might realize I’m not as good as you think.”

“I won’t!”

She suddenly lifted her head, flinging a few tears that sparkled in the air, her tone firm.

“You are…”

She didn’t finish the rest of her sentence before lowering her head again. 

This time, soft sobs could be heard.

Jiang Yueming let out a breath. 

He had never encountered a situation like this and didn’t know what to do.

He even found himself recalling the melodramatic TV dramas he had watched, wondering how the male leads handled such scenes, but he couldn’t come up with anything useful.

He had suggested they start as friends, but what he didn’t say was that even if they did, the chances of them becoming lovers were extremely slim.

All he could say was, “I’m sorry.”

Time seemed to freeze for a moment. 

He noticed Xia He’s body tremble when she heard those words.

Xia He raised her head. 

The light of the setting sun slowly faded from her pupils.

The clouds burning on the horizon gradually dimmed as the sun was about to sink below the skyline.

The clock tower rang once more. 

This chime was louder than before, involuntarily drawing Jiang Yueming’s attention.

He suddenly felt that something was off.

He remembered that the clock tower usually chimed on the hour. 

It had rung at seven o’clock earlier, and now it should be a few minutes past seven, but the hands on the clock tower…

“…Not again.”

Xia He’s voice reached him, and Jiang Yueming detected a hint of resentment and coldness in it.

“…Why… why won’t you just like me…”

He looked at her. 

Xia He’s shoulders were still trembling slightly, but now the trembling didn’t look like crying—it seemed like she was suppressing something.

“…This time, it was clearly going so well…”

This time?

What did she mean by “this time”?

Jiang Yueming wanted to speak, but he suddenly found himself unable to make a sound.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to—it was a physical, uncontrollable inability, as if someone was tightly gripping his throat, leaving no room for breath.

He tried to step back, but his feet were rooted to the ground, unable to move.

Xia He’s face was still the same face, with tear stains on her cheeks and the same eyes, but her gaze was different now.

That gaze looked at him as if he were a disobedient pet.

Even though there were still two steps between them, Jiang Yueming felt Xia He was so close that their breaths seemed to intertwine.

The clock tower’s chimes rang out again, malfunctioning and ringing wildly. 

The dong dong dong sounds seemed to herald the arrival of some unknown entity.

Xia He seemed like a different person. 

Her entire aura changed abruptly. 

The previously fragile and delicate image of the young girl vanished, replaced by a dangerous presence that rose around her.

This bizarre phenomenon made Jiang Yueming’s hair stand on end, like a wild beast encountering its natural enemy.

“Then… let’s try again…”

“Start as friends, huh…”

The clock tower’s sounds accelerated to the extreme, blending together until the intervals were indistinguishable.

The sun fully sank below the horizon. 

The world rapidly darkened as an unnatural wave of pitch-black darkness swept over everything.

The massive hands of the clock tower stopped with a click, and then time began to reverse. 

Accompanied by the frenzied chimes, the entire world became abnormal.

“This time… don’t disappoint me again… darling.”

Jiang Yueming was unable to move. 

He felt as if he were falling into an abyss. 

A deep, black void engulfed him as bizarre, illusory scenes flashed before his eyes.

You… who the hell are you!

He couldn’t make a sound and could only scream in his heart.

Coldness and darkness were his final sensations.

…

[Fifth Simulation Starting… World Correction in Progress…]