The First Plot Point Approaches

With another person next to her, the feeling of studying became different.

Wang Ning chewed on the end of her pen, frowning as she racked her brain over a math problem.

She had originally wanted to give up, but a glance at Chloe’s focused expression made her feel a sense of urgency, and she redoubled her efforts to wrestle with it.

The library’s study room was spacious and bright, with orderly desks and diligent students.

Wang Ning sat in the innermost part of the room.

The stacks of books cast an orange-yellow shadow, and the scattered light brushed each of her eyelashes with a distinct color.

Her eyes, shielded by her long lashes, were like a lake in a deep forest covered in the afterglow of a sunset, exuding a sense of tranquility and mystery.

Chloe kept her head down, looking at her book, but a careful observer would have noticed that she was still on the first page.

‘I shouldn’t have.’

‘I shouldn’t have.’

‘I shouldn’t have come over.’

She stared at a line of text in the book, her fingers gripping the page slightly bent.

A sense of tension, originating from who-knows-where, coiled within her body.

Even her fingers felt a phantom stabbing pain, as if from a convulsive twitch.

‘At first, she had only wanted to come over and apologize.’

‘She had even prepared what to say.’

‘In the moment before walking towards the white-haired girl, she had even simulated no less than five scenarios in her mind.’

‘Perhaps the other person would refuse her apology. That would be normal; after all, she was the one who had caused her to get hurt.’

‘Or perhaps the other person had also heard those… rumors about her and would regret helping her, even casting a look of disgust at her—thinking of this, her heart inexplicably skipped two beats.’

‘But she never expected that the entire event would take a completely different turn from the moment the words left her mouth, deviating from her predictions right from the start—how could she have said something as crude and cliché as “Can I sit next to you?”’

‘The moment the words were out, she didn’t even dare to think about the other person’s reaction, only praying that she would be rejected without hesitation—’

‘—after all, she didn’t care about one more person’s disgust.’

‘But… she saw those eyes, filled with smiles and gentleness, land on her.’

‘The sounds of the outside world became blurry, quiet. All she could hear was the other person’s lighthearted reply, “You can.”’

…

…………

‘Why? Why didn’t she refuse her? Why didn’t she tell her to get lost? Why… did she have to show that expression, as if she were pitying her?’

Confusion welled up in her heart, and then… a viscous, dark malice, like some kind of disease, slowly began to grow.

‘Maybe, just maybe, this was another way for the other person to toy with her?’

‘Just like the people before. They would get close to her, warmly and friendly, and become her friend.’

‘And in the end, they would surround her as she lay on the ground in despair, and say with a smile—’

[“So disgusting. She actually thought we considered her a friend.”]

…

“Excuse me, excuse me, Student Chloe?”

A concerned voice sounded by her ear, making her flinch reflexively.

A pain shot through her knuckles, and she felt an almost unbearable urge to scratch herself.

But soon, she realized she had fallen into some kind of hallucination again. She came to her senses and looked to her side.

The first thing she saw were those blue eyes.

She was tilting her head, looking at Chloe. A strand of white hair had slipped down to her cheek, unnoticed. Her expression was a little… embarrassed.

“Are you free right now? If you are, could you please help me with this problem?” Chloe heard that pleasant voice say to her.

Wang Ning had finally chosen to give up on solving it herself.

For that final, major number theory problem, she had even found the answer key.

Staring at the dense block of characters, she had studied it for an hour before she could make out the words between the lines. The entire book was filled with two words—”So hard.”

Not giving up, she read it over twice more. As it turned out, it also said “Fail” and “Clown.”

Wang Ning: “…”

She chose to call for backup.

But as the saying goes, when you want to work hard, the whole world will block your path.

—Her phone was dead.

The “Universal” model phone used a type of magic energy similar to electricity, which was the common energy source in this world.

‘No matter, luckily, the power bank is here!’

—It was also dead.

Wang Ning clutched the test paper, hesitating.

Right now, there were two solutions before her.

First—’To hell with this stupid problem. I’m not looking at it anymore. Even without one major question, it won’t stop me from getting a high score. At worst, I’ll go pray to the cyber study god. Long live passing grades!’

Obviously, this option was very tempting, but Wang Ning maintained her rationality and chose the second option—find someone here and ask.

She scanned the room and her gaze fell on the person next to her—Chloe. If she remembered correctly, they were in the same grade.

“Excuse me, do you know how to do this problem?”

“…Yes.”

“So that’s how it is! You’re so smart!” Wang Ning’s eyes lit up. Looking at the perfectly solved answer, she didn’t hesitate to praise the person sitting next to her.

A blush appeared on Chloe’s face. She lowered her head even further, her voice filled with uncertainty. “No, I-I just know a little. My grades aren’t that good.”

She fiddled with a piece of paper, rolling and unrolling the corner, betraying her inner nervousness.

Looking at her timid and introverted appearance, Wang Ning was filled with an infinite paternal love. What could she do? Of course, she had to praise the poor little thing even more!

“You’re really amazing. You were able to solve such a difficult problem. Has anyone ever told you that you’re particularly good at math?” Wang Ning said.

Chloe pursed her lips. “…No.”

‘…No, she was lying.’

‘Someone had praised her for being “amazing” before,’ Chloe thought.

When those people had approached her, wanting to be her “friend,” they had also used the excuse of asking questions—just like now.

The difference was, they had only used it as a means to get close to her, whereas Wang Ning was… purely trying to solve the problem.

‘Or maybe, the other person was just good enough at hiding her intentions that even she couldn’t sense any malice.’

‘How long would this “kindness” last?’

Chloe lowered her eyes, her heart calm as she wondered.

In the past, no matter how excellent her grades were, others would only call her a “bookworm,” “that girl with the glasses,” or “can’t see her face, she’s probably ugly.”

Chloe said flatly, “Very few people say that about me.”

Wang Ning, who thought she was praising the other person but had accidentally poked a sore spot: “……”

‘I’m such an idiot!’

Wang Ning knew very little about Chloe, a protagonist with few appearances.

Besides a few chance encounters in the game, she had almost no other way of getting to know her.

The only thing she knew was the “rumor” from the game—that Chloe might have died from school bullying.

Compared to the other protagonists’ “Bad Endings,” which were caused by irresistible, hard-to-change forces, her storyline seemed easier to alter.

Moreover, she was the one whose “Bad Ending” was closest in time—in September of the Alice Girls’ Academy route, which was also the last time she saw Chloe in the game.

‘What happened between the start of the school year and September that would make her choose to jump off a building?’

This was the closest Wang Ning had ever been to the original plot.

She really wanted to just ask Chloe if she needed help, but in Chloe’s eyes, they had just met. She couldn’t just come up and ask, “Are you being bullied?”

She needed to build trust with Chloe, and fast.