The PE Teacher’s Strategy

Zhuo had been thoroughly lectured by Chen Jiao once again. He didn’t understand her frustration, so he simply chose to ignore her.

He felt he was seriously trying to find a practical, efficient solution to the teenage girl’s family trauma, but Chen Jiao’s attitude was entirely too obstructive. “Is being an orphan really so bad?”

Yuan Anqing sighed. “…Being an orphan isn’t inherently bad, Zhuo. But normal humans have deep, biological connections to their parents. You can’t just forcefully turn people into orphans to solve their depression.”

Zhuo knew his argument was biologically unreasonable, so he couldn’t push it further. He lowered his voice, muttering petulantly to Yuan Anqing, “I hate Chen Jiao! She is such an annoying teacher!”

Yuan Anqing reached out and lightly tapped Zhuo’s forehead. “Snap out of your tantrum. What you suggested was completely illegal and outrageous.”

Zhuo covered his forehead, complaining, “It’s not outrageous! If we secretly get rid of her terrible parents, the girl will be sad for a few days, yes, but then she’ll feel an immense weight lifted off her chest! Her soul will be free!”

“And because her parents died suddenly, she will likely beautify her memories of them over time, turning them into wonderful, loving figures in her mind,” Zhuo continued, arguing with the professional authority of a desire-eating monster. “This is objectively the best psychological outcome for her!”

“Her parents haven’t broken any laws or killed anyone,” Yuan Anqing reasoned. “They’re just deeply flawed, ordinary humans. Killing them outright is a massive overreaction.”

“Aren’t they bad people for indirectly driving their own daughter to suicide?” Zhuo asked.

“They didn’t intend for her to die. They just don’t know how to be parents,” Yuan Anqing said.

“But in the real world, she is already dead,” Zhuo’s logic was sharp. “This is just a spiritual world. Her actual life is already a tragedy.”

“This is Chen Jiao’s spiritual world. We have to follow her rules and her pace,” Yuan Anqing emphasized. “We are only here to make sure Chen Jiao doesn’t succumb to the Awakening and get completely trapped in this void of nothingness.”

Zhuo fell silent. He shook his head. “I’m just thinking… with Chen Jiao’s state of wanting to completely give up on life, yet having this lingering math-teacher regret in her heart… how long do we have to stay trapped in this school?”

Yuan Anqing was momentarily stunned by the question.

Zhuo asked again, his eyes suddenly shining. “Can we start a new romance scenario in this school instead? Savior, do you like PE teachers?”

Yuan Anqing: “…” I shouldn’t have expected any profound, helpful thoughts from him.

He silently pushed Zhuo’s face away. “I have absolutely no interest in PE teachers.”

“That’s because you’ve never met a PE teacher with a physique as amazing as mine,” Zhuo said, flexing. “Give me some time. I’ll make you like it.”

Yuan Anqing pursed his lips, but he didn’t verbally resist the tease.

A quiet sigh from Chen Jiao brought Yuan Anqing back to reality. He turned to look and saw the retired teacher rubbing her temples by the window.

“I stand at the finish line of their lives, watching their youth just beginning,” Chen Jiao said, her eyes closed. “I don’t like this feeling.”

She already knew what these children would eventually become in the real world. To the students, their futures were full of infinite possibilities. But to Chen Jiao, who remembered their fates, their lives were already a tragic, set script. She was depressed; she had deep regrets, but she had absolutely no desire to try and change the status quo. “This is all meaningless. It’s just a dream.”

Hearing the word ‘meaningless,’ both Yuan Anqing and Zhuo instantly tensed up. That was the trigger for Awakening.

“Calm down first,” Zhuo said, but then realized that was the wrong approach. “No! Don’t be calm! Stay angry, old lady! Be angry at your own helplessness! You should do something for these brats!”

“Nothing I do in this dream will change the real-world facts,” Chen Jiao said flatly.

“You don’t need to change the facts. You only need to change your own mental state,” Yuan Anqing stressed. “You are the one experiencing the Awakening right now. You are the priority.”

“I…”

“If you cause us trouble and let yourself fade, I’ll leave this dream and go beat up Qin Xiao and his Reproductive Body in their cells,” Zhuo threatened, feeling he had a solid bargaining chip. “They attacked Yuan Anqing before, so I have zero moral qualms about making their lives miserable.”

Both Yuan Anqing and Chen Jiao looked at Zhuo.

“Do you honestly think I care about those two delinquents?” Chen Jiao asked, puzzled.

“I don’t know if you care about them or not. I’m just stating my tactical options,” Zhuo said, putting his hands on his hips. “I am very powerful now. The officials can’t control me. If I want to make them suffer, I will.”

He added, “And that Breeding Body did cut off my head before. I still owe him one.”

Chen Jiao: “…Alright. I’ll cooperate.”

Both Zhuo and Yuan Anqing let out a sigh of relief.

“But this child, Cheng Yu, is terrified of me,” Chen Jiao frowned. She was always cold and strict. Her students respected her, but her authoritative image meant they only ever asked her academic math questions. They would never deeply confide their personal family struggles to her.

“Because you’re too cold as a teacher,” Zhuo’s tone was highly critical.

Chen Jiao glared at him. Zhuo thought she was going to lecture him again, but he wasn’t going to give her the chance. He stood tall, ready to defend his character.

“Yuan Anqing told me you have many high school girl friends on social media,” Chen Jiao said suddenly, changing the subject.

“Huh?” Zhuo was stunned.

Indeed, Zhuo had a remarkably wide and varied social circle online. He had many female high school friends, mostly classmates of Zheng Xiao’an whom he had met during the mountain climbing trip. Zhuo’s hobbies and childish speech patterns allowed him to blend in perfectly with them. The teenagers welcomed this giant, handsome guy who loved romantic movies and cute crafts.

Once, Yuan Anqing had even received a strange package at their apartment. Opening it, he had found a crudely made wool-felt doll of himself. It turned out one of the girls had picked up a new hobby and decided to make small gifts for her friends. Zhuo had requested a custom doll of Yuan Anqing. Yuan Anqing only recognized himself through the thick felt glasses and the character ‘Yuan’ pinned on the doll’s back.

All of those girls knew that Zhuo’s primary hobby was obsessed with Yuan Anqing. After receiving the gift, Zhuo had been thrilled, buying a bunch of cute, expensive accessories to send them as return gifts.

At that time, Yuan Anqing had been deeply shocked by Zhuo’s social integration. Later, Yuan Anqing had carefully looked through Zhuo’s social media accounts and found that his groups were extremely mixed. There were groups for learning 3D printing, gaming clans, gardening clubs, and even groups for raising livestock. Zhuo was actually an admin in many of them—including a local mother-baby support group!

At the time, Zhuo had explained, “Mother-baby groups really let you hear the best neighborhood gossip, Savior! As an admin, I just need to find the hidden creeps with perverted hobbies and ban them from the chat.”

“Do the mothers in the group know you’re a man?” Yuan had asked.

“They do. But they know I’m not a creep.”

Yuan Anqing had been speechless. As a monster who manipulated human desires, Zhuo had his own unique way of effortlessly blending into any social dynamic.

So, Chen Jiao realized that Zhuo could represent the faculty and first establish a casual connection with the depressed student, Cheng Yu. After establishing a basic friendship, Chen Jiao could then step in to communicate with her. That way, their relationship wouldn’t be strictly teacher-student anymore. They would share a common friend, removing the barrier of authority.

Zhuo was momentarily stunned, then quickly smirked. He crossed his arms and sighed theatrically. “You didn’t want me to join your dream before, but in the end, you still need my talents.”

Zhuo acted quickly. Considering he was a massive, adult male, trying to get close to a teenage girl alone would raise immediate suspicion. So, he aimed to blend into the entire class first. He would become the friendly, approachable PE teacher.

He “accidentally” discovered Cheng Yu’s smuggled phone on the bleachers and noticed the photo of a trending young star on her phone case. Immediately, Zhuo just needed to lean over and say, “Hey, this actor looks pretty cool.”

Cheng Yu had immediately picked up the conversation, excited to find a teacher who recognized her idol. Zhuo then played the part of the slightly dim, highly supportive listener—asking stupid questions and letting the girl eagerly explain the celebrity gossip to him.

Thus, a preliminary friendship was established.

Although their target was Cheng Yu, Zhuo had to treat everyone in the class equally. After all, high schoolers were on the cusp of maturity, secretly gossiping about love. If he favored one girl, rumors would spread like wildfire. Zhuo didn’t care about the gossip, but he wanted to keep his record clean for Yuan Anqing.

So, Zhuo decided to use the most effective shield: his own unrequited love.

“You like Teacher Yuan?!” Cheng Yu was completely dumbfounded, her eyes wide. “The geometry teacher?!”

“He is very handsome,” Zhuo said, lowering his eyes and playing the part of the tragic, pining jock. “Don’t you think so?”

“He is good-looking,” Cheng Yu admitted, her mind reeling.

“But I feel I’m not cultured enough for him,” Zhuo sighed, pouting. “I don’t even dare to talk to him in the breakroom.”

“Do you think I should be more direct?” Zhuo asked her, then let out a self-deprecating sigh. “Never mind. You’re still a kid. It’s too much for me to discuss my romantic troubles with you. Don’t tell anyone else, okay? It’s a secret.”

“Oh! Okay!” Cheng Yu nodded seriously, her protective, romantic instincts instantly flaring for her cool PE teacher.

A week later…

Chen Jiao slammed her lesson plan onto the desk in the real faculty office. “Can you explain how the rumors of you and Yuan Anqing being in a tragic, doomed romance have spread to every single grade in this school?”

“I’m working hard to complete the task you gave me,” Zhuo snorted, not seeing the issue.

“Are you sure it’s not because you just wanted to announce your relationship to the world?” Chen Jiao asked, her eye twitching.

“I only know how to be honest about my feelings,” Zhuo said, sliding his chair over to Yuan Anqing’s desk and reaching out to touch his hand.

“There’s no big problem,” Yuan Anqing said, his face perfectly deadpan. “As long as it solves the kid’s depression, the rumors don’t matter.”

Chen Jiao: “…You’ve been completely corrupted by this monster, Yuan Anqing.”