Parallel Universes and Hidden Affections

Chen Hao’s imagination soared, expanding to the point where he began seriously contemplating the theory of parallel universes. ‘Damn it… could I really have fallen into some alternate timeline?!’

‘Surely not,’ he thought.

He pinched his own thigh hard, and a sharp, undeniable pain instantly shot through him.

‘Forget it! It’s not that I’m crazy; it’s this world that’s gone awry!’

‘Perhaps I’ve been transmigrated, or maybe some strange entity has taken over my body!’

Observing his classmates, all acting as if nothing was amiss, even Jiang Chen calmly taking notes, Chen Hao immediately confirmed his suspicion. He was, indeed, the sole conscious being in this warped timeline!

A profound sense of tragic heroism, a blend of mission and solitude, surged within him.

What should he do next? Should he pretend not to know? Or, perhaps, pretend not to know?

To think, a simple, kind-hearted male university student like himself was now forced to struggle for survival in such a high-risk timeline. It was truly too difficult.

“Heading to the stir-fry stall after class?” A clear, melodious voice suddenly broke the silence.

Chen Hao nearly leaped from his chair in fright. Instinctively, he adopted a defensive posture and quickly whispered, “What fiend dares to appear! Confess your true nature! Have you been possessed by an otherworldly demon? Does this venerable one need to contact the Transmigration Bureau?”

Zhou Yi remained silent for three seconds. Slowly, he raised a hand and pressed the back of it against Chen Hao’s forehead, then touched his own. “Did you stay up all night chasing cultivation novels again?”

“Snap!”

A piece of chalk flew in a perfect arc, precisely striking the forehead of the student talking in the last row — Chen Hao. The teacher, their face stern, declared, “Please, you explain the cartel model we just discussed.”

Chen Hao scrambled to his feet, flustered. He had been too preoccupied studying Zhou Yi’s abnormal spiritual energy fluctuations just now; how could he possibly remember any model? What had the teacher even said? Was it about price monopolies for Marrow Cleansing Pills or market regulation for Foundation Establishment Pills?!

‘What the hell am I supposed to answer?!’

He stood stiffly, stammering out a nonsensical explanation. “This… ca-cartels are mainly divided into… uh, offensive and defensive types… no, I mean…”

The teacher merely stared.

Suppressed snickers rippled through the classroom. Zhou Yi buried his entire face in his textbook, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably, clearly struggling to hold back his laughter.

Unable to bear it any longer, Jiang Chen pushed his open notebook towards Chen Hao, lowering his voice. “The second paragraph.”

Chen Hao, as if he had found a treasure, stumbled through the notes. “Ca-cartels primarily take the form of… price… technology…”

“Please, sit down,” the teacher said with a helpless wave of their hand, turning their gaze to the corner of the classroom. “Han Yan, please provide the full explanation.”

The entire class’s attention collectively shifted to the figure who always sat quietly in that corner.

Han Yan calmly rose, adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses. His clear, cool voice slowly resonated through the classroom. “According to Schelling’s focal point theory, cartel members spontaneously choose the most salient common standard as their basis for cooperation…”

The teacher nodded repeatedly, and the class’s restless curiosity was instantly quelled by the sudden surge of academic atmosphere.

“…Therefore, stable cartels require a third-party monitoring mechanism.”

As Han Yan concluded his explanation, Chen Hao finally breathed a sigh of relief, as if granted a great pardon, and shrank back into his seat, burying his head like a quail.

He couldn’t resist sneaking another glance at Zhou Yi, only to find him gently twirling a strand of hair around his fingertip. ‘Wait a minute!’

‘No, seriously, when did this guy pick up such a girlish habit?!’

Zhou Yi, however, seemed utterly oblivious. He rested his chin in his hand, gazing towards the corner of the classroom, watching Han Yan calmly answer the teacher’s questions.

‘Truly a study god,’ he thought. ‘Even the way he adjusts his glasses exudes an aura of intellectual superiority.’

In a daze, he involuntarily recalled that scene from the simulator.

He remembered the experience of being cyberbullied in the simulator, where the surveillance footage was so thoroughly destroyed that even the school security department was helpless. In the end, it was Jiang Chen who asked Han Yan to step in and resolve the situation.

Han Yan had helped uncover the truth.

‘On the surface, he’s just an ordinary male student who might smirk after getting a blue checkmark,’ Zhou Yi unconsciously twirled his hair into a small curl. ‘But in reality, he can crack even encrypted hard drives as easily as breaking a cookie.’

Unable to help it, his thoughts drifted to that night, to Jiang Chen’s soft words on the phone: “But… I care.”

His cheeks flushed crimson in an instant.

‘Oh, help me…’ He pressed his burning cheeks against his textbook, the cool cover offering a slight reprieve. ‘How long has it been, and it was only in the simulator…’

‘It was just a virtual storyline! Why are you blushing like a bubble tea here?!’

Chen Hao, staring at Zhou Yi’s reddened earlobes, simply couldn’t hold back any longer.

‘Brother Yi, who could tell dirty jokes without batting an eye, is actually blushing at an economics textbook right now?!’

‘If this isn’t a case of possession by some aloof senior sister, then my meticulous deduction just now was utterly wasted.’

He cast a dramatic, mournful gaze at Jiang Chen, who remained blissfully unaware, diligently engrossed in his notes.

A thought, brimming with humanitarian concern and brotherly affection, spontaneously arose within him.

He seriously considered whether he should secretly slip Jiang Chen a packet of glutinous rice and a few talismans when they returned to the dorm tonight.

‘Lest he wake up one morning, and not only is he gone, but his yang energy is too.’

Jiang Chen, in truth, had noticed long ago.

From the moment Zhou Yi unconsciously began twirling his hair, Jiang Chen’s peripheral vision hadn’t strayed.

The reddened ears, the dreamy gaze, and that thoughtful look when he watched Han Yan… every single detail aligned in his mind with a hypothesis that was becoming increasingly clear.

The vague silhouette of the girl that had always haunted his dreams now, once again, perfectly overlapped with the profile of his roommate beside him.

A rush of heat, a tumultuous mix of panic, confusion, and a strange, secret thrill, surged through his chest. He quickly lowered his head, pretending to meticulously copy the notes from the board.

‘Am I sick?’ he wondered. ‘To actually see my roommate as a girl?’

He pondered silently, ‘Perhaps I really should find some time to go to the hospital.’

****

When the class bell rang, Zhou Yi slowly swept his books into his backpack, then ambled towards the dorm building with Jiang Chen.

The night wind swirled with fallen leaves. He pulled his jacket tighter and grumbled, “This weather is insane. Ordering takeout back at the dorm is the ultimate act of self-respect.”

As the two of them rounded the small path behind the academic building, they saw a man and a woman standing under a streetlamp in the distance, arguing in hushed tones.

The man’s glasses glinted coldly under the streetlamp. The woman opposite him, her back turned, had a slender figure, her face obscured. Only from her slightly heaving shoulders could one discern her considerable agitation.

Zhou Yi craned his neck curiously. As the streetlamp illuminated the slender profile, he suddenly grabbed Jiang Chen. “Isn’t that Han Yan?!”

Jiang Chen followed his gaze for a moment. “Mm.”

Zhou Yi nudged Jiang Chen with his elbow, a mischievous glint in his eye. “So, the study god already has someone special, huh~”

Jiang Chen looked in the direction Zhou Yi indicated, but offered no reply, simply lingering on the scene for a couple more seconds.

The argument between the two was not loud, yet the wind carried their words with unsettling clarity.

“I’ve already made myself perfectly clear.”

“But you’ve never been willing to give me a definite answer…”

“There’s no need for that.”

The girl’s voice was tinged with grievance. “Do these past two years… mean absolutely nothing to you?”

Han Yan was silent for a moment, then simply stated, “I never asked you to do anything.”

Zhou Yi felt his toes curling in his shoes. He quickly tugged on Jiang Chen’s sleeve, pulling him backward. “This drama is too heavy! Let’s get out of here, quickly!”