That evening, after Su Li and Alice had left, the room fell silent.
You Xue thought she could finally get a good night’s sleep tonight.
Compared to the noisy, filthy slums, the nights here were far too quiet.
There was no inexplicable cat’s meow, no staggering, dragging footsteps of drunks, no noisy arguments between neighbors.
For the first time in a long while, she felt as if she had returned to the peaceful world of her previous life.
Actually, her memories of that previous life had already grown blurry.
She could no longer recall her mother’s or her eldest brother’s faces.
The images in her memory were like watercolor paintings soaked in water—the boundary lines blurred, the colors faded layer by layer, the details completely lost.
Only vague, indistinct fragments remained.
So, in the darkness of that previous life, how had she gotten through it?
On those nights when she had company, her mother or brother would come to her bedside to keep her company.
On such days, she could only close her eyes quietly and rest.
But when she was alone, she never went to sleep early.
She would hide under the covers, pull out her phone, and immerse herself in games, videos, or novels.
Yet all along, she had been doing something else, something she had never forgotten.
But what it was exactly, You Xue couldn’t remember now.
Fortunately, she could still remember many things—those memories of being with her family, that warm feeling.
You Xue remembered them very clearly even now.
So You Xue still thought she wanted the story to develop in a good direction.
That was for her own sake.
She wanted to fulfill her own wish.
Actually, the current situation was already pretty good.
In this series of events, Su Li hadn’t been injured at all and had awakened his ability.
In the book, Su Li’s first awakened ability was Light Shield.
In the original story of Dark Crow Blasting Academy, he had unconsciously used Light Shield to protect himself.
Although using that ability saved his life, he was injured mid-awakening, which planted a hidden flaw in his future ability development.
But in this current world line, none of that had happened at all.
Thinking of this, You Xue’s mood improved considerably.
As long as Su Li continued to grow stronger, he might actually be able to handle that Beast King quite easily.
As for the subsequent Nightmare Incident, it was also an action by Dark Crow targeting the Academy, so staying at the Academy was a good thing.
But honestly, her condition wasn’t really good.
You Xue blinked.
The two eyes saw the world differently—one with color, one in gray and white.
The mingling of the two vision fields always gave her double images, hazy and unclear.
A disordered field of vision was still a minor issue.
At least it didn’t affect daily life.
But for now, she couldn’t use her ability at all.
It should probably be considered a supernatural ability.
Even she didn’t know the essence of this power, but it had always been easy to use.
She just hoped she could recover slowly through rest.
As her thoughts wandered, You Xue prepared to sleep.
Before that, she swallowed two more painkillers.
She had been doing this every night recently—the feeling of pain was simply too agonizing.
Mei Lulu had healed her wound with her ability, but the residual magic power left by that ability only made her feel worse.
She had also started coughing up blood from time to time again.
Although most of the time this happened when Su Li wasn’t around, it actually happened in front of him once today.
But she only gave a light cough and then swallowed the blood back down.
Su Li asked if she was feeling unwell.
Of course, You Xue didn’t tell him the truth.
She just shook her head slightly and told him her throat was a little itchy.
Su Li had actually become a little strange…
Calling it “strange” was just based on her memories of the childhood sweetheart.
In her memory, Su Li seemed more straightforward and sincere.
Although his concern now wasn’t fake either,
She always felt there was some distance between them.
Probably because he had sensed something was off about his childhood sweetheart.
If that really was the case, then she had to hurry.
She needed to do everything that had to be done before Su Li saw through everything.
With all kinds of thoughts in her mind, she closed her eyes and gradually drifted into sleep.
***
When she woke up, the gentle light of the morning sun was streaming through the window, filling the entire room with warmth.
You Xue didn’t indulge in the warmth of the bed.
She got up immediately and started washing up.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw her mismatched gold and blue eyes.
She still found them a bit unsettling.
She hesitated for a moment, picked up the eye patch, and wondered if she should wear it.
Thinking that she had already been exposed, there really was no need to keep hiding it anymore.
So You Xue gave up on the idea.
You Xue changed into a white knitted cardigan.
The soft fabric clung to her shoulders.
She looked at herself in the mirror for a few seconds, then lifted her hand to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
There were still some of the apple candies she had bought last time.
You Xue tore open the wrapper and ate one.
The sweet-and-sour taste danced on her taste buds.
When the knock came at the door, the candy hadn’t fully melted yet.
She opened the door.
Su Li stood outside, his collar slightly upturned.
Half a step behind him, Alice was adjusting the buckle on her belt, her golden braid hanging by her shoulder.
“Good morning.”
Su Li said.
“Good morning.”
You Xue’s words were a little mumbled, but she tried her best to make her tone sound cheerful.
Because in her memory, the childhood sweetheart had always spoken to Su Li in that lighthearted tone.
Alice finally finished adjusting her clothes.
She looked up, her jade-green eyes bright.
She seemed to be in a good mood.
“The weather is nice today.”
You Xue nodded, counting it as a greeting.
Actually, she didn’t really like going out.
It had been the same in her previous life.
The world was huge, with countless people, but few were willing to play with her.
“Any plans?”
Su Li asked.
You Xue shook her head.
She did have many plans for the future, but for an ordinary outing, she really didn’t know what to do.
“I heard a food shop from East Leaf just opened near the Academy.”
Alice suggested.
“Let’s go there first.”
East Leaf?
You Xue knew that place.
The original story had briefly mentioned it.
To the east of Moonview City, it seemed to be a more prosperous city than Moonview, but in the end, it was destroyed earlier than Moonview City.
The book said the Beast King destroyed every city it passed from east to west.
A flood of refugees fled from shattered cities, trying to find new shelters.
They went from one new city to another, but no matter where they escaped, the tide of demon beasts always followed, trampling one human city after another.
People kept running and running until the Beast King arrived at this city called Moonview.
That was the end of the story.
She remembered hearing Sanjian Ying say that she was also from East Leaf, right?
You Xue suddenly recalled that she hadn’t contacted Sanjian Ying for a few days.
She wondered how she was doing.
Sanjian Ying would probably be worried.
She was a good person.
After today, she would tell her that she had settled down.
“What are you thinking about?”
Alice’s voice came from beside her.
You Xue pulled her thoughts back and thought for a moment, then said.
“I was just wondering why Alice is interested in this shop.”
“Because I’m from East Leaf. I kind of miss those flavors.”
Alice blinked and replied.
Although her tone seemed calm, You Xue could faintly sense the disappointment in her words.
You Xue was a little surprised.
The book had mentioned that Alice was from another city, but it never specifically told the readers which city.
In the readers’ eyes, Alice was a rootless character, only responsible for playing the role of a reliable teammate in the story.
No one knew what past she was hiding.
But now, Alice was right in front of her, her expression seemingly lost in memory.
Saying she missed those flavors.
So indeed, she wasn’t living in words printed on pages, but in a living, breathing world.
Everyone had their own past and future.
The reason she had only now been willing to realize this was that she had always comforted herself before, telling herself this was a fixed drama, and only she could change the future.
But the truth was completely different.
You Xue suddenly lowered her head.
She felt that everything before her had suddenly become so unfamiliar.