8:00 PM.
The lights at the School Playground were somewhat dim.
Friends sat in groups of two or three on the grass to chat and enjoy the cool air, young couples walked together, stealing moments of intimacy in the shadows, and students exercising ran around the track, huffing and puffing.
The late September evening brought a touch of coolness, and the evening breeze blew steadily, dispersing the sweltering heat of the day.
Bai Yao and Wang Zuhao arrived at the playground.
He only now realized how lively the playground was at night.
He glanced at Wang Zuhao beside him.
‘This guy actually followed me out to run…’
Just two days ago, they couldn’t stand the sight of each other.
This progression in their relationship was a bit frightening.
‘Since the system treats me like a woman, if I keep doing these tasks, will there really be a man-on-man situation in the future?’
‘That’s too scary!’
Lost in thought, Bai Yao stepped onto the rubber track of the playground and began a slow, silent jog.
He hadn’t exercised properly in several years.
He spent almost every day sitting down to read, write, and play on the computer.
Even during physical education class, he would find a corner to watch others, as quiet as a girl.
Before he had gone very far, Bai Yao’s steps gradually became heavy.
He unconsciously opened his mouth to gasp for air and slowed his pace.
Wang Zuhao caught up to him at a leisurely pace and passed him.
He looked like he was barely trying, keeping his steps and breathing at a steady rhythm.
‘No way! This guy is clearly chubbier than me! How can he run so easily?’
Bai Yao took a deep breath.
Driven by a competitive urge, he quickened his pace to overtake Wang Zuhao.
However, he couldn’t sustain it for long.
His pace gradually slowed again, and he was once more overtaken by Wang Zuhao.
This time, he didn’t have the energy to care about Wang Zuhao.
‘I’m going to die… I’m going to die…’
He hadn’t run in so long that he felt like he couldn’t take it before even finishing a single lap.
After a short distance, Bai Yao was panting heavily.
A layer of sweat broke out on his forehead, causing his slightly long hair to stick to his skin.
He was quite concerned about his image, so he reached up to brush his bangs a couple of times to avoid exposing his high hairline and pimple-covered forehead…
‘Oh, I don’t have pimples anymore! My skin has cleared up quite a bit.’
‘And it’s late at night; no one will notice even if I’m a mess.’
After huffing and puffing through two laps, Bai Yao felt a burning pain in his throat.
His breathing was shallow, the collar of his short-sleeved shirt was soaked with sweat, and his legs were so weak he could hardly stand.
If that 31-year-old Bitch with the exhausted body ran two laps, she probably wouldn’t be in a more pathetic state than he was.
Bai Yao felt as if he were stepping on marshmallows.
He practically floated off the track and sat down on the grass, pulling at his collar as he gasped for breath.
‘How long have I been running?’
He looked down at the record on the Campus Run app.
Two laps, 800 meters—he had run for nearly 7 minutes.
This pace was practically the same as a fast walk.
But he was still a long way from his 30-minute goal…
Bai Yao looked up at the track.
Under the dim yellow streetlights, he caught sight of Wang Zuhao’s figure.
He didn’t know how many laps the guy had finished, but his speed didn’t seem to have slowed much.
‘This guy is built like a bear, so how can he run so much?’
“Can’t handle it already?”
Not long after, Wang Zuhao noticed Bai Yao sitting on the turf.
He jogged over to meet him and mocked, “I’ve already run four laps.
You’re pretty weak.”
The thing a man hated to hear most was that he was “weak.”
However, Bai Yao acted as if he hadn’t heard.
He looked down and picked up the rubber granules from the artificial turf, crushing them one by one with his fingernails before tossing them away.
‘Whatever, Wang Zuhao still calls me a sissy every day anyway!’
Seeing this, Wang Zuhao also sat down to rest and play on his phone.
As the evening breeze blew, his nose twitched, catching a faint, indescribable fragrance.
The scent was quite familiar.
He had smelled something similar on Bai Yao earlier during Military Training.
Wang Zuhao followed the scent and turned his head.
He saw Bai Yao with his eyes cast down, arms hugged around his knees, staring blankly as if lost in thought.
The streetlights blurred the shape of Bai Yao’s face, adding a touch of haziness to his already soft features.
His clean face was brushed by the orange-yellow light, and his long, curled eyelashes cast a faint shadow.
In the dim light, his slender frame appeared even smaller, and his troubled expression added a sense of fragility.
To be honest, if Bai Yao grew his hair long and wore a little makeup, he might even be more beautiful than the class beauty.
Wang Zuhao had always hated effeminate men and found everything about them unpleasant, but for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to dislike Bai Yao now…
He felt like there was something wrong with his head.
He spoke up to interrupt his drifting thoughts.
“Hey, do you smell something?”
“A smell?”
Quite concerned, Bai Yao pulled his collar open and leaned down to sniff.
“I don’t think so?”
“It’s likely a body fragrance,” Wang Zuhao mocked.
“It’s a pity you haven’t visited the Kingdom of Thailand.”
“You’re crazy.”
Bai Yao shifted his weight, moving further away from Wang Zuhao with a look of disgust.
This guy never had anything good to say when he opened his mouth.
He still couldn’t understand how the future Wang Zuhao could have fallen in love with him…
No, fallen in love with the female Bai Yao from the parallel world.
Although all signs pointed to the Bitch mentioned by the system being the future Bai Yao, he was completely unwilling to accept it!
It was too absurd!
Would he become a woman in the future?
Be cheated on by a scumbag?
Sleep with 100 men in a year?
Get played so hard he ended up in the hospital? Be burdened with a thirty-year mortgage?
None of those things were acceptable!
None of them made any sense!
Regardless, Bai Yao currently considered himself a man of character.
He had no plans for romance or marriage, and he was a firm believer in pure love.
He certainly wouldn’t insist on buying a house and taking on a mortgage while the housing market was down.
Sighing with a face full of sorrow, Bai Yao stood up, prepared to run another two laps.
‘I’ll just take it one step at a time…’
Although the system was a bit stingy, money still had to be made.
If he abandoned the system and really ended up in that terrible state in the future, he would probably regret it to death.
“Running again?” Wang Zuhao followed him.
“I’m going to practice for 30 minutes.”
Bai Yao answered coldly.
He stepped onto the track and began a slow jog.
For someone who never exercised, running was practically torture.
His lungs and throat felt like they were on fire, and his heart beat so fast that a rhythmic “thump-thump” echoed in his ears.
He preferred being dry, but after just a few steps, sweat soaked his clothes, leaving them wet and sticky against his skin.
It was miserable.
Moreover, running was so boring…
‘Next time, I’ll get some ping-pong or badminton equipment and drag a roommate along. That has to be more interesting than running.’
By the time the soles of his feet were throbbing and his legs were aching intensely, Bai Yao finally heard a voice as beautiful as heavenly music ring in his ears.
[Exercise for 30 minutes completed. Cash Reward: 100.]
[Through persistent exercise, your cardiovascular function, physique, and overall health have seen minor improvements.]
Upon hearing this, Bai Yao’s legs gave out.
He collapsed onto the grass, staring up at the night sky in a starfish position.
He raised his arm to check his phone.
Seeing the bank transfer text message, his exhaustion transformed into a sense of accomplishment.
It was just like playing a game—every session brought a sense of immediate feedback through experience points, level-ups, and rewards.
And his cardiovascular function and physique were also…
‘Wait, physique? System, you don’t mean… a woman’s body, do you?’
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