Night slowly gave way to day amidst the ticking of the clock on the wall.
Jiang Ran woke up as the sky was just beginning to brighten, but though her body was awake, her head felt hazy.
Her body felt increasingly sore, even though sleeping usually left her full of energy.
She felt like a piece of dough that had been repeatedly kneaded and stretched, her entire body aching.
‘Is this even reasonable?’
Jiang Ran opened the APP to pull up her personal status window and found that the Strength stat was terrifyingly low.
The highest was Charm, followed by Endurance.
Endurance was different from defense.
In a Galgame, high-Endurance characters were harder to defeat in levels that tested one’s tolerance, which made players even more eager to challenge them.
After all, what was the fun in an immediate defeat compared to slowly tormenting them and then enjoying the look of resentment in the defeat CG?
From that perspective, the APP clearly had malicious intentions.
What could a character with both high Charm and high Endurance do?
It didn’t need to be said.
Jiang Ran’s face darkened.
She scrolled through the interface and noticed a small red dot on the mailbox.
After clicking it, a string of system greetings appeared, still voiced in that beautiful, Yandere tone that had brought her to this world.
**[Good morning, Sister. Your daily rewards have been issued.]**
**[Releasing cache…]**
**[Sick Love Manager: Jiang Ran.]**
**[Authentication successful.]**
**[Task progress updated! It seems Sister experienced a vigorous trial last night. It looks like you are one step closer to the truth.]**
**[Rewards issued.]**
**[Talent: Muscle Control. Your sense of control over your body has improved.]**
**[Master of Suppleness talent updated: You are gradually adapting to positions in narrower spaces.]**
Jiang Ran: ?
‘Is this a reward or a punishment?’
Jiang Ran even suspected she had installed some kind of pirated software.
Despite having the Anti-Fraud Center installed, this APP was incredibly sinister.
She continued to scroll down.
In the Charm stat column — which Jiang Ran hated the most — the numbers ticked upward again.
**[Charm +3. Reward item: Fluffy Little Cake.]**
A small blue cake fell into Jiang Ran’s palm.
A description for the “Fluffy Little Cake” popped up on the APP.
**[Fluffy Little Cake: After use, it can improve skin texture, restore energy, enhance the five senses, and grant Animal Affinity.]**
As Jiang Ran read the text, she nearly lost it when she reached the Animal Affinity part.
‘What kind of talent is this? If I awaken this, does it mean I won’t have to worry about being chased by dogs?’
Thinking about it, with her short legs, she really couldn’t outrun a dog…
Even putting that talent aside, the first few effects were decent.
At the very least, she was truly exhausted today, and in her current state, it would be easy to slip up in front of the female lead.
Jiang Ran got out of bed to brush her teeth and wash her face.
She took a bite of the cake and washed it down with some milk.
A wonderful sensation spread across her tongue, and her heavy body began to feel exceptionally light.
She looked in the mirror; her dark circles were gone, and her entire complexion looked much healthier.
Moreover, the cake tasted quite good.
The aftertaste was lingering, and she felt wonderful.
She licked her fingers contentedly and returned to the bedroom to look for clothes to wear to school.
After searching everywhere, she couldn’t find the jacket she had worn yesterday.
She checked the bed, under the bed, and the balcony, but it was nowhere to be found.
The garment seemed to have vanished into thin air.
“I clearly remember taking it off and putting it on the hanger last night. Why can’t I find it?”
Seeing how little time she had left before school, Jiang Ran decided to look for it in the evening.
She opened the wardrobe and picked out a clean top from her meager selection.
It was a white, round-neck jacket with blue stripes and a small bow sewn onto the cuffs.
She had bought this through the school for a party a while ago.
When others had returned theirs for a refund within the seven-day window after the performance ended, Jiang Ran felt that was a bit unethical, so she kept it.
It wasn’t very expensive, and it was suitable for the occasional important occasion.
As for the design, it couldn’t compare to high-end gowns, but it was easily the best piece of clothing in Jiang Ran’s closet.
Her other clothes were even worse.
Jiang Ran adjusted her clothes in front of the mirror.
She wore a pair of sweatpants on her lower half, giving her an overall casual look.
She grabbed a hair tie and began haphazardly tying up her hair.
As a former pure male college student, managing this messy hair was truly annoying.
She had searched for tips online.
Some netizens said that dipping the comb in a bit of water would make it easier to comb through without the strands getting dry or splitting.
Jiang Ran clumsily imitated the technique in the mirror.
She snapped several strands in the process, making her bite her lip in pain.
She simply didn’t understand why combing hair was so painful for girls; with every stroke, you never knew which knot would suddenly sting.
It took her nearly three minutes to finish her hair.
After sweeping up the broken strands from the floor, Jiang Ran took a frozen rice ball from the fridge, heated it in a steamer, and rushed to catch the bus while tearing open a corner of the packaging.
She had an Early Eight class today and needed to get there early to snag a seat.
Jiang Ran didn’t have many friends in her class.
If she wanted someone to save a seat, she couldn’t exactly ask Croissant.
Looking at their message history, Croissant was very resistant to the recruitment software Jiang Ran had recommended.
Her mouth kept saying that someone like her would never work for a capitalist, while on the other hand, she asked Jiang Ran if there were any other ways to make money.
Jiang Ran closed her phone wordlessly and took a bite of the rice ball.
As she swallowed, she realized with a start that the center hadn’t heated through; there were hard bits of ice in the rice.
She unscrewed the cap of her hot milk and took a sip to balance the temperature, then began nibbling around the edges of the rice ball.
To an outsider, Jiang Ran’s movements looked quite comical, like a hamster gnawing on an acorn.
Once she boarded the bus, Jiang Ran did a quick tally of the textbooks she needed.
After confirming everything was there, she watched the scenery outside.
She eventually transferred buses and got off at the school gate.
By the time she reached the lecture hall, she saw that the back rows were already packed.
She knew she was late.
Left with no choice, she found a seat in the front that was somewhat far from the Professor.
However, before she could even warm up the seat, a yellow figure ran quickly through the aisle.
Seeing an empty spot near Jiang Ran, the figure looked up, her emerald-green eyes locking onto Jiang Ran’s youthful and cute face.
She froze.
It was as if her feet had suddenly been coated in glue; she couldn’t move.
She scratched her cheek with a snowy-white pinky finger and spoke softly, “Excuse me, classmate, is this seat taken?”
Jiang Ran looked up into the girl’s serious eyes.
She had a sudden, illusory feeling that she had seen her somewhere before.
Seeing out of the corner of her eye that the Professor was already preparing to start the lecture, she simply moved over to the inner seat.
After moving, Jiang Ran turned her head away.
After all, Early Eight classes were meant for sleeping.
She had been that way back on Blue Star, and she was still the same now.
Perhaps it was because the rice ball was too cold or because she had drunk too much milk, but as Jiang Ran leaned down, her stomach let out a loud rumble.
Worse yet, it wasn’t quiet.
The embarrassing sound made Jiang Ran want to find a hole to crawl into.
The girl who had taken Jiang Ran’s original seat also heard the noise.
Her gaze swept around before finally landing on Jiang Ran.
She pulled out her school bag, took out a piece of Bread, and poked Jiang Ran’s arm.
“Classmate, if you’re hungry, I have some Bread here. My treat!”
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