“So, you two already know each other.”
Sitting in the office chair, the Counselor pushed up her glasses and smiled at Jiang Ran as she walked into the room.
“Teacher, what did you want to see me about?”
Jiang Ran’s gaze swept over Gu Ge.
Her small nose twitched a few times, and the expression on her face gradually vanished.
She lowered her gaze, the light in her eyes dimming slightly.
The Counselor sighed helplessly and placed a stack of documents on the desk.
“Actually, the school is starting Psychology Education Week. We’re randomly checking in on a few students from each class to understand their situations. This is the school’s newly hired psychology teacher, Gu Ge. If you have any questions, you can ask her.”
Jiang Ran looked up, the darkness in her eyes dispelling a little, only to lower her head again quickly.
“I don’t have any questions. I’m doing fine…”
“Don’t be so quick to refuse, Jiang Ran. I know it’s abrupt to call you here, but integrating into collective life is a required course for everyone. In the future, if you start working and don’t know how to get along with others, it’ll be hard to adapt.”
The Counselor, Wang Yue, spoke in clichés and wanted to continue her lecture, but Gu Ge raised a hand to interrupt her.
“Teacher Wang Yue, let me speak with her.”
Gu Ge’s voice was cold and clear as she tilted her elegant, snow-white neck.
She held a black folder, and beneath it, her legs, wrapped in professional black stockings, were crossed.
She wore a pair of low-heeled black leather boots.
Wang Yue nodded.
She knew she wasn’t good at counseling students; she usually tried to advise them on friends and work, only to find the students becoming more depressed each time she spoke.
She decided to stay quiet and smiled as she picked up her thermos.
“Alright then, I’ll leave the office to you. Teacher Gu Ge, thank you for your hard work.”
“It’s no problem. Take care, Teacher Wang.”
The craftiness in Gu Ge’s eyes slowly surfaced as Wang Yue left.
She patted the seat next to her, her tone sounding a bit impatient.
“Xiao Ran, hurry up and sit. You don’t have to keep standing.”
Jiang Ran shook her head.
“No… I’ll just stand. I’ve been sitting all day, and my legs hurt a little.”
“Is that so? But if your Counselor sees, it’ll make me look unprofessional as a teacher. Xiao Ran, you wouldn’t want your Sister to lose the job she just found, would you?”
Gu Ge’s words carried an unreasonable force, causing Jiang Ran to almost blow her cover for a moment.
She asked tentatively,
“Is the high-paying job you mentioned being a psychology teacher at this school?”
“That’s right. What do you think of this job, Xiao Ran?”
“It’s good. But please don’t call me by that name at school. If my classmates see, they might start calling me that, too.”
Gu Ge curled her lips, greed hidden in her eyes.
“What? Do you only want to hear your Sister call you that?”
“That’s not it… It’s just that I have a name. I’m Jiang Ran, not your Xiao Ran…”
Before Jiang Ran could finish, a wave of dizziness hit her.
She was a bit surprised.
‘Can this woman still use Hypnosis? Shouldn’t that Ability have a one-week cooldown? Or is it just a single-use cooldown?’
Jiang Ran’s scalp throbbed with a sharp pain, and she nearly lost her footing and fell to her knees.
Normally, she could withstand this level of Hypnosis.
However, she had just experienced a wave of Su Wanqing’s Time Stop, and her physical strength hadn’t fully recovered.
Undergoing Hypnosis again at this critical juncture made her feel as if her brain was no longer her own.
Gu Ge watched Jiang Ran coldly, her palms clenched tight.
“Xiao Ran, do you really hate that name so much?”
“No…”
Jiang Ran bit her lip and changed her tune.
“I mean, I still prefer the name Jiang Ran.”
“Then, Jiang Ran, are you willing to tell me why you don’t like it?”
Gu Ge reached out and gently tilted Jiang Ran’s chin up, their eyes meeting.
Jiang Ran could see her tiny reflection in Gu Ge’s eyes.
The woman’s tone was even gentler than before, without a trace of blame.
Beneath the consideration, however, was a surging, impulsive undercurrent, like a rope slowly tightening around her hands.
It pulled her into the world on the other side of the mirror, letting her fall bit by bit into Gu Ge’s embrace.
Gu Ge stood up and pulled the dazed Jiang Ran directly into her arms, sniffing the youthful scent hidden in the girl’s hair.
Gu Ge’s murmured voice was clearer this time.
“Are you… really unwilling to tell your Sister why?”
“I…”
The intense headache almost made Jiang Ran lose consciousness.
She gritted her teeth and shook her head slightly.
“I don’t like people calling me so intimately. I like being alone.”
Jiang Ran tried to draw a line.
She didn’t really want to lie to Gu Ge; she truly just wanted to remain invisible.
Living until the end was one of her few wishes.
Gu Ge’s grip on Jiang Ran’s arm tightened.
She bit her lip so hard it almost bled.
This answer…
“You like being alone, right?”
Seeing that the truth was having an effect, Jiang Ran added,
“Yes. I quite like being by myself.”
“But do you know? If you are all alone, you will die from your illness.”
Gu Ge’s tone was no longer calm.
It seemed the answer had touched her most sensitive nerve, and her words became sharper.
Jiang Ran shook her head.
“I know. But… I don’t want to burden anyone. I’ll earn money to treat myself. Sister Gu Ge, you just found a job. If you keep spending money on me… I…”
Clenching her hands slightly, Jiang Ran adjusted her facial muscles to form a very sad expression.
“I would choose to die…”
“Xiao Ran!”
Gu Ge’s raised hand hung in mid-air.
Jiang Ran controlled her muscles and maintained a Hypnotic State in her eyes, preparing for the slap.
Gu Ge bit her lip.
Seeing Jiang Ran’s face neither flinching nor hiding, most of the strength in her hand drained away.
In the end, she couldn’t harden her heart.
She clenched her hand into a fist and let her arm drop.
Her tone became even heavier than before, and the color in her eyes was like an oil painting layered with a palette knife — all the colors squeezed together to form a thick, murky mess that even sunlight couldn’t disperse.
Even though the sunlight outside the window illuminated them both with a brilliant glow, neither felt any warmth.
Jiang Ran’s knuckles were turning a bit purple, a sign of oxygen deprivation from Gu Ge’s grip.
She wasn’t angry; perhaps the courage to survive made her forget her current pain.
Some things were better left clear…
Gu Ge took a deep breath, composed her expression, and smiled as she followed up on her previous words.
“Xiao Ran, I didn’t want to hit you. But… I don’t want to hear those kinds of words again. Can you do that?”
“I’ll… try my best.”
Jiang Ran lowered her head again.
Her eyelids struggled between being half-closed and half-open, her thoughts like a tangled ball of yarn.
She had already made things clear; whether Gu Ge believed it or not… that was Gu Ge’s business.
Not saying everything was her last bit of stubbornness.
As she drifted off, Gu Ge gently placed her on the sofa.
Already weak, Jiang Ran felt her chest starting to flash after being tossed around by two super abilities.
An Ultraman could return to the Land of Light when their light flashed, but she seemed unable to find a place to belong from beginning to end.
She only felt Gu Ge’s shadow slowly swallowing the light she could see.
Gu Ge stood up and threw the various books scattered around Jiang Ran onto the floor to make room for a cushion.
She placed a few sofa pillows down and adjusted the position of Jiang Ran’s neck to prevent it from being strained.
Only then did she seriously open the folder in her hand and quickly fill in a name.
Jiang Ran couldn’t see what was on the questionnaire; she only saw Gu Ge write her name on the cover page — Jiang Ran.
Then, Gu Ge crossed it out and changed it to Xiao Ran.
She turned her head and looked into Jiang Ran’s eyes as if she had planned it all along, the corners of her mouth curling into a faint smile.