In the blink of an eye, Yao Xi was already in her first year of high school.
Rejecting all forms of socializing wasn’t meaningless. Hard work pays off, and her entrance exam scores were outstanding—so much so that even her homeroom teacher couldn’t help but marvel.
But Yao Xi didn’t go to her brother’s high school as she had wished.
It wasn’t because her scores weren’t good enough; she declined the offer.
Instead, she chose a nearby high school whose admission scores were far below hers. This decision shocked many people around her, and her homeroom teacher even braved the risk of nightmares to personally visit Yao Xi’s home. With grades like hers, this decision was just too willful, and simply saying it was “close to home” wasn’t convincing at all.
But the homeroom teacher couldn’t persuade her.
Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, he knew this trip had been in vain.
Now he finally understood why people secretly said Yao Xi was ill.
But illness or not, as long as she had a sharp mind, even someone sick would have a future.
Still, he couldn’t change her mind.
If anyone could convince Yao Xi—
Out of responsibility—and also, having boasted so much, with two years in a row as Outstanding Teacher—this wasn’t just about one student, it was a big deal for their entire school.
He was only allowed to succeed, not fail.
So, he called up his star student from the previous year.
Funny thing, the first time he called this kid’s parents, there was a bit of a mix-up. But after some back-and-forth, he realized they acted as their own guardian. After that, he and the kid became pretty close, almost like buddies.
They were both busy and hadn’t talked in a while. He didn’t know how his prized student was doing over there.
“Hello, who’s this?”
“Hey? Kid, how’ve you been lately? There’s something I need to discuss with you.”
“You’ve got the wrong number.”
Beep—beep—beep—
The homeroom teacher wanted to say something and scratched his head.
He stared at the phone number, puzzled for a long time. Did he change his number? He sounded cold, but the voice was definitely that kid’s. He thought about calling again to confirm, but just as he was about to hit dial, the call came in.
After answering, he didn’t immediately get to the point, but tentatively asked, “Lin Mo?”
“Yes, teacher.”
Hearing a definite answer, the teacher finally relaxed. Good, the number hadn’t changed.
“How’s it going over there? Is the pressure high? Over here, you were a genius among geniuses, but when everyone around you is a genius, how’s it feel? By the way, I haven’t asked—what was your score on the first big exam?”
“Mm, not bad. I held back a bit.”
“Teacher, did you need something?”
“It’s like this, it’s about your little sister. Honestly, you siblings are truly brilliant—of course, my careful guidance also played a part. I won’t go into all the details now, but your sister just randomly picked a high school, said it was because it’s close to home. What an incomprehensible reason. I was hoping you could persuade her—she listens to you.”
“Mm, she’s not my sister. Also, ‘close to home’ is a pretty good reason.”
“What’s so good about it? Did you even understand what I said?”
…
…
Some rejoice, some lament.
The ruthless little sister stayed in this city.
And, it was close to home.
When this news reached the school leaders, it hit like a bolt from the blue. And that wasn’t all—the news even affected sales of batons, brass knuckles, and a whole range of “cold weapons.” They said that with the ruthless little sister not leaving, even cigarette sales had dropped.
Thanks to the proximity to home, the “transparent” high school became the biggest beneficiary. It was said that this genius girl especially disliked troublemakers, so the school organized a massive “head-shaving campaign,” and issued a new rule: no student could dye their hair, out of concern it would upset the genius girl.
The entire beauty and hairdressing department didn’t dare say a word, so a new era of conceptual teaching was born. With simulated hair dyeing as a premise, they wielded virtual scissors and used 3dmax modeling. Hard work paid off—in the future, these students were sure to become excellent graphic designers.
The principal grinned from ear to ear and seized the chance to spend big on local TV ads.
Here, you could learn not only excavator operation, but also beauty, hairdressing, and auto repair.
An upgrade.
They say pies don’t just fall from the sky.
Yet somehow, the school was transforming. The principal’s phone rang off the hook. With Yao Xi’s grades, she’d be top-notch not just in Lin City, but anywhere. Who knew—she could become a giant in some field one day, and besides, this was about Lin City’s reputation.
For all sorts of reasons, there was no shortage of candidates for her homeroom teacher—even people pulling strings.
Things had gotten so out of hand that it wasn’t up to the principal alone anymore.
This left the principal feeling elated, and so he secretly binge-watched Slam Dunk again and again. He admitted he used to be too loud, and didn’t like Rukawa Kaede—but “close to home,” that was a good reason.
Close to home—how wonderful.
…
Yao Xi sat quietly by herself on a bench.
Across from her was the water park.
Times had changed. The old bookstore couldn’t keep up with the times; few people still read paper books, so it had closed. The mall where she once sheltered from rain with her brother had become a cinema. The only thing unchanged was the water park.
Children would grow up, but there would always be new children.
Maybe the idea of teaming up for competitions never went out of style. Even now, children were still joyfully winning all sorts of prizes.
Because she’d often been disturbed at home lately, she’d started running out—sometimes to visit her dad, sometimes to walk by the old bookstore, wondering if the comics she’d once hidden were still there. But even the bookstore was gone.
Fortunately, the water park remained.
Sometimes she’d spend an entire day there.
After the storm passed and everything settled, she grew accustomed to coming here with nothing to do. Over time, the neighborhood kids often saw a big sister in a Lolita dress sitting nearby, looking nonchalant, sometimes dazing out while staring at a child’s keychain.
With time, word spread among the children about the “big sister who loves keychains,” and even the water park staff got wind of it—no wonder the other prizes hadn’t been picked lately.
Some curious kid, under parental encouragement, ran over with a face full of innocence.
But left disappointed.
Despite her looks, her voice was icy—nothing sweet about it.
The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.
So it was for Yao Xi as well.
She had thought about looking for Lin Mo-ge. She had clearly done very well.
She had a system.
It happened not long after her brother left—one rainy night, by chance.
Back then, she was in a phase where she was “afraid of nothing.” Dad was gone, and her brother was gone, too.
So, in a daze, she pushed open a door.
Inside, there was nothing.
When she came out again, she had inexplicably become a “Gatekeeper.”
It was then that she received a system.
In a sense, her system helped her get through her hardest times.
In those days, she relied on the system’s “Time Rewind” function to feel less alone, numbing herself.
Much later, she began to face the system’s true power—not time rewinding, but the ability to foresee the future.
She had seen many kinds of futures, because things always changed as her thoughts shifted.
But in every one, she was deeply disappointed.
And in those cold, emotionless words, there were a few times when she and her brother did meet again.
But her brother’s attitude was neither disgust nor total coldness, but a blend of slight indifference, faint ridicule, and a sense of careless detachment—as if not seeing her was best, and even seeing her didn’t matter.
She wasn’t afraid of being hated by her brother, because to hate someone meant you still cared. Between love and hate, if you have a heart, you can always reach a middle ground.
But indifference—that was another matter entirely.
There was something else that bothered Yao Xi deeply.
In her simulations, a certain name would appear again and again, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. At first, Yao Xi hadn’t paid it any mind, but as the number of simulations grew, she realized that this name appeared way too often.
And in her simulations, she always started with beautiful hopes of living in the past with her brother again. A few times, she actually went to his high school—not to enroll, but just to see it, to get a glimpse, to try to understand what his life was like now.
In her simulations, she learned a name.
That name was Su Wanwan—Lin Mo’s homeroom teacher at Magic City No. 1 High School. In countless simulation scenes, she was the person standing closest to Lin Mo.
At first, Yao Xi didn’t pay much attention to the name, treating it like a system-generated NPC, like all the passersby in the simulation, the auntie in the cafeteria, or the classmate flipping through books in the library—just background characters in Lin Mo’s new life.
But as the simulations went on, she noticed something was wrong—Su Wanwan showed up too frequently.
Such an ordinary-seeming teacher, yet she played such an important part in Lin Mo’s life.
Yao Xi started another simulation. This time, she gathered her courage and blocked Lin Mo at the entrance of Magic City No. 1 High School.
Simulation loading… 10%… 50%… 100%. Simulation begins.
Yao Xi stood in the shade by the east gate of Magic City No. 1 High School, dressed in a white Lolita dress. She waited for nearly an hour before finally seeing Lin Mo and Su Wanwan walk out together.
Taking a deep breath, Yao Xi quickly approached and stopped in front of them.
“Gege.” Her voice trembled, with a hint of barely concealed nervousness.
Both Lin Mo and Su Wanwan stopped. Lin Mo glanced at her, his brow barely furrowing, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes before he regained his calm. “What are you doing here?”
Yao Xi didn’t answer him. Instead, she looked at Lin Mo and, mustering her courage, asked, “Who is she?”
Her voice was soft, yet stubborn. Lin Mo paused, apparently surprised by her question, then replied coolly, “Teacher Su.”
“Teacher Su…” Yao Xi repeated the name, her chest feeling blocked by something heavy. The woman before her was gentle and pretty, her speech soft and kind. Suddenly, it seemed obvious that her brother would want to spend time with someone like this.
Lin Mo spoke first, his tone still calm. “She still has things to do. Let’s go, Teacher.”
He turned as if to leave.
“I have something to say!” Yao Xi hurriedly stopped him, her voice tinged with desperation: “Lin Mo-ge, I have something to tell you. Alone.”
Lin Mo paused, turned, and looked at her. “If you have something to say, say it here.”
There were plenty of people passing by, all casting curious looks their way. She bit her lip and lowered her voice. “I want to apologize. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have forgotten your birthday, shouldn’t have refused to team up with you at the water park, shouldn’t have forgotten… Can you… can you give me another chance?”
Her voice grew quieter and quieter, until the last few words were barely audible. She thought that after saying this, Lin Mo would at least react—even if only to scold her, even if only to get angry at her. But he didn’t.
Lin Mo simply gazed at her, calm. After a few seconds, he replied, “I’ve already forgotten about the past.”
“Forgotten?” Yao Xi couldn’t believe her ears. “How could you forget? Didn’t those things mean anything to you?”
“Whether they mattered or not, they’re in the past.” Lin Mo’s tone remained flat. “My life is good now. I don’t want the past to disturb me.”
His words cut into Yao Xi’s heart like a cold knife. She looked at Lin Mo, tears welling in her eyes.
Lin Mo didn’t answer, only watched her, his eyes devoid of emotion—as if he were looking at a stranger.
“Teacher, let’s go.” Lin Mo cut her off and turned away.
Yao Xi stared after him, all hope in her heart extinguished. She wanted to run after him, but her feet felt like they were made of lead—she couldn’t move.
The two of them gradually disappeared into the crowd, and Yao Xi stood in place, tears finally streaming down her face. She covered her mouth, trying not to make a sound, but her shoulders still trembled.
A line of simulation text popped up from the system: If she gave chase, Lin Mo would only walk faster, eventually leaving her behind, maybe even taking a cab—giving her no chance to speak. His indifference to her had seeped into his bones.
Yao Xi stood there for a long, long time, until the sun sank low and the weather cooled. Only then did she turn and slowly walk toward the train station.
She didn’t know how she got back to Lin City—just that after she arrived home, she locked herself in her room and cried for a long, long time. The system kept popping up simulation prompts, asking if she wanted to start another run, but she ignored them all.