Cheng Yun glanced at the crooked bill Heroine Yin had written on a piece of paper, shook his head, and sat straight down on the bed.
The quilt and sheets on the bed were completely new, neatly spread out without a single wrinkle, as if Old Mage had never slept on them at all.
I am wondering, the three of us all come from different worlds, but why do we possess such similar appearances, and even... our biological characteristics are also very similar! Cheng Yun narrowed his eyes slightly, this discovery making him feel a trace of inner fear. This clearly completely refutes our theory of evolution.
"The theory of evolution?" Old Mage wore an amused expression. "About three hundred years ago, a portion of people in our world also followed the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution has the support of research conclusions, pointing out that all races in our world, regardless of the various human races, the elven race, or any other biological races, evolved from very primitive life forms. Yet conflicting opinions are also quite direct—almost all intelligent races in our world display a certain similarity in appearance or other biological forms like modes of thinking; this kind of coincidence is truly staggering."
"And then?"
"Then I obtained the scroll, began traveling the world, and discovered what you are discovering now." Old Mage looked at Cheng Yun with a half-smile. "If this is a coincidence, it is clearly an even larger coincidence. Large to the point of being unimaginable, large to the point of being nearly impossible."
"So?"
Old Mage looked at him with a half-smile, that expression profound and filled with meaning, yet he did not answer him. "You have discovered a quite formidable problem, child."
Cheng Yun fell silent.
Only then did Old Mage let out a deep sigh and say, "Actually, we still have no answer to this problem to this day. Although from the time we discovered this problem, it seemed we were already very close to the truth, I still keep endlessly pursuing it. Perhaps I will be unable to approach that truth in this lifetime, but it doesn't matter; through the countless tens of thousands of years of future generations, there will always be those who approach the truth. You are different, however; you possess a lifespan nearly equal to this world. Unless this game ends prematurely or the rules change, you will always see the ultimate answer."
His tone was very light, very calm, yet it inexplicably made one's hair stand on end and their heart turn cold.
Cheng Yun thought that if there was a ultimate answer, perhaps the answer was God, that nonexistent generalized God.
Of course, it might also not be.
"Relax, Station Master." Old Mage smiled and patted his shoulder. "You can never imagine for a mage who has spent his whole life pursuing wisdom and truth, facing such a difficult problem placed before him that he is destined to never surmount in his lifetime, just how terrified and fearful my inner self must be. Yet I still stand here calmly doing what I ought to do, so you likewise have no need to feel intimidated and dispirited because of this, and even less reason to despair on that account. The ancients long ago saw that the sky was high, distant, and unattainable, and you now stand far higher than the ancients, merely catching sight of something even more extraordinary."
His tone was as detached and calm as before, making Cheng Yun nod along in a trance.
Heroine Yin sat to the side, smacking her lips as she recalled the taste of this noon's meal, and abruptly interjected, "What kind of nonsense are you two talking about..."
Cheng Yun gradually sobered up, and also realized the meaning Old Mage wanted to convey to him—no matter how this world came to be, he ought to live his life well right now.
Thus, he waved a hand at Heroine Yin. "Anyway, it's something your IQ cannot understand."
"What's wrong with my IQ?!" Heroine Yin abruptly furrowed her brows, raising her volume. "Make yourself clear! What's wrong with my IQ?! That difficult Southern School Flying Fish Saber Technique is something I was able to learn! Hey, it really is strange! Having wandered the pugilistic world for so many years, this is the first time I've ever heard someone bring up my IQ as an issue..."
"..." Cheng Yun twitched the corners of his mouth.
"You're jealous, aren't you?!" Heroine Yin threw out her conclusion.
"Mn," Cheng Yun nodded simply.
Heroine Yin fell silent.
Then Cheng Yun said to Old Mage, "Then I'll head upstairs first, help this heroine get acquainted with our world this afternoon, and we can continue our research tomorrow."
"Good."
"Heroine, come with me." As he spoke, Cheng Yun picked up his bowl and chopsticks, turning to walk outside.
The heroine hurriedly followed.
Just as they walked onto the stairs, the sound of a large loudspeaker suddenly drifted in from outside: "Congratulations to Yizhou No. ** Middle School for a total of ** tier-one examinees admitted in 2017, the tier-one acceptance rate being **%, the tier-one acceptance rate of neighboring ** Middle School was only **..."
Cheng Yun suddenly froze. Today appeared to be... the 28th!
His expression changed instantly.
According to Yizhou's regulations, college entrance application submissions closed before 12:00 noon on the 28th, and right now...
He hurriedly pulled out his phone to take a look.
It had just turned 1:00 PM!
Which meant Cheng Yan had already completed her application submission!
Given Cheng Yan's personality, things certainly wouldn't go wrong, and her scores didn't seem to need worrying about either. Yet connecting this to her abnormal behavior this morning and at noon, Cheng Yun had a bad premonition.
Seeing him standing here unmoving, his expression shifting between sunny and overcast, Heroine Yin couldn't help furrowing her brows and asking, "What is it?"
"Nothing!" Cheng Yun waved a hand, pulling out his phone to call Cheng Yan as he walked upstairs.
It rang once, unanswered.
Cheng Yun called a second time, and only then did Cheng Yan pick up.
Cheng Yun hurriedly said, "Hello, Cheng Yan."
Cheng Yan fell silent on the other end of the phone for a moment before letting out an 'mn' and saying somewhat unnaturally, "If you have something to say, say it quick, I'm doing bench presses!"
Cheng Yun asked, "You've already submitted your applications?"
"Duh... isn't this... nonsense..."
"I'm just concerned about you!" Cheng Yun furrowed his brows. "How can you call that nonsense?"
"Application submissions are already closed now, if I hadn't submitted them yet, am I supposed to wait to repeat a grade?" Cheng Yan twitched the corners of her mouth. "If this isn't nonsense, what is?"
"Then which school did you apply to?"
"D-don't trouble yourself." Cheng Yan's tone revealed a hint of a guilty conscience.
"What kind of attitude is that? I'm your older brother, and also your current guardian! With something as major as filling out college applications, I won't say anything even if you didn't consult with me—I know you've been very opinionated since you were little and you have your own ideas, but I at least have the right to ask about it!"
Cheng Yan was silent for a moment before weakly saying, "Since I have my own ideas, why are you still asking me..."
"Dammit, I don't have any ideas!"
"It's not like you're filling out applications, and it's not like you're going to university..."
"Just which one did you apply to?" Cheng Yun's heart sank. "It wouldn't be Tsinghua or Peking University? Wuhan University? Fudan? Zhejiang University?"
"Yida..."
"What?" Cheng Yun froze. "Say that again?!"
Cheng Yan fell silent again for a moment before speaking. "Yida, Yizhou University. Alright, I'm going to hang up now. You can't rest that long during a set of bench presses..."
"You aren't allowed to hang up!" Cheng Yun suddenly roared out, startling Heroine Yin beside him.
Cheng Yan truly didn't hang up, but she didn't speak either.
Cheng Yun also stood at the doorway of his room, holding the phone to his ear with one hand while holding his key card in the other without swiping to enter, the two of them seemingly able to hear each other's breathing.
After a long silence, Cheng Yun took a deep breath, and then said in a resolute tone, "You get back here right now!"
"No!" Cheng Yan replied with a guilty conscience.
"Hah!" Cheng Yun took a deep breath. Cheng Yan's reply was within his expectations, but he still tried his utmost to summon the dignity of a head of the household. "Then where are you right now? I'm coming to find you."
"I'm not telling you!"
"...Cafe Gym, right? Just wait, I'm coming right over." Cheng Yun said in a low voice.
Cheng Yan did not answer him.
Thus, Cheng Yun hung up the phone, beeped the door open with his key card, tossed the heroine inside, and said, "You stay right here, I'm going out to take care of something and will be back later!"
"Where are you going?! Is there trouble?!" Heroine Yin hurriedly asked, then patted her chest and volunteered, "I'll go with you! Old Mage said that people in your world are actually very weak physically, and not everyone knows magic. In that case... I'm not bragging, but based on those people I saw eating noodles when I went out today, I could take on ten thousand of them! Ah wait... my saber is still in your bedchamber and hasn't been taken out yet, I'll go get it!"
Cheng Yun grabbed her by the arm.
...And incidentally lurched sideways himself!
Struggling to stand upright, he said seriously, "I'm not going to a fight, you just stay in the room and wait for me to return."
The heroine was stunned, and then looked him up and down. "Are you not treating me like a brother?!"
"..." Cheng Yun was speechless. "I'm going to find my disobedient younger sister, it's just family business. What would it look like for you to follow behind holding a giant broadsword!"
"Oh, so that's how it is!" The heroine remained half-doubtful.
Having gone through such a farce, Cheng Yun had also calmed down a bit, entering the room to turn on the television for the heroine. In order to let her understand this world more quickly, what Cheng Yun turned on was local news—Yizhou News—which was much more down-to-earth and filled with fragmented information compared to other news programs.
Following that, while the heroine was still staring blankly at the TV screen, he rapidly opened the door and headed out.
Cafe Gym was very close to Cheng Yun's home, but in the opposite direction of the hotel, and it took him twenty minutes to get there.
Just as Cheng Yun walked into the gym, preparing to make a phone call to Cheng Yan and wait for her in the lounge area, he heard a shout mixed with astonishment come from behind: "Cheng Yun?"
He turned his head, and froze as well: "Pan... Shimeng?"
"D-did I hear wrong, how come it felt like you hesitated for a moment just now?" Pan Shimeng feigned a frown, and then beamed with joy. "Long time no see, big bro, I didn't expect to run into you here."
"Yeah, quite a coincidence," Cheng Yun said somewhat awkwardly. He really had almost failed to recognize her just now.
Pan Shimeng was wearing a form-fitting athletic outfit with a pair of sneakers on her feet, and her originally fine figure now had even better proportions. She had her hair tied in a single ponytail, dyed slightly, and wore the legendary "man-slaying" makeup, looking like a fresh and pretty, sporty, bare-faced beauty.
"We haven't seen each other since graduation, have we? I heard you and Senior Sister Tang broke up?"
"Uh... we broke up quite a while ago."
"What a pity." Pan Shimeng had originally wanted to catch up on old times, but seeing that Cheng Yun seemed to lack enthusiasm, she asked, "Did you come over... to work out? I never saw you here before."
"I came to find my younger sister, she's inside," Cheng Yun said as he pulled out his phone. "I'll call her to come out."
"Alright then," Pan Shimeng said, actually walking inside the front desk area before looking back at Cheng Yun.
She was from the Yida sports department, and Cheng Yun was a year ahead of her. Back then, Cheng Yun often played basketball with a few guys from the sports department, which was how she got to know him. She actually had quite a favorable impression of the handsome Cheng Yun, but unfortunately Cheng Yun had a girlfriend at the time, and after waiting for a period without seeing any sign that they would break up, she gave up. And now Cheng Yun had already broken up with his ex-girlfriend, but she... already had a new boyfriend.
The young girl, who had instantly daydreamed up a whole scenario, revealed a trace of regretful expression, then looked back up at Cheng Yun, only to find that Cheng Yun was also looking at her.
She was startled on the spot, her face blushing crimson, her heart fluttering like a frightened little deer, her chaotic thoughts running wild in a split second—
I wonder if he knew before that I liked him. What if he doesn't have a girlfriend now and came over to hit on me? How should I reject him to show my tact and elegance while maintaining my cute image in his heart...
Sure enough, she saw Cheng Yun walking toward her.
She even lowered her head.
Then Cheng Yun's familiar, gentle voice sounded by her ear: "Um, Shimeng..."
Wow, such an intimate form of address!
Pan Shimeng felt like she couldn't take it anymore!
"My younger sister isn't answering my phone, could you help me go inside and look for her? I'm really in a rush." Cheng Yun was genuinely angry; that little girl not only treated the college entrance exams as child's play, but was even refusing to answer his calls now!
Pan Shimeng: "..."
"If it's a bother, never mind," Cheng Yun said awkwardly.
"It's no trouble at all!" Pan Shimeng hurriedly said. "You can just go straight in; anyway, I'm the only one guarding this place right now, just hurry back out."
"Sorry to trouble you!" Cheng Yun didn't say much more, walking straight inside without looking back.
Before you continue