The next morning, the alarm rang as usual!
"Ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring!!!!!!!"
A hand stretched out from the blanket, where someone was curled into a ball, and fumbled toward the bedside table by the window, slapping at the alarm clock on instinct.
Smack!
"Ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring!!!!!!!"
The alarm kept blaring obnoxiously.
"Did you set such an early alarm because you're in a hurry to reincarnate, you idiot!!!"
Ling, who had been innocently slapped over, immediately roared in fury and hurled herself straight at the blanket!
"Ah! It's freezing! My nose is freezing!"
The "blanket" suddenly bulged, and muffled screams came from inside.
Another new day had begun in Fang Ran's rented apartment.
Watching Fang Ran unwillingly crawl out of bed, his face struggling to resist the urge to go back to sleep, Ling saw him quickly pull on his clothes and duck into the kitchen. After clattering around for a while, he came back out with puffed cheeks, apparently having crammed several bites of something into his mouth, looking ready to head out.
"Huh?" Ling called out in surprise. "You're heading out this early? Are you going to look for the scene entrance?"
Without waiting for Fang Ran's answer, she floated up as though she were about to lead the way.
"Come on. A rookie like you wouldn't find the entrance even if you had a year."
"Uh, what are you talking about?"
Fang Ran looked at her with an awkward expression.
"Aren't you going out to look for the scene entrance?"
"Uh, no."
"Then what are you going out so early for?"
Ling stared at him scrutinizingly.
"I..."
Fang Ran spread his hands, sighed, and said as though it were only natural:
"The holiday's over. Of course I'm going to school."
"Huh!!!???"
School??
Two huge question marks appeared in Ling's mind. As a data soul, her delicate little face was utterly bewildered.
School? He said he was going to school?
What school?
After finally figuring out what Fang Ran meant, Ling asked with a twitch of her lips:
"You're going to school?"
"Obviously!" Fang Ran rolled his eyes. "People always have to get on something. Like getting into bed to sleep, getting to work to work—I have to go to school, of course! Otherwise, how am I supposed to find a job later?"
Ling fell silent, speechless.
This was the first time she had heard of someone becoming a Night Battle Participant and still going to school!?
And planning to find a job, no less.
Ling took a deep breath—don't ask how she managed that right now—and silently suppressed everything she wanted to explain about how Night Battle Participants no longer needed to interact with society as they had before.
Then she floated into his hood.
"What are you doing!"
Fang Ran jumped in shock and tried to pull her out!
"I'm going with you."
Ling's voice suddenly rang out with conviction.
"Huh!?"
"What are you going with me for?"
"None of your business."
"Why, exactly?"
"You don't even have a phone that can get online at home. Do you expect me to stay here alone and watch TV!!"
"Uh, but..."
"But what?!"
"Don't you think it's pretty stupid that I don't even have a phone that can get online, yet I'm carrying around a Power Bank?"
In the end, Fang Ran still brought Ling along. She stayed in his hood, not because she wanted to, but because this guy went to class carrying his books and pens in his hands—he did not even have a bag!
Damn it!
Ling cursed inwardly. This hopeless fool who never studied properly!
Thus, the Power Bank girl could only hide in his hood.
As mentioned before, one of Fang Ran's rented apartment's greatest advantages was how close it was to school. It only took ten minutes to walk there—very close indeed. But...
It took half an hour to walk from the school gate to the teaching building.
Sigh, this damned school. That was why he had no choice but to get up early like some underling.
As for why it took so long to get there, that required an explanation of Fang Ran's school.
With merely average grades, Fang Ran naturally had not gotten into any prestigious university. Still, he was not too bad either. His high school grades had landed him just a little above most people, though only by a limited margin.
So naturally, he had enrolled in this university that followed behind all those 985 and 211 schools.
It was not great, but it was not bad either.
Perfectly suited to someone as ordinary as Fang Ran.
The campus had been built on a newly approved plot of land, so it covered an especially large area. There were plenty of empty grassy spaces, but the little woods and lake were fairly nice.
And that fairly nice feature directly led to...
The reason Fang Ran had to get up forty minutes early every day like some poor underling.
"What class are you going to?" Ling asked casually.
"Uh, let me see. Damn, no phone." Fang Ran reached into his pocket to check his schedule, then suddenly remembered that his Xiaomi had long since sacrificed itself. Smacking his lips as he thought, he said uncertainly, "I think it's Principles of Computer Networks and... uh... Data Structures?"
"Are you asking me?" Ling rolled her eyes inwardly. With this guy's intelligence, he was studying computer science?
Ling then hid in Fang Ran's hood as he made his way to the teaching building, found his classroom, and ran into his classmates.
"Hey! Fang Ran! How was your holiday?" Two boys came over to greet Fang Ran.
"Heh, not bad." Fang Ran smiled and casually found a seat.
Before long, several more boys came over chatting and laughing. When they saw Fang Ran, they sat down beside him as well.
"Old Fang, how's it going? Living alone in a rented place must be pretty sweet, huh!"
"Of course it is. With a beautiful girl keeping me company, how could it not be sweet?"
"This single dog is still jealous."
"Haha, not really." Fang Ran laughed too, chatting casually with them.
They were all Fang Ran's roommates, and they got along well. The group chatted and laughed about interesting topics. Fang Ran kept listening, occasionally laughing out loud as well.
Only one roommate watched Fang Ran smiling, hesitated twice, then nudged him with an elbow and quietly asked:
"Bro, are you okay?"
Fang Ran froze for a moment, then turned around and rolled his eyes helplessly.
"Hah, what could possibly be wrong with me?"
Ling listened quietly from inside the hood, listening to every word Fang Ran exchanged with the others. She never used telepathy to speak to him, simply hiding quietly in his hood as she followed him through his morning classes.
Everything was just as usual, as if Night Battle had never disrupted Fang Ran's life.
"Ahh~" One of his roommates stretched and greeted them with a grin. "Come on, let's go eat!"
"Yeah, sure." Fang Ran agreed with a smile.
The group left the classroom chatting and laughing. But just as they walked out, the classroom opposite theirs had also finished class. Several girls came out together, passing them by.
One girl had her long hair tied up and wore a light-colored fuzzy sweater. Her large eyes held a quiet smile and an unhurried calm, while her lovely oval face gave off a gentle, serene impression.
The two groups passed each other while chatting and laughing, no different from anyone else in the hallway.
Only after they had walked quite a distance did one of Fang Ran's roommates suddenly realize in surprise, "Hey! Was that Wei Wenwen just now? Fang Ran, why didn't you even say hello?"
"Yeah, why didn't you even say hello?" someone beside him teased with a laugh.
Fang Ran sighed helplessly at his roommates' antics. Rolling his eyes, he smiled and said, "Hah! Why would a shut-in like me greet the flower of her department?"
"Uh..."
Everyone other than Fang Ran froze for a moment.
"No, that's not—"
The most straightforward roommate had just begun to say something when the roommate who had asked Fang Ran that question in class jabbed him in the side with an elbow.
"Pfft!"
"I'm starving! Hurry up, hurry up! If we're any later, there won't be any seats left in the cafeteria!"
Another person noisily urged them along. The group tacitly let the subject drop and headed toward the cafeteria. Only Ling, using telekinesis to watch Fang Ran from another angle, noticed something.
At the corner, Fang Ran, pretending to yawn with sleepy tears in his eyes, seemed to casually glance back.
Just as people always had to get on something, they also had to seek something. Some sought fame, some sought profit, but unlike all those cliché, worldly people, I was different!
I was just asking for a bookmark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Before you continue