The man who wouldn't go to school

"Don't you have anything to explain, Chen Xiao?"

Lin Qi and Chen Xiao had sat facing each other in the quiet café for a long time. Only when the coffee on the table had stopped steaming did she finally lose patience and speak.

"We've been sitting like this for almost ten minutes!"

If the passing cars and pedestrians outside hadn't proved that time was still moving, an unsuspecting observer might have thought the two were indulging in some kind of time-stop play.

"I don't have anything to say."

Chen Xiao sighed and glanced away.

"You're really planning to stop after university?!"

Lin Qi looked incredulous.

If the café hadn't prohibited excessive noise, she would have slammed the table and jumped to her feet right then.

"Hiss... haa..."

Lin Qi took several deep breaths, composed herself, and continued trying to persuade him. "Can't you reconsider? Chen Xiao, fewer than a hundred people in our entire university have successfully awakened superpowers. Most of the rest are just like us-their mental power scores meet the threshold."

"So there's absolutely no reason for you to give up! Everyone whose mental power meets the threshold has a very good chance of awakening superpowers before thirty. If we go straight to [Shenzhou Nova Academy] for further study after graduation, the government will arrange public-sector jobs for us even if we never awaken."

"Back in the day, people would've fought tooth and nail for a chance to get on the government payroll with practically no entry requirements..."

At this, the corners of Lin Qi's lips lifted.

This was a Noble Phantasm specifically effective against the people of Shenzhou.

Before supernatural powers had become common knowledge, how many people had lost sleep and skipped meals studying for civil service exams, all for a government paycheck?

No one would refuse...

"That really is very tempting, class rep, but... I refuse."

Chen Xiao turned her down without a change in expression.

"Why?!"

Lin Qi finally couldn't hold back. She stood and knocked on the table, drawing displeased looks from the customers around them.

Realizing the atmosphere had soured, she suppressed the urge to erupt further, hurriedly apologized to the other customers, and slowly sat back down.

Looking at Chen Xiao again, Lin Qi found that he hadn't wavered in the slightest. When their classmates had seen the new government policies, they'd jumped straight into the air, shouting "Hell yeah!" like Xiao Chunan being invited on a trip by a beautiful woman!

At this point, she could only appeal to his feelings...

"A-Xiao."

The further change in how she addressed him made Chen Xiao's gaze shift slightly.

"We've known each other for over ten years. We're childhood friends... Sure, we've drifted apart a little since starting university, but whenever there's a good opportunity in class, you're the first person I think of, along with your roommates."

"And if we still haven't ended up together after all that, I suppose we were destined to meet, but not to be..."

At this, Chen Xiao's expression finally changed.

It's working!

Beneath the table, Lin Qi clenched her small hand into a fist.

"Remember back in the village, when you held up Uncle Luo's turtle and said, 'In this life, I'll climb to the top, one step at a time. I'll become the highest Zhao Gao of all'?"

Looking wistful, Lin Qi kept digging up memories of her childhood with Chen Xiao, as though she were trying to persuade a villain who'd turned evil to return to the right path.

Chen Xiao was indeed moved enough to close his eyes.

Part of him cringed with embarrassment, while another part grew nostalgic.

Yet those slowly gathering emotions were knocked right back to square one by Lin Qi's final remark.

"Have you truly forgotten everything from those days?"

"Everything from those days... those days..."

Chen Xiao's lips twitched, and he nearly failed to hold it in.

He almost asked, Do we get straight to eating, or follow the formalities?

Although this world also had the Three Kingdoms and the historical figures Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu, a certain doujin community lacked the mysterious code [350234], and therefore the "ill-fated lovebirds" meme as well.

So he had a joke to make, but no way to land it.

Still, Lin Qi's words couldn't help reminding Chen Xiao of his other past...

In truth, he wasn't a native of this world, but a transmigrator from another parallel universe.

Perhaps it was because he'd left the comment "Have you ever been a transmigrator? You're just making crap up based on assumptions" under some author's work without including references.

Or perhaps he had incurred divine punishment by constantly posting pictures in QQ groups without sharing their sources, only for a speeding hundred-ton overloaded truck to turn him physically "two-dimensional."

Whatever the reason, Chen Xiao had transmigrated just like that.

When he opened his eyes, however, he still saw his familiar parents, still lived in the familiar old redbrick house, and found that his village was much the same as in his previous life.

Even his childhood playmates were the same people he remembered.

As a result, Chen Xiao had initially thought he'd landed in an urban rebirth story. While he was still young enough to play in the mud, he'd already begun rubbing his hands in anticipation, ready to carve out a future using his knowledge of what lay ahead.

But then he noticed something was off about his family's circumstances in this life. Why did their old ancestral house look so new?

Why wasn't his family raising chickens and ducks in the empty rooms this time?

Why were his childhood meals so lavish?

Why were the official channels on television called [Shenzhou xxTV]?

How had the big Western power become the Appalachian Federation?

Damn it, where the hell have I ended up?

Is this even Earth anymore?!

Only after gradually sorting through his confused thoughts did Chen Xiao accept that he hadn't returned to the past, but had transmigrated into a parallel universe broadly similar to his previous world.

Fine. Shenzhou it is.

At least it isn't Holy Terra.

Up to that point, the changes to the worldline hadn't completely derailed Chen Xiao's plans. Just as he'd once told Lin Qi, having been given another life, he intended to climb to the top one step at a time.

Besides that, he wanted to make up for the regrets of his previous life.

Lin Qi, sitting before him, was one example.

In his previous life, this childhood friend hadn't made it to university with him. Family problems had forced her to drop out during high school, and the two had gone their separate ways.

In this life, he'd decisively sent his powered-up father in to deal with Lin Qi's family problems, allowing her to attend the same university as him.

Then, whether heaven had finally opened its eyes or had gone blind instead, no sooner had he started university than the setting shifted into urban supernatural fantasy. As though they'd suddenly decided to stop trying, the authorities publicly announced the existence of supernatural powers.

At first, nobody believed it.

Then new academy facilities began springing up across Shenzhou, policies for superhumans were rushed into effect, videos about superpowers flooded the internet, and major companies in the neighboring Western power began launching superhero programs one after another.

Every last development proved that supernatural powers really existed.

The entire world went wild.

Who could've guessed the setting would suddenly switch from urban rebirth to urban supernatural fantasy?! If this were a webnovel, I'd absolutely roast the idiot author who kept changing the setting!

Perhaps Chen Xiao was the only person who wasn't happy.

After all, as far as he was concerned, everything had gone off the rails.

Still, taking the academy route in an urban supernatural novel wasn't necessarily out of the question. Barring any surprises, the plot would follow the classic urban-fiction formula, opening with "The campus beauty..." and ending with "The Great Dao became void, and he became the master of all paths!"

Unfortunately...

There were no what-ifs.

I already have them now.

Chen Xiao heaved a long sigh inwardly.

Only someone caught in it could truly understand how agonizing it was to make a choice in the trolley problem!

And he wasn't even some passerby carrying a toilet plunger.

"A-Xiao, have you made up your mind?"

Seeing Chen Xiao emerge from his thoughts, Lin Qi asked with a hint of hope.

"There's still time to change your information. As long as your file hasn't been submitted..."

Before Lin Qi could finish, Chen Xiao shook his head and refused again, his tone even more resolute this time.

"I'm sorry, Lin Qi. I still don't intend to attend the academy. As for awakening superpowers... I don't care."

"Motherfucker...!"

A curse in their hometown dialect escaped her lips.

This was the first time Lin Qi had seen Chen Xiao being so frustratingly wishy-washy, and she couldn't help wondering, Has this guy been practicing some evil technique like Sovereign Pole Shocking the World?

Is it too late to hit him in the heart with a Lin-Style Explosive Fist?

"What about Uncle Chen? A-Xiao, has your family agreed to this?"

Lin Qi had run out of ideas.

She simply brought out Chen Xiao's father to put pressure on him.

"My family has already agreed."

Chen Xiao's answer left Lin Qi leaning helplessly back in her chair.

Seeing this, he smiled a little apologetically and continued, "Have you forgotten, Lin Qi? My parents have always been very open-minded about my affairs. It's fine if I lack ambition. As long as I'm not committing crimes, anything goes."

"You... bastard...!"

Lin Qi cursed weakly.

Although it wouldn't soothe Lin Qi's anger, Chen Xiao still paid for her order along with his own before getting up to leave.

"Hey, hey, A-Xiao's leaving."

Seeing Chen Xiao leave, the five young people in the corner of the café hurriedly rose from their seats and gathered around Lin Qi, wearing different expressions as they fired off questions.

"Class rep, is A-Xiao really not going to continue his studies?"

"Back in the day, this would've been a great chance to get into the public sector. Why would anyone give it up?"

"Are you sure he hasn't run into some kind of trouble outside?"

"That doesn't make sense either. A-Xiao's family is so well-off. Even if something happened, it wouldn't come to this..."

"Don't tell me he's found his 'true love' and gotten so lovesick that he doesn't even want superpowers anymore, just a lifetime of monogamous bliss with her?"

The earlier remarks were fine, but at this one, Lin Qi, who had been slumped in her chair like a languid cat, abruptly straightened. Her gaze sharpened immensely as she looked at the speaker.

It was positively murderous!

"I-I was joking."

That person was frightened into a cold sweat by Lin Qi's stare.

Seeing him "beg for mercy," Lin Qi's gaze gradually softened. She slumped back into her seat and couldn't help letting out a long sigh.

"Maybe everyone really does have their own aspirations..."

The others were helpless too. If even his childhood friend Lin Qi couldn't persuade Chen Xiao, it seemed their relationship as one another's "conjugate fathers and sons" could only end here.

But just as she stepped outside, a thought flashed through her mind.

Could A-Xiao already know?