Ye Chu wasn't sure whether this method would work, but trying it was better than waiting to die.
Listening to the mocking laughter and scratching outside the door, he took a deep breath and prepared to give it everything he had.
Ye Chu looked at the alarm clock beside his bed. Three in the morning. It was about time.
He got out of bed and pulled open the curtains. The first thing he saw was that shining star; the second was the envelope right in the middle of the window.
Puzzled, Ye Chu took down the letter and found a few words written on it. The ink had bled, blurring the handwriting.
Who was this? They couldn't even fold an envelope properly. They'd managed to smudge the writing, too.
Outside, the sunshine was lovely. The hands of the alarm clock pointed to eight, and his parents knocked on the door, calling him to breakfast.
It was an ordinary, peaceful day.
Ye Chu held up the envelope, carefully deciphering the blurred handwriting: Your boyfriend is waiting for you at 238 Peace Street. Please take out this love letter and give it to him.
?? Boyfriend?
Since when did he have a boyfriend?
Ye Chu scratched his head in confusion. His parents' knocking grew more urgent. "Star! Get up and eat! Stop lazing around in bed!"
Ye Chu hurriedly stuffed the envelope into his pocket, wondering who had played this prank.
But the handwriting on the envelope was unmistakably his own.
He frowned, opened the door, and walked out, utterly bewildered.
"Dad, Mom." Ye Chu greeted them and sat down at the dining table.
"Star, we're heading to work," his mother said. Dressed in a black suit, she looked neat and capable, while his father stood beside her holding her bag. "You can visit Granny Wang at the hospital after breakfast. Don't spend all day cooped up at home."
Ye Chu lowered his head and murmured an acknowledgment as he ate.
After breakfast, he glanced at the clock in the living room. It was only half past eight. Still early.
Thinking that he had nothing else to do today besides visiting Granny Wang, he took out the envelope and decided to investigate the address written on it.
He wanted to see just who this boyfriend was.
The streets were crowded. Ye Chu found it strange. It wasn't the weekend, so why were there so many people?
Number 238 wasn't far from his home. Frowning, Ye Chu dodged the crowds as he headed in that direction.
He soon reached his destination. Ye Chu carefully checked the house number against the address on the envelope, then knocked once he was certain it matched.
One question still lingered in his mind: Why did this eight look so much like a five?
The door soon opened, revealing a teenage boy with a wolf cut.
Perhaps Ye Chu had interrupted him while he was working through a problem. The boy frowned, looking thoroughly impatient. "What is it?"
Ye Chu opened the envelope, intending to use the letter inside to ask the boy what was going on. He unfolded it and looked.
The entire sheet was densely covered in mathematical formulas. The handwriting was his own, too. Ye Chu examined it closely and discovered that every single formula was wrong.
How was that possible? How could I have written an entire page of incorrect formulas?
The boy's patience ran out. "What exactly are you here for?" he snapped.
Still puzzling over the page of incorrect formulas, Ye Chu answered offhandedly, "To see my boyfriend."
The moment the words left his mouth, both of them froze.
As a top student at Peking University, he couldn't possibly have filled an entire page with incorrect formulas.
And the boy had never had a boyfriend.
This was a paradox.
Their surroundings seemed to lose all color, fading to gray. The pedestrians stared with blood-red eyes, their throats making creaking sounds.
The moment the two regained their awareness, the pedestrians all turned toward these two living humans. Their bodies contorted in indescribably strange ways as they ran toward them.
"Ye Chu!" Pei Yanchuan grabbed Ye Chu, dragged him into his room, and swiftly locked the door.
Bang, bang, bang...
The monsters outside pounded violently on the door, their mouths creaking.
Ye Chu slumped to the floor. Looking at Pei Yanchuan sitting beside him, he asked in confusion, "Why is it you?"
Pei Yanchuan was even more confused by the question. "Why can't it be me?"
Ye Chu opened the envelope again. Seeing the smudged handwriting, he understood. "I was planning to see Su Fengzi today. He's at number 235, but the ink bled and turned it into 238."
Pei Yanchuan took the envelope and found that this was indeed the case. He pouted. "So you weren't here to see me after all." He sounded a little hurt.
Ye Chu chuckled. "This really was a lucky accident. Yesterday, Su Fengzi and I got in touch through a Bilibili livestream and worked out a plan together. Oh, right..."
Ye Chu turned toward him. "Have you heard anything about Wu You and Lu Rui?"
Pei Yanchuan shook his head. "No. I've been on my own these past two days."
"How did you discover that a paradox could break the illusion?"
Pei Yanchuan lowered his head and thought back. "On the first day, I saw an exam paper on the desk with a score of only 137. I thought, how could anyone do this badly on something so easy? It definitely wasn't mine. But when I flipped it over, my name was on it, and I snapped out of it."
[Well, damn. These academic geniuses come with built-in buffs.]
[So confident. I even took a screenshot to check the paper. It was the hardest math paper in the history of the college entrance exam. The highest score that year was 140.]
[My verdict, in one word: awesome.]
[Too good. Way too good.]
"As for the second day," Pei Yanchuan continued, "I went to school, and the exam results came out. I was first in my year, but everyone in class said I'd cheated. I thought, isn't first place exactly where I should be? I'm that good..."
"But they kept insulting me." As Pei Yanchuan spoke, he grew aggrieved all over again, pouting like a big dog that had fallen into the water. "They insisted I check the security footage and even gave me the key to the security room. I thought, check your fucking-"
Realizing he had sworn, Pei Yanchuan covered his mouth briefly. Only when Ye Chu showed no reaction did he continue. "I threw the key away, tied up the guy who started the rumors, and beat him up. Then I stood at the podium and gave the students a speech. Basically, I just said I wouldn't cheat. Then I woke up."
Ye Chu blinked, a little stunned. But on reflection, it really was the sort of thing he would do. How should he put it? That's our Pei Xiaohu for you.
[Huzi, are you trying to make me laugh to death? Huzi, hahahaha.]
[I was in Pei Xiaohu's livestream yesterday. You have no idea how hard I laughed. I could barely breathe.]
[The system probably never imagined someone could clear it like that, hahaha.]
["Gave a speech" means standing at the podium and viciously threatening his classmates, hahahaha.]
Ye Chu's experiences were much more normal by comparison. Holding the letter, Pei Yanchuan asked, "So can we still do this?"
"Use formulas to discover a paradox?"
Pei Yanchuan nodded and picked up a pen, intending to write down a few misspelled words. But when the pen moved across the paper, it left no trace at all.
Ye Chu shrugged. "Looks like we can't."
The same type of paradox could only be used once.
"Ye Chu, do you have any other clues?" Pei Yanchuan stood up and wrinkled his nose at the dust on his white hoodie.
Ye Chu stood up as well. "Those two monsters told me this morning to visit some Granny Wang at the hospital. In theory, the game should correspond to reality, but I don't know any Granny Wang."
"Then that might be the main quest. Should we find Brother Fengzi first or go straight to the hospital?"
Ye Chu opened his phone. The Bilibili streamer wasn't broadcasting today, but he had posted an update: I'm sick and heading to the hospital. Tonight's stream is canceled.
Su Fengzi only had two followers in total. It was obvious who that message was meant for.
Ye Chu switched off the screen. "The hospital. Su Fengzi's probably already there."
Before you continue