Training to Act in Sync

However, as it turned out, controlling two bodies at once to eat biscuits was difficult.

Whichever body Wen Xiancheng controlled, the other would freeze in place.

But Wen Xiancheng did not give up.

He knew perfectly well what benefits he would gain once he could control both bodies at the same time.

This was the cheat he had gained after transmigrating!

Whether he could become the protagonist of this world depended entirely on this!

It was like a pauper who knew he would win five million in the lottery that day, only to find that none of the tickets he had bought so far had won anything. Would he keep buying?

The answer went without saying!

Only after persisting with his training for an entire night did Wen Xiancheng make a tiny bit of progress.

Yes, he could now control both bodies to eat biscuits at the same time.

It was just that he moved incredibly slowly, and his movements were terribly awkward.

Like a child just learning to feed himself, he often got his movements mixed up.

Sometimes, his human body would take a biscuit and shove it into his nostril.

Sometimes, the Mouse Clone would keep moving his mouth beside a biscuit, never managing to take a bite even though it was right under his nose.

After a night of training, he discovered a pattern.

Controlling the two bodies was like writing with his left hand while chopping vegetables with a kitchen knife in his right.

Not only did he have to perform two actions simultaneously, but he also had to maintain two trains of thought.

It was easy to say, but extremely difficult to do.

And it was utterly exhausting.

By daybreak, he collapsed onto the bed, completely drained, and both bodies fell asleep at the same time.

He slept until dusk, only getting up when he felt hunger in both bodies.

This time, he controlled both bodies at once even while walking.

Unexpectedly, the intense hunger greatly improved the coordination between his two bodies.

He took a packet of biscuits from the refrigerator and had the Mouse Clone eat on the dining table first, while his human body used the leftover rice in the refrigerator to make egg fried rice.

As it turned out, even egg fried rice, which he was normally very good at making, became a complete disaster when he controlled both bodies at once.

Not only did he burn his first batch of egg fried rice, but his limbs also refused to obey him, and he scattered rice all over the stovetop with the spatula.

Wen Xiancheng went on to cook more rice in the rice cooker.

This was the hardest time he had had getting a meal since reaching adulthood.

He kept at it until nine that night, when his human body's stomach felt as though it had shriveled from hunger, before he finally managed to eat.

Meanwhile, the Mouse Clone had long since stuffed himself so full of biscuits that he could not swallow another bite.

As his human body ate, Wen Xiancheng also controlled the Mouse Clone, making him scramble all around the house.

While his human body struggled to eat, the Mouse Clone kept falling off various objects.

Dozens of those falls were from the ceiling, leaving him in such agony that he felt as though every bone in his body would shatter!

Only after lying there for a good long while could he get up again.

The days that followed were far from easy, but he made steady progress.

Two days later, Wen Xiancheng could finally eat with both bodies at once, slowly but steadily.

Three days later, Wen Xiancheng could send his human body out to buy food at a shop while making the Mouse Clone run around nearby.

Only after seven days did Wen Xiancheng fully master the skill of making his two bodies act independently.

At dusk that day, he had the Mouse Clone climb into his pocket and sit there gnawing on a small piece of wood held in his paws.

Since gaining the Mouse Clone, he had come to understand a little about mouse habits.

Every day, he had to gnaw on hard things such as wood.

If he went a day without gnawing, the Mouse Clone would get a toothache.

His human body, meanwhile, headed toward the nearby flight station.

It was the end of the month, the day Xue Ruigao would return.

Wen Xiancheng had a habit of going to the flight station at this time every month to welcome Xue Ruigao home.

Just as the sky was about to darken, he spotted Xue Ruigao, as he always did.

She looked no different from the girl in the photograph, just as beautiful and poised.

Today, however, Xue Ruigao had not come back alone.

She had brought another girl who looked about her age.

In contrast to Xue Ruigao's plain shirt, jeans, and sneakers, with an ordinary elastic securing her high ponytail, this girl glittered from head to toe.

She wore a black gauze top covered in golden scales, a pair of tiny shorts that left her long, lovely legs fully exposed, and a pair of elegant glass shoes.

Her face was delicate, too, and she had clearly taken care with her makeup. Her small mouth, painted with red lipstick, looked vividly, almost drippingly red.

A dangling earring hung from each ear.

As she walked, her whole body gave off a pleasant jingling and tinkling.

The two girls jumped down from a giant Snow Eagle.

At the sight of Wen Xiancheng, Xue Ruigao broke into a smile and was about to hurry over.

But the girl caught her right arm, smiled at her, and teased, "What's the rush? It's not like someone's going to steal your man!"

Xue Ruigao smiled a little awkwardly and slowed her pace.

When the three met, Xue Ruigao was just about to introduce the girl when she held out her hand of her own accord, her smile blooming like a flower. "Hello, I'm Gao Shiqi, Little Cake's best friend. I don't have a boyfriend yet."

Wen Xiancheng held out his hand and shook Gao Shiqi's. "Hello."

Xue Ruigao gave Wen Xiancheng a somewhat surprised look.

She could clearly sense that something about Wen Xiancheng was different.

Although Wen Xiancheng practically lived shut away at home and had no contact with girls other than her, there was more to it than that.

He was extremely introverted.

Such close contact with a stranger would surely have left him blushing scarlet.

Yet now, his expression was perfectly composed!

Joy welled up in Xue Ruigao's heart.

People said a man's transformation always began in some unremarkable moment.

Orange really had changed!

Wen Xiancheng had only intended to give Gao Shiqi a polite handshake.

But when he tried to pull his hand away, he felt her finger scratch his palm, and then she shot him a coy, bashful look.

She looked like a girl feeling the first stirrings of love.

And then there was what she had just said: "I don't have a boyfriend yet."

Wen Xiancheng withdrew his hand from Gao Shiqi's grasp.

This Gao Shiqi was up to no good!

She said she was Xue Ruigao's best friend, so she had presumably heard plenty about "him" from Xue Ruigao.

With "his" homebody personality, it would be easy for a beautiful woman who threw herself at him to sweep him off his feet.

Then she could have him dancing in the palm of her hand.

Unfortunately for her, he was no longer the old "him."

Under Gao Shiqi's slightly puzzled gaze, Wen Xiancheng walked over to Xue Ruigao's side, putting some distance between himself and Gao Shiqi.

He glanced at Xue Ruigao. Seeing her still beaming, utterly oblivious, Wen Xiancheng shook his head.

What a poor choice of friend.

It looked like he would have to step in and set things straight.

With Gao Shiqi holding her right arm, Xue Ruigao looped her left hand around Wen Xiancheng's arm. "Orange, what are we having at home today?"

Wen Xiancheng gave Xue Ruigao a slightly strange look.

In his heart, he was rather reluctant to be so physically close to an unfamiliar woman.

But for some reason, his body was very honest.

This probably came from the original owner's genuine love for Xue Ruigao.

Seeing the unfamiliarity in Wen Xiancheng's gaze, Xue Ruigao raised her eyebrows. "We're practically an old married couple, and you're still shy! It's fine. Qiqi's my friend, not an outsider. She's known about us for ages."

(End of chapter)