When the Female Lead Becomes Obsessive – Chapter 40

Volume Two: Those Years When I Was the School Bully

Wanting to Find You

Wen Nuan hid in the distant darkness, watching Song Ci turn and go upstairs.

The ember of the cigarette flickered in the pitch-black night, a thin mist swirling around Wen Nuan’s complicated eyes.

It was a mess.

“Tongzi, what exactly is going on?” Wen Nuan was completely bewildered right now.

Feelings don’t lie. She had just felt something for Song Ci—a strong, hard-to-ignore stirring of the heart.

The System was also bewildered. It immediately accessed its database, checked Song Ci’s and You Jiayi’s values, and discovered something astonishing.

【The instant you kissed Song Ci just now, her values completely matched You Jiayi’s. Based on this, and your comparison of the similarities between Song Ci and You Jiayi, we can deduce….】 The System let out a long sigh. 【…Song Ci is You Jiayi, and You Jiayi is Song Ci!】

Song Ci is You Jiayi, You Jiayi is Song Ci?

This was simply unbelievable¹.

How could that be?

Wen Nuan asked in shock, “Has this kind of situation… happened to other task takers before?”

System: 【As far as I know, historically, this situation has indeed occurred, but it’s extremely rare. The only cases I know of involve the Main God and the Lord Ruler meeting and falling in love. Their case is very famous in the Three Realms².】

Yan Hui and the Main God?

“What case?” Wen Nuan only knew about things in the world she came from; she was clueless about anything else.

The System explained: 【I only know a little bit. According to rumors, the Main God and the Lord Ruler met, fell in love, and stayed together through seven worlds. In the end, they supported each other through thick and thin³, becoming each other’s one and only for life.】

Wen Nuan’s brow furrowed tightly. “Are you saying that in those seven worlds, the person Yan Hui encountered was always the Main God?”

【Mm, yes.】

“For two people to meet seven times in the Three Thousand Worlds⁴, is the probability high?”

【One in a thousand. Do you think that’s high?】 The System showed Wen Nuan the calculated data.

“Then how did those two meet?” Wen Nuan found it incredible. “With such a low probability, they still met seven times? Are you kidding me?”

【I don’t know about that either; it’s considered a high-level secret. My clearance level isn’t high enough to investigate.】 The System conjectured, 【Perhaps it’s related to the Heavenly Dao Laws⁵. Maybe the Main God knows.】

Fate was something too wonderful for words, impossible to prove.

【Also, my control panel has changed,】 the System showed Wen Nuan the control panel, 【Below the blackening value, an indicator called “WU” suddenly appeared. This value is currently 15. I don’t know what this value represents, nor do I understand the significance of its existence.】

Wen Nuan looked at the data bar. “Is it a virus?”

The System shook its head: 【Probably not. Its appearance poses no threat to any of my programs. It’s as if it existed from the beginning—no download, no command, it just silently appeared on the control panel, marked with the value “15.” It leaves me very puzzled.】

【However, its appearance doesn’t affect me, so we can ignore it for now.】 The System looked at Wen Nuan. 【Regarding the fact that Song Ci is You Jiayi, what do you plan to do?】

Wen Nuan leaned against the wall, head tilted back, smoking cigarette after cigarette. The originally clear night air became filled with thick smoke.

It made Wen Nuan appear hazy and trance-like within the smoke.

The System looked at the cigarette butts on the ground—twenty-six already. Plus the one still dangling from her lips, that made twenty-seven. She had broken her personal record for the number of cigarettes smoked.

【Wen Nuan?】 The System could sense Wen Nuan’s terrible mood. It carefully tried to soothe her, 【If you’re upset, just say it. Don’t keep it bottled up. Although these cigarettes are harmless to your body, smoking constantly isn’t good either.】

Wen Nuan sighed deeply, her eyes lifeless. “I just feel… it’s ridiculous.”

【What’s ridiculous?】

Wen Nuan twirled the cigarette between her fingers. “I clearly didn’t want to hurt her, yet I find out I’m the one who hurt her the most. Don’t you think… that’s ridiculous?”

It was true for You Jiayi, and it was true for Song Ci.

The System sensed Wen Nuan’s heavy sadness and loneliness: 【Ignorance is no crime. You didn’t know anything. You can’t blame yourself for all of this.】

“Tongzi, what should I do?” Wen Nuan slid down the wall, slumping powerlessly onto the ground. The cigarette was crushed in her palm.

She buried her head in her hands, crying out in a low voice, “Tongzi, I don’t know what I’m feeling right now!”

Grief and joy, relief and regret—extremely complex emotions intertwined, squeezing her heart tightly, suffocating her, causing her pain.

“I worked hard to complete the mission, wanting to eliminate Song Ci’s blackening value as soon as possible, wanting to go back and see You Jiayi sooner, only to find out ‘she’ was by my side all along?”

“In order to go back and see her sooner, in order to eliminate Song Ci’s blackening value sooner, I was cold to her, indifferent to her, let her be bullied by others right in front of me, while I….” Wen Nuan gritted her teeth, her voice hoarse with remorse, “…I f%cking!”

【Wen Nuan, don’t be like this. You didn’t want this either. You just wanted to go back and see her sooner. This is just a… misunderstanding.】

Wen Nuan lowered her head, her thin lips pressed into a straight line. “Song Ci in this world is ‘her.’ What about the worlds after this?”

She needed to unfreeze ten worlds. Did that mean ‘she’ could potentially be in every world!?

The System shook its head: 【I don’t know about that. We can investigate when we get to the next world.】

Its permissions were very low; there were many things it couldn’t find out.

Wen Nuan fell silent.

She just sat there quietly for a long time, leaning against the wall, staring blankly. Not smoking, not speaking. Her peach-blossom eyes seemed stained by the night, their color obscured, just gazing fixedly at the building where Song Ci lived.

Song Ci lived in Room 1302. After going upstairs, she hadn’t turned on the lights.

Now, Wen Nuan only needed to think casually to recall the similarities between ‘them.’

Her night vision was excellent. Even on a night shrouded in dark clouds, without a sliver of moonlight, she could move through the darkness unhindered, easily avoiding any obstacle.

Back then, You Jiayi had joked with her: “If you can see clearly at night, you don’t even need to turn on the lights. Saves electricity, right? Aren’t I amazing?”

You Jiayi was very poor back then, stubborn as hell, and refused to take her money.

She could only smile helplessly. “Yeah, you’re super amazing.”

And Song Ci’s night vision was also amazing. In the first year of high school, there was a city-wide blackout. The teacher came to tell them they could go home early, no need for evening self-study.

The whole class cheered, grabbing their bags and rushing out. Desks and chairs were knocked askew in the chaos. Wen Nuan could barely see in the darkness, but compared to Song Ci, it was like comparing a firefly to the moon⁶.

Song Ci pulled Wen Nuan along, without using the light from her phone, leading her out of the school without any hindrance.

Once outside the school gate, Wen Nuan asked her, “It was so dark in the classroom, how could you still see the way?”

What did Song Ci say back then?

She smiled faintly in the moonlight. “Not only can I see the way, I can also see you clearly. Aren’t I amazing?”

The image of Song Ci crying earlier flashed through Wen Nuan’s mind. Every word, every sentence of her questioning replayed over and over in her head.

Song Ci had asked if she had ever thought of contacting her proactively?

And told her that if she had taken the initiative, she wouldn’t have returned to the country at this time?

Did that mean Song Ci had tried to contact her?

After leaving a mission world, Wen Nuan would immediately sever all contact methods with the female lead.

She and Song Ci had exchanged phone numbers, but she had changed her number upon returning this time, so she couldn’t check if Song Ci had called her.

That left only one contact method: QQ.

In the first year of high school, she thought the QQ emoticons were lively and cute. Everyone else was using WeChat, but she and Song Ci chatted using QQ. She felt it was very unique, fitting her status as the school tyrant.

Wen Nuan still remembered her old QQ account and password. She hadn’t logged into QQ for a long time. Logging in again now felt a bit nostalgic.

Clicking login, the interface jumped.

Countless message notification sounds—“Ding-ling ding-ling”—popped up, lasting for nearly a minute before stopping.

Looking at the rows upon rows of red numbers on the screen—all unread messages.

Some only had one or two, three or four messages. Some were from old gaming friends asking if she still logged on.

But the one with the most messages was her specially followed contact, Song Ci.

She had left her hundreds of messages.

Wen Nuan clicked on Song Ci’s messages. A prompt asked if she wanted to jump to the first unread message. She tapped lightly, and the interface rapidly scrolled back to September 6th of the year before last.

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, why did you confess to Lu Yi? Do you like him?

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, why didn’t you tell me you liked Lu Yi?

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, I don’t want you to be with Lu Yi. Can you not like him?

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, classmates said you went abroad. Did you leave because Lu Yi rejected you?

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, you left. What about me? Don’t you want me anymore?

……

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, are you studying in M Country now? Is the education there good? I heard the courses abroad are very flexible, must be convenient for you to skip class.

……

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. I bought salted egg mooncakes, two of them. I’ll save one for you, wait for you to come back and eat it? Will you come back for the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, forget it, I won’t save it for you. You’re not coming back anyway. When you do come back, if you want to eat them, I’ll buy them for you again.

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, I learned to cook. I learned many dishes, all your favorites. Do you want to come back and try them?

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, tomorrow is National Day, school is off for seven days. Do they have holidays abroad? Will you come back? I can take you out. Didn’t you want to go to the water park in Jingyang City last time? Let’s go this October 1st holiday, okay?

…….

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, time flies. It’s almost New Year’s Day. A year passes quickly. In the blink of an eye, you’ve been gone for so long. Will you come back for the Spring Festival this year?

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, I’ve planned the Spring Festival Eve dinner. Let’s make ten dishes, for perfection. A mix of meat and vegetables. I’ll cook, you just wait to eat. I’ll make a menu for you later. See if there’s anything you don’t like, I can change it then?

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, it snowed so heavily this Spring Festival. The weather where you are should be very sunny. Since you didn’t reply, I made the New Year’s Eve dinner according to the original menu. You missed out this year, you can only eat it next year. Sending you a couple of pictures to make you drool #Image##Image#.

……

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, spring is here. The cherry blossoms have bloomed beautifully. They are especially lush this year. Do you want to come back and see them? The Cherry Blossom Festival started particularly early this year, and there are so many people.

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, do you have May Day holidays? School is off for three days. The teachers assigned so many worksheets. If you were still here, you’d definitely curse them out and not write a single word. I wonder if your school assigned you a lot of homework too. If you can’t do it, do you still find other classmates to help you write it?

…….

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, the students you used to bully, they started bullying me now that you’re not here? I want you to come back, okay?

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, today someone threw food on me in the cafeteria. My clothes got dirty. Everyone was laughing at me. No one helped me? I want you to come back, okay?

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, someone poured coke on the notes I wrote. The whole page is stained with coke, it smells awful. I want you to come back, okay?

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, there’s a punk on my way home. He robbed me, demanding money every day, otherwise he’ll beat me up and tell his lackeys to gang r%pe me. I want you to come back, okay?

……..

The following messages were all about the bullying Song Ci endured during her second year of high school. She told her, word by word, and her only reply was… unread.

Wen Nuan’s gaze stopped on the message from last Spring Festival.

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, this Spring Festival is particularly cold. It’s snowing heavily outside. Weather like this feels like it could freeze a person to death. I was thinking, if you’re unwilling to come back and see me, could you at least help collect my corpse?

After this message, half a year passed.

And during that half-year, Song Ci didn’t leave her any more messages. The silence in between made Wen Nuan’s heart clench violently.

Even though Song Ci was alive in front of her right now, she was still terrified that something might have happened to Song Ci during that half-year.

The last message Song Ci left her was from August 15th of this year.

Ah Ci: Wen Nuan, I’m going to apply to universities in M Country. I want to find you, okay?

The phone screen had long been soaked with tears, blurring the messages above.

Wen Nuan covered her face with her hands, her shoulders trembling, and choked out, “…Okay.”

It turned out that straightforward, fervent love could eventually dispel the irremovable dark clouds in your heart.

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The author has something to say:

Female Lead: Here, thinking of you three hundred and sixty-five days.

System: Reading every comforting word you wrote.

Wen Nuan: Love, encircles you… Hey, wait, I’m not in a good mood right now, how dare you two sing?

Female Lead & System: We dare!

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