ATPCN – Chapter 7

All in all, she still ended up waiting in line with her.

…This outcome was the result of some internal conflict, and now that it was done, Zhuang Chi didn’t intend to dwell on whether she had done the right thing. In any case, at least everything was truly settled now. The next step, no matter what, could only be for them to return to their respective dorms to rest.

“It’s still a bit too early for dinner,” Gu Ximian clearly thought so too. After checking the time, she naturally suggested, “Shall I walk you to your dorm then?”

…Was this some kind of turn-based escorting behavior? Zhuang Chi faltered and shook her head with difficulty. “…There’s no need, I can find my way. Besides, the literature faculty’s dorms should be in a different direction from our faculty’s…”

“Is that so? That would be a bit troublesome,” Gu Ximian nodded thoughtfully. “If it’s like just now, where I walk you, and then you feel bad and walk me back in return, we’ll never be done.”

“…”

It sounded a bit strange. It felt like the kind of thing either a couple in love or two people determined to one-up each other would do. The two of them didn’t fit into either category, did they?

Zhuang Chi blinked blankly. Just as she was about to say that it would be better to part ways right here, she saw Gu Ximian break into a smile. “I’m just kidding. I’m not staying in the dorm today. I’ll be going home after I walk you there.”

“It just happens to be on my way out of the school, that’s all. I’m not going out of my way to walk you, nor is it a favor you need to repay,” Gu Ximian said, looking at Zhuang Chi with a gentle gaze. “That should be fine, right?”

“…”

It felt like there was a hidden meaning in her words, as if she were teasing her for her earlier behavior. But Zhuang Chi had nothing to refute, and at this point, there was no reason to refuse. She thought to herself that it was no wonder Gu Ximian had arrived empty-handed without any luggage, and silently nodded. “…Let’s go then.”

On the way to the dormitory building, Zhuang Chi belatedly recalled some of the settings regarding Gu Ximian not living in the dorms. This person probably didn’t just stay away for today; she was generally someone with a strong sense of self-preservation. Coupled with Gu Ximian’s excellent family background, her family had bought her a house near the school, so she usually didn’t live in the dorms except under special circumstances.

In other words… she probably wouldn’t run into Gu Ximian at school during the evenings. As Zhuang Chi thought this, she noticed herself subconsciously relaxing a little and shook her head with an amused smile. It felt like she was studying the ecology of a game boss. What kind of difficult character was she treating Gu Ximian as? It was far too rude.

“By the way, you said before that you heard about me from a friend, right?”

“—”

…I take back what I just thought. This person really wasn’t easy to deal with. She hadn’t expected to have this old matter brought up so suddenly. Zhuang Chi stiffened, barely managing to control her expression, and forced herself to say, “…Y-yes, that’s right.”

Beside her, Gu Ximian was perfectly composed, looking as if she were simply trying to find a topic for small talk. “So, what exactly did your friend say? Enough for you to recognize me at a glance. Did they show you a photo, perhaps?”

As she spoke, she turned her head slightly and said with a soft smile, “Then I should know your friend, right? After all, there should be very few people who could get a photo of me.”

“…”

…Okay, that escape route was sealed off. If she really said she had seen a photo, she would one hundred percent be asked, “So what’s your friend’s name?” Where was she supposed to invent such a person? This was not a time when she, Zhuang Chi, could create things as she pleased…!

Zhuang Chi racked her brains, but she couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation—speaking of which, the fact that she recognized Gu Ximian simply because she was too beautiful was quite bizarre in itself. As her silence stretched on, Zhuang Chi grew more and more anxious. How did it come to this? She never thought she’d be cornered by her own boomerang…

“…What’s wrong?”

Look! Help! Her silence had been so long that even Gu Ximian had noticed something was off! Zhuang Chi’s heart skipped a beat. Just as she was desperately wracking her brain for what to do, she unexpectedly heard Gu Ximian thoughtfully come to her rescue, “Could it be… that it was too long ago, so you can’t recall it at the moment?”

…Unexpected assistance! Zhuang Chi felt as if she had been granted amnesty. Seizing the opportunity, she nodded vigorously. “Y-yes! It was a really long time ago, so I can’t quite remember what she said specifically right now, haha…”

Gu Ximian looked at her for a few seconds, then nodded with a very understanding expression, her eyes looking gentle and indulgent. “Mm, I asked too suddenly. It must be hard to recall immediately.”

Wow, Gu Ximian is such a good person. Was she saved?

Zhuang Chi was deeply moved, feeling the heart that had been in her throat finally settle. At the same time, a sense of guilt arose. Ugh, she was the one who had told a lie she couldn’t back up, yet she had to rely on Gu Ximian to smooth things over for her. This was just too embarrassing—

“Then let’s talk about it when you remember.”

“?!”

Her feeling of gratitude instantly got stuck in her throat. Zhuang Chi’s heart was caught halfway, neither up nor down. She looked stiffly at Gu Ximian, only to see the other girl still watching her with that same soft and lingering gaze, speaking in a pleasant voice that carried a rather unreasonable message: “I wonder if you’ll have remembered by the next time we meet. I’m really looking forward to it.”

As she said this, Gu Ximian stopped walking, glanced lightly at the building beside them, and said, “We’ve arrived at your dorm.”

“That’s all for now, then,” Gu Ximian said, her voice even tinged with a hint of regret. She gave Zhuang Chi one last deep look, then elegantly and gracefully lowered her head slightly. “See you next time, Zhuang Chi.”

Zhuang Chi, who was thinking, Doesn’t ‘next time we meet’ mean disaster is imminent?, couldn’t manage a proper response. She just forced out an “Mm” and waved her hand in farewell, watching Gu Ximian’s tall, straight back gracefully recede into the distance.

…How should she put it? Even though she was finally alone, her mood hadn’t lightened at all.

She thought she had been let off the hook, but it seemed she hadn’t been let off completely.

Her mood was extremely peculiar, so much so that when Zhuang Chi opened her dorm room door, she was still in a daze and hadn’t recovered. Then, she was suddenly startled by the person behind the door.

“Whoa,” there was a girl in the room, who also seemed to have been startled by her sudden entrance—I say seemed because her “whoa” sounded rather perfunctory, her expression barely changed, and her whole demeanor felt unhurried. But she recovered faster than Zhuang Chi, blinking slowly. “Hello? Are you my roommate?”

“Ah, yes,” the dorms at St. Blaisedon were well-appointed two-person rooms. The person before her was clearly her only roommate. Zhuang Chi came to her senses, bowed her head slightly, and mustered her spirits to greet her. “My name is—”

“Zhuang Chi, right? I checked the dorm roster earlier.”

The girl spoke languidly as she made way. After Zhuang Chi pushed her suitcase into the room, she helped close the door and introduced herself with a calm expression, “My name is Lu Man. I’m a Beta. You—”

She suddenly paused mid-sentence. Zhuang Chi pushed her suitcase to the side of the empty bed and turned back strangely, only to see Lu Man’s gaze fixed on her bandaged right wrist. Then, Lu Man suddenly let out a sound of realization.

“So you’re the freshman who fought with the second-year Ling Jing at the school gate and won?”

“How did the hawk get left out of the story?!”

Never expecting the rumor to evolve in this direction, Zhuang Chi went to great lengths to explain the truth of the matter to Lu Man. After listening, the other girl said, “Oh, so that’s how it was,” and nodded, but her expression remained just as calm as before, completely unchanged. It was a little hard to tell if she had really taken it in or had just been spacing out and gave a casual reply.

“Even if you didn’t beat Ling Jing, it still feels impressive.”

But this time, it seemed she had really been listening. Lu Man commented, “A normal human’s reaction speed shouldn’t be able to match a hawk’s. Are you a high-grade Alpha?”

Being praised for what was essentially cheating still made her feel restless. Zhuang Chi shook her head awkwardly. “No, I haven’t differentiated yet…”

“Whoa,” there it was again. Lu Man expressed surprise with a tone and expression that didn’t sound surprised at all. “So, you mean you’re not eighteen yet?”

Zhuang Chi nodded honestly and replied, “In a little over two months.” Lu Man nodded in understanding. “That’s soon, then. Anyway, everyone differentiates before they turn eighteen.”

Zhuang Chi gave a vague “mm” and averted her gaze, feeling a little at a loss.

Lu Man was right. According to the common knowledge of this world, although the specific timing varied from person to person, everyone would complete their differentiation before turning eighteen. Some differentiated as early as around the age of ten. But even with such a long possible timeframe, someone like Zhuang Chi, who had yet to differentiate with only a little over two months left, was quite rare. At least among the freshmen in her year, she was the only one. Before the semester started, the school had even contacted her specifically to confirm, and the decision to place her in a dorm with a Beta was the result of that discussion. After all, this way, no matter which gender she differentiated into later, it wouldn’t cause any major trouble.

To be honest, although Zhuang Chi didn’t show it, she was actually a little worried about this. She was essentially a person from another world who had transmigrated midway through life. Although it should be considered a physical transmigration, this body had the exact same face as her previous one, so heaven knows what the mechanism was. As for differentiation, textbooks said it was the result of multiple important factors like genes, but as a transmigrator… she didn’t know if she would really differentiate according to the rules of this world.

What if she turned eighteen and still didn’t differentiate? Would she be captured by some scientists for research? Zhuang Chi had harbored this worry for several years, and after learning today that this was the world of her black history novel, she had an additional major concern—

…If she really could differentiate, then she absolutely must not differentiate into an Alpha.

As for the reason… of course, it was because her female protagonist, for various reasons, had an extremely poor impression of Alphas. If Zhuang Chi remembered correctly, Gu Ximian would become an incredibly formidable figure by the end of the novel, possessing all the power and wealth one could imagine, and would casually bring about the collapse of the Alphas’ social status as easily as squashing an ant.

…Being an Alpha in a world with such a future would surely be very difficult. Thinking about it, perhaps the path of not differentiating and being captured for research might even be easier.

Although Zhuang Chi would prefer neither of these scenarios to happen, all she could do now was pray devoutly every day—and even the number of days left for prayer was dwindling. She didn’t know if her sincerity could reach the heavens. Her new roommate, however, didn’t notice Zhuang Chi’s worries and was still slowly speculating, “But judging from your ability to block the hawk, you’ll probably differentiate into an Alpha after all.”

“Please no?!”

This well-intentioned speculation was practically a curse to her right now! Zhuang Chi blurted it out with a jolt. Only when she saw Lu Man’s eyes widen slightly in surprise did she realize her outburst and obediently lowered her voice. “…I’d rather differentiate into a Beta.”

“Oh,” Lu Man tilted her head, looking even more surprised. “I think this is the first time I’ve heard someone say they want to differentiate into a Beta.”

Indeed, Betas were the most numerous of the three genders and were generally considered less likely to produce outstanding individuals compared to the other two. Ordinary, mediocre, middling—these were the words that always seemed to describe Betas. But for Zhuang Chi, that was more than enough. Her previous life had been cut short too abruptly; all she had ever hoped for since transmigrating was just to live an ordinary life.

“…”

For some reason, at this moment, she suddenly recalled the image of Gu Ximian.

It was from when they had just parted ways. Her long neckline, adorned by the choker, was like a swan’s. The exquisitely beautiful Gu Ximian, holding her gaze with those soul-stirring eyes, had said to her, See you next time, Zhuang Chi.

…See you next time, huh, Zhuang Chi thought.

She had a premonition that every time she met Gu Ximian, she would be pushed one step further away from the ordinary life she desired. Zhuang Chi felt this was probably not a delusion.