Chapter 10: Sleep

You’re the protagonist, but why can’t I be the protagonist too?
Lin Cheng complained inwardly.

What do you mean Zhou Mingyuan can appear anywhere and do anything under special circumstances?
Are you the author’s heavy hand or something?
You’re not even trying to hide it anymore. Now I get why Zhou Mingyuan could show up here.
Isn’t this just a normal urban novel?
Author, what kind of patch did you just install?

Lin Cheng really wanted to sneer a few times, but he was afraid of being brushed off like a roadside villain.
In a way, don’t I count as Zhou Mingyuan’s first minor villain?

“Xiaoran, don’t resist,” Lin Cheng whispered to Li Xiaoran, then gently took her slender arm.
“What Xiaoran and I do shouldn’t have anything to do with you, right?” Lin Cheng’s tone was calm.

“It really has nothing to do with me. I’m just afraid you’ll do something stupid. After all, we’re all about to become adults, and we all attend the same school. We see each other all the time. No one wants to suddenly stop seeing someone the next day, right?”
Zhou Mingyuan was still chuckling.

When Lin Cheng suddenly grabbed her arm, Li Xiaoran didn’t hear a single word of what he had just said. She only felt like Lin Cheng was declaring his sovereignty. Her cheeks flushed red, and she kept looking from Lin Cheng to Zhou Mingyuan, her mouth slightly agape, looking lost and helpless. She let out a few soft “iya, iya” sounds but couldn’t form a single word.

“I won’t disturb you two. I’ll be leaving now.”
Zhou Mingyuan chose not to stay and turned to walk toward the street.

Lin Cheng watched him go.

“Lin Cheng, it seems you and Zhou Mingyuan don’t get along,” Li Xiaoran said softly.

Lin Cheng let go of her arm. “I guess you could say that. I was one of the first witnesses to Su Wanqing’s death.”

“Does he hate you?” Li Xiaoran pressed.

“He probably wishes I were dead,” Lin Cheng grinned.
That bastard is trying to kill Su Wanqing in every way possible.
And Su Wanqing’s such an idiot. She’s really impossible to protect.
Even with god-tier support, if your ADC can’t even walk, there’s no saving them.

But those words meant something entirely different to Li Xiaoran.
And to Su Wanqing, they meant something else entirely.

“As expected, you still like me. It’s just because I’m dead that you’re forced to accept Li Xiaoran’s feelings, right? You’re trying to transfer your emotions for me onto her.”
Su Wanqing naturally thought so. She puffed out her chest and floated back and forth through Lin Cheng’s body, then glared fiercely in the direction Zhou Mingyuan had gone.

“That damn bastard. He nearly scared me when he suddenly showed up.”
“I didn’t even react just now. How did he appear behind us when he was still dozens of meters away? I need to be more careful next time. As soon as that bastard gets near Lin Cheng, I’ve got to warn him. That creep looked more like a ghost than I do.”

Su Wanqing floated beside Lin Cheng, following him and Li Xiaoran back to the school gate.
From here, Lin Cheng would go left and Li Xiaoran would go right.

“Well, see you tomorrow morning,” Li Xiaoran waved.
“See you tomorrow morning,” Lin Cheng replied and turned to leave.

“See you, see you, see you—my ass. That self-righteous green tea has the nerve to shamelessly fawn over him every day.”
Su Wanqing’s attitude toward Li Xiaoran was extremely poor.

Only after Li Xiaoran had disappeared from view did she happily float around Lin Cheng in circles.
“Lin Cheng, oh Lin Cheng, do you know that I saved you? That bastard Zhou Mingyuan—who knows what he was planning tonight. You must’ve sensed my thoughts and suddenly decided to take that green tea down the mountain, right? Really, even if I’m not here, you don’t have to be with her. How is she anything like me? She’s not even a proper stand-in. Okay, maybe she’s about the same height as me. And her shoes are definitely platform shoes, or I’d totally be taller. Also, my grades were better than hers too. At least in Chinese… no wait, in English! I scored two points higher than her once!”

Su Wanqing’s mouth never stopped moving.

Walking down the road at night, Lin Cheng kept feeling like there were mosquitoes buzzing near his ears. But when he stopped, the sound would vanish.

After parting ways with Li Xiaoran, the side mission was naturally completed.
He could clearly feel the discomfort in his arm easing.

His poison resistance also increased. If the average person could survive a quarter-pack of rat poison, he could now handle four.
If he got poisoned, he wouldn’t die so easily.

“By the way, System, tell me—Su Wanqing’s already dead, so how am I supposed to protect her?” Lin Cheng asked mentally.

[Sorry 🙇‍♀️, it involves the main plot and cannot be revealed.]

Tsk. Stupid system.
[Sorry 🙇‍♀️, I am a stupid system.]

You’re a weak-willed system.
[Because everyone likes the gentle, weak, and easy-to-push-over type, I adopted this mode. If the host prefers a sweaty-footed big sister type, I can imitate that too.]

That faint mosquito-like sound returned to Lin Cheng’s ears, leaving him helpless.

“These past few days since Su Wanqing died, I really haven’t slept well. I always feel like someone’s thinking about me. Su Wanqing, are you there or not?”

“So you couldn’t sleep after I left? Then why didn’t you open the door and let me sleep with you? Do you know I’ve been squatting outside your door all these days? It’s so dark, and sometimes there are dog barks… it’s scary.”

Hearing Lin Cheng’s muttering, Su Wanqing floated in front of him, studying his face.
Though it wasn’t the first time she had been this close over the past few days, she still thought his face looked even better now.

His eyes were deep, his eyelashes long, his nose high, his face clean, and his lips always seemed to hold a story—as if they were both smiling and crying.

Su Wanqing reached out, her slender fingers passing through his face and out from his lips.

Lin Cheng walked all the way back to his rented apartment.
It seemed like the system had arranged it in advance—no rent, no utility bills. Probably his only advantage in this world.

He stood at the door and opened it.
“Su Wanqing, if you’re really here, come in. Let’s have a good talk.”

No response.
“As expected.”
“There really are no ghosts in this world,” Lin Cheng sighed. He shut the door and got ready to wash up and sleep.

But Su Wanqing, who had been floating outside, blinked and actually entered the room.
“Whoa, I’m in!”

Su Wanqing looked around in disbelief.
“How did I get in this time? I couldn’t before. It must’ve been when Lin Cheng said, ‘if you’re really here, come in and talk.’ So ghosts need an invitation to enter a house?”

She was overjoyed, floating happily around the room.
“Yay, I don’t have to sleep outside anymore. I have a bed now!”

She zipped into Lin Cheng’s bedroom, slipped under the quilt, and lay down contentedly.

His bed was very clean.
Su Wanqing didn’t care if it was soft. Having a bed at all was already amazing.

Pat, pat—slippers approached from the hallway. Su Wanqing opened her eyes and thought, “Lin Cheng’s coming to bed, right? Should I really sleep with him on the bed, or move to the sofa?”

Before she could decide, her eyes suddenly widened in shock.

Lin Cheng was completely naked, stretching lazily.

“Time for bed.”

He flopped directly onto the bed—right on top of the stiff and dumbfounded Su Wanqing.