Evening.
Seven o'clock.
Keeping up with the times, Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital's director gathered all the patients in the common room to watch the news.
There was a time when some believed this wasn't a good idea, fearing it could lead to conflict. Besides, they reasoned, how could mental patients understand the news? If they could, they wouldn't be mental patients.
But in the end, Director Hao overruled everyone, insisting on the 7 p.m. news broadcast. In his words, even mental patients had the right to know what was happening in their country.
In the common room, the familiar voice came from the television screen. Every patient looked up, their eyes glued to the screen.
The image of the cheerful, short-haired female anchor appeared.
"Look, my wife's on TV!"
"That's my daughter! I raised her with my own two hands!"
"We agreed to fight by the lake on the night of the full moon, but she didn't show up. Coward!"
Old Man Zhang asked, "Do you know her?"
Lin Fan calmly replied, "Yes."
"Who is she?" Old Man Zhang pressed.
"My girlfriend."
Suddenly, Old Man Zhang and Lin Fan stared at each other in silence.
After a long while, Old Man Zhang nodded seriously. "I believe you."
The female anchor spoke: "Good evening, viewers!"
"Today is February 29th, Saturday. Welcome to..."
Old Man Zhang rolled up his sleeve, puzzled. His multi-million dollar Rolex showed March 7th. How could it be February 29th?
He walked up to a man wearing thick glasses and patted his shoulder. "Hey! I just bought this watch from you. The time is different from the TV. Check if it's wrong."
"Let me see." The man with glasses took a magnifying glass from his pocket, aimed it at Old Man Zhang's wrist, and looked carefully. "Oh, it's off. I'll adjust it for you now. Don't worry, it's a multi-million dollar Rolex, you're a VIP customer. Any problems, I'll fix it for free."
The man with glasses raised a finger.
He licked it.
He rubbed it on Old Man Zhang's wrist, then took out a pen and wrote '29'.
"Fixed it."
Old Man Zhang shook his wrist, examining the watch carefully, and nodded with satisfaction. "Not bad, a really good watch."
The news continued.
Because the female anchor didn't reappear, the patients grew restless, gradually getting up to go back to bed.
Lin Fan remained motionless, sitting there, quietly watching.
[The level seven evil creature on Mount Tai has been slain by our country's strongest warriors. The body has been transported back to a special research institution for dissection, in hopes of discovering the creature's weaknesses and developing targeted countermeasures.]
[Now for our next story. Maoshan High Court, one of our nation's highest courts, is recruiting students nationwide. Anyone under the age of twenty can register at their local city office.]
Soon, the half-hour news broadcast ended.
Lin Fan and Old Man Zhang returned to Ward 666. They lay in their respective beds, staring at the white ceiling.
"I think I've been scammed," Old Man Zhang said.
"What happened?" Lin Fan asked.
"I think the watch I bought is a fake. It keeps malfunctioning. He cheated me out of millions. I'm so sad, but I can't beat him, so I can only endure it. Sob... I'm so upset," Old Man Zhang cried.
"Do you have any soy milk? I want some soy milk," Lin Fan said.
"Yes, I'll get it for you." Old Man Zhang opened the bedside cabinet and took a carton from a box. "Here, Sprite."
"Coke."
Glug, glug!
It was quiet outside, with the occasional car horn.
The two lay in bed, quietly drinking their soy milk.
Gradually, snoring sounds filled the room.
A clock hung on the wall at the end of the corridor.
23:59.
Tick, tick, tick!
The second hand moved quickly.
Ding!
24:00.
February 29th was over.
March 1st arrived.
[Otherworldly scenario officially activated.]
[Target selected: Chen Yang, 199th generation descendant of the creator of the 'Thousand Hammer Hundred Refinement Method'.]
[Mission: Help Chen Yang become someone no one in school dares to bully.]
[Physical and strength transfer: 100%.]
[Descending!]
Dawn broke.
Lin Fan opened his eyes, lying quietly in bed. The surroundings were unfamiliar. He looked left, then right. Everything was different from the psychiatric hospital.
The blanket was fragrant, and so was the room.
He threw back the covers.
He walked to the dressing mirror.
His appearance had transformed into someone else. He had short hair, some bruises on his face, a girlish air, and wore pink cartoon pajamas.
"He must be mentally ill to wear such pajamas."
Lin Fan stood in front of the mirror for a while.
A voice came from outside.
"Yangyang, get up! Breakfast is ready! Hurry up and go to school!"
Many memories flooded Lin Fan's mind.
Chen Yang!
A student in Class 2, Grade 12, nicknamed "Sissy."
Lin Fan took off his pajamas, changed into the neatly folded school uniform, opened the door to the bathroom to wash up, and walked to the dining room. He saw a middle-aged woman bustling about, placing steaming hot porridge on the table.
"Yangyang, what are you looking at? Hurry up and eat. Go to school quickly. Your father will go to the school this afternoon to talk to the teacher about your situation. Those classmates are really too much. My Yangyang is so cute, so friendly, and they actually bully him. It makes me so angry!"
"But you're a man, you can't always be bullied. You need to fight back, you understand?"
The middle-aged woman chattered on.
Lin Fan sat at the dining table, looking at the porridge in front of him, with no appetite. He saw the carton of milk, opened it, and squeezed the milk into the porridge, mixing it well.
"Soy milk porridge."
A smile appeared on his face. Soy milk was his favorite.
Lin Fan held the bowl and drank it down in gulps. Others said he was mentally ill, but he knew he definitely wasn't. They were the crazy ones. But he didn't want to argue with them.
Now he had arrived in this other world.
He had to complete the mission to return.
But what was the mission?
What did he have to do to complete it?
He didn't know.
Forget it.
Better not to think about it.
Soon, Lin Fan finished his porridge, took some money, and following the memories in his mind, prepared to go to school. At the door, as he bent down to tie his shoes, the middle-aged woman saw this and rushed over, dropping what she was doing.
"Yangyang, let Mommy do it. Mommy will tie a beautiful bow on Yangyang's shoelaces today. Lots of little girls will love Yangyang's shoes."
"There, Yangyang, look! How does Mommy's bow look?"
The middle-aged woman, Chen Yang's mother, looked at Yangyang expectantly, as if waiting for praise.
Lin Fan looked at her, then down at the delicate bow on his shoes, and fell into deep thought. Finally, he nodded silently.
"Beautiful."
The middle-aged woman kissed Lin Fan's cheek happily. "Mommy knew you'd love it! You've always loved bows since you were little."
"Hurry off to school now."
"Be careful on your way."