"Are you coming to the last gathering before graduation?"
The boy, with a cold gaze and expressionless face, stopped in his tracks.
A class reunion, oh, it's a graduation party, probably the last one. After graduating from university, everyone will basically go their separate ways.
But after being a nobody for four years, and not even getting together during the internship, do I really deserve to go?
There's no one I'm close to at the gathering; I can only sit in a corner drinking juice. It would be quite pitiful. But skipping the last gathering would be a bit too much.
Maybe I should try to decline first, and if he invites me again, I'll accept.
With this thought in mind, the boy said lightly: "Forget it, I'm quite busy."
His classmate was slightly taken aback, then smiled: "I guessed you would say that. I won't hold you up then, wish you a bright future."
"..."
After a long while, he sighed silently.
It's always like this.
The boy knew he had a problem; his attitude inside was soft and humble, but when he spoke, he became aloof and proud.
He remembered a similar situation during a holiday gathering. While his classmates were happily at KTV, he was alone in his dorm watching anime.
At that time, he watched a girl's anime out of boredom and learned about a character named Shiragami Rinrincho, finally understanding that his situation was called "Aotsundere" Sometimes, he felt that the character was his counterpart in the two-dimensional world.
But in reality, it was far from it; the other was a super beautiful girl, while he was just an ordinary otaku.
What would happen in the future?
Leaving the ivory tower of campus and entering the cruel society, his communication issues would be magnified infinitely, and perhaps even finding a job would become a problem.
What should he do?
The boy, lost in life's confusion, didn't notice a crooked delivery truck approaching him.
Bang—!
Then, he no longer had to think about these problems.
————The Line Between Life and Death————
It hurt so much, my whole body ached, like being hit by a car.
Oh, I was hit by a car.
I don't know how long it took, but the pain gradually diminished, eventually almost disappearing, leaving only a slight ache in my chest.
Until the last trace of pain also vanished, he… no, she opened her eyes.
A spacious and clean but completely unfamiliar bedroom, adorned with various exquisite decorations, looked just like a fairy's boudoir, completely unrelated to an otaku.
The girl blinked hard; she still remembered what happened before she lost consciousness—lost on the road of life, then hit by a car.
But now, she raised her hand and saw fair, delicate skin and slender, crystal-like fingers.
The girl's heart raced.
Could it be…?
At that moment, the memories lingering in her brain also surfaced—her name was Bai Ningning, a girl about to enter her second year of university.
I really have been reborn!
Bai Ningning hurriedly rolled out of bed and walked to the mirror, where she saw a super beautiful girl with stunning features.
Her face was fair and delicate, every feature perfectly formed, so beautiful it seemed dreamlike, as if she had walked out of an anime.
She even resembled that Shiragami character.
The only problem was that this little beauty looked a bit young; her face resembled that of a middle school student. Just looking at her face, no one would believe she was a university student.
But when Bai Ningning's gaze shifted downward, she felt a bit dizzy.
This was a figure only adults could have… even surpassing that of adults.
Her fingertips trembled, her pupils shook, and the girl's heart raced intensely.
What counterpart Shiragami? This was the top-tier Shiragami!
Without a second thought, Bai Ningning clasped her hands together and offered a sincere prayer.
God, thank you for not only bringing me back to life but also giving me a better life.
With such great looks and figure, communication barriers were no longer a problem.
Life, it has a landing.
Bai Ningning happily thought that as long as the original owner didn't leave behind any troubles, everything would be 100% perfect.
So, the original owner didn't leave any troubles, right?
At this moment, Bai Ningning recalled the slight pain in her chest when she woke up.
The girl frowned, realizing things weren't that simple.
She saw a phone on the bed and, after carefully recalling her position when she woke up, her mood became slightly serious.
The position of the phone, the pain in her chest.
Is it possible that the original owner saw a message on her phone that caused her to be so shocked that her heart stopped and she died suddenly?
If that's the case, when she unlocked her phone, that message should have been on the screen. Nowadays, phones either have fingerprint locks or facial recognition, so unlocking shouldn't be a problem.
Bai Ningning carefully picked up the phone, and suddenly, more residual memories flooded into her mind.
"Sister did it voluntarily."
"It was just for fun."
"I never said anything."
"Hehe."
After half an hour of a headache, she finally sorted out some of the original owner's memories.
It turns out that the original owner was a rather shallow "little green tea" (a term for a manipulative girl), who had befriended a beautiful, wealthy older sister and had captivated her to the point of obsession, enjoying the older sister's relentless pursuit.
However, she had always maintained her distance, never giving the older sister any real affection. Their relationship was almost like an online romance.
What she didn't expect was that one day, her true thoughts, which she had inadvertently expressed, were overheard by the older sister.
That day, the older sister woke up.
From the memories, she learned that the older sister was actually a very capable person, with a strong background and personal abilities. She had just been a bit confused because she had never been in a relationship before.
Once she woke up, she immediately began to take action—everything continued as usual for a while, pretending she hadn't heard anything. Then, taking advantage of the original owner's love for gaming, she gave her many valuable virtual items.
But the original owner didn't notice that during their chats, the older sister kept saying, "I'm just lending it to you to play with."
Until one day, when the original owner went to an internet café to play games, and the next day when she opened her account, she found herself VAC banned, with all her expensive items locked away and rendered worthless.
When she went to the older sister to act cute, she received two cold messages instead.
"I only said I'd lend it to you to play with, I never said it was a gift. Find a way to pay me back."
"If you can't pay it back, we'll go through legal procedures, and we'll handle it as it should be."
Only then did the original owner realize she had messed up, and in shock, her heart couldn't take it and she died.
After sorting through the events, Bai Ningning sat on the bed, sighing in frustration.
You say you're such a cute girl with great basic conditions, why did you have to be that little green tea? Now look, your beautiful older sister is gone, and you're left with debts and lawsuits.
The key point is, you could have just taken the hit yourself, but you ran away, leaving me to pay.
How am I supposed to pay?
"You know, if you're going to date, at least put some effort into it," Bai Ningning said coldly to the deceased original owner, "If you had given the older sister a taste of sweetness, it wouldn't have come to this."
Honestly, who goes on a date and doesn't even let the other person hold their hand? How expensive are you?
But on the other hand, Bai Ningning could understand the level of shock the original owner experienced. From the memories, she learned that the original owner had a tragic background; both her parents had passed away, and she had no assets at all. Even the house she lived in now was lent to her by the older sister.
Without that beautiful older sister, the original owner would have been a poor girl who had to stay in the school dorm during holidays, worrying every day about tuition for the next semester, and might even have ended up on the wrong path because of it.
So, in her mind, there was no way she could pay back that money.
Bai Ningning understood that the divine had given her a second chance not to reward her with a better life, but to make her come back to pay off debts.
Her heart ached.
"Forget it, forget it, be optimistic. How much can virtual items be worth?" Bai Ningning forced herself to cheer up, "Just consider it as paying for this life."
Game items are virtual, they don't cost much, and if she works hard, she should be able to pay it back.
After all, she was already dead; spending money to buy another life is a profit.
Having come to this realization, she reached for the phone on the bed, unlocked it with facial recognition, and indeed, a chat interface appeared before her eyes.
[.]: Pay it back, or we'll see each other in court.
[.]: Here's the value list you need to repay.
The dot is the older sister's QQ name.
Ningning opened the repayment list and viewed the large image.
- Four-piece Katowice Titan Souvenir Dragon Lore x1
- Four-piece Katowice IBP Dark Gold Howl x1
- Four-piece Katowice Titan Pure Blue Fire x1
Brand new Miami, Pandora, various gloves, and various expensive knives, one of each.
The total amount displayed: let's just add a zero, 2,500,000¥.
Bai Ningning rubbed her eyes and looked again, one, two, three, four, five... five zeros.
"Two million five hundred thousand?!"
The girl felt her vision go dark, her heart pounding painfully.
She wanted to press her hand against her heart to prevent another sudden death, but the shock was too overwhelming to do so.
"Wait, you silly girl," Bai Ningning said to the mirror, "Why do you need such good items to play a game?!"
They don't even add any attributes.
Two million five hundred thousand, how long would she have to work to pay that off? She might have to work her whole life and still not be able to repay it.
Bai Ningning felt the world spinning, her chest heavy, and after stumbling a few steps, she collapsed onto the bed, unable to muster the strength to get back up.
"God," the girl once again offered a sincere prayer, "Just let me be done with it."
This life is really too expensive.
Wuwuwu, I can't afford it.
At this moment, the phone rang with a series of notifications, three new messages came in at once.
Bai Ningning felt weak all over, lacking any strength, and took a long time to finally grab her phone again.
[.]: I know you can't pay it back, but I can consider giving you a chance to repay it in another way.
[.]: It depends on your sincerity.
[.]: Come to my house tonight, you know where it is.
Bai Ningning sat up abruptly, as if jolted awake from a near-death experience.
The sudden movement was so forceful that the button on her pajamas flew off, landing far away.
Looking at the three messages she had just received, Bai Ningning's mood gradually became uneasy.
What is going on, what does this mean?