Chapter 1.1

Ling Xia got dressed for school. Today was the second day of Li Ming's third year of high school(1). Every student in the year would be gorging themselves on study materials for the college entrance exams.

Ling Xia never really understood the college entrance exams in these types of worlds. Whether a person got into a university or not was solely based on their score in the college entrance exams. At least in China that was how it was.

He also never understood why every world in this general time period always meant living in a place called China. His first assumption was that all of the worlds were based off a common origin, but just within that possibility there were already contradictions.

There were really only two options: human society and Axian society. Neither seemed to be the answer.

For one, he had heard the word "human" while inhabiting another's body and everybody looked human as well. For the other, the system was most probably built by the Axians, given that the plan was orchestrated by them too.

It was all perplexing. There were too many red herrings that Ling Xia could not kick away until he had more information.

Storing away his doubts for another time, Ling Xia walked downstairs to find Li Ming's parents eating breakfast. Immediately, he noticed the steam that wafted up to his nose, filling him with warmth before he even touched the food.

He greeted Li Ming's parents, a cold look plastered on his face despite his inner thoughts. He stayed true to Li Ming's unfeeling facade.

"Hello, Mother, Father." Ling Xia nodded.

It was Li Ming's mother that reacted first. She looked up from her newspaper, not as engrossed in it as her husband. "Good morning! Come. Eat quickly of the food will get cold."

Ling Xia did not mirror the smile, taking a seat in the awkward absence of conversation. Li Ming didn't have a social bone in his entire body.

He spooned food into his mouth neutrally. The hot porridge slid down his throat, a burst of shivers releasing from every place it touched. As he blew on another spoonful of tasty sludge, Li Ming's mother made a noise of surprise.

Ling Xia's hand shook unnoticeably because of the loud gasp, a drop of porridge falling back into his bowl. "I just remembered! You know how we're going on vacation for out anniversary?"

Ling Xia confirmed, humming before he scooped up more porridge.

"Well, this time, your aunt can't come to take care of you kids. So just like last year, you'll be alone from Friday to Wednesday, yeah? And we'll tell your brother too, so no need to inform him."

"Okay."

He continued eating as if unbothered, and he was truly unbothered. The sound of a notification on his phone interrupted the mindless filling of his stomach. He didn't try to touch it, knowing Li Ming's parents despised such rude actions while eating.

For them, eating was a group activity, meant to be filled with pleasant conversation and zero phones despite them having their nose buried in a newspaper every morning. Although they had learned to not expect many words from Li Ming, his brother Li Qing did not get the same treatment.

However, he was not present today because he had already gone to school. He had recently joined his school's soccer team, so he needed to go to practice early in the morning.

Ling Xia finished up his breakfast, rinsing his bowl off in the sink. Only then did he reach for his phone which was perched on the counter top behind his seat. The screen lit up when he turned it around, blatantly showing the contents of an email he had received.

Ling Xia frowned. The lack of privacy irked him. In his world, there was no such thing as being able to look at a locked phone while also reading an email sent to that phone.

He typed in his passcode and the phone obligingly unlocked. After pressing the mail icon on the screen, he immediately saw an unread email announce its presence. Pressing it, he rather quickly read through the short email.

It read:

"Ji Shengge, Li Ming, and Ling Yu,

Congratulations. You have been chosen to be part of the third years' council this year. Below is a pdf of all the times and dates of the council meetings."

Ling Xia looked at it, a bit confused until he recalled why this email had been sent.

Every year, the school Li Ming attended asked everybody to complete a form. There was only one question on the form, but it was a crucial question. It first laid out every benefit of being on the student council, then it asked if the students wanted to be in the student council.

There was a schoolwide consensus between all students who pressed yes to never tell the others why the teachers never favoured them. They stayed oblivious, never learning why the school was renowned for being a wolf's den.

Personal interests ruled supreme, and if one student got a bad grade because the teachers disliked them, it meant another would rise a rank.

All friendship or love was just a means to an end, and once one went in, they would be changed forever, for better or for worse.

The only exception to this was Mu Ninghua, as this world's memories told Ling Xia, but he would rather believe it was Li Ming, who, despite his cold exterior, never once lost the warmth inside his heart.

On top of that, he was forever number two of the school, the reason he was chosen to be part of the student council. The top three students who answered yes on the form were always placed on the student council.

It seemed that this year, the first and third ranks had also wished to be on the student council which was not surprising at all.

The council would decide a lot of things for their respective years, like what clubs would be sponsored and what field trips would be taken, but decisions were kept to a minimum for third years. College entrance exams took precedence over everything.

Ling Xia sighed. Grades and scores dictated everything in Li Ming's school.

He checked the dates for the council meetings. From the world's memories, he knew the first meeting took place on the Monday of the third week of school, but the rest were unknown. It turned out that it was pretty simple. They were just on the second Monday of each month.

Ling Xia thanked Li Ming's mother and father for the food and noticed the time. He had a little bit of time left before he had to leave for school, so he packed his bag. Everyday, Li Ming would bike to school. It wasn't too far away, so it wasn't a hassle, but for some others, they had to use public transportation. Ling Xia wondered why the school didn't provide transportation.

He bade goodbye to Li Ming's parents and biked to school. The temperature was perfect, and the autumn breeze blew on Ling Xia's face, exposing him to the perfect amount of chilliness. The warm colors of the leaves were beautiful, and the wind carried them gently to unknown places. The entire atmosphere gave off a serene feeling that made Ling Xia feel right at home. What a perfect day. He even got to go to school today.

People in this world didn't understand how valuable school was. Or any world where primary education was required. Even Ling Xia himself hated school at one point. But when he had gone through so many worlds, he realized how important school was.

In so many worlds, education wasn't required, and it wasn't free either, and because of that, Ling Xia's hosts' families had to work hard and gruelling hours to send Ling Xia's hosts to school. Education was everything in those worlds, but here, where it was normal, nobody cared anymore.

'I wonder what would happen if all these people were transported into ancient times,' Ling Xia mused. Just as he finished that thought, the school building came into his view. He biked over and locked his bicycle into the bicycle rack. Walking into the school, he looked around. Everything felt familiar yet unknown at the same time. It always felt like this to go to places his hosts had gone to.

As Ling Xia strode through the maze that is called school to his class, he noticed Mu Ninghua had joined the hallway he was in. Walking a little faster to catch up to her, Ling Xia tapped on her shoulder and waved. "Good morning. It's nice to see you."

"Morning, how are you doing?" Mu Ninghua turned around with a cheery smile on her face.

"I'm doing fine, how are you?"

"I'm well." Mu Ninghua nodded for confirmation, and then it seemed like a cloud covered the sun in her head, and suddenly, her smile turned into a frown. She sighed. "It's going to be a hard year. The teachers are probably going to make our lives like hell studying for the entrance exams."

"Yes, we also can't be a part of any clubs this year because of them."

Mu Ninghua sighed in resignation. "The only good thing is that as soon as this year is over, we'll be out of this hellhole. What university do you want to go to?"

"I don't know yet." Li Ming never decided on where to go for university, he only wanted to take care of his parents after graduating, so Ling Xia, who wanted to follow Li Ming's wishes, even if just a little bit, had no idea where to go for university. Adding that to the fact that his only knowledge of this world came from Li Ming and the world's plot, he was completely clueless about universities.

"Oh, I'm thinking of going to University A(2)."

Ling Xia smiled a little stiffly and quickly scoured Li Ming's memories for any information about University A. "Isn't that more of an art-oriented school? I thought you wanted to establish your own business."

"It is, but its business classes are still very good. Plus, I get to stay pretty close to home" Ling Xia furrowed his brows in confusion. The Mu Ninghua in the original world was a person that would do anything to accomplish her goals. She also originally wanted to go to a university abroad, and only changed her mind because she wanted to be with her boyfriend, the male lead.

Ling Xia hated these types of worlds where the fate of the world is portrayed as a different person than who he or she actually was to make him or her seem more perfect. But now that he knew this, he could disregard everything he thought he knew about Mu Ninghua. He had to build up his impression of her from scratch.

In any world, the fate of the world would be akin to the main character in a story. The world revolved around that person, and if that person died, the world would also disappear, which is why the world protected that person so much. Even to the point of making him or her seem like a better person.

The fate of this world was Mu Ninghua, and she had that cliche story where she was poor and went to a prestigious school. She made many people fall for her and finally chose one as her lover. Ling Xia hated those types of stories. They were so unrealistic.

Nevertheless, Ling Xia kept a calm face on and replied, "That's good. You'll get to follow your dream. The only thing I want is for my parents to not have to worry about my well-being anymore and take care of themselves more. I originally wanted to start working as soon as I finished school, but my parents don't want me to miss university, so I'll probably do both." Ling Xia told the truth, Li Ming really did have all those plans in his head, but he had no idea where to go for university.

The two entered classroom 3-2(3). Their homeroom teacher was just arriving from the teacher's lounge with a stack of papers in her hand. As soon as the clock showed it was 7:00, the teacher called for attention. "Sit down everybody. Class monitor, please pass these out."

The papers were being delivered to everybody's hands, and the teacher continued. "These are all the details about the college entrance exams. The exams will be on June seventh. You can leave as soon as you are done, and the location of everybody's specific exam will be disclosed upon further notice. Now please take out your notebooks, your math teacher will be coming here shortly."

The teacher stopped talking, and let the students do as they wished. Soon, the math teacher walked in, and quiet groans could be heard all over the room(4). This math teacher was the strictest one in the school. The math teacher, hearing the groans, swept his sharp gaze over the students, sending shivers down everyone's back. The students straightened their backs, and the teacher started the lesson.

Ling Xia was first listening to the teacher, but he eventually zoned out because he already knew all of this stuff. Now that he had the freedom, he wanted to learn something new in every world. After many lifetimes, he had realized that no matter what world, no matter what era, there was always something to learn from it.

Plus, not learning anything when he had so many years in each world would just be wasting time, right? Since Ling Xia already knew what the math teacher was talking about, he might as well spend his time wondering what he was going to learn.

Ling Xia was originally thinking about learning about esports and video games. He had never played them before. It was funny how he went through eighty worlds yet none of them were about esports even though it was really popular in the modern and interstellar eras.

From his limited knowledge about esports, Ling Xia knew that esports players usually retired at around twenty-five years old. Ling Xia didn't know if he could master it with such a low age limit. Instead, he went with figure skating. He was always interested in it, and the retiring age was a few years later than esports players. Plus, Li Ming was always a bit interested in figure skating too, and he figure skated a little when he was twelve.

Ling Xia figured it was a good choice. He decided to do some research during lunch or when he went back to Li Ming's house. He smiled a little to himself. Now that he knew what he wanted to do, he just had to focus on that and finding the trainees in this world.

Ling Xia knew it would take some effort to get the trainees to notice something off about him. He had to do something that everybody related to the fate of the world would notice because the trainees were guaranteed a host that knew the fate of the world. Of course, just by surviving for another week, he would attract attention because he didn't die at the right time, but many people might not know it because Li Ming was not very popular. It had to be something bigger.

Ling Xia sighed. He had to think of an idea fast because the hosts the trainees had might be set to die very early on. He would miss a great chance to get them out.

Just then, the math teacher called Li Ming's name. "Since your deskmate can't answer the question, why don't you help her?" Ling Xia looked at the board at the front of the room. It was a pretty simple question, just asking what the sine of 628 was.

He had vaguely heard Mu Ninghua, his deskmate, answering the question by saying it was around one, so Ling Xia knew he had to estimate. He answered that it was around zero. People looked at him confusedly when he answered, but they trusted his answer anyway because Li Ming had a reputation for being correct.

"And why do you think it's around zero, Li Ming?"

"Because there's no degree sign next to the 628, so it's in radians. 628 is a multiple of 6.28, so it's just the sine of 6.28, which is very close to zero." He heard a few 'oh's in the classroom as soon as the teacher said that he was correct. He also felt a particularly chilly stare directed towards him. He turned to see Mu Ninghua's not-so-happy face. "What's wrong," he quietly asked her.

"Why would you embarrass me like that?

"Like what?"

"You just answered a question I couldn't answer just a few seconds ago. We've talked about this! Now everybody thinks that I'm just friends with you to become smarter!" she whisper-shouted back.

Ling Xia looked around in confusion. Nobody was even looking at them anymore. He also wondered why Mu Ninghua was so mad. This was not in her character description. Either she was faking her usual persona or she was a trainee.

Ling Xia was more inclined to believe that it was the first because he never got to be the fate of the world in all eighty worlds he travelled to, and the trainee in Mu Ninghua wouldn't have acted like that. The trainee would have to act like the Mu Ningua portrayed by the world. However, Ling Xia had come across fates of worlds that were completely fake.

Ling Xia apologized for his mishap and was determined to go through Li Ming's memories again to see if he missed anything.

The rest of the day whizzed by, until the last class of the day, homeroom, came. The homeroom teacher came in and had the class monitor pass around more papers. The papers were about a school-wide project.

They did one every year, so it was normal by now. The project was always about mental and emotional health. This year, the school chose the topic of drugs and their effect on people's social and emotional lives.

The homeroom teacher quickly explained the requirements for the project to everybody, then went on to say, "You will be working in pairs, and your partners are going to be your deskmates. It is due next Monday, like every other year. Alright, the rest of this period will be used for self-study."

Ling Xia turned to Mu Ninghua to ask when they should work on it, but once again, he found Mu Ninghua staring at him. This time, though, disappointment instead of anger was clear in her eyes. The expression on her face quickly morphed into a cheerful smile when she noticed Ling Xia looking at him. "We're partners! Great! Do you think Saturday and Sunday are okay for the project?"

Ling Xia was a bit confused as to why she was disappointed but agreed with her. "Okay, but my parents will not be home on those days, so can we do it at your house?" Ling Xia hoped she would say yes because then he could snoop around a little, and learn why she seemed so different from the memories the world gave him.

As it happened to be, Mu Ninghua agreed to the arrangement, and the plans for the rest of the week were set in Ling Xia's mind as long as nothing went wrong.

Notes:

1: Middle school in China is 7-9th grade, and high school is 10-12th grade, so the third year of high school is just the last year of high school, except it's called that.

2: Look, I don't know why China doesn't name their universities and use letters instead in their stories. The only thing I know is that I'm taking full advantage of this to prevent more readers from leaving because of my horrible names.

3: Classroom 3-2: The first number is the year number and the second number is the class number. That's how classes are named.

4: Chinese schools have the teachers walk from class to class, not the students.