You Kiss Lightly, I Slowly Understand

After waking up, Gu Lan subconsciously patted her face, and the slapping sound in the dormitory startled the lightly sleeping Xu Huanwen. No, Xu Huanwen seemed to have never slept. He heard Gu Lan's voice and seemed a little surprised.

"You're back?" Xu Huanwen said.

Gu Lan knew that Xu Huanwen knew something. During dinner, Xu Huanwen and Jing Yunkui lived together, and they seemed to get along well.

Gu Lan nodded. "I'm back."

Xu Huanwen didn't mind discussing it in the dormitory. It was nighttime, and everyone would return to their dreams, or rather, their true nightmares.

Xu Huanwen had been waiting for Gu Lan to come back, or rather, to see if Gu Lan could come back. He got off the bed and stretched lazily.

"Want to stand on the rooftop? Everyone here is dangerous. If you don't want them to drag you into a new nightmare," Xu Huanwen suggested.

Gu Lan didn't refuse.

They walked to the corridor together.

Xu Huanwen grabbed a jacket and put it on, and the other roommates didn't say a word.

The midnight school corridor was gently lit, and occasionally students would yawn and walk to the restroom.

The door leading to the rooftop from the dormitory was locked, but Xu Huanwen was experienced. He took out a paperclip from his pocket and unlocked the door.

The wind blew from the rooftop.

Gu Lan looked at the midnight sky with a visible moon and couldn't help but think of the brightly lit hospital corridor that seemed to have no end.

Xu Huanwen observed Gu Lan's expression and took off his jacket, draping it over Gu Lan's shoulders.

Gu Lan was taken aback for a moment.

Xu Huanwen didn't say anything. He walked up to the rooftop and then turned back, smiling at Gu Lan.

When he smiled, his eyebrows were free-spirited, and his hazy eyes became bright in the darkness. With his slender figure dressed in a thin shirt, his proportions were like those of a natural male model. A faint halo of light surrounded his face.

"I often can't fall asleep," Xu Huanwen said, walking to the edge of the rooftop. Gu Lan followed and stood three steps away from him.

Honestly, she was wearing Xu Huanwen's jacket, but she was afraid that he would push her off the rooftop.

Xu Huanwen noticed Gu Lan's little movement, and he smiled, looking up at the dark night sky.

"Don't worry, I haven't seen such a cute guy like you for a long time. I won't harm you for now."

Gu Lan: ...!!

Gu Lan tried to control her shocked expression, but she couldn't believe it—both of them noticed?!

They were discovered by two people?!

Seeing Gu Lan's astonished expression, Xu Huanwen smiled again and put the jacket on her.

"Don't worry, only I found out. After all, I interact with girls more often. The other people in the dorm wouldn't notice."

However...

He raised his hand and gently messed up Gu Lan's hair, making it even messier.

Gu Lan, with her hair in disarray, stared wide-eyed...

"Silly girl."

Xu Huanwen sighed softly and continued, "If others find out that you're a girl, you won't survive the next sunrise. After all, they all hate everything to some extent."

"I can help you keep it a secret."

Gu Lan felt like she had heard this before from Hua Yin. She found that the people in this dormitory were all exceptionally intelligent, to the point of being frightening. However, they were also quite arrogant, thinking that everyone else besides themselves was foolish.

Gu Lan remained silent, giving Xu Huanwen some time to digest everything. He stared at Gu Lan and found her more and more interesting. He hadn't encountered such an interesting little person in a long time. Perhaps Gu Lan could provide him with a unique experience.

Both of them fell silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts. After a moment, Gu Lan spoke up, "What conditions do I need to agree to? There's no such thing as a free lunch, and I know you want to negotiate with me."

To be honest, the composition of this world had confused Gu Lan. At first, she transmigrated into a novel, getting involved in the story of a Mary Sue protagonist and the male lead. But now, her roommates were even more formidable, each possessing their own barriers!

Xu Huanwen gazed at Gu Lan for a moment and couldn't help but smile. "You're really a clever kid. I'll tell you the conditions tomorrow night. Tomorrow night, it'll be my turn."

Saying this, Xu Huanwen seemed to think of something interesting and subconsciously licked his lips. His lips were beautiful, always carrying a slightly upward curve, and his gaze was like that of a hunter looking at the most interesting prey.

Gu Lan didn't like being treated as prey, but she had no private space, which made her feel like she was a step below the others in the dormitory. She scratched her head in frustration, "Your turn... what a wolfish word."

Xu Huanwen continued to stare at Gu Lan's small frame, his gaze scorching as if he wanted to burn her clothes and see through her inner self.

Gu Lan rarely experienced being scrutinized in such a way, and it made her uncomfortable all over. Just as Gu Lan was about to explode, Xu Huanwen withdrew his gaze and smiled. "You're so cute; I'll tell you a few secrets."

"First of all, each person in this dormitory comes from a different world. When we fall asleep at night, we return to our own worlds. However, that world is strange; it's as if our destinies have been predetermined."

"No matter how we live, the ending will always be the same."

Hearing this, Gu Lan's heart skipped a beat. Xu Huanwen's words sounded like those of a fictional character in a novel who suddenly realized they were just a character in the book. No matter how hard they tried, their lives were already fixed because their destinies had been written.

Gu Lan remained silent, and Xu Huanwen quietly moved closer to her.

"These dreams began when we were twelve years old, as if guided by fate. We came to this school because of our peculiar personalities, and we ended up living together."

Gu Lan thought that this might be the influence of another book's characters on these story characters. It was as if the author of one book wrote five antagonists from other books to make a crossover. As a result, these antagonists awakened other memories here, making the situation quite convoluted.

Xu Huanwen continued speaking, "After I came back, I started having dreams at night. I dreamt that I was a playboy who fell madly in love with a beautiful woman, and I would do anything to have her."

"In the end, she stabbed me in the heart with a knife, and I died."

"But the truth is, I didn't love her at all. When I saw her in the dream, I felt nothing. However, I would always dream the same dream."

"In these dreams, I lived my life in various ways, but I would always end up falling in love with her. I didn't love her, yet she always appeared by my side."

"Finally, I would die at her hands for various reasons."

As Xu Huanwen spoke, his brow slightly furrowed, and an uncontrollable look of disgust appeared on his face. "Not just me, but others in the dormitory as well."

"This kind of dream is repulsive, yet we can't escape from it."

"But later, something interesting happened."

"Our new roommate seems to enter our dreams while sleeping."

"The weak ones couldn't survive in the dreams, so we drove them out for fear they'd go insane."

Gu Lan felt that these words sounded fake. Could these people really be so kind-hearted? Perhaps those who come out of their dreams end up going crazy, and the original Gu Lan in the novel became mentally ill.

Xu Huanwen didn't expect Gu Lan to think that way. He continued, "Afterward, we rejected various roommates, but it didn't change the outcome."

"For example, Jing Yunkui. He dreams of dying in a mental hospital, and each time in a different way."

Gu Lan instinctively looked up. "His dream..."

It was filled with ghosts.

Jing Yunkui's dreams seemed to be the most tragic, while others had love stories, his was more like a horror story.

Before Gu Lan could say anything further, Xu Huanwen suddenly bent down. His moist lips touched her slightly cold cheek. His voice was low and gentle, "Hush, at this moment, don't mention anyone else."

"You are different from others, you are the most special..."