Chapter 5: Cry Wolf

Chapter 5

Xiao Yan saw the girl for the first time on TV.

The scene at the hospital was very chaotic. Reporters were stopped far away by police and volunteers, and could only catch some fragmented shots.

In the footage, the girl was helplessly squatting outside the burn unit door, watching the doctors and nurses push out a bed covered with a white cloth and hand it over to the funeral home staff.

The girl's eyes were full of tears, but she stubbornly bit her lips without letting the tears fall.

Not until the man was pushed onto the hearse did she react and chase after the vehicle, running and wailing,

"Dad!"

"Dad, wait for your darling girl!"

...

Her figure in white chasing and crying for her dad always came back in Xiao Yan's dreams at midnight.

Xiao Yan already had too many nightmares in his childhood.

Abandoned at an orphanage by his parents, then enduring a sham adoption only to have his liver "donated", the surgery took place at a private hospital overseas when he was only twelve, nearly costing him half his life.

Evil shielded the sky, the long night hard to brighten.

Xiao Yan endured for years before finally in that raging fire, with his own life plus billions in cash left, sending the culprit to trial.

Heaven's justice is self-evident, no one can truly shield the sun.

But he wouldn't have thought someone would disregard their own safety to save his life.

That glimpse of orange firefighter uniform rushing into the smoke-filled room was like a superhero descended from heaven.

Lin Xiuze picked him up and charged out without hesitation.

With his spine crushed by a falling beam, he pushed Xiao Yan out, smiling as he told him, "My daughter is the same age as you. I hope she stays safe and well, grows up nicely."

"Kid, you must live on well, too..."

...

The time Xiao Yan knew Lin Xiuze wasn't even one minute.

He only said two sentences to him —

My daughter is the same age as you, I hope she stays safe and happy.

You must live on well, too...

Having escaped death, Xiao Yan did his utmost to live on and climb higher.

Sunk in the mire, anyone could stomp on him, only by standing taller could he avoid being bullied.

Yet Xiao Yan could never have imagined fate would play such a huge joke on him again.

"【Save The Girl Who Lost Her Father】 mission loading complete, the host must complete the mission within the allotted time."

"Mission: Fulfill the wish of firefighter Lin Xiuze who saved your life, help his daughter Lin ChuSui regain her will to live and rekindle her fighting spirit, get admitted to her ideal university, stay safe, happy and well."

"If mission fails, firefighter Lin Xiuze will possess your body to continue the life he didn't complete. Your consciousness will disperse, and you will die."

This was the cold mechanical voice Xiao Yan heard when he first encountered the system.

At first he thought he was hallucinating, schizophrenic, and didn't pay it any heed.

Until he started seeing a countdown on the bottom left corner of his retina —

363 days until mission deadline, 362 days, 361 days...

While the bottom right showed mission progress: 0%.

Aside from the mission countdown and progress appearing in his eyes, he even heard firefighter Lin Xiuze's voice in his head, "Kid, I suggest you do as it says."

"Just what is going on?"

Lin Xiuze: "Since I saved you, I don't want my efforts to be in vain, or take over your body to revive. But my daughter now...is not doing well, if this continues, her life will be over."

"So?"

"As long as you promise me, help her get into college, regain her will to live, I'll help you live on."

"......"

This was why Xiao Yan ended up in Lin ChuSui's class as her deskmate, appearing by her side when she felt sad and hopeless.

Of course Lin ChuSui didn't know any of this. She gazed at him in a daze, with his earlier words echoing in her ears —

"Dear girl."

In a trance, she thought she'd misheard.

"What did you call me?"

"Hm?"

Lin ChuSui grabbed Xiao Yan's collar, agitated as she asked, "Have you met him before? Do you know him?"

"Know who?"

"My dad! You must've met my dad, only Dad calls me that!"

Lin ChuSui wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, looking at him full of hope, "He's not gone, right? You've seen him!"

Xiao Yan nodded slightly, looking at her face.

The young lady's cheeks were flushed, several wisps of fine hair on her forehead somewhat disheveled. Her beautiful almond eyes shone with hopeful light.

He shifted his gaze and calmly said, "I don't know your father."

Lin Xiuze had said that to succeed in the mission, he could no longer let Lin ChuSui know his consciousness still existed.

Otherwise she would never be able to move on in her life.

Two years ago, perhaps...Xiao Yan would've readily agreed to give up his body for the firefighter uncle who saved his life to revive.

...

Back in her room, Lin ChuSui happened to see the photograph of Old Lin on the wall, smiling at her, as if saying she shouldn't do this.

She mumbled sullenly, "What are you looking at, he's asking for it, serves him right."

"Alright, alright!"

Lin ChuSui took another look at Old Lin, still feeling guilty as she went downstairs and unlocked the bathroom door of the outermost suite.

Give him a bathroom so he doesn't have to go outside like a dog to pee and poop everywhere.

When Lin ChuSui got back, she dove straight into bed and lay flat on her back: "Old Lin, I gotta tell you something."

"Our class valedictorian, the super smart one, actually has a secret crush on me."

"Surprised? Unexpected?" Lin ChuSui sat up and looked at the black and white portrait, a smile at the corners of her mouth: "Last time, you thought he was too stupid. Now the class valedictorian likes your daughter too, didn't expect that, did you!"

"But I won't date anymore."

Lin ChuSui lowered her eyes, and reluctantly admitted in a muffled voice: "When you like someone, you definitely want to become better, but I feel...I can't get better anymore."

Kids without a dad will never be alright.

I shouldn't drag others down.

The man in the photo still had that gentle smile, looking at her somewhat helplessly.

"He's nothing like you at all." Lin ChuSui said to the man in the photo: "But sometimes, I always seem to see your shadow in him..."

"Old Lin, did you come back to life?"

Lin ChuSui looked at the man in the photo expectantly: "Dad, if you really came back to life, reincarnated, time traveled, give me a hint, even a tiny one!"

The room remained the same, nothing out of the ordinary.

Lin ChuSui looked around warily, afraid of missing any clues.

Only the wind, blowing the curtains gently, creating layers of ripples.

The pen on the desk by the window was blown to the ground, making a crisp clatter—

"Snap!"

Lin ChuSui stared at the pen on the ground for a good few seconds, and suddenly understood.

She picked up the pen and quickly took out her phone, opening the "Southern City Elite Girls Group".

Lin ChuSui: "@everyone, tomorrow night at midnight, let's meet up in a classroom at school to play a game."

Lu Tianbai: "What game needs to be played at midnight?"

Lin ChuSui: "I want to summon the pen spirit."

At this, the group fell silent for a full minute.

Lu Tianbai: "Well...I'm on my period, can't be exposed to wind or stay up late, so I won't go."

Lin ChuSui: "Didn't you just finish your period last week?"

Lu Tianbai: "Second round. QAQ"

Lin ChuSui: "Your period comes twice a month?"

Lu Chi: "Her period visits once a month, lasting thirty days each time, no breaks all year :)"

Lin ChuSui: "No worries, voluntary participation, no pressure. @everyone"

Lu Tianbai: "【Love you】"

Lu Chi: "Oh yeah...I just remembered, my uncle's coming tomorrow too."

Lin ChuSui: "@Zhang Cheng Yu, is your uncle coming?"

Zhang Cheng Yu: "I don't have an uncle, but I calculated that tomorrow, it'd be best to sleep early, or you could die suddenly."

Lin ChuSui: ...

The next morning at morning reading class, amidst the chattering of classmates reading aloud, Lin ChuSui read the words "ungrateful", "betray trust" and "no compassion" more than once.

From the back, Lu Chi read loudly: "Strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, free, equal, just, lawful, patriotic, dedicated, honest, friendly."

Lin ChuSui looked back and glared at him: "Coward."

Lu Chi: "I'm just proactively practicing the socialist core values."

Overhearing this, Xu Jia Ning became interested. Putting down his book, he asked: "What are you guys doing?"

"She's planning some feudal superstition activity."

"Specifically?"

"Have you heard of the pen spirit game, in your England across the ocean?"

Xu Jia Ning nodded: "I know it."

Lu Chi joked: "Want to join our world's cutest little sister in playing?"

Although desperate for people, Lin ChuSui knew this fake foreign devil Xu Jia Ning would never deign to play such a game with her.

Unexpectedly, Xu Jia Ning readily agreed: "Sure."

She turned back in shock: "You'll play?"

Xu Jia Ning calmly explained as he silently copied ancient Chinese poems: "I've lived in England since I was very young. I'm quite interested in learning about domestic folk traditions."

Lin ChuSui scoffed: "But you sleep at 10pm on the dot every night. Our game is at dawn."

"I can discuss with my circadian rhythm to make an exception for one day."

Lin ChuSui didn't expect her scheme to be so popular, actually attracting willing participants.

She turned and gave Lu Chi and Zhang Cheng Yu a contemptuous international gesture—

We're not friends anymore!