Chapter 15: The Inexplicable Girl
Gossip in the Classroom
The noisy classroom buzzed with chatter as two female students discussed the day’s hot topic.
“Hey, did you hear? Ye Sheng just publicly humiliated Lan Yi, calling her trash and saying he’s done with her.”
One student nudged her friend, her face alight with gossip-fueled excitement.
“What? You mean that Ye Sheng? Wasn’t he always fawning over Lan Yi? How could he humiliate her?”
The other student looked stunned.
“Well, he caught her using his money to support another guy and finally woke up. Oh, and get this—the guy’s Ling Hao, the third-ranked in our grade!”
“No way! I knew Lan Yi wasn’t as pure as she acted. Poor Young Master Ye.”
Her expression dripping with disdain, the student tore into Lan Yi without restraint.
“Hm… wonder if I’ve still got a shot~”
A cold voice interrupted from behind, startling the gossiping pair.
“You just said… what happened to Brother Ye?”
A white-haired girl, who’d been resting her head on the desk, looked up.
Her pale purple eyes, devoid of emotion, fixed on them.
If Yu Li were here, she’d notice a silver halo above the girl’s head, entwined with black patterns matching the color of Ye Sheng’s halo.
The girl’s sudden question silenced the chattering students, who looked at her awkwardly, unsure how to respond.
“I’m asking you.”
Her tone remained flat, but a trace of impatience flickered in her purple eyes.
“Eek! W-Well, it’s just that Young Master Ye…”
Panicking, they hurriedly recounted the earlier events.
A Secret in the Shadows
In an unnoticed corner, Ye Sheng, the center of the gossip, was doing something unclear.
He raised his hand, manipulating something, and muttered to himself.
“System, distribute the rewards.”
[Congratulations, Host, for completing the task: Humiliate Lan Yi and Ling Hao, causing their breakdown. Completion rate: 91%. Evaluation: Excellent. Distributing reward… Rare ability: Shadow.]
[Congratulations, Host, for completing the side task: Increase school reputation. Current reputation: 15. Distributing reward… Ability precision increased by 10.]
[Please continue your efforts, Host, to avoid a doomed ending.]
A surge of power flooded Ye Sheng’s body, making him tremble involuntarily.
“Heh… so this is the system?”
Ye Sheng marveled, raising his hands.
His left hand glowed with light, while his right conjured a mass of shadow.
“My original light ability has improved, and now… a shadow ability.”
He lowered his hands, the abilities fading.
“This time, I won’t let you two destroy my family, Lan Yi… Ling Hao!”
His words were cryptic, but his tone was resolute, as if the two had truly caused his downfall in some past life.
Adjusting his expression to its usual charm, Ye Sheng stepped out of the corner.
But he froze as a black-haired girl blocked his path.
She waved at him with a smile and spoke.
“Hey, Ye Sheng… hm, remember me?”
Her words made him frown.
The girl had black hair, silver eyes, and stood about 1.5 meters tall, her smile radiating elegance.
If cuteness were a competition, she’d take the gold.
A teardrop mole at the corner of her eye added a hint of allure to her charm.
But despite her perfection, Ye Sheng had no mood to admire her.
He wondered if she’d seen something she shouldn’t have.
Stranger still, from the moment he approached her, he felt an inexplicable threat.
Despite her beauty rivaling Lan Yi’s, his instincts screamed to stay away, as if his soul rejected her presence.
“Trying to flirt? That’s a bit cliché.”
Despite the feeling, Ye Sheng smiled, keeping his expression neutral.
“I’m sure we’ve never met, but I’m not opposed to getting acquainted today…”
Ignoring the unease, he started to charm her.
But in the next moment, he felt it—overwhelming killing intent, suffocating and primal, as if a beast had locked onto him.
The air grew heavy.
Even with two lifetimes’ experience, Ye Sheng had never felt anything like this.
Not even the pain of death compared to this terror.
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he assumed a defensive stance, light gathering in his hand, ready to strike if she moved.
But the girl merely tilted her head, frowning slightly, then shook her head at him.
“My mistake. Sorry.”
With that, she darted away, vanishing in a flash.
As she left, the oppressive aura vanished, as if it had all been an illusion.
“What… was that?”
Ye Sheng stood panting, utterly baffled.
The girl had approached out of nowhere, greeted him, and when he said he didn’t know her, unleashed a terrifying killing intent.
Just as he braced for an attack, she inexplicably fled.
After a long silence, he sighed helplessly.
“Maybe it’s the influence of being reborn…”
Giving up on unraveling the mystery, Ye Sheng chalked it up to a butterfly effect from his rebirth.
But perhaps because of this girl, he finally felt the reality of his second chance.
Returning to the moment of his plaza confession, humiliating Lan Yi and Ling Hao—it had all gone smoothly, like a dream.
This small hiccup made it feel real.
It brought back memories of his future: being mocked like a clown due to Lan Yi and Ling Hao’s schemes, his family destroyed by his own foolishness.
Yet even then, one figure never abandoned him.
No matter how stupid his actions, that white-haired girl always supported him, even until his final moments, when he couldn’t return her feelings.
Ye Sheng’s heavy thoughts lightened, and he smiled.
“It’s not the future anymore. There’s still time. This time, I won’t be blindly obsessed.”
His earlier panic gone, confidence returned to his face.
“This time, I’ll choose you, Qingyue.”