Chapter 1: Who is the Reborn One?

When Meng Zhi woke up, the entire class was staring at him.

The familiar classroom, desks piled high with textbooks, the school uniform shirt soaked with the smell of sweat, the glaring incandescent light above, and the creaky ceiling fan wobbling precariously.

And that irritating middle-aged homeroom teacher, standing in front of him with a face full of anger, scolding, “Meng Zhi, what time do you think this is? The college entrance exam is just days away, and you’re still sleeping? One extra point for someone else could drop you thousands of ranks…”

Meng Zhi zoned out, ignoring the man’s nagging.

…How many times has it been?

Every time he was reborn, he woke up on this day.

May 20th.

This day held no special meaning for him. If he hadn’t been reborn so many times, Meng Zhi wouldn’t even remember what he was doing that day.

But everything played out like a movie on repeat.

So familiar it left him in a daze.

“…The closer we get to the critical moment, the less you can slack off. If you’re feeling stressed, I can contact your parents—”

“No need.” Meng Zhi waved a tired hand. “You won’t get hold of them.”

Because Meng Zhi knew his parents were busy dividing assets for their divorce at this time.

They were considerate enough to wait until the day he finished his exams, stepping out of the test center, before telling him about it.

In one of his past lives, Meng Zhi had tried to mend their relationship.

But he gave up eventually.

They had already found new partners behind his back and would go on to build new families.

If he clung to them desperately, he’d only seem clueless.

“Uh, you mean… your parents are getting divorced?”

Those words worked like a charm.

Hearing about Meng Zhi’s parents’ divorce, the teacher didn’t dare touch such a sensitive topic during this critical time.

So, under the pretext of “adjusting his mood,” Meng Zhi easily got a permission slip, grabbed his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and left the classroom under the watchful eyes and whispers of his classmates.

It was 9 p.m., still during evening self-study, and every building was brightly lit.

Meng Zhi walked alone to the school gate, where a gentle night breeze greeted him. The pale light from the security office cast his thin shadow on the ground, accompanied only by the flickering moths under the lamp.

He didn’t really know where to go.

Maybe because of too many loops, Meng Zhi could no longer feel excited about his life.

The things he wanted to do, he’d mostly done. The things he couldn’t do were simply impossible.

After all, each loop only gave him seven years.

If he couldn’t complete the task within that time while following the system’s rules, his life would reset, returning to May 20th at age eighteen.

Only by completing the task could he break free from this endless cycle and move forward.

The system’s task didn’t seem hard—just save a few girls who were destined to fall into despair.

But so far, Meng Zhi hadn’t succeeded even once.

People are incredibly complex.

Saving someone was far harder than it seemed, and the tangled web of consequences that followed was impossible to unravel.

Many times, Meng Zhi thought he’d saved them, only to realize he’d been dragged down with them into an even deeper abyss.

Suicide, martyrdom, mental breakdowns, accidents… Meng Zhi couldn’t count how many times he’d seen it all, each ending more hopeless than the last.

Gradually, Meng Zhi began to doubt himself.

‘Who can I even save?’

Maybe he should just give up.

Even if his life was trapped in this seven-year loop forever, compared to the exhaustion and pain of trying to save them, pretending not to see might be better.

At least for a while, he could live a little easier.

Just treat it as a seven-year vacation. This life, don’t think too much—just live happily.

Yeah, that’s it, Meng Zhi told himself.

His stomach growled.

He rummaged through his pocket, finding the familiar fifty yuan.

It was all he had. Since it was a boarding school, living expenses were loaded onto a student card, and cash was rarely needed.

Time to get some money, Meng Zhi thought.

He left the school gate, turned to the lottery shop next to the corner convenience store, and confidently picked the fourteenth scratch-off ticket from a stack of fifty-yuan cards.

…Yes, this was still the fastest, easiest way to make money.

In his many loops, Meng Zhi had tried countless ways to earn cash, but buying lottery tickets was the simplest and most direct.

Winning too big would attract trouble, but a small prize of a couple thousand or ten thousand yuan went unnoticed.

Meng Zhi didn’t need much. Two thousand was enough for now.

After cashing the prize, he went to the convenience store next door, bought instant noodles, borrowed hot water, and sat down to eat.

It was 10:30 p.m. Evening self-study had ended, and most students were enjoying the brief freedom of the walk back to their dorms, while a few day students trickled out the school gate.

The convenience store occasionally rang with the sound of students shopping.

As Meng Zhi ate his noodles, a soft, clean voice whispered near his ear.

“I knew you’d be here.”

Meng Zhi paused mid-bite but didn’t look up, continuing to eat.

“I heard from your classmates—your parents are getting divorced?”

“No.” Meng Zhi didn’t lift his head. “Made it up to get the day off.”

The girl playfully punched him, her voice carrying a mix of reproach and grievance. “And here I was actually worried about you, rushing over right after class.”

Meng Zhi glanced at her between slurps of noodles.

The girl was the quiet, well-behaved type. A neat ponytail, slender legs under a pleated skirt, paired with knee-high white socks and small leather shoes—the perfect “Shen Jiayi” white-moonlight archetype.

Seeing Meng Zhi finally look at her, the girl propped her chin up, smiling brightly.

“Boys need proper food to grow, you know. Instant noodles won’t fill you up. Come to my place—I made enough dinner for both of us.”

“Chen Xinya, you sound like my mom.”

“I’m not that old…”

Meng Zhi looked at her, silent for a long moment, before quietly returning to his meal.

…No.

He’d promised himself not to get too close to them this time.

‘I’m sorry, Chen Xinya.’

‘I can’t save you.’

As he ate, a familiar yet distant voice echoed in his mind.

[System activated, confirming this life’s task and rules.]

As expected.

The moment he met Chen Xinya, the system activated again, kicking off this life’s task.

But this time, Meng Zhi had made up his mind.

Whatever the task, it had nothing to do with him this life.

[Task: Save all the girls you failed to save in previous lives…]

[…and find out which one of them is a reincarnator like you.]

Meng Zhi’s hand froze mid-air, noodles dangling. After a moment, he looked up in shock.

“…What?”