Chapter 4: The Goddess Who Feigned Death.

Lu Hang actually wanted to talk more with her,
but he really didn’t know what to say.

Even though her voice came out a little hoarse and soft—completely different from the old arrogant rich-second-gen young master vibe—
as soon as she opened her mouth, the two of them could naturally slip back into their old brotherly rhythm, chatting like nothing had changed.

In the narrow cabin of the Maybach, listening to the engine hum along the road,
smelling the faint perfume on the beautiful girl beside him,
Lu Hang always felt a bit like sitting on pins and needles.
But the moment she spoke, he could still hallucinate that the person in front of him was the old Bai Huang.

“Turn left up ahead. That’s my place.”
Lu Hang pointed at the road.

“Mm.”
She replied softly.

Seeing her act so obedient and docile gave Lu Hang goosebumps all over.
In his heart he secretly cursed: when he got back he was definitely going to interrogate that goddess on WeChat and demand to know what the hell was going on.

How did my bro’s dick just disappear like that?

The moment he thought of the goddess, it felt like hitting the pillow right when you’re sleepy.
The goddess wanted him to cohabitate with a girl anyway—
and now his good brother had conveniently turned into one.
This was way better than him awkwardly going online to find some random co-living partner like a desperate simp.

Even if some girl really did agree to live with Lu Hang and he completed the goddess’s task,
who knew what kind of sketchy weirdo she might turn out to be?

But if the co-living partner was Bai Huang…
at least this was still his real brother.
They’d genuinely been roommates for a whole year before.

Actually, he could accept it.

He couldn’t just let his brother, who couldn’t even go back to the dorm, sleep on the streets, right?

…

Along the way Lu Hang acted as a human navigator.
After twisting and turning through the streets, they finally arrived at his neighborhood.
Lu Hang walked ahead while she followed behind, curiously looking around the rundown old complex.
Young Master Bai had spent his life going in and out of high-end clubs—
he probably had never seen such a dilapidated place in his entire life.
He even reached out to touch a crack in the wall cement, only for Lu Hang to casually swat his hand away.

“Dirty, bro. Aren’t you afraid of touching a spider?”

“You actually live in such a small place?”
She clasped her hands behind her back, curiously trailing behind Lu Hang and looking everywhere.

“Getting a whole apartment to myself is already pretty lucky. Pure dog luck. The landlord’s going abroad, so they rented it out cheap. I just happened to snag it.”
Lu Hang went upstairs, opened the security door.
Thinking about how the girl behind him was actually his brother made his mind feel all tangled.
He casually went to the fridge, poured a glass of cola, and asked offhandedly:
“I’m pretty casual here. How long are you planning to stay?”

“I don’t know either…”
Bai Huang looked a little awkward too.

Truth be told, Lu Hang actually hoped she’d stay for a while—
that way he could complete the goddess’s task.
The goddess had said at least one week, but he had no idea if Bai Huang would actually stay that long.
Lu Hang himself didn’t mind.
A brother down on his luck? Of course he had to take good care of him.

“For this rent price, this place is actually pretty decent.”
Bai Huang didn’t bother being polite.
Before Lu Hang even finished saying “make yourself at home,” she had already plopped down boldly on the sofa, legs tucked under her, looking around curiously.

Lu Hang stared at her.
Although he knew deep down this was probably the goddess’s doing,
seeing someone change so drastically in real life still made him give a helpless bitter smile:
“So how exactly did you end up like this? Did you go to Thailand or something?”

“I don’t know either… Maybe I ran into something unclean.”
Bai Huang sounded dejected too:
“When I woke up I just felt like my voice was wrong, my body was wrong… sigh.”

Knowing this was most likely connected to him somehow,
an inexplicable wave of guilt made Lu Hang go quiet as a chicken.

“I feel like drinking tonight.”
She hugged her knees, clearly down.
Her voice came out muffled:
“Drink with me, bro. Feeling kinda shitty.”

“No problem, drink whatever.”
Lu Hang agreed casually.

“What a fateful connection we have, huh.”
Bai Huang suddenly couldn’t help glancing at Lu Hang a few times, then gave a low laugh:
“Before, you said you’d been hurt by women and wanted to live alone to change yourself. I was even thinking it’d be hard to grab meals with you anymore. Who knew we’d end up living together again.”

“Yeah.”
Lu Hang also sighed.

“It’s just… turning into this feels so surreal.”
She looked visibly downcast.

Lu Hang thought yeah, this really did count as extremely surreal.

He wondered how many episodes Close to Science could make out of this.
Wondered if that goddess had any clues.

“A brother turning into this… there’s really no good solution.”
She clasped her hands together, cautiously lifting her eyes:
“After all, you were planning to live alone. I still have a bit of money in my card. If you take me in for a while, I’ll pay you rent and everything, not a cent short.”

“Is that okay? Just help your brother out. Right now I’m like this… I can’t go anywhere. Even my studies might be messed up. My head’s all over the place… Money-wise, I definitely won’t short you.”

“No problem. What money? Just stay here. Stay as long as you want.”
Lu Hang said casually, handing her the cola.

Seeing her lift those eyes in that pitiful, fragile way,
Lu Hang suddenly felt something strange stir in his heart.

He remembered he’d been stressing over where to find a girl to cohabitate with—
and Bai Huang had just conveniently shown up.

But everything in the world has inertia, he supposed.

When they first opened the door and stepped into Lu Hang’s home,
the atmosphere had been a little awkward.
But the moment they started talking, it was just like chatting and bullshitting back in the dorm.
The inertia from when they were still bros kicked in automatically.

Only the gender had changed.
Seemed like nothing else really did.

The car ride had felt stiff,
but once she plopped down on Lu Hang’s sofa,
you could visibly see her tense body gradually relax—
though she still held the cola cup a little uneasily.

“It’s fine. Tonight I’ll treat you to a welcome-back drink. No way someone just randomly turns into this for no reason. There’s gotta be some way to fix it. I’ll help you ask around and look into it. Can’t let ourselves get cornered like this. There’ll be a solution.”
Seeing she still looked anxious, Lu Hang spoke gently:
“Don’t worry about disturbing me. I live alone anyway. I even thought before—if nothing’s going on, you guys could come hang out sometimes… Since you can’t go back to the dorm now, this place may be small, but it’s still a place. Just stay here for now.”

“Mm.”
Bai Huang finally relaxed noticeably, murmuring softly:
“Thanks.”

“Thanks for what? We’re fucking bros.”

Lu Hang patted her shoulder:
“Relax and treat this like your own home. Anything happens, your brother’s got your back.”

“Mm.”
Bai Huang’s face was full of gratitude.

…

Go online, ask Baidu.

Lu Hang stubbornly tried to approach this from a physical rather than theological angle—
to figure out what the hell was going on with Bai Huang.

“Why would a guy suddenly turn into a girl overnight?” Search.

Lu Hang sipped his cola, staring helplessly at the screen.

“My brother turned into a girl, and one night I pushed open her bedroom door…”

Everything that popped up was goddamn hentai…

Lu Hang sighed.

Things developing like this—
no way his heart wasn’t in chaos.

The goddess’s plan was for him to find a girlfriend during his four years of university…
but her methods were absurdly abstract.

Make him cohabitate with a girl,
then turn Bai Huang into one.
This “whatever pops into her head” style was driving Lu Hang insane.

But he had no way to resist.
An existence that could casually turn him into a catgirl—
who knew what kind of even more abstract shit she’d pull if he defied her?

While his thoughts were in disarray,
his phone suddenly buzzed.
It was a message from “Omniscient and Omnipotent Goddess.”

“You’ve already taken the first step. Everything is going very smoothly. Now you just need to cohabitate with her for one week and it’s done. Once successful, I’ll reward you with another 20,000 yuan.”

“How much?”
Lu Hang was stunned.

Twenty thousand.
To a university student, twenty thousand might as well be two million—
both were basically impossible to spend dry.

He glanced sideways at Bai Huang sitting dejectedly in the living room, sipping cola one slow mouthful at a time.
Lu Hang thought for a moment, then typed:

“Why are you so obsessed with making me live with a girl?”

“Because the manga said so. If you cohabitate for more than a week, you’ll fall in love with the person. Then your wish would come true, right?”
The goddess replied instantly.

“But this is fucking my brother! How is this the same?”
Lu Hang was on the verge of collapse:
“Why did Bai Huang turn into this? Is this your doing or not?”

Silence.

She didn’t reply again.

Why is she playing dead now?