Chapter 033: The Campus Mary Sue

Le Yixian slowly swept her gaze around the entire room, and that distant memory was stirred by the sight of a heart-shaped necklace.

“Honestly,” she murmured, rubbing her aching eyes.

Those ugly, ridiculous frog plushies—she had received them as birthday presents before, too.

Because of her own or her family’s background, Le Yixian had always been someone worth currying favor with since she was a child. On her sixth-grade birthday, as usual, her desk had been piled high with gifts, among them a hideously green, big-eyed frog plushie so ugly it was almost endearing.

Because she had always received exquisite gifts, this was the first time she’d gotten one so ugly, and the impression it left was particularly deep. For the next few years, she continued to receive similar frog plushies.

Then, those gifts stopped, and, little by little, she forgot all about them.

Now, in this world, confronted again with a box filled with the gifts Ke Yuandao had once given her, Le Yixian understood: those frog plushies had all been from him.

He’d even barged into the world of her own writing and messed up the plot. Le Yixian wished she could give Ke Yuandao a good thrashing.

“When will you finally wake up?” she muttered, clutching the necklace in her hand.

——

Ke Yuandao felt that his senior had been acting a little strange lately. During their dates, she dragged him to watch Inception, then started studying some psychological theories about multiple dream layers.

Finally, she asked, “Do you think this world is real?”

“Of course this world is real,” Ke Yuandao answered without hesitation. “Because you’re here, senior.”

So, that made it real.

Le Yixian met his earnest gaze and sighed. “If I told you that this world was just your imagination, would you believe me?”

Ke Yuandao was silent for a moment, then lifted his head to ask, “What about you, senior? Are you also just something I imagined?”

“…No, I’m not,” Le Yixian hesitated, then shook her head.

When he heard her answer, the gloom on Ke Yuandao’s face instantly cleared. He wrapped his arms tightly around Le Yixian’s waist, burying his face in her shoulder. “As long as you’re real, that’s all I need.”

“Ke Yuandao,” Le Yixian grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. “I am real, but this world is not. I’ve been waiting for you in the real world. Will you please wake up?”

Her voice trembled with a pleading note at the end. “Please, wake up?”

Ke Yuandao’s expression was confused, and seeing the sorrow on her face made him panic. “I will, I’ll wake up right now, please don’t be sad.”

The moment he finished speaking, Le Yixian felt the world quake and tremble. She looked up to find the world around her dissolving into illusion.

“Senior,” Ke Yuandao’s face twisted with pain as he stroked her cheek. “Don’t cry.”

In that instant, Le Yixian was forcibly yanked out of this illusory world.

——

Her vision was swimming, and she heard Li Yue’s breathless, anxious voice: “What did you do? Ke Yuandao’s consciousness is fading fast!”

Ignoring the dizziness, Le Yixian climbed out of bed and hurried over to the monitor. The lines on the screen, which should have been fluctuating, were flattening out. She almost collapsed, but Li Yue caught her in time.

“I just told him to wake up, that’s all,” Le Yixian said, turning to Li Yue. “Why?”

“Your words made him question himself. The whole world is about to collapse. You need to calm him down.”

——

Ke Yuandao stood in a boundless white void.

Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed from all around, cold and distant: Do you know? This world is fake. I am fake, too.

No, senior, don’t go.

Ke Yuandao reached out, grasping at the empty air, but caught nothing.

Senior, gone? Then what’s the point of this world anymore?

“Hey, Xiaodao, Xiaodao? Wake up!”

Ke Yuandao blinked open his eyes, meeting a pair of bright, anxious eyes. Seeing him awake, Le Yixian let out a relieved sigh. “Did you have a nightmare?”

Ke Yuandao’s vision slowly focused, and he realized his head was resting in his senior’s lap. He jumped up, his ears turning red. “S-senior!”

How did he end up falling asleep on his senior’s lap???

This was outrageous—he was with his senior, how could he have fallen asleep?

“As long as you’re awake,” Le Yixian said, relieved to see his shyness.

Well then, if her beloved refused to wake up, she would just have to stay and live in this Mary Sue world with him.

Honestly, it wasn’t such a bad world.

Le Yixian quickly adjusted her attitude, leaning in to tease him. “We agreed on a date, and yet you slept away half the day. Tell me, how will you make it up to me?”

Ke Yuandao’s palms were sweaty. Looking at her face, so close to his own, he stammered, “A…a kiss?”

“And you think a single kiss is enough?” Le Yixian raised an eyebrow.

“T-two… no, three,” Ke Yuandao hastily changed his answer at the sight of her frown.

“Alright, three then,” Le Yixian didn’t push him further—no need to risk another world collapse.

With that, she leaned forward and planted a loud kiss on his cheek.

——

Ke Yuandao touched the spot on his face where she’d kissed him, grinning foolishly and thinking, if only it had been on the lips.

As for why he’d fallen asleep, he chalked it up to exhaustion from the recent experiment.

It was a critical period.

As he gazed at his senior’s profile, Ke Yuandao thought to himself: Senior, your wish will come true soon.

In the days that followed, Le Yixian would occasionally show off her relationship with Ke Yuandao at school, much to the chagrin of the crowd who thought the short guy didn’t deserve the goddess. But the two of them continued to enjoy themselves as they pleased.

Lately, though, Ke Yuandao had been quite busy.

Le Yixian propped her chin on her hand and wondered, even on the weekend he hadn’t come to see her—so unlike him.

He wasn’t answering her calls, either. Where could he have gone?

She wasn’t worried about his safety. In this world, he was like a god—if he wanted to destroy the world, he could. What danger could there possibly be?

Near dusk, Ke Yuandao finally showed up.

He was wearing a white lab coat, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “Senior.”

“What is it?” Le Yixian smiled at the sight.

Ke Yuandao’s eyes shone as he handed her a transparent vial. “I did it. I succeeded.”

“???”

“A medicine that will let you eat meat from now on,” Ke Yuandao said, delighted.

Le Yixian was speechless.

Medicine that would let her eat meat?

She took the vial from his hand, opened it, poured out the single white tablet inside, and swallowed it immediately.

Ke Yuandao was startled by her action. “Senior!”

“It’s fine,” Le Yixian smiled.

“How could you just eat something like that without thinking?” Ke Yuandao was beside himself with worry.

“You gave it to me, so how could it be reckless?” Le Yixian squeezed his hand in return. “I trust you.”