His body seemed to be getting sucked into a huge wormhole, unable to find a fulcrum.
Where was this?
Through the silence, some noise began to filter in, like static from an old radio.
Gradually, the sound of someone talking became clearer and louder.
“Hey, wake up.”
His arm was being shaken.
“Wake up, the Mediterranean is coming!”
What…
There was a loud ‘bam!’
Xu Qichen sat up violently. Right in front of him was a desk, with a palm resting on it firmly.
“You sleep really deeply ah! Look! In this entire lecture hall, you’re the only one who dares to sleep so blatantly! What kind of behaviour is this?!” The owner of that hand tapped his fingers on the desk repeatedly. The thudding sound made the just-awoken Xu Qichen even more confused.
Like a marmot that was being repeatedly knocked on the head.
He looked around.
He was really in a lecture hall ah…
“You really dare to look ah!”
Xu Qichen looked up and studied the face of the… teacher(?) who was scolding him.
He was entirely bald, but there was a circle of thin stub around his crown. He looked in his fifties, very bony, with two shiny eyes peeking from his sunken eye sockets.
“You’re still looking! Come to my office after class, it seems you don’t want to graduate anymore.”
Xu Qichen frowned as he watched him walk back to the podium.
Weird.
Very weird.
Wasn’t he just drinking with Lin Ran on the balcony?
He got drunk, and seemed to have blacked out, but how did he end up here…
Xu Qichen observed his surroundings once again.
His fogged up brain suddenly cleared.
Is this a new world?
“Hey, Ye Han, good job. You actually dared to sleep in the Mediterranean’s class, awesome.” The black-frame spectacled boy sitting beside him bumped his arm and teased with a laugh.
Ye Han?
Sounds familiar…
0901: “Mr. Xu, you probably haven’t woken up fully. Ye Han is the protagonist of your novel, ‘The Rules of Raising a Dog-type Boyfriend’, and is also the character you have to act as, in your second world.”
0901’s voice seemed to come from behind him, so Xu Qichen subconsciously turned around, giving the girl behind him, who was watching a drama on her mobile phone, a shock.
Xu Qichen whispered an apology and slowly turned back. He asked in his mind, “Has the task for the first world been completed?”
0901: “It has been completed. Both the primary and secondary tasks were completed very successfully.”
Is that so…
After some hesitation, Xu Qichen asked: “Then… the me of that world, no, I mean, Ji Mengze and Lin Ran, what will happen to them?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
0901: “Zg. We, jgf sbe ralii jaajmtfv ab atja kbgiv?”
Lbk mbeiv tf cba yf?
Qtfc We Hlmtfc mibrfv tlr fsfr, tf mbeiv ralii rff atja gbboabq qbbi, jr atbeut Olc Ejc kjr ralii atfgf, gluta yfrlvf tlw.
Lf rffwfv ab tfjg tlr nblmf, yea cb wjaafg tbk tjgv tf aglfv, tf mbeiv cba tfjg ktja tf kjr rjslcu.
0901: “Mr. Xu, I did not previously explain the modus operandi of the system, but I think it is necessary now.”
Xu Qichen: “Is it not like the main God system in novels?”
0901: “It’s not. Mr. Xu, this system is a product of technology, not fantasy.” Xu Qichen could even hear a trace of arrogance in his usually unemotional voice.
0901: “The you who is conversing with me is not the you from reality, I think there is little need for me to elaborate on this; right now you are only in the main body of your consciousness.”
Main body of consciousness?
0901: “When you were performing your task in the first world, you were also using this body. When you leave this world to enter the next world, for a fraction of a second, your main body will split, producing a unique body of consciousness. Aside from only being able to exist in the original world, it is exactly the same as the main body, and has all the memories that the main body had in that world. Meanwhile, your main body has already come to the second world. In the future, this process will repeat whenever you change worlds.”
Xu Qichen was an Art student through and through. His brain was unable to process the huge dump of metaphysical theory that was suddenly dumped on him, unprovoked, making his mind go hazy.
“Can you not explain it in layman terms?”
0901 paused. In that one or two second pause, Xu Qichen could feel a lot of disdain directed at himself.
0901: “Have you heard of the theory of parallel universes?”
Xu Qichen: “I have heard of it.”
0901: “It’s a similar concept. The you of many different parallel universes could be living completely different lives. You can think of the previous world as a parallel universe. In that universe, your name is Ji Mengze, and you and Lin Ran are lovers. To the main body, that is you, the node at the balcony has ended, but to the clone that had been split-up, it has not ended. He was left behind to continue his life in that world. He is the Xu Qichen of the parallel universe.”
Xu Qichen finally understood.
A Xu Qichen with his own self-recognition has been split and left in that world, continuing his life with Lin Ran.
He suddenly felt quite lonely.
As though something that belonged to him had been snatched away.
“0901, as the main body, in the process of going through many worlds, is there nowhere I can choose to stay and live out my life?”
0901 replied solemnly, “Mr. Xu, you are the main body who has to return to reality eventually. The Xu Qichen in the real world is the life you have to live out.”
Xu Qichen remained silent.
0901 continued, “Of course, if you find it hard to accept, we can reformat your memories of the previous world so it would not affect your task completion for the new world.”
Xu Qichen quickly refused.
As someone who always passively followed the majority, this was the first time he had said ‘no’ so quickly.
“I want to retain the memories. Every world, I want to keep the memories.”
Anyway, the him in the last world, to be able to stay with Lin Ran forever… must be very happy.
The bell signifying the end of the class broke him out from his thoughts. With his head lowered, he kept the books on the desk. Just as he stood up, he was called by the Mediterranean, who was holding a microphone.
“Ye Han! Come here right now!”
His classmates collapsed in laughter, “Good luck ah, brother.”
Xu Qichen sighed and walked up to the podium with his bag.
“Why are you standing there dumbly? Carry these papers to my office!”
Xu Qichen quietly did as he was told. Following behind the Mediterranean, he dragged his feet and took in his surroundings.
This was a novel he wrote that had some fantastical elements.
Back then, he wanted to write a university novel, but those were not very popular.
So he added a different setting.
Thinking of the setting, Xu Qichen shuddered.
No way, he had dug another pit for himself.
0901’s voice appeared once again at the most inappropriate time, “It’s exactly as you’re thinking, Mr. Xu.”
Xu Qichen lost all hope once again.
In this novel, he added the fantastical setting of demons, a type of creature that was different from humans. They were originally either plants or animals, but they can take the shape of humans and live in the human world.
And the Gong was one of them, a demon whose original body was that of a German Shephard. Meanwhile the Shou… who is also the Ye Han that he has to act as in the following days, is a human with an extreme fear of dogs.
It’s over.
0901: “Mr. Xu, do you still remember the reason for this world’s bad end?”
Xu Qichen thought for a moment. That’s right, it’s because according to his setting, demons were the heretic population that had to be eliminated.
So the Gong was in danger.
“You have to guarantee the safety of the Gong. His tragic end must be averted, that is your main task.”
So difficult.
Being afraid of dogs to the point of crying but still having to date one.
Nevermind just dating one, he even has to protect him.
Who’s really the Gong ah.
Xu Qichen, who had experienced a world, was very clear about the power of this system in restoring settings. He thought, he must already have been implanted with the physiological reaction of being afraid of dogs. He had not even met the dog and already he felt fear.
Frankly, the original Xu Qichen was not afraid of dogs. He even liked them, although he seldom expressed it.
He could not help but recall the large dog that a certain person’s family kept.
Every day, on the way to school, while waiting at the bus stop, he would see that golden retriever across the street sending its owner off.
It would wait to be patted on the head before allowing him to leave.
While he would enviously watch from the opposite side, sipping his bland cartoned milk.
He could never tell if he was envious of the dog, or of him.
“Ye Han! Stop dreaming outside! Come in ah!”
Xu Qichen was violently shaken out of his thoughts.
“O, okay.”
Ye Han, 22 years old, was a fourth year student at Xi Ming University’s Computing School. His grades were so-so, his personality was not bad, and he could be considered an extrovert.
Thinking of these settings, Xu Qichen began to frown.
Although Ji Mengze was an idol, his personality was somewhat similar to his own. But in this world, he had to act out Ye Han’s extroverted personality.
What a difficult challenge.
Walking into the office, Xu Qichen’s mind was still filled with the novel’s settings.
“Put the papers there and come here.”
This bony Mediterranean was the dean of the Computing School, Liu Yu, who had the reputation of not treating his students as people.
Being blacklisted by him the moment he entered this world, he was really unlucky.
“Explain yourself. You’re graduating soon but you still sleep in class all day, have you chosen the topic for your thesis? Have you written the opening report?”
Xu Qichen shook his head.
“Reflect on yourself! I have no idea what’s going on in you students’ heads.” Liu Yu picked up his thermal flask and stood up, filled it with hot water, then blew on it twice before drinking it.
Xu Qichen did not talk back, only looked at his feet and pretended to be seriously reflecting.
Which part of the plot comes next?
He seemed to recall that Dean Liu was about to be called away for a meeting.
Just as he thought that, the telephone on the desk began ringing. He put down his thermal flask, cleared his throat and picked up the phone.
“Hello? O, okay, now?”
He glanced at the clock.
“Ai okay, okay, I’ll be right there, okay, okay, goodbye.”
After hanging up, he stood up and put a fountain pen in his suit pocket. Just as he was about to leave, he looked at Xu Qichen.
“I’m going to attend a meeting now.” He coughed, “There are many important documents in here, so I have to lock the door. Come out.”
Xu Qichen sighed in relief.
But he felt that the plot development wouldn’t be so smooth.
The dean locked the door and kept the key in his pocket before turning around and saying to Xu Qichen, “Stand here and reflect, I’ll be back soon.”
No way ba…
The Mediterranean barely took two steps before he turned around again, “And if I don’t see you here when I come back, you’d better watch out.”
Xu Qichen sighed.
He stood outside the dean’s office alone, as bored as a mushroom growing on wood, unable to go anywhere.
He was a little curious about how he looked like now.
So he moved step by step from the door to the glass window of the dean’s office. He stepped back two more steps and carefully looked at the unclear reflection on the glass window.
He wasn’t too tall, but not too short either.
After all, it’s not the setting of a ‘peak beauty idol’, his beauty was surely not at Ji Mengze’s level.
But… Xu Qichen tilted his head and gazed at the misty outline on the glass.
It’s not too bad.
The red, short sleeved t-shirt that he was wearing, complemented his dewy fair skin, delicate features, and a pair of easy-to-get-along with drooping eyes, tremendously.
Xu Qichen turned around and leant back against the wall.
That’s right, despite his average grades, Ye Han was one of the more handsome boys in the Computing School and was pretty popular as well.
However, this new skin of good quality did not make him any happier.
Now that he was alone, he couldn’t help but to think of the previous world.
He felt unsatisfied.
TN: Welcome to the new world~ So far, we’ve mostly been talking about the old world but!! The next part of C31 is when this world’s plot begins~ (It’s a very long chapter T.T)
Unfortunately this chapter was delayed due to the very real problem of procrastination, and so the next chapter will also be delayed… but will hopefully be posted before the next Thursday T.T
Thanks for the chapter ❤️
Procrastination is my biggest enemy , can’t finish my art without procrastinating 😭😭😭
Heck I can’t even sleep without procrastinating… like in doing now instead of sleeping…
I can’t finish anything without procrastinating. 🤸♀️
True but we do fangirl over our babies (that is the novel charaters) without procrastinating
poor Xu Qichen :((
thanks for the chapter <3
Thank you so much for this wonderful chapter!! 😍
thanks for the chapter! ♡
thanks for the chapter~
So does that mean all the worlds he goes too,he cannot stay?!QAQ That is sad
Thank you for the update.u take care
Poor Xu Qichen has to pretend to be an extrovert, that can’t be easy… It was nice to get another glimpse of his past with the ML! Pretty excited to see an arc entirely about pushing Xu Qichen to literally face his fear of being close to the ML, hopefully the experience helps him figure out how to handle his insecurities when they meet in the real world later. Already he’s finding things to be more assertive about, too, like not wanting to lose his memories of Lin Ran
Thank you so much for translating! <3
Thank you for the chapter 🥰
So then, the system is a product of tech, means his real body is lying on a hospital bed with a machine?
1 year in the future and still procrastinating
Damn. He’s so in love and the system pull him out without a warning? I would’ve just go crazy