A soft sound rang.
Roused by the alarm clock, Jiang Chen rubbed his sleepy eyes as he climbed out of bed. He slept on his stomach and didn’t change clothes last night making his body felt a bit uncomfortable.
After a brief wash, he habitually touched his chin without beard and left the bathroom.
He changed into clean clothes, wore his sneakers and laced it up.
When he was about to leave, he remembered there was something he forgot to bring, so he went back to his bedroom to retrieve it.
Inside the drawer were two movie tickets and the premiere was scheduled to air tomorrow. Tomorrow would also be a holiday in celebration of the founding of PAC, thus making it a legal holiday.
It’s also a good opportunity to go on a date.
Jiang Chen drew a breath as he grabbed the movie tickets hastily. He already procrastinated enough by asking the goddess to go and see a movie to the very last day, and if this continued, he’s afraid he wouldn’t be able to summon enough courage in his entire life.
It was Zhao Peng, his good friend, who gave him the tickets and said, “If you don’t ask her out now, where are you going to cry if someone else dates her?” Then he encouraged Jiang Chen to work out the courage to chase after Yao Tingting.
Zhao Peng, despite being reckless most of the time, was a great friend during these times.
Thinking of this, a smile broke on Jiang Chen’s face. His relationship between him and his friend had always been good.
[So, when was the first time I met this guy?]
He wavered for a moment but quickly threw the boring question out of his mind.
[Whatever, it’s okay if I don’t remember, it’s not a big deal anyway.]
Jiang Chen closed the door behind him before heading out.
The sky was particularly clear in Wanghai City. Although the barrier dome in the sky slightly obstructed the view, it was nevertheless a Holy Barrier System —the barrier that protected the city from HPMW or other aerial weapons.
The international situation was beginning to get more strained as the conflict between NATO and PAC intensified. Even in the city that never experienced the ravage of war, it was embroiled in the shadow of conflict.
But what of it? Life must still go on―just like Jiang Chen had to go to school, his neighbor had to go to work. Just like the conflict many years ago, people believed that both parties would eventually settle down. The scarcity of resources geopolitical conflicts with ZZ…but there would always be ways to solve the conflict. .
Jiang Chen greeted the neighbor as he walked downstairs, yawning.
There was a cleaning android at the front door. Jiang Chen would see it every time he came down.
Oddly, when Jiang Chen put one foot on the ground, the robot suddenly looked at him.
Jiang Chen looked at the robot bemusedly. Logically, these robots without artificial intelligence would not generate any interest to anything but garbage.
[Do you take me for a garbage? This thing…]
Although he ridiculed the idea in his mind, he was not bored enough to be angry at a cold machine. His mouth twitched while he was about to bypass it from the side.
Suddenly, a creepy vision crept into his mind.
Jiang Chen slightly turned around to look at the robot, but the robot’s vision continued to follow him.
Staring straight into his eyes.
The bulb-shaped eyes, the emotionless expression and the cold and stiff vision.
The robot looked away abruptly and stopped moving as if it malfunctioned.
“This is so weird.”
Jiang Chen touched his forehead in disdain and hurriedly left in quick strides.
Was he scared by a cleaning robot? If Zhao Peng knew, he would laugh himself to death.
But what was that illusion?
Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows in bafflement. He didn’t understand why he would feel anxious the moment he locked eyes with the robot.
–
The class was about to start when he arrived at school. Jiang Chen hastily rushed to his seat and sat down.
High school life was always busy. Even if it was only in grade 10, he had to take six courses. Chinese, Mathematics, English, Chemistry, Biology… [Eh? Something’s seems wrong. It should only be five courses.]
Jiang Chen took out the terminal used in class from his bag. It was a holographic computer in the shape of a pen.
Every course was done via terminal, which included homework as well as the lessons discussed in class. Although he heard there was a virtual reality training chamber that could allow you to learn just by sleeping inside, it was prohibited for students below high school to use.
The reason seemed to prevent people from forming bad habits of being lazy. Or probably to avoid the decrease of social interactions among people?
This didn’t make sense. There was obviously a more convenient way to use it, but they just had to put a restriction on it. Despite how much he despised the education system, he still had to attend the class. Since his body was here, he had to follow the rules here…
“Hanhan, did you watch the episode yesterday?” The girl in ponytail called Chen Yusheng was the Chinese class representative. Her seatmate’s name was Qian Han. Both of them were extremely energetic and a gossipmonger.
“Hm, I did. Did Klein die in the end or did he become a vampire?” The girl called Qian Han responded spiritedly.
[Psh, there is no show where the protagonist dies. You’re just way into dramas!]
“He probably won’t die. In the end, Klein will,” Jiang Chen scorned as he cockily explained how he thought the plot would unfold. Although it was only a guess, he had a feeling that the plot would develop in that direction.
As to why he had that thought, maybe it was the déjà vu from having watched too many similar dramas.
Suddenly, Jiang Chen froze again.
The same feeling from that morning returned.
Everyone in the class stopped as they stared vacantly in Jiang Chen’s direction.
That’s right, they are staring at him blankly.
Chen Yusheng, Qian Han, class representative, Liu Rewen, even his buddy, Zhao Peng…
[Eh? D-did I speak too loud?]
Being watched by the entire class, Jiang Chen staggered back as he forced out a laugh.
Everyone’s look was odd, but he couldn’t explain where the strange feeling came from.
Hollowness? No, it’s as if he was being watched, dissected, and monitored.
But why did he have this feeling?
Fear quickly began to spread from Jiang Chen’s heart to his head like sedatives. He gulped, throat slightly moving, he suddenly had the urge to run out of the classroom. But the action didn’t make sense. Why would he run out of the classroom just because his classmates were looking at him?
[Wait…what about Yao Tingting?]
Jiang Chen suddenly realized that the desk beside the window was empty.
At the same time, the class bell rang.
“Students, we’ll start the class now. Liu Lei, hand out the homework for me.” The Math teacher walked in before he clicked on the terminal to start the class.
“Okay—” the math class representative, Liu Lei, dragged out the syllable tiredly like what he usually did. He then downloaded the marked homework from the terminal and assigned it to each student by ID automatically. The extraneous step seemed to exist to emphasize the importance of structure.
Jiang Chen recollected his thought from his stupor as he quickly scanned around him.
[When did everyone start returning to normal?]
“Did you get a stiff neck?” Zhao Peng poked his back with a smirk.
Jiang Chen looked at Zhao Peng with a peculiar expression.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” Zhao Peng looked puzzled, then he touched his face and said with a frown, “There is no dirt on my face, right?”
Jiang Chen turned around without saying a word and left the still bewildered friend behind him. He quietly laid his head down on the table.
[Was it just my imagination?]
Jiang Chen looked at the seat beside the window.
The pure and adorable girl like a blooming Lily was quietly listening to the Math teacher’s lecture, her finger constantly moving on the tablet terminal to take notes.
The wind picked up again.
The blinds fluttering by the wind obscured Jiang Chen’s vision slightly.
[When did she show up?]