Chapter 15: Run! This Isn’t Me

Chapter 15: Run! This Is Not Me

The bar counter resembled a mirror draped in a layer of black gauze. Roland gazed intently at the faint reflection on the surface—it was Li Mengli's face. She blinked, and the face blinked in perfect sync. She twitched her nose, and the face followed suit with impeccable timing. But when she ended this childish mimicry with a final smile, the face remained expressionless, its cold eyes like sharp blades, fixed unblinkingly on Roland.

A cold sweat crawled down the back of her neck like an icy insect. Just as she was shaken to her core, someone suddenly slapped her on the shoulder.

“Hey!”

In that instant, Roland felt her soul detach from her body. She felt like a leaf caught in the wind, drifting aimlessly. As she slowly descended, she observed from a third-person perspective Li Mengli’s body pushing away the man before her and shouting, “Tiger, run! This isn’t me! Don’t believe her no matter what she says!”

In over two hundred crossings, Roland had never encountered anything like this. Yet she could clearly feel countless needles piercing her soul through the very air—a relentless swarm attacking a child who had disturbed a hornet’s nest. This world treated her soul as a foreign entity that must be eradicated.

Like a stranded whale longing for the ocean, Roland’s soul yearned to return to that body. When she willed it so, her soul suddenly transformed from a leaf into an iron ball, accelerating back into Li Mengli’s form.

Like a bullet striking the chest, Li Mengli’s frantic outburst abruptly ceased. Her body stiffened. Seconds later, her head twitched rapidly, her left and right eyeballs darting in opposite directions. This caught the attention of those around her.

More people gathered at the bar, some pulling out their phones to record. “Look! This girl’s having a seizure!”

No one minded standing near Roland’s companion, Tian Hu, as they eagerly played detective. “Probably on drugs?” “Faking it, right?” “She must be upset with her boyfriend.”

While the crowd buzzed with speculation, Roland’s head stopped shaking, and her eyes slowly returned to center. After pausing for a few seconds amid the differing gazes, she suddenly burst into laughter. “Ha ha ha, fooled you all!”

“See! I told you she was faking!” Aside from the man who thought he had guessed correctly, the crowd found Roland’s antics dull and lost interest, returning to their own booths to drink. The man had intended to approach Roland, but seeing the young man standing beside her scowling, he reluctantly backed off to avoid trouble.

Roland’s smile faded. The main purpose of this date was to shatter Tian Hu’s impression of Li Mengli as a well-behaved student. So she deliberately wore a leather jacket—a style Li Mengli would never choose—to pique Tian Hu’s curiosity. But curiosity is not the same as suspicion.

According to Li Mengli’s memories, Tian Hu had rescued her from a group of troublemakers on her way home after evening study. He had safely escorted her back, during which Li Mengli only asked his name and, wishing to express gratitude, got him to leave his phone number. But she had never dared to contact him.

Roland’s mind raced. Though sparking curiosity is often the first step to accelerating a relationship, in this awkward situation, any unexpected behavior would only make Tian Hu think the girl was mentally unstable. The priority now was to make Tian Hu perceive her strange behavior as normal, so she could continue to win him over.

With this in mind, Roland feigned drunkenness, deliberately avoiding Tian Hu’s gaze and hopping onto a barstool, slapping the table as she shouted, “Two more bottles of whiskey!”

Tian Hu strode over in two steps, grabbing her off the stool like a cat. “How much have you had to drink?”

“What business is it of yours?” Roland replied, employing the technique she called “relationship reversal.” This tactic shouldn’t be used on strangers—it requires the other party to show interest first. The simplest confirmation is if they agree to a date; otherwise, they wouldn’t waste their time.

People uninterested won’t agree to meet.

Roland was already about 80% sure before the date because Tian Hu had left his number. He could have simply been a Good Samaritan, but leaving a phone number was an unnecessary gesture of kindness.

Whether Tian Hu truly acted out of virtue or because he found Li Mengli attractive didn’t matter to Roland. To her, he was just an immature boy. She only wanted to break free from this perpetual curse of crossing over. That would mean heaven had restored her innocence. If she were truly the culprit, there would be no way to lift the curse. But if she could, it would prove her innocence.

“What are you thinking about? Did you hear what I said?” Tian Hu raised his voice, emphasizing again, “I’m not a good guy. Don’t mess with me, got it?”

Roland wanted to kick him at that moment. After the “relationship reversal,” any show of concern from Tian Hu would have meant a guaranteed victory. But he was oddly stubborn, refusing to fall for her trap.

When met with rudeness, responding in kind only lowers one’s dignity. Some might take home a stone because they haven't found a diamond yet—or maybe they found one but can’t afford it.

Roland didn’t want a simple boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. Even among married couples who didn’t love each other and only sought mutual benefit, such examples were plentiful. This was the true difficulty of her mission: the other party had to genuinely fall in love with her for her to return to her original world.

At times like this, the simplest and most effective strategy was “freezing.” Roland frowned in disgust at Tian Hu’s inappropriate words, then turned to leave the bar. If he stopped her to explain, everything could be resolved.

But Tian Hu didn’t move. He truly didn’t want any entanglement with a senior high school girl. To him, she was an unattainable diamond—something he could glance at but never hope to possess, especially now.

He stood still, watching Roland’s retreating figure. He thought the girl must like him, and he wanted to take her by chance. But after possession, what then? He knew he couldn’t offer her a future. Or rather, he had a premonition his own future was about to vanish.

“Senior year,” Tian Hu murmured, pulling out a cigarette pack from his pocket. Opening it, he found it empty. He stared blankly for a moment before crushing the pack into a ball. “Better not smoke.”

(The End of Chapter)