Chapter 3: What’s Not in the Game
Lu Zhiyin spent several tens of minutes in a daze, slumped on her desk. When the bell rang, her history teacher returned to the classroom to collect the papers.
Lu Zhiyin’s class was Class 2, Year 1. Her history teacher was a bald, middle-aged male, who looked a bit greasy. Lu Zhiyin felt a slight bit more alert, as people like this were always dangerous in games.
When the history teacher came to Lu Zhiyin’s desk, Lu Zhiyin naturally handed in a blank paper. This caused the history teacher’s gaze to turn dissatisfied, but Lu Zhiyin couldn’t care less anymore.
As soon as the history teacher collected the papers and left, the classroom became noisy. Lu Zhiyin remembered that there were occasional conversations like this when she was in the classroom in the game, but they were never as clear as they were now.
Forcing herself to become more alert, Lu Zhiyin looked at her deskmate, Leng Qing Qiu. The girl with brown hair was holding her bag, putting the stationery on the desk into it item by item.
“…” Lu Zhiyin did not rashly reach out to the girl. Sitting in her wheelchair, she carefully considered whether to ask Leng Qing Qiu for help. She thought she might need someone to help her get her phone back from Qin An. The wound on her forehead seemed less important compared to the tool she would rely on for a long time in the future.
However, would Leng Qing Qiu really help her? Would asking her for help rashly worsen their relationship? Everything was unknown. When she was still male, Lu Zhiyin had never tried to get Leng Qing Qiu’s help in the game.
“What’s wrong? Zhiyin.” While Lu Zhiyin was still struggling internally, Leng Qing Qiu had already finished packing her things. She put on her shoulder bag, stood up, and looked at Lu Zhiyin quietly, her eyes showing no emotion.
“…Oh, I remembered, I still need to take you to the infirmary.” Before Lu Zhiyin could speak, Leng Qing Qiu slapped her forehead, walked behind Lu Zhiyin, grabbed the handles of the wheelchair, and pushed Lu Zhiyin out of the classroom.
Outside the classroom was the corridor. Students were already coming out of the surrounding classrooms with their school bags. Lu Zhiyin looked at the sky outside the corridor; it was still bright. Was it so early for school to be over?
Her surprise lasted only a short time. She remembered that school ended at 3:30 PM every day in the game, which was indeed very early.
After pushing Lu Zhiyin for a considerable distance, Leng Qing Qiu took her into the elevator and then pushed her to the infirmary door on the first floor. The infirmary door was much prettier than the classroom door. The brand-new iron door was open, revealing the hospital beds, medicine cabinets, and curtains used to protect student privacy inside. Lu Zhiyin looked at the sign on the door; it did indeed say “Infirmary,” so they hadn’t gone to the wrong place.
The infirmary door was surprisingly narrow, and the wheelchair couldn’t fit. Lu Zhiyin instinctively braced herself against the door frame, wanting to walk in herself, momentarily forgetting her current disabled status.
As a result, she fell, as expected. Leng Qing Qiu stood there and watched her for a moment before pulling the wheelchair aside and picking her up. During this time, Leng Qing Qiu’s expression remained unchanged. After placing Lu Zhiyin on a hospital bed near the door, Leng Qing Qiu began to search the medicine cabinet.
“…” Sitting alone on the hospital bed, Lu Zhiyin looked at her palm. There were still some scrapes from her fall, but they weren’t serious and didn’t even break the skin. Lu Zhiyin felt inexplicably embarrassed. Her behavior just now must have seemed very stupid to Leng Qing Qiu. She thought it would be great if she could check the female lead’s affection for her like in the game, but unfortunately, that was probably impossible.
She touched her legs. Amidst the embarrassment, Lu Zhiyin also felt a bit frustrated. Transmigrating was one thing, but why did she have to inherit the game protagonist’s disability?
“Zhiyin.” Leng Qing Qiu’s voice sounded in Lu Zhiyin’s ears again. She held iodine, cotton swabs, and a roll of off-white gauze in her hands. Not knowing how to respond, Lu Zhiyin chose to remain silent. She was really afraid that saying the wrong thing would lead to unsolvable problems. Although she was very bold when playing the game, she had become timid after coming to this world in person.
Approaching Lu Zhiyin, Leng Qing Qiu slowly peeled off the band-aid on Lu Zhiyin’s forehead and then gently wiped the wound on her forehead with a cotton swab dipped in iodine. The cold touch on her forehead made Lu Zhiyin’s shoulders tremble, but it wasn’t as painful as she expected.
While letting Leng Qing Qiu treat her wound, Lu Zhiyin began to worry about her future life. In the game, the bullying the protagonist suffered was constant, meaning she might be a frequent visitor to the infirmary. The pain she felt when being bullied by Qin An flashed in her mind, and Lu Zhiyin pursed her lips. She really didn’t want to experience the pain that shouldn’t belong to her.
She also thought of that inexplicable deity. Just because the way she played the game displeased it, it threw her here to suffer. Lu Zhiyin harbored resentment towards that so-called deity.
…
“All done.” Leng Qing Qiu wrapped the wound on Lu Zhiyin’s forehead with gauze and rubbed her hands. She stood by the hospital bed, quietly looking at Lu Zhiyin.
“By the way, Zhiyin, why do I feel like you’re different from usual today?” As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Zhiyin started to feel nervous. What would happen if Leng Qing Qiu found out that she wasn’t the childhood friend she knew? Lu Zhiyin didn’t know.
“Hah… Wh-what’s different… It must be your imagination.” Lu Zhiyin tried her best to calm down, not revealing her nervousness at all. At the same time, she cursed herself internally for being cowardly; why was she so nervous about such a small thing?
“…” Silently, Leng Qing Qiu just kept looking at Lu Zhiyin.
“…Ri-right, can you do me a favor… Um, I told you before that Qin An took my phone, right? That’s the thing I rely on for my livelihood. Without my phone, I can’t earn money. So, can you come with me to get it back?” Under Leng Qing Qiu’s gaze, Lu Zhiyin felt immense pressure. In the end, she couldn’t bear it and stiffly changed the subject.
“You have indeed changed. I remember, Zhiyin, you haven’t asked me for help in a very, very long time.” As Leng Qing Qiu spoke, Lu Zhiyin’s back began to sweat. This was completely different from her memory. Why did it sound like Lu Zhiyin used to ask her for help often? The game never mentioned anything about the protagonist’s life before high school, so Lu Zhiyin couldn’t understand the current situation at all.
“However, even though it’s rare for you to ask me for help actively, Zhiyin, I don’t dare to mess with Qin An. Let’s go, it’s time to go home.” Fortunately, Leng Qing Qiu didn’t probe further. She simply refused Lu Zhiyin’s request, then picked Lu Zhiyin up from the hospital bed, placed her back in the wheelchair outside the infirmary, and pushed her towards the school gate.
