Chapter 151: [Passing the Imperial Examination] Everything Happens for a Reason
“My dad… divorced my mom when I was around six or seven. He had made some money back then and got a mistress on the side… That mistress was a college student…”
Ghostly aura churned violently around Han Yingying.
“A college student becoming someone’s mistress—has she no shame at all?! She even came to my house and openly declared she was a college student. Neither of my parents had an education, so my family didn’t think that woman was shameless. Instead, they all thought college students were wonderful, way better than my mom who came from the countryside. So my dad divorced my mom.”
“Moral character has nothing to do with academic qualifications. It was her own choice to degrade herself; having a higher degree only makes her actions all the more disgusting.”
Bai Cha gently comforted her, worried that if the girl got too agitated, her head might burst—just look at how the blood was streaming down.
“Exactly!” Han Yingying said through gritted teeth.
“So, ever since then, your mother has been forcing you to get into a good university, right?”
Those words instantly snuffed out Han Yingying’s fiery rage, casting her into deep despondency.
“Mhm… My mom said she was looked down on because she lacked an education and that nobody wanted her. She said I couldn’t end up unwanted like her. I had to get into university—only by going to university would someone want me, and only then would others respect me…”
“But I really… I really don’t know what happened to me. I couldn’t concentrate at all, and I couldn’t remember a single thing. Is it because I’m too stupid?”
In her grief, her eyeball slipped out once again.
“Were you always like this in the past? Or did it start after you entered high school, or perhaps in the later half of your senior year?”
Bai Cha gently popped it back into place for her once more.
The bullet chat room was completely numb by now.
“In my senior year, I think. One day, I suddenly realized I couldn’t remember anything. As long as I tried to focus, I’d get dizzy.”
“My mom gave me brain-boosting medicine, but it didn’t help at all. It only made me feel worse.”
“Did you try seeing a doctor?”
Han Yingying hesitated briefly before saying, “My mom called my grand-uncle. He’s a doctor and a college graduate working at a hospital. He said I just didn’t want to study hard, asking who on earth gets dizzy just from concentrating…”
Bai Cha’s brows furrowed tightly.
“That’s just his personal prejudice. You were displaying classic symptoms of brain fog. Long-term sleep deprivation coupled with anxiety and pressure, along with being unable to eat properly at noon—your nutrition simply couldn’t keep up. It’s completely normal to experience those symptoms under such conditions.”
Under her emotional strain, a fragment of Han Yingying’s shattered eye socket flaked off and fell away.
She burst into another round of bitter wailing.
“It wasn’t my fault… So it wasn’t my fault…”
A ghost’s crying was deeply agonizing to human ears—hence the phrase ghosts weeping and wolves howling.
Bai Cha closed her eyes, leaning back firmly against the wall while quietly covering her ears.
Only when Han Yingying finished crying did she speak up.
“Right. Now for the second question: After your death, aside from what you saw regarding your mother back then, do you know what happened afterward? For instance, how was your body handled?”
Han Yingying shook her head blankly.
“I was in a complete breakdown back then. I kept trying desperately to explain, but nobody could hear me. In the next moment, I found myself in a different place filled with many people like me—they were the same age as me, having died for the exact same reason.”
Bai Cha looked thoughtful.
In that case, what were these parents supposed to represent?
Were they truly the actual parents of these students?
Or were they merely copied sets of data—data placed inside the game?
Viewed this way, rather than claiming the game sought to fulfill the parents’ wishes or satisfy the parents’ obsession, it was far more akin to these children’s own lingering obsessions.
It was the obsession their parents had once inflicted upon these children, leaving them unable to find peace even after death.
Yet an obsession could never truly be fulfilled.
An obsession could only be let go.
However, people would always carry obsessions—just as she understood many logical truths, yet still held onto numerous obsessions she refused to let go of.
Still, looking at it this way, the difficulty of this instance was no longer quite as thorny.
Naturally, resolving the issue by killing the parents was completely out of the question under these circumstances—these children were watching from behind the scenes, after all.
“Can you appear before your mother?”
Han Yingying hesitated: “I don’t want her to see me looking like this…”
“It’s fine. I will continue to play your role. It’s enough as long as you can appear. Tomorrow morning, cooperate with me to put on an act—if you want to make your mother happy, as long as you trust me!”
Bai Cha looked at her with a gentle, reassuring gaze.
“Of course I trust you!” How could Han Yingying not trust her?
The air Bai Cha exuded was gentle yet profoundly cultured, possessing top-tier academic grades while being gorgeous to boot—this was everything she had dreamed of having.
What she couldn’t accomplish, someone as incredible as Bai Cha definitely could!
Bai Cha smiled.
Disregarding the gory state of her flesh, she lightly stroked her hair and outlined the plan for tomorrow morning.
Han Yingying showed a hint of hesitation upon listening, but upon catching the gentle yet firm look in Bai Cha’s eyes, she agreed immediately.
“Okay!”
“Then… Sister, you should get some sleep now. I’ve taken up too much of your time, I’m sorry.”
Han Yingying offered an embarrassed apology.
Bai Cha couldn’t really fall asleep anyway, though.
“It’s fine. It’s great that you’re here. Help me keep an eye out to make sure your mother doesn’t come over while I check on the game’s situation.”
Han Yingying nodded.
She didn’t mind someone else playing her role, as long as it was what her mother wanted.
Yet she also knew that if her mother realized it wasn’t her…
Bai Cha opened the bullet chat interface for a glance.
The screen was filled to the brim with praise calling her badass.
[Bare-handed eyeball reinstallation—the streamer is a ruthless person, followed!]
[Streamer, your side is so harmonious!]
[It’s because her grades are good! Those with bad grades have it rough—who would be willing to let someone with terrible grades replace them?]
[True that! I knew it—her grades are great because she was a top scorer! Holy crap, badass! Isn’t this instance basically a guaranteed clear now?]
[Turns out studying hard really is useful, sob sob…]
“Could someone pass a message in the livestream rooms of Li Shanshan, Guo Wenhao, Wang Jiapeng, and Chen Feiguang? Tell them to meet downstairs at Building 2 tomorrow morning, so we can walk to school together and chat. Thanks.”
[??]
[You’re asking us to pass messages for you? Keep dreaming!]
[Streamer, ignore them! I’ll help you pass the word!]
[Fuck, you guys are so eager to be lackeys, huh? It’s not like you’re clearing the instance! When you’re clearing instances, she won’t be helping you out!]
[Ah, right, right, right!]
[A bunch of keyboard warriors who can’t stand seeing others succeed, huh? I get it—it’s because nobody has ever helped you out in your lives, right? Take a leak and look at your own ugly faces, and you’ll know why nobody helps you!]
Seeing the bullet chat degenerate into a fight, Bai Cha closed the interface.
As for whether the message would actually get delivered or whether they would be willing to chat, that was none of her concern.
Bai Cha closed her eyes, intending to catch a brief nap.
Just as a wave of drowsiness hit her, daylight broke.
Fantastic.
This instance’s fast-forwarding time flow was not designed for the players’ benefit at all—it was literally forcing players to die.
Everyone would rather stay in the instance for thirty actual days, or even fifteen real days, than endure every single day being fast-forwarded like this.
No proper sleep, no proper studying, no proper eating.
And they still expected people to take the college entrance exam under these conditions?
Even a top scorer thrown in here would shout a massive holy shit.
Mother Han stepped inside.
Han Yingying naturally hid herself away.
“Yingying, time to wake up.”
Everything unfolded exactly like yesterday.
Bai Cha sat up with sleepy eyes, washed up hurriedly, and sat down in the living room.
Today, Mother Han didn’t serve brain matter again.
After finishing her milk, Bai Cha took the egg handed to her.
“Mom, you mentioned yesterday that rent was due…”
“That’s not for you to worry about! Mom will find a way to take care of it—you just focus on studying hard, that’s all!” Mother Han stated immediately.
Bai Cha pressed her lips together, keeping her head lowered.
“Alright, since you know how hard Mom works, just study hard, understand? Hurry off to school!”
“But Mom…”
Bai Cha raised her head.
At the exact same time, Han Yingying overlapped directly in front of Bai Cha, revealing her bloody, mutilated face.
“Don’t you remember? I’m already dead…”
