"Hello, Dad?"
Xu Xiaoyou really wanted to complain. One second, the girl was saying she would bid farewell to the past with total conviction; the next, she picked up the phone looking like she was about to pour out ten thousand grievances to her parents.
"Hello... who is it?"
A muddled voice came from the other end of the line, sounding like someone who had just woken up from a heavy hangover. The voice was hazy and detached, as if it might drift away into the sky like a loose cloud at any moment.
"It's me, Xiao Ran."
"How has your health been lately..."
"Xiao Ran? Who's that? Don't bother me. Get lost, get lost, get lost."
Before the girl could finish, the call was disconnected with a blunt beep.
Lin Ran: "..."
She held the phone in her hand, staring blankly for a long time.
"Does your dad often drink things with 'sleepwalking fish' in them?" Xu Xiaoyou asked casually.
Lin Ran bit her lip and nodded gently.
"Dad must be tired. He was probably just a bit dazed and didn't recognize me. He used to call me every few days to ask how I was doing and if work was going well."
"And then ask you for money at the end of the call?"
Lin Ran was silenced by the question. She searched her memories, but finally, she just bit down on her lip and dialed the second number.
Xu Xiaoyou noticed that the girl's entire hand was trembling slightly.
As the call connected, Lin Ran's nose twitched, and her voice came out in a rush:
"Mom..."
"Eh? Xiao Ran, why are you calling me at this time?"
"It's nothing, I just... I'm feeling a bit down. Mom, can you listen to me for a bit? I have so many things I want to get off my chest."
"Sigh, what's there to be upset about? You're an adult now; you should be able to manage your emotions better than this."
"Mom!" Lin Ran shouted into the phone, losing her composure.
"What are you shouting for?! Hey! Pong! I win! I win! Hahaha! I've been losing all night, I finally won a hand back. Alright, I'm busy, hanging up now."
"I..."
The call was disconnected again.
"Are you okay?"
Xu Xiaoyou almost couldn't bear to watch any longer. The girl looked like a puppet that had lost its strings. After putting down her phone, she sat on the floor in a daze, leaning against the edge of the sofa while hugging her plushie, not coming back to her senses for a long time.
"Are... are you going to cry?"
Before Xu Xiaoyou could finish, the girl threw herself into her arms. Tears fell from her delicate face like a burst dam, and her shoulders shook uncontrollably as she buried her head against Xu Xiaoyou and sobbed loudly.
"They're all so hateful..."
"Why? Why am I so unlucky? Why is my luck always so bad? It's too unfair, all of this is just too unfair, isn't it?"
The girl cried as she poured out her past grievances, as if she wanted to vent every bit of suffering she had ever endured. Xu Xiaoyou didn't know how to comfort her, so she simply patted her back gently.
"Why does every piece of bad luck fall on my head? Why me...?"
Lin Ran cried for a long time until her face was stained with tears and her eyelids were swollen. Only then did her emotions begin to stabilize.
With red-rimmed eyes, she blew her nose. Realizing she had just made a fool of herself, she huffed and turned her head away.
"Go ahead and laugh if you want to. You don't have to hold it in."
"I don't care anyway!"
"You're practically the second most miserable person in the city I've ever seen," Xu Xiaoyou sighed.
"Then who's the first?"
Xu Xiaoyou pointed at herself.
"There's no one more pathetic than me."
Lin Ran stared at Xu Xiaoyou for a long time. Seeing the genuine seriousness on the other girl's face, she suddenly broke into a laugh through her tears, letting out a smile that looked more pained than her crying.
"Thank you. Actually, you're a pretty good person. I feel much better."
"Please don't think that, or I'll have a guilty conscience when I do bad things," Xu Xiaoyou said, waving her hand.
"Whew..."
Lin Ran took a deep breath, suppressing all her emotions. She tilted her head and smiled at Xu Xiaoyou.
"You don't mind if I make a bit of noise, do you?"
Before Xu Xiaoyou could react, Lin Ran dashed to the window, threw it open, and shouted at the night sky at the top of her lungs:
"Go to hell! You bunch of idiots! I'm starting my new life! Past life, NE-VER! SEE-YOU! A-GAIN!"
"Hey, hey, hey! This is a fresh account, don't mess it up!"
Xu Xiaoyou didn't expect this girl to be so bold. Her eyes widened, and she rushed forward to pull Lin Ran back before she could do anything more irrational.
"Hehehe."
Being pulled back, Lin Ran blinked and apologized to Xu Xiaoyou with a silly smile.
"Sorry, sorry!"
"Sigh, whatever."
"I really do feel better. It's like all the heavy stones in my heart have finally dropped."
She gave Xu Xiaoyou another big hug.
"I'm dying of exhaustion, so I'm going to sleep first! Goodnight."
In the blink of an eye, Lin Ran scurried behind the bedroom door. She closed it gently, peering through a small crack.
"Tomorrow I'll go buy some groceries and cook for you guys. Anya is still growing, right? Stop feeding her that bag of dog food; it's not good for her to eat that kind of stuff."
Lin Ran gave Xu Xiaoyou a wink and closed the door before the girl could respond.
Xu Xiaoyou stood there in a daze for a moment. Finally, she gave a small smile and shook her head.
When she turned around, a figure identical to her was standing in front of her.
The Substitute had come out at some point and seemed to have been standing there for a while.
A card in Xu Xiaoyou's hand turned into light and merged into her body.
【Skill card Sword Arts Training used, effect 'Swordsman's Keenness' obtained. Sword skill slightly enhanced. Duration: 6h.】
After using the skill card, a red light glowed on Xu Xiaoyou's body, looking like a positive buff from a game.
She picked up a wooden training sword she had bought on the way and tried swinging it through the air. A whistling sound rang out. It was so fast that an afterimage of the blade remained.
【Sword Maiden Resonance: Mind's Eye proficiency increased. 1/1000.】
Xu Xiaoyou's eyes lit up. The effect was much better than she had imagined.
After obtaining the Swordsman's Keenness effect, a wealth of knowledge flooded into her mind. In an instant, she mastered all the basic techniques of swordsmanship—where to apply force in her hands, how to rotate her shoulders, how to move her feet, and how to make her swings more powerful. Every move, every form, and every movement was engraved in her brain like muscle memory, feeling entirely natural.
She had a feeling that if she went to duel a beginner swordsman right now, she could easily beat them until they ran away with their heads in their hands.
As for the proficiency of that sword master thing, Xu Xiaoyou still hadn't figured out exactly what was going on.
Sword Maiden? She had an impression of this class. It was a branch of the wandering swordsman, a talent that only women could obtain. Compared to the fierce and blunt style of a wandering swordsman, a sword maiden's posture was usually more agile and eerie, and their stabs were more lethal, often aiming for a one-hit kill through surprise attacks.
Why would a sword maiden talent appear on a card maker's panel?
Proficiency 1/1000...
Suddenly, a thought popped into Xu Xiaoyou's head, planted like a seed in her heart. A voice constantly urged her to water and fertilize that seed so it could break through the clouds and see the light of day.
If this idea was true...
If it were true!
Her heart raced. Suppressing her pounding heart and excitement, she walked up to the Substitute.
Observing the red light on the Substitute, she confirmed that the Substitute had obtained the same effect. She tossed the wooden sword to her.
"Try swinging the sword once for me."
The Substitute caught the sword, remaining indifferent.
"Hey, being disobedient, are we!"
Just as Xu Xiaoyou rolled up her sleeves, intending to teach the rebellious Substitute a lesson.
The Substitute said expressionlessly, "I want a hug, too."
Rate on N.U.
