"Three, two, one. Cheese!"
Cheers erupted as the sound of shutters clicking filled the air.
Ren Yi followed his high school classmates in tossing his graduation cap into the sky. Watching them spin in the sunlight, he felt a momentary daze.
In the blink of an eye, he had already been in this world for many years.
This world was different from his original home. It had been unified long ago, governed by a political entity called "The Alliance."
Because of the long-lasting peace, the social welfare was almost unbelievably good.
Everyone enjoyed free education up to the university level, and jobs were assigned upon graduation. Even orphans were supported by a comprehensive foster system.
The bad news was that Ren Yi had become a member of the transmigrated orphan army.
The good news was that he hadn't ended up in a foster home. Instead, he had been raised by his brother, who was over a decade older than him.
Aside from that, this world was ordinary and mundane. For a transmigrator, it was hard to say whether that was a blessing or a curse.
"Hey, Bench."
A hand suddenly slapped Ren Yi's shoulder.
Ren Yi turned around, a bit speechless, to look at the newcomer. "Old Lu, what kind of nonsense nickname have you come up with now?"
The newcomer grinned. "Since your name is basically 'Chair,' I've carefully selected 'Bench' as your nickname. You're welcome."
The speaker was Ren Yi's best friend, Lu Zihan—yes, the same Zihan from that 'My Dear Zihan' meme.
Ignoring Ren Yi's dissatisfaction, Lu Zihan slung an arm around him and forced him to walk. "Bench, how are your preparations for the Professional Allocation Test going?"
"So, even the great Lu has times when he gets nervous?" Ren Yi struggled in vain, rolled his eyes, and spoke ruthlessly.
The Professional Allocation Test was one of the biggest differences between The Alliance and his previous life.
The Alliance guaranteed that everyone received a fair education, so there was no life-deciding college entrance exam.
However, human energy is limited, and everyone eventually faces the difficult choice of a major.
To address this, The Alliance developed the Professional Allocation Test, which uses brainwave detection to recommend the most suitable career path for students.
Lu Zihan gave an embarrassed laugh. "Aww, don't expose me like that. Are you telling me you're not nervous?"
Ren Yi shrugged. "It's fine. It's not like you're forced to choose the major the test recommends."
Lu Zihan immediately deflated. "My parents definitely won't let me change it. As for you, uh..."
He suddenly remembered Ren Yi's family situation. "Well, you actually have a chance."
The two of them walked toward the school gate, chatting idly.
Thud!
Just then, Ren Yi suddenly heard a dull sound.
The sound was very close, like a bag filled with thick liquid falling from a great height and bursting open on the ground, carrying an indescribable sense of wetness and viscosity.
Ren Yi came to a sudden halt. His heart began to pound for no reason, as if startled by the abrupt noise.
He subconsciously looked around, but the people nearby acted as if they hadn't heard the loud thud. Students leaving school were still bustling about, and a janitor in the distance continued to sweep the ground mechanically, without the slightest pause in movement.
"What's wrong?" Lu Zihan stopped as well, asking in confusion.
"You didn't hear that?" Ren Yi was turning his head left and right, searching for the source of the sound, and spoke in surprise when he heard the question.
Lu Zihan shook his head blankly.
Ren Yi frowned deeply. It couldn't have been an auditory hallucination; the sound was too clear.
Following his intuition, he looked toward the base of a nearby dormitory building. A circle of people had gathered there, each of them half a head taller than him.
They were students from the University Department.
"Why are the university students here?" Lu Zihan saw them too, his voice full of confusion. "Aren't they supposed to be in closed military training?"
Alliance First Academy had a complete educational system from kindergarten to university graduation, so students of all ages could be seen on campus.
But this was a bit strange.
Ren Yi's heart beat even faster. The summer sunlight was a blinding white, and although it beat down on his skin, it didn't feel hot at all. Instead, it felt strangely cold.
He touched his chest. For some reason, he was extremely concerned about that sound from just now.
He pulled Lu Zihan along. "Let's go take a look."
However, before they could get close, the university students noticed them first.
"What are you looking at?" The tallest male student stepped forward, his eyes fixed on them, speaking in an unfriendly tone.
Ren Yi's gaze swept past him toward the center of the group.
There was nothing there.
In the spot where Ren Yi imagined something should be, the marble floor was so clean it reflected shadows. There wasn't even a smudge, as if silently mocking his overreaction.
Ren Yi's nose twitched. It felt itchy, as if stimulated by something, yet he clearly couldn't smell anything.
"What are you guys doing here?" Seeing how rude the other party was, Lu Zihan's stubbornness flared up. "Acting all suspicious—you won't even let people look?"
"What's going on?" The commotion here caught the attention of the remaining university students.
For some reason, after seeing Ren Yi and Lu Zihan, they seemed to show a hint of nervousness.
Ren Yi tugged at Lu Zihan, signaling for them to retreat first.
He was just curious about the source of the loud thud, but the reaction of this group seemed off.
They had their Professional Allocation Test tomorrow. Getting into a conflict now would be no different from getting into a fight the day before the college entrance exam.
In short, there was no need to get himself and Lu Zihan into trouble for such a reason.
But the moment he lifted his foot to step away, he suddenly felt something was wrong. It was as if something had grabbed his foot, leaving a faint, sticky sensation.
He reflexively kicked his leg out and stepped back.
Ren Yi looked down and found that his shoe had been soaked by something. Several long, watery streaks had appeared on the surface.
He followed the source of the streaks and saw that a puddle of liquid was slowly seeping out from the ground where the university students were standing, flowing along the cracks in the floor tiles toward his feet.
But if it was just liquid, why did it have that sensation just now?
Before he could think it through, a sharp female voice suddenly rang out.
"What are you doing surrounding my students!"
"Ms. Zhang!" Lu Zihan cried out in pleasant surprise. Ren Yi turned back to see their homeroom teacher, Ms. Zhang, standing behind them. Her usually smiling face was currently cold.
Of course, that coldness wasn't directed at them.
Ms. Zhang glanced quickly at the ground, then turned to the university students, her tone instantly chilling. "This is military training time. What are you doing here? Who is your instructor?"
Under the pressure of a "teacher," the university students who had been aggressive just a moment ago instantly withered.
"It was these two child—these kids who came over first," the boy who had blocked them muttered.
"My students are all good children who haven't 'grown up' yet. It's impossible for them to look for trouble proactively," Ms. Zhang's voice rose sharply, placing heavy emphasis on the words "grown up" and "good children."
Ren Yi hid behind Ms. Zhang, feeling a bit touched as he watched her defend them without hesitation.
Still, was Ms. Zhang usually such a forceful person?
"Teacher, I'm sorry."
At that moment, a girl wearing black-rimmed glasses stepped out from the group of university students.
"I'm the Disciplinary Committee member. A student just now... uh... to avoid a dorm inspection, they jumped from the second floor and broke a water pipe. That's why we're gathered here to deal with it."
Wasn't that reason a bit too absurd?
Ren Yi felt his nose itching even more.
Ms. Zhang, however, seemed to believe it. She adjusted her glasses, and her tone softened slightly.
"Since you're the Disciplinary Committee member, then you arrange it. Clean this place up and get someone to fix the water pipe as soon as possible. Don't leave any traces."
After she finished speaking, she didn't even look at the university students. She directly grabbed Ren Yi and Lu Zihan by the wrists and walked quickly toward the school gate.
Ren Yi glanced back and saw the university students squatting on the ground, frantically wiping the clean floor with something.
And that seeping, sticky flow of water had disappeared at some point, leaving only a few damp patches that were evaporating at a visible rate under the sun.
"You two!" Ms. Zhang's voice interrupted his thoughts. "The Professional Allocation Test is tomorrow. Instead of going back to rest properly, what are you doing joining in on the chaos?"
Ren Yi and Lu Zihan could only nod in agreement under their teacher's pressure.
Ms. Zhang escorted them all the way to the school gate, giving them a few more worried reminders about the test precautions before letting them leave.
"I see your brother has come to pick you up. I'm heading out first." Lu Zihan patted Ren Yi's shoulder.
"Yeah, good luck on the test." Ren Yi waved to him, then couldn't help but glance back at the school gate.
He suppressed the strange feeling in his heart, steadied himself, and turned toward the side of the road.
Standing there was a somewhat thin young man wearing a white shirt, leaning against an electric scooter.
The young man was staring ahead, his eyes vacant, as if lost in thought.
"Brother!" Ren Yi called out.
The young man was Ren Yi's brother in this life, and his only relative in both lives—Ren Man.
Hearing the call, Ren Man's gaze slowly focused. He looked down at the approaching Ren Yi, his dazed expression instantly becoming calm and gentle.
"Xiao Yi," he replied softly.
Ren Yi was used to Ren Man's somewhat slow and vacant manner. He habitually took the helmet from the scooter and put it on.
It wasn't until he climbed onto the back of the scooter that he noticed Ren Man hadn't moved.
Ren Yi paused, and following his brother's gaze, he slowly looked at his own shoe.
Even though he had only stepped in it once, the shoe was completely soaked, giving off an uncomfortable, sticky sensation.
Ren Yi was about to explain, but Ren Man had already looked away and started the scooter.
They slowly merged into the flow of traffic on the electric scooter.
Putting the incident from just now behind him, Ren Yi began to tell Ren Man about things at school.
"...Anyway, Ms. Zhang said my scores are really high, so I'll definitely get priority for professional allocation. Oh, and Old Lu said his uncle's escape room needs people, so I'm planning to work there with him for the summer..."
Ren Man didn't respond, but Ren Yi was used to his silence.
He spoke, and Ren Man listened; this was how the two of them always interacted.
After finishing his school stories, Ren Yi suddenly remembered something and asked, "Brother, did you go see the doctor today?"
Ren Man nodded from the front. Ren Yi understood that this meant, "I went, and there are no problems."
On the surface, Ren Man appeared to be a super-introverted person who spoke very little.
But from a diagnostic standpoint, Ren Man was a person with mild autism and OCD, right on the edge of being able to live independently.
The Alliance provided a mature support system for such vulnerable groups. For someone like Ren Man, his job was organizing books and documents in the library.
"Tomorrow..." Ren Man suddenly spoke.
Ren Yi was startled. It wasn't common for his brother to initiate a conversation.
"Xiao Yi, the test is coming," Ren Man said slowly.
"Mhm, don't worry, Brother. I've already researched it thoroughly," Ren Yi reassured him, his tone light.
"The Alliance guarantees that the test won't cause any physical problems. It's just that the mental burden is a bit heavy, so I might need to rest for a few days."
Sometimes, he felt more like the older one of the two brothers.
As for the mental burden? Ren Yi wasn't worried at all.
Although Ren Man wasn't good at expressing himself, his life skills and ability to care for others were practically maxed out.
The only concern was whether he would gain three pounds from his brother's cooking if he stayed in bed for a few extra days.
"Xiao Yi is going to grow up soon." Ren Man's tone was full of gratification.
His voice was very soft, as if he had been looking forward to this for a long time.
Ren Yi realized something. People in The Alliance didn't consider their eighteenth birthday as the mark of adulthood. Instead, they believed that passing the Professional Allocation Test was what it meant to truly "grow up."
What Ms. Zhang had repeatedly emphasized today likely meant the same thing.
"Yeah, Brother."
Ren Yi answered seriously, as various moments from this life flashed through his mind.
The phrase "the eldest brother is like a father" was definitely not an exaggeration in his case. Because Ren Man was "not ordinary," the effort he put into this role was only greater.
For some reason, he responded with deep sincerity:
"I'm going to grow up."
Rate on N.U.
