He Is Sick

Lin Mo bought a shredded chicken rice meal and a roujiamo before heading home.

Just as he reached the stairs, he heard a voice.

"Ah, Lin, you're back?"

The loud voice belonged to the landlady, Zheng Yuan. Lin Mo had already heard her from downstairs.

"Hello, Auntie Zheng. No evening self-study today, so I came back right after school."

Noticing the takeout in Lin Mo’s hand, Zheng Yuan thought for a moment and said, "I made some corn and radish pork bone soup at home today—ended up with too much. Want me to bring you some later?"

The same thing had happened in his past life.

But back then, Lin Mo had refused her kindness.

This time, he accepted.

"Thank you, Auntie Zheng. It’s been a long time since I’ve had properly homemade soup."

He wasn’t lying. From his rebirth until now, he truly hadn’t tasted home-cooked soup in ages.

Zheng Yuan was delighted that he didn’t reject her offer.

She immediately headed upstairs.

"Don’t call me ‘landlady auntie’—just ‘Auntie Zheng’ is fine. I’ll have Yuling bring the soup over later."

Lin Mo quickly replied, "No need, I’ll come up and get it myself. No need to trouble her."

"It’s no trouble at all." Zheng Yuan waved him off and continued upstairs.

"Thank you, Auntie Zheng."

Lin Mo watched her hurried figure disappear, repeatedly expressing his gratitude.

Looking back now, he realized how ungrateful and socially inept he had been in the past.

But then again, it had just been self-preservation.

Lin Mo carried his food into his apartment. Just as he finished eating, there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?"

"It’s me." Xie Yuling’s voice came from behind the door.

Lin Mo opened it to see Xie Yuling, freshly showered, her hair carrying a faint, pleasant fragrance.

In her hands was a cylindrical thermal lunchbox.

"Thanks for coming all this way. By the way, how should I address you?"

Lin Mo took the lunchbox from her, pretending not to know her name.

"I’m Xie Yuling," she answered.

"Nice to meet you, Xie Yuling. I’m Lin Mo. Let’s get along well."

"Mm." She nodded, then, as if realizing her response was too brief, added,

"Let’s get along well."

......

September 2nd.

Lin Mo stretched, his body cracking like firecrackers.

Yet he felt refreshed and invigorated.

Cultivating qi was essentially refining spiritual energy into one’s own qi.

Then using qi to nurture more qi.

Lin Mo walked to the kitchen, took out a stainless steel soup spoon, and gripped the handle with one hand.

With the other, he extended a single finger and lightly tapped the spoon.

A faint white aura coiled around his fingertip. With just the slightest pressure—

The spoon bent.

And this was without him even exerting force.

If he wanted to kill an ordinary person, it’d be easier than slaughtering a chicken.

[Today’s Mission: Complete footwork training by circling the sect’s training field without rest (0/20 laps)]

Lin Mo pondered for a moment before realizing—this was just telling him to run laps.

Twenty laps without stopping.

It sounded simple. And it was simple.

With his current physique, twenty laps were nothing.

He didn’t know why the system assigned such a task, but he’d find time to do it.

He could finish it by noon.

Heading downstairs for breakfast, he unexpectedly ran into Xie Yuling at the diner.

Thinking back, Lin Mo recalled that Auntie Zheng usually didn’t wake up this early.

So Xie Yuling either made her own breakfast or ate out.

Lin Mo sat down across from her without hesitation.

"Mind if I join you?"

Xie Yuling blinked, then shook her head.

Soon, Lin Mo’s rice noodle rolls arrived.

This shop’s stone-ground rice batter was excellent—the rolls were smooth and silky, a favorite of his.

Xie Yuling ate at a moderate pace, neither too fast nor too slow.

But after finishing her plate, she remained seated.

Lin Mo could tell she was waiting for him, but he didn’t ask. He just ate at his usual speed.

Soon, his plate was clean.

Before Lin Mo finished, Xie Yuling had already stood and walked toward the door.

Lin Mo wiped his mouth but didn’t hurry after her.

Instead, he maintained a steady distance, their paces nearly synchronized.

As they walked, Lin Mo wondered—in his past life, Xie Yuling hadn’t acted like this around him.

Was it because of their rooftop encounter?

Xie Yuling, of course, knew Lin Mo was following her at a deliberate distance.

She wasn’t sure why she had waited for him earlier. Maybe because he seemed lonely?

Or perhaps there was something inexplicably compelling about him.

But she’d never admit it.

......

Today’s military training was still about standing at attention, but now they practiced marching in formation.

"One! One! One-two-one!"

"One! One! One-two-one!"

The drill instructor barked commands, his sharp eyes scrutinizing every movement.

If even one person in the row was out of sync, they had to start over!

Lin Mo’s movements were flawless, but some in their row kept messing up.

As a result, they had to repeat the drill again and again.

"Stop! You—you’re out of step again! How can you keep messing up something as basic as marching?"

The student being scolded, Xu Sheng, paled under the instructor’s glare.

Others in the group shot him annoyed looks.

Xu Sheng wanted to explain but didn’t know what to say. He didn’t understand why he kept stumbling.

Lin Mo glanced at Xu Sheng.

He remembered him—when their class was reshuffled in sophomore year, many left, but Xu Sheng stayed in Class 8.

But Xu Sheng never took the college entrance exam. Or rather, he couldn’t.

During winter break of their first year, Xu Sheng was diagnosed with cerebrovascular blockage.

By the time it was caught, surgery was too risky, leaving him with lasting complications.

In the end, Xu Sheng only made it to the end of senior year—the gaokao was beyond his ability.

So Lin Mo stepped forward.

"Report!"

The instructor, already irritable, snapped, "What?!"

"Xu Sheng’s missteps aren’t intentional—it’s due to a cerebrovascular condition. I was his middle school classmate, and everyone in our grade knew about it. Please go easy on him."

Xu Sheng froze. He didn’t remember having this condition… or ever knowing Lin Mo.

The instructor narrowed his eyes and strode up to Lin Mo.

"He doesn’t have a mouth? Needs you to speak for him?"

Lin Mo remained calm. "He does. But some things are hard to say out loud. We should support each other. As his old classmate, I felt it was my duty to step in."

Hearing this, several boys subtly gave Lin Mo approving nods.

But from another row, Su Mingzhao sneered and muttered just loud enough for others to hear:

"If you don’t want to repeat drills, just say so. No need to make up illnesses about your classmates."