The road ahead is rough, why not just avoid it Insisting on going Can't resist stepping on it

"Bang!"

The metal door slammed shut with a measured force, followed by a crisp click as the lock snapped into place, sealing it firmly.

Alone in the rented apartment, free from Tang Manman’s presence, Lin Yu no longer had to maintain the exhausting facade of irritation that had become so hard to uphold.

Staring at the aged, deep-blue metal door before him, his thoughts drifted to Tang Manman on the other side. He exhaled a long, weary sigh, feeling nothing but emotional exhaustion.

Was Tang Manman a good person?

Absolutely. She was as good as they come.

As a friend, she was brave and loyal—so much so that she had risked herself to rescue him when he was unconscious in a dangerous situation. That was something even many of his so-called "ride-or-die" friends couldn’t have managed, let alone a seemingly delicate girl like her.

As a partner? Even better. She was the stunning campus belle, a top-tier academic achiever, yet devoid of the arrogance often found in geniuses. Soft-spoken and gentle, she gave off an air of quiet obedience, the kind that made her seem easy to push around.

By all accounts, she was the kind of dream girlfriend most people wouldn’t even dare fantasize about.

But...

She was great.

But were they really right for each other?

...

They were simply not on the same path.

Leaning back against the wall, Lin Yu sighed again, his gaze fixed ahead. Choosing to be with Tang Manman felt like staring at a future as tangled as a ball of yarn mauled by a cat—untangling it seemed as impossible as achieving a perfect ending.

It was the kind of challenge that made you want to give up at first glance.

Even if he ignored the vow he’d made upon first transmigrating—to stay away from the female lead—and disregarded the disastrous endings from the original story’s plot...

Setting aside all those abstract concerns and focusing purely on reality, the obstacles between him and Tang Manman were staggering.

Given her grades, Tang Manman was a shoo-in for the nation’s top universities. She might even land a spot in one of those elite institutions where renowned professors and prodigies were as common as weeds.

And him?

Even with the advantage of three years’ worth of high school knowledge from his past life, scraping into a decent-tier university was a stretch. If luck wasn’t on his side and the exams were particularly brutal, he might end up in a second-rate college.

There was no way he could get into the same caliber of school as Tang Manman.

And he couldn’t possibly deceive or pressure her into settling for some mediocre university with him.

If he did that, how would he be any different from the original story’s delinquent protagonist?

Choosing Tang Manman meant four years of long-distance romance was practically unavoidable.

Long-distance relationships.

Hah.

There was a saying online—one that rubbed people the wrong way but was undeniably true.

No matter how many hundreds of thousands of words you exchanged over the phone across hundreds of miles, none of it compared to holding an umbrella over her in the rain or handing her a bowl of ginger tea when she was cramping.

That was just the cold, hard truth.

Making a long-distance relationship work required an almost inhuman level of effort from both sides.

And graduation didn’t necessarily mean reunion. For him and Tang Manman, the gap between them might only widen after college.

It was an invisible, intangible divide—one far harder to bridge than physical distance. A divide called class.

Students from top-tier universities and those from mediocre ones simply didn’t walk the same path in life.

Then there was Tang Manman’s mother.

The last time they met, though she hid it well, Lin Yu could tell she regarded him with deep suspicion.

And who could blame her? What parent would willingly entrust their precious daughter to some punk with dyed hair who looked like trouble?

That was another obstacle he couldn’t ignore.

Not to mention the looming threat of the story’s original tragic ending and the whims of fate.

With all these factors stacked together...

Lin Yu felt like the road ahead was so daunting he could barely lift his feet.

Or maybe, just maybe, his feelings for Tang Manman weren’t strong enough to make him willingly tread that thorny path.

So...

Maybe it was time to choose a different road.

Sitting on the only wooden chair in the apartment, Lin Yu exhaled deeply, forcing himself to push Tang Manman out of his mind and focus on something else.

What was he supposed to do today again?

Hmm...

Oh!

Right!

Hadn’t he left his school assignments unfinished?

Yeah!

Homework!

Homework!

Given his status as an orphan, even if he skipped assignments, his homeroom teacher couldn’t really do much about it.

But he should still get it done.

Review the material.

Couldn’t slack off if he wanted decent grades in the future!

With that thought, Lin Yu pulled out his textbooks and workbooks from his worn-out shoulder bag and hunched over the multipurpose table—part dining surface, part makeshift desk—scribbling furiously...

...

Half an hour later.

Lin Yu stared blankly at the exercise book, where the only thing written under the problem was a single "Solution:"

His fingers clawed at his hair in frustration.

"Ahhh!!!"

"This is so annoying!!!"

He yelled, venting his frustration.

Then, just as suddenly as his outburst began, Lin Yu stilled. His fingers remained buried in his dyed-blond locks, but his eyes narrowed thoughtfully, glinting with something dark and unsettling.

If all else failed...

Maybe he should try his luck in the underworld?

Make a name for himself there.

Then the whole academic class divide wouldn’t even matter.

He’d be more than enough for Tang Manman—twice over!