There was only one middle school in Mingshui Town—Private Mingshui High School, which combined both junior and senior departments. Every day at noon, when classes ended, all kinds of students poured out and passed through the shopping street. It was still spring, but the girls at that age could no longer hold back the fire of youth: short skirts and stockings everywhere, the brightest scenery in all of Mingshui Town.

Bai Changge stood at the entrance of the shopping street, staring at the passing students like some creep. Of course, he wasn’t actually just ogling those uniform girls’ long, bare legs. He was looking for someone. It was just that, from the outside, there wasn’t much difference.

“Ah, there they are.”

It took him quite a while before he finally found his targets.

It was a boy and a girl walking side by side. The boy wore glasses and had neatly combed hair, looking gentle and honest, like a model student. The girl had a chestnut bob, slightly wavy overall, with a hairclip at her temple decorated with a white flower pattern. They were walking shoulder to shoulder, but no matter how you looked, they didn’t seem like a couple. Both of them were obviously excited, but Bai Changge knew very well they were not excited about the same thing.

Because he knew them both. The boy was Lin Qingzheng—also known as Lin—Bai Changge’s childhood friend and a second-year at Private Mingshui High School. The girl was Lin’s little sister, named Linqin, who had just moved up into the high school division this year.

“Brother Bai!”

The two spotted Bai Changge at the entrance of the shopping street at a glance. It wasn’t that he stood out in some cool way; it was just that among a crowd of students, there was this one unfashionably dressed man with a head of conspicuous curls. He was an eyesore. The Lin siblings had been tagging along after Bai Changge since they were little. The pair was three or four years younger than him, and he’d always played the big-brother role for them.

“Let’s go. I’ve got some things to ask you.”

Bai Changge waved back at them and headed straight into the shopping street.

When they got back to the general store, the Lin siblings caught the smell coming from the kitchen.

“Smells so good! Is that Uncle Tong’s fish?”

Lin took a deep sniff, looking satisfied and still wanting more. He was just about to inhale again when Bai Changge pinched his nose shut.

“If you want to eat, then answer a few questions honestly.”

Bai Changge plopped down on the floor. He’d done some cleaning while Lin was still at school, so the shop was fairly tidy now, with no obvious dust. But he’d still have to go over the hidden corners later.

“I knew it. If you’re treating us to food, there’s no way it’s out of the goodness of your heart.”

Lin sat down in front of Bai Changge. The moment he sat, Linqin grabbed him by the ear.

“Brother Bai hasn’t come back in so long. He’s already being super nice treating us to a meal, and you dare complain about him asking a few questions?”

Don’t be fooled by how obedient Linqin looked outside; she was a genuine big-brother sadist. Watching Lin yelp and whine, Bai Changge couldn’t help feeling a little sympathy. His own little sister treated him the same way sometimes—only even more brutal.

Once the two finally calmed down, Bai Changge spoke slowly.

“You two… ever heard of another world?”

The moment he finished, the Lin siblings both froze. Then—pfft!—they burst out laughing, clutching their stomachs.

“What—what’s so funny!?”

A bad feeling crept up on Bai Changge. These two probably thought he was some kind of alien, just like those people online. But what was going on here?

“Brother Bai, news about other worlds spread through the real world ages ago. Everyone’s accepted it now, old and young. Uncle Tong’s family is the only one in all of Mingshui Town still refusing to believe it. You probably won’t believe this, but lots of people who crossed over to the other world have come back already. They showed the whole world what it was like over there. People call them Returnees.”

Lin couldn’t help puffing out his chest when he got to this part, and said proudly:

“And I’m one of those Returnees.”

“You!?”

Bai Changge was stunned. He had no idea Lin had also been to another world.

“Of course. I might’ve only stayed there for less than a year, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m a Returnee.”

Lin got more and more hyped as he talked. He stood up without realizing it, one hand over his chest, the other stretched out in the air like some arrogant orator.

Then his ears suffered his dear little sister’s wrath again.

“But seriously, Brother Bai, you really didn’t know any of this? Were things okay for you over there?”

Linqin had been excited from the very start, clearly burning with curiosity about what Bai Changge had gone through.

“Me? Over there, I…”

Before he could finish, Lin jumped in again.

“Everyone in town said you got tricked into some pyramid scheme. It’s a miracle you made it back in one piece!”

…A pyramid scheme!?

“Wait, didn’t Uncle Tong tell you where I went?”

Bai Changge regretted asking as soon as the words came out. Lin had just said Uncle Tong’s family was the only one still “deluded,” so of course they wouldn’t believe that Bai Changge went to some ‘crossing ritual.’ And since he’d only told Uncle Tong’s family where he was going, that ‘other world’ in their mouths had probably been translated into a ‘pyramid scheme.’

“It was Uncle Tong who told everyone in town you’d been scammed into a pyramid scheme.”

…I knew it…

“So when you said ‘over there’ on the phone before, you meant…”

“You didn’t mean a pyramid scheme?”

“Let’s just eat…”

Bai Changge pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a long sigh.

At the table.

“By the way, Brother Bai, have you gotten in touch with Bai Wei at all?”

After swallowing a bite of fish, Lin looked over at Bai Changge, curious.

…So just because my sister’s not here, you’re not going to call her ‘Sister Bai Wei,’ huh…

“I called before you two came, but no one picked up.”

Bai Changge held up a note and waved it in front of Lin’s face. The note had been stuck to the bag holding the fish, and on it was Bai Wei’s current phone number.

“That so? What a shame. I was planning to share some super explosive news with her.”

Lin looked a little disappointed as he spoke, his phone still in his hand.

“What news? That thing about the number-one ranker retiring?”

Curious now, Bai Changge followed along and asked.

“No, no, no. We’ve known about that for ages. This one’s brand-new, like, two hours ago. Well? Interested?”

Lin shook his phone a little, deliberately acting mysterious.

“Hurry up and say it.”

“Heh-heh-heh, look.”

Lin moved the screen right up in front of Bai Changge’s eyes.

“A mysterious account with the username ‘Bai Tianzhao’ showed up in my thread and even replied. Think it could be the real deal?”

One glance at the screen was enough to make Bai Changge feel awful.

So you’re that crazy EXP–farming thread starter…

“I don’t think so. If he really is that number one, he’d probably keep a low profile, right?”

He gave a token analysis as he answered. He did want to stay low-key, but it felt like he’d already accidentally blown something up.

“I thought the same, but Bai Wei doesn’t agree. She’s already tracing the location where that post came from.”

The instant Lin said that, cold sweat broke out all over Bai Changge’s back. He’d forgotten how good his little sister was with computers.

“You mean… Bai Wei?”

He forced himself to sound calm.

“Yeah. She’s a hardcore fan of Bai Tianzhao.”

Lin flicked his finger up the screen and pointed at a few messages.

“Look, this one’s her.”

Bai Tianzhao’s Little Sister:

“You’re overthinking it. How would some foreigner pick a name like that? Tianzhao-sama is totally a beautiful man like those immortal sages in wuxia dramas, with long, flowing hair!”

Bai Changge felt like he was going to die.

Bai Tianzhao Ain’t Sh*t:

“You brain-dead fangirls need to stop fantasizing. For all you know, your precious Tianzhao-sama’s just some broke loser in the real world.”

Reply from Bai Tianzhao’s Little Sister:

“Say one more bad word about my Tianzhao-sama and I’ll track your address down and stab you, try me.”

Bai Changge felt like the entire world was about to collapse.