Lu Ziqing's Favorability toward Su Ze: 91

Liang Sheng hadn't gone far when she heard that voice and whipped around. By sheer accident, her words had made the female lead who loved the male protagonist most—aside from the yandere—drop her favorability toward him below 100.

"Ziqing, you..." Liang Sheng came back, a little worried about Lu Ziqing's state right now.

"Sorry." Lu Ziqing wiped away her tears, then looked up at Liang Sheng seriously and said the most unbelievable thing she could possibly say. "I was wrong!"

She sounded firm.

Liang Sheng didn't even know where to put her hands and feet. She hurriedly said it was fine, that her own attitude had been a little bad too.

"Can we still be friends?" The proud young miss's voice was actually trembling.

"Yes, yes, of course we can!" Liang Sheng nodded like crazy. "I was just talking in anger. The young miss is so cute. How could I really bear to cut ties with you?"

Lu Ziqing broke into a smile through her tears.

By chance, Liang Sheng looked up and saw Su Ze staring this way with a complicated expression. There seemed to be confusion, shock, and anger in his eyes. But no one noticed the trace of malice still lingering at the bottom of them.

Heh. That pig-headed jerk noticed too, didn't he? His number one harem girlfriend was about to dump him.

Liang Sheng really wanted to raise a middle finger at him in provocation, but sadly, her courage was about the size of a sesame seed.

"Come on, young miss. Come play with me. You've cried so much your face is turning into a little tabby cat~" Liang Sheng gently rubbed Lu Ziqing's cheek with her fingertip.

She did it on purpose, just to show Su Ze.

There was no special reason. She just didn't like looking at Su Ze. She just wanted to get under his skin. Of course, she also wanted to see what his real goal was, and whether it threatened her good life—or even her life itself.

She had finally gotten a happy family, loving parents, and friends who treated her well. She couldn't let Su Ze's unknown plan destroy all that.

Her sixth sense told her that the ending of Su Ze's plan had a lot to do with that bloody dream of hers.

That day left Liang Sheng utterly exhausted. After returning to the dorm, she lay on the bed and stared blankly into space.

"Jingle~"

The sound of wind chimes rang out again.

In her daze, it was as if she saw that blue-haired, smiling, gentle girl again. Familiar, yet impossible to remember.

Gradually, her eyelids grew heavy...

It was the same dream again. The same angle. She saw Huanai stabbing Liang Jin over and over, one knife after another. Blood covered the floor, as if it had merged with her own blood that was nearly dried out.

She knew it was a dream, so why couldn't she wake up?

Liang Sheng struggled.

"Jingle~"

Another chime rang out. She couldn't tell whether it was from reality or from the dream.

"Jingle~"

The same crisp ringing. Liang Sheng felt her vision blur again. At the instant her eyes were about to close, Su Ze's arm moved sharply. On his wrist, something golden flashed and tore through the pale white dream world.

"Hah... hah!" Liang Sheng jolted awake. Cold sweat had soaked through her underwear. The wall clock showed that only three minutes had passed.

What Su Ze wore on his wrist was a bell.

A bell almost identical to the one Bell wore on her wrist.

Why would the bell on Bell's wrist appear on Su Ze's wrist? Where did Bell's bell come from? What was the relationship between Su Ze and Bell?

That long string of questions about "bell" successfully made Liang Sheng forget how to write the word "bell" at all.

Ugh. What a headache.

She'd thought she'd transmigrated into some brainless sweet romance. But after all these days, she was starting to realize she'd actually transmigrated into a hidden suspense novel.

Life was hard. Liang Sheng sighed.

Tomorrow was the last day. She'd try her luck one more time and go back to the beach where she'd met Bell. Maybe she could "accidentally" run into her again.

"Liang Sheng, why did you fall asleep without showering?" Lu Ziqing wiped the water droplets from her hair and looked at the mud-like Liang Sheng sprawled on the bed with disgust.

Thinking of Lu Ziqing's unusual but adorable reaction today, Liang Sheng sprang up like a carp flipping out of water and sidled up to her with a shameless grin.

She grabbed the bath towel wrapped around Lu Ziqing and gave a teasingly sultry smile, acting like a rascal. "Young miss~ You saw everything today. My innocence is gone forever, boo hoo hoo~"

"Y-you... what do you want?" Young Miss Lu clutched her towel tightly while watching Liang Sheng with caution.

Liang Sheng tightened her grip on the towel, and the smile on her face grew even more suspicious. "Young miss~ I don't want to be the only one taking a loss here. For fairness' sake, how about... hehehe~"

"No!" The young miss shrieked again and kept backing away. Covering her chest, she shouted in shame and anger, "I'm not letting a female hooligan like you see my body!"

"What?" Liang Sheng pretended not to understand and stuck out her tongue playfully. "I meant the young miss should treat me to a meal as compensation!"

Her eyes rolled, then she looked at Lu Ziqing in fake surprise and exaggeratedly covered her mouth.

"Could it be... young miss, your thoughts went somewhere weird?"

Ha, I'm so evil. Liang Sheng snickered to herself.

Sure enough, Lu Ziqing was so embarrassed and furious from being messed with that she really thought she'd overthought it. Depressed, she buried her face in the pillow. Her voice came out muffled.

"Sure enough, if I stay around a pervert too long, I'll become abnormal too."

Liang Sheng felt like she'd gotten hit while lying down. Sitting at home, yet somehow the blame fell from the sky. Smiling on the outside, cursing in her heart.

Early the next morning, Liang Sheng got up bright and early to wash up. According to the original story, this morning's schedule was free time.

When she reached the beach, the sea was calm, and the azure water washed over the sand.

Liang Sheng suddenly remembered how the heroines in idol dramas always went barefoot on the beach, leaving footprints behind, only for the rising tide to erase them without a trace. It was very romantic.

Since she was here, she might as well make herself happy.

She took off her sandals and carried them in one hand, then carefully stepped onto the damp beach. It felt sticky, but not unpleasant. It was actually comfortable.

She'd once heard a saying: one step, one footprint. So this is what it meant, Liang Sheng thought with a smile.

Her own footprints would also be erased by the sea, leaving no trace at all.

Then... would this strange novel also leave behind no trace of the transmigrated her in the end?

"Jingle~"

A bell rang behind her.

Liang Sheng turned around in delight and called out, "Bell?"

The same flowing blue hair. Hearing someone call her name, Bell froze slightly, then smiled and asked, "Little sister, who are you?"

So she really didn't remember.

"Big sis, why did you come out alone again today?" Liang Sheng glanced behind Bell. There was no one there. Even that flustered old maid from last time was gone.

Though she didn't know what Liang Sheng was talking about, Bell still gave her a warm smile. But she had no idea how to answer. Her mind was completely blank.

"Um... big sis, where did this bell come from?" Liang Sheng decided to get straight to the point, though there was a high chance Bell had already forgotten where it came from too.

After hearing that, Bell raised her arm and looked fondly at the bell tied to her wrist with a red string.

"That person gave it to me..."

"That person?"

"That's right, that person... that person is, is, is..." Bell forgot again.

"Who... is that person?" Bell muttered to herself.

Yeah. Who was that person? Liang Sheng wanted to know too.

Was it Su Ze? Or someone else?

No one knew.

"Bell, what is that person to you?" Liang Sheng asked without much hope.

The wind picked up. The straw hat on Bell's head was nearly blown away. She held it down and said something strange.

"He... he's my husband. No, he's my brother. No, no, he's my father... no, no, no, he should be my lover. No, not that either. Maybe he's my benefactor."

Bell looked a little dazed as she stared blankly at the sea.

Liang Sheng sighed. Why was she asking someone with a bizarre amnesia condition? There wasn't a single clue to be found.

"Bell, how do you get home?" Liang Sheng suddenly realized how serious the problem was. She didn't know where Bell's home was, and yesterday's old maid wasn't here either.

"My home is right there." Bell smiled and pointed at the vast, endless sea.

Huh?

No way.

Why was this novel's direction getting weirder and weirder? It started as a brainless sweet harem story, then turned into some creepy suspense mind-bender, and now this girl in front of her was saying the sea was her home.

What, was she some kind of water monster? Couldn't she at least be a fish?

Bell started walking, skipping happily toward the sea.

One step, two steps, three steps... twenty steps.

The seawater gradually rose past her chest.

She turned back and smiled at Liang Sheng. The faint morning light happened to fall across her gentle face. For some reason, Liang Sheng felt there was a trace of weariness in that smile.

Do you know what a deathly kind of beauty looks like?

Bell didn't turn into a fish, and she didn't turn into a sea monster either. Half her face was already submerged. Her nose was hidden beneath the water. Only a pair of eyes remained above the surface, almost the same color as the sea, bright and glimmering, as if carrying a sense of release.

Was she smiling?

Wait. This wasn't the time to think about that!

Liang Sheng realized Bell hadn't stopped moving. She closed her eyes, turned around, and walked toward the center of the sea.

"Help..." Liang Sheng's face went deathly pale. She shouted at the top of her lungs, "Help! Someone's in the sea! Help!"

She dashed to the shore, stomping her feet helplessly, too scared to go in and save her.

First, she couldn't swim.

Second, she was half a head shorter than Bell. If she went in herself, she'd drown before she could save anyone.

"Help! Help!" Liang Sheng shouted while fumbling for her phone.

Crap! She hadn't brought it again! How was she supposed to call emergency services?

Liang Sheng could only wave her arms and scream with all her might.

Why had she been so slow just now? Why hadn't she noticed Bell's intention?

"Help..."

A figure flashed past, fast as lightning, charging straight toward the center of the sea.

Who?

Su Ze?

No. This boy had short golden hair, shining dazzlingly under the sunlight.

Yeah, it looked kind of like the light reflecting off a bald head or a receding hairline. The principle of reflection was probably different, but both could still flash hard enough to blind a poor dog's eyes.

At the worst possible moment, that was the line that popped into Liang Sheng's head.

All that could be said was that her nerves were truly made of steel.