Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Zhang Yu was sprinting.

As he ran, he complained inwardly, "System, why didn’t you tell me sooner that the protagonist was about to get bullied?"

There was no time; he didn’t even have time to say more than a few words to He Xu.

The mechanical voice of the system echoed in his mind: "Apologies, Host. Due to your intervention, the current world’s course has been altered, and the protagonist's actions have changed as well. That’s why the detection was delayed. My bad."

Bound by system regulations, 9527 couldn’t spy on people. Its screen only showed basic positioning and vital stats.

This time, it had only realized the protagonist was in danger because 9527 noticed Xiang Yiming’s abnormal heartbeat and rapidly changing vital signs. Based on existing character models, it had deduced the situation.

Zhang Yu sighed. "Well, you tried."

After all, the system had always been this useless—he was used to it. But he’d spoken too hastily to He Xu earlier. He wasn’t sure if He Xu had heard him clearly or if he’d even come tomorrow. Sitting through class alone was so boring.

Unaware that he’d already been branded as "useless," 9527 felt touched by the consolation. Even its robotic voice sounded slightly emotional: *[Host, rest assured. I’m currently updating the prediction system and tweaking the code. Next time, I’ll definitely predict things in advance!]*

"Alright, you do your best."

With the mindset of "let the kid have its fun," Zhang Yu responded encouragingly and followed the system’s directions toward the protagonist’s location.

The area was remote, with few people around, so Zhang Yu stopped pretending and ran at top speed.

The surroundings became a blur as he dashed forward, arriving quickly at his destination—a narrow alley.

"I really don’t have any money…"

As soon as he reached the spot, Zhang Yu heard the protagonist’s familiar voice.

He stopped outside the alley and took a look inside.

In the dimly lit alley, the protagonist, Xiang Yiming, was hugging his backpack, pinned against the wall, stammering in panic at the group surrounding him. "I—I’m not lying to you. I don’t have any money on me…"

Several street punks had him cornered. One of them, with hair dyed gray, grabbed Xiang Yiming by the collar and sneered, "No money? Then prepare to get your ass kicked. Either pay up or take the hits—take your pick."

Another delinquent, more cautious, hesitated. "Fifth Grey, are we really robbing him? His uniform is from Linzhong. If He Xu finds out…"

Fifth Grey scoffed. "Who cares? Just take it! He won’t dare say a word!"

He yanked the backpack from Xiang Yiming’s arms and tossed it to another delinquent. "Search it. See where this kid’s hiding his money."

Then he patted Xiang Yiming’s face. "Hear me? Keep your mouth shut, or else—"

He didn’t finish, but the threat was clear.

Xiang Yiming trembled. "Y-yes, I won’t say anything."

Meanwhile, the other delinquent had dumped the backpack’s contents and went through everything. "Fifth Grey, nothing. The money’s not here."

"Nothing? Then it’s on him."

Fifth Grey reached for Xiang Yiming’s uniform pockets, but the previously cowering, frail boy suddenly struggled, breaking free and trying to bolt.

Unfortunately, the delinquents blocked the way. He barely took two steps before being shoved back and thrown to the ground.

Fifth Grey sneered. "Oh? So you *do* have it on you. Think you can run? Where you gonna go? Hand it over!"

Xiang Yiming, sprawled on the ground, clutched his pocket and scrambled backward, but the delinquents closed in.

Outside the alley, Zhang Yu scratched his head.

There were too many people, and the protagonist was trapped deep inside. He couldn’t just go in and pull him out, and fighting wasn’t an option…

The sea-dwelling being, ever mindful of his delicate persona, pondered for a few seconds before he got an idea.

Deep in the alley, Xiang Yiming had been forced into a corner. He desperately shielded his pocket, bending over to protect it with his body.

This money was from his mother—for buying medicine for his father. It couldn’t be taken…

But there were too many delinquents. Multiple hands grabbed at him, and the frail boy couldn’t resist.

Xiang Yiming struggled with all his might, his face red with exertion, but his hands were slowly pried away. Despair filled his eyes as he begged, "Please, let me go. This money is for my dad’s medicine. You can’t take it…"

"So what?! He’s your dad, not mine! Hand it over!"

Just as Fifth Grey’s hand was about to plunge into the uniform pocket, a cheerful voice suddenly rang out from the alley entrance: "He Xu! What are you doing here?"

"He Xu?!" The delinquents immediately went nuts.

The voice continued, "He Xu? Why aren’t you answering me? Where are you going? Into this alley? Wait for me, He Xu…"

The voice grew louder, accompanied by rapidly approaching footsteps.

The delinquents panicked even more. "Fifth Grey, He Xu’s here! Let’s get out of here!"

Fifth Grey’s face paled, but he stubbornly kept reaching for Xiang Yiming’s pocket. "Grab the money first!"

But Xiang Yiming’s eyes lit up, and he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Help! Someone’s robbing—mmph!!"

Fifth Grey clamped a hand over his mouth, but it was too late. The voice outside grew even closer. "What was that?! He Xu, slow down! I can’t keep up!"

The sound of running footsteps closed in rapidly. The delinquents descended into chaos. The more loyal ones tugged at Fifth Grey, yelling, "Fifth Grey, run!" while the less loyal ones booked it, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

People followed the crowd, especially in panic. Seeing the others flee, Fifth Grey completely chickened out. Forget the money—he cursed and took off too.

In seconds, the delinquents had vanished down the other end of the alley. Xiang Yiming released his tight grip on his pocket and slumped to the ground, panting.

After catching his breath, he scrambled up, watching anxiously at the alley entrance.

Under his anxious gaze, a mop of curly hair suddenly appeared, peering around before blinking. "They’re gone?"

Xiang Yiming froze. "...Zhang Yu?"

The curly-haired boy didn’t answer. Once he saw the punks were gone, he dashed in, tossed the scattered items back into the backpack, and pulled Xiang Yiming to his feet. "Let’s go! If they realize He Xu isn’t here and come back, we’re toast."

"What? Wait—!"

Zhang Yu dragged him for a good half-mile before stopping. Both boys doubled over by a lamppost, winded.

After getting their wind back from the crazy run, the two frail teenagers looked at each other and, for some reason, started laughing.

Once the laughter subsided, Xiang Yiming swallowed, soothing his raw throat from running. His words were still panting. "Th-thank you for saving me."

As a budding physics genius, Xiang Yiming was no fool. During the frantic escape, he’d already figured it all out—the "He Xu is coming" act was just the curly-haired boy’s bluff to scare off the delinquents.

After expressing his gratitude, he looked at Zhang Yu with admiration. "You’ve got some nerves of steel."

Zhang Yu mimicked his breathless tone, "It's nothing. They were just cowards—just shouting He Xu's name twice was enough to send them running."

Xiang Yiming recalled the scene and chuckled again, "Still, you're really clever to come up with that idea. If it weren't for you, my money would've definitely been stolen."

Praised for both his bravery and wit—compliments Zhang Yu hadn’t heard since coming ashore—he was instantly overjoyed, finding Xiang Yiming incredibly likable.

He waved his hand, playing modest, "Ah, it's nothing. Just average cleverness," though he couldn't hide his proud grin.

Still, Xiang Yiming was a little worried, "You used He Xu's name to scare them. What if He Xu and his gang find out? Won’t they come after us?"

"Nah," Zhang Yu replied. "He Xu said he won’t hit me anymore, and neither will his crew."

He glanced at Xiang Yiming, "Oh, and that includes you. They won’t hit you either."

Xiang Yiming was stunned, "Me?"

"Yeah," Zhang Yu nodded. "When He Xu said he wouldn’t hit me, I asked if he could leave you alone too. He agreed."

Xiang Yiming’s mouth fell open, a whirlwind of thoughts flashing through his mind. He wanted to ask, *Why did He Xu say he wouldn’t hit you?* *How did you have the courage to ask?* *Why did He Xu agree?* But in the end, all he managed was, "...Why?"

"Why did you include me?"

*I never helped you. On your first day, when you left the classroom, I knew Sun Ran and the others would come after you, but I didn’t warn you. I didn’t tell the teacher to help you either. Later, when you were bullied, I never comforted you.*

*I did nothing. We barely knew each other. In fact, the reason you got on He Xu’s bad side in the first place was because of that cup of water I didn’t cover.*

Xiang Yiming stared at the curly-haired boy before him, a strange feeling swelling in his chest. His voice cracked as he said, "I never did anything for you..."

*Why include me? Why help me?*

Zhang Yu tilted his head, "Never? You’ve helped me plenty of times."

Xiang Yiming froze again.

Zhang Yu started ticking off on his fingers, "On the first day, you suggested I switch classes because you were worried I’d get targeted. Then you introduced me to the school and the teachers. Whenever I didn’t understand something, you’d explain it or ask others for me. When the teacher called on me in class, you’d whisper the answer from your seat... Oh, and that red glass bottle—that was from you too, right?"

At first, he thought it had just appeared in his desk. After all, his Chinese teacher had said, *"Books hold houses of gold."* With so many books in his desk, if gold could grow there, why not a pretty glass bottle?

But later, he found the note inside—the handwriting was even worse than his, like chicken scratch. But the paper was familiar—the same cheap draft paper his deskmate, Xiang Yiming, always used.

After listing everything, Zhang Yu held out his hands, "See? You’ve helped me so many times. How can you say you didn’t?"

*And most importantly, you made my ocean space bigger!*

Xiang Yiming just stared.

But his advice had been hollow, his introductions were common knowledge, his answers were quick and unclear. Even the medicine bottle—he had wanted to distance himself from it, to keep others from knowing.

All his words—*"One year is short, it’ll be over after the college entrance exam,"* *"I don’t want to worry my parents"*—were lies. The truth was, he was afraid. Afraid of pain, afraid of being beaten, afraid of angering He Xu and his gang and getting ganged up on.

He didn’t dare do anything, didn’t dare say anything. He didn’t even dare report it to the teachers or his parents.

*Just a coward...a weakling...*

"And you’re amazing," a voice suddenly said.

Xiang Yiming looked up in a daze.

The curly-haired boy’s baby face twisted in frustration, as if recalling something painful, "I can’t understand anything the teachers say in class. Those problems? No idea. Just looking at them gives me a headache. But you’re different!"

Perking up, he turned to Xiang Yiming, "You’re not scared of studying at all! And I’ve seen it—you already know the textbook stuff before the teacher even explains it. Those problems? Easy for you. And the books you read—wow, they look so advanced..."

After rambling for a while, he concluded, "You’re seriously impressive!"

Remembering the protagonist’s ultimate achievements in the original worldline, Zhang Yu patted his shoulder, "Everyone has their own strengths. He Xu? He’s good at fighting. You? You’re good at studying. Me? I’m good at playing helpless—er, I mean swimming."

Half encouraging, half expectant, he added, "So don’t worry too much about what’s happening now. Study hard, become a great physicist, and you’ll be so incredible—the most impressive ever!"

All those inventions Zhang Yu couldn’t make heads or tails of, the advancements that pushed the entire world’s technology forward—all of it was achieved by his desk partner alone.

Having grown up in the eat-or-be-eaten world of the ocean, Zhang Yu didn’t despise weakness, but he did respect strength. And someone like his deskmate—who single-handedly changed the world—was, in Zhang Yu’s eyes, the very definition of "powerful."

*Plus, he just praised me!!*

*Even He Xu never praised me... Nah, tomorrow I'm making He Xu say something nice!*

*Angry octopus.jpg*

Xiang Yiming stared at him blankly, the rambling words sinking in like pebbles dropping into a still pond, sending waves through still waters.

His eyes stung.

No one had ever said these things to him before.

When he was very young, his dad got sick and was hospitalized. His mom worked herself to the bone to support the family, had no time left for him. Family couldn't help much either, so he learned to take care of himself early on.

But how much could a child really do? Keeping himself fed, clothed, and free from getting sick was already an achievement.

He fumbled through bathing, washing his hair, and doing laundry like an adult, but still became that "dirty kid" others avoided.

No one wanted to talk to him or be his friend. Even after he learned to keep himself clean, he remained isolated.

Books became his only friends.

Teachers praised his grades, so he studied harder. Books and homework became what made him happiest.

He never thought himself particularly smart. To him, learning was simple—others were bad at it just because they didn’t want to try, just like they couldn’t be bothered with him.

But now, here was someone saying: *No, that’s not how it is.*

*You’re good at studying because it’s what you're good at, just like swimming is mine and fighting is He Xu’s.*

*You can become someone incredible.*

"Can I... *really* do it?" Xiang Yiming murmured, his voice a mix of hope and longing.

"Of course," Zhang Yu said, like it was the simplest truth. "You’re the main character."

*You’re the main character. This world exists for you, lights up for you.*

"Main character..." Xiang Yiming repeated the word softly, his eyes lighting up.

A slow smile spread across his face, his eyes glistening—maybe with tears, maybe with hope.

Under the streetlight, the skinny kid in black-framed glasses said earnestly, "Thank you, Zhang Yu. I’ll do my best."

He would study well, work to be someone incredible.

*So incredible—better than anyone.*