Lin Jin was awakened by his roommate's loud shouts while playing games.

Last night, due to his "little buddy" shrinking, he couldn't sleep well and laid in bed half the night. He finally fell asleep in the early hours of the morning. Now, just as it was becoming daylight, he was awakened by the noise, making him feel irritated. His eyebrows furrowed tightly together.

Turning over and climbing out of bed, he surveyed the dormitory and noticed that the one playing games was indeed his roommate whom he had always been at odds with. On the other hand, Wu Min was quietly watching TV with headphones on, while Wen Xuan was lying on his bed playing with his phone. Only he, when playing games, would shout as if he were slaughtering pigs.

"Damn it! I died again!" In front of Lin Jin to the left, his roommate with dyed blonde hair smashed the mouse and lit a cigarette with a gloomy expression.

"Zhu Dong! Can you be quieter when playing games? What's wrong with wearing headphones?" Lin Jin crawled off the bed with a disgusted expression, completely losing any trace of sleepiness due to Zhu Dong's voice.

Zhu Dong, another roommate of Lin Jin, had clashed with him since the beginning of the school year. Lin Jin found his dyed blonde hair and his daily habit of making a lot of noise annoying, while Zhu Dong thought that Lin Jin, who was thin and weak, should be bullied, but Lin Jin acted so arrogantly as if he were above everyone else. They often quarreled, with Lin Jin usually being on the losing side, but it never escalated to physical fights.

"What's wrong? You won't even let me play a game!" Zhu Dong turned his head, glaring at Lin Jin, stood up, and scoffed at him.

Zhu Dong's temper was already the worst in the entire dormitory. Now, being defeated in the game and despised by Lin Jin, he seemed like a volcano about to erupt.

However, Lin Jin didn't back down. Despite being in a foul mood after waking up, he silently climbed down from the bed without paying much attention to Zhu Dong. He put on his shoes, stood up, and gave a gentle smile to the furious Zhu Dong. Zhu Dong was a bit confused by the smile, but in the next moment, a chair was forcefully thrown at him by Lin Jin.

Seeing the chair hitting the target spot-on, Lin Jin cursed loudly and quickly opened the wardrobe, taking cover behind the wardrobe door. Shortly after, he felt the impact of the chair crashing into the wardrobe door.

He reached into the wardrobe, grabbed a knife with a short blade, and glared angrily at Zhu Dong, although a slight smile remained on his face. He provocatively said, "Come on then."

"Heh heh." Zhu Dong didn't expect that Lin Jin would hide a knife in the wardrobe. Although he was a bit scared, he still didn't want to back down. He stubbornly straightened his neck, widened his eyes, and stared at Lin Jin with a fierce gaze full of hostility.

With his headphones on, Wu Min finally noticed that something was amiss in the dormitory. He took off his headphones and realized that they were about to resort to using knives. He hurriedly ran forward, intending to snatch the knife from Lin Jin's hand. However, Lin Jin also stared back at him, unwilling to let go. "I can't stand him anymore! He's so noisy and doesn't even realize he's in the wrong! Who does he think he is? Does the whole dorm revolve around him?!"

"Lin Jin! You're a university student, for goodness' sake! Don't act impulsively. Quickly, put down the knife!" Wu Min turned his head and shouted at Zhu Dong, "And you too! Making a fuss over a game. If it's not working out, why don't you move out and find three roommates who can play games with you every day? How about being quiet here?!"

Wu Min's words clearly favored Lin Jin. Seeing that he had gained an "ally" Lin Jin smirked and placed the knife on the table. He echoed Wu Min's words and shouted at Zhu Dong, "Exactly! If you want to play games, get out of our Room 432! Go find three roommates who can play games with you every day!"

"Lin Jin!" Wu Min glared at him, seeing that Lin Jin was still trying to provoke the situation.

With a mediator, Lin Jin and Zhu Dong didn't end up fighting after all. They just glared at each other, but after a while, Zhu Dong, perhaps seeing that Lin Jin had gained assistance, quietly started packing his belongings.

"Hey, if you're leaving, clean up properly. Don't leave a bunch of trash behind." Lin Jin, delighted seeing that Zhu Dong seemed to be moving out, pulled over a nearby chair and sat down comfortably. "Luxurious three person room! Wu Min, aren't you thrilled?"

After ten minutes, Zhu Dong left the dormitory with his luggage.

"Finally gone." Lin Jin sat happily in front of his computer, supporting his chin with his hand, while a smile was on his face.

"You two are always arguing, and this time you even resorted to using knives." Wu Min stood behind Lin Jin, helplessly. "What if you really ended up hurting each other in a fight? If you really injured someone, can you afford to compensate them?"

"No, no, it won't happen." Lin Jin waved his hand and picked up the knife that was placed next to his computer, handing it to Wu Min behind him. "I only used it to scare people, you see, it's just a toy."

Wu Min took the knife and realized it was made of plastic, but it had a layer of shiny silver paint that made it look real at first glance.

"I used to carry this knife around every day in high school to scare people." Lin Jin proudly shook his head. "Look at me, I'm not even 1.7 meters tall, and I don't gain weight easily. I definitely can't win fights against others, but there are always people like Zhu Dong who think I'm an easy target. But I used to get along well with the troublemakers, they didn't dare to mess with me."

"I bet my high school classmates still think my knife is real and they probably think I'm involved in some kind of gang activities, collecting protection fees and all." Lin Jin raised an eyebrow and clicked on a game on his computer. "How about a game of Dota?"

"Sure, let's play a round." Wu Min leaned on the back of Lin Jin's chair with her hands. "You should work on improving your temper, otherwise, what will happen if a real fight breaks out?"

"Well, with you being a shadow, wherever I go, you follow" Lin Jin shrugged indifferently. "It's such a waste that you don't fight with your physique. If you train with others, you could take on ten people by yourself. Then, no matter what trouble I get into, you'll have my back. How great is that?"

Wu Min almost laughed out loud, shaking his head in disbelief, and went back to his seat to join Lin Jin for a game.

"Oh, my phone." Lin Jin stood up and searched the table but couldn't find it. Finally, he found his phone still plugged into the charger on his bed. But as soon as he held the phone in his hand, it suddenly vibrated, and a line of text appeared on the screen.

"Time limit remaining: 15:10."

"What the heck?" Lin Jin was stunned and kept tapping the screen with his finger. "Are you kidding me?"

Only then did Lin Jin remember that he had a task to complete. However, he couldn't shake off the feeling that this phone app was playing a prank on him, giving him a strong sense of unreality.

If the system were installed directly in his head like in novels, allowing him to have direct conversations in his mind, then Lin Jin wouldn't have this kind of feeling.

"This task is ridiculous." Lin Jin recalled his shortened brother and thought that it was probably due to exhaustion from last night rather than some so-called feminization. "Whatever!"

Casually tossing the phone on the table, Lin Jin took a sip of mineral water and wiped his mouth, but suddenly felt something soft on his hand.

Lowering his head, he despairingly discovered a bunch of fine hair on his hand.

"Lin Jin, are you still playing or not!" Wu Min suddenly shouted, "I've been inviting you for a while without any response."

"Oh, I need to use the bathroom!"

Hastily rushing to the mirror in the bathroom, Lin Jin carefully examined his face and noticed that his once dull cheeks, marked by acne scars, now appeared much fairer. He gently touched his skin, which felt smooth and supple, and then ran his hand across his chin where there used to be a hint of stubble, only to find that all the tiny hairs had fallen out.

“……”

"I have a feeling something's going wrong."

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like