019. The Otherworldly Visitor
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Evening, Playground.
The playground was still brightly lit at night, with hardly any dark corners.
When Lin Nan and Tu Junhui arrived at the playground, it was already 9 PM.
“Should I just take off running now?”
Tu Junhui was decked out in loose shorts and a short-sleeve shirt, while Lin Nan was stuck in a pair of casual pants that were definitely not suitable for exercise. He wasn’t a fan of shorts; no matter how hot it was in summer, he was all about casual pants or jeans.
Lin Nan thought about following Tu Junhui for a moment, but as soon as the guy finished speaking, he bolted off like a ghost was nipping at his heels.
“Wasn’t it just to introduce me to a girl? Is that necessary?” Lin Nan grumbled, looking around but failing to spot the girl from earlier. “Did she ditch me?”
Honestly, he didn’t mind being stood up; he originally planned to run for fitness anyway, since his reflexes had improved a little, but his physical condition still left much to be desired.
But that girl might have been the one who added him on WeChat earlier—was she waiting to confess her feelings?
He started jogging slowly around the track. After barely a hundred meters, he realized his body felt even worse than before.
Last time, he had actually managed to run half a lap before feeling his calves ache and his breath quicken. But now, he could feel the strain on his body after just a short distance.
After one lap, he was so out of shape he could hardly move his legs.
When he looked around, he quickly spotted the familiar, hefty figure of Tu Junhui trailing behind.
“How many laps did you run?”
“Two.”
Tu Junhui answered without breaking a sweat, leaving Lin Nan in the dust.
Suddenly, Lin Nan realized that although this guy was chubby, his stamina was surprisingly good—way better than Lin Nan’s.
Reluctant to give up so soon, Lin Nan pushed himself for another hundred meters, trying to catch up with Tu Junhui, but ended up with sore legs and gave up, deciding to walk a lap and rest.
At that moment, a familiar sensation suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks.
Without thinking, he turned to look, and there she was: the girl from earlier, mysteriously sitting at the edge of the playground, waving at him.
Since he needed a break anyway, he hurried over, forcing down an inexplicable discomfort as he sat nearby.
Since middle school, Lin Nan had had little interaction with girls. Sitting next to her, he felt not only uneasy but also completely lost for words.
“What happened to you? You look like this now?”
The girl tilted her head, looking at him as if they were long-lost friends.
Lin Nan scratched his head and scrutinized her face.
Was it a misunderstanding? Had he actually known this girl when they were kids and she had bullied him so much that every time they met, he felt like a mouse facing a cat?
A little awkward, he asked, “Do I… know you?”
“You’re not going senile, are you?” The girl was pretty cute, but her tone was full of sass.
Now Lin Nan was even more confused. When had he ever gotten on her bad side?
To be sure she wasn’t some neighbor he bullied in childhood or a classmate he had once pulled hair on, Lin Nan cautiously queried, “So, what’s your name?”
“You weren’t like this before.” The girl leaned in closer, curiously examining him.
Only then did Lin Nan notice that this college-looking girl actually had the baby-faced features of a thirteen or fourteen-year-old—chubby cheeks clearly indicating she had some baby fat.
Could this be some genius who skipped grades to attend university?
After a long pause, she finally sighed and answered his question: “Lina.”
“Lina? Um, Li Na, right? Nice name!” Lin Nan promptly complimented, then continued to rack his brains about whether he had ever bullied anyone named Li Na.
But nope.
In his limited memories, Lin Nan was sure he had never known a girl named Li Na, let alone picked on one.
However, just then, a memory of Lilith flashed in his mind.
He had no expectation, but surprisingly, he “saw” a flicker of memories regarding Li Na.
“Crybaby?”
It slipped from his mouth before he could stop it, and he quickly realized he’d made a mistake. He got up in a panic, ready to make a run for it, but before he could take a step, a fruit kn*fe was suddenly thrust in front of his eyes.
“Remember now?” Li Na ground her teeth as she asked.
“Er, yeah.” Lin Nan raised his hands in a surrendering gesture, “We were from the same lineage a thousand years ago, right? This isn’t good for us!”
“Who has the same lineage as a witch?!” Li Na edged closer, suddenly hooking her foot around Lin Nan’s ankle and giving him a gentle push, causing him to uncontrollably flop onto the ground.
She straddled his stomach, her kn*fe tip resting dangerously close to his kidney, her expression as cold as ice.
Well then, it seemed her actual name should be Lina, much like those common in the West.
“You’ve got it all wrong!” Lin Nan didn’t care whether the girl was soft or not; he glanced around. There were plenty of people nearby, but no one noticed what was happening here.
He had never dealt with anything like this before, and his nerves kept him from recalling the complex grievances between Lilith and Li Na. Instead, he could only try to explain, “Lilith is dead! For some unknown reason, she just died!”
“Nonsense! Then why do you have traces of magic on you!”
How was Lin Nan supposed to know why he could use magic? Plus, that fruit kn*fe was still perilously close to his left kidney, suggesting he was just a heartbeat away from a life-threatening accident.
If he called for help, it might provoke her…
With his mind made up, Lin Nan suddenly delivered a knee strike to Li Na’s waist, and as she winced and lost her balance, he quickly broke free and landed a punch on her nose before he scrambled away towards a more populated area.
“Nan Nan, what are you doing?”
After running for a short distance, Tu Junhui’s voice rang out, and Lin Nan felt a wave of relief wash over him. He looked up to see Tu Junhui throwing an arm around him, turning to hide behind him, warily glancing back in the direction they had come from. “There’s a perv!”
“Holy cr*p? What kind of creep is that?”
“I’m not joking!”
Lin Nan’s body was trembling slightly from either fear or excitement—he wasn’t sure. Tu Junhui noticed his unease and, still somewhat skeptical, said, “Should I go beat him up? Is he strong? If he is, I’ll call Chen Yao.”
“Not strong.”
“Alright then!”
Tu Junhui cracked his knuckles theatrically, flexing his arms, grinning, “Don’t worry, Nan Nan, I weigh around two hundred pounds! There aren’t many who can take me down at school! Even if they can’t beat me, I will crush him!”
Finally, from the pitch-black playground center, a figure slowly emerged into the light.
Tu Junhui dropped the joking act, tightening his fists with a serious expression.
As the figure came into focus, it was a weak-looking girl with tear-filled eyes, clutching her side, stumbling towards them. She pitifully shouted at Lin Nan, “You j*rk! Despicable! Shameless!”
“What’s going on?” Tu Junhui was utterly clueless.
