194. Finals Week【27/170】
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As finals week rolled in, the tense atmosphere in class came crashing down in an instant.
The final assignments were done, the revisions were made, and now it was just the matter of culture exams and submitting professional assignments.
This would last about four days.
With winter break approaching, Lin Nan couldn’t shake off her gloomy mood.
This time when she returned home, she’d have to deal with not just her father, but also those gossip-loving relatives.
After the last day of exams, Tu Junhui suggested a dorm dinner. But when Lin Nan glanced at her wallet, she shook her head and turned him down.
As she strolled toward her rental apartment, Lin Nan pondered over how to decline all those family gatherings and New Year greetings when she got home, and how to manage her relationship with her father—if that was unmanageable, she could always live with her mother.
After all, she was completely heartbroken over her father.
“Lin Nan.”
Just as she reached the school gate, she heard a voice call out. Looking up, she saw Li Na holding an envelope and waiting for her.
It had been over a week since Lilith had gone missing. Lin Nan had assumed Li Na was still searching for her, but she hadn’t expected to find her here.
“Here’s your new ID.” Li Na walked over with a somewhat lost expression, handing the envelope to Lin Nan. Then she hesitated, looking intently at her face.
“What’s wrong?” Lin Nan asked curiously, eyeing the unopened envelope. “Who’s it from?”
“Your ID card, hospital diagnosis papers—I took the liberty of sorting them out for you,” Li Na replied with a forced smile. “You probably won’t see me for a while after this.”
Lin Nan was surprised that Li Na cared so much about her issues, but when she heard the last part, confusion washed over her. “Didn’t you say you’d be around for six months after your last visit? Are you leaving already?”
“I can’t find Lilith, but I can sense her soul growing stronger…” Li Na shook her head with a pained smile. “I’m afraid if this continues, she might show up in front of me at full power, and I won’t be able to handle it.”
Lin Nan didn’t understand anything about magic, so she didn’t pry further. Instead, she expressed her thanks about the ID. “Thanks a lot for taking care of the papers.”
“Once you’re home, give the documents to your parents so they can talk to the school,” Li Na added, then turned and walked into the deserted alley.
Lin Nan watched her retreating figure for a while before finally opening the envelope and pulling out the ID, her gaze locking onto the long-haired girl in the photo, lost in thought.
Gender: Female.
The ID number had changed slightly due to the gender alteration.
Wait, does this mean my social identity has officially become that of a girl?
She had thought that changing her identity would be a complex hassle, only to find out Li Na had taken care of everything for her.
Could it be that Lilith turned me into a woman, and Li Na wanted to make it up to me?
After all, she is a saintess. No matter how twisted things get, she’s still fundamentally a good person.
Even with this shiny new social identity, Lin Nan couldn’t find a shred of happiness. She sensed her past self drifting farther away, carried off by the wind. Perhaps it wouldn’t be long until the old Lin Nan vanished completely.
Eighteen years of elementary and high school diplomas and all previous documents were now nothing but waste paper. Old friends might not recognize her, and relatives wouldn’t know how to accept her.
This meant that Lin Nan’s first eighteen years of life had been nothing but a dream.
“Well, if I’m going to be a girl anyway, why wasn’t I born one in the first place?”
Mumbling to herself, Lin Nan sighed as she glanced at her chest, where she noticed a slight rise and fall, leading her to remember she was wearing a bra. Suddenly feeling shy, she scanned the area around her and realized several passersby were watching her.
It wasn’t like she was gorgeous or anything; she just happened to be standing on the side of the road for a little too long.
Flustered, Lin Nan hurriedly dropped her head and rushed toward her rental apartment. But after taking just a few steps, she almost collided with another hurried pedestrian.
Fortunately, her quick reflex magic kicked in, spinning her body away just in time, almost brushing past the stranger like a ballet dancer pirouetting around a pole.
Lin Nan was taken aback; she hadn’t realized she had such a talent! Looking up, she found out the person she almost bumped into was actually her junior.
“What are you doing here?”
“Picking up a package,” the junior replied, his cheeks a bit flushed as he adjusted his glasses and gestured to a small item in his hands.
It seemed like it had been ages since she last saw him. They used to see each other while waiting outside the classroom. Although they communicated online quite a bit, they rarely met in person.
Mostly, it was Chen Yao who got inexplicably annoyed when he encountered the junior’s ID, otherwise they could have been running a trio game.
The junior seemed to want to strike up a conversation, but Lin Nan was in a hurry to pack her bags and prepare to head home. Not waiting for him to say more, she quickly said, “I have some stuff to do, gotta run!”
The junior blinked, realizing he still hadn’t told Lin Nan his name.
However, Lin Nan was too preoccupied to care about such trivial details. While heading toward her rental, she was busy buying train tickets online for her journey home.
Also, there were still two months left on the rental, which was enough to get through until next semester. She could just renew the lease with the landlord then, so all she needed to do was take her computer and clothes with her.
At the bus stop behind the school, a number of students were already gathered with heavy luggage, ready to head home. Even though it was just past six in the evening, these students who had just finished their exams were eager to leave before it got too late.
While still sorting out her train ticket, Lin Nan returned to her rental. But once she looked up, she found Cola sitting on the coffee table, staring at her with an almost human-like, forlorn gaze.
Oh right, she couldn’t just leave Cola here alone for the whole month of winter break!
Can the high-speed train accommodate cats?
“Meow!”
Cola’s tone was clearly filled with indignation. Lin Nan paused and glanced over at the cat bowl in the corner, realizing she had rushed out in the morning and forgotten to feed Cola.
“No worries, you don’t like eating that much anyway. The hungrier you get, the more delicious it’ll taste.”
She shrugged off her coat, yawning, and sank into the sofa.
Once her coat was off, the formerly subtle rise of her figure now seemed a bit more prominent. Lin Nan glanced down, bit her lip—she was already somewhat used to it, but it was still hard to accept these undeniable feminine features.
Suddenly struck with some strange impulse, Lin Nan held her phone up to her chest. But unlike those oversized GIFs that could hold bubble tea, her phone fell right down without mercy.
Is this girl’s brain functioning properly?
Cola rolled her eyes and lazily flopped down, casting a melancholic stare out the window.
Ah, how she longed for endless nights of revelry…
But alas, that time of the month hadn’t arrived yet.
