It was because the teacher spent a lot of extra time talking about unrelated things.

At first, the teacher made subtle comments about a few individuals, then gradually shifted to talking about how his past students were doing, mentioning old classmates, and some trivial matters…

Although the students had heard it several times before, each time they listened with great interest, unknowingly wasting quite a bit of time. By the time the evening self-study period had already started for a while, the teacher still hadn’t even started on the real exam papers they were supposed to go over.

Liu Sizhen even vaguely heard some whispers from the back rows, like “Let him talk more, we might as well drag this self-study session out…”

“He’s been talking so much, let’s get the exam papers out now…”

It seemed… they couldn’t delay any further.

Perhaps he had heard the students’ thoughts, or maybe it was something else, but just a few minutes after the papers were handed out, it hadn’t even been ten minutes when suddenly the entire classroom plunged into darkness without any warning.

Then the cheer from the students erupted.

“Whoa—oh—the power’s out—power’s out—”

“The power’s out! The power’s out!!”

Even though the teacher on stage was continuously banging the textbook against the podium, trying to get the students to quiet down, it was impossible to stop the murmurs filled with joy from the students.

Of course, this situation wasn’t just limited to Class 11. The noise from other classrooms outside was even louder. It seemed like the whole building, or even the entire high school area, had lost power.

“Does this mean we can leave early now…”

“Ah, I haven’t finished my exam paper. The teacher probably won’t collect it, right?”

“What time is it? What time is it now?”

“Hey, how do you solve the last question… how much did you write?”

Unable to control the chaos anymore, the teacher left with a quick instruction for everyone to be quiet and said he would go check the situation outside. As soon as he left, the classroom became even more lively, like boiling water.

As time passed, Liu Sizhen’s eyes gradually adapted to the darkness, and he could vaguely make out some blurry outlines, though still unable to see clearly.

Some brave soul must have brought a phone, as a faint light from a screen stood out brightly in the pitch-black classroom.

Liu Sizhen didn’t bring his phone, mainly because he didn’t find it interesting. In this little world, the timeline was a good ten years behind his own.

In his world, a certain famous smartphone brand was already on its 11th generation, and they were even preparing for the release of the 12th. But in this small world, they were just hearing about the first generation?

The most common phones used here were still basic keypad phones, much less functional than the ones from over a decade later. To Liu Sizhen, that didn’t hold much appeal.

Since the power outage, Lin Bosheng had noticed something unusual about Liu Sizhen. His breathing was slightly more hurried than before, and his body was stiff, motionless, too quiet—quiet to an unusual extent.

It was as if… he was afraid?

Liu Sizhen didn’t think he was afraid of the dark.

It was just that when everything around him was pitch black, his mind would inevitably flash images of ghost stories he had read or heard by chance… That was all.

He didn’t consider himself afraid of the dark; he knew those stories were fake, but he couldn’t help but think about them. Liu Sizhen leaned against the window, and with the outside world darkened, he couldn’t see anything. Could there be a ghost watching him from the window?

The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became, to the point where his hand, still holding the pen, tightened its grip.

His breathing became briefly erratic.

The internal system detected Liu Sizhen’s emotional disturbance and began attempting to communicate with him.

[Hahaha, I’m fine.]

Just as Liu Sizhen was communicating with the system in his mind, almost without warning, he felt his hand, still tightly gripping the pen, covered by another hand—a warm hand.

In the chaotic and noisy classroom, no one could tell who was who. All that could be heard were the chattering voices coming from all directions, as everyone enthusiastically chatted away.

They talked about where they would go for the weekend, about games, gossip, and various fleeting futures. The discussions were distant and close, but no one really paid attention to…

The two boys in the last row, in the pitch-black room, were sitting much closer to each other than usual. And, their hands were held together.

The darkness somehow amplified the senses and perceptions, so much so that Liu Sizhen could feel a callus in Lin Bosheng’s palm—a callus that only comes from doing housework often.

A boy of this age shouldn’t have such calluses…

The male lead, as if soothing him, held Liu Sizhen’s hand. The dry warmth of the hand shifted Liu Sizhen’s attention. He began to wonder… Could it be that the male lead is afraid of the dark?

Once that thought surfaced, Liu Sizhen, believing he had figured out the truth, allowed Lin Bosheng to continue holding his hand, even gently squeezing his palm as a form of comfort.

It was so dark here, the male lead couldn’t have seen.

But, this couldn’t be considered ruining his character, could it?

Lin Bosheng thought Liu Sizhen was afraid, so he silently moved closer.

“…”

At that moment, the teacher who had gone out to check the situation returned to the classroom.

He briefly explained that he had gone to check and believed the power outage was caused by the excessive electricity usage these past few days due to the heat, which had overburdened the power grid.

It seemed that the issue wouldn’t be resolved anytime soon.

At the same time, the school’s generator had malfunctioned, so the teacher had no choice but to announce that school would end early and that the evening homework assignments would be given out in advance.

Cancelling the evening self-study session was huge news for the students.

And just as the teacher had barely left the classroom, and as the students were packing their things, the power… came back.

Just like the sudden power outage, the lights came back on without warning. At the moment the lights turned on, Lin Bosheng instinctively covered the eyes of the boy beside him.

Liu Sizhen wasn’t blinded by the sudden light.

Meanwhile, other students in Class 11, fearing that the teacher might return and announce that the self-study session would continue or that they would have to keep doing the exam papers, hurriedly ran out of the classroom, as if trying to escape being left behind.

A few students sitting near Liu Sizhen noticed the scene, but they only had a momentary sense of confusion.

…Huh? Are these two really that close?

But they didn’t think much of it, as their excitement was quickly overshadowed by the joy of not having to attend the evening self-study session. – No evening study today! What a win!

What could make students happier than this?

The evening self-study session ended with laughter, and the only person who seemed a bit down was a certain boy.

Liu Sizhen knew that, according to the preset ending, the male lead would eventually step out of his past shadows. He would meet a benefactor who admired his talents, he would achieve success and fame, and he would make a successful comeback.

On the other hand, the “villain Liu Sizhen” would gradually fall into decline.

His ending was briefly mentioned after the male lead succeeded in his career. Liu Sizhen’s parents, who were doing well in their business, would somehow get involved in a financial money laundering scandal. Not only would their assets be frozen, but they would also end up imprisoned.

As someone who was already relying on his parents, Liu Sizhen would naturally fall into a state of destitution.

The system, worried that he might not be able to accept this, specifically told him that when the time came, he could leave, as it would only be a formality.

“…It’s fine, good deeds are rewarded and bad deeds are punished. As long as you work hard, there will be results. The protagonist will definitely succeed, and the villain will definitely meet a bad end. I really like this ending.”

The Liu Sizhen, who often lifted his chin arrogantly in front of others, didn’t have that expression when he was alone. His brows and eyes were gentle, his lips were straight and tight, and there was no expression in his eyes as he spoke softly.

“Unfortunately, that’s not how things work in reality…”

In this small world, the villain would not have a good ending. As soon as they did something bad, they would face consequences because this world was fake. But what Liu Sizhen had encountered more in the real world was:

— There were no consequences. Bad people who did bad things didn’t always get punished, and good people who did good deeds didn’t always get rewarded. There was no clear line between right and wrong, more often than not, things were somewhere in between.

258, seeing his low mood due to the low value, initially wanted to comfort Liu Sizhen. However, after a moment, it managed to adjust its own mood.

“Not bad… Since we’re not bankrupt yet, we should spend more money…”

With the money from both sides, Liu Sizhen could easily spend more in a week than many adults in Changning City earn in a month.

In the preset setting, Liu Sizhen was a person who liked to be surrounded by people and always had many friends, but hardly any true friends.

However, the current Liu Sizhen wasn’t too concerned about whether they were genuine friends or not. He was truly experiencing a lifestyle he had rarely had the chance to experience before.

After coming to this world, Lu Xu was the first person to speak proactively to Liu Sizhen. He was from the class next to Liu Sizhen’s, his grades weren’t that good, and he was the type who frequently got in trouble and had to go to the discipline office—an old acquaintance.

Later, he gradually met the second, third, and even more people, some of whom he couldn’t remember the names of. There were classmates from his grade, others from different grades, and even some from other schools. Their family backgrounds were all relatively decent.

At their age, most of them enjoyed excitement. At least for the first time in his life, after living a quiet life for over a decade, Liu Sizhen found himself racing cars in the middle of the night with many boys his age, visiting places that, legally, minors weren’t supposed to be.

The first time he went out, his heart almost jumped out of his throat.

[So thrilling…]

The night wind blew on his face, and the novelty of the experience kept Liu Sizhen feeling lightheaded even when he went back home and lay in bed, still feeling as if he was floating.

The quiet system spoke up.

[I didn’t think you’d like this…]

258 had checked Liu Sizhen’s past.

Before his mother’s incident, Liu Sizhen would always be home before 9 PM every night. Even after he went to university, he stuck to this habit, always coming straight home after class, never lingering outside, and never going to any entertainment venues. His daily life was uneventful…

He was the model of a well-behaved, obedient child in the eyes of all parents. Even after his mother’s incident, Liu Sizhen continued to maintain this routine.

This was probably the first time he didn’t go home so late.

When he came back, he was still a little cautious, afraid of waking anyone up. But Aunt Wang and the security at the door were very used to it.

Aunt Wang even got up to make some sweet rice balls for Liu Sizhen.

“Thank you…”

Due to the night wind, Liu Sizhen’s cheeks were a bit flushed, which made him look a little more playful than usual.

Feeling happy, he had a smile on his lips, his beautiful eyes slightly squinted, and his well-defined under-eye bags looked great.

Having watched Liu Sizhen grow up, Aunt Wang treated him like her own child. When she saw him drinking a bit too quickly due to thirst, she immediately reminded him, “Drink slower…”

She fixed Liu Sizhen’s slightly messy hair.

“Why is your forehead all sweaty?”

While talking to Aunt Wang, Liu Sizhen responded to the system’s questions in his mind.

[…Why? Why wouldn’t I like it?]

258 saw his eager expression…

Alright, actually, Liu Sizhen wasn’t that obedient.

He was using ‘Liu Sizhen’s’ identity to do things he never had the chance to do or dared to do before.

Whether it was racing cars in the middle of the night, going to bars, or visiting game arcades, everything was new to him. These were experiences he hadn’t had before.

Of course, even more exciting was going to the police station, being caught by the traffic police, and still feeling happy about it. He was like a kid who had never been to an amusement park before, finally getting to play inside.

The others, who were gloomy and worried, looked over and saw Liu Sizhen still smiling, and they couldn’t help but admire him from the bottom of their hearts.

But alongside the thrill, Liu Sizhen felt deep down that his actions were wrong, and so there was a little bit of guilt. He felt that he shouldn’t be doing this… But…

He was just an eighteen-year-old boy…