The day before the start of my third year of university, I was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and a voice rang out in my head:

“Survival system activated. Please touch your new deskmate. A single touch extends your life by one day, a hug extends it by one month, and a kiss extends it by one year. A home run leads to full recovery!”

I was excited and quickly looked up.

But the moment I saw my new deskmate, I thought: “???”

Why was my deskmate a guy?

But wait, I’m a guy too!

—

I was stunned.

So stunned that I forgot to move.

Until the guy in front of me impatiently knocked on my desk with his sharp fingers.

“Can you move over, please?”

I snapped out of it and quickly moved aside to let him in.

I secretly glanced at him and couldn’t help but ask, “Gu Shen, why are you sitting here?”

My new deskmate was Gu Qin, the school heartthrob and the top student in our grade.

Every semester, our school rearranges the seating based on the previous semester’s grades.

So, when the system in my head told me to “capture” my new deskmate, I naturally thought it would be Fang Yuanyuan or Li Tian.

After all, the three of us usually had similar grades.

But how did Gu Qin end up sitting next to me?!

Gu Qin raised his head and coldly glanced at me.

“I injured my hand during last year’s finals. I couldn’t write the English essay.”

Oh.

So, even the top student didn’t write an essay and still ended up with the same score as me.

I couldn’t resist asking, “Then, should you talk to the teacher about switching seats?”

I really didn’t want to “capture” a guy, but just as I was about to speak, that voice in my head beeped again.

“Survival system’s target has been confirmed as Gu Qin. Even if you change seats, your target will not change.”

My words were immediately cut off.

Gu Qin narrowed his eyes and looked at me, “You don’t want to sit with me?”

I snapped back to reality and quickly said, “Of course not! I really want to sit with you!”

Since I couldn’t change my target, I figured it would be better to focus on Gu Qin, my deskmate, for the “capture.”

After all, I’d rather flirt with a guy than die.

Thinking this, I eagerly grabbed Gu Qin’s hand and shook it enthusiastically.

“Let’s get along well, new deskmate.”

As soon as I touched his hand, I heard the system in my head chime.

“Congratulations, host, you’ve touched your target once, life extended by one day! Remaining life: 95 days.”

It actually worked!

And I wasn’t sure if it was just in my head, but I really felt a little bit better physically.

I was immediately encouraged and didn’t want to let go of Gu Qin’s hand. I even couldn’t help but gently touch it a few more times.

Every extra day of life counts.

I greedily thought, while Gu Qin seemed stunned, then suddenly pulled his hand back as if shocked.

I reluctantly looked up at him, but I froze too.

Huh?

Why were Gu Shen’s ears red?

In the following days, I took every opportunity to get close to Gu Qin.

I’d borrow a pen and sneak a touch of his hand.

When I bent down to pick up an eraser, I’d brush against his leg.

When he went in and out of his seat, I’d sneak in a little nudge.

Thanks to my shamelessness, my life expectancy had increased to 120 days.

I was also sure my body had improved a little.

But Gu Qin wasn’t stupid, and soon realized something was off.

I’m not sure how he interpreted my actions, but he began to clearly avoid me.

It was becoming harder to touch him.

I was troubled.

Honestly, I was already getting tired of this day-by-day life extension and wanted to speed up the process.

So I decided to go for something big.

Like… a hug?

But I never found the right moment.

I mean, I couldn’t just go up and hug Gu Qin, right?

That would probably make him request a seat change.

I waited and waited, and finally, on the weekend, I got my chance.

Sunday was our homeroom teacher Mr. Wang’s birthday.

Mr. Wang was young and got along really well with the students, so he arranged for us to hang out at a KTV.

Halfway through singing, we were bored, so we started playing Truth or Dare.

We used a spinning wheel and “Truth or Dare” cookies provided by the room. The wheel would randomly select two people, and then we’d pick a cookie.

Inside the cookie was a little slip of paper with a Truth or Dare question.

Truth meant answering a question, and Dare usually required two people to cooperate.

In this round, Gu Qin and I were chosen.

I thought for a moment and grabbed a cookie.

I cracked open the cookie and saw it read:

“Truth: Do you have someone you like?”

But without hesitation, I raised my head and said, “Dare, let’s hug.”

Gu Qin froze, about to say something.

But the classmates around us had already started to cheer.

Especially the girls, for some reason, their cheeks were red, and they were filming us with their phones.

No one bothered to check what my paper slip actually said.

And I wasn’t going to be shy about it. I acted carefree.

“Ah, we’re just two big guys, why be shy?”

With that, I didn’t give Gu Qin a chance to refuse and hugged him.

The gathering ended with our hug, and it was lively and fun.

I was satisfied to hear the system in my head say that my life had been extended by a month.

It felt amazing.

The only downside was that I still had to attend evening study sessions after school.

Because my body hadn’t fully recovered, I felt really tired and ended up falling asleep in class.

While I was sleeping, I felt someone poke me.

“Your stuff fell out of your pocket.”

I vaguely recognized it as Gu Qin’s voice, and I waved my hand impatiently.

“Can you pick it up for me?”

After that, I was about to fall back asleep, but then I heard Gu Qin’s voice again, quiet for a moment before he spoke again.