Chapter 4: Welcome to My World.
When Lu Nian’an stepped back into the classroom, the same “friendly greetings” from her classmates still echoed outside the door.
But this time, fear never came.
She walked calmly toward the back door and unlocked it with a quiet click.
The moment the door opened, familiar faces greeted her once again—their smiles turning ugly the instant they saw her, as though they had been waiting there all along.
“Lu Nian’an, did I ever tell you—”
One of the girls sneered as she approached, raising her hand before she had even finished speaking.
The slap never landed.
Lu Nian’an tilted her head slightly aside, avoiding the strike with ease before catching the girl’s wrist and twisting it sharply.
A scream tore through the hallway.
And chaos exploded instantly afterward.
Her movements were clean and efficient.
She ducked beneath a punch from the side, drove her fist forward, then shifted through the crowd like a shadow slipping between bodies.
Silent.
Fast.
Merciless.
The fear that once crushed her was now being paid back—one strike at a time.
One classmate fell.
Then another.
Then another.
The hallway gradually filled with cries of pain until the final student collapsed onto the floor.
Only then did Lu Nian’an slowly turn toward the staircase.
And smile.
People had always described Lu Nian’an’s smile as elegant—refined, gentle, perfectly appropriate for any occasion.
But nobody knew the truth.
She didn’t even remember when she had last smiled for real.
Her life had never been as “normal” as she described to Xia Jiuwei.
Even as a child, she had been bullied by the servants in her own home. The servants involved were dealt with quickly afterward, but the damage it left behind never disappeared.
Her parents’ absence hurt more than anger ever could.
So she learned to hide herself beneath layers of politeness, gentleness, and perfect composure, burying the cold and broken parts of herself deeper and deeper over the years.
Time erased the visible scars.
But never the darkness underneath them.
By high school, the bullying itself was no longer what terrified her most.
What truly broke her was the fact that nobody cared.
No one stepped forward. No one spoke.
That overwhelming feeling of being abandoned by the entire world became the final thing that crushed her completely.
Until she met Xia Jiuwei.
After their synchronization inside the Under-Reality, something inside Lu Nian’an had begun to change.
She knew the connection between them wasn’t one-sided.
Xia Jiuwei had seen everything she tried so desperately to bury—the ugliness, the despair, the darkness she never wanted anyone else to touch.
And yet, when Xia Jiuwei woke from those memories, there had been no fear in her eyes.
No disgust.
Only concern.
Pure, unmistakable concern.
Something inside Lu Nian’an loosened at that moment.
She smiled again.
And before she realized it, tears were already falling down her face.
Thank you, Xiaojiu.
The words echoed quietly inside her heart.
For the first time in her life, she realized something.
She no longer wanted to live for her parents.
Nor for the world.
Only for the person who had truly seen her.
◇
Footsteps echoed through the hallway.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Like the ticking of a countdown clock.
Floor by floor, Lu Nian’an moved through the building, quietly imprinting each of her classmates one after another.
After placing the final imprint, she paused.
For a moment, she considered simply returning.
Then she shook her head slightly.
“Maybe… it’s time I stopped being someone so easy to bully.”
With that, she turned and headed toward the teachers’ office.
“Teacher, there’s a document here that needs your signature.”
“Hm?”
The moment the homeroom teacher’s fingers touched the paper, the air twisted faintly.
And in the very next second—
Every imprinted individual, including the teacher himself, was dragged into the Under-Reality.
When Lu Nian’an opened her eyes again, the school was gone.
In its place stood a small Western-style house.
Warm firelight flickered inside the fireplace while snow drifted quietly beyond the windows. Wooden furniture, soft carpets, and a copy of Little Red Riding Hood resting atop the table completed the room.
It was the kind of home she had dreamed about countless times—
Yet had never been allowed to have.
And sitting beside her was the familiar girl once again.
“Nia, do you like it?” Xia Jiuwei asked with a smile.
“…Mm. I really do.”
Lu Nian’an tried to hold back her tears.
She failed.
“Alright, alright. Don’t cry.”
Xia Jiuwei reached over and gently patted her head, her voice unusually soft.
“You can stay here for a very, very long time.”
Then she grinned proudly.
“Do you know how long it took me to customize this place?”
A moment later, her tone shifted again.
“But setting all this up took way too much time, so I need to go deal with the people outside first.”
She stood up and stretched lazily.
“I’ll be back soon, okay?”
Lu Nian’an nodded while trying unsuccessfully to stop crying.
“Hehe… I’m back.”
The moment Xia Jiuwei returned to reality, she immediately started muttering to herself under her breath.
She climbed up from the floor, dusted herself off, and was just about to quietly slip back toward class—
Then she remembered.
Someone had pushed her earlier.
“Sorry, sorry, Xia Jiuwei. I seriously just ‘accidentally’ pushed you a little. Don’t take it personally.”
The boy standing on the staircase grinned mockingly, his voice dripping with fake innocence.
Xia Jiuwei didn’t answer.
She simply walked slowly up the stairs.
One step at a time.
Until she stopped directly in front of him.
Then, very gently, she placed both hands on his shoulders.
The movement was soft enough to seem almost comforting.
And then—
She pulled backward.
Stepped forward.
Hooked his leg lightly.
The motion was smooth and effortless.
“AAAH—!”
The boy instantly lost balance and flipped backward.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
His body slammed violently down the staircase before crashing hard onto the floor below, howling in pain.
Xia Jiuwei remained where she stood, tilting her head as she looked down at him.
“Hm… looks like you hit your head pretty hard.”
Her tone sounded perfectly innocent.
“My hands aren’t listening to me very well right now.”
A faint smile appeared on her face.
“If I said my hand slipped…”
“Would you believe me?”
Then she turned around and walked away as though nothing had happened.
“Lu Nian’an is seriously a legendary figure!”
That was the first thing Xia Jiuwei heard after sneaking back into the classroom.
She paused by the doorway and listened quietly.
“She started investing while she was still in college. Barely any starting capital, but her instincts were terrifyingly accurate—”
“Almost every company she touched became an industry leader.”
“And later she turned around and started infiltrating her own parents’ corporations…”
“She already controls forty-seven percent of the Lu Group and thirty-nine percent of the Han Group…”
“She’s basically the real power behind the scenes now.”
Xia Jiuwei raised an eyebrow slightly.
—No wonder the name sounded familiar.
Turns out she was one of the school’s most famous alumni.
A slow smile curled onto Xia Jiuwei’s lips.
A thought quietly formed in her mind.
“Oh… this could become something much bigger.”
“Lu Nian’an is literally my idol. One day I’m gonna dominate the business world too!”
“Keep dreaming.”
“Hey… don’t you think she’s actually kind of cool…?”
The classroom buzzed noisily.
Then—
“I think she’s pretty cute.”
The voice wasn’t loud.
But the entire classroom fell silent instantly.
Everyone slowly turned toward the doorway.
No one had even noticed when she appeared there.
“Oh?” Xia Jiuwei tilted her head slightly.
“You’re all having such a good time talking. Why didn’t anyone invite me?”
A boy stepped out from the crowd with a sneer.
“You think you deserve to be here?”
His gaze swept over her contemptuously.
“Do you even know who Lu Nian’an is?”
“Someone like her exists on a level people like us can barely even rea—”
BANG—!
Before he could finish speaking, his body flew backward and slammed violently into a row of desks.
The classroom became deathly silent.
Xia Jiuwei slowly lowered her leg.
Her voice remained calm.
“I hit my head earlier, so my brain’s still a little fuzzy.”
She glanced around the room, smiling faintly.
“Please try to be understanding.”
Teachers’ Office.
“XIA JIUWEI! WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!”
The homeroom teacher slammed both hands against the desk furiously.
“You beat up almost the entire class! Do you even know who their parents are?!”
“A lot of those families donate huge amounts of money to this school—you think you can afford the consequences?!”
The more he spoke, the angrier he became.
“There’s going to be a mediation meeting tomorrow, and you are absolutely finished!”
“Every time we helped suppress these incidents, it was so you could continue staying at this school!”
“All you had to do was apologize! Why is that so hard for you?!”
“Now every parent is coming. Even the principal is getting involved!”
He took a deep breath before speaking coldly.
“Tomorrow. Four PM. Zhishan Building, second-floor conference classroom.”
“Think very carefully about what you’ve done.”
But Xia Jiuwei only heard one sentence.
Everyone is coming.
A faint smile flashed through her eyes.
“Sounds good.”
She stood up leisurely.
“I’ll be there on time.”
The next afternoon.
4:10 PM.
Xia Jiuwei was still inside the dormitory.
She packed slowly and without hurry.
There wasn’t much to bring.
A few clothes.
Some toiletries.
One by one, the items disappeared into the Under-Reality.
Finally, she picked up the pocket watch resting on the table—the one her grandfather had left behind.
She glanced at it briefly before slipping it into her pocket and heading out.
By the time she arrived outside the conference classroom—
The room inside had already descended into chaos.
“She beat my son and still dares to show up late?!”
“You’d better give us an explanation today!”
“What kind of trash acts like this at school?!”
Insults and accusations filled the room nonstop.
Yet no one noticed—
The air was growing colder.
Little by little.
As though something invisible was slowly leaking into reality itself.
Creeeak—
The classroom door opened slowly.
The sound made everyone instinctively fall silent for a brief moment.
And then—
The world began to collapse.
The walls decayed before their eyes.
The floor split apart with sharp cracks spreading across the surface.
Brand-new desks and chairs twisted into rusted metal frames and rotten wood.
The lights died instantly.
Only the pale gray light seeping through the windows remained.
The smell of dampness and decay spread through the room.
“W-What is this…?!”
“What’s happening?!”
Fear began spreading rapidly.
Students.
Parents.
Teachers.
One by one, their faces turned pale.
Slowly, all of them turned toward the doorway—
Toward the girl standing at the boundary between light and shadow.
Xia Jiuwei stood there quietly.
Her arms opened slightly.
As though welcoming them.
Or sentencing them.
She looked across the familiar faces before her.
Now every single one of them appeared twisted.
Pathetic.
Ridiculous.
And she smiled.
A cold smile.
“Welcome—”
she said softly, her voice gentle enough to make their blood run cold.
“To my world.”