Six thousand and six.

After a few seconds of silence, a busy tone came through the phone.

Mingzhu hung up.

Jingdan’s face turned ashen: now that things had developed to this point, Mingzhu would definitely come looking to settle scores later.

With matters as they were, staying here any longer was pointless. She needed to quickly figure out how to explain everything to Mingzhu.

Fuming, Jingdan shot a hateful glance at Linghuan before turning and heading back to the International Class building.

All this commotion had eaten up most of the break time.

Linghuan and Xin exchanged a glance. “The next class is about to start. Let’s go back to the classroom first.”

Xin’s expression was complicated, but she nodded in agreement.

Linghuan knew that hearing her “family” arrange for someone to teach her a lesson had to have hurt Xin deeply.

At this moment, any comfort would feel hollow.

Restricted by the system, Linghuan couldn’t tell Xin the truth: that those weren’t her family at all, and that the body Mingzhu inhabited was controlled by a stranger’s soul.

All she could do now was stay by Xin’s side and ensure that Mingzhu and her group couldn’t harm her any further.

With that thought, Linghuan quietly patted Xin’s shoulder, as if to say: I’m here.

Xin returned her a small smile.

Then, in the next moment, Linghuan blinked.

She seemed to catch a faint white glow flickering around Xin.

The glow appeared and vanished so suddenly that Linghuan almost thought she’d imagined it.

But the electronic voice that followed confirmed it was real.

The system’s tone was excited: “That is—”

Linghuan immediately asked in her mind, “What is it?”

System: “To ensure the novel world runs properly, the main characters’ actions are bound by the plot. But that glow just now indicates that Xin, as the novel’s heroine, is beginning to show signs of breaking free from the plot’s control.”

A hint of hope flashed in Linghuan’s eyes. “Xin is awakening?”

“No, not yet.”

Linghuan fell silent for a moment.

Indeed, awakening wasn’t that simple; she was just too eager.

“The current awakening level is too weak to even be measured accurately. Xin is far from breaking free of the plot’s control. However, if the awakening value continues to rise—”

Linghuan’s eyes brightened. “If it keeps rising, then—”

“Then as the awakening level increases, Xin will be less and less constrained by the plot, potentially breaking free entirely.”

...

On the way back to class, Linghuan kept thinking about the possibility of Xin awakening.

After learning that Xin would lose everything to Mingzhu’s book-invading system, Linghuan had prepared herself to protect her.

Fortunately, in their final year of high school, Linghuan and Xin saw each other almost every day, making it convenient for Linghuan to keep tabs on Xin and the Meng family’s movements.

What to do after high school was a problem for another day.

But now, Linghuan saw another possibility—

What if Xin could awaken?

“System,” Linghuan asked, “do you have any way to help Xin’s awakening level increase?”

“I’m just a cannon fodder system; that’s beyond my capabilities.”

Linghuan: “...Oh, I forgot you’re the most useless kind of system.”

It seemed she’d have to observe and figure out how to help Xin awaken on her own.

The system lamented: “I’m not completely useless—I’m excellent at detection!”

“By the way,” Linghuan suddenly had an idea, “you said Mingzhu can’t detect that I have a system. Is it possible that Xin also has a system, but I just don’t know about it?”

“I know what you’re thinking, but unfortunately, the cannon fodder system has the strongest detection abilities among all systems. It’s unlikely there’s one I can’t detect.”

---

Linghuan felt a bit disappointed. “Alright then.”

Just after talking with the system, the class bell rang.

The next class after PE was English, and the teacher handed out a large vocabulary test.

“A pop quiz. Let’s see how much you learned over the summer. Have you memorized the words? Have you retained the knowledge?”

Class 3, Senior Year One, was one of the two top classes in Langde High School’s college entrance exam department—the so-called key classes. Everyone there was a “top student.”

Still, even the best students rarely truly enjoyed exams.

As the teacher finished speaking, the classroom erupted in groans.

If it had been the old Linghuan, she would have joined in the complaints.

English wasn’t her strongest subject, and she barely memorized the vocabulary over the break.

During the holidays, she spent most of her time locked away in her room playing games.

There was no other choice—at the time, overwhelmed by the plot’s influence and filled with negative emotions, she couldn’t focus on studying.

Immersing herself in the gaming world was the only way to ease her inner turmoil.

But after everything that happened today, a vocabulary quiz seemed like the smallest concern.

Calmly, Linghuan took the test paper from the desk in front of her and tidied the clutter on her own desk, preparing to spread out the paper.

Her hand paused as it touched a watch box at the top right corner of the desk.

She distinctly remembered putting the gift Xin had given her into the desk hole before PE class.

She’d even thought about it carefully back then—knowing that after PE, the classroom would be a mess, and the box might get knocked off, so she stored it safely.

How had it ended up back on the desk?

Linghuan thought for a moment, then deliberately shook the watch box a few times, as if casually glancing back.

At that moment, her eyes met Li Hongwen’s.

As their gazes crossed, Li stiffened and quickly lowered his head, picking up his pen to write.

Linghuan: “...”

She already had a good idea who had moved the watch box.

After the forty-minute English class ended, Linghuan’s test paper had many blanks in the fill-in-the-blank section, and a lot of the multiple-choice answers were guesses.

She considered herself fairly gifted academically; otherwise, she wouldn’t have gotten into Langde High’s top key class.

If this had been another subject, she might have been able to scrape by on her previous two years’ foundation.

But vocabulary was vocabulary—if you didn’t study it, you simply couldn’t fake it.

She’d have to find time later to catch up on the words she missed over the summer.

When the bell rang, the last student in each row collected the papers.

Xin, as the English class representative, was responsible for helping the teacher carry the collected papers to the office.

The classroom buzzed with discussions, and a crowd had gathered near Linghuan.

But they weren’t focused on her—they were surrounding her deskmate, Song Congqian.

Song was the top male student in the class, and the homeroom teacher had assigned them as deskmates this semester.

“Qian, did you finish fifteen minutes early? I didn’t see you write anything in the last part.”

“Wow, it really is Qian! I feel so inferior!”

“I was unsure about several questions. Qian, did you choose D for the last one?”

“This test was so hard! Half of my multiple-choice was just guessing! Linghuan, how about you? Hey, where did she go?”

The speaker looked around, only to realize Linghuan had quietly left her seat and was walking toward the back—toward Li Hongwen.

Seeing Linghuan approach, a flicker of panic crossed Li’s face.

He pressed his lips tightly and snapped, “Linghuan, what do you want? I didn’t want to argue with you about what happened at lunch, so don’t push your luck!”

Linghuan said nothing, producing the watch box from her hand. “Have you seen this before?”

---

Li Hongwen’s eyes darted nervously. “Why are you asking me about your stuff?”

That evasive glance turned Linghuan’s eight-tenths certainty into absolute.

“I put this watch box in the desk hole during lunch break. After PE, it was back on the desk.” Linghuan spoke calmly. “Li Hongwen, did you move my things when I wasn’t around?”

Li immediately denied loudly, “Of course not! Why would I touch your stuff?”

Trying to cover his guilt, Li’s voice was louder than usual.

Their loud exchange drew attention from many nearby.

The group around Song Congqian paused their half-answered tests and looked over.

Song himself disliked fuss and merely pulled out a book to read quietly.

Linghuan narrowed her eyes at Li’s obvious bluff. “Are you sure you didn’t touch it?”

Li: “...O-of course!”

Linghuan: “There are cameras in the classroom. If you don’t admit it, I’ll tell the homeroom teacher you stole my property. When they check the footage, it won’t be as simple as it is now.”

Li: “What nonsense are you talking about? When did I ever steal from you?”

Linghuan: “Taking something without asking is stealing. If you have any excuse, you can come with me to the security office to explain.”

Li was utterly flustered now.

Langde High was equipped with the city’s best facilities. To ensure fairness and safety, the classroom cameras were extremely clear.

Though students couldn’t easily view the footage, given Linghuan’s relentless nature, this might escalate to that point.

Realizing this, Li’s tone softened. “I... I just picked it up and looked at it. It wasn’t stealing! Even if you ask to see the footage, they won’t blame me!”

Linghuan smirked slightly. “So you admit you secretly handled my things when I wasn’t around, right?”

Li’s face shifted.

“So what if I did?” he insisted, “I told you, I only looked at it. Nothing else.”

His words made the surrounding students look at him differently.

Even if he hadn’t stolen it, messing with someone else’s belongings—especially valuable ones—was inappropriate.

Moreover, Li only admitted it after hearing about the cameras, which made him seem even less trustworthy.

Whispers spread.

“Maybe Li Hongwen wanted to wear the watch secretly because it looks expensive?”

“Judging by the box, Linghuan’s watch seems to be from R brand. It’s probably quite valuable.”

Li must have sensed what people were thinking. He cared deeply about his reputation and felt deeply embarrassed.

If he couldn’t come up with a solid excuse, how would he face his classmates in the future?

After a few seconds of silence, he decided to take a gamble: “I didn’t mean anything else. I just thought the watch box looked fake and was worried you were being scammed, so I checked it for you!”

Earlier during PE, Li had been obsessed with the R-brand watch box on Linghuan’s desk.

With about seven or eight minutes left in class, he made up a reason about feeling unwell and asked to leave early.

Since PE classes weren’t strict, the teacher didn’t ask much and granted permission.

Back in the classroom, Li fiddled with the watch box for a while and even searched online for tips on identifying fakes.

But he wasn’t an expert; he just liked expensive things. After a long time, he still couldn’t tell if the watch was real.

He lost track of time and, noticing someone at the door, panicked and hurried back to his seat without putting the box back.

His excuse was half true, half fabricated.

With this excuse in mind, he felt more confident.

“Linghuan,” Li raised his spirits, “where did you buy this watch? How much did it cost? Is it new or secondhand? If you were being scammed, you should thank me for catching it!”

Hearing this, Linghuan couldn’t help but laugh.

She never imagined anyone could be so shameless.