The school anniversary gala had the classic lineup of singing, dancing, martial arts, and spoken-word performances.
One by one, the acts went on stage. Some got big cheers from the crowd, while others got a pretty lukewarm response. Some people got applause for their youthful confidence and swagger, while others made their performances fall a bit flat because they were too shy.
But no matter what, the essence of youth was flowing through every single one of them.
Ling Xiaoxiao watched the students perform. It didn’t really bring back any specific memories for her. She just found herself kind of longing for that feeling, that sense of time passing that you can actually feel.
As a divine beast who’s practically immortal, she had almost forgotten what the concept of “time” even felt like. That’s because she had chosen to stay away from the world and not get involved with people anymore.
After all, ordinary people’s lives are just too short. The cycle of life and death that her past friends went through felt like a strange, unfamiliar experience to her.
But seeing the emotions they showed when they died—helplessness, acceptance, resentment, madness, sadness—it once made Ling Xiaoxiao so afraid to connect with others.
“What are you thinking about?”
The white-haired girl in the blue maid outfit was right beside her.
Xue Ji’s gentle voice called Ling Xiaoxiao back to reality.
“What happened just now? I saw you clenching your hands really tightly?”
Facing Xue Ji’s concerned gaze, Ling Xiaoxiao was at a loss for words for a moment.
“The old lady just spaced out a bit, hehehe,” Lilith said, not knowing when to keep her mouth shut.
Hearing that, Sha Ya quickly covered Lilith’s mouth.
“Mmph… what are you doing!”
While stopping Lilith from talking, Sha Ya said to Ling Xiaoxiao in an appeasing tone, “The kid’s just being clueless, she’s just joking around.”
Eva poked her head out from behind Xue Ji, seemingly worried about Ling Xiaoxiao too.
Without Ling Xiaoxiao even realizing it, so many people had already gathered around her.
Xia Jin, who had just finished her work, came over with Shen Dai.
Zhao Cheng, on the other hand, had run off to play video games with his buddies. Xue Ji could only shrug at that—typical, stable behavior.
Shen Dai and Xia Jin had actually come over to see the beautiful girls.
“Boss, oh, I mean, senior. Are you guys having fun?” Xia Jin brought everyone milk tea and some snacks.
When Shen Dai saw Ling Xiaoxiao’s breathtaking beauty, she quickly pulled Xia Jin aside.
“So this is your rich boss? She’s such a gorgeous, stunning beauty!”
Ling Xiaoxiao had hired Xia Jin as her housekeeper and, of course, the pay was good. A monthly salary of two hundred thousand had made Shen Dai suspect the boss had ulterior motives for a while.
And that was after Xia Jin had held back the truth. Because Ling Xiaoxiao had basically no concept of money. At first, she just threw Xia Jin a black card as her payroll card.
No matter how much Xia Jin tried to refuse, Ling Xiaoxiao wouldn’t take the black card back.
In the end, it was only after Xia Jin explained that she genuinely just wanted to be a housekeeper that the salary became two hundred thousand a month. Otherwise, who knows, it might have been one black card per month…
Feeling the lively atmosphere around her, Ling Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but get caught up in everyone’s playful energy, and a smile appeared on her face.
“By the way, who is the mysterious guest anyway?” Xue Ji asked Shen Dai.
Shen Dai’s face showed a hint of awkwardness that was hard to hide when asked.
“Um, the mysterious guest is a trio, and you actually know them.”
“I know them? Are they from our class?”
“Yep.”
Smack! The act on stage had just finished. The next performer was Ding Zhen from Class Five.
Amidst the cheers from his classmates, Ding Zhen used his naturally raspy voice—a side effect from awakening his special ability—and sang a song called “I Got Love.”
The upbeat track combined with his world-weary, raspy voice made him look incredibly cool.
But for some reason, Xue Ji felt like something was a bit off.
“Isn’t there a version of this song that suits him even better?”
Shen Dai looked confused when she heard this. “No, this song just came out. How could there be a remix so quickly?”
“Am I overthinking it? How strange.” Xue Ji scratched her head and stopped thinking about it.
As the song ended, Ding Zhen used his ability to turn into smoke and disappeared from the stage, drawing applause and cheers from everyone.
The two hosts walked on stage and signaled for everyone to quiet down.
“Thank you to Ding Zhen from Class Five for that cool performance. Next, we’re about to welcome the mysterious guest everyone’s been waiting for. Are you excited?”
The audience cooperated perfectly, waving their glow sticks like a warm-up act before a celebrity’s arrival.
“How coincidental, these three mysterious guests are also students from Class Five, Grade Twelve. Does everyone know who they are yet?”
“They are the hottest trio lately! TCBOYS!”
Amidst the audience’s cheers, three handsome, cool-looking boys arrived on stage as promised.
Wang Ziyi, Wang Lingkai, and Cai Kun waved to everyone.
A wave of thunderous cheers erupted.
The three didn’t waste any time and immediately got into performance mode.
“Dedicated to our eternal, shared memories!”
“Dedicated to our most beautiful No. 3 High School teachers and students!”
“Please listen to this song, Just Because You’re So Beautiful.”
The music started. The three of them sang and danced, combining their performance with professional arrangements and choreography, taking the night’s show to a whole new level.
Down in the audience, Ling Xiaoxiao watched the cheering crowd with complete confusion.
She asked, “Xiao Ji, why are they running the words ‘just because’ together like that? It sounds kind of weird.”
“Um… I always thought they were singing ‘chicken’…”
Shen Dai munched on her snacks and said, “Our class is really full of hidden talents. We’ve got an idol group, an officer in the Supernatural Abilities Unit, and someone who writes novels.”
“You mean Xiao Huohuo?” Xue Ji suddenly remembered this classmate who hadn’t awakened an ability.
She remembered him not for any other reason, but because she had recently seen his name on the Supernatural Abilities Unit’s watchlist.
“Yeah, his web novel is pretty popular. I heard that to write the stuff about cultivation, he actually went to Mount Hua to find an old hermit master to take him as a disciple.”
Xue Ji felt like she needed to check this out personally. After all, that old hermit on Mount Hua was also an anomaly, one that could be either serious or minor. The only reason the Supernatural Abilities Unit hadn’t fully pursued it yet was because no one had been hurt, and some people from the Cultivators’ Association had vouched for him.
The three who had debuted as an idol group ignited the whole audience’s enthusiasm. At the crowd’s strong request, they performed their individual talents.
But the moment they were given free rein, things started going off in strange directions.
Take Cai Kun, for example. He just carried a basketball on stage, danced and dribbled at the same time, and had the principal in a headlock for two and a half minutes.
Wang Ziyi launched into a freestyle that left the old principal completely baffled.
Wang Lingkai’s overly wild guitar solo nearly scared the principal into fainting.
Seeing things going sideways, the two hosts quickly came on stage to take control.
The three boys finished their acts and left the stage with tears in their eyes.
“Thank you, TCBOYS, for that wonderful performance.”
“On stage, each of them shone so brightly. May we all find what we love in our future lives and shine on our own stages.”
“And with that, all the planned gala performances are over. However, just a moment ago, a beautiful woman in the audience was also caught up in the atmosphere and wanted to come up and give us a performance.”
“Would everyone like that?”
YES!!!!!
Amidst the cheers, Ling Xiaoxiao, dressed in a red Hanfu, appeared on a backdrop of falling fiery feathers.
“Hey!!!” Xue Ji and her group exclaimed in surprise.
But Ling Xiaoxiao up on stage was smiling brilliantly, like a flower in full bloom, reigniting the passion of everyone in the venue.
Xue Ji quickly turned her head to look—Ling Xiaoxiao had, at some point, left her puppet double sitting there. The real her had left long ago.
