Chapter 5: I’m Alive

June 10th, 2023

After paying the hospitalization fees, Lin Xuan’s wallet was almost empty.

Although her injuries had been repaired by the system, the doctors at the hospital were unaware when she was brought in, so they conducted various examinations on her. When the results came out, it showed that her injuries were not serious, but considering the severity of the car accident, the doctors hesitated and decided to conduct more precise examinations for Lin Xuan, acting responsibly.

After all the examinations and procedures, the result was that Lin Xuan’s injuries were not serious, but she had spent a significant amount of money.

But it wasn’t really the doctors’ fault. Lin Han sighed in relief. Fortunately, the system had mentioned that with her luck value of -99, she had successfully triggered the “nothing major except life and death” buff, which shielded her from other misfortunes. The next step should be smoother for her in finding a job.

After completing the discharge procedures, Lin Han walked towards Song Ranran, who had come to pick her up. As she approached, Song Ranran smiled and took out a box from her bag to hand it to her.

“What’s this?” Lin Xuan asked curiously.

“A discharge gift, don’t worry, it’s not expensive.” Song Ranran knew that Lin Xuan never accepted expensive gifts.

Lin Xuan took it and opened the box, only to see colorful hairpieces inside. It made her feel emo all over.

“With these, you no longer have to worry about being bald. And I’ve got all the colors for you: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. You can wear whichever one you like, covering your baldness while also having a highlighting effect. Isn’t it very thoughtful?” Song Ranran was getting touched by her own thoughtfulness.

“I told you not to mention those two words.” Lin Han was almost getting angry, but her hand honestly picked out a hairpiece and put it on.

“How does it look? Does it cover it?” Lin Xuan lowered her head and asked Song Ranran to evaluate the effect.

“You can still see the bandage, but the bald… um, that thing is not so noticeable anymore,” Song Ranran said.

“As long as that thing is not visible.” Lin Xuan lightly touched the bandage. The nurse’s hand was too heavy-handed. Although she knew it was necessary, couldn’t they shave a little less hair, especially since they were all girls?

“It won’t be noticeable once you remove the bandage,” Song Ranran assured her.

“Help me adjust it again.” The two girls spent quite a while adjusting the hairpiece at the hospital entrance. After Lin Xuan was satisfied with how she looked “normal,” they left the hospital.

“Let’s go eat hot pot tonight to celebrate your discharge.” Song Ranran drove Lin Xuan back to school. The car was a gift from Song Ranran’s parents for her enrollment, even though she was only in her first year.

“I’m going to work part-time tonight. The store manager said they’re too busy.” Lin Xuan refused.

“You just got discharged from the hospital, and now you want to work?”

“I have no choice. I used up the money I saved for rent on the hospital expenses. I’m graduating in a month, and I need to earn the first month’s rent, or else I’ll end up on the streets. Why do people work? Because of poverty.”

“Alright, then we’ll celebrate together once you find a job.” Song Ranran wanted to suggest that Lin Han could stay at her place for now, but she knew her friend’s temperament, so she didn’t say anything in the end. After all, Lin Xuan was stubborn, but she wouldn’t suffer silently. If she really couldn’t handle it, she would ask for help, and Song Ranran would be waiting.

“Okay,” Lin Xuan agreed.

Song Ranran dropped Lin Xuan off at the school and left. Lin Xuan returned to her dormitory alone. The dormitory was still quiet, not much different from usual.

Just as Lin Xuan took out her key to open the door, she heard a “click” sound from behind. Lin Xuan turned around and saw Li Menglin coming out of the water room.

When Li Menglin saw Lin Xuan, she froze in her tracks, reached up to rub her eyes, and said in the calmest tone that could drive people crazy, “You’re still alive?”

Lin Xuan felt a tightness in her scalp and a throbbing pain in her forehead. She was sure she hadn’t offended this Li classmate. “I’m really sorry to disappoint you. I’m still alive, just a mild concussion.”

“Oh, as long as you’re not a ghost. You scared me for a moment.” The alarm was lifted, and Li Menglin lifted her foot and walked towards the dormitory.

“…Who scared who?!” Lin Xuan was furious. She almost wished she were a ghost right now to scare the hell out of this girl.

“Why did you think I was a ghost? Do I look that miserable?”

“I saw the video of you being thrown by the collision in our class group chat. The distance between where you landed and where you were thrown was about twenty meters, forming a perfect parabolic trajectory. From a mechanical point of view, being thrown that far, your brain should have come out. So, most of the classmates, including me, believed that your chance of survival was 99%.” Li Menglin had now walked to a distance of one step in front of Lin Xuan. She suddenly seemed to remember something and said, “Oh,” then congratulated her, “Congratulations, you became the 1%.”

“Thanks a lot,” Lin Xuan couldn’t continue the conversation and turned the key to open the door.

“Um…” Li Menglin called out to Lin Xuan.

Lin Xuan turned around.

“Can you share with me the sensation you felt at the moment you were thrown?” Li Menglin politely added, “If it’s not too much trouble.”

“I have a headache!” Lin Xuan coldly slammed the door to the dormitory.

“It seems like you really do have a headache,” Li Menglin muttered to herself, but she didn’t pay much attention and went straight back to her own dormitory.

Lin Xuan was furious. She returned to her dormitory, took out her phone, and opened the class group chat. She wanted to see how they were discussing her. After flipping through the chat records for a while, Lin Xuan finally understood why her roommates hadn’t sent her a single WeChat message after she had the accident and was taken to the hospital.

It turned out that they were crowdfunding for her funeral expenses in the class group chat!

Didn’t the school teachers visit the hospital? Wasn’t there anyone who went to ask about her? Lin Xuan kept scrolling through the chat history and found the video of her accident. After watching it, she fell silent.

Because in the video, she indeed didn’t look like she had much chance of survival.

“System, thank you,” Lin Xuan couldn’t help but express her gratitude once again.

“Although I don’t know why the host is thanking me… you’re welcome,” the system replied.

Lin Xuan smiled and removed the block on the class group chat. She had blocked it before because she couldn’t find a job for a long time, and to protect her mental state and not be further provoked by the classmates who had already started working. As a result, she only found out now what had happened in the class group chat. She wondered how much money had been raised for her funeral expenses.

Bored, Lin Xuan thought to herself, and at that moment, a message popped up in the group. It was from their class monitor.

Class Monitor: [Xu Ruan, you share a dorm with Lin Xuan. Let’s go to the hospital together this afternoon to deliver the money. We have currently raised 18,235 yuan, and I will personally donate some more to make it 20,000.]

The moment Lin Xuan saw this message, she suddenly felt the urge to fake her death. 20,000 yuan? How long would she have to work part-time for that?

Xu Ruan: [Okay, I’ll ask for leave from the leader later.]

Xu Ruan was Lin Xuan’s roommate. She started interning at a decent company two months ago. In order to be hired as a regular employee, Xu Ruan was always the last one to leave work, sometimes returning later than Lin Xuan’s night shift. She never dared to take leave. Lin Xuan was afraid it would affect her work and didn’t want to stay hidden, so she quickly logged on.

Lin Xuan: [Thank you all for your kindness, but it’s not necessary. I’m fine.]

The group fell silent for a moment.

Class Monitor: [Are you sure it’s you?]

Lin Xuan curled her lips. Did they really think she was dead? She was about to answer when someone else responded faster than her.

Li Menglin: [It’s her. I just met her in the dormitory corridor. She’s breathing and has a shadow. Confirming that she’s still alive. P.S.: She also got her hair dyed in blue.]

Lin Xuan: [……]

Xu Ruan: [Lin Yan never dyes her hair. Are you sure you didn’t mistake someone else for her?]

Li Menglin: [Research shows that people’s temperament will change after surviving a major disaster. Dyeing her hair is nothing.]

Xu Ruan: [That’s true.]

Lin Xuan: [Hey! I’m right here.]

Lin Xuan explained: [I watched the video, and it was pretty brutal, but I was lucky. I only had a mild concussion, and I was discharged from the hospital today. I’m currently in my dormitory. So, everyone doesn’t need to donate money for me anymore. Class monitor, you can return it to everyone. Thank you all.]

Lin Han sent three bowing and thanking emojis in a row. Although her classmates donated funeral expenses, their intentions were good.

Class Monitor: [As long as you’re okay, we’ll refund the money later.] @everyone

Xu Ruan: [Then I won’t take leave. We’ll talk in the dorm tonight.]

Classmate A: [The accident was so serious, yet you only had a mild concussion. It’s simply a miracle.]

Classmate B: [I saw in the video that you landed on your head. Even so, you’re fine. Tell us, did you practice Iron Head Kung Fu since you were a child?]

Classmate C: [Lin Xuan, you’re really lucky.]

Lin Xuan: [Yes, I’m lucky. I think I’ve used up all my luck in this lifetime.]

A series of laughing emojis were sent in the group, and the atmosphere gradually lightened up.

After chatting for a while, Lin Xuan closed the group chat, opened the system interface, and checked her own attributes.

Host: Lin Xuan

Age: 21

Gender: Female

Luck Value: -99

Merit Value: 20

Divination Gold: 0

Twenty points of merit, ten points came from completing divination tasks. She helped a child named Xiaorui avoid unlucky incidents. Another ten points were additional rewards given by the system for Lin Xuan’s extra actions.

What are these extra actions?

The divination system’s requirements for Lin Xuan were simple: divinate once a day to maintain the normal operation of the system. So, in situations like yesterday, Lin Xuan only needed to inform the child of the divination result. Yes, just telling the child, not even the child’s parents, would count as completing the divination and earn her one merit point immediately. As for whether the child’s fate would change because of the divination, the system didn’t require Lin Xuan to do anything. However, if Lin Xuan participated and successfully helped the child avoid bad luck, she would receive an additional nine merit points as an extended task.

But yesterday at the hospital, Lin Xuan did more than just complete the two tasks mentioned above. After completing the system task and the extended task, she continued to make efforts to stop the violent behavior of the mob at the newspaper office. Therefore, the system rewarded her with an additional ten merit points.

As for why only ten merit points were rewarded, firstly, it wasn’t a task issued by the system, so the point reward was not high. Secondly, Lin Yan played an indirect role, and it was Chen Chu who truly prevented casualties.

“With twenty points, at least I don’t have to worry about the system’s operation for the next half month and can focus on finding a job,” Lin Han planned slowly. “Divination is easy, and it’s easy to inform the other party, but collecting the money is not so easy.”

For example, in yesterday’s situation, she could have directly told the child, “Sister can perform divination. I just divined for you, and later a man behind you will try to harm you.”

“Why does that sound so awkward?” Lin Han frowned. It didn’t feel like divination but rather like a curse. Anyway, in this kind of situation, she definitely wouldn’t receive any fortune-telling fees.

“System, why can’t you divinate good fortune?” If she could divinate good luck, she could easily earn more fortune-telling fees.

“Because misfortune needs to be avoided,” the system replied.

“But good luck can make money,” Lin Xuan said.

“Good luck doesn’t need to be avoided. Or is there something special about the people here?” the system asked.

“I didn’t mean it that way. Forget it, I’m going to take a shower,” Lin Xuan ended the conversation and found clothes from the wardrobe, preparing to go to the bathroom.

“Clang!” A sound rang out, and a black-golden cylinder appeared. After shaking it twice, a divination slip fell out.

[Li Menglin, 21 years old, will be hit on the foot by a falling laptop in five minutes.]

Lin Xuan rubbed her chin. “She just said I’m a ghost. Can I refuse to divinate for her?”

She held a small grudge.

“You can, but it will deduct two merit points,” the system replied.

Lin Xuan didn’t want to earn just two merit points from Li Menglin, but she also didn’t want to lose two merit points because of her. She had no choice but to go to the neighboring room and say to Li Menglin at the door, “Your laptop is about to fall.”

Li Menglin was taken aback and instinctively looked down. The laptop was still sitting securely on the desk, stable and fine. She looked back at Lin Xuan in confusion.

Lin Xuan didn’t explain and simply said, “Just be careful.” Afterward, she returned to her own dorm room, and at the same time, she heard the notification sound indicating that the task was completed.

“Ding! Congratulations, host, on completing the task. You have been rewarded one merit point.”

After Lin Xuan left, Li Menglin continued watching her show. After a while, she felt thirsty and got up to get some water. In that split second when she turned around, her arm accidentally hit the laptop stand. The laptop toppled off the desk and fell straight onto her foot.

Li Menglin was in pain, tears welling up in her eyes. But as she looked at the fallen laptop, she seemed to realize something, turned her head, and looked in shock toward the adjacent room.

Author’s note:

Lin Xuan: Yes, I’m still living on strongly.

Li Menglin: I just fell in love with dyed hair.