After Transmigrating, I Became the Most Cowardly Kid (GL) - Chapter 1

The classroom was hot and stuffy, and the blue curtains hanging in front of the wide-open window hadn’t moved for a long time.

The windless weather made people inexplicably irritable, especially the students currently taking their final exams.

There were over forty students sitting in the examination room. The female teacher at the front desk was holding a small electric fan, the soft breeze occasionally lifting her bangs.

Chi Zhihuai was sitting in the last row by the window. Her pen spun a few times in her hand before dropping onto the desk with a sharp click, catching the attention of the proctor in the back.

She nonchalantly picked up the pen and randomly filled in a bubble on the answer sheet.

The clock ticked by, going in circles. Suddenly, a small gust of wind picked up, and a blinding shaft of sunlight fell onto her test paper through a gap in the curtains. She squinted, loudly yanked her paper off the desk, and leaned her chair back against the wall.

With the back legs of the stool rocking slightly, Chi Zhihuai rested the paper on her lap, scribbled a few marks, brought the front legs of the stool down, picked up the paper, and walked toward the podium, tossing the paper onto it.

The students below simultaneously looked up at her. Chi Zhihuai walked out with her hands in her pockets. The proctor hesitated before speaking, “Student, this exam is a joint test with all the key high schools in the city. You cannot hand in your paper early.”

“There’s no need to be so strict in the exam room for the students ranked last, is there?” Chi Zhihuai turned back and winked at the teacher. “I promise I won’t let the monitoring staff see me. Please let me go.”

The proctor had heard stories about this girl and knew her father was the vice principal. After some thought, she let her leave.

Stepping outside, Chi Zhihuai popped a bubblegum into her mouth and sneaked into the first-floor women’s restroom like a thief, then deftly climbed out the window.

Her dark green short hair lifted in the breeze. She casually tucked the hair near her face behind her ear and blew a bubble.

She had smashed two dents into the wall behind the first-floor women’s restroom a couple of days ago, making it especially easy to climb. Chi Zhihuai took a running start, jumped hard against the wall, grabbed the top edge with her hands, stepped on the dents, and flipped over to the outside.

One of her gaming friends was meeting an online acquaintance today. Their two schools were close, and the friend, knowing Chi Zhihuai was a tough fighter, insisted on bringing her along, saying if the person turned out to be a scammer, they’d beat him up.

Chi Zhihuai coolly jumped down from the wall, dusted the wall ash off her hands, and was about to head to the meeting spot when she suddenly remembered her phone was still in her backpack in the locker.

…Damn it, was she brainless?

Chi Zhihuai turned around and jumped back up onto the wall. Just as she was about to jump down again, she felt the ground beneath her feet wobble.

The once sturdy wall suddenly tilted backward and began to collapse. She tried to step forward and run off the wall, but she fell backward with it.

It all happened too fast. The back of her head hit the shattered stones heavily. She didn’t even have time to cry out before she passed out.

Smoke and dust danced and leaped in the sunlight. Deep red blood mixed with soil and stone, flowing along the cracks in the rubble. People heard the commotion and rushed over. The sounds of hurried footsteps, gasps, and phone calls mixed together, lending an air of panic to the atmosphere.

In the chaos, Chi Zhihuai seemed to hear something, yet heard nothing at all.

Was she dead?

The next second, she suddenly opened her eyes.

It was quiet all around her, and the smell of disinfectant permeated the air, making her feel dizzy.

Lying flat on the bed, Chi Zhihuai didn’t dare to move. She just shifted her eyes slightly. Seeing a nurse standing by the bed, she opened her mouth and said, “How am I—”

“Huaihuai! My sweet daughter, you’re finally awake! Lao Chi, Lao Chi, come and look!”

A woman’s cries suddenly rang in her ears, choking Chi Zhihuai. She slowly turned her eyes to the other side and saw two unfamiliar faces.

“I don’t know—”

Before she could finish her sentence, she was suddenly forced to close her eyes. Her soul felt like it was being pulled from her body, making her groan in pain.

“System successfully activated! Hello, I am System 888. I will guide you to integrate into life in the new world…”

A mechanical voice sounded in her mind. Chi Zhihuai was stunned for a long time before finally realizing that she had transmigrated to another world.

The function of System 888 was that among people with the same name who died in the same way due to some calamity, one of them could get a chance to live again in another world, taking the other person’s place. The prerequisite was that she absolutely could not break the original owner’s persona, or she would die again.

Chi Zhihuai was only 17. She didn’t want to die like this. She hoped she could live a good life for both herself and the other “Chi Zhihuai.”

So, she decisively accepted the memory import from the system.

With the original owner’s 17 years of memories flooding into her mind, Chi Zhihuai, who was confident in her own level of dramatic acting, suddenly felt a little hesitant…

Wait a minute, this girl is too well-behaved?!

Well-behaved AND cowardly, AND her grades are good?!

Chi Zhihuai, who had been a bad student for many years, simply couldn’t believe her little eyes.

The original “Chi Zhihuai” went to school and went home dutifully every day. She quietly read books during breaks and lunch, watched the Xinwen Lianbo (News Broadcast) with her dad while eating dinner, studied until 11 PM, and went to bed on time.

In 17 years, she had never liked a boy, never drunk alcohol, never gone clubbing, never sworn at people, and never gotten into a fight. The only two possibilities for her to go out on weekends were either her parents arranged it or she met classmates at the library.

This is going to be the death of me!

No, wait, this girl gave her life, so she should be properly grateful to her.

It’s just this life though…

Before Chi Zhihuai could finish her thoughts, the system forcefully ejected her from the space, and she opened her eyes again on the hospital bed.

Her new mother was still looking at her eagerly, and her new father was talking to the doctor nearby.

Memory told her that two days ago, the “Chi Zhihuai” she replaced was hit by a sudden collapsing wall during P.E. class, causing a mild concussion.

Chi Zhihuai, channeling her inner drama queen, spoke sweetly, “Mom and Dad, I’m awake. You don’t have to worry.”

The doctor standing at the foot of the bed came over and said, “Don’t talk yet, let’s run another check-up.”

Her new mother touched her face, then burst into tears, went to the window, bowed, clasped her hands together, and kept mumbling, “Thank you, Bodhisattva, thank you, Bodhisattva…”

Chi Zhihuai silently watched her back, pursing her lips.

Since she had died in her original world, would her biological mother attend her funeral?

Thinking of certain past events, Chi Zhihuai’s head started to feel dizzy again, so she closed her eyes to rest.

After resting in the hospital for three days, Chi Zhihuai was successfully discharged. Her new parents drove her home. The car was driven extremely steadily, afraid of jostling her head.

She looked out the window with emotion. The scenery outside was strange yet familiar—it was exactly as it appeared in the original owner’s memory, but it was not the place where she herself had grown up.

Chi Zhihuai sighed. During the three days she was hospitalized, she used “feeling unwell” as an excuse to lie quietly in bed and carefully sort through all the memories.

Starting today, she really had to live as another “Chi Zhihuai.”

“Oh, right, Huaihuai, your phone has been with me for the past few days. I just finished charging it for you, here.”

Mom Chi, sitting in the passenger seat, suddenly handed over the phone. Chi Zhihuai instinctively snatched it, worried that she might have gone through her secrets.

She paused, then realized that her current phone contained no secrets to be afraid of anyone seeing.

Her action just now was too abrupt, causing Mom Chi to look startled. Chi Zhihuai clutched the phone and gave an embarrassed smile: “Sorry, Mom, I was afraid my friends were worried and wanted to send them a message to let them know I’m okay.”

Mom Chi relaxed: “Good, you should message them… Oh, by the way, we told your homeroom teacher that you will return to class next Monday.”

Today was Monday, so there were a full seven days until next Monday. Chi Zhihuai, who hated school, would normally jump at the chance for a holiday, but then she thought: she couldn’t go out and play with friends now, nor could she play games, so she might as well go to school to find some fun.

So, she obediently asked, “Mom, can I go to school tomorrow? I don’t want to fall behind on my studies.”

After saying it, she felt nauseous in her heart.

Ugh, ugh, ugh, Chi Zhihuai, you can still say something so shameless in your lifetime!

However, the sentence worked quite well. She heard Mom Chi say with satisfaction, “My daughter is so sensible, but rest is also important. How about this: you rest for one more day, and if you feel fine, you can start school on Wednesday.”

Chi Zhihuai, simultaneously feeling nauseous about herself and nodding, said, “Thank you, Mom.”

Silence returned to the car. Chi Zhihuai opened her phone and flipped through it. Unsurprisingly, the original owner’s phone didn’t even have a single match-three game (like Candy Crush).

Chi Zhihuai’s expression was a little twisted. Good students can play match-three games too, right!

She’s going to download a match-three game the moment she gets home!

Chi Zhihuai huffily tapped into the only social app and saw a few messages asking how she was. She replied to them one by one, but no one replied back.

That’s right, it was still class time. Those good students wouldn’t be playing on their phones during class.

Did she really have to live this boring life forever?

Chi Zhihuai slumped in her seat and mentally murmured “System 888.”

The system quickly activated: “Does the Host have a query?”

Chi Zhihuai: “Can’t I call you up just for a chat when there’s no problem?”

System: “I can’t say you can’t, but what do you want to talk about?”

Chi Zhihuai: “Can I download a match-three game to play?”

System: “Yes.”

Chi Zhihuai: “Honor of Kings (a popular MOBA game)?”

System: “No.”

Chi Zhihuai: “Why?!”

System: “The system detected that your rank in your original world was high. Being too proficient in the game will break the persona.”

Chi Zhihuai: “…Damn!”

System: “…Mm-hmm.”

Chi Zhihuai: “…”

Three days ago, the system said that it had no other functions except to give her life and to erase her life again. Chi Zhihuai struggled to develop it, finally thinking of a chat function, but now she had killed the conversation.

“Forget it, you can go back.”

Chi Zhihuai gave up, dismissed the system, and slumped in her seat to rest her eyes.

After returning home, Chi Zhihuai looked through the books in the bookcase and was blinded by the neat rows of textbooks.

“No way… not even a romance novel?”

She frantically searched her memory and confirmed that the original owner had never bought a romance novel. She had no choice but to take out her phone and play the match-three game.

When she went to the bathroom, she seriously looked in the mirror.

She actually had a beautiful face. If she didn’t need to maintain the original persona, she could definitely be the most dazzling kid on campus.

Unfortunately, now she could only be the most cowardly kid.

Chi Zhihuai grabbed her black ponytail, feeling very unaccustomed to it. She hadn’t worn long hair for many years. When fighting, the one with longer hair was at a disadvantage. In those three years of junior high, she even shaved her head short for convenience when fighting, and only started growing her hair long in high school to look pretty.

She muddled through until the evening, watching the Xinwen Lianbo with Dad Chi while eating.

When the news broadcast finally ended, she followed the original owner’s habit of going to the balcony to look into the distance and rest her eyes. When she returned, she saw Mom Chi watching a TV drama.

Wow! Entertainment!

Chi Zhihuai almost jumped onto the sofa. She strongly suppressed her excitement, took small steps over, and sat down properly on the sofa, saying, “Mom, I’ll watch it with you.”

“Don’t you hate these gooey, romantic dramas the most?” Mom Chi looked at her curiously. “You don’t have to force yourself to keep me company. Mom knows you’re filial. Go back to your room and read. I’ll run you a bath later.”

“I’m not forcing myself…”

“Hurry up and go in—oh, hurry up and go in! The scene you can’t stand is about to start!”

“…” Chi Zhihuai glanced at the TV. The male and female leads were gazing at each other affectionately, seemingly about to share a sweet kiss.

Boo hoo… I really want to see a sweet kiss.

To prevent breaking the persona, she stiffly returned to the bedroom.

Closing the door, Chi Zhihuai painfully grabbed her collar.

Who said she hated gooey, romantic dramas?! She absolutely loved them!

Mom, please, let her out to eat some public display of affection (dog food)!!!