Chapter Two: Black or White

June 28, 20xx, 7:36 a.m., clear skies, sunlight pouring over the land, birds chirping in a cheerful chorus.

Yet, Lu You’s mood was quite the opposite, shrouded in gloom.

This was his third morning in this world.

The previous two days had been a haze of confusion, his entire being relying on primal instincts to get by.

It wasn’t until today that Lu You finally accepted reality.

He scrutinized his reflection in the mirror: thick eyebrows, jet-black bright eyes, long eyelashes, a perfectly proportioned nose and mouth, smooth fair skin, and delicate, gentle features. Aside from a slightly tousled hairstyle and a hint of youthful innocence on his face, he was flawless.

Originally, he thought someone had snatched him away during sleep and altered his appearance. But seeing his body intact, with freedom of movement and living in a grand villa, he discarded that notion.

Lu You pondered bewilderedly, “How does one just cross over worlds by sleeping? Surely there should be some dramatic accident, like getting hit by a car.”

This body’s name was also Lu You, but the two shared little beyond the name.

The handsome Lu You was fifteen, mild-mannered, with mediocre grades but a smattering of skills in various areas. His mother was a music teacher, his father a company executive, and their family background was well-established.

The professor Lu You, by contrast, came from a modest family, had average looks, a steady and introverted personality with a hidden passion, excelled in mathematics, and had parents devoted to national development. He was a promising future soldier, a model of loyalty and dedication.

The two were entirely unrelated, yet now merged into one.

Since the fusion, Lu You couldn’t quite tell which consciousness dominated. In the past two days, sometimes two conflicting thoughts surfaced simultaneously, creating an odd sensation.

Like when watching videos, he’d see a pair of long, pale legs and hear two inner voices in his mind.

One said, “Those legs would look great in black stockings.”

The other said, “With such white legs, white stockings would be a pity.”

After two days of sorting through this, Lu You’s mind gradually calmed, fully embracing the cross-world reality. The two personalities had mostly integrated. Now, he liked both black and white stockings.

“Sigh, life was so comfortable before, how did this happen? If I had to be reborn somewhere, why not in some fantasy or cultivation world? At least that’d be more adventurous. Instead, I ended up in some rich kid’s body, born all the way to the end with nothing left to explore,” Lu You mused with a touch of irony.

“Maybe I should try the entertainment industry? With this face, it shouldn’t be a problem. Just standing there showing off the face and getting paid, no special talent needed,” he thought, feeling a flicker of excitement.

But he soon dismissed the idea. That world required all three essentials, and though it seemed glamorous on the surface, behind the scenes it was probably filthier than a sewer.

Lu You couldn’t guarantee he’d stay untainted, and with his family’s wealth, he could pursue more meaningful endeavors.

After much contemplation, Lu You resolved to continue as an explorer in the field of mathematics. Though he already held a doctoral degree and was a professor in his previous life, his journey in mathematics was just beginning.

He had ideas about how to return to this path. He possessed the necessary mathematical foundation; what he lacked was a convincing certificate, a degree.

As for how to obtain it, he chose a different route this time: the college entrance examination path, to experience the daily life of typical high school and university students.

If earning the doctorate was a journey by airplane, a swift and steady ascent, this time Lu You chose to take the slow train, savoring the scenery along the way.

He hoped to find a few lasting friends, meet all kinds of people, and perhaps even encounter a first love.

Having sorted through his miscellaneous thoughts, he turned his attention to meals.

“No takeout today. I’ll cook breakfast to fill my stomach first, then head to the market for groceries.”

With this decision made, Lu You went to his wardrobe, picked out comfortable and appropriate clothes to change into, freshened up, and glanced at his phone. It was just past eight o’clock. In his previous life, he’d probably just be waking up at this hour.

“Modern middle schoolers’ biological clocks, impressive indeed,” Lu You remarked, then stepped out of his room.

His current home was a five-story mansion. The first floor housed the living room, guest room, dining room, and kitchen. The living room’s floor-to-ceiling windows opened onto a small garden. The second floor was his parents’ domain. The third floor was for entertainment and relaxation, including a gym and ping-pong table. The fourth floor was a rooftop terrace.

Lu You lived in the basement level beneath the garden. Almost the entire basement floor, excluding an underground garage that wasn’t connected, was his private territory.

The basement had three rooms: a bedroom, a computer room, and a cat room, along with a lounge area with an enormous skylight.

The cat room housed a neutered short-legged cat named Little Bao. Its fur was mainly light beige, except for a white belly and white paws. Its beige ears twitched occasionally, likely dreaming.

“Now I’m officially a cat person!” Lu You felt a surge of emotion. In his previous life, he could only enjoy cats online; now he could hold one in his arms. Unfortunately, he had to go grocery shopping first, so he restrained himself.

He entered the kitchen and opened the fridge’s cold storage compartment. Inside were some mysterious herbs, a few bottles of sauces, and several eggs.

After some thought, he took out an egg and a bottle of chili sauce. Then he grabbed a pancake from the nearby cabinet.

Ten minutes later.

Lu You slurped noodles while checking his phone. From his original memories, this world was not much different from Earth—some things appeared in a different order, some place names varied, but social life, historical progress, and global structure were largely the same.

He opened the local version of Bilibili and browsed the live gaming section. Earth’s popular games existed here as well, and famous streamers remained largely unchanged.

He then switched to trending topics: check-ins, outbreaks of fights in various places, birthdays of cosplayers, esports matches between teams, celebrities getting arrested, and so forth. Same formula, same flavor.

At that moment, a WeChat call popped up. The avatar was a laundry-themed dragon girl, the contact named “Eat My Turtle.”

Lu You immediately recognized the caller as Li Yu. After their consciousnesses merged, he naturally could recognize the original body’s good friend.

Li Yu was male, tall and slim, with small eyes and regular features, a clean-cut appearance, excellent grades, a passion for various games, poor skills but great enthusiasm, and a slight affinity for anime culture. His parents even opened a dedicated board game store for him to display his figurines and collections.

Lu You answered the call, switched to speaker, and asked, “Calling so early, what’s up?”

“It’s the 28th today,” came a calm voice in reply.

“So?”

“You don’t know?”

Lu You frowned. “Be direct. Don’t beat around the bush.”

“Today’s the day the middle school entrance exam results come out. You didn’t know?”

“What’s the middle school entrance exam? Do I have to know?”

“Ah? Your grades are usually bad, but your brain is still working, right? How come today your brain’s gone missing?”

“Can you just say it straight? Stop messing around...” Lu You suddenly froze as his original memories surfaced, recalling the exam.

He had just graduated from ninth grade and was awaiting his results. But the past few days, his mind had been too chaotic, and with two sets of memories mingling, his sense of time was still off. He hadn’t paid attention to the date until Li Yu mentioned the results today.

Li Yu, seeing no response, said, “Forget it. I’ll come find you around ten.”

Lu You snapped back, replying, “Alright.”

They ended the call.

Lu You continued rummaging through his memory for anything about the exam to estimate his scores.

He only recalled a few simple math multiple-choice questions and easy bonus problems, some basic questions from other subjects, and a composition for Chinese. The rest was a blank.

It was over. Utterly failed.

No slow train now—might as well have been on a bicycle.

Lu You sighed. He had never taken this exam himself or gone to high school in his past life, going straight to university instead. But he could still roughly judge the original body’s performance.

At best, about 560 or 570 points. A complete disaster.

“Good thing the family background is strong, or this would be a total dead end,” he lamented, then quickly searched for local private middle schools on his phone to plan his next steps.

Having roughly mapped out the next few years, he swiftly finished breakfast, washed the dishes, tossed yesterday’s clothes into the washing machine, set the program, and pressed start.

He found the few masks available in the medicine cabinet, put on a pair of black sneakers at the entrance, grabbed his keys, and took the elevator down to the underground garage.

There, among the luxury cars, stood a small pink electric scooter that looked out of place.

It had originally belonged to his mother but was left to Lu You after she became pregnant with their second child.

“Pink scooter—pretty cool,” he said.

He sat on the seat, inserted the key, opened the roller shutter, twisted the throttle, and the motor hummed to life. Lu You and the scooter became one, a gust of wind speeding out of the garage.

The villa district was somewhat remote. To reach the nearest vegetable market took about five or six kilometers.

He rode slowly along the bicycle lane. Approaching nine, people were preparing to go to work, and as he entered the city, pedestrians gradually increased.

A little over twenty minutes later, Lu You arrived at the market. He parked his beloved scooter at a non-motorized vehicle spot, put on his mask, and stepped into the bustling market.

Watching the crowd and the vendors, his thoughts bubbled up like goldfish blowing bubbles in water.

Yes, this world was indeed not much different from Earth, though the people and things here seemed somewhat more advanced.

Why did so many people not wear masks?

Why no scanning of health codes upon entering the market at this hour?

What should Li Yu buy when he arrived?

...

Following the flow of people, Lu You entered the market.