Chapter 384 - 200: The Li Zhi of This Moment, His Li Zhi
Chapter 384: Chapter 200: The Li Zhi of This Moment, His Li Zhi
The sounds of reality and the silent loneliness of memory fused together in that instant.
It was as if Shen Yuan’s heart had been forcefully jolted, a powerful tremor reaching him across time and space.
The light and shadows before him flickered violently, radiating a scorching heat.
Shen Yuan realized with absolute clarity.
He was finally, truly sitting in the very seat that had once made his heart ache for her across the gulf of time.
But this time, he wasn’t a bystander, not a ghostly voyeur, but was genuinely sitting across from her.
Li Zhi looked up, just in time to catch the momentary blankness and the roiling emotions in Shen Yuan’s eyes. She furrowed her brow slightly and spoke softly, shattering the vision before him.
"Hey, Shen Yuan? What are you spacing out for?"
Li Zhi’s voice yanked Shen Yuan back to reality.
The daze before him instantly dissipated. That lonely silhouette under a setting sun, imbued with an untouchable distance, vanished like mist in the light.
Pouring in through the window was the library’s vibrant morning sun.
He was no longer separated by an impenetrable veil of time, no longer looking at the memory of a solitary figure who stared into the distance with a heavy sigh.
Right in front of him.
Her long hair was tied back, with a few errant strands falling beside her neck, dyed a soft gold by the sun.
Her eyes, slightly widened in confusion, were now looking at him with uncertainty.
The slight furrow of her brow held a hint of complaint, and her cheeks glowed with a healthy, rosy sheen.
This was his Li Zhi.
The Li Zhi of this very moment.
So alive, so radiant, so within his reach.
In that moment, it felt as if a thousand words were caught in his chest—relief, gratitude, and a wordless sense of cherishing her.
In the end, all these surging emotions melted into the most direct yet gentle of whispers, still tinged with the remnants of his daze.
"I wasn’t spacing out..."
Shen Yuan looked at her, his voice so gentle it was as if he were afraid of startling something. "I was just thinking you look really beautiful right now."
Li Zhi froze for a second before a blush crept up her cheeks.
The beautiful girl lifted her foot from under the table and gave Shen Yuan’s shin a light kick.
"Don’t be weird! It’s too early for this!"
A radiant smile spread across Shen Yuan’s face as he looked at the vibrant girl before him.
Just as he was about to say something else, a voice suddenly rang in his mind.
"DING!"
[You chose to "revisit an old haunt" with Li Zhi. While strolling through the Zhejiang University campus with her, you asked where she used to hang out, and Li Zhi led you to a place you had seen in a memory fragment.]
[As you sit in the library, looking at Li Zhi, you are filled with emotion. You feel you arrived far too late.]
[But that time has passed, and she is here before you now.]
[Accompany Li Zhi through the Zhejiang University campus from a different perspective. Reward: Concentration (Basic).]
[Concentration (Basic): Enter a state of concentration more quickly. Efficiency is increased while concentrated. Exiting a prolonged state of concentration will result in significantly increased fatigue.]
Shen Yuan paused, startled. Looking at the system mission, he instantly knew what to do.
The next second, Shen Yuan rose from his seat, his movements gentle yet firm.
Li Zhi’s gaze followed him, a mixture of confusion and her usual slight wariness.
’What’s this guy up to now?’
Under Li Zhi’s scrutinizing gaze, Shen Yuan walked around the table and sat right down in the seat beside her.
Their shoulders brushed. As the morning sun spilled in through the window, the specks of light dancing on the tips of Li Zhi’s hair seemed to shine a little brighter.
Shen Yuan turned to the side, his gaze fixed on Li Zhi’s face. His expression was more serious than ever before, his voice low and warm.
"Li Bao, I was only joking just now. You look even better from this angle. Even more beautiful than before."
Li Zhi froze. A second later, the girl let out a haughty "Hmph!"
"What are you talking about? When do I ever not look good?"
With that, she deliberately whipped her head around to face the window. Her long hair swung with the movement, revealing the flushed tips of her ears as light and shadow flowed through the quiet library.
Shen Yuan watched her profile, a smile continually welling up within him.
The "different perspective" was this: Shen Yuan was no longer watching a reflection of memory from across a chasm, but was now truly standing at her side. He was her companion, letting time forge new echoes from the path they walked together.
The two of them walked along a tree-lined path, passing beneath the academic buildings.
Shen Yuan didn’t lead Li Zhi into any of the classrooms. Instead, they simply ambled along the covered walkways connecting the buildings and across the open plazas.
Sunlight streamed through the tall, glass-walled buildings, casting long, geometric patches of light on the ground.
Shen Yuan’s gaze occasionally swept over certain corridor exits or staircase corners—places where, in a memory fragment, Li Zhi might have once stood, faced with a sudden confession.
Now, he looked at the Li Zhi beside him, who was calmly taking in her surroundings, and the corners of his mouth lifted into a small smile.
There were no boys abruptly blocking her path, no conversations made indistinct by the gulf of time. There were only the two of them, their figures reflected walking side by side amidst the flow of people.
He tightened his grip on her hand, as if to silently banish any potential embarrassment or loneliness that might have existed in those memories.
For their next stop, Shen Yuan led Li Zhi toward the student dormitory area.
They didn’t go near the entrance, stopping instead on the sidewalk at a distance, in front of a modern-looking dorm with a large glass-curtain wall.
Shen Yuan’s gaze fell upon the clean, bright eaves and the glass doors.
An image from a memory fragment surfaced in his mind, unbidden.
He almost subconsciously glanced up.