Evening, at the sports field.
The sports field was still brightly lit at night, with few dark spots.
By the time Lin Nan and Tu Junhui arrived at the sports field, it was already nine o'clock in the evening.
"So I'll start running first?"
Tu Junhui was wearing loose shorts and a T-shirt, while Lin Nan wore casual pants that weren't suitable for exercise. He didn't like shorts, preferring casual pants or jeans even during the hottest summer days.
Lin Nan had wanted to run with Tu Junhui, but the guy had barely finished speaking and didn't even wait for his response before taking off, moving so quickly it was as if a vengeful ghost was chasing him.
"Is it really necessary to avoid accompanying me to meet a girl?" Lin Nan grumbled. He looked around but couldn't see the girl from noon. "Could she have stood me up?"
He didn't mind being stood up, as Lin Nan had originally planned to come running at night anyway. After all, his reactions might have improved significantly, but his physical fitness was still terrible.
However, this girl might be the one who had added him on WeChat before. Could she be planning to confess to him?
As he started jogging slowly around the track, Lin Nan immediately noticed that his body seemed to be in even worse shape than before.
The last time he went running, he had at least completed half a lap before his calves started aching and his breathing became labored. But now, after just a hundred meters of slow jogging, he could clearly feel his body already under strain.
After one lap, he was so exhausted he could barely move his legs.
Looking up, Lin Nan quickly spotted Tu Junhui's stout figure behind him.
"How many laps have you done?"
"Two."
Tu Junhui spoke without even gasping for breath and quickly left Lin Nan behind.
Lin Nan realized that although this guy was fat, his stamina was surprisingly good, at least much better than his own.
Unwilling to stop so quickly, he forced himself to run another hundred meters or so in an attempt to catch up with Tu Junhui, but ultimately gave up due to the pain in his legs, deciding to walk a lap to rest.
At that moment, the familiar feeling suddenly surged from his heart.
Instinctively turning his head, he found the girl he had seen at noon sitting at the edge of the field, waving at him.
Since he was planning to rest anyway, he hurriedly went over and, fighting the inexplicable discomfort in his heart, sat down nearby.
Lin Nan had rarely interacted with girls since middle school. Now sitting beside her, he not only felt uncomfortable but also didn't know what to do with his limbs or what to say.
"How did you end up like this?"
The girl tilted her head and looked at Lin Nan, speaking as if she was very familiar with him.
Lin Nan scratched his head and carefully studied her face.
Could there be a misunderstanding? Perhaps he knew this girl from childhood and was bullied by her daily, which was why he felt anxious like a mouse seeing a cat when meeting her?
He asked somewhat awkwardly, "Do I... know you?"
"Have you gone stupid?" The girl looked cute, but her tone was arrogant.
Lin Nan was even more confused. When had he ever offended such a girl?
To make sure she wasn't a neighbor he had bullied as a child, or a classmate whose hair he had pulled in elementary school, Lin Nan cautiously asked, "Um, what's your name?"
"You weren't like this before." The girl moved closer, curiously examining Lin Nan.
It was then that Lin Nan realized this girl, who was dressed like a college student, actually had the face of a 13 or 14-year-old loli with chubby cheeks that were clearly baby fat.
Could she be some kind of academic prodigy who skipped grades to attend university?
After a long scrutiny, the girl finally answered Lin Nan's question with furrowed brows: "Lina."
"Lina? Oh, Li Na, right? Nice name!" Lin Nan praised without hesitation, then continued to recall if he had ever bullied a girl named Li Na.
But there was none.
In his remaining memories, Lin Nan was certain he had never known a girl called Li Na, let alone bullied one.
However, at this moment, he suddenly remembered that his brain also contained Lilith's memories.
Although he didn't hold much hope, he unexpectedly "saw" some memories about Li Na from them.
"Crybaby?"
The words slipped out involuntarily, but he quickly realized the problem. He hurriedly got up to flee, but before he could act, a fruit knife suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.
"Remember now?" Li Na asked through gritted teeth.
"I remember," Lin Nan awkwardly raised his hands in surrender. "We were from the same ancestor thousands of years ago, it's not good to be like this."
"Who shares ancestors with a witch!" Li Na moved even closer, suddenly hooked Lin Nan's ankle with her foot, gave him a gentle push, and made him fall uncontrollably to the ground.
She straddled Lin Nan's stomach, pressing the knife tip against his kidney area, and coldly snorted.
Indeed, this girl's actual name should be Lina, similar to Western names.
"You've got it wrong!" Lin Nan couldn't care about whether the girl's body was soft or not; he looked around and saw many people nearby, but no one had noticed their situation.
He had never encountered anything like this before. Too nervous to carefully recall the grudges between Lilith and Lina, he could only keep trying to explain: "Lilith is already dead! I'm not Lilith, I'm just an ordinary person, really!
"Look at me, I'm a man!"
"What does being male matter? Lilith wouldn't care about gender!"
Wait, can't you solve your otherworldly matters in your own world? Why drag me into this? Is it necessary to go to such lengths to hunt down a soul?
Of course, transferring into a male body and using magic to become female—isn't that proof of not caring about gender?
If it had been before, Lin Nan would have let it go, but his temper had been influenced by Lilith's soul, making him somewhat irritable. Now being entangled in inexplicable trouble, his anger was rising uncontrollably.
But he still patiently tried to explain: "She's already dead! She died for some unknown reason!"
"Nonsense! Then why do you have traces of magic on you!"
Lin Nan had no idea why he could use magic, and that fruit knife kept pressing against his left kidney, potentially threatening his life at any moment.
If he called for help, it might provoke her...
Steeling himself, Lin Nan suddenly kneed Lina hard in the waist. While she was temporarily off balance from the pain, he quickly broke free from her restraint, delivered a punch to her nose, and then scrambled toward the crowded area.
"Nan Nan, what are you doing?"
After running for a while, Tu Junhui's voice sounded, making Lin Nan feel somewhat relieved. Looking up, he grabbed Tu Junhui's arm, hid behind him, and vigilantly looked in the direction he had come from: "There's a pervert!"
"What? What kind of pervert has such extreme tastes?"
"I'm not joking!"
He was trembling slightly, either from fear or excitement. Tu Junhui clearly noticed Lin Nan's unease and began to believe him: "Should I go beat him up? Is the guy big? If he's big, we should call Chen Yao."
"Not big."
"Alright then!"
Tu Junhui pretended to roll up his short sleeves, stretched his arms, and grunted: "Don't be afraid, Nan Nan, I weigh over 200 jin! There aren't many in school who can beat me! Even if they can, I can still crush them with my weight!"
Finally, a figure slowly appeared in the lights at the center of the dark sports field.
Tu Junhui no longer dared to joke around and clenched his fists with a serious expression.
As the figure became clearer, they saw it was a fragile girl with teary eyes, both hands covering her kidney area, staggering toward the two of them. She pitifully cursed at Lin Nan: "Despicable! Vulgar! Shameless!"
"Wait, what's going on?" Tu Junhui was bewildered.