After Being Mistakenly Taken for a Fellow Traveler by Emperor Long Aotian - Chapter 158

Chapter 158: Rong Haoyu’s Modern Adventure Part 1

“Boom! Boom!”

The deafening sound of machinery roared outside the window, startling a black-haired young man awake.

“Damn it!” He shouted groggily, sitting up abruptly from his bed. “Who the hell is causing such a ruckus in the palace? Xiao Li—”

Instinctively, his left hand reached out to his right—only to grasp at empty air.

No warm and soft presence, no one lying by his side. What his hand touched was a cold, unyielding wall.

The young man seemed to snap fully awake at that moment. Inch by inch, he looked down, from the down comforter on his body, to his shoulders, to his arms…

And finally, to his wrist, pressed against the wall at an awkward angle.

As if in a frenzy, he leapt out of bed, ignoring the phone on the desk beside him that was vibrating violently. He didn’t even bother putting on slippers, running barefoot across the forty-some square meters of his room, straight to the window covered by dark gray curtains—

With a single tug, the curtains were thrown open, flooding the room with daylight and revealing the distant skyline and the lake beyond. Down below, a muscular woman was shouting angrily at a man operating a lawn mower. On the streets, a few joggers clad in fitness gear, wearing AirPods and fitness trackers, ran by.

Approaching winter, P City was enjoying a rare sunny day. In a few more days, the chilly winds of the snow season would arrive. But standing by the window, gripping the curtain tightly, the young man seemed frozen in place. He stared blankly at the view outside, then turned back around, scanning the room inch by inch.

The bed, the desk, the laundry basket filled with clothes ready for the downstairs laundry room. On the desk sat his laptop. The keys to his second-hand Ford were casually tossed into the crevice of the couch, lying next to the new iPad Pro. A SpongeBob pillow with a goofy expression adorned the couch, while a small fridge holding Lao Gan Ma chili sauce and soda hummed softly in the background. In another corner, a cardboard box contained a pair of new headphones he planned to review and post about online in his spare time.

This was his room.

The room of a graduate lab assistant, working far from home.

He stared at the space for a long time before clutching his own right wrist with his left hand and letting out a pained yelp.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow—”

…

“So, let me get this straight. You woke up, for some mysterious and inexplicable reason, and managed to slam your hand against the wall hard enough to bruise the soft tissue and almost cause a fracture?” Cheng Hang asked sympathetically. “I mean, sure, your boss might be tough, but at least they’re not a Korean boss, right? Even the folks in the next lab survived. You don’t need to protest by nearly breaking your hand!”

The two of them sat on the steps outside, each munching on a sandwich. As fellow graduate lab assistants living in the same apartment complex, Cheng Hang had been startled awake earlier that morning by the loud wailing from next door. With the recent news about another PhD student hanging themselves, he had nearly kicked open Rong Haoyu’s door while simultaneously dialing 911.

Fortunately, there was no need to call the police—or visit the hospital. Rong Haoyu’s fist was only swollen. His good punching endurance had spared him from a hefty medical bill that could have easily climbed to a thousand dollars.

Cheng Hang tried his best to make light of the situation, cracking a joke here and there. For a PhD student, managing to joke at all was as challenging as regrowing the hair lost the day before. Yet Rong Haoyu remained silent, staring blankly into the distance, biting into his sandwich one slow bite at a time.

All day, he had been in this distracted state, a stark contrast to his usual loud proclamations of “I’m going to win a Nobel Prize!” Cheng Hang couldn’t figure him out, scratching his head as he changed the subject:

“By the way, you really didn’t go to Xiaokang’s birthday party? She’s heading back to China at the end of the year, you know. Honestly—”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “She’s been into you for ages, but you’ve been too dense to notice. Come on, man, you’re 25 and still single. Isn’t it time to think about your future? Her family owns a company, you know. Marry her, and you’ll go from small fortune to great fortune. Opportunities like this don’t come often!”

He sighed dramatically. “Why doesn’t someone like her take a liking to me? I’m not that much worse than you, just a little less good-looking…”

Before he could finish, Rong Haoyu suddenly called out, “Hey, Cheng, come here.”

“Huh?”

As soon as Cheng Hang moved closer, Rong Haoyu grabbed his thigh and pinched hard!

Cheng Hang yelped in pain. “What the hell are you doing?! Are you nuts?!”

“…It’s real.”

“What’s real? Of course, it’s real! What’s gotten into you today?” Cheng Hang complained, rubbing his leg.

Before he could scold him further, a pair of joggers ran by. One of them looked over, smiled brightly, and gave Cheng Hang a thumbs-up with the words, “You’re brave!”

Cheng Hang: …

Still processing his mortification, he heard Rong Haoyu mutter, “I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s like… I had a dream.”

“What kind of dream? A good one? Or a nightmare?”

“I dreamed I became an emperor. Built infrastructure. Did a lot of things. Met a lot of people. Met… someone.” He trailed off, his eyes distant, lashes unmoving.

“A good dream, then. If it still moves you after waking up.” Cheng Hang didn’t quite understand what was going on but patted his shoulder comfortingly. “Dreams are just dreams. You’ve got real life ahead of you—with wealth and the Nobel Prize waiting for you!”

“I barely know her.” Rong Haoyu rubbed his temples irritably, glancing forward. Cheng Hang noted his rare seriousness. Even with half a sandwich still in hand, Rong Haoyu looked surprisingly…

(yes he used she)

Melancholic?

And unexpectedly handsome?

No wonder this guy, always joking around, lacking poise, constantly carefree, and a die-hard straight man isolated from women for so many years, could still attract someone…

“Besides,” Cheng Hang watched as Rong Haoyu lowered his gaze and whispered, “I want…”

He clenched his hand tightly. “To go back to the dream.”

Cheng Hang: …

After a moment, he looked at the contemplative statue-like figure and said, “Bro, stop squeezing. You’ve squished the sauce out of your sandwich…”

Rong Haoyu: …

“Ah, I get it now. You’re just under too much pressure.” Cheng Hang tried to console him. “Look at me. I’m in my fifth year of my PhD and still haven’t published a paper. I often dream too—dream that I’m an emperor with three palaces, six courts, three thousand beauties, and ruling the world. Man, that’s a blast! But when I wake up, life still goes on, doesn’t it? And modern life is so much better than ancient times! Do they even have toilets in ancient times? Or smartphones, Wi-Fi, tablets, Steam AAA games?

Here in modern times, you can post a review video on Bilibili and have a bunch of fangirls calling you ‘Scholar Oppa.’ Not to mention modern medicine, no wars… What’s better about ancient times? Besides, if you transmigrated, you couldn’t take your friends and family with you, could you? So, brother…”

He righteously patted Rong Haoyu on the back. “You’re just too stressed and trying to escape reality! Bro, you’re only in your fourth year! Keep at it! Survive two more years, and a brilliant future awaits you! A beautiful life awaits you! A faculty position at a top university awaits you! A rich and beautiful wife awaits you! The Nobel Prize awaits you! By then, you won’t be able to say no to such a wonderful life!”

Just as he finished speaking, Rong Haoyu’s phone rang.

The call was from his senior in the lab. Rong Haoyu had taken a day off today and hadn’t gone to the lab. Hearing the ringtone, Cheng Hang nearly spat out his soda. “Damn, did you get fired?!”

Then, they heard the voice coming from the phone.

Cheng Hang: …

With a “plop,” the wrapper in his hand fell to the ground.

“Holy crap… Holy crap… You made it, bro!! You didn’t check your email this morning?! A top journal, an industry-leading one, and you’re the first author!!” Cheng Hang screamed, “You… You…”

“You’ve met the graduation requirements! You can relax for two years and then just graduate with your degree and leave! A wonderful life is coming your way!!”

…

Loud shouting echoed from the steps in the distance, but the students passing by nearby didn’t find it unusual. After all, P University was notorious for its rigorous academics, and it was midterm week. With students organizing streaking events to cope with stress, two screaming PhD students were hardly out of place.

However, by the stone plaque on the nearby lawn, another figure caught the attention of a few passing students.

It wasn’t uncommon to see Asian faces on campus, but the young man standing there had black hair, black eyes, extremely fair skin, and features so exquisite they resembled an expensive porcelain doll. Holding a newspaper, he appeared to be casually reading it, but his gaze seemed to pierce through the paper, watching the two PhD students on the steps.

“Number Five, you just altered the worldline, didn’t you?”

“A tiny adjustment. Just as Cheng Hang said, life here is so good, he won’t keep thinking about going back. If reality is fulfilling enough, who would cling to a dream?”

Students continued to pass by, oblivious to the young man talking to the system as though no one else existed. It seemed as though whatever image entered their eyes had been corrected, preventing them from seeing the beautiful young man conversing with something invisible.

“Well, I can’t help it. It’s the mess Number Two left behind.” The young man shrugged. “I have to monitor him until he completely gives up on pursuing that world, don’t I?”

“Correct.” The system replied. “You’ve temporarily gained managerial authority over this world.”

“Got it.” The young man sighed, his fingers gliding over a surface invisible to others. “Since that’s the case, and he’s already met his graduation requirements, let’s give his advisor a revitalized second spring and a marriage retreat. That way, he can justify taking a break… Hmm, and let’s sprinkle in some good luck. Done!”

He snapped his fingers, creating a faint ripple in the air.

Some perceptive students noticed the subtle shift, but when they looked over, all they saw was the beautiful young man reading his newspaper. When he noticed them, he smiled, folded the newspaper, and walked away.

That smile made the student’s face instantly flush red.

“Hey,” his companion nudged him after noticing he had been staring for a while, “What are you looking at? That guy?”

“I was just thinking…” The student finally snapped out of it and muttered, “Just…”

“Which faculty has such a carefree student?”

“Law school?”

“You must be joking! Unless the sky has fallen!”

“Uh… Literature? Theology? Wait, Philosophy! Definitely philosophy!”

“Makes sense.”