[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-the-system-protagonist-joined-a-cross-dimensio":3,"chapter-i-the-system-protagonist-joined-a-cross-dimensio-i-the-system-protagonist-joined-a-cross-dimensio-chapter-79":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I, the System Protagonist, Joined a Cross-Dimensional Chat Group",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2292739,4485,"Chapter 79","i-the-system-protagonist-joined-a-cross-dimensio-chapter-79",79,"\u003Cp>On the roof of a twenty-story residential building.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A man and a woman from the Executive Department of the Cassel Academy lay on a moss-covered concrete slab.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Lin sat on the rooftop railing, expressionless, watching the traffic below, his mind churning with thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was thinking about a question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you could return to the past, everyone would spare no effort to leave no regrets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what if, upon returning to the past, you found another version of yourself—someone you cannot replace, and who will one day vanish?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What would you do?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You are merely a spectator, destined to pass through.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet you cannot help but want to join the performance, to alter scenes you dislike, snatch the director’s script, scribble over it; if the script is too poor, you’d tear it up and write your own preferred version.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Everything you want.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Everything you care about.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Everything you’ve lost.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Lin murmured to himself, legs dangling, heels rhythmically tapping the wall with a thump-thump sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s such a mood-killer—he couldn’t even finish his roast duck and had to pack it up and leave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His conversation with Lu Mingze left him unsettled—not because of Lu Mingze himself, but because of the Lu Mingfei from a different future, one he had long ignored.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d assumed coming to Lu Mingfei’s world would be a casual harvest of points, a bit of chaos—never expecting to get tangled in this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From his perspective, no matter what, Lu Mingfei’s current future is better than the original one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If left to another version of himself, he’d inevitably live a happy life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could grow strong just by lying around, with a chat group as a cheat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In other words, the pain of youth literature had already been crushed under the weight of the Dragon King’s urban tropes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only flaw is that the “lucky loser” who returned from the future has changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He knows he is Lu Mingfei—but how many Lu Mingfeis is he?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mingze wore an expression of disappointment, his eyes dimmed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He is not my brother.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He became me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But he is not me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Lin recalled Lu Mingze’s expression when he said those words—the bright restaurant lights couldn’t illuminate the darkness within him, as if waiting for someone who had been gone a long time, only for that person to return, no longer the same as before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wanting to give him every best scene in every script, letting him live a happier life in my place.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Lin suddenly felt a strange familiarity about Old Lu—as if he’d seen him somewhere before. After much thought, he remembered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was from his childhood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the Lantern Festival fair on the hill behind his small county town, candied haws, lotus seed soup, zodiac sugar sculptures—vendors shouted their wares nonstop; the noisy atmosphere only deepened the festive end-of-year mood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His parents carried him around, and he wanted this, he wanted that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Children’s memories are fickle—when he saw something he wanted, he forgot the last time he’d been scolded and punished for his tantrums.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unexpectedly, his parents bought it all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tasted each item first; if he didn’t like it, his parents finished it for him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back in elementary school, he didn’t understand why his parents had suddenly become so indulgent—anything he wanted, they bought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Linwa, are you happy today?” his mother asked, hugging him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Happy.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He forgot what his expression had been then—probably a brilliant smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your dad and mom can only afford so much—today, let you be happy,” his father said, ruffling his hair. “If your dad had the means, I’d buy you a plane.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But your dad and mom can’t buy you a plane, or make you happy every day.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So you must study hard—strive to make yourself and your future children happy every day.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His parents’ expressions had blurred in Su Lin’s memory; he only faintly remembered these words and the festive surroundings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He once thought his father was just urging him to study hard and improve daily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, when Su Lin started working and entered society, during idle moments he chatted with married colleagues and witnessed all kinds of things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only in his free time did he realize: his parents had wanted to give him the best, but were limited by reality, so they hoped he would become the ideal version of themselves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those tutoring classes, those criticisms...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They poured intense expectations onto their child, hoping those hopes would take root and let the child live a more brilliant, happier life in their stead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not all parents are like this—but only parents hold this mindset.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Lin’s vision is now excellent—he can clearly see every passerby on the street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Parents picking up their children after school stood before fruit stalls, selecting the largest, most vibrant fruits from the mixed batch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Lu... that guy is different from the future selves of Xiao Yan, Ye Fan, and Han Li.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To the current Lu Mingfei, Old Lu has become like a parent—or another Lu Mingze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether the current Lu Mingfei wants it or not, he only wants to cram every best thing, every best plot, every best ending into his past self.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Lin couldn’t say exactly what was wrong, but he felt a heavy oppression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sigh.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Lin sighed. It wasn’t all bad—but the question was, after living a million years, how much of his values still resembled the current Lu Mingfei’s? It was a question Su Lin had never considered before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was what he thought best truly what the current Lu Mingfei would accept?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially that guy—he’d scattered so many incarnations across past worlds in the future, creating countless divergent timelines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to Lu Mingze, the birthday gifts he wanted to make up were too many—even the gift boxes alone could drown the current Lu Mingfei.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This guy now even ignores Lu Mingze’s advice; the only benefit might be humanity itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because someone complained modern tech was too backward to satisfy his entertainment, he planned a leapfrog technological breakthrough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Directly jumping to the Fifth Industrial Revolution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What a hassle. Maybe I should just cause a little chaos and head home.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What does it have to do with me? After thinking it over, the worst that could happen is Lu Mingfei gets overwhelmed by all this “happiness”—it wouldn’t be too bad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, who knows how much power the future Lu Mingfei still has? Better not meddle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Lin thought for a while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whatever. No one said I can’t take benefits from both sides.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wait for Lu Mingze’s reply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hey, you two on the ground—awake yet?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Lin spoke listlessly, not turning around, only gazing up at the night sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The city lights were too bright, drowning out the stars; all he could see was the moon, though there were no clouds tonight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two Cassel Academy execs, hearing this, abandoned their pretense of sleeping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They realized their earpieces hadn’t been removed and still had signal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both tensely scrambled to their feet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you attack me, I’ll break your arms. If you try to run, I’ll break your legs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you speak out of turn, I’ll cut out your tongue.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To prevent unnecessary trouble, Su Lin delivered his warning plainly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Achoo!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Lin suddenly sneezed—he was baffled. Even with a divine essence’s historical projection embedded, could he still sneeze?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who’s cursing me? Who’s ruining my vibe?\u003C\u002Fp>",1224,"2026-06-20T04:17:29.700Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","80fed9fb5634a6ac6c6feb2efd4cbc4be3ab292c7ce49c2970df6388e41d1df8","i-the-system-protagonist-joined-a-cross-dimensio-chapter-80","i-the-system-protagonist-joined-a-cross-dimensio-chapter-78",720,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-the-system-protagonist-joined-a-cross-dimensio-cover.jpg"]