Chapter 2: I am Lu Mingfei, and I am doomed

"What's wrong, what's wrong!"

Lu Mingze, the cousin sharing the room with Lu Mingfei, was jolted awake by this scream. After looking around, his gaze locked onto Lu Mingfei, but he didn't have the guts to complain; instead, he hugged his quilt tight and shrank back against the wall.

No reason, this scene... was a bit eerie.

In the dim room, a lean youth wearing only thermal underwear let out a scream, then sat up, staring blankly at the air in front of him as if possessed, his body still twitching slightly...

Lu Mingfei had no time to spare for Lu Mingze.

He just stared blankly at the line of translucent text floating out of thin air in front of him—【Warning, please immediately execute the 【Get Up】 plan! Otherwise, you will be electrocuted again】, subconsciously reaching out with a hand that was still somewhat numb to touch it.

He touched nothing.

Perhaps it was just a hallucination?

Holding onto a glimmer of hope, Lu Mingfei turned his head to look at his cousin Lu Mingze, wanting to force a smile and say something to ease the awkwardness.

However, the line of text changed at this moment, and the emotionless electronic voice from before sounded along with it—【Warning, countdown to electrocution, three, two...】

This was no hallucination!

The smile, only half-formed, turned into a crying face, then froze.

Lu Mingfei's mind was almost a complete blank, but his body's instincts already drove him to throw off the quilt and jump out of bed.

He didn't want to suffer that kind of pain again!

But the translucent text did not disappear; instead, it continued to change—【Warning, it is now time for the 【Dress and Wash】 plan, please execute immediately. Failure to complete within the scheduled time will result in electrocution...

【Time has been automatically allocated based on physical fitness and real-time status, countdown one minute, 59, 58...】

There was absolutely no time to think; Lu Mingfei threw on his clothes as fast as he ever had in his life, then charged aggressively toward his cousin Lu Mingze's side.

His strange half-crying, half-smiling expression had not yet faded, and his cousin Lu Mingze was so frightened that he let out a "woo-woo" cry; with his scalp tingling, he felt a warm current uncontrollably spreading beneath him.

But Lu Mingfei wasn't charging at Lu Mingze; he was just grabbing the schoolbag on the back of the chair, then dashed out the door straight for the bathroom—there were thirty seconds left on the countdown.

He dipped his toothbrush in a little water and scrubbed his mouth twice, soaked a face towel in cold water and wiped his face hard; the bone-chilling cold finally made Lu Mingfei much clearer-headed, but the line of text still hadn't disappeared, just kept changing.

【Warning, it is now time for the 【Morning Run to School】 plan, please execute immediately...】

"Lu Mingfei! What kind of racket are you making so early in the morning!" Aunt's thunderous voice rang out in the living room.

Lu Mingfei's head was buzzing, and just as he was about to explain, he saw—

【Time has been automatically allocated based on... countdown 20 minutes...】

"Damn it!"

Lu Mingfei exclaimed, not caring about anything else, and ran straight through the living room, bolting out the door, leaving only his aunt in a state of confusion in the wind.

The distance from his aunt's house to Shilan Middle School wasn't far, just over three kilometers, a three-stop bus ride. Literally speaking, running over three kilometers in twenty minutes was plenty of time.

But it was winter!

With the triple debuff of heavy clothing, icy roads, and freezing air, walking three kilometers would have been the death of Lu Mingfei, let alone running, and within twenty minutes at that.

The only thing to be thankful for was that Lu Mingfei wasn't a "formalist" and didn't try to stuff every book into his bag every holiday to make it weigh over ten pounds... otherwise, he would definitely have been electrocuted.

Now, if he gave it his all, perhaps there was still hope?

Gasping for air, Lu Mingfei, with heavy footsteps, struggled to swallow the metallic, bloody taste in his throat; he had no strength left to speak and could only wail in his heart.

"What on earth is this hellish thing!!!"

The tungsten bulb in the security booth cast a dim, yellow halo, and layers of frost condensed on the glass.

Lao Zhang yawned at the fogged-up window and turned to look at the wall clock.

He was the night security guard at Shilan Middle School, changing shifts at 6:30 every morning.

"Six... nineteen?"

Frowning slightly, Lao Zhang looked closely. For some reason, the hour and minute hands of the clock were frozen, while only the second hand was jumping, yet it was just trembling in place.

"Out of power?" Lao Zhang was stunned.

"Clack!"

A crisp sound came from the glass in front of him.

Lao Zhang straightened his gaze, and a jolt of electricity shot up the back of his neck—outside the ice-covered window frame, a pale palm was pressed against the glass.

The darkness outside the window was as thick as melted asphalt, and that hand looked as if it had abruptly reached out from a crack torn open in another world!

"Who, who's there!"

Lao Zhang swallowed a mouthful of saliva, his voice stuttering, while subconsciously reaching for his waist; fortunately, what he touched wasn't some messy hair, but a sturdy rubber baton.

"Open, open the door!"

A breathless male voice came from outside the window.

Lao Zhang was stunned; did ghosts nowadays play by the rules so strictly?

"Not opening it!"

The person outside the window was also stunned for two seconds, then shouted anxiously: "Hey, hey, if you don't open the school gate, I'll report you for dereliction of duty! There's a rule against being late or leaving early, but which school rule says students aren't allowed to arrive early?"

Lu Mingfei pushed open the classroom door, flipped the switch, and threw himself onto his desk along with the brightening lights, like a fish that had just jumped out of a pot of boiling water, with white steam even slowly rising from his head.

All the way here, his mind had been a blank, his breathing relied entirely on instinct, and his abdomen was aching terribly... but in the end, he had made it!

The only surprise was that security guard who had inexplicably refused to open the door at first; fortunately, seeing the death countdown ticking down, Lu Mingfei had a flash of inspiration and thought of a way to threaten him, successfully resolving it.

The price was that he was now completely exhausted, wanting only to lie on the desk for a few minutes, close his eyes, and get a good sleep...

【Warning, it is now time for the 【Eat Breakfast】 plan, please execute immediately...】

【Remaining plan time has been automatically allocated, countdown half an hour...】

"Half an hour?"

Lu Mingfei's eyes widened; he was given only twenty minutes to run three kilometers in heavy winter clothes, but half an hour to eat breakfast?

Who made such an outrageous plan!

【Warning, electric shock countdown, three...】

"Eat, I'll eat, okay?"

Lu Mingfei wailed, digging out the discounted bread he bought yesterday from his bag, feeling lucky for his whim yesterday; otherwise, where would he find breakfast now? He would probably have to gnaw on books!

Half an hour for breakfast is quite generous.

Although he had no appetite after such intense exercise, it was enough for Lu Mingfei to force it down like chewing wax while relying on his gradually recovering brainpower to ponder what exactly was going on.

"Thinking about it, this plan does indeed feel a bit familiar..."

"Wait, isn't this the Schedule Plan I made yesterday?" Lu Mingfei finally realized, "How did it become real!"

He held the bread in his mouth and pulled his schoolbag to his chest to rummage through it.

If it really is, he must change that thing immediately!

【Warning, during the execution of the 【Eat Breakfast】 plan, no extraneous actions are allowed! Electric shock countdown, three, two...】

Lu Mingfei was so scared that he immediately shoved the schoolbag back.

There were not many things in the schoolbag, and this short second or two was enough for him to see everything.

That manual was gone!

"The schoolbag isn't torn, and no one else could have touched my schoolbag, so how could it be gone? Wait, the floating text and voice warnings can't be seen or heard by others, so this thing isn't scientific to begin with!"

An extremely ominous guess emerged in Lu Mingfei's heart—the Schedule Planning Manual wouldn't just disappear after being written, making it impossible to change, would it?

"I made a thirty-day plan... a full thirty days!"

Thinking of this, Lu Mingfei swallowed a mouthful of bread with difficulty.

"And there are so many outrageous ones..."

Lu Mingfei looked out the window with vacant eyes.

At sunrise, the sky gradually brightened, and fiery red clouds burned on the horizon.

Yet he only felt as if he were falling into a dark abyss... and he had to fall for a whole month!

"I'm finished."

Translucent text appeared before Lu Mingfei's eyes again.

【Through diligent Morning Run, your 【Running】 level has increased, gaining 3 points of Proficiency】

【You can view the current Proficiency of each item in the Schedule via the panel】

"Eh?"

Lu Mingfei was stunned.

Outside the window, a ray of golden light pierced through the clouds, startling the snow off the shoulders of the withered branches, and reflected in his eyes.

Perhaps... it's not over yet?

(End of this chapter)