[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world":3,"chapter-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-54":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Survival Guide in a Mysterious World",{"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},2299023,4497,"Chapter 54: Again a Youth in the Hibiscus Rain","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-54",54,"\u003Cp>“I’ve messaged my mom, she’ll be here soon.” Bai Zhi shook her phone, then sat back down at the desk, proper and still.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe turned his head to watch her sitting quietly in the chair, obedient and meek, and frowned slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhi’s state was off—she seemed to have no memory at all of what happened last night, and her behavior was like that of two entirely different people. The Bai Zhi from last night was nothing like this timid, well-behaved girl; back then, she… was more human.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…No, better to focus on myself first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe looked out the window; the old camphor tree in the courtyard shed its withered red leaves, wreathed in thin twilight mist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He raised a hand, gazing at the lines in his palm—a deep dread rose from his chest up his spine: “If one day I forget who I am, what difference would that me be from a ghost?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps it would be more accurate to call him a ghost outright.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tai Yi was a ghost, a rule—not some random superpower awakened in a world of universal martial cultivation. Rules were absolute. Rules were fair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Absolute fairness meant Ning Zhe wasn’t merely stealing others’ identities; the stolen identities and memories subtly reshaped him too. Sometimes he felt the urge to light a cigarette to dispel his gloom, but Ning Zhe didn’t smoke—it was Zhang Yangxu who had the habit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At times, a detached indifference would rise in his heart, as if he were the uncaring heavens and earth, treating all things as straw dogs… but Ning Zhe knew he wasn’t like that; the truly detached one was the serpent god named Zhao You.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To this day, Ning Zhe had begun to feel lost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Back in Hejia Village, it was fine—the serpent god’s memories were vast, but not enough to shake my self-identity. But since returning to reality, I’ve stolen the identities and memories of several people; their life experiences are now influencing my decisions.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe closed his eyes; scattered illusions floated before him: “Especially Liu Yunzhi’s identity—her self-perception was the most complete, the most profound, the most influential, and the most deadly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second only to the serpent god’s tens of millions of years of long, tedious time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was foreseeable: if I continue using Tai Yi’s rules, as I accumulate more and more stolen identities and memories, ‘Ning Zhe’s’ self-identity will grow increasingly faint—until it reaches a critical point—I am no longer myself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe clearly understood what was happening to him, but he was powerless to stop it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If I keep going like this, I’ll die—or become someone else. But what’s the difference between that and death?” Ning Zhe opened his eyes, clenching his fist: “I must find a way out.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uh, you said earlier you read my diary?” Bai Zhi’s voice suddenly came from beside the bed, soft and sweet like hibiscus petals: “What was that about?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe sat up and said, “Your mom showed it to me. She was worried you might have a psychological disorder, so she secretly read your diary.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are you a psychologist?” Bai Zhi looked at him, puzzled—his age was nearly the same as hers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, I’m not. It’s just your mother chose to trust me.” Ning Zhe shook his head. “I’ve read your diary; you’ve read my letters. So we’re even.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhi glanced at the thick stack of letters on the desk, in various colors, and asked curiously, “Did you write all of these?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes…” Ning Zhe was reluctant to bring up his past, but since Bai Zhi had already seen them, there was no point hiding: “You can tell—my family isn’t well-off. My grandparents weren’t rich. Since middle school, I’ve often written love letters for classmates in exchange for pocket money or snacks. Come to think of it, I should thank them for falling in love early.” Though romance had never been his to begin with.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe got off the bed, walked to the desk, and picked up the thick, colorful stack of letters, tapping them neatly on the surface: “These are all drafts. Love letters to girls can’t have corrections or typos, so after writing the draft, I had to rewrite them cleanly before sending.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And then? Did the girls like your love poems?” Bai Zhi’s face was full of curiosity—this kind of thing was clearly new to her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re imagining too much.” Ning Zhe placed the letters back on the desk, his tone calm. “What determines whether a confession is accepted isn’t the letter’s content—it’s the people involved. Love happens between people, not between words on paper. Flowery language is merely decoration.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Truly charismatic people don’t need these glittering props—they’re usually the ones others chase after.” Ning Zhe concluded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhi lowered her head, disheartened: “I think being able to write such romantic lines is part of someone’s charm.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Ning Zhe didn’t care much for her opinion: “Still, thank you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh? Why thank me?” Bai Zhi was confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thank you for letting me see what I wrote before…” Ning Zhe took a deep breath, his turbulent thoughts calming: “I feel like myself again.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes, those confessions were mine. Those sappy words, those ornate phrases, those shy poems written in youthful longing—naive, bitter, passionate, restrained—these were all mine. I must not lose the person I once was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I am Ning Zhe. Not anyone else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Complex emotions piled up in his chest, filling him with absolute certainty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re such a strange person.” Bai Zhi slumped, then asked softly, still unwilling to give up: “Can I still read these drafts?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do as you please.” Ning Zhe said, then walked out the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Far off, a deep red sunset hung low, the sun sinking westward, drawing a thick curtain of night over the quiet town. Ning Zhe stepped over the scallions planted by the wall and reached the courtyard gate, where his grandfather, his hair entirely white, sat in a wicker chair smoking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Zhe greeted him, walked over, and asked if he’d caught any fish at the reservoir today.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man, who’d gone days without a bite, shook his beard in anger, then turned and grinned mysteriously, asking who the girl had been who’d been guarding his room all this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Zhi sat on the chair before the desk, pulling out one letter; the golden sunset illuminated the revised text:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【It was an evening of rain. You were waiting anxiously by the dormitory gate. I didn’t understand then that this sudden downpour had soaked me with the dampness of my entire life.】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So romantic.” Bai Zhi whispered to herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1109,"2026-06-20T06:29:21.893Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","81d354b69e84dc2da6ba21d8ae4c304ae7248afd5c946017a6650f3fdc660567","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-55","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-53",353,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurvival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-cover.jpg"]