No strange things are allowed to evolve!

In the first monthly exam after entering school, out of more than a thousand students in the entire grade, he ranked among the top, but still near the bottom.

The unprecedented defeat in his life had broken him down.

He didn't dare tell his family, and when his junior high school friends asked about his recent situation, he could only force a smile.

In fact, from an adult's perspective, this is nothing.

Just like Jiang Shu in high school, she wouldn't treat forgetting her homework as the end of the world as she did in elementary school.

But every age has its own troubles, and at this age, some things feel like the sky is falling.

For Jiang Shu at that time, admitting failure and acknowledging his shortcomings was a difficult, terrifying, and something he was very unwilling to face.

At first, he tried to salvage the situation.

Unfortunately, Jiang Shu at that time was not the "spicy teacher" he would become later, and he did not have the ability to constantly challenge his limits and improve himself. He was just a child who was a little smarter than most people.

And everyone around him is like that, some even more hardworking than him.

Therefore, in an environment full of geniuses, falling behind by one month means it will take many times longer to catch up.

The premise is that you have to face your own shortcomings.

Jiang Shu failed to do so, and as a result, he received even worse grades in the midterm exams, ranking last.

Looking at it now, this situation cannot be entirely blamed on Jiang Shu.

This is the result of a combination of factors, including regional differences, acclimatization issues, the teenager's high self-esteem, and the fact that his previous life had been too smooth with no setbacks, leading to a weak ability to cope with stress.

However, Jiang Shu didn't have the energy to think about all that at the time; the huge sense of loss completely overwhelmed him.

Many famous figures in history have experienced similar situations. They are often talked about and become role models and benchmarks because of their stories of overcoming shame and achieving success despite their humble beginnings.

However, such people are far too few.

Many others, however, take the completely opposite path—giving up on themselves and becoming just another face in the crowd.

It's not just students; even in other industries, there are always people like Jiang Shu back then who realize that there are always people more capable than themselves, and that they are not the main characters in this world, but just dispensable scraps, and that having one more or one less doesn't matter.

After all the hard work to get to this Heavenly Palace, he discovered that he was not a great general at all, but just one of the 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals. One day, a monkey came along and could easily kill him with a single blow.

How many exceptionally talented individuals who have once stood in the spotlight can accept this reality and be motivated to improve after feeling ashamed?

From then on, Jiang Shu completely let himself go, not only giving up on trying to make amends, but even going so far as to degenerate and gradually becoming the shameless person his father described.

He went from being someone else's child to someone you shouldn't learn from.

Do my parents understand me?

Young Jiang Shu felt that they should understand, after all, they were so old that they should have long accepted their ordinariness.

But young Jiang Shu felt that they didn't understand, because they were just ordinary people and had never enjoyed so much praise or so many envious glances like he had.

So in their view, it's just ordinary, nothing special.

But I find it hard to get over my own conscience.

Jiang Shu was proud but lacked the means to back it up, and while he sought change, he was also prone to self-destruction. He knew this, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Therefore, during that period, his relationship with his parents deteriorated, and the family atmosphere almost reached a freezing point. Every time Jiang Shu returned home, he felt suffocated by the low pressure in the house.

It seems we had another big argument today.

In Jiang Shu's memory, on this day, her father, who was extremely angry, said things like, "If you're not going to study, then get back here and stop embarrassing me."

Then, young Jiang Shu entered the room, and the argument between father and son turned into an argument between parents.

Lying in bed, Jiang Shu sighed repeatedly.

Even after all these years, thinking about my father's words still feels like a knife stabbing into my heart...

Jiang Shu looked at himself, who was staring blankly at the desk, with mixed feelings, and then fell into confusion.

Actually, at that time, I probably didn't care much about my relationship with my family.

Why would I have such a dream?

What exactly is it that scares me?

Strictly speaking, I wasn't worried about failing to get into university at all back then. After all, getting into a good university was just a concept I'd been taught since childhood. As for why I should go to university, I never really had a clear understanding of it.

Therefore, it doesn't mean that they have lost their ideals.

As for being looked down upon for poor grades, that's utter nonsense.

I never care about other people's opinions at all.

So if I had to pinpoint the greatest fear in this memory, it would probably be discovering that I'm actually quite mediocre.

This is the only thing I still find hard to accept.

Just as Jiang Shu was wondering, suddenly...

Young Jiang Shu got up and circled a date on the calendar next to his desk.

January 17th...

Jiang Shu raised an eyebrow:

"Isn't this my birthday?"

"Happy 18th birthday." Young Jiang Shu smiled.

"Is it today..." Jiang Shu subconsciously looked towards the door. The arguing outside had subsided a bit, and he could vaguely hear his mother sobbing.

He shook his head regretfully.

I'd completely forgotten that this happened on my birthday.

And if it's eighteen years old...

"The college entrance exam is in six months..." Jiang Shu pondered.

Thinking of this, Jiang Shu wanted to pat his younger self on the shoulder as someone who had been through it all and comfort him: "It's okay. Although you weren't top-notch, you still performed exceptionally well and got into a decent university. Even if you're a loser, you can still live a good life. And after you graduate from university, you'll gain superpowers because of your unrestrained indulgence. Look forward to it!"

Unfortunately, the young Jiang Shu was unaware of Jiang Shu's existence.

Even more unfortunately, before Jiang Shu could speak, the young Jiang Shu pushed open the window and jumped out.

Jiang Shu: ?

He frowned deeply.

"I don't recall... that happened..."

Just as Jiang Shu was bewildered, a scarlet shadow suddenly reached in through the window, sweeping Jiang Shu out with it...

Chapter 267 Jiang Shu Gradually Understands Everything

The shadow came so fast that Jiang Shu didn't have time to react.

In fact, he was completely unprepared, because he never expected that things in his dream could interact with him.

So he was suddenly pulled out of the window by that enormous force, falling down along with his younger self.

And just as Jiang Shu was pulled out of the window, he saw a scene so bizarre that he could never have imagined it, much less see it in a dream—

Time seemed to stand still, and everything in the world came to a standstill.

You can vaguely see the figures of office workers working overtime in the opposite office building suddenly stop, the cars speeding on the road below stop, and the people jogging by the roadside remain with their legs dangling in the air, strangely fixed at a position ten centimeters off the ground.

Jiang Shu, the boy who jumped from the high-rise building, is now suspended in mid-air.

Countless scarlet, bundle-like objects extended outwards from his head, seemingly foreshadowing that he would land headfirst, be smashed to pieces, and have blood splatter in all directions.

It's more like a towering tree rising from the ground, its branches spreading in all directions, with the young Jiang Shu as the seed.

But in this moment when everything is frozen in time, these branch-like bundles seem to be alive, their scarlet light flickering as if they are breathing.

They spread rapidly, quickly covering the residential building where Jiang Shu lived, and also engulfing everything else in sight, as if they wanted to devour everything.

Jiang Shu was very confused by this situation.

He had no recollection of jumping off the building, nor did he know where these strange things came from.

But since it was a nightmare originating from the depths of his heart, it should have been something he had personally experienced, so why did he not remember it at all?

Just as Jiang Shu was about to reach out and touch the shimmering branch wrapped around his waist, he suddenly realized something.

From the moment he was thrown out of the window until now, he has shown absolutely no emotional fluctuation.

Normally, he would have already started criticizing the countless flaws in front of him. For example, there was a scantily clad, mysterious female agent in the grove next to the joggers, who looked like she was on some kind of field mission. Normally, he would take a second look to see if she was one of his online friends.

But he only glanced at it and then lost interest.

The only thing on my mind was doubt about the current situation.

Although I had doubts, I didn't have any desire to figure out what was going on. I was more inclined to think that it would be good if I could figure it out, but it wouldn't matter if I couldn't.

Wait, this feeling...

Jiang Shu recalled the most difficult days right after graduating from university.

He lost interest in everything, had no hope for life, and just drifted through each day. Sometimes he even thought about suicide because he didn't know the meaning of life, but he never actually did it because he felt that it was meaningless.

In short, there was no hope, no expectation, no reliance, and no goal.

All that remains is endless numbness and indifference.

It wasn't until I discovered that this immense emptiness would only briefly disappear for a period of time after each attempt at something new, until I reached the pinnacle of it.

Then, Jiang Shu, coming to her senses, finally discovered a deeper fear hidden beneath the surface of this terrifying dream.

It's not just that I can't accept mediocrity, but also that I've lost interest in everything.

In the dream, Jiang Shu was just an observer, and because so much time had passed, he was unable to empathize with his past self, let alone truly understand her feelings.

Therefore, he did not know that while the young Jiang Shu was listening to the noise outside the door and staring blankly out the window, his heart was already completely silent.

"so..."

Jiang Shu stared at these strange branches and gradually understood something:

Is this a personification of an emotion stripped of all other feelings...?

Just as Jiang Shu realized this, a pink substance gradually seeped out from his body and merged into the thriving scarlet branches.

Then, as if some irresistible supreme being did not allow their spread and proliferation, forcefully reversed everything, and the branches invaded by the pink substance quickly withered, crumbled, and fell.

Time resumed its flow, and the figure of the young Jiang Shu rapidly descended.

Boom!

......

"He was very lucky. Although he suffered soft tissue contusions all over his body and several fractures, his injuries were not serious and not fatal. After emergency treatment, he is now out of danger."

Hearing the doctor's diagnosis, Jiang Shu's parents breathed a long sigh of relief.

As the doctor said, Jiang Shu was very lucky. When he fell from the building, he was stopped a few times by illegal structures built on the balconies of residents on the lower floors. Before landing, he was also snagged by tree branches in the green area. All of these cushioned his fall. Finally, he landed on the grass, which had become soft due to the rain in the previous days.

A series of coincidences led to Jiang Shu surviving the ordeal. His parents, who were immediately drawn by the commotion downstairs and discovered their son's leap of faith, rushed him to the hospital and saved his life.

However, only Jiang Shu, who witnessed the whole process firsthand, knew that at that height, even with cushioning, it was impossible to only suffer such a minor injury.

It was entirely because those branches protected the young Jiang Shu before they withered during the fall.

"Has he woken up?"

"Jiang Shu's mother asked."

Her eyes were red-rimmed, and her body was still trembling uncontrollably. It was clear that the sudden accident had greatly frightened her.

Jiang Shu's father wasn't much better off. Although he was usually very serious and dignified in front of Jiang Shu, a real man, he was now like a helpless child who had made a mistake.

"He woke up once after the surgery," the doctor replied. "He asked us where he was, and I told him he was injured and needed treatment. Guess what he said?"

After asking the questions, the doctor, seeing the increasingly anxious expressions of the couple, realized that this wasn't the time to keep them in suspense. He awkwardly scratched his head and continued:

"He told us to hurry up because he had to go to school and couldn't be late, and then he fainted again. Are high school students these days really that stressed? The Lunar New Year is next week and they still have to go to school?"

"No, no... he's on winter break right now." Jiang Shu's father asked worriedly, "Did he hurt his brain?"

"That's hard to say."

Even doctors can't guarantee anything:

"After all, he hasn't fully woken up yet, so we still need to observe him further."