Stepping on the demon door, the witch becomes the strongest

Chapter 847 Three Lifetimes of Reincarnation
Lin Ning's second life was born into an ordinary middle-class family.

She was particularly rebellious from a young age and disliked studying. Unsurprisingly, she failed the high school entrance exam and didn't get into a regular high school.

With the help of her family, Lin Ning pursued a bachelor's degree after completing a junior college program, eventually obtaining a degree in preschool education. She then returned to her hometown and, through the arrangements of her relatives, became a kindergarten teacher.

With the birth rate declining, the number of kindergarten staff has drastically decreased, leaving behind mostly irresponsible individuals with connections.

Although Lin Ning is not good at studying, she is quite good at taking care of people.

The children all liked her, and the parents respected her so much that she became famous in the local area. Many families used their connections to get their children into this kindergarten and have "Teacher Lin Ning" teach them.

What parents find hard to understand is that Ms. Lin Ning is still single and unmarried.

Logically speaking, such a beautiful and gentle girl, who also likes to take care of children (which means she is likely willing to have children after marriage), should be pursued by many men.

After much thought, the only explanation is that Ms. Lin Ning's educational background is too low. People with better qualifications than her might not be interested in her, and those who are her equals are mostly not good enough for her, since she is indeed impeccable in terms of appearance and personality.

As she gets older and is about to turn thirty, her parents can't sit still anymore.

As a result, many people wanted to introduce Lin Ning to potential partners, but she politely declined them all with a smile, saying that she had no plans to be in a relationship at the moment.

In fact, Lin Ning herself couldn't explain why. She wasn't a staunch advocate of remaining single and not getting married or having children, but she just couldn't muster any interest in any of the men around her.

Spring goes and autumn comes, and a new semester has begun.

A new batch of children has arrived at the kindergarten, and Lin Ning has become busy again, putting her thoughts of finding a partner out of her mind once more.

There was a boy named Yan Yuanjia who was rather introverted and didn't like to talk, but he was exceptionally well-behaved and sensible, which made Lin Ning look at him in a different light.

That afternoon, kindergarten had already let out, and all the other children had been picked up. Only Yan Yuanjia was sitting alone in the classroom reading. Lin Ning went over to take a look and found that it was a text-only version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" without any illustrations.

"You can read the words on it?" Lin Ning asked in surprise.

"I can barely understand it," Yan Yuanjia said without looking up. "My mother taught me 1000 commonly used Chinese characters. After memorizing them, I can read most books without any problems. The Four Great Classical Novels are a little challenging, but fortunately they are written in vernacular Chinese, so they are not too difficult. The Records of the Grand Historian is really difficult; I still can't understand it."

Lin Ning laughed awkwardly, wondering to herself, "Are all kids these days so precocious? Or is it that their parents are giving them advanced education?"
She suddenly became interested in the child's parents.

Half an hour later, Yan Yuanjia's father finally arrived late, apologizing to Teacher Lin Ning for delaying her from getting off work and thanking her for taking care of her son.

Lin Ning smiled and said it was nothing, while secretly observing the other person's appearance.

Very handsome.

It wasn't the delicate handsomeness of young male celebrities on TV, but rather the refined elegance and charm unique to successful people. In the words of her colleagues who spend all their time chasing after celebrities and handsome men, "her sex appeal is off the charts."

Lin Ning added him as a friend under the pretext of "making it easier to communicate about the children in the future." She also learned that his name was Yan Yu, that he was an entrepreneur who was starting a business, and that he was married to a university professor.

Learning that the other party was already married made Lin Ning slightly annoyed, but upon closer reflection, it made sense: how could someone with children not be married?

The two quickly became friends.

Most of the time, Lin Ning took the initiative to chat with Yan Yu, talking to him about Yan Yuanjia's performance in kindergarten.

Yan Yu didn't think much of it and was impressed by how responsible Teacher Lin Ning was, and his liking for her increased rapidly.

As time went by, their relationship grew closer. Lin Ning learned that Yan Yu and his wife met in college. At the time, she was carrying too many books and accidentally spilled them on the ground. Yan Yu helped her pick them up, and that's how they got to know each other, which naturally developed into a romantic relationship.

This made Lin Ning feel extremely depressed. She realized that she and Yan Yu were not actually from the same social class, while he and his wife were the real match.

However, she never intended to be a mistress or have an extramarital affair, so there was no reason for her to be too sad or upset. She simply continued to chat and communicate with him as friends.

However, their relationship was soon discovered by Yan Yu's wife.

She added Lin Ning as a friend on social media and asked her to meet at a nearby coffee shop, which made Lin Ning feel inexplicably guilty.

In the coffee shop, Lin Ning finally met the other person.

Yan Yu's wife is named Su Yunjin, and she appears to be a woman of great elegance and refinement.

Contrary to Lin Ning's guess, the other party did not rashly question her relationship with Yan Yu. Instead, she first thanked Lin Ning for taking care of her son, then chatted with her with smiles, and finally invited her to go shopping at the mall together.

The two spent a pleasant afternoon together, and by evening they were best friends who could talk about anything. While Lin Ning was grateful for the friendship she had gained, she also felt a little lost and sad.

She knew she could no longer muster any desire to compete with Su Yunjin. Even the slightest thought of it would be quickly extinguished by intense feelings of self-loathing.

I had no chance from the very beginning.

As time went by, the three of them quickly developed a deep friendship.

Yan Yu still often chatted with her, sharing the joys and trivialities of life. Su Yunjin had her son recognize Lin Ning as his godmother, often went shopping with her, and even complained to her about her husband's female secretary always thinking of becoming a mistress—fortunately, Su Yunjin had unconditional trust in Yan Yu and was not worried at all that he would cheat on her.

The three even occasionally travel together, their close relationship resembling that of a family.

This trust deeply moved Lin Ning. She had to admit that she still harbored certain special feelings for Yan Yu, but she would never break the current tacit understanding between the three of them.

Until we all turn to dust.

With this resigned belief, Lin Ning remained unmarried and childless throughout her life. In her later years, after her parents passed away, she even moved into the Yan family home, where she lived with Yan Yu and Su Yunjin, taking care of each other.

After Yan Yu and Su Yunjin passed away one after another, Lin Ning continued to live in their house for several years until she reached the end of her life.

Lying on her hospital bed, watching Yan Yuanjia rush back to visit her, she suddenly mustered the last bit of strength in her frail body and pulled off her oxygen mask.

"Take me..." Lin Ning said with difficulty, "and your parents..."

"Bury them together."

Seeing Yan Yuanjia nod with tears streaming down his face, she slowly closed her eyes.

In the final moments of consciousness, a powerful thought suddenly surfaced in my mind:

I wish I had met him sooner.

Lin Ning's third incarnation was born into an ordinary middle-class family.

Her personality was unremarkable; she was neither extroverted nor introverted. Her grades were average, neither outstanding nor mediocre. She was the kind of student who, if placed on the class roster, would leave no deep impression on the teachers.

Because of her good looks and kind personality, she has never lacked suitors since childhood, but she has never been interested in any of them.

Lin Ning has a childhood sweetheart named Yan Yu.

Compared to Lin Ning, Yan Yu is much better.

She has a cheerful and outgoing personality, is eloquent, and excels academically, so much so that her parents often hint that she should seize the opportunity so as not to regret it in the future.

But Lin Ning couldn't do it.

The two of them were too familiar with each other. If she were to take this step rashly, it could very well damage their existing relationship—a price that Lin Ning was absolutely unwilling to pay.

After graduating from high school, Yan Yu went to Jianghai City for college, while Lin Ning stayed in Fujian Province. The two continued to keep in touch despite their long-distance relationship.

Yan Yu often shared interesting things that happened in his life with Lin Ning, including several girls who were pursuing him, and asked Lin Ning if she had a crush on anyone.

For some reason, the thought of Yan Yu being pursued by someone in Jianghai City suddenly made Lin Ning feel inexplicably apprehensive and afraid.

The safest course of action would be to strike first and establish a relationship with Yan Yu, but...

What if he doesn't want to?
Hesitant and indecisive, Lin Ning is currently caught in a dilemma and contradiction. She longs to get closer, yet fears that she might scare the other person away, leaving her rooted to the spot, unsure of what to do.

After hesitating for a long time, she finally told Yan Yu that she had made up her mind to take the postgraduate entrance examination at the school where Yan Yu was studying.

The subtext was actually "You have to wait for me," but it was unclear whether Yan Yu on the other end understood, as he quickly replied with two words.

Ok.

It was followed by a smiling emoji.

Lin Ning stared blankly at the screen, remained silent for a long time, and couldn't help but sigh sadly.

In the darker side of the world of consciousness, the Mirror Fairy, watching Lin Ning's bizarre actions, almost wished she could rush in and take her place.

Of course, what was told to Lin Ning before was not a lie.

This is Lin Ning's world of consciousness, where all the events are illusions created by her subconscious. She is immersed in the dream and cannot extricate herself, but that does not mean that the dream can be interfered with or changed by the outside world.

In fact, the "little bit of help" that the fairy in the mirror mentioned beforehand was actually meant to make Lin Ning think of Yan Yu.

In the world of consciousness, thought is what is gained, and imagination is what is manifested. For a woman, using the man she loves as her anchor and her deepest feelings as the key to awakening her true self is naturally the safest approach.

This can be considered as lowering the difficulty for her a bit.

The Dream Entry Technique is an extremely dangerous method. If one is unfortunate enough to become completely lost in a dream, the consequence is the dissipation of one's three souls and seven spirits, with no chance of reincarnation. Even though the Mirror Fairy gave Lin Ning a hint, finding herself again within ten reincarnations is still an extremely difficult test.

The seal placed on Lin Ning's memory was absolutely genuine; otherwise, it would be considered cheating by the referee himself, and what would be the point of the test?
If you want to win my approval, try to struggle free from the endless cycle of dreams.

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The Americas are doomed.

The population was not completely wiped out; the giant serpent of light was not, after all, the Trisolarans. The vast majority of human settlements were completely destroyed, leaving only scattered villages outside the city clusters, a mere remnant of the past.

The prerequisite for a modern industrial chain is the concentration of industrial workers. With the devastation caused by the "Giant Serpent of Light," the industrial system is essentially destroyed, the nation's strength has plummeted, and there is little hope of a future recovery.

The giant serpent of light ceased its pursuit and instead entered the water from the ruins-strewn east coast, beginning its journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

The target is clearly Europe across the border.

Compared to the giant serpent of light that has garnered worldwide attention, the giant serpent of darkness that wreaks havoc in South America has received significantly less attention.

It was shrouded in endless dark mist. Passing through streets and neighborhoods, any life swallowed by the black mist, whether human, bird, beast, snake, insect, or rodent, would vanish without a trace.

After consuming a large portion of South America's population, it will likely follow the example of the giant serpent of light and cross the Atlantic to reach Africa.

Two giant serpents, like knights of the apocalypse, are unleashing a wave of destruction upon the world, while humanity is powerless to stop them.

The Chinese and European countries have reached an agreement to send several Golden Core cultivators to help behead the Frost Serpent.

Once the Frost Serpent is dealt with, Europe can free up its resources to focus on dealing with the Light Serpent that is about to arrive from afar—whether it succeeds or fails in the end, it will buy more time for the Land Kingdom.

After destroying coastal cities, the giant lightning snake in Australia has recently turned northwest, seemingly preparing to attack the islands of Oceania.

On the mainland side, the population migration is proceeding in an orderly manner.

The people who enter the secret realm are nominally there to participate in the "aptitude awakening experiment." Most of them have resigned from their original jobs to try their luck, so the state will arrange their positions accordingly.

Whether it's agricultural planting or industrial production, it's necessary to ensure that each secret realm can be self-sufficient and will no longer need to exchange goods with the outside world in the future. Therefore, there is still a large gap in the job market.

As discussion surrounding the "nationwide exam" topic gradually subsided, a new topic began to emerge:

Homesickness.

The entrances and exits to the secret realm are strictly guarded, and people are not allowed to move between the two realms. Therefore, for many people, if a friend or relative enters the secret realm, it basically means that they will not receive any news from them for a period of time.

This state of mutual isolation and inability to communicate has aroused concern and worry about the experimenters in the secret realm, and has caused a sense of unease to grow in all sectors of society.

The media worked together to steer public opinion toward "opening up a new world," praising it from various angles with grand narratives, claiming that "the great maritime discoveries of the Western world brought hundreds of years of prosperity and leadership to the Western world," and that "the current large-scale colonization of the secret realm by the Lu Kingdom to conduct experiments on the awakening of aptitude is also opening up the possibility for all mankind to cultivate immortality."

Cultivating immortality for all – what a wonderful phrase!
As a result, mainstream public opinion temporarily put aside its concerns and began to call for "releasing more experimental slots".

(End of this chapter)