Reborn as a high school freshman with an awakened system, a fat boy transforms into a male god.

Just then, there was a commotion in the living room.

The bedroom door opened.

A figure emerged from the room at the end of the corridor.

Su Wantang.

She was wearing her school uniform, her hair loose and draped over her shoulders. Her face was expressionless, but her lips were tightly pressed together, and her chin was slightly tense, as if she was enduring something.

She walked into the living room and stood next to the TV cabinet. She glanced at Su Yuan, then at the woman holding Su Yuan's arm, and finally at the woman buying the house sitting at the other end of the sofa and the real estate agent standing in the middle of the living room.

The living room fell silent for a moment.

The woman in the red dress was the first to react. She released her grip on Su Yuan's arm, leaned forward, and forced a smile: "Wantang, why are you out here? Didn't I tell you to do your homework in your room? Children shouldn't meddle in adult matters. Be good and go back to your room."

Su Wantang did not look at her.

Her gaze remained fixed on Su Yuan.

Su Yuan's eyes met his daughter's, but only for less than a second before he looked away. He lowered his head, his fingers tracing the edge of the coffee table again. He couldn't look his daughter in the eye, and Lin Bei noticed. What could a father who couldn't even look his daughter in the eye protect?

"Wantang, go back to your room." Su Yuan's voice was very low, so low that it was almost inaudible.

Su Wantang stood still, without moving.

"...Sell the house?" Her voice was soft. "You're going to sell Mom's house?"

Su Yuan's fingers froze.

The atmosphere in the living room suddenly became a little awkward.

The real estate agent coughed awkwardly, took two steps back, and pretended to look at the clock on the wall. The woman in the beige shirt, who was buying the house, frowned slightly, her gaze sweeping back and forth between Su Wantang and Su Yuan. Her lips moved, but she said nothing. She probably guessed what was going on, but as an outsider, she knew she shouldn't interrupt.

"Wantang, listen to what your father says..." Su Yuan raised his head, his lips trembled, but the rest of the words got stuck in his throat and he couldn't utter them.

"Wantang, let's talk about this later." The woman in the red dress took over, her tone still unhurried, with an air of "I'm reasoning with you," but there was already a hint of impatience in her voice.

"After this house is sold, you'll have your own room in Cuipingyuan. The environment there is nice, and it's not far from the school; it's only a forty-minute bus ride away. This is a good thing for you."

Su Wantang glanced at her.

There was no hatred, no anger, nothing in that glance. Yet, that cold, emotionless gaze was more chilling than any hatred.

[Detected a continued drop in Su Wantang's "gaze temperature." Current value: -3℃. The way this girl looks at that woman is essentially no different from how she looks at the water glass on the coffee table.]

Lin Bei felt that the system was right.

It wasn't that Su Wantang was cold-blooded; it was that woman who first treated her like she wasn't there. If others don't treat you like a human being, why should you offer them warmth?

Lin Bei frowned. He looked at Su Wantang's profile from the edge of the door frame. Her expression was too calm, unnaturally calm.

A sixteen-year-old girl shouldn't react like this when she hears her father is going to sell the house her mother left behind. She should cry, make a scene, slam the door, and question her father about why. But she did nothing; she just stood there quietly.

Lin Bei took a deep breath and silently recited in his mind: Life countdown, target Su Wantang.

A string of numbers came into view.

6 days, 3 hours, 47 minutes, and 32 seconds

6 days, 3 hours, 47 minutes, and 31 seconds

……

Holy crap, the countdown has changed, it's 6 days now?

Lin Bei cursed in his mind. Then he cursed a second time, and a third time. Those curses swirled in his mind several times, finally turning into a silent roar, stuck in his throat, unable to be spat out or swallowed.

He specifically checked the number after school today; it was 35 days. Yes, 35 days. He wasn't mistaken. Because the number was one day less than yesterday's 36 days, he even made a point of noting it down.

From 35 days to 6 days. Just now, it decreased by 29 days.

Just because she overheard her father saying he was going to sell the house. Even before it was actually sold, just hearing the decision shortened her life countdown by almost a month.

[The life countdown isn't fixed; it fluctuates depending on the target's emotional state, living environment, and psychological expectations. This leap is... extremely, extremely, extremely dangerous.]

The change in this number illustrates one thing. For her, the house wasn't just a "place to live," it was the last connection between her and her mother. If that connection were severed…

Lin Bei took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

It wasn't because she was fragile, but because her final resting place, the house her mother left behind, the only corner of the world she had left behind, was about to be uprooted.

After the house was sold, where would she live? That "room reserved" in Cuiping Garden? The woman said nice things, "You'll have your own room," "The environment is good, and it's not far from the school." But everyone could see that it was just a pretty excuse.

After the house was sold and she moved in, she had to watch that woman's expression every day and swallow every meal under that woman's gaze.

That wasn't home. It was a cage where you lived as a dependent.

Besides, that woman, the one who was holding Su Yuan's arm and smiling so gently and politely, didn't care where Su Wantang lived at all. She only cared about how much the house could sell for, when she could get the money and then leave.

Su Yuan is not her husband, and Su Wantang is not her stepdaughter; they are her prey.

"I understand," Su Wantang said softly.

She turned and walked back to the bedroom, closing the door gently behind her.

Click.

The living room fell silent again.

The woman in the red dress glanced at Su Yuan, a fleeting hint of impatience in her eyes, but it was quickly masked by a gentle smile.

She patted Su Yuan's hand softly, "Old Su, don't overthink it. Wan Tang is still young and doesn't understand. She'll understand once she moves in. Kids don't want to move at first, but they'll be fine after a few days."

Su Yuan didn't speak, he just nodded.

The woman in the beige shirt glanced at Su Wantang's closed bedroom door, then at Su Yuan, her brow furrowing slightly. She picked up her bag from the sofa, stood up, and said to the real estate agent, "I'll think about it some more. Contact me by phone if there's any news."

The agent was taken aback, clearly not expecting the deal to encounter such a complication at this crucial juncture. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but after glancing at the expressions on Su Yuan and his wife's faces, he swallowed his words.

"Okay, okay, call me anytime you've made up your mind," the agent said with a smile, his voice a little lower than before.

The woman buying the apartment didn't look at anyone else, picked up her bag, and walked out of apartment 502. As she passed Lin Bei, she glanced at him. Then she went downstairs, her flat shoes making soft sounds on the stairs, fading into the distance.

The agent chased after her, calling out "Sister Wang, please take care" as she went downstairs, her voice echoing in the stairwell.