Wen Ziyin: Experientialist
It was impossible to squeeze in, not to mention whether Wen Ziyin would mind, Xia Yu himself didn't want to have such an experience.
He looked to both sides.
This was an old residential area that had been slated for demolition. On both sides were courtyard houses with walls separating two households.
However, these two courtyard walls were a bit tall. It was unknown what the relationship between the two families was at that time to have built such high walls.
Xia Yu estimated the distance, exerted force in a jump, and held onto the gaps between the walls to stabilize his body.
The high school student who witnessed this was astonished.
This wasn't a simple act of holding on – the gap was so small that hands and feet could hardly be supported. This required extraordinary skill.
While the high school student was still in shock, Xia Yu had already climbed onto the courtyard wall.
Standing above the high school student, Xia Yu looked down at him.
The high school student hesitated to step into the alley across the street, but he stopped.
Going out meant being caught for sure; only by hiding here could safety be assured.
Xia Yu had anticipated his choice.
He picked up a brick from the crumbling wall next to him and said to the high school student, "If you don't come out, I'll throw this down. I believe even if I hurt you, I'll only have to pay for your medical expenses, right?"
The high school student weighed the options and abruptly stepped out of the gap, running into the distance.
In his mind, Xia Yu would need some time to jump down, so he wanted to quickly hide and maybe escape the situation.
However, he didn't hear any landing sounds from behind. Turning back, there was no figure. Instead, there was a figure running on the wall beside him.
Running on the wall as if he were a cat!
Xia Yu quickly reached the high school student's side, leaped to catch him, but the high school student was more agile than he thought, stopping in time and not reaching the spot Xia Yu anticipated.
With a sideways flip in mid-air, Xia Yu landed steadily on the ground.
He reached out to grab the high school student who tried to resist, but Xia Yu easily caught and pinned him to the ground.
Finally caught the other party, Xia Yu was ready to start questioning, but the high school student yelled first, "Please let me go, why are you following and catching me!"
Playing the victim?
"Wasn't it you following me first?" He twisted the high school student's hand.
"Ah, it hurts! I only followed you once, you have followed me for a week now!" The high school student's voice was filled with grievances.
"What's going on?" Xia Yu asked Wen Ziyin.
"He followed me once and then stopped, so I came to check on the situation." Wen Ziyin explained her actions.
"So, you followed him for a week? And asked me to catch him?" Xia Yu didn't quite understand Wen Ziyin's thought process, "Did he do anything excessive to you?"
"No, he just followed me to the entrance of my building and then left." Wen Ziyin replied.
Isn't that just normal behavior for an adolescent boy?
Following the girl he likes to her building and then silently walking away? In his previous life, Xia Yu had done such a foolish thing with his classmates.
"Ask him what it feels like to follow someone and what's going on in his mind during the process," Wen Ziyin said again.
"Is this really your question?" Xia Yu had a bad feeling about this.
"Yeah, I want to use it as material for my next book," Wen Ziyin said matter-of-factly. "I followed him because I wanted to observe a stalker, but my skills weren't good enough and he discovered me. However, I managed to collect some material on being the one followed, so I just went with the flow for a week."
She's a book-writing lunatic! Xia Yu thought.
"Now that I've collected enough material on being followed, it's time for the real thing. I suppose he can't articulate his thoughts very well, so just ask him to follow someone else and let me watch," Wen Ziyin said excitedly.
"I refuse," Xia Yu let go of the high school student.
The high school student, looking frightened at Xia Yu, who seemed to be talking to himself, slowly retreated, and once there was a 10-meter distance between them, he quickly ran away.
Xia Yu believed that after this incident, the boy would no longer like Wen Ziyin.
"Hey, why did you let him escape! You're not helping at all!" Wen Ziyin complained unhappily.
"You're planning to write about a criminal stalker, right?" Xia Yu asked.
"Yes, it took me a long time to find one!" Wen Ziyin replied.
"Well, you're going to be disappointed. He's just an ordinary teenager who followed you because he thinks it's romantic," Xia Yu explained.
"Really?"
"As a man, how could I not know?" Xia Yu explained further.
Wen Ziyin sighed, feeling very disappointed.
"Never mind, I've managed to get some interesting experiences from you as well, and now I have fresh material from this incident," Wen Ziyin shifted her focus back to Xia Yu. "Try doing that flying and walking on walls thing again; I might use this scene in my writing, so I'd like to experience it as well."
Jumping onto a nearby wall, Xia Yu walked along it while asking, "Do all you authors go to such lengths when writing?"
"Don't compare me to those amateur writers," Wen Ziyin snorted. "Works full of imagination but without any real-life experience are worthless."
"So in your case, the experience was that time you had a romance with me?" Xia Yu referred to Wen Ziyin's novel "Possession". In it, Xia Yu acted as an extraterrestrial AI who had a passionate love affair with the female protagonist.
"Experience is just a small fragment that can be pieced together. A novel is an art, and art comes from life but is greater than life; it can't be the same as life," Wen Ziyin explained.
Not saying anything further, Xia Yu walked around and jumped off the wall when he reached the roadside. Wen Ziyin remained silent, and Xia Yu guessed she was either recalling their recent experiences or the feeling of being in control of her body.
"If you were to write a crime story, would you have to personally experience committing a crime?" he asked.
"Of course, being able to experience it would be the best. But it's not about the crime itself, it's about the criminal's mindset and emotions. That's where the art lies!" Wen Ziyin said. "So I would go to watch the guys in the detention center. Their experiences are the real deal; if I tried it myself, it wouldn't have the same effect."
"But you are different; when you are in my body, I can sense my thoughts when I'm in action. Just now, when you were flying over rooftops and walking on walls, I felt as if I had mastered that skill too," Wen Ziying realized the usefulness of Xia Yu.
Ignoring Wen Ziying, Xia Yu went back to the milk tea shop where he was staying earlier, picked up his backpack, and returned to Wen Ziying's house.
He took out Wen Ziying's homework and started working on it.
Wen Ziying was a senior high school student, and although the difficulty was low, it still helped improve his proficiency.
"This feeling of being a top student is amazing! The moment I see the question, the solution seems to flash through my mind!" Wen Ziying collected more new materials.
Eight hours passed, and Xia Yu returned to his own body.
He glanced at his game points and frowned.
Wen Ziying had given him five times the number of usual game points.
Could he get bonus points by providing the girl with novel experiences?
For a moment, Xia Yu thought about boosting his points through Wen Ziying, but quickly rejected the idea.
Relying on Wen Ziying's points would require constantly exposing his abilities, which was not a safe thing to do. Moreover, the novelty would eventually become ordinary, and he only had so many skills.
However, when he was really short of game points, he could consider it.
He went to bed and the next day, Xia Yu came to class, knowing that he'd learn his test score soon.
With the exception of history, his level 4 exam education was in full swing. How many points could he score, and how far was he from being the first in the city?