Almost as a reflex, he snapped his head around, his gaze shooting toward that spot from earlier, wanting to get a clearer look—
However, the seat was completely empty.
The little girl who had just been sitting there, resting her chin on her hands in a daze, had vanished without a trace.
Shen Sixing had already grabbed the two children and made a run for it the second before the meeting was dismissed.
He had chosen the seat near the door specifically so he could be the first to rush out.
He absolutely hated parent-teacher meetings.
As the school leaders announced the end of the meeting, the surrounding parents stood up in scattered groups and headed toward the door, making the scene gradually chaotic.
Song Guanyan stood up abruptly, his heart pounding like a drum. With no time to care about Song Yi beside him, he pushed away the people blocking his way like a madman.
The man's voice was urgent and brief: "Excuse me."
"Please let me through."
As he spoke, he somewhat rudely shoved aside the people in his path, his eyes scanning the back of the hall and the aisles like searchlights in frantic pursuit.
Everywhere he looked were children in uniform school clothes, similar in height and build. Their moving figures intertwined, making it impossible to tell them apart.
Where is she? That child...
However, Hejing was a massive school; just the exit stairs leading to the various floors were countless.
Searching blindly through the crowd like this was no different from looking for a needle in a haystack.
Song Guanyan finally calmed down for a few seconds and remembered Song Yi, whom he had left behind.
He hurried back to the conference room, only to see Song Yi still sitting blankly in her original seat.
Seeing him approach.
The girl finally couldn't help but cry.
"Daddy, why did you leave me behind? All the other kids have been taken away by their parents."
Every child at the scene had been picked up by their parents.
Only she had been abandoned by Song Guanyan without a second thought.
The man's earlier urgency, bordering on losing his composure, and the fact that he hadn't looked back at her once, made Song Yi, who had never been neglected since childhood, feel an unprecedented sense of panic and sorrow.
Song Guanyan had no mind to comfort her little temper tantrum right now.
He stepped forward and grabbed Song Yi's shoulders almost roughly, his grip so strong that the girl flinched.
As if oblivious to her streaming tears, his voice sounded aggressive due to his urgency:
"Xiaoyi, let me ask you, is there a pair of... a boy and a girl in your class? They are often together, maybe brother and sister?"
He remembered that in his last glimpse, it was a picture of two children leaning against each other.
It was just that the girl's father was dressed exceptionally plainly, unlike a family that could afford the exorbitant tuition fees of the international class.
Maybe they weren't from the international class? But children from the experimental class next door?
But no matter what, Song Yi was his most direct source of clues right now.
Song Yi was still heartbroken and throwing a tantrum. She turned her head away, her voice thick with crying: "I don't want to talk to you anymore!"
Song Guanyan's patience was completely exhausted at this moment. The continuous searching over the years, along with the immense hope and subsequent disappointment from that brief instant, all surged into his heart.
The crying daughter in front of him completely pushed his emotions to the brink of losing control.
The man almost let out a low growl: "Tell me now!"
This low growl frightened Song Yi so much that she trembled all over, forgetting even to cry, leaving only uncontrollable hiccups.
She looked at her father's face, which appeared somewhat fierce due to his urgency, shrank her neck in fear, and stammered:
"I, I don't remember... There are, there are a lot in our class..."
The students in the international class had complex backgrounds, and many were related to each other.
After all, the relatives of rich people are also rich people.
Biological siblings, cousins, and children of distant relatives were everywhere in the classroom, forming a tangled web of relationships.
Song Yi herself wasn't the type of child who was particularly good at observing or had a great memory.
She paid more attention to who treated her well and who hovered around her.
Song Guanyan almost forgot that this daughter's brain had never been very sharp.
But this Song Yi was simply... too stupid.
It had been over a month, and she couldn't even remember her classmates clearly.
He had an excellent memory, and his wife had keen observation skills. In this regard, Song Sijun could be called a smart child who inherited the strengths of both.
Suddenly confronting Song Yi's stupidity once again, Song Guanyan took a deep breath, constantly telling himself to calm down.
Perhaps that girl just looked somewhat similar.
Over the years.
It wasn't that he hadn't seen girls who resembled Song Sijun.
There were many of them all over the country.
If his daughter had truly been abducted and sold, or maliciously adopted by some organization, then she shouldn't have appeared right before his eyes so coincidentally.
Song Guanyan thought of many things in this moment.
But...
He still couldn't easily convince himself not to care.
Filled with doubt and unwillingness to give up, Song Guanyan quickly called his assistant and private investigators.
"Go investigate," his voice came through the phone, calm and clear. "I want the admission files and family background information of all the girls in the international and experimental classes of Hejing School's primary division. Right now, immediately."
After doing this, Song Guanyan continuously adjusted his breathing, gripping his phone tightly.
The time spent waiting for a reply felt exceptionally long with every passing second.
...
Walking out of the school gates, Shen Sixing rubbed his neck, still speaking in a brisk tone, "Daddy runs fast, right? You two little ones slept so soundly."
It had been a long time since he experienced this kind of pain from being forced to listen to a lecture.
Shen Sixing could be considered a very patient person. He would always make preparations to approach his targets, and staking out a place for a whole day was a common occurrence. But even the most patient person couldn't stand the boredom of a parent-teacher meeting.
The phone didn't even have a signal.
It was too cruel!
"It was fast," Shen Yi said. "But Daddy, you ran way too fast! Like a ghost was chasing you."
"I can't help it, I hate school." Shen Sixing smiled.
Shen Xun finally found some common ground with his father:
"I hate it too."
The father and son were evidently both school-haters.
Shen Yi was very interested in exploring the past of her rule-breaking dad. She lightly stepped in front of him, "Then Daddy, were your grades in school really terrible?"
It always felt like when her dad was young, he spent every day studying how to cause trouble.
Shen Sixing smiled and poked her little head: "Wrong. I could get perfect scores in school with my eyes closed."
He really wasn't lying about this point.
Shen Yi couldn't help but purse her lips, saying listlessly: "I hate smart people!"
Shen Sixing burst out laughing.
This was why having a daughter was so fun; no matter what you said, she would always give you active feedback.
"Alright, I'm just joking. In reality, I'm an idiot too." He patted his daughter's head. "Let's go, let's go, we're heading home."
Shen Yi held her father's hand and grabbed her brother's hand along the way, a lighthearted smile spreading across her face. "Yeah, we're going home."
At night, Song Guanyan sat in front of the computer desk for an unknown amount of time, until the notification sound of his encrypted email finally rang. He clicked it open, his hands trembling slightly.
The profile photos of the girls swiped past one by one.
Finally, the computer screen froze on a girl named Shen Yi.
The enrollment time and age were clearly written on it.
The moment the photo loaded, Song Guanyan felt his breath catch in his throat.
The blood in his entire body seemed to rush to his head in an instant, only to freeze in the next second.
The girl in the photo had a pair of clear amber eyes, a tender little face, and delicate features.
Song Guanyan stared fixedly at those eyes, at the contours of that face. His fingers tightened unconsciously, almost crushing the computer mouse.
...Too similar.
It wasn't just the color of her eyes, but the shape of her brows and eyes...
If there was one difference between her and Song Sijun, it was probably that her face was a bit plumper, and her smile was happier and brighter.
She looked like a child who had grown up surrounded by love.
He immediately called back, his voice hoarse with urgency.
"That child named Shen Yi, do you have her home address and other more detailed information?"
The assistant on the other end of the line seemed troubled. "I'm sorry, Mr. Song."
"We accessed the school's archives, and this child's file... apart from her name, class, and age, the rest of the information seems to have been specially processed."
"Or... it was never fully entered when she enrolled."
"We tried through other channels, but currently, there is no further detailed information."
Song Guanyan refused to believe it. "Nothing from other channels either?"
"No."
Song Guanyan forced himself to calm down. He had endured so many years of searching; he couldn't afford to be too anxious now.
He kept thinking. "Check again and see if she has an older or younger brother."
"Pull up the files of any boys who enrolled on the same day as her."
This time, the results came back much faster.
The boy in the enrollment photo had an indifferent expression and delicate features.
But... he bore no resemblance to Shen Yi.
Song Guanyan continuously reviewed the available information in his hands.
He found that the information he currently had was scarce, and all the records concerning this family were far too bizarre.
That man named Shen Sixing was clearly just an ordinary guy.
How did he manage to send both children to the international class?
Perhaps asking Song Yi would provide some answers.
Song Guanyan leaned back in his chair, let out a soft breath, and closed his eyes.
In his mind, however, the cold and piercing words of his son, Song Sijun, rang out inappropriately.
'Do you also miss the past?'
'You are always mourning the past, but to you, I am not important, and my sister is not important. You only care about yourself, blindly indulging in the pain of loss and acting so deeply affectionate. It's truly disgusting.'
After his wife passed away, Song Guanyan was indeed depressed for a long time.
He shut himself away, numbing himself with work and alcohol. To some extent, he really did ignore the pain of his surviving son.
'You actually don't love anyone; you only love yourself.'
This sentence from Song Sijun was like a dagger precisely slicing open his selfishness.
And Song Yi...
The very existence of this child was the product of his self-deception.
In the third year after his daughter went missing, he adopted a baby girl of a similar age, trying to use her to fill that massive void.
And when Song Yi's insatiably greedy biological parents tried to extort him again, he didn't hesitate to hire someone to get rid of them.
Song Guanyan had always done things ruthlessly, leaving no room for leeway.
He never even considered whether Song Yi would hate him if she found out.
In fact, since he was capable of doing such a thing, he didn't care about Song Yi's love or hate from the very beginning.
She was just a companion piece.
If Song Yi was lucky enough, perhaps she would never know the truth about her biological parents' murder in her lifetime.
Song Guanyan thought to himself as he leaned against his swivel chair.
It was another long wait.
The information he got his hands on regarding Wen Ya and Shen Sixing was even simpler.
A housewife and a certain company's employee.
"Their family's information is just this?"
Song Guanyan felt it was a bit absurd.
For them, complex information was nothing to fear.
What they feared was this kind of simplicity that was almost blank.
The simpler it was, the more clueless it left them.
Where this family came from, where their specific workplace was, and what their home address was—these were all blank, without a single bit of useful information.
All Song Guanyan could do now was choose a time when those children were in class and go directly to the school to find that child.
As long as he took her for a paternity test, everything would become clear.
...
Unaware that she was already being targeted, Shen Yi touched her own head.
It hurt a bit.
It was already late at night.
But—
She kept her eyes open; it felt like she was having a sleep paralysis episode.
She heard something talking to her.
Shen Yi covered her head with the blanket, trying hard to close her eyes and sleep.
The voice in her mind persisted.
It was as noisy as a fly.
Shen Yi finally couldn't take it anymore and sat up abruptly. "What are you?"
Alright, she realized this didn't seem to be an illusion. There really was something. Come to think of it, since rebirth could happen, it wasn't surprising for more strange things to occur.
But why did strange things always find her?!
[I am a system, a raising system.]
The voice was concise and to the point.
"Do you know, System?" Shen Yi suddenly opened her eyes, looking at the ceiling, her voice faint.
"A late system is cheaper than grass."
The system fell silent.
[I apologize, but actually, I shouldn't have come to you.]
"Then leave," Shen Yi said. "I still need to sleep. I have school tomorrow. If I don't study well, my mom will deduct my allowance."
System: [Although I am very sorry, I still have to say that you have disrupted our worldview.]
[We have to correct all of this.]
What the hell?
[Your classmates, Song Yi and Lu Mingyuan, are the core of this world, the protagonists of this world.]
Shen Yi found it unbelievable. "So what?"
She couldn't avoid recalling her past. "Was I just a part of their play before?"
[Originally, yes.]
[But you jumped out of the original setting, which caused our world to fall into chaos.]
Shen Yi: "Then what do you want? To set things right?"
[No, anyone can be the protagonist. The protagonist is not fixed. As long as a complete story chain is formed, anyone will do.]
[The identity of a protagonist doesn't have any bonuses. At most, it ensures they won't die easily. When luck falls on a person, if they die easily, the world will collapse.]
[Do you want to be the protagonist?]
"No."
Right now, she only wanted to sleep.
Only rest could satisfy Shen Yi at this moment.
Realizing the girl had a stubborn personality that yielded to neither force nor persuasion, the system persisted and threw out a topic:
[Do you know why your mom and dad are so formidable?]
"Because they are assassins."
So having some skills was quite normal, right?
[But assassins cannot jump from a hundred-meter building and remain unscathed. Assassins are also human.]
"So my parents aren't human?"
The system choked for a moment:
[...Because they are both villains, and highly featured villains in a comic book at that.]
[They casually do atrocious and evil deeds, and the male and female protagonists' ultimate goal is to eliminate them.]
Shen Yi suddenly couldn't smile anymore.
"Then what use are you?"
[If you don't want to be the protagonist, then I will be responsible for turning you into a qualified villain, Little Yi.]
"And then get beaten to death by the protagonist?"
[No, it doesn't matter whether you want to be the protagonist or the villain. I am on your side, so please don't be hostile toward me.]
"Can I ask why?" Shen Yi picked at her palm, not quite understanding the point of it coming to find her.
[You have a more promising future.]
After Shen Yi, a mere cannon fodder, was reborn, the destiny of the original female lead, Song Yi, had been completely turned upside down.
The system that was originally supposed to belong to Song Yi now felt that she was beyond saving.
It simply gave up on trying to save Song Yi; switching to a new protagonist would work just as well.
Whether someone was a villain or a protagonist, it was ultimately just a title.
Whoever the system chose would become the future protagonist of this world.
...
...
Author's Note:
The system won't provide any massive, overpowered cheats, but it will offer a little bit of an edge, mainly to push the upcoming plot forward.
It will be of some use during crucial moments.
Normally, its presence will be practically zero, so darlings who aren't fond of system tropes don't need to worry about it.
