After Su Ge was discharged from the hospital, she handled her grandmother’s funeral arrangements.

When she returned to campus, she was no longer as lonely as before.

Every day at lunch, she ate with Lin Shilan, and beside Lin Shilan there was always a clingy tagalong, Tan Jin. The two of them often bickered, adding much laughter to Su Ge’s lunch breaks.

Days flew by in a flash, and they welcomed the college entrance examination.

Lin Shilan and Tan Jin responsibly completed the exam, grateful to their parallel spacetime selves for lending them this rainy season.

Su Ge, on the other hand, submitted her answer sheet for herself.

The Su Ge of the past, the Su Ges of other spacetimes, all believed their existence had no meaning. She had no confidence in growing up and didn’t know what she was living so long for. She wrote her story over and over again, wanting to leave something behind. She hoped that someone other than herself would know that she had existed.

The Su Ge of this spacetime, however, didn’t add another chapter to the end of “The Shining Multiverse.”

Because the her of this spacetime had made friends.

Her friend told her: “You are not insignificant—never to yourself. You are your own most important person. You are your entire world.”

Su Ge chose to believe her words.

On the day the college entrance exam ended.

Su Ge went to her good friend’s house to see the puppy.

That little stray dog she had originally thought had no chance of survival was now bouncing around energetically, circling her legs and enthusiastically wagging its tail at her.

“Jing Jing wants you to pet it.” Lin Shilan immediately understood her little dog’s meaning.

Still carrying guilt from not saving it at the time, Su Ge’s movements were hesitant. She reached out her hand but didn’t dare touch the puppy’s head for a long time.

With one jump, Jing Jing actively pressed against her hand.

The puppy didn’t mind. The puppy didn’t hold grudges.

Its pitch-black eyes were like little grapes, bright and shining as it happily stuck out its tongue.

The carefree little stray dog’s attention didn’t linger on Su Ge for too long. When its dog friends from the neighborhood appeared, Jing Jing immediately ran over to play with them.

Watching the puppy’s receding figure, Su Ge couldn’t help but exclaim: “It’s so lively!”

The last time she saw it, the puppy had been hit by a car and was lying in a pool of blood, barely alive. Now, the puppy had grown taller, its fur was raised to be glossy and shiny, completely unrecognizable from its original state. Missing one leg didn’t affect Jing Jing’s agility at all—playing with other puppies, it even ran faster than them and moved more nimbly.

Lin Shilan struggled to hold the leash: “Yeah, it’s getting more and more mischievous as it grows. The little puppy is turning into a little monkey.”

As they chatted, Tan Jin, who had finished eating, also came downstairs to the residential complex.

After the college entrance exam finished, the atmosphere around them was relaxed and pleasant.

Only the three of them didn’t feel liberated like other students.

The flood that would soon submerge the town was like a sword hanging over their heads. The three of them knew about the event that hadn’t yet occurred, but no one knew how to break the deadlock.

—What should they do next?

Did they have the ability to save other people in the town? Obviously not.

Spreading information in advance to make people leave the town would cause spacetime collapse.

Without making changes and following the original development, when the flood occurred, they would be trapped in the town. Facing a terrifying natural disaster like floods, forget about saving others—whether they could even save themselves was questionable.

Lin Shilan anxiously bit her nails, falling into deep thought.

Tan Jin’s consciousness had accompanied Lin Shilan for three years. He saw what she saw and felt what she felt. He knew she always carried the pressure on her own shoulders.

This time, with him here, it was time to unload her burden.

“Let’s escape.” Tan Jin was the first to give a direction.

“I agree.” Su Ge chimed in: “If spacetime collapses, everyone will die. But if we don’t run, I have no confidence I can survive the disaster. Selfishly speaking, if we must be sacrificed for this world to continue operating, then such a world might as well be destroyed.”

Having settled on the plan to escape the town, they also needed to discuss the departure date.

Since they were leaving, sooner was better than later.

“Every previous time, the disaster occurred between July 17th and 26th. Recently, rainfall has increased dramatically, and road sections near the town risk encountering mudslides. My brother is leaving Yan County in two weeks, on June 25th—traveling that day is safe.”

Escaping more than twenty days early, the date Tan Jin set was already very cautious.

The remaining work was: Tan Jin would persuade his parents, Lin Shilan would persuade her mother, and they would find a pretext to bring them along to leave Yan County together.

After discussing for an entire evening, it was getting late.

Jing Jing’s dog friends went home.

Wagging its little tail, it returned to its owner’s side.

Su Ge boldly picked up Jing Jing, holding it like a baby.

The little stray dog was very affectionate with her. It raised its little paws, grinned, and comfortably narrowed its eyes.

With this hug, Su Ge was a bit reluctant to let go.

Seeing her fondness for the puppy, Lin Shilan asked: “Do you want to take Jing Jing home to raise it for a few days?”

“Let me take it home?” Su Ge’s head shot up, her eyes full of anticipation: “Can I?”

Knowing she was reliable, Lin Shilan gave her full trust: “Of course you can.”

The heavy little life was cradled in her palms, warm. Su Ge really wanted to spend more time with it, but she muttered: “Really? Can I do it? I’m afraid I won’t raise it well.”

“You can do it! Just bring Jing Jing’s dog food and feed it on time. It has a dog toilet for going to the bathroom and a dog bed for sleeping. If you bring everything, you won’t need to worry—Jing Jing is a very well-behaved puppy.”

The little stray dog licked Lin Shilan’s hand, as if agreeing with her words.

Lin Shilan gave Su Ge another boost of confidence: “If there’s anything you don’t understand, call me. I can also come to your house to find you. If you can’t manage, I’ll take it back.”

“Okay!” Su Ge no longer hid her true thoughts: “Then I’ll take it home to raise for a few days.”

Carrying large and small bags and bringing Jing Jing, Su Ge went home.

During this period, her improved mental state had led her to clear out the garbage in and around her house.

However, thoroughly cleaning the garbage house had never made it onto the agenda.

Opening the door, Su Ge saw the disastrous state of the room, lowered her head, and kissed the little stray dog’s head.

“Ah, it’s too dirty here.”

“You can’t stay in a room like this—you’ll get sick.”

Lin Shilan had bathed the dog, and its little head smelled fragrant.

If she brought it into this smelly home, the puppy definitely wouldn’t enjoy this visit. Thinking of this, Su Ge had a strong urge to clean her house.

Placing Jing Jing in the relatively clean bedroom, Su Ge rolled up her sleeves and began cleaning her garbage house.

Taking out extra-large plastic bags, she walked through the entire house and threw away everything that should be thrown away without hesitation.

Grandmother’s medicine, dirty paper balls, filth stuffed in corners, unclean carpets, miscellaneous bottles and jars… things to throw away from the living room filled five large plastic bags.

The kitchen was an even harder-hit area of废品. Almost all the food in the refrigerator and the condiment jars in the cabinets were expired. After sorting through it, she hauled out three more large plastic bags of废弃物.

After making several trips to throw away garbage, Su Ge finally completed the first step of cleaning.

Next, she threw dirty clothes, tablecloths, bed sheets, and curtains into the washing machine to wash them one by one, while gradually cleaning the refrigerator, sink, countertops, and toilet. Then she began wiping tables, windows, the toilet, sweeping, and mopping…

Housework seemed endless, with bucket after bucket of dirty water produced.

When she got tired midway, she would look at the puppy. By the time Su Ge finished all this, dawn had broken.

Rubbing her wrists, she tirelessly continued the next step: organizing.

Things in the house hadn’t been systematically arranged in a long time—usually placed wherever there was space.

Su Ge had bought a great many books, and only the books were preserved in relatively good order. Almost all other objects were scattered here and there, in complete disorder.

She organized and organized, from morning all the way to afternoon. During this time, she fed Jing Jing water and food. She herself had no appetite, so she ate nothing.

From under her grandmother’s bed, Su Ge unexpectedly found several photo albums she had never seen before, containing photos of her as an infant.

The albums were placed on the bedside table. Su Ge planned to appreciate them carefully after finishing organizing the house.

The final step of cleaning the garbage house—Su Ge took a comfortable, leisurely hot bath.

This bath lasted a full hour.

She scrubbed away the grime on her body and carefully shampooed her hair. She couldn’t remember how long it had been since Su Ge had touched her own body so carefully.

—The excess flesh on her thighs, the flabby arms with bat wings, the round protruding belly, and her overly full, sagging breasts.

These were all parts of Su Ge’s body that she hated.

The detestable fat had devoured her campus life, causing her to suffer bullying from classmates.

Washing herself, Su Ge looked toward the mirror.

During that hour-long bath, she just looked and looked.

—Why did she have so much flesh?

Pinching the life preserver around her belly, when she released her hand, the flesh bounced back.

Su Ge found it somewhat funny.

Her flesh was very soft flesh, and very elastic.

Her flesh had wrapped around her all these years, supporting her skeletal frame, like protective balls of cotton gathered on her body.

It wouldn’t devour her, nor was it as detestable as she had imagined.

Her flesh was just part of her, that’s all.

Hot water and foam washed away the dirt. That little mouse that had long hidden in the shadows shook off a layer of dust, walked out, and basked in the bright moonlight.

Taking a full day and night, Su Ge completed the deep cleaning of her home.

The garbage house was transformed.

Well-rested Jing Jing ran out to explore, excitedly sniffing everywhere.

The air carried a faint lemon fragrance from residual cleaning solution.

Satisfied, Su Ge took a long breath. She held the puppy on her lap, planning to eat dinner while looking through the photo albums. Then, she would have a good sleep.

One album contained photos of her mother when she was young—she appeared only a few years older than Su Ge’s current age.

Her mother was climbing a mountain, with a young man beside her holding her arm.

Su Ge thought the young man looked familiar. After looking at a few more photos, she remembered.

His eyes and eyebrows were very similar to her own.

His nose and mouth resembled her grandmother a bit.

Chewing bread, Su Ge opened another album.

Inside were photos of her childhood. So she had worn a red bellyband—how cute.

Picking up that special red bellyband photo, Su Ge examined it carefully. The little stray dog loved to join in the excitement and came over to nudge the photo with its nose. The photo tilted, and Su Ge vaguely saw something written on the back…

Turning it over, there were indeed words.

A line of unfamiliar handwriting, written neatly: [Little Candy’s First Birthday Banquet].

“Little Candy?”

She stared at the photo, stunned for ten seconds.

Both wanting to cry and laugh, Su Ge belatedly realized: “It really is sugar.”

She had never imagined her name had such meaning.

Earlier, when Lin Shilan had pointed it out, Su Ge had only taken it as a joke.

The little stray dog Jing Jing didn’t understand how this photo had made Su Ge cry.

It angrily and alertly barked at the photo a few times.

Su Ge smiled through her tears, and regardless of whether the dog could understand, she pointed at the photo to explain.

“This cute little baby is me.”

“I am Little Candy.”