Peach-Orange! – Chapter 299 – December 25th

This time, the consciousness inhabiting this body seemed to realize something. Without arguing with Su Tao, it simply turned and left.

It didn’t even wait for Ye Liang to say much.

Under the two’s stunned gazes, the figure gradually walked from the scorching sunlight into the shadowed alley.

Like a player tired of repeating the same route, impatiently choosing to skip the cutscene.

The subsequent actions were the same as before: trying to engineer chance encounters with Su Tao, to explain her true feelings, to make Su Tao understand that Ye Liang was the one who would truly hurt her.

But some invisible hand seemed to control everything. No matter what this body did, it failed.

Chi Xiaocheng felt wave after wave of negative emotions, unable to comprehend.

She understood the last dream forced her to confront the painful past she had avoided.

To face her innermost self.

But why did this dream exist? What was the meaning behind these scenes?

Were they alternate timelines of Xiaocheng and Su Tao’s story?

Or was it just a meaningless dream?

But this was a world inside a novel.

Before she transmigrated here, it was just a story created by some author.

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Character personalities, plot developments, future trajectories… all rigidly predetermined.

Even if fanfiction existed, “fanfiction” was already content separate from the original novel.

To Chi Xiaocheng, what she was experiencing in this dream should have nothing to do with the original novel.

As her thoughts wandered, she returned once more to the present, back to that sun-scorched street.

Once again, Su Tao loudly demanded, “Can’t you stop being so unreasonable—”

But this time, before Su Tao could finish, Chi Xiaocheng uncontrollably snapped, “Can’t you stop saying I’m unreasonable?!”

Su Tao’s words caught in her throat. The girl before her had disheveled hair, and her clear eyes seemed to brim with an eerie crimson.

She screamed at Su Tao, “I only act like this because I care about you! Have you ever thought about how I feel when you leave me like this? You’re all I have!”

The loud outburst drew the attention of passersby. Even Su Tao froze in shock.

But Chi Xiaocheng seemed to know words alone couldn’t break the spell on Su Tao’s resolve. After roaring those words like a venting cry, she turned and left.

She didn’t notice Su Tao instinctively reaching out toward her retreating figure, as if to stop her.

Then Ye Liang’s voice cut in, “Don’t bother. She’s just being unreasonable, like a kid throwing a tantrum for attention. Annoying and childish. Leave her alone, and she’ll calm down eventually.”

Su Tao turned to Ye Liang. “But she didn’t seem right just now. I… I want to check on her.”

“Why would you?!” Ye Liang’s voice rose slightly. “In her current state, you’ll just argue again. Isn’t news about your biological father more important than Chi Xiaocheng?

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“Let’s go. My friend from abroad won’t wait forever.”

With that, Ye Liang strode ahead.

Su Tao glanced once more in the direction Chi Xiaocheng had gone. After a long hesitation, she turned and followed Ye Liang.

Meanwhile, the Xiaocheng in this dream grew increasingly frantic.

Like a player stuck on a level, her actions became erratic in her desperation. She tried everything to get Su Tao’s attention, even resorting to underhanded methods. But whenever they managed to meet, Su Tao’s focus would always be diverted by some simultaneous event.

The dream version of Xiaocheng didn’t understand why.

But Chi Xiaocheng, observing everything from this possessed perspective, knew that it was the world’s will interfering.

Every time dream-Xiaocheng tried to do something to get Su Tao’s attention and clear up misunderstandings, something else would happen to disrupt her efforts.

“All this time, I’ve underestimated the world’s will. This dream… might be showing me just how crucial it is.

“To take it further, if I want to stay with Tao-Tao forever without any more accidents, the only way is to eliminate the world’s will itself.”

There was no system in this dream to consult.

But Chi Xiaocheng knew every effort dream-Xiaocheng made was futile.

Dream-Xiaocheng was a “character” in this “novel.” No matter what, she couldn’t escape the world’s will.

Unlike her, an “outsider.” Precisely because the world’s will couldn’t affect her, she had been able to influence Su Tao in reality.

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Just like December 25th.

No matter how hard dream-Xiaocheng tried, she would always die on this day.

As if her lifespan in this novel was fixed, ending on December 25th.

She would never reach December 26th.

Time passed quickly. Insignificant events blurred past Chi Xiaocheng’s perception until, in the blink of an eye, it was December 25th again.

Chi Xiaocheng’s consciousness, still attached to this body, tried to seize control and speak:

“Give up. The more you struggle, the more you’ll suffer. In this world, you can’t resist that invisible hand.”

Her words seemed unheard by dream-Xiaocheng.

The latter merely trudged exhaustedly down the street, searching the crowd for that moonlit figure of a girl.

Rumors said Su Tao and Dongfang Yang would come here to shop today. So dream-Xiaocheng had come, wandering aimlessly on the last day of her life, hoping to explain the fight and misunderstandings from months ago.

December 25th, 4:44 PM.

After a whole afternoon of searching, dream-Xiaocheng finally saw the person she longed for at a crosswalk.

On the other side of the intersection, Su Tao and Dongfang Yang stood holding a cake. They too noticed the disheveled, petite figure.

Their eyes met from afar, as if both had things to say.

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Dream-Xiaocheng’s excitement was palpable. The moment the light turned green, she dashed forward.

But with her first step came a speeding taxi.

The blaring horn was like a mocking funeral dirge.

Dream-Xiaocheng seemed to know her time was up. Mid-run, she suddenly stopped.

Her lips curled into a self-mocking, utterly powerless smile.

“Crash—!”

Shattered.

Yet, strangely, this time when dream-Xiaocheng died, Chi Xiaocheng didn’t immediately return to that scorching street.

Instead, she became a spectral, translucent figure.

The crisp sound of high heels clicking against pavement echoed in her ears.

From the corner of her vision, she saw the hem of a black gown.

A cold voice followed.

“Watching versions of ourselves forever trapped under fate’s thumb, doesn’t it feel pathetic?”