"You can't get into No.1 High School, and you don't even plan to go to No.1 High School—I know that. So you just give up on yourself and use this way to challenge Zane Thompson! But can't you just hold back a little? You can still go to other schools. Take No.5 High School for example—last year the admission score was also 540. If you work hard, you can still get into that school."

"But after the scene you made today, it'll go on your record. What school would still dare to take you?"

Ryan Carter thought, you really got it right. Indeed, in his previous life, during the high school entrance exam, he was directly eliminated from No.1 High School and fell into the third-tier No.4 High School. From then on, he knew that his fate had started to diverge from that of Summer Young, Shawn Hughes, and the others.

He watched as Summer Young stirred up storms in the high school division of No.1 High School. Among the celebrities of her year, Summer Young was definitely one of them. Later, it was said that a similarly legendary boy chased her overseas. Many years later, their stories were still widely told.

"I know. I will get into the high school division of No.1 High School," Ryan Carter replied. "This bet is real."

Summer Young's expression gradually turned cold. "If you keep this up, I'll get angry!"

Uh... she still thinks I'm just messing with her.

Ryan Carter felt as if he now held the greatest secret in the world, but he had to grit his teeth and bury that secret deep in his heart.

Sure enough, Summer Young turned her head away and ignored him. She even stepped past him, ready to leave him with just her back. Her profile, fairer than frost or snow in the light, looked angry, but also a bit dazzling.

Ryan Carter tried to ease the mood. "By the way, is Charlie James still secretly writing you love letters?"

Charlie James was one of the kids from the compound, famous for often giving Summer Young love letters and never giving up despite repeated failures. This even became the biggest stain on his later life. Thinking of these amusing things in the compound, Ryan Carter couldn't help but smile.

But Summer Young paused, giving him a strange look. "Who's Charlie James?"

Ryan Carter was stunned. "Then what about Lana Dawson, that Alan... is she still around?"

Lana Dawson was Summer Young's good friend in the compound, a quirky girl. When the golden age of Hong Kong dramas arrived and was all the rage, Lana Dawson often imitated those trendy Cantonese phrases, making everyone laugh. So everyone called her "Alan."

In Lana Dawson's way of speaking, Summer Young was called Summer, Ryan Carter was Little Carter, and Shawn Hughes was Little Wade...

Summer Young suddenly stopped, and you could hear the anger in her voice. "Do you enjoy making fun of me? Ryan Carter, can you act normal for once!"

Ryan Carter felt a tightness in his chest as he stared at Summer Young. It was as if his eyes had become two holes, with endless abysses inside. After a moment, his voice trembled a little as he asked, "So there really isn't such a person, is there?"

Summer Young looked at him carefully, then said word by word, "Ryan Carter, do you know why people are disappointed in you? It's because I can't see the weight of the word 'serious' in you. It's like everything is a joke to you."

Her face, already showing hints of beauty that could bring disaster at this age, was as cold as a glacier. "I hope that many years from now, your life won't be just a joke!"

She threw down these words, turned around, and her pink tracksuit figure walked farther and farther away, leaving only Ryan Carter standing there, lost and dejected.

Ryan Carter immediately went to find Shawn Hughes, and even asked classmates he barely knew and could talk to, making inquiries.

He took out a notebook and kept writing down people's names.

The tip of his fountain pen pressed so hard on the paper that it left scars on his hand from writing through the pages.

Ryan Carter didn't even know when school ended. He only knew that in the end, even the students on duty had left the classroom, leaving only him.

The red sunset shone in through the window, bringing the last rays of light before it set behind the distant mountains, casting its final warmth on his profile and body. His shadow stretched long across the floor.

Ryan Carter pulled his backpack from the drawer, left the school, walked down the slope, got on the bus, and as the bus bumped along, he sat in the second-to-last single seat, his face pressed against the glass, with everything in Shanhai City reflected in his eyes.

That familiar noodle shop was already closing up. The stationery store, with its sign already changed, still had students reluctant to leave. The old lady at the street corner was frying potatoes, the aroma wafting over. In the old houses along the bluestone road, you could hear the sound of spatulas stirring food. Along Huanhu Road, the lake surface was still covered in golden, shimmering light like coins. The streets lined with plane trees on both sides bustled with people hurrying about their lives under the fleeting meteors streaking across the sky.

Everything in sight was so familiar. In his memory, the city where he had truly lived had not disappeared, but it had become incomparably strange, and now had another name.

Shanhai City.

It was as if the power of the Creator had descended and bestowed this gift, but along with this land of mountains and sea, some things had been taken from his side.

In Ryan Carter's hand, the notebook was filled with many names. Some names he circled, some he crossed out.

The circled ones were people he knew who still existed in this world, like Summer Young, Shawn Hughes...

And those crossed out were the ones who had disappeared, people who had never existed in this world.