The next day rolled around like a repeat episode. Li Tianyu was back at it—same hoodie, same cracked ceiling, same everything. But something in him felt lighter. Not fixed. Just… slightly more tolerable.
In second period, the one with the strict professor who always talked like a lawyer, it was presentation day. Zhang Wei showed up again—still in the "STANFORD BUT IN CHINA" hoodie, still carrying his laptop like a baby.
"Ready to Present the water project?" Zhang whispered.
"No," Li Tianyu replied.
But ready or not, they went up.
They stood in front of the class. Zhang started with the intro, smooth as ever. Then Li Tianyu stepped up. He spoke clearly, pointed at the slides, about water and how it exist and what year it come and etc... For a second, he felt like he was floating above himself, watching this version of him that knew what he was doing.
When they finished, the professor adjusted his glasses, tapped his pen, and asked three sharp questions about when scientist started analzying water and its chemical and what if there is no water in life, Li Tianyu answered the first two. Zhang handled the last one, What if there is no water in life.
The professor nodded. "Acceptable. At least you didn't use AI to write it."
Li Tianyu nodded back, pretending like Zhang hadn't used it at least twice.
After class, Zhang gave him a fist bump. "Not bad, bro."
"Not bad," Li Tianyu echoed.
By the second break, Li Tianyu had about thirty minutes to kill. He didn't feel like eating. He didn't feel like going back to his room. So he climbed the stairs to the quiet upper level of the campus—an open balcony with chipped tiles and a few plastic chairs.
It was quiet, except for the wind.
And then he saw him.
A Depressed fat guy was standing on the edge of the railing, hands gripping the bars, one foot already over. His eyes were red. His jacket was half zipped. His phone was on the floor, screen cracked, and he was mumbling.
"…she left… said I was empty… said I wasn't worth staying for…"
Li Tianyu froze.
The guy kept talking, like he didn't notice Li. "I gave her everything. Everything. But she said I was nothing. Said I should disappear—"
That's when Li remember the scribble on the wall.
It was a sharp, angry line of graffiti:
"Hit me harder than my ex."
Li Tianyu blinked. He'd seen it before—some angry mental illness poem that looked like a cringe joke but wasn't. And now here was a real guy, really broken, ready to fall.
"Hey," Li Tianyu said quietly, stepping forward.
The guy flinched but didn't turn.
"Life's like that," Li Tianyu continued. "You get hit. Over and over. People leave. You get used to silence. And yeah, sometimes it feels like none of it means anything. Like you're just walking in fog, Im a orphan"
Still no answer.
"But that's not the end to it," Li Tianyu said. "You don't get to quit. You don't get to give up just because someone else gave up on you."
The guy's voice cracked. "What would you know?"
Li Tianyu stepped closer. "I know enough. As I have said I'm an ORPHAN. Got nobody. Nothing. No money Half the time I wake up wondering why I'm even here."
The guy turned slightly, eyes glassy.
"But if I'm still here," Li Tianyu said, "then maybe… so should you."
The guy wobbled. For a second, it looked like he'd step back.
Then he fell forward.
Li Tianyu moved.
Fast.
He grabbed the guy's arm, yanked him back—and in that split second, the guy's fatness weight shifted, and Li's foot slipped.
And Li Tianyu fell.
The wind screamed past his ears. His thoughts didn't flash like in movies. He didn't see his whole life. He just thought:
"So this is it, In the next life I would take money from this fatty guy for losing my life.."
He remembered the cold kitchen. The empty room. The blank stares. The nights no one called.
And then—
A voice in his head.
[System initializing… Awakening: Li Tianyu.]
His eyes snapped open mid-fall. What?
[10%…]
[20%…]
[30%…]
[45%…]
[50% - Core stable. Synchronizing consciousness.]
[75%…]
[90%…]
[100% - Activation complete.]
Everything stopped.
He was no longer falling.
He was standing—somewhere else. A place without ground or sky. Just endless white. Floating symbols in golden light danced around him like fireflies.
And then, a voice—not loud, not soft—spoke directly into his mind:
[Welcome, Summoner.]
[You have awakened the "God of Summon System."]
Li Tianyu blinked. "What… the hell?"
A new window slid open in front of his face, glowing softly.
[Title: Orphan of Fate]
[Class: Summoner - Rank Worst then Trash]
[Status: Broken but Awakened]
[First Summon Available - Earthling]
His heart pounded. This wasn't a dream. Or if it was, it wasn't like any dream he'd had before.
And for the first time in forever—
He didn't feel empty.
He felt alive.