Her Redemption Experiment

"I started a rescue experiment with three rules: Don't pry, don't get close, don't get emotionally involved."

"Then, on a rooftop in the pouring rain, I clung desperately to my experiment subject."

Blurb:

Mu Lingshuang has a cold set of rules for dealing with people:

Warmth is just a facade. Getting emotionally involved is forbidden.

A year ago, she failed to catch a friend who fell from a rooftop. Since then, everyone who needed help had become, in her subconscious, a "shadow she had to catch," until Lin Xi appeared.

The girl who transferred from Hong Kong was gentle, polite, and an outstanding student, perfect as a porcelain doll without a single crack.

But Mu Lingshuang saw through her at a glance: beneath that calm exterior were cracks just like her own.

And so, a "limited rescue experiment" quietly began.

The official excuse was "repaying a debt of gratitude." In truth, Mu Lingshuang wanted to find out whether she could really "catch" someone and mend the festering scar in her heart.

At the start of the experiment, she drew three red lines for herself: Don't pry, don't get close, don't get emotionally involved.

Until one night, when a violent storm raged.

Mu Lingshuang got a phone call. On the other end were howling winds and Lin Xi's voice, so faint it was almost inaudible:

"...It's so cold on the rooftop."

Mu Lingshuang dropped the phone and ran out. She finally found Lin Xi in the pouring rain. The girl who always kept her distance from others and hated physical contact was standing barefoot at the edge of the rooftop.

"Lin Xi, turn around." Mu Lingshuang's voice cut through the rain.

Lin Xi turned. Rain and tears mingled on her face, but her body had edged back half a step, almost imperceptibly: the instinctive recoil of someone who hated being touched.

Mu Lingshuang didn't hesitate.

She rushed forward and held the trembling, ice-cold girl tightly in the storm.

Lin Xi's body stiffened instantly, but she didn't push her away.

After a long while, her trembling hand finally grasped the fabric at Mu Lingshuang's back, timidly, like a drowning person clutching a lifeline.

Only later did Mu Lingshuang learn that Lin Xi hated all physical contact, but had made an exception for her embrace.

And from that day on, Mu Lingshuang's nightmares never returned.

[Experiment Record: Final Entry]

Date: 2016.##

Subject: Lin Xi (transfer student, from Hong Kong, now my deskmate)

Experiment status: Out of control

Red-line status: Complete collapse

Conclusion: This isn't rescue. It's falling.

[Pairing] A seemingly warm, secretly cold, calculating planner x a seemingly strong-hearted, shattered, highly sensitive girl | Slow burn, lots of sweetness

[Reader Notice]

1. One-on-one, both each other's first love, happy ending.

2. The main plot is about finding salvation at school, with Hong Kong-style elements introduced in the middle and later parts.

3. Includes some Cantonese dialogue, with thoughtful Mandarin translations.

4. Entirely original. Any similarities are coincidental.

5. If anything makes you uncomfortable while reading, please stop in time. Thank you!

6. The author updates whenever inspiration strikes.

Theme: I once thought you were my experiment subject. Only later did I understand that you were my one and only salvation