The Gaze of the Radio Girl (GL) - Chapter 3
Who else could it be but me?
Xue Ran stared at the test questions on the computer screen, somewhat speechless…
Last night, after sending that message, Xue Ran had been waiting.
In her view, since Wu Lele could persistently send out radio signals, she must be a chatty little kid, just a bit socially awkward.
But she waited a long time, and there was no response from the other side. At the same time, no one else broke in either.
Seeing the time getting later, Xue Ran couldn’t help but send a message.
—Are you still here
Given Wu Lele’s ability to get into No. 1 High School, she shouldn’t be unable to understand this bit of English.
No… Xue Ran almost forgot, she was a transfer student, so maybe her brain really had some issues…
Xue Ran felt a bit hopeless.
She turned off the radio, deciding it was better to sleep first.
The next day, Wu Lele, deemed to have a faulty brain, arrived earlier than her, the class monitor. She was busy building her defensive fortress—stacking all her books, now disorganized from the seat change, at the front of her desk.
Following strict construction standards, Wu Lele’s fortress was comparable to the Great Wall.
She looked at her masterpiece with a satisfied smile, unusually not falling asleep immediately. Instead, she took out paper and pen, scribbling and drawing.
What was she writing?
Xue Ran sat at her own desk, pretending to be indifferent, put down her bag, and sneaked a glance.
Dot dot dash dot dash dot…
Wasn’t that the Morse code she sent yesterday? So, Wu Lele had heard it and understood it, but why didn’t she reply?
All morning, Wu Lele hunched behind her Great Wall, writing Morse code, while Xue Ran sat beside her, wrestling with this question.
She felt like she was possessed.
After one night, the Deep Space Witch was still the Deep Space Witch. Xue Ran watched her hurriedly finish lunch and dash out of the cafeteria. Had something happened?
But her worry was unnecessary. During lunch break, the Deep Space Witch appeared on the opposite balcony right on time, continuing to send signals.
Xue Ran couldn’t be bothered to care, silently reciting a few calming mantras, and started working on her test papers.
Suddenly, a flash in her peripheral vision—the Deep Space Witch was gone. Xue Ran dropped her pen and looked, only to find Wu Lele had dragged a sleeping bag from some empty classroom, set it up, and fallen asleep, making her worry for nothing.
Xue Ran recited her mantras again and continued her work.
Suddenly, a rumbling came from above, dark clouds looming. The Deep Space Witch’s figure was gone from the opposite rooftop. She should be coming back, right?
Xue Ran waited another fifteen minutes. With rain imminent and still no sign of her, she finally couldn’t hold back and charged up to the rooftop.
Good grief, she was still sleeping.
Xue Ran wanted to kick her a couple of times, but seeing Wu Lele’s flushed cheeks from the heat, she crouched down and pinched her face.
The flesh on her cheeks was quite plump, feeling great to the touch. Xue Ran couldn’t stop, pinching again and again, venting her frustration to the fullest.
She was happily pinching when Wu Lele suddenly opened her eyes, springing out of the sleeping bag in a panic.
Xue Ran didn’t mean it; she hadn’t expected Wu Lele to be so scared.
She stood there, a bit at a loss, hoping Wu Lele would recognize her—she wasn’t some terrifying thing.
Sure enough, Wu Lele’s eyes gradually cleared.
Xue Ran thought she finally recognized her.
“…Who are you?”
Wu Lele looked innocent.
Xue Ran was speechless. She considered herself fair-skinned and attractive, with excellent grades, the type to turn heads in a crowd. Four months as classmates and one day as deskmates shouldn’t have been so forgettable.
Most likely, Wu Lele had face blindness.
Thinking this, Xue Ran felt better and reminded her: “I’m your deskmate, and your class monitor.”
She still didn’t remember.
It seemed not only was she face-blind, but the hole in her brain was pretty big.
Xue Ran had no choice but to add: “Let me introduce myself, Xue Ran. Ran as in rising slowly.”
“Oh… I’m Wu Lele, Lele as in happy.” Wu Lele returned the courtesy, grinning widely. “Hi, class monitor.”
This was the first time Xue Ran saw Wu Lele smile up close. It was… completely at odds with her Deep Space Witch image—bright, childish, terrifyingly pure.
No, she must have realized she’d been caught by the center of authority, so she was deliberately sucking up.
Yes, sucking up!
She couldn’t be fooled by her appearance—she still held the lifeline of her Switch!
Xue Ran sized Wu Lele up, her face cold, and said: “It’s two o’clock. If you don’t go back, it’ll be study hall again.”
But Wu Lele stood still, as if scheming something.
The clouds above rumbled again, and Xue Ran’s patience ran out. She reached out, deciding to drag her back. But Wu Lele dodged, as if her hand carried something dirty.
This girl!
Xue Ran kept her face cold, restraining herself from snapping. But when she saw Wu Lele’s panicked eyes, her nameless anger was instantly doused.
She hated her own lack of backbone but took a tentative step forward.
Wu Lele didn’t dodge again.
Xue Ran reached out, lightly pulling Wu Lele’s long-sleeved school uniform jacket.
Wu Lele was thin, and the jacket was oversized, hiding her hands in the sleeves. Xue Ran only grasped empty air.
She glanced at Wu Lele, wondering why she wore a long-sleeved jacket in the summer heat, unafraid of heatstroke.
But that was her choice, none of Xue Ran’s business.
“Let’s go. If you don’t, it’ll rain,” Xue Ran said softly, leading her back to the classroom.
But who was Wu Lele? A godlike figure who never listened in class.
With her audacious sleeping efforts, the Chinese teacher was thoroughly enraged. Xue Ran watched Wu Lele’s sky-is-falling expression, secretly gloating.
Even back at her desk at home, she was still savoring Wu Lele’s afternoon despair and embarrassment.
Life was already like this; Wu Lele probably wouldn’t send random signals tonight, right?
Xue Ran glanced at the door behind her. It was quiet outside.
On a whim, she slipped into Xue Lin’s room and turned on the radio again.
She still remembered Wu Lele’s frequency and, with a little tuning, connected to that quiet domain.
Xue Ran guessed wrong.
Wu Lele’s voice suddenly came through the headphones, not with “CQ” but reading a Chinese test paper.
Xue Ran: “…”
The hole in this kid’s brain was getting bigger…
The kid was reading the test questions aloud with such passion, her sincere emotions almost moving.
“Please choose the correct statement from the four options below.”
“A. The author feels wistful about childhood experiences.”
“B…”
Xue Ran listened while opening Xue Lin’s desktop computer, finding the original question.
At the same time, Wu Lele finished reading and went silent.
The next second, a sound like dice hitting the desk came, followed by Wu Lele’s determined self-encouragement: “Alright, let’s go with B.”
Xue Ran: “…”
She suddenly remembered seeing a marker turned into a dice in Wu Lele’s green ghost-themed pencil case…
She couldn’t be…
Xue Ran slapped her forehead.
No wonder…
No wonder she could consistently rank last in Chinese…
This wasn’t genius—it was fate!
Wu Lele was practically the chosen one!
With the chosen one’s own power, Xue Ran’s Switch would probably never be freed in this lifetime.
Xue Ran felt deep despair and pressed the Morse code transmitter.
“No, C.”
—Please, pick C!
—If you don’t mind, ask me “why.” For my Switch, for Dog Detective Chronicles, I’m willing to reluctantly help you!
Xue Ran screamed internally, but Wu Lele clearly didn’t hear.
Bypassing all correct and incorrect answers, Wu Lele happily asked: “Is that you?”
Me?
Who?
Xue Ran began doubting her own identity.
Who else could it be?!
…Wait, could it be she was waiting for me all along?
“Um…” Wu Lele sounded a bit dejected. “Sorry about last night. I… I had something come up and didn’t say goodbye before logging off. Sorry.”
Two apologies in a row left Xue Ran flustered.
It… wasn’t that serious.
She pressed the transmitter, telling her it was fine.
Wu Lele paused for a moment, then asked: “Do you prefer sending telegraphs?”
“Y.”
“I can send telegraphs too, but it’s time-consuming. I’ve got three test papers, and if I don’t finish by tomorrow after school, I’m done for.”
Xue Ran didn’t expect her to take it so seriously and replied: “I can help you.”
“Really?”
“Y.”
“Then I’ll read as I do them, and you tell me if I’m right?”
“Y.”
As Wu Lele said, she was indeed serious, but also seriously doomed.
Xue Ran didn’t know if she had some strange disease that made her unable to understand meaning, but her serious thinking was far less successful than rolling dice.
Plus, telegraphing was too inefficient, especially for Chinese questions.
This method wasn’t working. She needed another approach.
Wu Lele seemed tired too, putting away her papers, saying: “Thanks for staying with me so late. I still don’t get it, but I’ll try again tomorrow.”
“…”
“You have to learn to let yourself off the hook, haha~”
“…”
“By the way, I’m Wu Lele. What should I call you? Will you be here tomorrow?”
“…”
Me…
Xue Ran withdrew her finger from the telegraph.
She thought of what happened on the rooftop today, the inexplicable distance that opened between them, and the fear that flashed in Wu Lele’s eyes.
If she knew it was a classmate, would she still chat so freely?
Xue Ran looked at the night outside the window and casually gave herself a codename: “Astral Witch.”
“Huh… what? What’s the first word mean?”
It could be understood as “stellar” or “celestial,” or rather: “Deep Space.”
“Deep Space Witch? Deep Space Sorceress? Sounds nice.”
Xue Ran didn’t expect the compliment, and a smile crept onto her cheeks.
Wu Lele: “If I could hear your voice too, that’d be even better.”
Voice… huh?
Don’t get too greedy, girl!
But Xue Ran couldn’t control her gaze, which drifted to the microphone beside her…
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