novelraw Chapter 159 Truth or Dare
Chapter 159 Truth or Dare
[September 23, 2025, weather: clear]
[Tonight, I’m going to celebrate a birthday with my friends.
Actually, it’s been a very long time since I last had a birthday.
I was never qualified to celebrate one.
My time has been forever frozen on that day from childhood.
I can’t get past it, can’t let it go, can’t grow up.
That scene is still vivid before my eyes even now, a lifelong regret.
Father said he would help me make up for that regret.
I have spent my whole life waiting for this day.
Flowers that are not flowers, mist that is not mist.It comes at midnight, leaves at dawn.
It came like a spring dream that lingered far too long,
and left like morning clouds with nowhere to be found.
Even if I am not myself.
Even if you do not recognize me.
As long as you can come back—
I am willing to give up everything.]
Inside the private restaurant room, everyone froze.
They stared as Cheng Mengxue gently stroked Jiang Ran’s head with that expression on her face, their minds racing—
Th-this-this.
What was going on?
What had just happened?
Was this some new kind of play?
They were obviously childhood sweethearts, so how had this suddenly turned into an older-sister-younger-brother romance dynamic?!
And with how deep and melancholy it felt, it even seemed like the kind of forbidden sibling-like love that could never be fulfilled!
Chi Xiaoguo practically had steam rising from her head as she frantically searched through her mental catalogue of otherworld GAME options—
Th-this atmosphere is bad.
This is an all-ages first-world GAME.
It is absolutely not supposed to go in this direction!
“Pfft.”
Cheng Mengxue suddenly broke character, covering her mouth as she laughed. “Hehe, you—don’t let the fact that you’re only eight months younger fool you, you’ll be my little brother for life! I’ll always grow up before you!”
That burst of laughter instantly dissolved the tension in the room.
“Oh, come on! You two are flirting right in front of everyone! Can’t you at least spare the audience?” Wang Hao rolled his eyes at them. “You two really know how to play. I’ve seriously learned something new today!”
Everyone crowded around Cheng Mengxue to wish her a happy birthday, not taking the joke from just now seriously at all.
But—
Jiang Ran’s expression did not change. Sitting in his seat, he raised his juice and took a tactical drink.
[A flaw.]
His heart was beating fast right now, and he had to calm it down quickly.
This was not the heartbeat of nervousness.
This was the heartbeat of excitement from finally catching the fox’s tail.
He had to admit it.
For all this time, he had never managed to catch the slightest flaw in Cheng Mengxue’s “performance.”
Because she had simply been too perfect.
So perfect that she felt even more like the real Cheng Mengxue than the real Cheng Mengxue herself, to the point that Jiang Ran had repeatedly found himself unable to distinguish truth from falsehood.
But—
In that instant just now, she had clearly exposed a flaw.
From anyone else’s angle, it might have been impossible to tell.
But Jiang Ran had been right in front of Cheng Mengxue, letting her pat his head, meeting her eyes directly.
So he had seen it clearly.
[When Cheng Mengxue said that strange sentence, the person she was looking at was not him, and the person she was speaking to was not him either.]
Even though she had immediately adjusted herself, smoothing over that eerie state and disguising it as a joke—
Jiang Ran knew better than anyone.
She had not been joking.
She had simply slipped for a moment.
She had let it show.
Before this, across countless details and countless moments, Jiang Ran had never been able to find even the tiniest flaw in this Cheng Mengxue.
Even the mismatch in alcohol tolerance and physical constitution did not count as absolute proof, because in every other moment, this Cheng Mengxue still felt deeply familiar to him, deeply nostalgic, deeply close.
Only that single moment had been different.
In that moment, Cheng Mengxue had felt utterly unfamiliar.
So unfamiliar that Jiang Ran could not see even a trace of Cheng Mengxue in her.
[She is not Cheng Mengxue. She is only someone who looks exactly like Cheng Mengxue.]
Although that strange feeling had lasted only for an instant, and a moment later Cheng Mengxue had already returned to the familiar childhood friend—
The truth was still the truth.
The real Cheng Mengxue could never possibly have shown even a single instant of careless inconsistency.
A fake was fake all the way through.
One proof was proof forever.
Jiang Ran truly had not expected such a perfect impersonation of Cheng Mengxue to reveal its weakness here.
The reason—
what exactly was it?
He carefully replayed what Cheng Mengxue had just said.
“You little brother! Little brother!”
“Sorry.”
“Big sister grew up one step ahead of you.”
Right.
Those were the three lines.
The first line was obviously just her teasing him. Basically every year on her birthday, Cheng Mengxue would make fun of him for being younger than her, call him her little brother, and say he should call her big sister.
Jiang Ran had naturally never accepted that.
There was no way in this lifetime he would call Cheng Mengxue “big sister.”
In his eyes, the two of them had always stood on equal footing since childhood. A mere eight-month age difference—how could that possibly justify lowering himself to call her that?
Because of that, every birthday Cheng Mengxue would make fun of him a little, to the point that he had almost developed a conditioned response.
Normally, jokes like that ended with everyone laughing.
But today—
Cheng Mengxue had clearly been serious.
Especially that final line, “Big sister grew up one step ahead of you,” which had slipped out unconsciously through her sorrow.
That feeling was unmistakably the feeling of an actual older sister speaking to an actual younger brother.
That was the unique gentleness found only in family affection;
the unique protectiveness only an older sister held toward a younger brother;
something that only children like Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue could never possibly understand or experience.
Could it be—
A bold thought suddenly formed in Jiang Ran’s mind.
But he still needed the right opportunity to verify it.
The birthday party naturally continued into the gift-giving segment.
Everyone here was a broke college student, not like Nan Xiuxiu’s model-friend circle, so the gifts were all fairly ordinary.
In terms of price, maybe they fell short.
In terms of sincerity, every single one was full of heart.
The true climax of the atmosphere came when Jiang Ran took out the beautifully wrapped rice-cooker Caimao he had prepared.
“OHHHHHHHHHH!!”
Chi Xiaoguo jumped up even faster than Cheng Mengxue, eyes wide. “R-r-r-rice-cooker Caimao! Oh my god! NEPIE! I can’t believe I’m actually seeing the real thing in my lifetime!”
Her excitement was overflowing so hard she could barely speak coherently.
“Thank you, Jiang Ran!”
Cheng Mengxue was naturally overjoyed as well. She accepted the rice-cooker Caimao, untied the ribbon, and held it lovingly in her hands. “Hehe, sorry, this must’ve cost you a fortune. This thing is insanely expensive right now!”
“Hmph.”
Wang Hao snorted dismissively. “It’s just a doll. How expensive can it possibly be? Don’t underestimate our Young Master Jiang Ran.”
“The market price is over 9,000.”
Chi Xiaoguo reminded him in a small voice, “And that’s if you can even find one. If you really want to buy it, you’d probably have to pay over 10,000.”
Pfft—
Wang Hao sprayed juice, his worldview shattered. “Over ten thousand for this?! That’s ridiculous! Why is this thing so expensive?!”
“Hehehe~”
Cheng Mengxue looked like she had been waiting forever for someone to ask that.
She hooked her fingers under the rice-cooker Caimao’s forehead and with a pop! flipped open the top of its head, pulling out a glowing blue sphere from inside.
“Because—ta-da! Because there’s also a spacetime-particle Caimao hidden inside!”
“Hahaha, didn’t expect that, did you?! There’s another one hidden inside! Buy one get one free, what a bargain!”
Watching the familiar scene before him, Jiang Ran could not help but remember that on Worldline 0, the exact same conversation had happened once before.
At that time, Cheng Mengxue’s reaction had been exactly identical to the Cheng Mengxue in front of him now.
If not for Professor Zhang Yang’s profound [science] lesson, and the unexpected [flaw] from earlier—
Jiang Ran absolutely would not have been able to resist wavering at this moment.
The gift segment ended.
Everyone chatted while eating.
Once the meal was nearly finished, someone started clamoring for games, and Xu Yan rummaged through her backpack, taking out several pre-prepared boxed card games for everyone to choose from.
There was Werewolf, Flying Chess, Who’s the Undercover, Truth or Dare, and others.
Considering the need to accommodate the foreign guest (Fang Ze), as well as the low-IQ fool (Wang Hao), everyone chose the simplest game: Truth or Dare.
Because the cards were pre-made, all the corresponding punishments were already written on them.
They only had to draw one by one.
Whatever they drew, they had to follow the requirement on the card.
The truth cards all contained funny or mildly embarrassing questions, but once drawn, they had to accept the gamble and answer honestly.
The dare cards contained action commands. Some were easy, some required serious shamelessness, but once drawn, they had to be done. Rules were rules.
There were also a few especially interesting [designated cards] in the deck.
For example, [Designated Truth] let the player choose anyone in the room and ask absolutely any sharp question they wanted.
The other person had to answer truthfully.
Likewise, [Designated Dare] allowed the player to choose anyone and give any command they wanted, which the other person also had to obey.
These two cards were the most powerful in the entire deck, and everyone was hoping to draw one so they could properly mess with somebody.
The first [Designated Truth] card was drawn by Wang Hao.
The moment that happened, Jiang Ran internally cried out that it was over.
This guy was definitely going to target him and ask something painfully awkward.
But the facts proved Jiang Ran had been a little narcissistic.
Wang Hao clearly had another scheme in mind and chose Fang Ze as the target.
“Me?”
Fang Ze looked surprised that this friend he had only just met was so interested in him. Curious, he asked, “Sure, Wang Hao. What do you want to ask?”
“Ahem!”
Wang Hao cleared his throat mysteriously. “So, I’ve always heard that student parties in America get seriously wild! Like crazy intense! Hurry up and tell me, what was the wildest American party you’ve ever been to like?”
The moment she heard that question, Chi Xiaoguo immediately covered her eyes.
Oh?
Jiang Ran caught that movement.
As expected of an expert who had watched 500 romance novels, 300 romance dramas, 200 romance anime, and 100 romance games—
She really knew her stuff.
One look and it was obvious she had watched plenty of American dramas too. Sure enough, she had held back when reporting her experience level.
By contrast, Fang Ze’s side was rather disappointing.
He smiled helplessly. “Haha, sorry, Wang Hao. I’ve never actually attended an American school party.”
“Oh, quit pretending!” Wang Hao scoffed. “Don’t be a sore loser. Even if you never ate pork, you’ve seen pigs run, right? Then just tell me about one you’ve heard of!”
At this point Fang Ze played along.
He truly had never attended one of those chaotic parties, but he had heard enough stories.
What he shared left the Dragon Country students utterly stunned.
The first [Designated Dare] card was drawn by Fang Ze.
He immediately retaliated, ordering Wang Hao to go next door and sing a song in the neighboring private room.
The next room also happened to be a birthday gathering of female college students, and they had just heard birthday songs coming from over there.
Wang Hao grinned. “Thanks, brother!”
?
Fang Ze froze.
This was clearly supposed to be punishment, so why did the other party seem so happy?
Jiang Ran patted his shoulder. “You seriously underestimate Wang Hao’s shamelessness.
And you also underestimate his social skills.”
Sure enough.
Wang Hao entered the neighboring room full of female college students, opened with a stream of rapid-fire nonsense, and instantly set off a chorus of laughter and cheerful chatter.
In the end, he somehow came back after eating more than half a slice of their cake, drinking two bottles of juice, and adding seven WeChats before reluctantly returning.
The moment he came back, he threw an arm around Fang Ze.
“This brother is worth befriending!”
That entire performance left Fang Ze deeply shaken, making him sigh that Dragon Country universities were truly lands of dragons and phoenixes.
After several rounds, the game became more and more intense, and the atmosphere kept getting better.
Finally, only the last two cards remained, and the final two players were Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue.
So there was no need to draw anymore. Xu Yan directly handed the last two cards to the two of them.
Jiang Ran flipped his card over and found it was a [Designated Truth].
The people around them immediately began cheering.
This card allowed him to choose anyone in the room and ask any question at all.
The other person had to answer truthfully and could not lie.
Everyone watched Jiang Ran, wondering who he would choose.
And Jiang Ran, naturally, looked at Cheng Mengxue.
“Can I save this card for later?”
Cheng Mengxue froze. “For later? You mean—after the birthday party ends? On some future day?”
“Mm.”
Jiang Ran nodded and smiled faintly. “Since it’s a card I drew at your birthday party, you wouldn’t go back on your word, right?”
“Of course my word counts!”
Cheng Mengxue secretly glanced at the card in her own hand and also smiled mysteriously. “What about you, Jiang Ran? You’re not backing out, are you?”
“Of course I can handle it.”
Jiang Ran naturally refused to show weakness.
“Good!”
Cheng Mengxue directly flipped over her card, drawing gasps from everyone.
It was, by sheer coincidence, a [Designated Dare]!
Its effect was similar to Jiang Ran’s card.
She too could choose anyone and give any command, and that person had to obey.
No one had expected—
By pure chance, the two of them had ended up in such a perfectly opposing standoff.
“Then I’m saving my card for later too!”
Cheng Mengxue grinned. “Well, Jiang Ran? Do you dare make a pinky promise? Whoever chickens out is a puppy!”
“Heh, exactly what I was hoping for.”
Jiang Ran was actually more worried that Cheng Mengxue might back out.
He stood up and hooked his little finger around the one she extended.
“Then it’s settled. A promise is a promise.”
Jiang Ran pinched the [Designated Truth] card in his hand.
[[At some future time, when I take out this card and ask you a question, you must tell the truth and give me an honest answer.]]
“No problem.”
Cheng Mengxue agreed without the slightest hesitation.
Holding up her [Designated Dare], she looked directly into Jiang Ran’s eyes.
[[Then at some future time, when I take out this card and make a request of you—you must also listen to me and complete the dare exactly as asked.]]
Their gazes intertwined as they stared at each other.
It seemed that this perfectly matched pair of cards was useful to both of them.
“Alright.”
Jiang Ran nodded solemnly.
“Then it’s a promise!”