Campus Belle Never Gives Up

In a sense, Lin Xiaoyi was rather stubborn.

Love had to be fought for—that was her life motto.

After finally meeting the perfect Prince Charming from her dreams, she absolutely would not give up lightly and regret it for the rest of her life.

Ever since she had been coldly and mercilessly rejected by him at the breakfast shop that morning, not only had she shown no intention of giving up, her fighting spirit had instead become even more vigorous.

Since the method Xia Wen had mentioned before had not worked, she would use another one.

Campus Belle never gives up!!

What Lin Xiaoyi had never expected was that merely following him as part of her daily routine, intending to record his habits and behaviors, would allow her to witness another Anomaly Incident.

That cute little boy with a Backpack had turned the students into Dolls one by one before roughly stuffing them into his Backpack. If she had not kept her attention on Bai Zhi at all times and been the first to notice the little boy decisively hiding in the girls' Restroom, she would have been unable to escape his clutches either.

Still, although she had great confidence in Bai Zhi, it would have been a lie to say she was not worried when she watched him get turned into a Doll and stuffed into that Backpack.

So, after sensing that the Stairwell outside had become quiet again, she gathered her courage, grabbed a Broom, and crept toward the Rooftop.

—At the very least, she had to retrieve Bai Zhi's Doll.

But when she arrived at the Rooftop, she was astonished to discover that everything had already ended. The students who had been turned into Dolls had all returned to normal and lay on the ground, while Bai Zhi alone stood there with his head raised, looking at the sky.

Looking at the scene before her, how could she not guess what had happened earlier?

"Just as I thought, this is what a Hero is!! Usually, he quietly protects everything from the shadows, but when danger comes, he will definitely be the first to step forward... That risky act of deliberately letting himself get caught was to save those five missing classmates, right!?"

Her gaze swept over the students lying nearby, and Lin Xiaoyi's eyes sparkled as she automatically formed an image in her mind of a Hero who was cold on the outside but warm within.

"...Seriously? This imposter is here again?"

Bai Zhi had also noticed the movement at the Stairwell Entrance. When he turned to look, he recognized her true identity just from the way she looked at him, leaving him speechless.

Was this a joke? The real Campus Belle had been so busy avoiding him that she had no time for anything else. How could she possibly look at him with such eager eyes? The person before him was obviously fake. It had been one thing when she had been scared off by his Brick earlier, but she had come back now?

If it had not been for the fact that she had given him money yesterday, cleaned for him, done his homework, and taken out his trash, he would have exposed her to those two official Players long ago, okay?

"If I were you, I'd leave this place immediately. This isn't somewhere you should be."

He turned and glanced down toward the floor below. After estimating the time in his head, Bai Zhi snorted coldly and spoke to the fake Campus Belle before him.

"And stop trying to get close to me. You will never succeed."

"Are you worried about me?"

With her hands behind her back, Lin Xiaoyi tilted her head slightly, looking completely open and natural.

...Was there something wrong with this person's brain?

Looking at the Campus Belle before him, Bai Zhi's mouth twitched slightly.

Honestly, if the Campus Belle who always treated him so coldly could really put on such a girlish pose, she would definitely be cute and pleasing to the eye.

But the problem was... the person before him was an Anomaly whose true form was as unknown as that little boy's!!

Could anything terrifying become cute and acceptable enough as long as it was feminized!? Wait... maybe it was not completely unacceptable?

Suddenly recalling Nyarlathotep, whom he had developed a fondness for, Bai Zhi found himself momentarily speechless.

"...Boring."

After tugging at the corner of his mouth and tossing out those words, Bai Zhi steadfastly held to his principles and refused to be bewitched by her beauty. He walked straight past her without looking aside and headed downstairs.

All beauties were but Skulls beneath the skin. Right now, he only wanted to finish handling the aftermath here as quickly as possible, then return to his Rental Apartment and properly study this Player identity he had somehow acquired.

"Hmph! Bai Zhi, I will never give up!!"

Her smile froze for several seconds. Watching him walk straight past her without even glancing at her, despite her willingness to sacrifice her looks, Lin Xiaoyi gritted her teeth in anger. After stomping her foot, she turned and shouted loudly at his retreating back.

...Then Bai Zhi gave her a cold two-word reply.

"Heh heh."

Lin Xiaoyi: "..."

Campus Belle never gives up. Today, the Campus Belle was still working hard on the road of love.

When Bai Zhi reached the first floor, he happened to run into Wu Hua and the others, who were hurrying back toward the Rooftop.

When Wu Hua saw Bai Zhi coming down the stairs—the one who had saved their lives at the critical moment—his face first lit up with joy. Then, as if remembering something, he hurriedly raised his hand in vigilance.

"That little boy has already turned to ashes, and all those students have returned to normal. They're just unconscious and are all lying on the Rooftop."

Bai Zhi's gaze swept over the Ring on Wu Hua's hand as he spoke calmly.

"There are at least two Anomalies in this school. The first is that little boy. The second is the companion you saw on the Rooftop earlier. Its disguise is absolutely real. Unless it deliberately exposes a flaw, you have no way of distinguishing it. The key to dealing with the second Anomaly is simple: as long as you hold no fear toward it in your hearts, it cannot do anything to you. Is there anything else?"

"N-No..."

Stunned by Bai Zhi's words, Wu Hua nodded blankly.

"Okay, then I'm heading back. Let me know if you need a statement."

After nodding to them, Bai Zhi walked directly around them.

"Captain, what level of Free Player do you think he is?"

After Bai Zhi's figure disappeared around the corner, Xu Qiang asked Wu Hua solemnly.

"Back on the Rooftop, we nearly got ourselves killed. If he hadn't suddenly stepped in to save us..."

Wu Hua frowned slightly and cut Xu Qiang off.

"We can discuss that later. Call the hospital and the police first. They can send people over now."