Qiansè, Xia Wen

The summer heat was relentless.

Inside the dormitory, wrapped in icy air-conditioning, Xia Wen stood before a small propped-up blackboard, giving a serious and rather unusual lesson.

Seven or eight Photos of Zero Seven Eight had been pinned neatly across the blackboard, each one connected by all manner of complicated strings.

"Doggy, do you know where you went wrong?"

"I don't."

Lin Xiaoyi sat upright, shaking her head with the eager, curious look of a student ready to learn.

"It's simple. You used the wrong method."

Xia Wen nodded solemnly.

"Think about it. Why did he go to such lengths to hide himself? Wasn't it because he didn't want anyone discovering his Secret? It would have been fine if you'd played dumb and pretended not to know, but you directly exposed a Secret he'd painstakingly concealed for so long, one he'd even been willing to bear a bad reputation for... If he weren't one of the good guys, do you believe he might have quietly gotten rid of you without anyone knowing?"

"Uh... isn't that a little exaggerated?"

The corner of Lin Xiaoyi's mouth twitched slightly.

"Haven't you heard the saying? Only Dead People are better at keeping secrets. Not only did you fail to keep his Secret, you even told the authorities. What do you think?"

Xia Wen shot her an irritated glance.

"They say big boobs mean no brains. Big boobs mean no brains. Looks like there really is some truth to that. Because you exposed the Secret he'd been hiding all this time, his life was affected in unpredictable ways. Not only did he stop looking for his next Girlfriend, he even shut himself up at home for three days straight... If I'm not mistaken, now that his Secret has been exposed, he can't keep playing his one-man Hero Game anymore. He probably won't rush off to find a new Girlfriend after dumping the previous one like he used to."

"...Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

Lin Xiaoyi muttered softly.

"If that happens, he won't go around fooling with other women anymore. As long as I keep trying and refuse to give up, someday I'll be able to win him over..."

"But you've already run into a wall several times. He hasn't even given you a proper look. This is nothing more than your own wishful thinking."

Xia Wen sneered.

"To be honest, I'm increasingly convinced there's a high chance you'll be killed by him someday, or hypnotized and brainwashed into becoming his lo—cough, cough, cough. In summary, we need to change our approach."

Seeing the Campus Belle silently pick up a pillow nearby, Xia Wen coughed a few times and straightened her expression.

"First, that proactive throwing-yourself-at-him approach is absolutely not going to work. Since you've already hit a wall two or three times, you should understand that well enough. He clearly has a million in his Bank Card, yet he was only willing to take you to roadside stalls for food. That alone says plenty. He wants you to back off."

"But I will never give up!!"

Clenching her fists, the Campus Belle looked utterly determined.

"I believe this is a test Heaven has set for our love. Even if his attitude toward me is terrible right now, as long as I'm in danger, he'll definitely appear by my side at the first possible moment... That's how it's written in novels!!"

"...Read fewer romance novels in the future. Novels aren't reality. Rather than believing in those scenes from novels, you might as well believe in the scenes from Doujinshi."

Xia Wen rolled her eyes speechlessly.

"You're already so old, yet you still cling to those Prince Charming fantasies like some little girl. Aren't you ashamed? If you ask me—hmph, do you think I'm still the same as before?"

Reaching out and catching the pillow thrown at her with Precision, Xia Wen sighed.

"Precious, Mom has always loved you, but that—"

She did not get to finish. The embarrassed and enraged Campus Belle pounced directly at her, unleashing the Legendary Cross Chokehold Kill...

—This was just an ordinary day in the girls' Dormitory.

After listening to her Best Friend recount all the bizarre events of the past few days, along with the fact that over a dozen unconscious students were still lying in the hospital without being discharged, Xia Wen finally believed the theory that the world was gradually becoming more dangerous.

Furthermore, after personally seeing the million in someone's Bank Card, her impression of that scumbag had improved somewhat. She also began to half-believe the things Lin Xiaoyi had told her.

After all, Bai Zhi's biggest stain in the past had been the fact that he'd dated seven Girlfriends in a row. After winning them over, he would constantly skip dates, stand them up, and use all sorts of methods to swindle money from them for his own expenses.

But would someone with a million sitting around in his Bank Card be short of money? Give her a break!!!

That was why Xia Wen patiently investigated his relationship history and made some startling discoveries.

Take Mu Qiansè, his third Girlfriend, for example. She was famously timid and gentle, yet even such a terribly frightened Girl had cherished the sweetness of First Love and gathered the courage to ask him to watch a Horror Movie together at the Movie Theater one night.

If he were a normal person, forget standing her up—he probably would have arrived at the Movie Theater early to arrange everything. But Bai Zhi was clearly not normal. He had not done a single thing a normal person would do.

Late at night, that famously timid Girl stood trembling outside the Movie Theater and called him thirty-seven times in a row. Not only did he fail to answer even one call, he eventually sent her a message: "Promotion Match, do not disturb!!"

—She'd heard that Qiansè had practically crawled back to the Dormitory crying in the end.

Look at that. Was that something a human being would do!?

When Xia Wen had first heard about this, she had been filled with righteous indignation. But when she connected it with what Lin Xiaoyi had told her, the truth was likely not what she had imagined.

At the time, he might have been dealing with the Anomalies that had latched onto Mu Qiansè, which was why he could neither get away to go to the Movie Theater nor spare a hand to answer the phone. The message he sent afterward might have been because the Anomaly had already been resolved, so there was no need to drag Qiansè into it anymore. Thus, he broke up with her decisively—just like when Bai Zhi had relentlessly pursued Lin Xiaoyi before, only to immediately draw a cold, clear line after the Anomaly had been resolved.

This was not baseless speculation. If one compared what had happened to Qiansè with what had happened to Lin Xiaoyi, one could find some rather shocking similarities.

—Xia Wen accepted Lin Xiaoyi's deductions.