One in the afternoon.
Hua Xin and Xia Yan sat in the last row together as usual. The girl had gradually gotten used to attending classes in the classroom and was no longer as frightened as she had been at first.
The teacher did not call on her because of the arrangement Xia Yan had worked out with the counselor.
Her classmates did not pay attention to her because she radiated poverty from head to toe.
(Snagged hems, threadbare pants, and an old, pure-black hoodie.)
(It was easy to mistake her for some kind of murderer...)
As for attending class...
All she needed was two games of Battle of Golden Spatula, or a nap, and she could pass the time happily??.
↓
One more. Just one more and I can get a three-star Kaisa. I roll, I roll, I roll, I roll??...
The girl's gaze was resolute and her expression ferocious as she repeatedly tapped the "Refresh for Two Gold" button. Watching the pieces in the shop refresh again and again, her emotions rose and fell wildly.
Through the strands of hair, her eyes watched her gold gradually drop to zero. They were as red as if she were about to fire laser beams like Homelander and blow the head off the dog of a game planner who had set the shop odds.
(God, God, please let this Kaisa appear!)
(Show me the card, aaaaaaaah??!!!!)
Ding??.
Somewhere, the mythical Niu Niu seemed to hear the girl's heartfelt plea. After she used up her final chance, a glittering Five-cost card appeared in her field of vision.
Niu Niu????: Child, this is the second-to-last time I'll help fulfill your wish.
God had not heard her plea.
But Niu Niu, with whom she shared a telepathic connection, had.
(Wow!!!!)
(Wait for your death, wait for your death, wait for your death...)
The girl breathed a sigh of relief. Excited and smug, she looked at the player in first place who had been spying on her the whole time. Her little feet rose from her oversized shoes, and she stretched her legs out onto the crossbar beneath the desk.
The pure-white, thin cotton socks easily wrapped around her jade-like feet, making them look tiny and adorable??.
If Xia Yan lowered his head at that moment, he would probably recognize at a glance who the image he had set as his QQ chat background belonged to.
Unfortunately, studying got in the way of everything...
Still looking, huh?
I'll crush you to death. Don't run. If you're a man, don't run...
With a calm, haughty expression, Hua Xin tapped the final card. The corners of her lips rose involuntarily. The exhilaration of a last-second comeback was just... it was simply too satisfying!!
Come on! My most glorious three-star Five—
???
Why isn't anything happening?
The girl stared at the "Connecting to network 1/10" notification on her phone. Her finger froze against the scorching screen of her Da Mi phone, which was as hot as a C4 bomb.
She tapped again.
There was no response.
The network... the network went down?
Hua Xin broke into a sweat as she frantically switched between networks, instantly lowering her head and staring at the screen like a fly fixated on something??.
(You've got to be kidding me...)
Several dozen seconds later.
When the network finally connected again, Hua Xin happened to watch her health drop to zero. The opponent's message in the chat channel—"That's it?"—seemed to turn into a voice, shattering the last of her mental defenses.
The girl exited the game with Red Temperature.
Then she lowered her head against the wall and silently shed little pearls (cried).
(I want to change phones, waaaah????.)
(I want an iPhone 15 Pro Max 1TB in Arctic Blue... I don't want to use this C4 bomb that's comparable to the Poopa 5 anymore??)
"Finished playing?"
"Want to play with me next time?"
"We can play duo mode."
Xia Yan spoke softly, looking at the girl with a hint of anticipation in his voice.
Although he had been concentrating on listening to the lecture and taking notes, he had also spared some attention to observe Hua Xin's condition.
It seemed she was no longer as resistant to attending class as she had been at the beginning.
The next step should be getting Hua Xin used to socializing and helping her make more friends. As for the candidates...
It seemed that only the two clowns in his dorm remained.
(Pl-Playing games with me?)
(He's asking me to play with him, right?)
(My skills must have won him over... I suppose I can reluctantly play a couple of games with him.)
Thinking haughtily, Hua Xin raised her little head and nodded.
"Which server are you on?"
"QQ or WeChat?"
The girl unexpectedly did not remain silent. Instead, she spoke in a slightly childish voice. "WeChat."
She was not used to adding people on QQ.
At present, she had only one friend on QQ—the shrimp-headed creep.
"Okay."
Xia Yan smiled and nodded, picking up his phone and preparing to create an account right then.
"Students, class is dismissed. Teacher, thank you for your hard work..."
The dismissal bell rang at an extremely inconvenient moment, making Xia Yan and Hua Xin freeze.
Uh...
Damn it, I hadn't calculated the time to leave early properly.
Xia Yan sensed trouble.
For him, a normal dismissal might not mean much. But for Hua Xin beside him...
It was undoubtedly a grand ordeal.
"Class Monitor Xia Yan~"
"Huo Huo Huo~"
"Brother Yan~"
"I can never catch you after class lately. Is the Class Monitor really that busy???"
"Exactly, exactly. I wanted to discuss the Student Council election coming up with you, Class Monitor??."
"That friendly soccer match against Civil Engineering Class Three this morning was so cool. Those civil engineering guys who only know how to mix cement were ridiculously weak. That final goal was unbelievably cool??."
The moment class ended, all the twittering girls in the class gathered around Xia Yan.
Several girls who clearly cultivated the pure junior schoolgirl style made no effort to hide their possessiveness toward Xia Yan. Their gazes at one another seemed to crackle with lightning and sparks.
As the school of management had the highest proportion of female students, girls made up the overwhelming majority of Xia Yan's class. The ratio of beauties was also worlds apart from that in civil engineering, mechanics, and computer science.
And in this den of seductresses, a man like Xia Yan—gentle, witty, polite, never a creep, with a perfect figure and first-rate looks—had naturally become the girls' target from the very first day of military training.
"No, not at all. If you want to ask me anything, you can just message me on WeChat. I'm friends with all of you."
"Soccer wasn't my achievement alone. Xiang Guan and Mu Feng made some great passes too."
Xia Yan calmly put his books into his backpack.
"Yan, want to have a cup of coffee this afternoon?"
A Mature Sister with long, red, wavy hair forcefully pushed aside the several "pure junior schoolgirls." With an aggressively predatory gaze, she came to Xia Yan's side.
Even the way she addressed him was more familiar than the others'.
The girls looked at her angrily, but when their eyes fell on the difference between her height and the altitude of her chest, the stark contrast made them lower their heads.
Losers without the strength to compete.
"Sorry, I have something to do this afternoon, so I'll pass, Tian Yue."
Xia Yan calmly rejected the tempting Mature Sister before him, without even shifting his gaze toward her thunderous assets.
He slightly turned his head and was just about to find an excuse to take Hua Xin away when he realized that she had left her seat at some point.
This girl...
"Sorry, I'll be leaving first."
Xia Yan's heart tightened. He quickly picked up his backpack and stood, ignoring the disappointment in the eyes of the pure junior schoolgirls and the hot Mature Sister as he walked straight out of the classroom.
Meanwhile.
Hua Xin had somewhat fearfully hidden herself in the men's restroom.
The moment those women had surrounded him, she had already slipped away.
So much for treating me as a friend...
Now that he has women, he's forgotten all about me, huh????...
Men's words are all lies????...
Hmph, Brother Yan.
Hmph, Huo Huo Huo.
Hmph, so handsome (in a cutesy voice).
I... you...
The girl leaned against the wall with a heart chilled through, wiping away her tears.
It was impossible for her not to envy Xia Yan's popularity, but she was even more hurt at being ignored.
Sure enough... she still had to be alone.
She glanced at the time on her phone. More than ten minutes had clearly passed, so why were there still so many people outside??
I want to go home??.
"Knock, knock, knock."
The knocking at the door made Hua Xin's heart tighten.
Who?? Who?? Who?? Who?? Who???
She instantly lowered her head. She only had one pair of shoes, and she was the only person here. There was no way she could be caught in some cheating-in-the-restroom scenario??.
"Hua Xin?"
The familiar voice made her freeze.
He... he came looking for me??
He didn't go looking for those wicked women???
The girl unlocked the door and, sure enough, saw Xia Yan looking somewhat anxious.
"H-how did you find me?"
Hua Xin asked awkwardly for once (haughtily).
"Because there were people in all the other classrooms, and the restroom was the only place with no one in it."
"Come on. Want me to take you home?"
"Women can't compare to brothers, after all (in the tone of a righteous gentleman)."
Xia Yan looked at the girl with a smile. His sincere gaze seemed to melt the ice in Hua Xin's heart and the part of her that had been closed off for so long.
The girl did not answer. She merely lowered her head and grabbed his arm.
Then...
She would trust him one more time.
Before you continue