The Underwear Thief

"Su Yuan, why aren't you saying anything? Did you lose anything over there?"

"Oh, no, nothing's missing." Su Yuan came back to her senses in a panic, suddenly feeling like she might burst into tears. It wasn't just that nothing was missing—there were several packages of women's underwear in her wardrobe.

She hadn't seen wrong. They were the kind of "gear" that made men blush and left them at a loss for words.

Now she was sure the person who had bumped into her earlier was up to no good. They hadn't stolen anything, but what was the point of leaving several packages of women's underwear in her wardrobe? That was no kind of "prank."

Just then, a commotion broke out outside. It sounded like a lot of people were arguing, and she could faintly make out what they were saying.

"What happened?"

"I heard Binhe Institute of Technology has an Underwear Thief?"

"What! An Underwear Thief?" a male student exclaimed, his voice rising.

"Yeah. The girls' dorm was robbed last night. Apparently, a thief snuck into the dorm under cover of darkness and stole the underwear the girls had hung out on their balconies. They didn't notice anything until this morning, then hurried to report it to the dorm supervisor!"

"No way. That thief sure has some nerve..."

"You can say that again. The school's facilities department and security department are both furious about it. They've been stewing over this all morning! Tell me, isn't an incident like this a slap in the face for them? How can they show their faces around here afterward?"

"Damn! What are the facilities and security departments even good for?" one hot-tempered student immediately cursed, then added with relief, "At least all that got stolen this time was underwear. What if the thief had gotten lecherous? Who could take responsibility for that?"

"Exactly. If every girl in a dorm had been assaulted by the thief, our school would be famous for all the wrong reasons."

"Actually, it's not as simple as you think." A guy who seemed to know the inside story started showing off.

"Are you saying more than just underwear was stolen? Did the thief ooxx one of the girls?"

"Not at all!" Seeing that everyone was paying attention to his inside information, the guy grew even more animated. "Let me tell you, that thief wasn't a first-timer. He was a habitual offender! Apparently, underwear was stolen from the girls' dorm last semester, too. It caused a bit of a stir at the time, but the school covered it up."

"Whoa!" A chorus of shocked gasps rose from the crowd.

Hearing this, Gao Jun got interested. He flashed Su Yuan and Ji Yehao a lecherous grin. "I'll go see what else I can find out. I'll tell you when I get back." With that, he ran out.

The discussion continued over there...

"As the saying goes, if you walk by the river often enough, sooner or later you'll get your shoes wet. This time the thief got too brazen. Not only did he strike last night, he even tried to sneak into the girls' dorm during the day. Think about it: the girls had all gone to class. It would've been easy to steal a few sets of underwear, right?"

"Yeah, exactly."

"But this time he got caught! Apparently, one girl had taken the day off because she was on her period. She was in the bathroom taking care of things when the thief went in. He thought nobody was in the room, and got caught red-handed!"

"Ah!!" The people around them cried out, completely drawn in by this gripping "story." "Go on! Don't stop at the most exciting part..."

The male student chuckled. "Relax, that's not the end of it. Think about it: even if a girl saw the thief, what could she do? The thief could just run away. But the commotion drew in a lot of other girls, and then a whole chase scene broke out. Apparently, someone saw the thief run into our building."

"No way. Does that mean the thief is a student in our building?"

The guy waved his hand. "Who knows? Anyway, a whole bunch of girls and the dorm supervisor have already blocked the exits downstairs. The school's facilities department, security department, and even the administrators are taking this seriously. They're planning to search every single room."

"Whoa!"

"How can they do that? They're treating us like suspects!"

The guy shrugged. "What can we do? If we refuse to let them search, won't we end up taking the blame? Let them search. That way, we can clear our names. Besides, I'd be pissed if they didn't catch the thief! We all have girlfriends and the like. How would you feel if the thief stole your girl's underwear one day?"

"Fair point, fair point."

"But I can't let them search. I've got some stuff in my drawer, you know? The kind of stuff that's not exactly fit to show people!"

"You mean that stuff?"

"That's the stuff. Top quality!"

"Easy, brother. I live on the second floor. Once they're done searching my room, I can bring your stuff downstairs for you. But let me make this clear first: you have to lend it to me for a week so I can admire it."

"No problem, but..."

"What's the problem?"

"There's just a lot of it. It might be hard to carry."

"Whoa! You really are a gentleman!"

"Likewise..."

By now, the whole picture was clear. Su Yuan was stunned, her heart pounding as a chill ran through her. If what that student had said was true, then all those packages were lying in her wardrobe right now. It was like getting mud on your pants—whether it was shit or not, it looked like shit.

What should she do? What should she do?

She'd heard they were searching the rooms one by one. When they got to hers, everything would come to light!

"Su Yuan, what's wrong? You look awful, and you're sweating. Are you feeling sick?" Ji Yehao asked with concern.

"Ye Hao, come here. I need to talk to you." After a moment's hesitation, Su Yuan decided she needed someone to help her figure this out.

Ji Yehao didn't suspect anything and came over. Su Yuan led him to her wardrobe and opened it for him.

The packages of women's underwear inside were suddenly laid bare. Ji Yehao was startled, too. There were piles and piles of underwear—bras and panties in all kinds of styles and colors. There was enough to outfit an entire class of girls, by a conservative estimate.

He lowered his voice. "Su Yuan, what's all this...?"

Su Yuan looked torn. "I don't know how this stuff got in here. It must have been that thief!"

Ji Yehao nodded. He recalled that the dorm door hadn't been fully shut when he came back and fell into thought.

"Hey, what are you two whispering about?" Gao Jun returned from gathering information outside. "Hurry up and tidy things away. They're going to search the rooms soon. They have to search ours to prove we're all innocent and catch that thief. If you have anything sensitive, hide it quickly. We don't want our reputations ruined."

"Hey, why are you two staring at me? Get ready!"

Ji Yehao beckoned him over. "Come here..."

"What is it?"

"It's about that reputation thing you mentioned..."

Then he showed him the bundles from Su Yuan's wardrobe.

"Damn!" Gao Jun sucked in a breath and lowered his voice. "How did this stuff get in here?"

Ji Yehao said, "The thief must have put it there."

Gao Jun gave Su Yuan a strange look and examined her carefully.

"Gao Jun, I'm not the thief who stole the girls' underwear!"

"I know. I was just saying, Su Yuan, your luck is unbelievably bad. You might end up carrying the biggest black mark in history!" As he spoke, he reached out and rummaged through the underwear. "Tsk, tsk. Look at this—these panties are so small, they're barely any different from wearing nothing. I had no idea the girls at Binhe Institute of Technology were so daring. And look at this bra. It's huge! It'd fit a dairy cow."

Su Yuan glared at him, annoyed that he still had time to make sarcastic remarks. "Cut it out! Think of something, quickly."

"How about we throw it off the balcony?" Gao Jun suddenly had an idea and made the suggestion.

"Right!" Su Yuan's eyes lit up. That's a good idea! She grabbed one of the packages and rushed to the balcony, but just as she was about to let it fly, she pulled it back.

"Damn! We can't throw it!" Thankfully, she'd reacted quickly. Otherwise, she would have been in serious trouble!

There was a girl standing guard right below them!

"Why didn't you throw it down?" Gao Jun asked in surprise as he watched her return, looking dejected and carrying the package.

"It's no use. That won't work." She told him someone was guarding the area below the dorm. Gao Jun found it troublesome, too, after hearing her out. "You and Ye Hao keep thinking of something. I'll go find out which room they've searched." With that, he went out to gather information once more.

In Dorm 330, Su Yuan was like an ant on a hot pan, making one last desperate attempt with Ji Yehao.

"We have to hurry. They've already searched Dorm 322," Gao Jun said when he returned with some very bad news.

Su Yuan: "..."

"Only seven rooms left. There isn't much time," Ji Yehao said, frowning. He found the situation just as difficult.

Then he suddenly remembered the dark-colored bedding bundle on top of Su Yuan's wardrobe. There hadn't been room for it elsewhere, so they'd had no choice but to put it up there.

"Su Yuan, hurry and put the girls' underwear in the bedding bundle! Then cover it with Gao Jun's equipment!"

"Right!" Su Yuan immediately caught on. She didn't even need Ji Yehao to prompt her. She scrambled up the ladder between the two beds, climbed onto her bed, knelt on her pillow, and tossed down the bedding bundle from atop her wardrobe.

There was half a bundle of bedding inside. Ji Yehao and Gao Jun took it out below, quickly stuffed the packages of underwear inside, then covered them back up. After that, they packed in the scattered equipment...

Once everything was set, Su Yuan struggled to put the bedding bundle back on top of the wardrobe.

"Now all we can do is leave it to fate. If they don't search too carefully, we should be able to get through this." Ji Yehao watched from below. If you weren't paying attention, you couldn't even see the bedding bundle.