Gwen's Jealousy

"It really is this car!"

Li Si, who had just entered the school building, was unaware that one of the teenagers from the crowd that had already dispersed had returned, staring in shock as he stroked the exterior of Bumblebee.

"The real car is even more beautiful than it looked on the dashcam!"

A trace of infatuation flashed in Reed's eyes.

After being overtaken by the car last night, he had been filled with regret for not getting a good look at it. It wasn't until he got home that he had a flash of inspiration and copied the footage from his dashcam, slowing it down more than ten times just to barely make out the car's silhouette.

When he was standing on the periphery with his classmates earlier, he had felt that this car looked remarkably like the yellow streak of light from last night, and seeing it up close now only confirmed his suspicion.

He was not as ignorant as the others; having been obsessed with street racing since childhood, he was intimately familiar with every major sports car brand on the market. He could say with certainty that this car was definitely not any known model currently available.

The perfect aerodynamic body paired with the bright yellow paint job was enough to provide a visual shock just by looking at it.

Having heard the roar of its engine, Reed could vaguely imagine how blood-pumping it would be to drive this machine, not to mention the speed that would leave even modified cars in the dust. This was absolutely the dream ride for every racer.

"This is definitely a custom build, maybe even a professional-grade race car!"

With his suspicions confirmed, Reed's eyes grew even more fanatical. He silently pulled out his phone and dialed: "Tom, I found that car from yesterday..."

"..."

"Standing right in front of Bumblebee and discussing how to steal it—there really are all kinds of weirdos out there..."

Li Si, who had just reached the classroom door, was left completely speechless as he listened to the conversation coming through his earpiece.

The wireless earpiece in his ear was connected to Bumblebee at all times; Bumblebee could hear his voice, and he could hear everything around Bumblebee.

And right now, the earpiece was broadcasting a serious phone call about how to steal Bumblebee.

I have to say, the plan was actually quite detailed. The one on the phone was staying out of it, only responsible for scouting and confirming the location, while the other was waiting for the right moment to strike. The two were even arguing over who would get the compensation and who would get the car.

In the end, the one on the phone won out; he would get the car upon success, while having to pay the thief a massive compensation of two hundred thousand dollars.

Li Si only wanted to say one thing... what a damn idiot.

You're a rich kid who can drop two hundred thousand dollars, and you're resorting to grand theft auto? And if you're going to steal a car, you pick a Transformer? I don't know whether to call that good luck or bad.

In any case, Li Si silently mourned for these two moronic thieves for five seconds before walking into the classroom.

As soon as he entered, he noticed that his classmates, and even Mr. Pierce, were looking at him with strange expressions, as if they were seeing him for the first time.

However, Li Si didn't have the heart to pay attention to that; he bypassed the crowd and found Peter Parker, who was slumped over his desk in a daze.

"I'm so sorry, Peter! I just heard the news."

Li Si hugged Peter Parker, who was still blaming himself for his uncle's death, and offered a few words of quiet comfort.

Although they had actually met last night, Peter Parker had been in his masked Spider-Man persona at the time, so he still had to play along with the act.

Tearing open someone's wounds and rubbing salt in them was never a good thing, so neither of them talked much, and the uncomfortable topic ended with a simple "thank you."

Only then did Li Si have a moment to look at Gwen, who was sulking and had turned her head away.

"What's wrong? Who upset you?"

Li Si asked, feeling a bit confused.

"Someone disappeared for three days without a word and wouldn't even answer their phone, only to show up and flirt with girls in a sports car. You tell me who upset me? I saw you enjoying yourself quite a bit earlier, didn't I?"

Gwen glared at him and turned her head away again, this time facing the window.

It's over, the vinegar jar has been tipped!

Following Gwen's gaze, Li Si groaned inwardly. He finally understood why the surrounding classmates and Mr. Pierce had such strange looks on their faces when he walked in.

The classroom window had a direct view of where he had parked earlier, and his shameless display of bravado had likely been seen by everyone.

He didn't care what these random classmates thought of him, but the problem was that Gwen was in the room. While the crowd that had been watching earlier was mostly male, there were plenty of little fan-girls with stars in their eyes eager to get a look.

He was screaming internally, but he had to force a smile and explain himself, putting in a great deal of effort before Gwen finally believed that he had been too obsessed with his experiments to notice anything else.

However, just as Gwen's expression began to soften, the clothes Li Si was wearing caused a problem.

"Why do you smell so strongly of alcohol? Didn't you say you were in your home garage all these days?"

Gwen stared at Li Si suspiciously again, her eyes narrowing.

"The experiment finished, and I was celebrating last night. It was just with Max from the power department at our company, I swear, no one else!"

Li Si hurriedly raised his hands to swear an oath.

"I'll believe you for now!"

Gwen rolled her eyes at him, but finally, a smile appeared on her face.

She wasn't actually the type of person to be unreasonably clingy; on the contrary, she had always been a decisive, strong-willed woman. But she was still a girl, and everyone has their moments of wanting to be spoiled.

Li Si understood this and chuckled to himself. The fact that she could get jealous and act spoiled over him proved that their relationship was progressing well; perhaps all that was missing was for one of them to finally say it out loud.

"What are you laughing at? Do you think you've gotten away with it? I'm going to go to the power department and confirm this with Max!"

They were used to bickering at the company, but Gwen seemed to realize that her behavior might be a bit much, especially with the obvious smirks from the surrounding classmates. Her face flushed slightly, and she glared at Li Si again.

"Cough, cough, nothing, I definitely wasn't laughing!"

Li Si hurriedly shook his head.

"Are you going to take me home tonight, or is there a problem?"

Seemingly having cast all caution to the wind, Gwen glared back at the jeering onlookers with an overbearing aura before staring straight at Li Si.

"No problem!"

Li Si nodded decisively, then feigned shyness and said, "Though, I don't think I'm quite ready to meet the parents yet..."

"This is just a family dinner to fulfill a promise I made earlier!"

Gwen took a deep breath, glanced around, and then stated with an expressionless face.

"Ahem, alright, just a promise!"

Sensing that Gwen's sense of shame was about to reach its breaking point, Li Si decided not to tease her any further. He hurriedly coughed to cover his tracks while dismissively waving the surrounding crowd away, earning a chorus of good-natured smiles in return—though, naturally, there were also looks of envy, jealousy, and resentment mixed in.