Jiang Yingxiao still remembered the nonsense she had spouted to avoid standing up. Not wanting the teacher to know she was a bad child who loved to lie, she remained seated even after the System finished its announcement.
She fidgeted with her hands for a while, then doodled turtles on her scratch paper, her little bottom unable to resist swaying restlessly on the seat cushion.
The blood on the floor flowed faster, as if drawn by some force, creeping toward the girl’s feet. Startled, she lifted her legs and propped them on the chair of the male classmate in front of her.
The liquid seemed to retreat regretfully.
A male classmate from the back row took the opportunity to move forward and make himself noticed. Seeing Si Cheng’s tormented, half-dead expression, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of envy and resentment.
Yet, within a second, he couldn’t resist fantasizing about how intoxicating it would be if the young miss’s soft flesh were pressed against him.
Just a little bit from between her legs would be enough for him to hide away and savor for half a year.
[Will the sidekick wash his pants tonight?]
[Is there a possibility that Si Cheng is actually a Platonist?]
[What nonsense are you talking? Don’t make the sidekick laugh.]
The woman on the podium finished tidying her teaching materials and finally stepped out in her leather shoes. The cross-section of her head was stained with blood, spurring the growth of fresh pink flesh that gradually consumed the crimson.
“Click.”
The classroom door was casually shut.
The soft warmth on his legs vanished. Almost instantly, Si Cheng was pulled up by the girl and made to stand aside.
The blood flowed over, blocked by her small leather shoes, clinging only to the soles.
Jiang Yingxiao reached out and patted the hard wooden chair. Frowning, she turned to the boy. “Take off your jacket and put it here.”
Such a hard chair, not even a cushion for her—she had no choice but to settle for second best.
The boy instinctively began to move, his hands reaching for the hem of his jacket before he remembered something. But as he hesitated for a moment, the athletic student behind him seized the opportunity.
Lu Duanzhuo swiftly spread his clean jacket over the chair, watching as the young miss revealed a hint of a smile. He was so thrilled he could barely contain himself.
Just a trace of her condescending favor made the foolish boy think he had a chance to stand by her side, shamelessly begging for recognition.
“Young miss, could I be your sidekick? I’m very obedient.” His voice was so strained it seemed his throat would tear; a few more words and he’d give himself away.
The young miss was never short of people wanting to fawn over her. Changing sidekicks was just a matter of a single sentence. Si Cheng’s eyes darkened, and the hand holding his jacket trembled slightly.
“You actually dare make demands of me? Then I don’t want yours.”
Jiang Yingxiao wasn’t that foolish.
Right now, this dumb jock didn’t know she was the one who had stepped on his clothes. What if she really kept him by her side and he suddenly remembered old grievances, deciding to chop her up?
He was still wearing the dirty clothes—definitely so he could compare the footprints at any time and track her down to beat her up.
【Baby is so smart.】
076 praised her at just the right moment, making the girl’s tail practically wag with pride, though she pretended to be modest.
【Not really.】
Lu Duanzhuo’s carefully laid-out jacket was tossed back onto the desk. The girl reached out toward the boy standing foolishly beside her. “I only want yours. Give it to me now.”
Her slender, pale wrist was rubbed raw by the cuff, leaving several red marks. Fragile and delicate as she was, bullying men came effortlessly to her.
A few casual words were enough to make a boy toss and turn all night, unable to sleep. The next day, with dark circles under his eyes, he might cautiously ask her about it, only for her to feign forgetfulness and ask if he’d lost his mind or misremembered.
Before Si Cheng could speak, the coat in his hand was snatched away by the other person, leaving everything that had been hidden in the darkness now completely exposed.
The world seemed to freeze. Jiang Yingxiao’s moist, soft pink lips parted in surprise, her beautiful cat-like eyes widened, her emerald-green pupils filled with fear.
Her gaze fell upon it, unblinking.
[Si Cheng, you ****]
[What did you say? It got censored]
[What the hell is this dog doing, scaring my wife like this]
The boy instinctively hunched his back, tugging his shirt downward. “Miss, don’t… don’t look.”
It was futile.
Under his panicked gaze, the girl shook her head in disbelief.
So, like He Ming, he too had a knife tucked at his waist.
The handle was so long she couldn’t even imagine what the blade looked like, only thinking it must hurt terribly to be cut by it.
This mischievous, restless follower had been hiding a weapon by his side all along—he must have been planning to take her out.
“You’re truly despicable.”
Listening to her scold him in that soft tone, Si Cheng didn’t dare argue. But the next second, a pale, delicate hand reached toward his waist.
“Take it out right now. You’re not allowed to carry something so dangerous around me.”
Jiang Yingxiao’s hand, ready to search him herself, was caught by his scorching palm, so hot it felt like it could melt.
“Miss, don’t touch it. You won’t like it,” he said.
Jiang Yingxiao didn’t get to feel it, and her mood didn’t improve either. She immediately decided to claim his coat and kick him out the door.
Si Cheng, intimidated by her authority, slunk away with his tail between his legs. Lu Duanzhuo didn’t dare linger in his seat either, picking up the coat the girl had touched and hurrying out after him.
Only a few Players and a pool of wandering blood remained in the classroom.
The two Players who had narrowly escaped death after being questioned leaned against their desks, breathing heavily, while the others were also shaken in their own ways.
Only Xie Yingqi sat expressionlessly by the window, his back straight, his gaze fixed somewhere in the distance.
[Mission Four: Choose a Player to form a Party.]
[Time Limit: 10 minutes.]
[Mission Reward: 1000 Points.]
Finally, a normal Mission.
Back when she used to guide Players through Beginner Quests in the Game, she would help them team up with people they liked.
This kind of thing was practically second nature to her.
Jiang Yingxiao’s round, gentle eyes glanced around, taking in the spotless Xie Yingqi and the other Players covered in blood and grime. After just a minute of thought, she made up her mind.
Her small leather shoes tapped the floor as she carefully stepped around the blood and walked over, sitting down beside the man.
The stool scraped slightly as she dragged it, but Xie Yingqi didn’t seem to notice, not even blinking.
She had planned to make her request as soon as he looked her way, but after a long while, he still hadn’t moved, as if he had entered a trance.
[Pretentious guy, how dare you ignore my wife]
[Qi Shen is probably just thinking about the Instance route]
[He never bothers with people when he’s running an Instance]
[Mission Remaining Time: 5 minutes and 30 seconds.]
Someone this difficult to talk to would probably take a long time to persuade. She’d try just once—if it didn’t work, she’d have to find someone else.
Jiang Yingxiao’s moist, alluring tongue licked the corner of her lips as her soft, pale fingers lightly tugged at the man’s uniform jacket. She spoke the words she had prepared earlier.
“Could you…”
“Yes.”
A cool, clear voice, enunciating each word distinctly. The first syllable carried a certain weight, making one wonder if he had prepared this answer long in advance.
[…I can’t believe he’s pretending to load]
[Who said he was checking the route?]
[From the sound earlier, he was about to explode]
[I absolutely won’t allow this man to lick my wife, not even with his tongue]
[? Where else did you want him to lick?]
Xie Yingqi turned around, his gaze landing on the girl’s red, swollen lips. His breath hitched slightly.
Wet and soft—he wondered if any man had ever sucked and licked them from the outside in.
“Huh? I haven’t even asked yet.” Jiang Yingxiao was taken aback by his words, her tone rising in pitch. “Can you team up with me?”
Her tongue was red too.
So naive, thinking he hadn’t noticed her, racking her brains to find a way to talk to him. In truth, her scent was so strong he had smelled it the moment she sat down.
It made him want to teach her a lesson, to make her understand.
“Sure.” The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly, his voice steady, while his fingers on his lap dug fiercely into his flesh.
[Mission completed. Congratulations, Player 23411, you have earned 1000 Points.]
This mission was too easy. She truly was Love Game’s most capable Beginner Guide NPC.
Jiang Yingxiao smiled, her canine teeth showing, and looked up at the man beside her. Instead of smiling back, he expressionlessly turned his head away.
Outside the window, groups of NPC classmates wandered around the campus, counting down the seconds, ready to return to their posts as soon as time was up.
She closed her mouth and stopped looking at him.
This Xie Yingxiao was utterly boring. Now that the mission was complete, she didn’t want to talk to him anymore.
She would never smile at him again!
This mood persisted until she pushed open the dormitory door that evening.
The man stood by the bed, tidying his clothes. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and only a loosely hanging pair of pants covered his lower half.
For some reason, she felt the muscles on his abdomen tightened the moment she pushed the door open.
“Sorry, I think I’ve come to the wrong dormitory.” Jiang Yingxiao checked her phone, seeing it was only two minutes until 20:00, and wondered if she could still go back.
“You’re not wrong.”
Xie Yingqi’s gaze remained fixed on the clothes in his hands. “Dormitories in the Instance are assigned by Party.”
Since there were only the two of them in the Party, of course they would stay together, and in a double room at that. He had assumed the girl didn’t mind this rule, which was why she had willingly sought him out.
[Give my wife back to me!]
[This dog is really getting lucky]
[Don’t overthink it. Qi Shen is focused and knows his limits]
[The dog has already taken his clothes off. What limits?]
[Mhm, later he’ll be going in inch by inch]
“Lights out soon. You should go take a shower.” Seeing she hadn’t spoken, the man reminded her in a cold tone.
The dormitory had no curtains. Outside, the streetlights had already gone out, leaving everything pitch black.
“Have you showered already?” Jiang Yingxiao asked him.
From the looks of it, he seemed to be searching for toiletries, and his hair was dry, unlike someone who had just showered.
Xie Yingqi paused, his voice sounding slightly unnatural. “I’ll go later.”
What a good person.
Jiang Yingxiao gathered her things, found her pajamas from the wardrobe, changed into slippers, and hurried off to the bathroom with a patter of footsteps.
The dormitory had an independent bathroom, so there was no need to go outside to wash up. The frosted glass door obscured the view inside, leaving only the faint sound of movement audible.
The shower gel bottle knocked against the tile, and the sound of water vanished too—it must have reached the lower abdomen by now.
If they could ignore the dorm supervisor outside the window, face pressed against the glass with eyes rolling, they really did look like a couple traveling together.
Xie Yingqi stood by the bed for a moment, then raised a hand to wipe his nose, smearing blood across his palm.
Author’s Note:
Happy New Year!