Only after the male classmate left in disappointment did Qi Nize carefully poke his head out.
Yang Le’an had long noticed Qi Nize and stared in his direction, his dark, translucent eyes sparkling with subtle light. “Come out. I already saw you.”
Qi Nize stepped out into the shade of the tree, an awkward expression involuntarily surfacing on his face.
Meeting Yang Le’an’s half-smiling gaze, he swallowed hard. “If I said I was just passing by, would you believe me?”
Yang Le’an let out a soft chuckle. “A certain passerby watched the whole thing from start to finish.”
Qi Nize scratched his head, lowered his face, and suppressed his embarrassment, muttering under his breath, “Alright, alright…”
Yang Le’an stood up. The look on his face was hard to read, neither clear joy at receiving a confession nor anger at being spied on. His expression was as indifferent as ever, as though he carried countless worries in his heart.
He looked up, smiled, and said, “Let’s go. It should be about time to assemble.”
By tacit agreement, neither of them brought up what had just happened, and the simple day continued to pass just like that.
Meanwhile, the date for the class activity that the sports students had been discussing was drawing closer.
Qi Nize stared at the women’s clothing on his desk, his mind in a daze while an intense struggle raged within him.
The outfit fit the theme of the sports class activity perfectly. The fabric felt comfortable to the touch, and overall, it looked beautiful and sweet.
Qi Nize thought to himself, Should I go or not? To go or not to go… it really is too hard to choose.
Just as he was hesitating, a knock suddenly sounded at the door. Judging by the footsteps, it seemed to be Yang Le’an.
Qi Nize hurriedly scrambled to shove the clothes into the closet, not forgetting to call out, “Coming! Wait a second, wait a second, I’ll be right there!”
Qi Nize opened the door, and sure enough, Yang Le’an was standing outside.
Puzzled, Qi Nize asked, “Why did you come over? You could have just sent a message on your phone.”
Yang Le’an froze for a moment at the question before adding, “I… I came to tell you that I’ll be participating in an event in a few days. I might be out of the house the entire day, so I wanted to let you know in advance.”
He didn’t know why he hadn’t used his phone and had instead insisted on coming over to tell Qi Nize in person. It felt as though seeing him with his own eyes brought a deep sense of relief.
Qi Nize didn’t press further, simply nodding. “Oh, oh, so that’s how it is.”
The System scoffed mockingly: “The two of you are like elementary school kids who have to report to their parents before leaving the house.”
Qi Nize didn’t know how to refute it. Their behavior really did resemble children reporting in.
Before Qi Nize could snap out of it, Yang Le’an continued to ask, “Can I come in and sit for a while?”
“Ah… th-this… might not be very convenient…” Qi Nize thought of the women’s clothes he had just hidden in the closet, and a flush spread across his fair, jade-like face.
Meeting Yang Le’an’s probing gaze, Qi Nize could only force himself to keep fabricating excuses. “It’s just that I accidentally made a mess of my room earlier, so it’s not really suitable for guests right now.”
Yang Le’an looked somewhat disappointed, his eyes darkening slightly. “It’s fine. I’ll head back to my room then.”
Qi Nize replied, “Mm-hmm!”
Once Yang Le’an was completely out of sight, Qi Nize let out a long sigh of relief. He complained to the System, “Scared me to death… If Yang Le’an found out I was hiding women’s clothes, what would he think of me?”
Heaven knows, if it weren’t for these tasks, Qi Nize really, really wanted to have a pure, platonic brotherhood with Yang Le’an free of any romantic overtones.
Out of Qi Nize’s line of sight, Yang Le’an recalled the black bell collar he had accidentally glimpsed in Qi Nize’s room. For some reason, his heart began to race, and his mouth went dry.
How could someone sneakily try out things like that in their own room…?
Feeling flustered and restless, Yang Le’an tossed and turned on his bed, unable to fall asleep.
After a long while, unable to suppress the inner restlessness any longer, he slowly walked over to Qi Nize’s door.
Yang Le’an thought to himself: I just suddenly wanted to ask if Qi Nize wants some water.
Just as he reached the door, he heard the other party reading out in embarrassment, “Ahhh, is this outfit really okay? This is absolute social death…”
Qi Nize was currently trying on the women’s clothing rewarded by the System. In the end, he had persuaded himself it was all for the task!
Standing in front of the mirror, he looked at the breathtakingly beautiful girl in the reflection and couldn’t help but stare in daze.
The black-and-white dress outlined a gorgeous body contour, hemmed just above the knees to reveal a pair of long, slender, fair legs.
Seeing him dressed in women’s clothes, the System gloated a bit: “Just a moment ago you said you wouldn’t wear it even if it killed you, yet here you are wearing it just fine, aren’t you? You humans really are hypocritical creatures.”
Hearing this, Qi Nize wished he could find a crack in the ground to bury himself in. It wasn’t that he wanted to cross-dress; everything was for the sake of the task.
Without either the human or the System noticing, the door opened a tiny sliver further.
When Yang Le’an returned to his room, his mind was still in a daze. He recalled the scene he had just witnessed: a stunningly beautiful girl striking various poses in front of the mirror.
At first, Yang Le’an hadn’t recognized Qi Nize, until the moment the girl lowered her head and looked up, overlapping completely with the image of Qi Nize in his memory.
“How could this be…” Before Yang Le’an could recover, the astonishment in his heart was beyond words.
Yang Le’an spent half the night thinking about the sight he had just seen, only drifting off to sleep when his body grew thoroughly exhausted.
The next day was the day of the activity. Qi Nize woke up early, and as soon as he stepped out of his room, he saw Yang Le’an sitting on a chair with his head lowered, lost in thought.
Hearing the familiar footsteps, Yang Le’an raised his head and looked closely at Qi Nize, deep complex emotions swirling in his dark eyes.
Qi Nize said, “Good morning! It’s me, what’s wrong?”
What was going on? Why did the main protagonist’s look toward him feel so strange today?
Yang Le’an took a deep breath. After a moment of internal struggle, he said, “It’s nothing. I’ll be leaving first today.”
Forget it, he should just respect Qi Nize’s personal hobbies as long as Qi Nize himself was happy.
Yang Le’an’s random remark left Qi Nize somewhat puzzled, but he had more important things to do today: join the activity and investigate who the mastermind behind the scenes was.
Only after Yang Le’an left did Qi Nize change into the women’s outfit and prepare to head out.
Walking along the path he usually knew so well, it now felt unfamiliar. The quiet chatter of the people around him made Qi Nize feel uneasy and anxious.
He asked the System in a low voice, “System, is my outfit today really strange? Why do I feel like everyone keeps looking at me?”
It felt as though eyes were watching him from every direction, monitoring his every move. Some people even seemed to be taking photos of him with cameras.
Qi Nize had never experienced a scene like this before. Pale with fear, he quickened his pace significantly.
The System responded, “It’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t make a fuss out of nothing. Let me check the data analysis… That’s weird. The data shows that everyone is looking at the person they’re attracted to.”
As soon as the words left its mouth, the System felt its CPU burning intensely. The computing speed grew faster and faster, reaching a point where it could barely control it.
“Data is in an abnormal state. The hormone secretion of the humans around the host is unbalanced. Searching for the cause…”
“Searching: 10, 9… 3, 2, 1.”
“Search successful: The women’s clothing gifted by the Main System possesses the function of immunizing all seals. The core target of the issue is Qi Nize.”
When the System realized that the culprit behind all of this was actually its own host, its mind was almost shattered with rage.