Chapter 126
Chapter 126
We can skip over all this unimportant plot…
Yeah, right.
After dragging things out this long, you think I’d just skip the thrilling reunion scene?
Give it two days and I’d probably find a mugshot from my ID dancing to some godforsaken meme in the readers’ group chat…
At that moment, Su Xiaoyue met Qin Lan’s gaze head-on, and her composure and indifference instantly crumbled.
It was like someone had tossed a torpedo into a placid pond. The resulting splash could have provided one hell of an outdoor shower.
Everyone present could sense the surrounding shadows growing restless.
Though “restless” didn’t seem quite accurate.
They were boiling.
Yes, the shadows were boiling.
They were under Su Xiaoyue’s control, and her emotional fluctuations changed them. Like water brought to a rolling boil, they churned violently.
Staring at that familiar smiling face, Su Xiaoyue stood frozen and even forgot what she had been about to say.
She had thought she would never have another chance to see him.
She had thought the final connection between them would remain forever in those few chat messages, each separated by long stretches of silence.
She had thought…
In the distance, Yu Qianqian came running over in a panic.
When she saw Su Xiaoyue confronting Qin Lan, her heart sank.
Oh no!
She’d wanted to find her best friend a new boyfriend. How had the two of them ended up fighting instead?
This wouldn’t do!
When a young man and woman met for the first time, the sparks between them were supposed to be sparks of passion, not combat!
Seeing Su Xiaoyue frozen in place, Qin Lan found it rather amusing and couldn’t resist teasing her.
“Don’t recognize me anymore?”
“Putting on quite the official air, aren’t you? You joined the Elite Program and now you’re pretending not to know me?”
Only when tears welled in Su Xiaoyue’s eyes did Qin Lan finally realize something was wrong.
There was a problem. A serious problem.
Why was she crying?
From Qin Lan’s perspective, this was merely a simple reunion after some time apart–and it hadn’t even been that long.
Less than half a year had passed since Su Xiaoyue left Safe Zone 088.
Even if Qin Lan racked his brains, he never could have guessed that from Su Xiaoyue’s perspective, he was someone who had returned from the dead.
“Qin Lan…”
Su Xiaoyue’s voice trembled. “Is it really you?”
Qin Lan paused, then instinctively touched his face, looking puzzled.
“What, do I have some kind of generic face?”
“How could this be fake?”
Su Xiaoyue studied him for a long moment. Then her gaze abruptly sharpened.
“Tell me!”
“Back in the Hitchhiker Ghost’s taxi, when I asked why you got into the car, what did you say?”
The curse energy around Su Xiaoyue surged violently, and the shadow binding Qin Lan tightened further.
Several long whips also condensed nearby, poised to strike. If his answer was wrong, they would lash him without hesitation.
Qin Lan was dumbfounded. “Huh?”
“Answer me…”
He immediately searched his memories, retrieving the scene from the dusty attic of his mind in an instant.
“Uh… I had a reason I absolutely had to get in?”
Qin Lan offered the answer tentatively.
Su Xiaoyue’s eyes changed the moment she heard it.
All her wariness vanished, replaced by tenderness.
The next second, the shadow binding him melted away like snow, and a soft body threw itself into his arms.
Su Xiaoyue hugged Qin Lan tightly, burying her face against his shoulder as uncontrollable sobs shook her.
Qin Lan froze.
Luo Ping stared blankly.
Yu Qianqian’s mind went blank.
The onlookers wanted to die.
“I… I missed you so much…”
Su Xiaoyue spoke through her sobs, her voice no louder than a mosquito’s buzz. “They said you were dead… I thought… I thought I’d never see you again…”
I’m dead?
Qin Lan jolted.
What kind of goddamn bastard was going around telling people I died???
Beside him, Luo Ping looked on with reverence, as though witnessing a miracle.
“Brother Xue truly is incredible. He just got here, yet his sheer personal charm made the lofty Su Xiaoyue throw herself into his arms… If I were that attractive, my mom would probably be holding her grandchild by now…”
Luo Ping sighed in admiration, quietly planting the seed of a desire to join the Anomaly Hunter Bureau.
Being an Anomaly Hunter was seriously something else!
Not far away, Yu Qianqian, who had hurried over in a panic, was equally dumbstruck.
Watching her best friend embrace Qin Lan, Yu Qianqian suddenly felt that the world no longer made any sense.
“What’s going on?”
“Is this her type?”
“But even if it is, she wouldn’t be this forward, would she???”
“She’s never even given another guy the time of day before!”
Yu Qianqian’s thoughts descended into chaos.
“Don’t tell me they took one look at each other, fell in love within seconds, privately pledged themselves for life, and discovered their feelings were mutual? Then why were they fighting just now?”
“Unless…”
Yu Qianqian’s expression abruptly turned solemn. “I understand.”
“Fighting is just their kink!”
“And all of us watching are merely part of their play…”
At that moment, when Yu Qianqian recalled the shadow that had bound Qin Lan and the whips hovering nearby, she saw them in an entirely different light.
“Bondage play in public, plus an S&M routine?”
“I don’t understand young people anymore…”
Yu Qianqian heaved a long sigh, feeling she might need to reevaluate her “shy” best friend.
As for the onlookers…
Many of the boys had fallen into utter despair.
To put it only slightly dramatically, over seventy percent of the male freshmen and upperclassmen had fantasized about something happening between them and Su Xiaoyue, whether before falling asleep or while zoning out in class.
Perhaps they would meet by chance in the library and discover they happened to like the same book, naturally developing feelings for each other…
Or perhaps some absentminded gesture he made in class would catch Su Xiaoyue’s attention, causing her to unconsciously follow his every move, and then…
Fantasies were absurd by nature, but everyone loved them.
Now, those fantasies had shattered.
The sight of Su Xiaoyue embracing a strange man, her head resting beside his neck, sent nameless rage surging from the depths of their hearts.
Many shut their eyes in agony, feeling that one more glance might give them a fatal heart attack.
Why?
Could someone please tell them why?
Weren’t they all equals in the fruitless pursuit of her? Weren’t they all dutifully sticking to fantasies?
How the hell did you bastard actually get to hug her?
Did you secretly bind some romance system and forget to tell the rest of us?
“How much longer are you planning to hug me?”
“There are a lot of people here…”
Qin Lan spoke helplessly and gently patted Su Xiaoyue’s back.
Sure, hugging a beautiful girl felt wonderful, and being this close let him catch her delicate fragrance…
But the gazes around them were practically murderous.
If looks could turn into bullets, Qin Lan might already have died from acute metal poisoning–
Investigators would find an enormous quantity of bullet fragments inside a tragically small amount of corpse.
Even with Qin Lan’s mental fortitude, he couldn’t withstand being roasted over the fire like this…
“No…”
For once, Su Xiaoyue actually refused him.
She greedily breathed in his scent near his collarbone and buried her face a little deeper.
“If they want to watch, let them.”
“I don’t care.”