You Can't Leave

"Why don't you guys head back first? We'll stay here a bit longer. Maybe I'll feel better after I take a moment to recover~"

Meng Wenzhou looked at the girls sitting on the sofa and shook his head helplessly. "Alright then, head back early. Don't disturb your sister and the others from resting."

"Got it, you guys hurry up and go~"

Meng Wenzhou turned around and quickly left with Liu Bo and the others.

Jiang Yuxin and Mao Xiaorong originally wanted to sit for a while longer too, but they were afraid that the longer they stayed, the more scared they would be to leave.

It just so happened that Chu Qiunan and Gao Yue's room was right next to theirs, so the two girls followed them out together.

After some of the people left, the living room that had been bustling just a moment ago suddenly fell completely silent.

Only Su Yang and the five girls were left, staring at each other in awkward silence.

Seeing that none of them were speaking, Su Yang struck up a conversation and chatted with them for a while longer.

Half an hour later, Meng Qianyu finally worked up the courage to voice their true intentions, despite feeling conflicted.

She looked at Pan Ning with a pleading, puppy-dog gaze. "Sis, c-can we make do and crash here for the night?"

Pan Ning had actually guessed what they were thinking long ago; she just wanted to see when they would bring it up.

Tang Ziyun and the others were naturally too embarrassed to ask, so they had to let Meng Qianyu do the talking. Even so, Meng Qianyu had to build up her courage for a long time before she could spit it out.

If it were any other normal day, she would have said it right away, but today was different because there were several others besides herself.

Pan Ning completely understood this lingering feeling of being frightened; the heart would feel uneasy, and the brain wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it.

The more you thought about it, the more scared you became, and the more scared you were, the harder it was to fall asleep.

Because Su Yang was there, she wasn't scared. But if Su Yang wasn't around and she had to sleep alone tonight—or with an equally terrified Meng Qianyu—she figured she wouldn't be able to sleep either.

She looked at Meng Qianyu. "Sure, but there are only two rooms here. How do you plan to split up?"

Hearing Pan Ning agree, the girls instantly let out a huge sigh of relief. Even if it was a bit crowded tonight, it didn't matter. It was still much better than going back to their own rooms and being on edge.

Tang Ziyun's mind was still full of the ghost story Liu Bo had just told. She was terrified that if she fell asleep, she would suddenly feel someone standing next to her, or water dripping onto her forehead.

At the thought of this, she couldn't help but get another layer of goosebumps all over her body. Fortunately, Pan Ning had agreed.

After Pan Ning asked her question, Meng Qianyu looked at Su Yang and Pan Ning, revealing the plan she had thought of long ago. "You two just sleep in your room normally, and the four of us will squeeze together next door~"

"Right, right, right, we won't disturb you. We'll just squeeze in~" Su Qingci chimed in.

Su Yang hadn't spoken the entire time, but he had actually overheard Meng Qianyu and the others secretly discussing this earlier.

Pan Ning, on the other hand, had guessed it entirely based on her understanding of these girls.

Looking at the four girls on the sofa, Pan Ning shook her head and smiled. "That bed can fit three at most. How are you going to squeeze?"

Before Meng Qianyu and the other three could speak, Su Yang suggested, "How about this? I'll sleep on the sofa; Qianyu, you sleep with your sister; and the three of you sleep next door. Problem solved perfectly~"

Although this was an excellent suggestion, the four girls felt a bit guilty toward Su Yang.

Seeing their conflicted expressions, Su Yang smiled. "Ah, don't overthink it. We'll just arrange it like this. You guys hurry up and go to your rooms to sleep."

Pan Ning sighed helplessly. "Let's just do as he says. Qianyu, come back to the room with me to sleep."

Since Pan Ning had spoken, the girls stopped hesitating and stood up one by one.

Tang Ziyun looked at Su Yang and said apologetically, "Sorry about this, Su Yang. We've caused you trouble."

Su Yang smiled casually. Sleeping on the sofa was no big deal to him at all. He looked at Tang Ziyun's pretty face and said, "You're being too polite with me. Stop thinking about it and go to sleep."

"Okay!"

Su Qingci and Zhong Qing also thanked Su Yang and Pan Ning before following Tang Ziyun back to the room.

After the doors to the two guest rooms were closed, a wicked thought suddenly popped into Su Yang's mind. However, a thought was just a thought; he naturally wouldn't actually do such a thing.

Mainly because each of these girls was a nine out of ten or higher. In this kind of situation, any man would probably have some thoughts.

Su Yang shook his head with a smile, took out a cigarette, walked over to the moonlit balcony, and lit it.

He stood alone by the balcony railing, taking in the freezing early morning wind at an altitude of over four thousand meters.

The smoke quickly dissipated into the night under the cold wind. Looking up, he saw a sickle-shaped moon hanging in the sky, surrounded by a sky full of stars.

After admiring the starry sky for a bit, Su Yang looked down at the Litang county town. Most of the buildings in the entire town were relatively low.

The hotel they were staying in was already one of the tallest buildings in the county, so at this moment, Su Yang could almost overlook more than half of the small town shrouded in the night.

[Ding, detected that the host is relaxed and very comfortable. Rewarded 2 million.]

—Nice, smoking a cigarette and looking at the night view gets me another two million.

Right at this moment, the door to the room where Tang Ziyun and the other two were staying clicked open.

Su Qingci walked out holding a light. Su Yang turned his head and asked with a smile, "What's wrong?"

"Brother Su Yang, I want to use the bathroom~"

"Then go ahead. There should still be water in the toilet. If worst comes to worst, just use the leftover bottled water to flush."

"Okay~" Su Qingci walked toward the bathroom with her light.

While using the toilet, she didn't dare look in the mirror at all.

After quickly finishing up, she jogged over to the balcony. "Brother Su Yang, why aren't you sleeping yet~"

"I'm not sleepy yet. Just smoking a cigarette and looking at the stars~"

Su Qingci also looked up at the sky. She suddenly remembered that back in Ercheng, the two of them had also looked at the stars in her room, and then some "quantum entanglement" had occurred.

At the thought of this, Su Qingci's face flushed red, and she hurriedly said, "Then you should go to bed early, Brother Su Yang. I'm going back to the room now~"

"Go ahead."

"Okay, good night~"

"Good night."

After the room door closed, Su Yang's gaze turned to the sofa. This sofa was quite long and relatively wide; sleeping on it for a night wouldn't be a problem at all.

But he suddenly thought of something. "Holy crap! There's no blanket!"

Indeed, everyone had overlooked this issue. There was no blanket on the sofa at all, although it didn't really matter if Su Yang didn't use one.

With his current physical fitness, using a blanket was just a habitual action anyway.

However, if he didn't use one and was seen the next day, those girls would definitely feel guilty.

He didn't really like making others feel that kind of emotion toward him, especially girls.

Thinking of this, Su Yang put out his cigarette, walked to the door of Pan Ning and Meng Qianyu's room, and knocked gently.

Naturally, the two hadn't fallen asleep yet. Pan Ning's voice came from inside, "What's wrong?"

"You guys are wearing clothes, right? I might need to come in for a second."

"We are. Just come straight in, the door isn't locked."

"OK." Su Yang responded, pushed the door open, and walked in.

At this time, Pan Ning and Meng Qianyu were wrapped in their blankets, shivering.

Seeing the blanket on Meng Qianyu's side constantly trembling, Su Yang walked over and asked, "What are you guys shaking for?"

Meng Qianyu poked her little head out. "It's suddenly so cold~"

"Is it really that cold?"

Although Pan Ning felt a bit chilly herself, she wasn't shivering nearly as violently as Meng Qianyu.

Meng Qianyu huddled tightly against Pan Ning. The empty space left on her other side was more than enough for Su Yang to sleep in...

"What are you doing in here?" Pan Ning asked.

"I'm looking for Qianyu to get her room card."

"Room card?" Meng Qianyu paused in surprise.

"Yeah, the key card to your room."

"Brother Su Yang, are you going to sleep in our room? You can't leave!!"

"Why can't I leave?" Su Yang teased with a smile.

"We only stayed here because we wouldn't be scared with you around. If you leave, I won't be able to sleep again."

Su Yang gave a helpless smile. "I'm not leaving. I'm just going to your room to grab a blanket."

Hearing this, the two girls suddenly realized that there was no blanket on the living room sofa.

"Oh, right!! How could we forget something so important!! Ah, my bad, my bad."

Meng Qianyu hurriedly threw off the covers and got up. Su Yang shone his phone's flashlight for her as she found her bag on the chair next to the bed, dug out a room card, and handed it to him.

"It's room 7012," Meng Qianyu said.

Su Yang took the card and nodded. "Okay, go back to sleep."

"Alright." Meng Qianyu scrambled back into bed and pressed herself against Pan Ning.

"Hurry back!"

"Got it," Su Yang replied, turning around and leaving the room.

After he closed the door, the door to the adjacent room opened again, and Tang Ziyun walked out.

Su Yang smiled. "Not asleep yet?"

"Just going to the bathroom."

"Alright, go ahead. I'm stepping out for a bit."

"Where are you going?" Tang Ziyun asked hurriedly.

Su Yang looked toward the sofa and smiled. "There's no blanket on the sofa, so I'm going to your room to grab one."

"Oh, right! Ah, I can't believe we completely forgot!" Tang Ziyun reacted the exact same way Meng Qianyu had.

"It's fine, I'll just go get it now."

"Do you know where it is? Do you want me to show you the way?"

Seeing that Tang Ziyun was only wearing a thin shirt, Su Yang shook his head. "No need. Just use the bathroom and hurry back to bed so you don't catch a cold."

"Alright then."

With that, he walked briskly to the suite's main door and pushed it open.

He shone his phone's flashlight on the hallway directory and quickly got his bearings.

He walked swiftly toward room 7012.

Less than a minute later, Su Yang arrived at Meng Qianyu and Tang Ziyun's room. Just as he pulled out the key card and was about to swipe it to enter...

His ears suddenly twitched. He could hear what sounded like someone moving around inside the room.

......