Looking fierce and a bit bad can have its advantages at times.
Like right now, without Lin Yu needing to do anything more, after staring at him for a while, the three men helped their companion off the ground and slunk away.
Of course, they didn't forget to toss out a line to save face before leaving.
"You just wait!"
After the three left, Lin Yu returned Ye You's phone to her and gave her the excuse he had already prepared.
Ye You took the phone without a word. Tears still hung on her face, her expression resentful, and she seemed in no mood to acknowledge Lin Yu, apparently angry that he hadn't helped earlier.
Lin Yu didn't care whether she was angry or not.
Having gone through all this trouble for nothing was frustrating enough; he had no mind now to worry about anyone else's mood.
Moreover, after what just happened, Lin Yu felt even worse.
He thought of her.
She was always getting bullied too.
Before meeting him, she would invent non-existent people to protect herself, like a father out buying cigarettes, or an uncle who went to fetch something—they'd be back soon—to make those who kept pestering her after being rejected think twice.
After meeting him, she no longer needed to rely on those fictional people.
But now?
Away from him, if she encountered a similar situation, what would she do now?
Go back to how it was before?
Drape herself in a layer of intimidating paper, to tell those people that she was under someone's protection?
The more Lin Yu thought about it, the worse he felt. His heart felt as if it were being twisted from both ends, making it hard to breathe.
Frustrated, Lin Yu, who had quit smoking for a while, felt the urge for a cigarette again.
Turning to leave the spot, Lin Yu wanted to find a convenience store to buy a pack of cigarettes to ease his restless, anxious mood.
After walking about five or six steps, a gust of fragrant wind swept up from behind him.
Lin Yu glanced sideways and saw it was Ye You catching up. In his bad mood, Lin Yu had no intention of taking it out on her, but he wasn't about to force a smile for her either. He frowned and asked coldly:
"Why are you following me?"
The roundness of Ye You's face now showed little resentment. She seemed like a girl who could adjust her emotions well, or perhaps one who was easy to push around.
She glanced at Lin Yu and muttered in a low voice:
"Weren't you going to have me help with something..."
"Not anymore."
Before Ye You could finish, Lin Yu cut her off coldly:
"It's too late now. You're not needed. Go away."
After saying that, without waiting for Ye You's reaction, Lin Yu quickened his pace and left swiftly.
Ye You was already familiar with Lin Yu's aloofness, but at this moment, she couldn't help but feel hurt by it.
Really.
I've already swallowed my pride to make up with you, why are you still like this?
Ye You pouted her lower lip, glossed and temptingly pink. She looked discontentedly at Lin Yu's retreating back as he strode away, trying hard to ignore the hollow feeling in her heart, and stamped her foot angrily.
"How annoying!"
...
...
On a bench by the street, Lin Yu held the first cigarette from the second half of the pack between his lips, his brow tightly furrowed as he stared at his phone screen.
On the screen was a chat interface filled entirely with white message bubbles; the latest message was already from two days ago.
In the past, seeing that Tang Manman hadn't sent a message for two days would have made Lin Yu grin from ear to ear.
One day without a message meant feelings cooling by one degree, two days meant two degrees. Keep not sending messages, and the feelings could dissolve like a sugar cube dropped in water.
But after what just happened, mixed with a seasoning of wild thoughts, Lin Yu couldn't settle his mind.
Could it be that Tang Manman wasn't sending messages because something had happened?
Lin Yu had already flipped through their previous chat history several times. There was nothing unusual, just that the messages had grown fewer each day, from long strings at the beginning to just one or two a day, or even none at all.
This was exactly what Lin Yu had wanted, but now he couldn't help worrying, wondering if something bad had happened to her.
Lin Yu wanted to send her a message to ask how she was doing, but he was afraid a reply might become the spark that rekindles dead ashes.
After thinking for a long time, Lin Yu decided it would be safer to make some indirect inquiries.
But he didn't know anyone around her now, and Tang Manman wasn't the type to tell her family if she got bullied. How could he make indirect inquiries?
Thinking it over and over, Lin Yu picked two people from his acquaintances who had the means to know about Tang Manman's recent situation.
One was Qing Mo.
Hmm.
If he wanted to get locked in a small dark room, she'd be the perfect person to ask.
The other was Gu Yue.
She wasn't too far from Tang Manman's university. She could easily go to her campus to ask around, look about, and finding out Tang Manman's recent situation shouldn't be too hard.
The more Lin Yu thought about it, the more it made sense.
He should have someone check on how Tang Manman was doing, to make sure she wasn't being bullied.
Lin Yu exited the chat with Tang Manman and instead opened the chat with Gu Yue.
After explaining his thoughts to her, Gu Yue agreed very readily.
Once Gu Yue agreed, Lin Yu wanted to transfer her some money. When asking for a favor, how could he let the other person pay out of pocket?
Lin Yu didn't expect Gu Yue to refuse quite firmly on this point, declaring that she had plenty of money now.
Hearing this, Lin Yu remembered Qing Mo's watch. It seemed she still hadn't returned it.
On second thought, it was just as well; it could help solve her family's financial difficulties.
Gu Yue's updates came quickly. By the afternoon, she had already arrived at N University and, through asking around, had found a friend of Tang Manman's. Using the identity of a secret admirer who couldn't show his face, she inquired about Tang Manman's recent situation.
Lin Yu thought Gu Yue's cover story was already quite outlandish, but what followed was even more unbelievable.
For some reason, Tang Manman's friend also seemed to have feelings for her—another kind of forbidden affection.
Thinking she had met a kindred spirit, she told Gu Yue everything. In just half an hour, the two had even become close sisters in adversity.
Lin Yu was dumbfounded listening to this, but he had no mind to dwell on these matters too much, focusing his attention more on Tang Manman's recent situation.
Her current life was going quite well.
She was something of a minor celebrity at N University.
No particular reason, just pure beauty. With that exquisite, pure, and dreamy "first love" face of hers, even if she did nothing but walk across campus, she would attract a great deal of attention.
She had quite a few pursuers at school, but no one had bullied her.
Everything was developing in a positive direction, but there was one strange point: she seemed a bit short on money.
She often took on tutoring jobs for girls, yet she spent money very frugally. However, the clothes she wore weren't cheap, which seemed odd.
Oh!
Right!
There's one more thing!
On her very first day at school, when rejecting an upperclassman's attempt to chat her up, she declared that she had a boyfriend!
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
