Genius, huh~

With Xia Muzhu's matter resolved, the heavy weight pressing on Lin Yu's heart was finally lifted.

Seizing this window of time before the third female lead appeared, Lin Yu decided to focus intensely on his studies.

Between study sessions, Lin Yu often found himself lost in thought, trying to recall the adult manga's plotline involving the third female lead.

But no matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn’t remember a single detail about her.

Instead, the storyline of the fourth female lead—a loli character—became increasingly clear in his mind.

She was the type who threw herself at the protagonist without hesitation. Inspired by some gangster movies or dramas, she became infatuated with the cool, rebellious image of mobsters and actively sought out the original protagonist, a delinquent.

And what kind of guy would let such an opportunity slip?

The delinquent tricked and manipulated her into a cheap motel. By the time the loli realized something was wrong and tried to back out, it was too late—she was like a duck trapped in a pressure cooker, helpless as the delinquent took advantage of her.

The rest of the plot was predictable.

The loli, having tasted forbidden fruit, spiraled into depravity.

Not only that, Lin Yu even remembered the fourth female lead’s canon love interest—a boy around her age, presumably her childhood friend.

When the loli approached the delinquent, this boy had been hiding nearby, watching timidly from a distance.

He was the type who wanted to protect the girl he liked but lacked the courage to act.

The storyline was standard fare, typical of NTR-themed manga.

But what baffled Lin Yu was why he could recall such an unremarkable plot so clearly while drawing a complete blank on the third female lead’s arc.

Especially since he had already met her—why hadn’t his memories of her flooded back like they had with the previous female leads?

Strange.

Lin Yu tugged at his hair in frustration.

Could it be that he had been "full" by that point in the story, skipping the third "course" and going straight for his favorite—the fourth?

...Ugh.

Damn it!

Who likes lolis anyway?

Your whole family likes lolis!

Whatever. He’d just have to take things as they came.

Rubbing his temples, Lin Yu found some comfort in recalling the third female lead’s distinctive personality.

The chances of someone like her clinging to him were practically zero.

After mulling over the third and fourth female leads, Lin Yu turned his thoughts to the most headache-inducing issue of all—

Tang Manman’s mother!

What the hell?!

Wasn’t this supposed to be a standalone volume?

Why was there suddenly a fifth female lead?!

The memory of that Monday night, sitting across from Tang’s mother at Sha City Eatery, made Lin Yu’s head throb.

In the original story, Tang’s mother had also approached him over concerns about Manman’s grades.

And the ensuing plot… well, anyone familiar with the genre could guess.

"Madam, I don’t want to pester your daughter either, but how else am I supposed to deal with my… urges? You know how strong a young man’s needs can be—you can’t expect me to just suppress them, right? If I stopped bothering Manman, it’s not like I’d have no other options. But if someone else could… relieve me, I’d naturally lose interest in her. Madam, you wouldn’t want Manman to neglect her studies and obsess over such things, would you?"

Recalling this part of the adult manga plot left Lin Yu deeply unsettled.

At least Tang’s mother wasn’t someone he needed to worry about. As long as he didn’t resort to force, there was zero chance she’d throw herself at him.

What troubled Lin Yu was the emergence of this particular plot.

Lin Yu could confirm that the adult manga only featured four female leads from start to finish. This sudden appearance of Tang's mother was likely from an extra chapter released after the main volume.

But that was exactly the problem!

Damn it all!

Who knew how many extra chapters this adult manga had?

Please don’t tell me it’s like "Black Beast," spawning sequels left and right!

"Ding-ding-ding!!!"

The school bell rang, snapping Lin Yu out of his wandering thoughts as he packed his bag to head home.

Slinging his backpack over one shoulder, he stepped out of the school gate and gazed at the ceaseless flow of traffic on the road. For the first time, he felt an emptiness, unsure of what to do next.

Tang Manman’s issue was resolved. Xia Muzhu’s issue was resolved too.

The day to meet the third female lead hadn’t arrived yet, and meeting the fourth loli heroine was even further away.

Tomorrow was the weekend—what should he do?

Well, there wasn’t much to do. Might as well hit the books.

Just as Lin Yu turned to leave, a weak, exhausted voice called out from behind him.

"Long Ge..."

?

Lin Yu turned his head and saw Gu Yue, her face drained of energy as if some unknown force had sucked the life out of her. She looked utterly wilted, a far cry from her usual lively self.

"What’s wrong with you?" Lin Yu asked curiously.

The moment he asked, Gu Yue’s delicate face crumpled, and she whined miserably, pouring out her grievances:

"Long Ge!"

"How did you improve your grades so quickly in such a short time?"

"I’ve been studying so hard I wanna die, but my test scores haven’t improved much at all!"

"Do you have any tricks?"

"Teach me, please!"

Pouting her pink lips, she put on a pitiful expression.

"Tricks?"

"Which subject’s tricks do you want?" Lin Yu blinked.

"Foreign language!"

"That’s the one I struggle with the most—memorizing those stupid vocabulary words every day!"

"I’m gonna go bald from stress!!!"

Her words dripped with resentment, clearly despising the subject.

"Foreign language?"

"Go home and eat some sesame paste," Lin Yu said casually.

"Sesame paste?" Gu Yue blinked, curiosity piqued. "Does it improve memory and make memorizing words easier?"

"Nope."

Lin Yu replied coldly, but then broke into a bright, warm smile.

"But it prevents hair loss."

"Next time you can’t remember a word, you can yank your hair out as hard as you want—no need to worry about going bald~"

"You—!"

"Waaahhh!"

Gu Yue was so mad she fake-sobbed without tears.

Lin Yu, on the other hand, was thoroughly pleased—successfully messing with her felt great!

After his little prank, Lin Yu started walking toward his rented apartment. Gu Yue naturally followed alongside him. After a while, she couldn’t resist asking again:

"Long Ge, really… isn’t there any trick to make learning a foreign language easier?"

"Nope."

Lin Yu shook his head.

"That stuff’s all about rote memorization."

"You’re in for a rough time."

"Then how did you improve your grades so fast? Did you just brute-force memorize everything too?" Gu Yue asked skeptically.

"Of course."

Lin Yu grinned shamelessly and said:

"I'm a genius!"