President's Powerful Sixth Sense The Calm Before the Storm

"Does anyone else feel like something's off?"

"Like what?"

"Why are the enemies so tanky?"

"Huh? I think the tankiness is the least of our problems. Look at what they're building!"

"Damn, a crit-build Yao is showing up now? Is this a free win?"

They laughed, but the laughter didn't last long. Everyone on the opposing team was a walking tank, and their game sense was through the roof—though not combat awareness, more like escape awareness. The moment they saw a player, they bolted!

If two or more showed up, they bolted. If their skills were on cooldown, they bolted. If two or more icons appeared on the minimap, they bolted. Even when an attack was called, they bolted...

It was like some kind of creepypasta rule: the instant they encountered anything, they ran.

With that strategy, in less than ten minutes, they had pushed down every single tower. The advantage was one-sided, stretched to the absolute maximum.

And that was exactly when the real game began. And the nightmare.

"Wait, why can't we kill them?"

"One person can't take them down?"

"Seriously, four of them built support items. Are they even human?!"

The only one who hadn't built support items was Ye Cheng—the only source of damage on the team. The other four players ran the moment they saw anyone approaching.

Unless they had no way out, they wouldn't even throw out their skills. The damage was pitiful, but their tankiness was real—they just slowly grinded the enemies down.

Twenty minutes in. The final crystal still stood firm, showing no signs of falling. The five enemies fell into silence, a deep sense of helplessness washing over them.

"How about... we surrender?"

"It's like eating crap. What kind of playstyle is this? It's disgusting, I can't take it anymore."

"No surrender. Otherwise, didn't we just eat all that for nothing?!"

"..."

Thirty minutes.

Fifty minutes.

An hour and a half...

"Please, just surrender. Bro, I need to sleep!"

Ye Cheng's teammates said nothing, only keeping the towers alive. Their health bars looked like barcodes, and every now and then, Ye Cheng would come out as a flashy little deer to bait them—not for any real purpose, just to add a bit of interaction to the game.

After all, besides Ye Cheng, the other four were like turtles—motionless... walls of iron and bronze!!!

Another half hour passed. Even Ye Cheng switching to a flashy little deer to liven things up couldn't break the stalemate.

Finally, the enemy surrendered.

"Boom!"

"Victory!"

Seeing the victory screen pop up, for some reason, this time it was Ye Cheng's face that turned red. They'd won, but why did it feel so unsatisfying?

Ugh, so weird...

This time, the scores were much more balanced. Finally, Ye Cheng wasn't the highest scorer anymore—it was the Head Maid.

They were happy, but not entirely. Especially when they saw that Xia Tongxin's final score was 0.1 higher than the Young Lady's, the sky felt like it was falling on Ye Cheng.

A bolt from the blue!

Shen Qinghan narrowed her eyes, her chest heaving, and finally she said those words!

"One more round!"

Ye Cheng: "..."

NO!!!

Stop it, you maniac!!!

"Buzz—"

"Match found!"

Without even giving Ye Cheng a chance to quit or hesitate, the next game began. Another round of torture started.

...

Meanwhile.

At the academy, Dongfang Villa.

Second floor, on the bed, Dongfang Zhixia lay with her eyes open, staring at the ceiling. Darkness surrounded her, and beside her... the Little Secretary was fast asleep, snoring softly.

Though the night was deep, Dongfang Zhixia had no trace of drowsiness. She was still thinking about earlier events. She had already confirmed one thing—Ye Cheng was hiding something from her.

Ye Cheng's body must have something wrong with it. Otherwise, given how stingy Ye Cheng was—the type to split a coin in half—there was no way they'd go to the hospital willingly.

Going could only mean their body had reached a breaking point, and they had no choice.

Something was wrong, seriously wrong, but... what exactly?

"Could it be a terminal illness?" Once that thought crept into Dongfang Zhixia's mind, it refused to leave. She tossed and turned, unable to sleep, her heart inexplicably aching, struggling to breathe.

It felt like something precious was slipping through her fingers, like a fistful of sand—the harder she gripped, the faster it fell through the cracks.

She could only watch, helpless...

What if it really was a terminal illness?

Dongfang Zhixia braced for the worst. Since it was called "terminal," there was no cure. If there was no cure, the person would die. And if the person died, they would...

Dongfang Zhixia: "!!!"

Dongfang Zhixia bolted upright in bed, her beautiful eyes wide open, all drowsiness gone. Beside her, the Little Secretary, wrapped tightly in a blanket, rolled twice from the sudden movement.

Hmm... didn't wake up. Still snoring away, and upon feeling the President's presence, the Little Secretary reached out and hugged her.

"Miss... hehehe..." The Little Secretary talked in her sleep, drool almost dripping down, a foolish grin on her face.

Dongfang Zhixia: "..."

A cold sweat had formed on her forehead. Looking at the half-asleep Little Secretary mumbling in her dreams, her expression finally softened a bit.

"No, it can't be a terminal illness. It has to be a mistake!"

Dongfang Zhixia muttered to herself, then froze for a moment before finally getting out of bed. She quietly left the second floor, threw a coat over her shoulders, and headed to the rooftop.

Details... she grabbed the telescope.

Ever since that whole thing with spying on the boys' dorm through a telescope, all telescopes in the house had been confiscated. Even stargazing wasn't allowed anymore.

Who knows if she was really stargazing or watching Ye Cheng?

The classic guardian-turned-thief situation...

Dongfang Zhixia arrived at her usual spot, raised the telescope toward the boys' dorm, and thanks to her experience, quickly located Ye Cheng's dorm and balcony.

"Already asleep?"

She looked at the pitch-black balcony, not a sliver of light coming from inside.

"Wait, the toothpaste on the balcony hasn't moved. That guy hasn't come back!" Dongfang Zhixia spotted a key detail.

Yeah... that's right. Dongfang Zhixia had been sneaking peeks at Ye Cheng for quite a while. Yesterday, the day before, the day before that... she "accidentally" spotted him while stargazing.

Yeah, exactly.

The toothpaste on the balcony hadn't changed position for days, proof that Ye Cheng hadn't been back to sleep for quite some time.

With Ye Cheng's cheapskate personality, there was no way they'd spend money staying somewhere else—unless it was free.

"Shen Qinghan? No... Tang Yuyao!"

Dongfang Zhixia narrowed her eyes, her mental list of suspects shifting before locking onto Tang Yuyao. Based on the escape route and trajectory her people had reported earlier... Ye Cheng had likely gone to the Tang residence for refuge.

"Since when did they get so close?" Dongfang Zhixia frowned and put the telescope away.

Alone on the rooftop, coat draped over her shoulders, feeling the biting wind, her mind grew clearer.

Time to review the evidence.

The only possible way and place Tang Yuyao could have met Ye Cheng was the infirmary, probably sometime around the start of the semester, and then...

Then the two had more interactions afterward?

Who made the first move?

Dongfang Zhixia thought about it more and more and felt something was off. A sudden wave of realization hit her—meaning there had actually been a potential rival she'd never noticed all along?

Was that really the case?

A chill ran down Dongfang Zhixia's spine. Even though she knew her reasoning had no solid basis, her gut told her... Tang Yuyao was trouble.

Serious trouble.

She didn't really want to admit it, but that jerk did have an almost absurd amount of charm. People around him got influenced to some degree, especially women.

Tang Yuyao was at that age now—almost thirty, which by all accounts was prime time for a woman with strong desires, hungry as a tigress.

And she was still single?

Even if she claimed she wouldn't settle for less, deep down that couldn't be the whole truth. There would be restlessness, and with that restlessness... Ye Cheng seemed like the perfect target.

With Little Secretary as the precedent, Dongfang Zhixia had absolute confidence in Ye Cheng's "capabilities."

She sentenced him without hesitation!

Tang Yuyao was guilty!

She wasn't stupid either. Ye Cheng was as dense as a block of wood—there was no way he'd ever take the initiative to mess around. It could only mean some woman with impure intentions had set her sights on him.

A scheming... leftover woman!

Guilty until proven innocent. In less than three minutes of mental storming, Dongfang Zhixia handed down the verdict: Tang Yuyao, death sentence.

"Tang Yuyao." Dongfang Zhixia's tone was strange and unreadable. Standing on the rooftop, her solitary silhouette looked oddly lonely.

Downstairs.

Little Secretary woke up.

"Um... Miss?"

"Miss!"

Little Secretary groggily reached out and patted around, only to find the space empty—no one there. Panic hit her, and like a newborn bird, she opened her mouth and started calling for her mommy—er, no, for the young mistress.

Miss isn't here... which meant she got to play on her phone!

A sly grin spread across Little Secretary's face: "Hehe..."

Little Secretary pulled the phone out from under the pillow, and in an instant, her face turned green as grass. Every single message on the phone was sent to Ye Cheng.

"Eh? Why hasn't he replied yet? So mean." Little Secretary puffed out her cheeks in frustration. She might be a little slow, but she wasn't stupid. She knew Ye Cheng was deliberately ignoring her messages.

There's no way someone goes the whole day without checking their phone.

"Boss, are you asleep yet?"

"Boss, I'm still awake..."

As usual, she warmed up with a few spam messages, then waited a bit... Yeah, still no reply. But somehow, Little Secretary's face only got greener.

Little Secretary rolled over and went back to scrolling her brain-cell-killing short videos. If the other women around Ye Cheng were just gradually getting influenced, slowly becoming "Ye Cheng-ified" one piece at a time...

Then Little Secretary was already a fully infected specimen at complete transformation. There was no turning back now.

Her brain had gone completely smooth.

"Hehe..."

Upstairs.

Dongfang Zhixia was about to head down when she suddenly noticed a villa not too far away had lit up, glowing bright as day.

"Hm? Still awake at this hour?"

Dongfang Zhixia had done some investigating these past couple days. The owner of that villa was the tiny pink-haired girl from the hospital—someone from the Xia family... the Macau gambling king's bloodline.

Her identity was a bit special, and Dongfang Zhixia couldn't figure out what her real motive was for coming here. Studying?

Yeah, right. Someone that dumb could never be here for school. Besides, with that much money, she didn't need an education anyway. She could live comfortably for the rest of her life without lifting a finger...

Wait a second?

If she wasn't here to study... then what was she here for?

Ye Cheng?

Dongfang Zhixia: "???"

Dongfang Zhixia's pupils contracted sharply. She suddenly snapped back to reality, spun around, and hurriedly retrieved the telescope she'd put away, aiming it toward the villa.

As luck would have it, the first floor was mostly glass, with excellent transparency. In one glance, Dongfang Zhixia saw four people sitting in a row inside.

Ye Cheng looked half-dead, a mask of agony on his face, while the other three had serious, focused expressions—full battle faces!

"Shen Qinghan? And that Pinkie..."

Dongfang Zhixia: "???"

"How the hell did they end up hanging out together?!" Dongfang Zhixia's voice was full of shock and disbelief.