Li Hao scoffed disdainfully, "If it weren’t for the screenshots posted on the campus forum, I wouldn’t have believed a girl could play thirty-eight guys like fools."
"Those screenshots were all pixelated. Even if you have a grudge against Shen Mengjie, you can’t just make up the number thirty-eight out of thin air, can you?"
"Me, making it up? The pixelation was for clueless people like you." At this point, Li Hao turned his gaze back to Long Aotian.
Perhaps Long Aotian’s earlier actions had made Li Hao reconsider—maybe he wasn’t as worthless as he’d assumed.
So he warned, "I’d advise you to stay far away from someone like her. Thirty-eight isn’t her limit. Give her a little more time, and it won’t just be thirty-eight—fifty-eight, sixty-eight, even a hundred and eight. You can’t win against a woman like that..."
For some reason, hearing Li Hao talk about her like this to Long Aotian made Shen Mengjie immediately want to argue back.
But before she could speak, Long Aotian stopped her.
Watching Li Hao walk away, Shen Mengjie asked resentfully, "What do we do? He clearly doesn’t want to help us."
"It’s fine." Long Aotian lowered his voice slightly. "I think I might have a lead."
Hearing this, Shen Mengjie froze for a second, then nearly jumped with excitement—only to be smacked on the head by Long Aotian before she could even react.
"What was that for?"
Rubbing her head, Shen Mengjie pouted and muttered under her breath, "Why so serious?"
Long Aotian ignored her, shifting his attention to Han Xiaojing and the other two. "Let’s head back first."
Huang Fei stepped closer. "Aotian, if he won’t help, I’ll just pay someone else. I refuse to believe those tech experts would turn down good money."
Long Aotian patted Huang Fei’s shoulder. "Let’s go back first."
Though reluctant, Huang Fei nodded after meeting Long Aotian’s gaze. He trusted his friend—just as they all trusted each other.
Shen Mengjie glared at Long Aotian’s retreating figure, clenching her fists and swinging them angrily in the air.
It was as if, if she could actually beat him, she wouldn’t hesitate to rush over and punch him twice.
But in reality? She couldn’t. Even if she mustered the courage, she’d probably be the one getting punched instead.
Back in the dorm, Huang Fei couldn’t hold back any longer. "Aotian, why’d you make us come back?"
Long Aotian motioned for them to sit.
Then he said, "Do you remember what Li Hao said earlier?"
The three exchanged glances, confused.
"What’s your point, Aotian? If you’ve figured something out, just tell us straight."
"Yeah, if you want us to brawl, we’re all in. But making us think? That’s just cruel."
Huang Fei stayed silent. He didn’t get it either, but he knew Long Aotian wouldn’t bring it up without an explanation.
Long Aotian didn’t drag it out. "Li Hao said Shen Mengjie played thirty-eight guys online. You remember that, right?"
They nodded.
"Then did you catch the key part of that sentence?"
A lightbulb went off.
"Thirty-eight guys!" they said in unison.
"Meaning the screenshots in that post were compiled from thirty-eight different people. The pixelation hid the details, so none of us—not even Shen Mengjie—could recognize them..."
"I think I get it now," Huang Fei said slowly. "The campus forum post?"
"Exactly." Long Aotian nodded. "Exposing chat logs from thirty-eight people doesn’t match the post’s claim that she’s 'a fox seducing other girls’ boyfriends...'"
"It’s more like someone deliberately trying to ruin Shen Mengjie’s reputation."
"Think about it—who could’ve gotten their hands on chat logs from thirty-eight different guys in Shen Mengjie’s phone and compiled them so precisely?"
The three stared at each other, realization dawning.
After a long pause, Xu Shuai hesitantly raised his hand. "I can guarantee it wasn’t my Lijuan."
He said this because, aside from Shen Mengjie herself, Wang Lijuan was the most outgoing in their dorm.
Han Xiaojing and Zhang Mengmeng?
One was quiet and easygoing, avoiding drama.
The other was so shy she’d blush just talking to a guy.
"Or maybe there’s another possibility," Li Longlong suggested. "What if someone pursued Shen Mengjie, and she agreed to go out with him?"
"But she was just playing around, while the guy took it seriously."
"Then he saw her having lunch with him at noon but going to karaoke with another guy in the afternoon. Feeling betrayed, he decided to retaliate?"
"I considered that too," Long Aotian said. "But it doesn’t add up."
He held up a finger. "Shen Mengjie isn’t stupid—otherwise, she wouldn’t have managed thirty-eight 'fish' at once. Gathering intel from all thirty-eight would’ve been a massive task."
"Some might be from our department, others from different ones. Tracking them down isn’t easy, let alone convincing them to hand over their chats."
"We’ve got a perfect example right here."
All three turned to Huang Fei.
Li Longlong finally understood. "So if someone had gone around asking, they’d have definitely approached Huang Fei. But no one did."
Huang Fei slumped into his chair. "Meaning someone’s deliberately trying to destroy Shen Mengjie—and that person must be in her dorm."
"Only a roommate would have access to her phone and be able to collect screenshots from all thirty-eight guys, including me..."
"You figured this out, but you couldn’t just tell Shen Mengjie directly. That’s why you called us back, right?"
Long Aotian took a deep breath. "I think you should be the one to tell her. If she doesn’t believe it, teach her to do this..."
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
