Mid-Autumn Festival Travel Plan

Girls are incredibly sensitive to many things.

Take, for example, the subtle shifts in a man's aura.

The gender ratio in the Computer Science department was a bit extreme—25 students in the class, with only six girls.

Aside from Chen Yusheng, who was wholly absorbed in studying and making money, the other five girls had all taken notice of Su Bai to some degree since the semester began.

After all, he was the class heartthrob.

But after some observation, they realized Su Bai’s financial situation was pretty average, and his personality leaned toward the reclusive side—he preferred holing up in his dorm to play games alone.

The girls’ interest in him dwindled.

Most college girls yearned for a vibrant social life, and the guys who could deliver that kind of excitement usually came from well-off families.

Yet, in the past few days, the Su Bai they saw in class seemed to carry an inexplicable new air about him.

Was it confidence? Or an unshakable calm?

Chen Yusheng glanced at Su Bai. She wanted to sit next to him, but all six girls in the class had already clustered together. Standing out by moving would feel too embarrassing, so she didn’t dare speak up.

"Hello, Professor Xia."

"Mm, hello." Xia Lin’s gaze lingered on Su Bai, drifting inexplicably over his physique, and she suddenly felt a bit parched.

For three nights in a row, Su Bai had stayed off-campus.

Each night, he sent her a short video as proof he was at a hotel—a safety check-in of sorts.

On the surface, it sounded perfectly normal. But whether intentional or just careless, Su Bai’s videos always had a certain… vibe.

Either he was by the pool, fresh out of the shower, or lounging in the executive lounge with a robe slightly open, revealing his toned chest.

Always in some luxurious, high-end setting, paired with his ridiculously good physique.

After watching these clips before bed, Xia Lin had trouble falling asleep—and then dreamed of Su Bai.

Night after night, she dreamed of her own student.

How utterly inappropriate!

Now, face-to-face with him, Xia Lin recalled those fragmented, absurd dream scenes, and her cheeks flushed.

To make things worse, Su Bai was wearing a fitted athletic T-shirt today, accentuating his broad shoulders and upright posture, radiating an undeniably masculine energy.

Xia Lin couldn’t help but steal glances, torn between guilt and temptation.

[Ding! Detected an increase in Xia Lin's favorability. Current favorability: 51]

Su Bai had discovered the system's affection level feature regarding Professor Xia Lin just two nights ago.

Right after sending her one of those selfie videos, the system notification popped up.

And every so often, the favorability ticked up a point.

The same thing happened again last night.

This led Su Bai to wonder—was Professor Xia into him?

Before heading out today, Su Bai reviewed his chat history with Xia Lin and noticed a pattern: all three videos were shot in upscale hotels, and all conveniently showcased his physique, enhanced by the body-enhancing serum.

So today, he deliberately wore clothes that emphasized his build.

And just as he expected, Xia Lin reacted with clear emotional turbulence the moment she saw him.

Her favorability had risen to 51.

Just nine more points, and she’d be at the level where she’d consider dating him…

Wait, Professor Xia, really?

Su Bai never would’ve guessed that someone as poised and proper as Xia Lin was secretly a sucker for a good physique.

Not a bad thing, he thought.

Rumor had it Xia Lin came from an intellectual family with serious connections—not just in Jiangcheng, but on a much higher level.

After all, she was from Shanghai.

Probably way more influential than that flashy Chu Mingzhe, also from Shanghai.

Getting closer to Xia Lin wouldn’t hurt.

If her favorability rating kept rising past 80, she could be bound as a consumption object, giving his Indulgence System another avenue for cashback.

Because "indulgence" meant deriving genuine pleasure, and everyone’s definition of pleasure was different.

In that sense, collecting romantic interests of different styles was actually beneficial for Su Bai’s wealth accumulation.

Yeah, no shame in that—it was all for the money!

Lost in thought, Su Bai didn’t linger with Xia Lin. Instead, he strode to the back of the classroom and plopped down next to Wang Haoran.

"Hey, idiot son, did you finish grinding the main quest for me?"

"Yep. Now I’m working on the event. This one’s brutal—players on the forums are crying about it."

"My account struggling?"

"Pfft, no way. You’ve got the new 6+5 meta DPS, plus the current Abyss buff. It’s a cakewalk."

"Good."

Truthfully, Su Bai didn’t care much about the rewards from hardcore game challenges. The in-game currency was just for gacha pulls anyway, and for that, he could always swipe his card.

But if he was going to play a mobile game, he might as well go full completionist.

Kinda like collecting romantic interests… amusing.

Once they finished discussing the game, Xue Tao couldn’t resist asking, "Su Bai, you’ve been staying off-campus these past few days, huh?"

"Yeah, a relative’s visiting."

"Oh, got it."

"Why, need something?"

"Nah, just curious."

Honestly, Xue Tao found Su Bai’s recent behavior pretty mysterious—new iPhone, nights spent outside the dorm…

Oh, and he’d also befriended Chen Yusheng.

By now, it seemed like the whole Computer Science department knew: Su Bai and Chen Yusheng played League of Legends together.

Given the department’s skewed gender ratio, filled with socially awkward STEM guys starved for romance, the atmosphere was… tense.

A rare beauty like Chen Yusheng stood out like a diamond in the rough.

Countless guys had tried to get close to her—Chu Mingzhe included.

They schemed endlessly, coming up with all sorts of approaches—classy, unexpected, even straight-up throwing money at the problem.

Take the money route: one rich kid reserved a 2000+ RMB Western dinner near campus and invited Chen Yusheng.

To avoid creeping her out, he even said on WeChat that she could bring her roommates—he didn’t even have to show up.

Absolute legend.

Chen Yusheng ignored him completely.

Meanwhile, Su Bai was out here vibing with her. How could anyone not envy that?

"By the way, what’s it like gaming with Goddess Chen? Must be exhausting, right? Pretty girls are always terrible at games and super high-maintenance," Xue Tao probed.

"Actually, she’s pretty good," Su Bai answered honestly.

Chu Mingzhe yanked off his headphones, his face full of melancholy. "Su Bai, I know you’re Silver rank—Silvers play like they’ve got nothing to lose. But promise me you’ll take care of her when you play together? Go easy on her, okay?"

"...I’ll try."

Su Bai almost facepalmed.

Seriously, did no one in class know Chen Yusheng was a Korean server Challenger?

Looking at Chu Mingzhe’s constipated expression, Su Bai didn’t know what to say. Dude was clearly deep into some cringe romantic fantasy.

Fortunately, Xia Lin soon called the class meeting to order.

After a few trivial matters, Director Xia began leading everyone in discussing the day's most important agenda.

"Next week is the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday. The school is organizing a vlog activity for freshmen. Students who aren’t going home for the holiday can form small groups to explore the areas around Jiangcheng, film their trips, and edit them into vlogs. Later, the school’s Youth League Committee will collect these vlogs for a competition. Winners will receive cash prizes and credits toward their extracurricular practice requirements."