"Yan Huan, why are you still standing there, ow?"
Tuesday morning, ow-chan walked ahead but turned back when he noticed Yan Huan pausing and looking around the hallway. He let out a "ow" and asked curiously.
"...I'm thinking about Ying Gong."
"Ying Gong?"
ow-chan tilted his head, confused.
Yan Huan exhaled a breath of warm air into his hands and continued walking toward the stairs.
The weather was bad today. Thick clouds covered the sky, hiding the sun, and the temperature was low. It felt as if spring had suddenly retreated, making Yan Huan put on an extra coat.
ow-chan leaped onto his shoulder and casually remarked,
"I really don’t think you need to worry about whether Ying Gong dislikes you... If she didn’t like you, why would she be spying on you?"
Yan Huan descended the stairs, scanning for possible locations where surveillance caras could be installed while shaking his head.
"ow-chan, you know, a certain level of voyeuristic curiosity is actually a natural psychological instinct in humans—regardless of gender.
"Just like how people love gossip, how celebrity scandals on the internet always get tons of clicks, and how leaked photos spread like wildfire.
"But in psychology, excessive voyeurism cos from two completely different motivations..."
Raising his index finger, Yan Huan explained,
"The first is an extre sense of 'self-extension.'
"A small number of people expand their voyeuristic tendencies to gain a sense of control and superiority by watching others.
"In this case, the observer sees their subjects as re tools to satisfy their curiosity and dominance. They don’t just spy on one person or limit themselves to the opposite sex."
He turned to ow-chan and asked,
"If this is the case, then spying has absolutely nothing to do with ‘liking’ soone. Rather than caring about
as the subject, she’s probably more focused on herself as the observer."
ow-chan blinked but didn’t reply.
Then, Yan Huan raised his middle finger and continued,
"The second motivation is sexual. This one is more common—but mostly among n.
"In the various psychological chanisms that trigger sexual arousal, voyeurism is one of them. So people get turned on by peeping from a hidden perspective.
"If it’s this reason, then maybe—just maybe—it has a tiny bit to do with liking soone."
But the more he spoke, the more irritated Yan Huan felt.
He ruffled his hair, regretting using his mind-reading ability on Ying Gong yesterday.
"In the second thought that popped up in her mind, the ‘demon’ said she wanted to see my ‘private actions,’ not ‘ taking a shower.’ That strongly suggests it’s the first type.
"But these things are complicated—it could be purely one or the other, or a mix of both, involving both sexual desire and self-extension tendencies..."
He clicked his tongue in frustration as he reached the bus stop.
"I can’t even confirm if she really has this habit. And even if she does, how do I know she’s only spying on ? What’s her reason for doing it?
"If it were that simple, why would I have to test three different scenarios yesterday?"
ow-chan tilted his head, still unsure if he fully understood,
"......"
Then he asked curiously,
"Yan Huan, how do you know so much, ow? Just how much of this filthy stuff did you read in your past life?"
"...Don’t slander . I studied The Spring and Autumn Annals."
Yan Huan boarded the school bus, took his usual seat, and wrapped himself in his coat.
He replayed every mory he had with Ying Gong, searching for an answer.
But it was...
Contradictory, you know?
If he based his judgnt on Ying Gong’s usual flawless persona, then she would never do sothing as low as peeping.
Yet, even though he wanted to deceive himself, he couldn’t help but consider the possibility that her second mind-reading thought was true.
And with that thought, he was completely lost on the reason behind her spying.
"......"
Going back and forth like this, his brain was about to overheat.
Even discovering that An Le was a Modifier host wasn’t this shocking—this situation had completely thrown him off balance.
He looked down at ow-chan, squeezed his chubby cheeks, and complained bitterly,
"ow-chan, you’re useless."
"ow??"
"You can’t even grant
an omniscient god-view like a proper divine assistant. Useless!"
"......"
If only he had a god's perspective to peek at Ying Gong’s hidden motives.
No—he didn’t even need sothing that extravagant.
If that damn demon had just been a little more honest and told him which sentence was true and which was false, that would’ve been enough.
Thinking about it, Yan Huan actually started to miss the tis he clashed with Spencer, another Modifier host.
Spencer was troubleso, sure. But at least she was straightforward—everything was just numbers and values with her. No mind gas, no tricks.
Yan Huan leaned against the window, breathed onto the glass, and watched as a layer of mist ford on its surface.
"Spencer, why did you suddenly bring
all these delicious things this morning?"
In Year 1, Class C’s classroom, An Le munched on a sandwich filled with luxurious ingredients like salmon as she questioned Spencer, who was playing Angry Little Pigs.
Hearing this, Spencer hesitated for a mont. Even the finger pressing the slingshot trembled slightly.
"Hmph!!"
As a result, the pig she launched went completely off course and hit the wall.
"Ugh, this is your fault! You made
miss the shot! Stop asking! I just... had so extras at ho. Just eat!"
Spencer clicked the "Restart" button in the top right corner, and the pigs and birds returned to their starting positions.
But even with a fresh attempt, her shots still went off course.
Clearly, her mind was in turmoil.
Why did she bring An Le all these treats?
Because she felt guilty, obviously!
Last week, she had secretly stolen Yan Huan’s first kiss.
The worst part? She didn’t even know his hotown had such traditions!
How was she supposed to explain this to An Le now?
She hadn’t figured it out even after an entire week, so she just kept bringing An Le good food, hoping to silence her guilty conscience.
"......"
An Le enjoyed her food without prying further and instead curiously peeked at Spencer’s phone screen.
"Spencer, you might need to buy new pigs from ‘Aunt Pig’ if you can’t clear this level."
"...You play Angry Little Pigs too?"
"I used to, but I never beat it..."
Spencer skeptically exited the level and opened Aunt Pig’s Store.
A cheerful, smiling blue pig appeared on the screen and greeted her,
"Let Auntie know if you need anything~"
Staring at the friendly Aunt Pig, Spencer suddenly thought of Ye Lan, whom she had seen over the weekend.
In Spencer’s mind, Ye Lan’s face slowly morphed into that of Aunt Pig’s smiling expression.
That aunt seed to be one of Yan Huan’s relatives.
And as far as Spencer knew, Yan Huan hadn’t told her about losing his precious first kiss yet.
If she found out...
"Ugh..."
Spencer suddenly felt another wave of guilt. She shifted uncomfortably and mindlessly bought every available power-up and pig in the shop.
"Alright, Auntie believes you can rescue your mother from those deceitful, annoying birds."
But Spencer didn’t even finish listening to Aunt Pig’s lines before locking her phone and standing up.
"Spencer, where are you going?"
"Nowhere, just... sothing ca up."
She had failed to explain things to Yan Huan last Saturday, but now she had the sudden urge to go find him.
Maybe she could compensate him with sothing and put this whole thing behind her.
Either way, she needed to see him.
With that thought, Spencer headed toward Class A.
But when she peered inside, Yan Huan was nowhere to be found.
"Not in class? Could he be in the Student Council Office?"
After considering it for a mont, she folded her arms and walked toward the top floor.
When she reached the office, she hesitated outside for a long ti.
Then, she took a deep breath, finally mustering the courage to place her hand on the door handle.
Now, this was real sincerity.
Because normally, she would just kick the door open. This ti, she was actually using the handle!
Click...
Several kiloters away, in the back seat of a black car, Ying Gong Tong suddenly opened her eyes from her nap.
A familiar chill crept up her spine, making her shiver uncomfortably.
"Nara!"
"Huh? What's wrong?"
Nara turned his head in confusion, only to see Ying Gong Tong's expression drastically change. She hastily pulled out her phone and said urgently,"Forget the hospital—take
back to school imdiately!"
"...Alright."
Inside the Yuanyue Student Council Office, Spencer cautiously pushed open the door and peeked inside.
Empty.
"...No one's here yet, huh."
Seeing this, she strutted in boldly and shut the door behind her.
Click.
Arms crossed, she scanned the room before walking over to the executive chair Yan Huan always sat in.
Running her hand over the chair’s material, she clicked her tongue."Man, he really knows how to enjoy himself."
With zero guilt, she plopped down into the Student Council President’s chair, propped up her legs, and began spinning around.
"Mm..."
As she spun, her expression suddenly changed. Sitting up straight, she clasped her hands in front of her mouth, putting on a deadpan face eerily similar to Yan Huan’s.
Imitating his tone, she mockingly muttered,"Even though I had a reaction to you, that doesn’t an you took anything from ."The one I like is still Ying Gong, not you, you annoying brat~"
The more she spoke, the more amused she beca.
"Pfft—hahaha!"
She clutched her stomach, laughing uncontrollably like Sun Wukong in the Jade Palace before getting curious about the things on Yan Huan’s desk.
"Student Council President's naplate... Whoa, so many docunts. What's all this for?"
As she flipped through the papers, her gaze lowered, and she opened a drawer.
The first thing she saw was a sleek, silver laptop. Next to it, a pile of discarded surveillance caras.
"Caras... What the hell are these doing in the Student Council Office?"
Frowning, Spencer stroked her chin before opening the laptop.
Ding!
As soon as she powered it on, the screen lit up—it hadn’t been shut down, just left in sleep mode.
The lock screen required a password, but the desktop wallpaper was clearly visible.
It was a photo of Yan Huan.
Taken from a shadowed angle, he was smiling slightly, as if mid-conversation.
Bathed in sunlight, he looked exceptionally handso.
Even Spencer couldn't help but blink.
But a second later, she pouted and scoffed,"Damn narcissist. Who even uses their own picture as a wallpaper?"
She assud the laptop belonged to Yan Huan.
Since she couldn’t get past the password, Spencer lost interest and shut the laptop.
Looking down, she rummaged through the drawer again—and was startled to find a small notebook.
"What’s this?"
Furrowing her brows, she picked it up.
The mont she opened it, several photos slipped out and fluttered to the ground.
"Whoa!"
Spencer panicked and quickly squatted to pick them up, feeling guilty despite knowing full well she was snooping through soone else’s things.
Then, as she looked at the photos, she suddenly froze.
These were very problematic.
One photo showed Yan Huan lounging on a tree branch in the school’s forest park, completely unaware he was being photographed. His bangs hung slightly over his forehead, his expression relaxed.
"...What the hell? Who's this pervert?"
Even Spencer, as dense as she was, realized sothing was seriously off.
She flipped through more photos.
Yan Huan eating.Yan Huan playing basketball.Yan Huan sitting in class.
The most disturbing part? When she flipped the photos over, they had tistamps and locations written on them.
"December 1st, Laboratory."
"President looks so serious when doing experints. I really like this one."
Spencer squinted at the handwriting, studying it for a long ti.
Then, she hesitantly flipped through the notebook.
Inside, countless photos were neatly stored.
"I... what the f***..."
A cold sweat broke out on Spencer’s forehead. She hastily gathered the scattered pictures and stuffed them back inside the notebook, planning to return it to the drawer and pretend she never saw anything.
But the mont she reached for the drawer—
Click.
The door handle turned.
Spencer went pale.
Panicking, she clutched the notebook behind her back and squeezed her eyes shut, blurting out,"I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING! I DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING! IT WASN’T ! I SWEAR!"
"......"
She nervously kept her eyes shut, waiting for a response, but none ca.
After a long silence, she cautiously cracked one eye open—
And saw a tall, sharp-featured young man standing at the doorway, holding a bag in one hand, looking at her with a confused expression.
His eyes were slightly bloodshot, dark circles visible beneath them—probably from lack of sleep.
"Yan Huan?"
"Spencer?"
Yan Huan frowned, shutting the door behind him. His first question was direct.
"What are you doing here?"
"I... I, uh..."
Spencer bit her lip and averted her gaze.
But suddenly, as if she rembered sothing, she quickly said,"Last week’s thing... I... uh... whatever, just—look at this! Let’s call it even, no one brings it up again!"
"......"
Yan Huan rolled his shoulder and casually tossed his bag aside.
Maybe he’d spent too much ti overthinking about Ying Gong this morning, but seeing this fool—whose emotions were written all over her face—felt oddly refreshing.
He unbuttoned his coat and walked toward her with a small smile.
"Call it even? You an all the remaining tis you have to pretend to be my girlfriend are void?"
"That’s—! That’s NOT what I ant! NOT THAT!"
Yan Huan crossed his arms, amused at how quickly she got defensive. He chuckled lightly and said,"Alright, alright. Just tell —what am I supposed to look at?"
"......"
Originally flustered, Spencer suddenly hesitated when she saw the warm expression on his face.
Then, looking away awkwardly, she stamred,"H-here... this."
She handed him the notebook without making eye contact.
Yan Huan didn’t know what it was, so he absentmindedly took it.
"What is this?"
"Dunno. Found it in the drawer."
"...So you’re using Student Council property as a bargaining chip, huh?"
Yan Huan sighed, but his patience was surprisingly high today.
However—
The mont he flipped open the notebook, he completely froze.
It was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head, soaking through his coat and sweater, chilling him to the bone.
"......"
He blinked.
Then turned the page.
Then another.
His throat bobbed as he swallowed.
Familiar, elegant handwriting filled the pages, accompanied by photos taken from disturbingly hidden angles.
Yan Huan slowly raised his eyes and asked in a hoarse voice,"Where did you find this?"
"Huh? Here, in the drawer. Oh, and there’s this laptop and a bunch of caras too."
Spencer scratched the back of her head as she watched Yan Huan walk briskly to his desk and begin inspecting everything.
Arms crossed, she scoffed,"Whoever did this is a total creep—literally all of it is about you. Ugh, disgusting."
"......"
Yan Huan didn’t respond.
He simply stared at the scattered caras and the laptop, his eyes gradually losing focus.
Because the mont he turned on the laptop—
The locked screen displayed a userna.
And that userna made his lips go pale as he shakily whispered,
"Ying Gong... Tong."
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