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 ngjie, you can’t just make up the number thirty-eight out of thin air, can you?"
", 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 assud.
So he warned, "I’d advise you to stay far away from soone like her. Thirty-eight isn’t her limit. Give her a little more ti, 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 so reason, hearing Li Hao talk about her like this to Long Aotian made Shen ngjie imdiately want to argue back.
But before she could speak, Long Aotian stopped her.
Watching Li Hao walk away, Shen ngjie 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 ngjie froze for a second, then nearly jumped with excitent—only to be smacked on the head by Long Aotian before she could even react.
"What was that for?"
Rubbing her head, Shen ngjie 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 soone 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 eting Long Aotian’s gaze. He trusted his friend—just as they all trusted each other.
Shen ngjie 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 co back?"
Long Aotian motioned for them to sit.
Then he said, "Do you rember what Li Hao said earlier?"
The three exchanged glances, confused.
"What’s your point, Aotian? If you’ve figured sothing 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 ngjie played thirty-eight guys online. You rember 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.
"aning the screenshots in that post were compiled from thirty-eight different people. The pixelation hid the details, so none of us—not even Shen ngjie—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 soone deliberately trying to ruin Shen ngjie’s reputation."
"Think about it—who could’ve gotten their hands on chat logs from thirty-eight different guys in Shen ngjie’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 ngjie herself, Wang Lijuan was the most outgoing in their dorm.
Han Xiaojing and Zhang ngng?
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 soone pursued Shen ngjie, 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 ngjie 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."
"So might be from our departnt, 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 soone had gone around asking, they’d have definitely approached Huang Fei. But no one did."
Huang Fei slumped into his chair. "aning soone’s deliberately trying to destroy Shen ngjie—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 ..."
"You figured this out, but you couldn’t just tell Shen ngjie 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..."
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