Yu hua shrank into the corner at the back of the classroom by the wall, fiddling with his phone, half-listening in case he needed to take notes while mostly slacking off.
As the bell rang for break, Yu hua stretched lazily, only to see a familiar figure clutching a backpack walking straight toward him.
“What’s up, Lin-ge? You looking for me for something?”
Yu hua was a little surprised that Lin Ling would approach him at this time.
He’d chosen this corner precisely to slack off, and Lin Ling, the king of overachievers, was always an unmovable fixture in the front row.
For him to come all the way to the slacker zone, he definitely had business.
Lin Ling got straight to the point, lowering his voice, “It’s about the issue we discussed at the last meeting. The one about the ‘Disseminator’. I’d like to ask for your help with the investigation, privately.”
His tone was so matter-of-fact that Yuhua almost nodded reflexively.
Luckily, he caught himself—he wasn’t Shui Hua, hadn’t attended any meeting, so he should play dumb.
He immediately put on a blank expression, waving his hand in front of Lin Ling’s eyes, “What meeting? What Disseminator? Lin Ling, did you not get your noon nap and start sleep-talking? Or did you get hit on the head by some Abnormal?”
Seeing that he hadn’t tricked Yuhua into saying anything, Lin Ling wasn’t discouraged.
He sent a PDF File to Yuhua’s phone, “Take a look at this and you’ll understand.”
Yuhua knew he wasn’t supposed to know anything, so he deliberately slowed down, opening the file and reading it carefully page by page.
The contents included the basic situation from the previous meeting, plus some new investigative data, such as a Distribution Map of Vampire Meme holders in Dongjiang District and surrounding areas, Density Comparative Analysis, and so on.
The conclusion was clear: this region really had been seeded by that Disseminator.
However, the investigation into the Disseminator itself had made little progress.
The report showed that inquiries with several Vampire Meme holders had turned up nothing of value.
Several days had yielded nothing.
“Ohhh…”
Yuhua dragged out the sound, putting on a face of trying hard to process the information.
“So, there’s a criminal out there spreading memes and absorbing them? Sounds pretty scary.”
Then he spread his hands, looking innocent.
“But, Lin-ge, are you sure you’ve got the right guy? I’m just a regular college student, not much use in a fight. How could I help?”
“Because I’m testing if you’re Shui Hua.”
Lin Ling was as honest as ever.
Yuhua couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation.
“Didn’t you already check before? Why are we doing this again?”
“As long as I haven’t seen you and Shui Hua appear on screen together, I won’t give up.”
Lin Ling’s stubbornness was just as unshakeable as always.
Yuhua decided to just go with it.
“By that logic, I’ve never been on screen with the Ability Bureau director either, why don’t you suspect I’m the director?”
“That’s different.”
“Oh, but it’s different for you now? Brain fighting brain again, logic’s falling apart, huh?”
Yuhua put on a “dead pig doesn’t fear boiling water” attitude and even countered, “Actually, I’d love to meet Magical Girl Shui Hua myself. Master Liu Jin, with your mighty abilities, why don’t you call her over so we can confront each other face to face?”
Lin Ling was clearly no match for Yuhua in verbal sparring and was momentarily stumped, so he switched topics.
“Actually, I wanted to privately ask Shui Hua and the Magical Girl Division for help with the investigation.”
“Go ahead and ask, but why are you telling me? I can’t decide for them.”
Lin Ling didn’t answer, clearly insistent on treating him as Shui Hua.
“It’s mainly that the number of Vampire Meme holders is higher than expected. The workload is enormous. With just my Squad of four, it’s impossible to cover everything.”
“But this can’t be spread around. If we call in other Heroes, it’ll tip off the enemy. So I wanted to ask you and the Magical Girl Division for help. You’re trustworthy… and not too high-profile, so your actions won’t attract too much attention.”
“Fine, fine, so that’s how you want to play it.”
Yuhua still underestimated Lin Ling’s sheer stubbornness.
He understood that Lin Ling had locked in on the idea that he was Shui Hua and was saying all this for Shui Hua’s benefit.
But then Yuhua remembered he’d agreed to meet Anpelin after class.
He needed to warn his girlfriend, who knew his secret identity, to be careful not to blow his cover.
He quickly pulled out his phone and began to message Anpelin.
“Who are you messaging?”
Lin Ling noticed Yuhua’s attention was on his phone and asked.
“My girlfriend, of course.”
Yuhua quickly turned off his screen to keep him from seeing.
At those words, Lin Ling’s expression instantly dimmed.
He went on, talking to the Shui Hua in his heart, “Why did I fail…? Sigh, tell me, what did I do wrong? We’re both from the ‘fallen from the sky’ type, both making the first move. How come your girlfriend could win you over, but I… can’t even get close to Shui Hua?”
Yuhua was stumped.
He couldn’t say for sure why he’d turned Lin Ling down back then.
Was it because Lin Ling was his roommate?
Or because he was afraid of being found out as a Magical Girl?
But thinking about it now, neither seemed like a big deal.
He sighed and, for once, used a sincere tone, patting Lin Ling’s shoulder.
“Feelings… who can say for sure? You don’t always get a return just because you put in effort. It’s like your favorite math—no matter how much heart I put into it, it still looks down on me…”
“You’re right.”
Lin Ling was silent for a long time, so long that Yuhua thought the topic had passed.
Suddenly, as if making some great decision, Lin Ling looked up, lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear, and said,
“If I made up my mind to always stay as Liu Jin, would you accept me?”
“Lin-ge, don’t do anything foolish. Forcing something never leads to sweetness.”
Yuhua quickly tried to talk him out of it, then solemnly added, “I’ve got a wife now, gotta stick to my manly virtues.”
“Yeah…”
Lin Ling shook his head, casting that dangerous thought aside.
Seeing Lin Ling so deflated, Yuhua instead felt a strange sense of aversion.
“Lin-ge, let me say something a bit harsh—don’t take it the wrong way.”
Yuhua turned to face him.
“This mindset you’ve got… if we’re being generous, it’s devoted. But to put it bluntly, isn’t it just classic bootlicking?”
Lin Ling’s lips moved, as if wanting to argue, but in the end he just listened in silence.
“You think that as long as you put in enough, do enough, solve all her problems, even change yourself, she’ll feel indebted, or be ‘moved’ and naturally end up with you, right?”
“But in reality? How does the saying go? ‘A pint of kindness breeds gratitude; a bushel, resentment.’ Do too much for someone and the relationship can’t develop healthily. The other person isn’t feeling love—they’re feeling pressure. She’ll be suffocated by your selfless gestures and the guilt that comes with it, maybe even anxious and avoidant because she can’t repay you equally. No one wants to stay in a relationship where they feel indebted for long. It’s too exhausting.”
“But… if I don’t do everything I can for her, don’t try to be good to her… she wouldn’t even look at me.”
Lin Ling muttered.
“That’s why… one-sided love always ends in tragedy.”
Yuhua’s meaning was clear: rather than torment yourself, it’s better to move on.
“Master, I’ve got it! I shouldn’t just sacrifice myself for her, I need to let Shui Hua see my charm, so she’ll fall in love with me, right?”
Yuhua had just been relieved to have finally talked sense into Lin Ling, but as soon as he turned around, the guy had “enlightened” himself in the wrong direction.
“Wait, that’s what you took away from all this?”