Chapter 26: Bai Yao’s Angry Outburst

“Whoa! Your face looks terrible! You look like you’re about to die.”

“Don’t even mention it…”

“You’re floating while you walk~ Movie Bro has finally become Combat Bro.”

“……”

It had to be said that Qiu Ye’s mouth was quite annoying.

But the nickname Combat Bro was just too funny—pfft!

Bai Yao pulled back his bed curtain and poked his head out.

He watched Lin Mingxin walking unsteadily, as if he were stepping on clouds, and didn’t know whether to be envious or… well, just envious.

He hadn’t even been in a relationship in his entire life!

Meanwhile, Qiu Ye and Lin Mingxin were both handsome; they definitely never lacked girls around them.

Qiu Ye leaned against the bed ladder somewhat lazily.

Hearing the movement above him, he looked up and asked, “You didn’t call me when you went to the movies last night, huh?”

“Weren’t you at a party? What time did you get back?”

Bai Yao muttered as he pulled his head back in.

“11:00 PM. You two were already asleep, and Combat Bro was even snoring,” Qiu Ye followed up.

“Hey, you went to a movie? Which one? Was it any good?”

“Just, that… Zootopia.”

“I saw Zootopia too. I didn’t think it was as good as the first one,” Lin Mingxin commented from the balcony.

“But the ship was still pretty great.”

“Right?”

Bai Yao had only seen the first one.

Although he was interested in the second, he only planned to wait for the digital release.

He retreated further behind the curtain, using its cover to put on his pants while still on the bed…

He preferred sleeping with bare legs.

“Excuse me, thanks.”

Qiu Ye moved to lean against the opposite bed frame.

He watched Bai Yao stick his rear out, cautiously climbing down the ladder step by step.

Bai Yao had accidentally bumped himself on the ladder before, and it had hurt for an entire day.

Those pajama pants were very thin, clinging to Bai Yao’s small, rounded rear.

Qiu Ye couldn’t resist and suddenly delivered a slap to it.

Bai Yao jerked, his foot slipped, and he slid right off the ladder, crashing onto the floor.

An intense wave of pain instantly rushed to his head.

His eyes reddened in a split second.

His body, with its so-called sensitivity enhanced by the system, absolutely could not handle such a fall.

His mind went blank.

“Are you crazy! Fuck you!”

He screamed as he looked up, glaring at Qiu Ye with a face flushed from anger.

Qiu Ye was stunned.

He hadn’t expected Bai Yao to fall, much less that the usually gentle, sheep-like Bai Yao would actually swear at him.

He saw that Bai Yao’s eyes were red and brimming with tears.

His lips were pressed tightly together, and his gaze was filled with both rage and grievance.

“My bad, my bad.”

Qiu Ye reached out sheepishly to pull Bai Yao up.

“I’ll buy you lunch.”

“I’m not eating!”

Bai Yao slapped his hand away and grabbed the ladder to stand up.

His brow was furrowed in pain.

He wanted to cover his aching rear but felt it would be too embarrassing, so he could only hiss and take sharp breaths in secret.

Limping toward the bathroom, he slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

“This…”

“You’re something else. That’s the first time I’ve seen Bai Yao get angry enough to swear,” Lin Mingxin laughed mockingly while brushing his teeth on the balcony.

“Even Hao never made him that mad.”

Even though Wang Zuhao provoked Bai Yao every day, Bai Yao usually just put on a cold face and ignored him.

Qiu Ye tried to defend himself with an indifferent expression.

“I was just joking. Who knew he’d have such a huge reaction?”

The moment the words left his mouth, he glanced guiltily toward the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom, Bai Yao’s nose was stinging with pain as he stared into the mirror on the wall.

The person in the mirror still looked aggrieved, like a pitiful creature on the verge of tears, yet his lips were pressed together stubbornly.

He looked truly endearing in his distress…

Neither “personage” nor “endearing” were words that should be used to describe a man.

But they fit the current Bai Yao quite well.

He finally had the chance to focus on his own face.

At first glance, it didn’t seem different from before, but upon closer inspection, his eyes seemed larger, his nose smaller, and all his features had become much more refined.

Even his facial contours were less harsh.

Combined with his slightly long hairstyle, he could still just barely be identified as a man, but he was as delicate as a young girl.

Even when using the stock camera, the distorted sense of asymmetry between the left and right sides of his face was gone.

However, his skin still looked sickly, and he appeared a bit slumped.

To Bai Yao, the changes were quite obvious when looking closely, but just like when his skin had improved before, the people around him didn’t seem to notice he had suddenly transformed.

‘It’s over…’

Bai Yao thought, his face falling as he lightly bumped his head against the tiled wall.

He rubbed his still-aching rear with both hands, sighing as he reflected, ‘How could I swear like that?’

He remembered the first time he learned to swear as a child; he had received a proper beating from his family for it.

Clearly, Qiu Ye wanted to apologize, but he had rejected it.

Now wouldn’t it be his fault? And he had used such foul language…

He was afraid they might never speak again.

In any case, he wasn’t thick-skinned enough—and he was still holding onto his anger—so it was impossible for him to take the initiative to apologize to Qiu Ye.

‘Just as well, it saves me from triggering any more tasks involving Qiu Ye.’

Bai Yao muttered to himself, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, and frustratedly bumped his head against the wall again.

“Ow, ow, ow…”

This body was way too sensitive to pain now!

Originally, even if he got slapped on the butt, he shouldn’t have had such a massive reaction and fallen off.

The terrifying thing was that when his rear was slapped, besides the pain, there was also a strange sensation…

Was this the sensitivity of that perverted woman from when she was young?

No wonder she was so obsessed!

Bai Yao shook his head, quickly pushing that strange feeling to the back of his mind.

[You have had a minor conflict with your crush…]

Goddamn system! It definitely wants me to be a simp and go apologize!

[Conflicts should be resolved as soon as possible rather than being bottled up, which only allows them to intensify. Internalizing stress provides no benefit. Please have a formal conversation with Qiu Ye, whether it leads to reconciliation or a fallout.]

[Reward: 100 Cash]

The system actually seemed to care about the host…

For a moment, Bai Yao, who had been constantly tormented by the system, didn’t know what to say.

A formal conversation?

To be honest, he had no idea how to initiate something called a “formal conversation!”

After using the toilet, Bai Yao walked out of the bathroom with a blank expression, grabbed his toiletries, and returned to the balcony to wash up.

He secretly observed Qiu Ye, wanting to see his attitude first—to see if he was angry because of the swearing, or if he was just shamelessly indifferent.

He couldn’t tell anything…

Qiu Ye was still standing behind Lin Mingxin, watching him play games and chatting happily.

“Why did you suddenly move in with us?”

“The room was missing two people anyway, so it’s not like I’m in the way.”

Qiu Ye suddenly turned his head toward the balcony, only to see a head quickly duck back inside the window.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose hesitantly, making small talk with Lin Mingxin.

“I used to play this in arcades. This is King of Fighters, right?”

“This is Street Fighter 6.”

From the corner of his eye, Qiu Ye saw Bai Yao enter the dorm and sit at his desk, one hand fidgeting with the mouse while the other was at his mouth, biting his nails.

‘I heard biting your nails is bad, though I don’t know why… but it’s strangely cute?’

Qiu Ye finally realized that Bai Yao seemed to have become a bit prettier.

Especially that side profile—the jawline was soft yet clear, his eyes and brows were lowered, and his long, thick, curled lashes cast shadows, making this classmate look gloomy, cold, and fragile.

“Bai Yao, do you want breakfast? I’ll treat you to takeout.”

Bai Yao didn’t say a word.

He played on the computer with a cold expression, discreetly shifting his weight.

It still hurt so much…

Even with a task hanging over him, he was still angry!

Besides the anger, he also felt guilty about swearing.

He was caught in a miserable, tangled state of hesitation.