Sometimes, comparing people to each other really can make you furious.
Back in high school, Bai Yao slept less than seven hours a day.
He barely had any entertainment at all and only managed to get into this university by pushing himself to the absolute limit.
Meanwhile, Qiu Ye skipped class every day in high school, squatted at home playing games, taught himself on the side, and still ended up at the exact same university as him.
He even played games better!
They had started playing Monster Hunter at the same time, yet Qiu Ye’s progress was way faster than his.
And damn it, Qiu Ye was better looking too!
That part was the most infuriating.
Bai Yao had basically turned on a system cheat.
His skin had improved, his looks had gone up, but he still could not compare to Qiu Ye.
If anything, he was starting to look more and more like a girl.
“Wake up, wake up~”
Bai Yao turned his head.
Lin Mingxin, who had been lying in bed all morning, had finally decided to get up.
This roommate was always like this.
He stayed up late playing games at night, slept until noon during the day, only occasionally went to morning classes, and on weekends could lie in bed all day.
“Are you a pig or something? How can you sleep that much?”
Qiu Ye asked casually.
“What are we eating for lunch?”
“I’ve got plans at noon! Gotta shower, clean up, and head out.”
Another date?!
Bai Yao and Qiu Ye both looked at Lin Mingxin at the same time.
“Can you even handle it?”
Qiu Ye teased.
“Careful you don’t end up kidney-deficient.”
“I’ve got iron kidneys, okay? One day of rest is enough.”
He said that, but Lin Mingxin still looked a bit pale.
“Off to shower~”
He grabbed a change of underwear and swaggered toward the bathroom, his face full of smug satisfaction.
Bai Yao secretly let out a sigh of relief.
With things like this, the system probably would not issue any more tasks related to Lin Mingxin, right?
The system was kind of twisted, but it did care about the host’s physical and mental health.
It would not go so far as to make him steal someone else’s partner.
‘If Qiu Ye got a girlfriend too, then this would have nothing to do with me anymore, right?’
Lost in thought, Bai Yao pulled out the plastic tub from under the desk, stuffed with two days’ worth of clothes, and went to the balcony to wash them.
The school had washing machines, but they required scanning a code to pay.
Summer clothes were thin, and hand-washing was not much trouble.
“Bai Yao, where did you put the shampoo? I’m going to shower later.”
Qiu Ye shouted through the back door.
“It’s in the cabinet.”
“Which cabinet? The wardrobe?”
Bai Yao sensed trouble and hurriedly put down what he was doing.
“I’ll get it for you. Don’t you have your own shampoo?”
Don’t let Qiu Ye rummage around and dig out his women’s clothes.
“I’ve been using yours these past few days. Why’d you put it away?”
Qiu Ye was about to open the cabinet when Bai Yao rushed over and squeezed him aside.
Standing there, Qiu Ye watched Bai Yao’s blank face and flustered movements, then scanned him up and down with suspicion.
What was this?
A secret?
“Here.”
Bai Yao took out the shampoo and handed it to Qiu Ye, only to see him staring with obvious curiosity.
Bai Yao’s heart tightened.
He pretended nothing had happened and went back to washing clothes.
“You didn’t secretly hide a cup, did you?”
“???”
Bai Yao turned around blankly.
“What’s that supposed to be?”
Qiu Ye looked even more surprised.
“You don’t even know?”
“Why would I know?”
Bai Yao muttered as he returned to the balcony and poured laundry detergent into the tub.
Qiu Ye was not particularly curious about a guy’s secrets.
He followed him to the balcony, hands in his pockets, leaning against the railing with a laid-back air, watching Bai Yao from behind as he did laundry.
Bai Yao was wearing sleepwear.
The short-sleeved pajama shirt looked a bit oversized on him, hanging loosely, like a kid wearing an adult’s clothes.
Below the short pajama pants, a section of pale calves was exposed.
They were fair and smooth, almost without any visible leg hair.
The muscles showed faintly when he exerted strength, but when relaxed they looked soft, with a slight jiggle.
No matter how you looked at it, it was the silhouette of a girl.
Qiu Ye thought that Bai Yao had not been this girl-like before.
Not just his figure.
His face also seemed more feminine.
Bai Yao keenly sensed the gaze behind him and nervously glanced down at himself.
Thankfully, because he was bending over to wash clothes, the loose pajama top hung down and concealed the slightly thicker fat on his chest.
‘As long as the most obvious secondary sex characteristic, my chest, doesn’t keep getting bigger, it’s not a big problem.’
Lin Mingxin finished showering in less than ten minutes.
Wearing only loose boxers, he walked out of the bathroom.
Qiu Ye, who had been waiting for a while, immediately went in to occupy it.
“What’s the rush?”
Lin Mingxin muttered, glanced at Bai Yao, and awkwardly retreated into the dorm.
Even though they were all men, whenever he was bare-chested in front of Bai Yao, he could not stop feeling awkward.
This time, the awkwardness was even stronger.
It was almost like the shame of being shirtless in front of a girl.
Lin Mingxin looked up toward the balcony and saw Bai Yao poking his head out at the same time.
Their eyes met.
Bai Yao’s large, almond-shaped eyes were full of curiosity, blinking lightly.
A few strands of hair were soaked with sweat and stuck to his temples and forehead, messy yet strangely beautiful, like an unguarded little girl next door.
‘Is he prettier than before? At least his eyes seem a bit bigger.’
‘Or have I just gotten used to it, and my sense of aesthetics has been led astray?’
The moment that thought appeared, shame and unease rushed to his head.
Lin Mingxin’s face flushed red.
He hurriedly opened the wardrobe and hid behind the door, blocking Bai Yao’s line of sight.
“???”
Bai Yao was completely confused.
Lin Mingxin was acting strange.
“Why are you blushing? What’s wrong with you?”
Could it be that Lin Mingxin felt ashamed of his completely average, slightly chubby body?
But aside from the small minority who worked out regularly, weren’t most men built like that?
Bai Yao had seen plenty of men.
He had lived in dorms since high school and had seen all kinds of bodies, tall, short, fat, thin.
He scrubbed the clothes once with detergent, then rinsed them twice with clean water.
After making sure there was basically no residue, he wrung them out as much as possible, put them on hangers, stood on his tiptoes, held the railing, and hung them on the clothesline.
The sun was pretty strong today.
They would probably be completely dry by tomorrow morning.
Bai Yao wiped the sweat from his forehead.
His hair was too long.
Once he was in a place without air conditioning, it was easy to sweat.
‘Should I really go get a haircut?’
‘Before, when my hair was a bit longer, I just looked androgynous. Now I’m starting to look hard to tell apart, male or female, aren’t I?’
He gathered the hair at the back of his head.
It was still too short to tie into an artsy ponytail.
Qiu Ye soon finished showering and came out of the bathroom.
“We’re going out to have fun later.”
As soon as he stepped out, he casually announced it.
“Huh?”
Bai Yao froze.
Watching Qiu Ye swagger back into the dorm, it took him a moment to react, and then he panicked.
‘I don’t want to go! It’s blazing hot. How nice is it to stay in the dorm and play games? What’s even fun outside?’
An invitation from your crush makes you secretly happy yet insecure, but don’t be afraid.
With the system’s help, you have already lost weight.
Your skin condition is good, and you absolutely don’t look like a woman in her thirties.
Go to the date with confidence.
Who knows, maybe there will be unexpected gains?
Don’t you crave his body?
Date! Date! Reward: one hundred in cash.
No! It’s just classmates going out together!
Bai Yao had absolutely no interest in men’s bodies, okay?
He subconsciously glanced at Qiu Ye.
Qiu Ye had just showered and was only wearing loose boxers, strutting around the dorm without a care.
You could not really tell when he was dressed, but this guy had a big frame… broad shoulders, narrow waist, well-proportioned, and actually pretty good-looking.
Better than Lin Mingxin…
‘Stop! I almost got led astray by the system!’
Formatting for the system message was lost this chapter