Xiao Ai’s Gift
. That little bird?
A trace of panic flickered in Yun Ruoxi’s eyes as she forced a smile and said:
“Just now…I dozed off for a while, and when I woke up, I had no idea where that little bird went.”
“The little bird is missing? Want me to help you look for it?” Yun Che asked with concern.
Yun Ruoxi smiled awkwardly.
“No need, maybe it just flew away. After all, this place is so…”
She paused as she spoke, then instinctively corrected herself:
“Mm, maybe the little bird just didn’t like it here.”
“Is that so?” Yun Che smiled.
For some reason, he felt that something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.
“Yeah.” Yun Ruoxi nodded and continued reading her book, but no matter how you looked at it, she seemed to be deliberately changing the topic.
More than three hours later, Yun Che left to take care of something.
Before he left, Yun Ruoxi told him that she wanted to take a shower, have a good sleep, and prepare for tomorrow’s examination.
There was no need for anyone else to come by for now.
After saying this, she locked the dorm door behind her, leaned against it, and panted heavily for a long while before she finally walked step by step into the bathroom.
Bang.
The bathroom door closed. The shower was turned on by her telekinesis.
The sound of hot water fell like a rain curtain, while wisps of steam quickly filled the entire bathroom.
Suddenly, the faint rustle of movement accompanied by footsteps arose.
Her scallion-like fingers gently undid buttons and zippers.
One piece of clothing after another was removed, hung for a moment around her fair ankles, then gently tossed aside.
The blue-haired girl, now bare and exposed, walked towards the shower. The rising steam concealed her most sensitive parts.
Only her milk-white skin could be glimpsed through the mist.
She walked straight through the spray. Her hair, long enough to reach her chest, was drenched and stuck to her back in strands.
Leaning against the wall, the girl covered her face and slowly slid down, fat teardrops rolling from the corners of her eyes.
“What do I do?”
She sobbed in a low voice, the scene of her own hands killing the little bird replaying over and over in her mind.
“How could I do something like that… If Xiao Ai finds out… she’ll definitely hate me.”
“And… A Zhen-ge…
He’ll hate me too.”
“Wuwuwu… I can’t let them know!”
“I absolutely can’t!” The girl clenched her right hand so tightly that her sharp nails pierced her palm, fresh blood dripping out and blending into the water, turning it a pale red.
“As long as they don’t find out, it’s like it never happened.”
“That’s right, as long as they don’t know, it’s just a harmless lie!”
Group popularity test, I’m more like a sheep than a villain 34%
Yun Ruoxi mumbled to herself, trying to convince herself.
Clearly, even if Aili found out, she wouldn’t blame her—such a simple truth, Yun Ruoxi knew she shouldn’t be unable to figure it out.
But at this moment, she simply ignored it, as if instinctively avoiding the option of coming clean.
Or perhaps.
Rather than confessing, she now preferred “lying” and running away.
“Why won’t she say it, why won’t she say it”
“It’s killing me, just say it and we’ll solve it together”
“Lao Xi’s been brainwashed into a villain?”
“Lao Xi versus the protagonist team? Now that would be interesting, hurry up and bring it on”
“Probably just can’t say it. Lao Xi was about to start a war of words and then suddenly changed the topic, sigh”
And after she’d made up her mind to keep this secret,
Yun Ruoxi seemed to let go of a heavy burden. Her expression gradually calmed, and she stood up to wash herself while muttering about how to cover up her lie perfectly.
“Yes, after I woke up, the bird was gone. I looked everywhere and still couldn’t find it. Maybe it missed its mom and dad and just flew home!”
***
The next morning.
Yun Ruoxi smiled gently and naturally told the lie she’d woven for herself.
And as always, the trusting Aili didn’t suspect a thing, nodding enthusiastically. “If that’s the case, let the little bird go home. I shouldn’t have kept it in the first place.”
“Really?”
Lin Zhen, standing to the side, smiled, his gaze flickering subtly.
Last night, after Yun Che left Yun Ruoxi’s dorm, he couldn’t shake off his uneasy feeling and told Lin Zhen about it.
Lin Zhen, who had originally suspected Saint Hand and Dr. Forefinger, didn’t ignore Yun Che’s feelings, and immediately became more alert. Early the next morning, he brought Aili along to check in on Yun Ruoxi.
He hoped to notice something.
But now… it didn’t seem like there was any problem?
Lin Zhen looked at the sweetly smiling girl, his gaze briefly landing on the black collar around her neck.
Then, while chatting idly with Yun Ruoxi, he wandered around the dorm.
Before long, he came to the trash bin and, under the audience’s expectant gazes, bent down to look inside.
But it was empty—there was nothing there.
The only evidence—the blood-stained tissue—had been flushed down the toilet by Yun Ruoxi last night.
“Ah, it’s over, the evidence is gone.”
“Now Lao Xi’s really going to go dark and fall.”
“The more distant Lao Xi gets, the more my heart aches.”
“Don’t tease your Xi-jie into smiling.”
“Lao Xi doesn’t have any dark, heavy secrets—it’s all light and cheerful.”
After chatting for a while, seeing that it was about time, Lin Zhen suggested they head to the lab for her follow-up check.
Yun Ruoxi had no objections. She stood up, took Aili’s hand, and followed Lin Zhen to Dr. Forefinger’s laboratory.
Dr. Forefinger happened to be available as well.
Using a series of diagnostic instruments, he thoroughly checked Yun Ruoxi’s physical and mental state.
In the end, he confirmed that not only was the girl perfectly healthy, but there was also no psychological damage.
“So now I can go about freely, right?”
Learning the results, Yun Ruoxi looked at Lin Zhen with excitement.
Lin Zhen hesitated for a moment but still nodded.
Although he was a bit worried inside, he couldn’t just confine Yun Ruoxi without concrete reason.
After all, Yun Ruoxi trusted him and chose to stay in the dorm, rather than being forcibly grounded by him.
“Hurray!” Yun Ruoxi jumped up happily and hugged both Aili and Lin Zhen at once.
Then, unable to wait, she dragged both of them to the Training Room.
“I haven’t trained properly in more than three months—I’m itching for some action!”
As she spoke, Yun Ruoxi pushed open the door to Class Nine’s Training Room.
“Wait, why not go to our Class Three Training Room instead?” Lin Zhen, who’d been lost in thought, suddenly snapped back to attention.
“Why?” Yun Ruoxi asked, puzzled as she walked in. “What’s the difference?”
“Because…” Lin Zhen hadn’t even finished when he saw Duxie and the others inside, on high alert and trembling all over. He sighed inwardly.
Crap, how did she end up here too?
“Xinglan…”
Duxie said through gritted teeth. For this period, she and the others had been constantly on edge, worried Xinglan would come for them.
But who could have guessed she’d spend nearly a month holed up in her dorm, not stepping outside at all?
She relied entirely on others to bring her food and supplies.
This inevitably made her suspicious.
She’d targeted Xingkui so much, yet Xinglan, instead of retaliating, had gone into hiding—
As if she were the weaker side now.
Could it be…her previous suspicion was right, and Xinglan really had been weakened?