“Turned red!? And it increased this much!? So much so that the system even marked the change in red!? Why did the first and second stats suddenly drop?”
Su Wanli’s eyes flew wide open, her gaze darting back and forth between the translucent data panel before her and Meng Wange’s face, which showed not a single ripple of emotion.
What did this mean? She hadn’t done anything particularly special just now, had she? She’d only told Meng Wange that she didn’t have much of an appetite and to stop bothering her…
So why did those two stats drop?
First, calm down and try to think from Meng Wange’s perspective…
If I were Meng Wange, I’d have gotten up early, worked hard to prepare a sumptuous breakfast for this picky young lady, and even specially made a brand-new dessert.
And what happened? The moment this villainous eldest young lady stepped into the banquet hall, she was distracted, ignored everything I had carefully prepared, and even snapped at me in an impatient tone when I tried to show concern…
“I see! I get it! It’s a sense of achievement, isn’t it!? There must be a stat here that represents Meng Wange’s sense of achievement!”
Imagine it: Meng Wange was looking forward to having her efforts praised, but instead she was treated with such coldness. The disappointment of preparing something with care only to have it disregarded would definitely take a huge hit to her sense of achievement!
And that’s the culprit behind the big drop!
Alright, time to test this. If I show interest in the breakfast and affirm Meng Wange’s efforts, those two stats should go back up, right?
Filled with a heavy sense of guilt, Su Wanli took a deep breath and suddenly stood up from her seat. To make it seem more natural, she even slapped the table hard and shouted at Meng Wange, who was eating quietly—
“Hey, Meng Wange, I suddenly have an appetite! Bring out that dessert. I’ll try some!”
“Yes, Miss Su.”
Meng Wange gave Su Wanli a slight nod, her face still carrying that calm, untroubled expression, showing not a trace of disturbance.
She elegantly placed down her knife and fork, then turned to the refrigerator beside her and brought out a mousse cake decorated with fresh strawberries and raspberries, looking pink and adorable.
At this point, Su Wanli couldn’t care less about maintaining her villainess persona. She cleared her throat lightly and, while keeping an eye on the data panel, spoke cautiously to Meng Wange—
“Oh? Is this the new dessert you developed? Not bad looking. I’d give it a nine out of ten.”
“…Thank you for your compliment.”
Although Meng Wange’s face still wore that calm, indifferent smile, the data panel had indeed changed again.
①?: 10 → 16 (+6)
②?: 30 → 52 (+22)
“So, did I guess right? Is one of them the sense of achievement?”
【Sorry, Host. The system ran a test for you. The first two stats have nothing to do with a sense of achievement. They’re not even remotely related.】
“…Tch!”
Su Wanli gritted her teeth in frustration and inadvertently slammed her hand on the table in front of her, making a sound loud enough to echo through the banquet hall.
①?: 16 → 12 (-4)
②?: 52 → 48 (-4)
④?: 80 → 82 (+2)
Watching the stats that fluctuated at the slightest provocation, Su Wanli’s mouth twitched. Finally, she buried her head in her breakfast and silently began eating the dessert Meng Wange had prepared.
①?: 55
②?: 75
③?: 71
④?: 76
⑤?: 0
On the way to school after leaving the Su residence, looking at the now stable data panel, Su Wanli bit her lip in frustration.
At this point, the other four stats were roughly the same as when she’d first gotten the panel. Only the first one had dropped solidly from 45 to 5 after Meng Wange finished breakfast.
“Alright, Su Wanli, stop overthinking. Set aside all those complicated emotions and look at it purely objectively—”
“It slowly rose before eating, slowly fell during eating, fluctuated slightly when I treated her coldly, and hit the lowest point after she finished the entire meal…”
“Then the answer is obvious. The meaning of this first stat is definitely Meng Wange’s ‘appetite,’ right?”
【Ding-dong——】
The moment this thought popped up, the system let out a cheerful chime—
【Congratulations, Host! You have successfully identified the true name of the first stat! That’s right, it represents “Appetite Value,” specifically reflecting the heroine’s current level of “hunger and thirst”!】
Along with the system’s voice, the “?” in front of the first data line gradually disappeared, replaced by the two characters for “Appetite.”
“…!? Wait a minute. Are you telling me you knew what those ‘?’ represented all along? You were just waiting for me to figure it out myself!?”
【Hmm? That’s not the case, Host. You can think of these as five pieces of encrypted information. The system can only take the password you deduce and try to match it. The degree of吻合 has to be high enough to crack the information. And there are a limited number of attempts—you can’t just throw out random answers.】
After giving a seemingly reasonable explanation, the system continued—
【—In any case, today’s Villainess Task is to successfully uncover the true meanings of the remaining four “?” in the data panel.】
“…”
“So, after all this, today’s Villainess Task is for me to act like a private detective and crack Meng Wange’s heart?”
“Where’s the supposed villainess task!? How is this bullying at all!? Aren’t you forcing me to understand Meng Wange’s inner world?”
【Don’t misunderstand, Host. As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. Only when you fully grasp the heroine’s inner logic can you become a top-tier villainess, striking her hardest blow when she least expects it.】
“…Hah, nice words. I hope you believe them yourself.”
Su Wanli sneered inwardly, then shifted her gaze back to Meng Wange beside her.
The brown-haired girl was quietly looking out the window, her profile softened by the morning light.
“Alright, since the task has been set, I just need to try to complete it.”
But things like appetite were indeed very easy to judge—just look at how it changed before and after meals. Practically a freebie.
But what about the other four stats?
Even just the meaning of the second stat was already giving Su Wanli a headache. Not to mention the third, fourth, and fifth, which had barely changed at all—she had no clue what the second one represented.
After all, human emotions are so varied, so many similar feelings are interconnected, appearing and disappearing together. How was she supposed to guess?
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