Xu Lin stepped out of Li Zhi Ran’s apartment.
Feeling the light in the hallway, he was struck by a sense of returning to another world.
The impact he’d experienced inside was overwhelming, from the atmosphere to the content of their conversation.
How much of what she said could he actually believe?
…Wait, something’s not quite right!
Reflecting on his behavior in the latter half of their interaction, he felt something was off.
Sensing the anomaly, he hurriedly opened the system panel and checked his status.
“As expected!”
[Electrowave: Beep beep, signal receiving, you’re on the same wavelength!]
A new negative status had appeared.
“I got hit without even realizing it!”
No wonder he’d felt an urge to debate her bizarre narrative toward the end.
Terrifying, truly terrifying!
At least with Lin Shen Xue, the influence was noticeable when it took hold.
But with Li Zhi Ran, he’d fallen under her spell even while knowing her speech was strange.
Was hearing the black cat plushie’s voice not due to some mechanical component but because of this Electrowave status?
“No, no, that’s not right.”
But he quickly dismissed his own conclusion.
Back then, he’d checked his status bar, and it only showed [Heavy Girl’s Love].
“I’m done for. I can’t tell anymore. This is too terrifying!”
Xu Lin quickened his pace as he left the apartment.
This status isn’t like [Heavy Girl’s Love], where it can’t be removed for now, is it? Am I going to start talking as weirdly as Li Zhi Ran?
Xu Lin reached the elevator.
“This…”
Checking his status bar again, he noticed the Electrowave status had vanished.
“What? It disappeared on its own? Was it the mineral water from earlier or Li Zhi Ran’s cola?”
But I didn’t feel the special sensation of those effects just now…
Ding.
The elevator arrived, and Xu Lin stepped inside.
Buzz buzz.
As soon as he entered, his phone vibrated.
He took it out and saw dozens of messages from Lin Shen Xue.
He didn’t dare open them, fearing she’d remotely amplify the negative status again.
He tried to swipe away the notifications.
“Hm?”
Halfway through, he noticed something odd.
Lin Shen Xue’s last message was sent over ten minutes ago.
Why is it only reacting now?
It dawned on him that while he was in Li Zhi Ran’s apartment, his phone had been completely unresponsive.
That was roughly when Lin Shen Xue sent her last message.
Does Li Zhi Ran have a signal jammer in her place?
No, when I added her on WeChat, everything worked fine.
It was strange, but he wasn’t going back to confirm.
…
After leaving the apartment complex, Xu Lin felt his body and mind lighten considerably.
Gurgle.
After a few steps, his stomach growled.
He realized he hadn’t eaten lunch yet.
“Let’s find a place to eat.”
Xu Lin wasn’t ready to return to campus—he was a bit afraid of running into Lin Shen Xue.
She was already so intense remotely; face-to-face, who knew what might happen?
Nangang Plaza.
Xu Lin found a KFC and ordered a spicy chicken leg burger combo.
It was Thursday—perfect for this.
He found a seat and waited for his food.
With nothing else to do, he opened his system to check the new additions.
First were the new creatable tags that popped up when Li Zhi Ran dragged him away.
Now there were three new tags available for creation.
<?>, <Sweet Tooth>, <Cat Tongue>
He noticed that the question mark tag from Li Zhi Ran was different from Lin Shen Xue’s.
But both were mysteries—what they were and their effects were unknown, and they required a lot of tag energy to create.
“Hm?”
He spotted something new.
[<?> currently unavailable for creation]
Checking the details, he found this information.
Not enough energy?
Before he could check his energy reserves, he saw another note.
[This tag can only be created in the presence of the corresponding tag holder]
So he’d need to be face-to-face with Lin Shen Xue or Li Zhi Ran to create it.
Special information, special creation method.
The question mark tag must hide some secret.
But that wasn’t something he could figure out now…
So he looked at the other two tags.
<Cat Tongue> (White): According to the description, it could be synthesized into items with special effects, requiring 10 points of <Chuunibyou> tag energy.
<Sweet Tooth> (White): Also synthesizable into items with special effects, requiring 20 points of <Chuunibyou> tag energy.
The effect descriptions were vague, and he’d need to create and synthesize them to know the exact outcomes.
After reviewing this page, Xu Lin opened the tag energy page.
A new virtual UI appeared, showing Li Zhi Ran’s avatar.
As he’d suspected, the tag energy from different people was distinct.
Below her avatar was his current <Chuunibyou> tag energy points.
“2000 points?”
Xu Lin thought he’d misread.
This was far more than the few hundred points he’d gotten from Lin Shen Xue.
What did I even do?
Reflecting, he realized he’d only been in a room with Li Zhi Ran, drank her cola, and talked a lot.
Was the difference just in the amount of conversation?
That made sense. Lin Shen Xue was so intense that he barely dared face her, let alone chat.
If that was the case, it was trouble.
To deal with [Heavy Girl’s Love], he needed to clear the black aura obscuring its information by drinking mineral water.
The mineral water required <Positive Role> tags for synthesis.
Creating <Positive Role> tags needed Lin Shen Xue’s tag energy.
To get that energy, he’d need to get close to her and probably talk more.
But given her ability to remotely affect him, facing her directly could lead to unpredictable consequences.
Thinking of this, Xu Lin felt a wave of frustration. His eyes darted across the system panel, searching for another solution.
Soon, he noticed a new page that had appeared at some point.
“Tag Status?”
He quickly clicked it, and two avatars appeared: Lin Shen Xue and Li Zhi Ran.
Their avatars had different background colors.
Lin Shen Xue’s was orange, while Li Zhi Ran’s was blue.
Without much hesitation, he clicked on Lin Shen Xue’s avatar.
Her orange background was strikingly vivid, giving him an inexplicable sense of foreboding.
Upon clicking, her avatar enlarged into a full-body image on the left side of the interface, showing the outfit he’d seen her in today.
On the right was a list of information.
Tag Holder
Name: Lin Shen Xue
Attribute Tag: <Heavy Girl>
Tag Status: Unstable · Moderate
The words <Heavy Girl> and Unstable · Moderate immediately caught his eye.
Their effects were identical to those he’d seen on her.
Unstable · Moderate glowed with the same orange light as her avatar’s background.
Looking at the orange text, Xu Lin felt a twinge of anxiety.
The next moment, the orange light seemed to flicker.
He blinked, but it hadn’t flickered.
An illusion?
Never mind that—what does Unstable · Moderate mean? Is it the same for Li Zhi Ran?
He quickly exited and clicked on Li Zhi Ran’s avatar.
The layout was the same: her full-body image on the left, in the outfit he’d seen earlier.
On the right was her information.
Name: Li Zhi Ran
Attribute Tag: <Super High School Genius Girl>
Tag Status: None
Attribute Tag: <Chuunibyou>
Tag Status: Stable · Severe
As expected, the tags’ fonts matched the effects he’d seen.
Stable · Severe was in the same deep blue as her avatar’s background, giving him a sense of calm.
Different, huh? Does the color indicate the danger level?
It felt intuitive.
He noticed the tag status could be clicked for detailed explanations.
He quickly checked.
Tag Status Levels
Mild, Moderate, Severe, Critical
Status severity increases from left to right.
Critical level only exists in unstable states.
States
Stable: The tag status is stable; the deeper the severity, the more stable.
Unstable: The tag status is unstable; the deeper the severity, the less stable.
“The more unstable the tag status, the more dangerous it is to be near the tag holder. When the status reaches Critical, the tag may transform at any moment, ultimately becoming…”
Reading the last line, Xu Lin muttered it silently in his mind.
But as he reached the final two words, his inner voice stopped.
The visual impact of those two words sent a shiver through his heart.
They were blood-dripping, murderous words.
<Yandere>