Chapter 61: A Shocking Encounter and a Secret Revealed

Bai Chen drew a sharp breath, as though confronted with a monumental crisis that threatened to upend his entire life.

The murmur of voices drifting from the corridor behind him made his heart skip a beat, intensifying his dread.

Bang!

The door slammed shut, the lock clicked into place, all executed in one swift, seamless motion.

“Bai Chen, what’s wrong with you?”

Mo Qiu’s voice, startlingly close, emanated from directly behind him.

Bai Chen whipped his head around, nearly stumbling backward in sheer terror.

While he considered himself capable of handling a certain degree of shock, this was an entirely different magnitude of stimulation!

The young woman, now divested of her uniform and bra, stood before him.

Her ample breasts, like two plump white rabbits, seemed to emerge from a verdant thicket.

While her cascade of black hair partially obscured their rosy tips, every subtle shift of her body offered tantalizing glimpses of their full expanse through the strands.

Bai Chen instinctively recoiled, his back slamming against the door with a jolt.

Yet, Mo Qiu continued to advance, her full breasts seemingly poised to press against his chest at any moment.

The horrifying image of them deforming upon impact flashed through Bai Chen’s mind, prompting him to swiftly duck and scramble away from her side.

Leaning against the infirmary bed, Bai Chen gulped in air, panting heavily.

It was terrifying, utterly terrifying.

The profound chasm between them seemed capable of swallowing him whole; once his eyes landed upon it, they simply refused to budge.

“Are you alright?”

Hearing Mo Qiu’s footsteps draw closer, Bai Chen instinctively shut his eyes and extended a hand.

“Quickly put on your clothes, you’ll catch a cold.”

“Okay.”

The soft rustle of fabric filled his ears, and Bai Chen, eyes tightly shut, struggled immensely to maintain his composure.

Within his mind, the ‘upper and lower houses’ (TL Note: A humorous metaphor for conflicting thoughts, here referring to the logical and primal parts of his brain) waged an intense debate over whether to open his eyes, with the ‘lower house’ (TL Note: The primal, instinct-driven part) perilously close to winning the argument.

“It’s done.”

Finally… Bai Chen exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and when he opened his eyes, they nearly sprang from their sockets in disbelief.

This was ‘done’?!

Mo Qiu had merely draped his shirt over her, not even bothering to fasten a single button.

The gaping uniform offered only a partial concealment of her breasts, particularly the faint blush that seemed to subtly beckon Bai Chen’s hand to push the fabric aside completely.

Before his hands could betray his resolve, Bai Chen’s legs staged a preemptive strike, giving out beneath him and sending him collapsing onto the bed.

“You look terrible.”

Mo Qiu continued to draw nearer, even going so far as to clamber onto the bed.

As Bai Chen continuously retreated, she maintained a persistent, puppy-like crawl, relentlessly closing the distance between them.

There was nowhere left to go!

Bai Chen’s head bumped against the wall, yet Mo Qiu showed no sign of halting her advance.

“Are you hurt somewhere?”

“No.”

“But why are you hiding from me?”

“I…”

“Do you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Then why aren’t you looking at me?”

‘I’d certainly like to look at you, but could you possibly give me the opportunity?’

Bai Chen was caught between laughter and tears as the young woman leaned her face even closer, her still-damp hair falling gently against his skin.

And those two ‘big white rabbits’ (TL Note: A humorous euphemism for breasts), as if sensing his complete lack of escape, were perilously close to pressing against him!

Should those soft mounds make contact with his chest, ‘Little Bai Chen’ (TL Note: A playful euphemism for his penis) would surely stage an immediate revolt.

In this dire emergency, Bai Chen’s mind raced at an incredible speed, his mental gears grinding so furiously they threatened to spark.

An idea!

“Mo Qiu, you aren’t interested in acting, are you?”

Bai Chen practically blurted it out, seizing the moment of Mo Qiu’s halted movement to swiftly scramble off the bed.

This question had been nagging at him ever since they left the activity room; Mo Qiu’s displayed acting prowess simply didn’t seem like a natural, innate talent.

As he turned his back to the young woman, taking a moment to steady his breathing, Mo Qiu cast a profound gaze upon him, silently clicking her tongue.

****

“I actually practiced.”

“Huh?”

Bai Chen spun his head around once more.

Mo Qiu was now seated on the edge of the bed, appearing to have lost all interest, as she calmly fastened the buttons of his shirt.

‘Practiced’?

What exactly did she mean by that?

Mo Qiu braced herself with both hands on the mattress, her bare feet swinging idly.

“When I was little, I really liked watching movies, so I practiced a bit.”

‘A bit…’

Remembering the effusive praise from the drama club members, Bai Chen found it impossible not to suspect that her definition of ‘a bit’ differed significantly from his own.

The revelation that Mo Qiu not only enjoyed movies but was passionate enough to learn acting came as a complete surprise to Bai Chen.

Having uncovered yet another of her secrets, Bai Chen’s heart swelled with unbridled joy.

“So you agreed to participate in the performance, you’re not forcing yourself, right?”

Bai Chen walked towards her.

Mo Qiu looked up, meeting his gaze, “No.”

“That’s good then.”

If she were forcing herself to do something she disliked, Bai Chen knew he would be plagued by guilt.

However, since her participation in the performance was voluntary, he felt compelled to redouble his own efforts, hoping to at least minimize their skill gap slightly before the weekend.

“Thank you, Bai Chen.”

“Huh?”

Mo Qiu tugged his shirt tighter around her, her nose twitching subtly, almost as if she were savoring its scent.

Despite her expressionless delivery, Bai Chen sensed a distinct tremor of emotion underlying her words.

Scratching his nose, Bai Chen immediately dropped to one knee, a gesture that prompted the young woman to lift her foot slightly.

“We are friends.

As long as you’re in danger, I’ll definitely rush over to help you at the first moment.”

“Really?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die.” (TL Note: A common Chinese saying, ‘pianren shi xiaogou,’ literally ‘liars are puppies,’ implying that one would become a puppy if they lied, thus emphasizing sincerity.)

As if sensing that mere words alone were too fragile, Bai Chen proactively extended his hand, linking pinkies with her.

Mo Qiu gazed at their intertwined fingers, remaining utterly still for a prolonged moment.

With class fast approaching, Bai Chen was the first to bid her farewell and head back to his classroom.

Only when the door clicked shut did Mo Qiu finally lower her hand.

****

‘It’s almost like a knight and a princess… No, that’s not right.

It should be a foolish dog and his master.’

Her tale of loving movies and thus learning to act was nothing more than a fabrication spun to deceive Bai Chen.

The fragments of acting skill she retained from her previous life served but a single, crucial purpose: survival!

While relying on such acting prowess to go undercover again was out of the question, it was more than sufficient to impress a group of middle schoolers.

Mo Qiu lay back on the bed, lifting her finger once more.

‘Bai Chen said he would rush to my side at the very first sign of trouble?’

Unbeknownst to the young woman herself, a peculiar curve crept onto her lips.

‘He really does care about me, doesn’t he?’

‘My sacrifices, then, were not in vain; the harvest has been bountiful.’

This pleasant mood lingered for a considerable time, sustaining Mo Qiu in a remarkably good state throughout the evening.

After finishing dinner and catching up on the news, Mo Qiu once more stepped into the mirror in her room, transporting herself to the ‘cell’ where her prisoner was confined.

“I’ll kill you!”

The monstrous creature, its body a tapestry of scars, erupted into a furious roar the instant it caught sight of her.

“Go to hell, you.

The Empire organization won’t let you go.

The Emperor will definitely send you to hell…”

Saliva, spewing from its mouth, splattered onto Mo Qiu’s clothes, which she had only just changed into after her shower.

A flash of silver light, and Saluk’s jaw detached, clattering to the ground, leaving him capable of only incoherent, gurgling shrieks.

“Watch your attitude.”

The mirror-dagger in Mo Qiu’s hand continued to drip blood onto the floor.

“You should thank my great mercy for letting you live until now.”

‘To keep a captive alive even when they yield no information… surely, I must be the most benevolent person in the entire world?’

As he was her sole prisoner of war, Mo Qiu found herself reluctant to kill him, even if she desired to.

Nevertheless, her patience was rapidly wearing thin.

Saluk’s incessant threats of retribution forced Mo Qiu to check his restraints for security every single night before she could even contemplate sleep.

The young woman raised the peculiar iron shard, her deep, enigmatic eyes fixed on Saluk.

“I’ll ask you one last time, what exactly is this?”