Chapter 99: The Fan Group and the School Stalker

Su Linxi left the office, ascending the stairs.It was break time, and the corridors buzzed with students walking, chatting, or playfully jostling one another.Students from classes Three and Four had already returned to the building, and Su Linxi seamlessly blended into the stream of students, flowing with the crowd towards her classroom.

“Hey, have you seen the new anime releases for September yet?”

“No, I’ll wait until it’s available on Bilibili to watch it.”

“Damn, by the time Bilibili gets it, the new series will be over!”

“Ugh, if it weren’t for the bullet comments, I wouldn’t even bother watching on Bilibili.”

……

“Say, have you guys noticed something off about the two class monitors lately?”

“You noticed too!”

“Are they, like, together?”

“It’s very possible. I once saw them holding hands…”

“Wait—didn’t Chen Chenchen like Zhong Tian?”

“Maybe he gave up. After all, Zhong Tian is so difficult to get along with…”

“Yeah, she’s so reclusive and never shows up for any activities.”

“If I were Chen Chenchen, I would have given up even sooner.”

“Exactly. Personality-wise, I think Qin Dong is much better than Zhong Tian.”

“From a guy’s perspective, looks are far more important than personality.”

“True… Zhong Tian is ridiculously good-looking.”

“Speaking of which, didn’t a new transfer student, a brown-haired, blue-eyed mixed-race girl, join our class recently? Zhong Tian seems to get along well with her.”

“They both seem to have similar personalities; maybe they just click unexpectedly.”

“Haha, competing to see who’s colder?”

“…”

Su Linxi listened silently to her classmates’ discussion, few thoughts stirring within her as she simply strolled back into the classroom.

‘My current mindset is so different from that of a true high school student… I wonder if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…’

****

Yu Yinlian felt this was the slowest instant noodle meal she had ever eaten.

Though the portion was small, it felt as if she had been eating for an eternity.

She poured the noodle broth into the sink, turned on the tap, rinsed it clean, and then squeezed out some dish soap to wash the bowl.

After washing the bowl, she had intended to write, but a sudden wave of confusion washed over her, and her motivation to write vanished instantly. Drying her hands, she lay back on the narrow wooden bed and slowly closed her eyes.

‘Perhaps, I should just sleep for a while first…’

****

As the morning lessons concluded, Zhong Tian stretched languidly, leaning back in his chair, his entire body relaxed.

While not disliking studying, he always felt a sense of relief whenever classes ended.

After a brief rest, Zhong Tian rose, walked past Wu Rui, and headed to find Su Linxi for lunch.

Su Linxi had already packed her books and stationery, and was quietly waiting for Zhong Tian by the back door of the classroom.

“What are you planning to eat for lunch today?”

“Nothing in particular comes to mind.”

The two arrived at the cafeteria with many other students, navigating through the bustling crowd to reach the ‘Nutritious Meal Window’.

“Old Zhong!”

Before Zhong Tian and Su Linxi could even join the queue, Li Jianren, clutching his rice bowl, suddenly popped up from an unknown corner.

“Ren?”

Normally at this hour, Li Jianren would be ravenously devouring his meal back in the dorm, yet here he was, in the cafeteria.

“I came to eat with you!” Li Jianren declared. “When you’re not around, I have no motivation to eat alone in the dorm.”

“…Isn’t appetite the motivation for humans to eat?”

“Then I just don’t have an appetite.”

“…? Am I your stomach or your mouth?”

“Ah, anyway, let’s just eat together.”

“Alright…” Zhong Tian glanced at the surrounding crowd, spotting a few classmates and students from the adjacent class. “Pick a corner, and sit one seat away from me…”

“Got it,” Li Jianren said, giving a thumbs-up. “I’ll go grab a spot.”

“Mm.”

The line wasn’t long. The two collected their meals and headed to the table Li Jianren had secured.

The moment Zhong Tian and Su Linxi sat down, Li Jianren seemed to flip a switch, his chopsticks flying as he rapidly devoured his food.

His astonishing fervor left Zhong Tian staring, chopsticks poised in hand, for a long moment.

“You… don’t have to eat so fast…”

“Charging in to eat like this every day, and so quickly too, it’s a wonder you haven’t gotten a stomach illness…”

“Haven’t I told you? I am a body of steel!”

“Yes, yes, yes…” Zhong Tian sighed. “Du Fu was a ‘Poet-Sage,’ wasn’t he…?”

“What about Du Fu?”

“…Look it up yourself…”

“Oh.”

Li Jianren finished the last morsel of food, set down his bowl, and took the napkin Zhong Tian had already prepared and offered him. He elegantly wiped his mouth, as if he hadn’t just been eating like Patrick Star.

“Linxi, here.”

Su Linxi, who hadn’t finished her meal yet, took the napkin and placed it aside.

“Old Zhong, there’s something I almost forgot to tell you.”

“What is it?”

Li Jianren crumpled the napkin into a ball, tossed it into his empty bowl, and then pulled out his phone.

“Check this out.”

Li Jianren tapped and swiped on his phone screen before showing it to Zhong Tian.

“‘QQ group?'” Zhong Tian instinctively read out the group name. “‘I will always love Teacher Kezhong’… huh?”

“What is this?”

“Your fan group.”

“…I can see that… but this group name?”

“What’s in a name? Just look at the chat history.”

Zhong Tian took the phone and scrolled through the past few days’ chat logs. The initial messages were normal, mostly about games, but further down…

[Ah—I think I want to be Teacher Kezhong’s dog~]

Zhong Tian stared at the screen, a look of utter bewilderment spreading across his face.

Scrolling further, he saw a message from the administrator of this thousand-member fan group.

[Welcome, new members~ We know what you’re here for~ Teacher Kezhong’s 4K beautiful photos are in the group album~ Please view them with a pure heart~]

“Huh??”

Zhong Tian couldn’t hold back any longer and opened the group album.

‘Isn’t this me from the comic convention that day?’

‘How did they get all these photos?!’

“Old Zhong, check out the newly created album.”

Hearing this, Zhong Tian tapped it open, and his pupils immediately constricted in shock.

The person in the photos was still him, but it was him in his school uniform, and the background was clearly the school!

“This…”

“This album was posted by the admin who uses ‘~’ in their speech,” Li Jianren said, his expression serious. “Although the background is blurred, it’s still clear that the photos were taken at school.”

“Which means… there’s a stalker at school…”

“Mm.”

“There are three admins in the group. One is this ‘~’ speaking stalker, and another seems to be a professional photographer. The previous two group albums were created by him. Well… he’s also a stalker, I guess.”

“What about the third admin?”

“Oh, that’s me.”

“Huh?”

“What’s with that tone of disbelief? I’m enduring humiliation and infiltrating the enemy’s ranks, aren’t I?!”

“…How did you ‘endure humiliation’ to become an admin?”

“Oh, I Venmo’d the group owner 50 on Crazy Thursday.”

“…Alright, let’s put your issue aside for now. Regarding this peeping tom, do you have any suspects?”

“You’re so decisively set on exposing him?”

“If I’m not decisive, he’ll be taking photos inside my house next!”

“Good point.” Li Jianren nodded. “For now, the basic confirmed clues are: first, the person is either in our class or the next; second, they like reading manga; and third, they’re a pure ‘otaku.’ That’s it.”

“Hmm… indeed.”

Looking closely at the photo’s background, one could just barely make out that the shooting location was the corridor in front of their own classroom. The other two points were quite obvious…

Zhong Tian had never encountered a ‘normie’ who spoke with the ‘~’ particle.

“But with just these clues, it’s impossible to find them…”

“Exactly. I think you should just join the group and threaten them with legal action; they might just jump out and beg for mercy.”

“…It doesn’t need to go that far…”

Zhong Tian wasn’t particularly disgusted by being secretly photographed. As long as the photos weren’t overly explicit and didn’t disrupt his normal life, he felt he could forgive it.

However, forgiveness didn’t mean allowing it to continue unchecked.

‘This behavior still needs to be stopped!’

‘Once I catch them, the first thing I’ll do is delete that cosplay album!’

With renewed determination, Zhong Tian handed the phone back to Li Jianren and began to ponder the situation himself.