Chapter 59
And just like that, the new Student Council Presidium’s first group activity was decided—skipping class. One could only wonder how the principal would feel if he heard about this.
Zhuang Chi didn’t mind; she didn’t have any classes this afternoon anyway. What was more surprising was that An Chen, who seemed to be the most studious among them, also sighed and agreed. Zhuang Chi looked over, a little confused, and An Chen explained to her, “Lou Che does this every time there’s a change in the Presidium’s members. This is already my third time participating.”
…It sounded like he was already numb to it. Zhuang Chi thought that this was probably just Lou Che wanting to go out and have fun. She followed the group outside, her mind still dwelling on what had just happened in the room. She felt there was something she couldn’t let go of, so she walked distractedly, not participating in the conversation ahead. It was only when Lou Che came up and asked her a question that she blinked blankly, “What?”
“Why are you spacing out? I was just saying—” A rare, age-appropriate, boyish smile appeared on Lou Che’s face, and he winked playfully. “Guess where we’re going for our team-building activity? I chose the place, and no one else has guessed it right.”
He sounded very confident that no one would guess it. Zhuang Chi’s mind didn’t even have to work; she said almost without thinking, “Aren’t we going to an arcade?”
“…So we came here after all. When you guessed it, I was worried Lou Che would refuse to admit defeat and forcibly change the destination.”
An Chen remarked, standing in the retro arcade, which was filled with vibrant colors and electronic sounds. Zhuang Chi replied, feeling a little guilty, “Um… it wasn’t that hard to guess, was it?”
“At least, no one besides you has ever guessed it right.” An Chen shrugged. “After all, Lou Che is a legendary genius who’s said to be brilliant, aloof, and mysterious. So everyone assumes he’d choose a more high-end, impressive-sounding place. They wouldn’t think of this kind of—”
He gestured toward a group of middle school students who were shouting excitedly in front of an arcade machine and said concisely, “—place that’s more popular with young people.”
Zhuang Chi watched the middle schoolers’ battle for a moment with a look of realization and remarked, “But they’re not that much younger than Lou Che—no, they’re not even that much younger than you.”
University students and middle school students—it sounds like a big difference, but in reality, the smallest gap is only three years, which is almost nothing out in the world. So, it’s perfectly normal for Lou Che, a boy who’s even a little younger than her, to like arcades—sigh, who was she even trying to make excuses for?
The reason Zhuang Chi could answer “we’re going to an arcade” in one go was, of course, not because she was lucky or knew Lou Che well enough, but because she had remembered this part of the plot.
That’s right, the Student Council Presidium’s team-building trip to the arcade was a scene from the book. Moreover, Lou Che was originally supposed to appear and meet Gu Ximian during this scene. But by now, the preceding plot was already a mess, and Zhuang Chi had thought the rest would be chaotic too. She hadn’t expected it to connect back here.
It seems the plot can still unfold as it should, Zhuang Chi thought, although the content of this event is completely different from the book.
In the original event, Lou Che didn’t even come along as a member of the Presidium. He appeared as a mysterious boy with an unknown identity. In the book, Gu Ximian ran into him playing a claw machine during the team-building event and was gifted the doll he won, which is how they met. And among the four Alphas at St. Blaisedon, Lou Che was probably the one who interacted with Gu Ximian the most in the original book. After all, as a genius, he was strong in every aspect. Whether it was for gathering information or solving problems, he was the one to go to. He was very useful and helped Gu Ximian a lot.
But now that everyone already knew each other, it was probably just a normal team-building activity. As Zhuang Chi was seriously pondering this, she was suddenly tapped on the shoulder. When she turned, she saw Lou Che’s handsome, enthusiastic face. He pointed to an empty machine, “Don’t just stand there spacing out, Zhuang Chi. We came here to play games, of course. Since you guessed it right away, you must come here often, right? Let’s have a match!”
Unfortunately, Zhuang Chi’s experience with arcades was close to zero.
So the result was predictable. After being utterly defeated by Lou Che in the racing game, Zhuang Chi sighed silently and gave an apologetic smile to Lou Che, who looked utterly baffled. “You’re amazing. I can’t keep up with you.”
“Don’t mind it. Every time Lou Che comes here, this is the only game he’ll compete with people in. He just knows it’s the game he’s best at.” An Chen, who had been watching from the side until the end, comforted her. “Go play another game with him, then the outcome will be uncertain—like that one, for example.”
He pointed to a spot not far away. Zhuang Chi and Lou Che followed his gaze and saw Ling Jing and Olivia gathered in front of a machine.
“Oh, ooh. There are too many enemies! Not good, Olivia… Whoa!”
“Made it in time! Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine, thanks to your help… You’re amazing, Olivia! You’re a dead shot against the zombies!”
“Really? Hehe, I’m a little embarrassed.”
Aside from a certain word that sounded rather jarring, it was a peaceful conversation. But under the gazes of the three onlookers, Olivia was smiling shyly while skillfully knocking down all the zombies lunging forward on the screen. Meanwhile, Ling Jing cowered behind her, trying her best to shoot down any that slipped through—they were surprisingly compatible. It felt like they would be a great pair of partners in a real apocalypse.
“—A cooperative zombie shooter game,” An Chen summarized simply. He then looked at Lou Che, whose face was starting to turn pale, and gave a friendly smile. “Well now, Ling Jing and Olivia seem to be having a lot of fun. Why don’t we go give it a try too, Lou Che? You can’t just play one game every time you come here.”
“Eh, eh…” Lou Che let out an undisguised sound of resistance, clearly not wanting to play in the slightest. But he still tried to act tough, arguing, “…I don’t think so. I-I think racing is better. Why don’t you and Zhuang Chi go—”
“Don’t say that. A genius can surely master any game, right? Or could it be… you’re afraid of zombies? But that’s impossible, right? Haha.”
“…”
…Looks like that was the correct answer. Zhuang Chi watched with no small amount of sympathy as Lou Che was cornered by An Chen’s few words. His back looked incredibly heavy as he followed An Chen toward the zombie game. Zhuang Chi trailed slowly behind, silently marveling to herself, So that’s Lou Che’s weakness? An Chen clearly said that knowing full well what he was doing—most likely because he was still holding a grudge over what Lou Che had said earlier in the Presidium office. He really was as vengeful as ever.
An Chen and Lou Che started getting ready at the machine next to Ling Jing and Olivia’s. Zhuang Chi stood between the two machines. Now, five members of the Presidium were in the zombie shooter game area, but Gu Ximian was nowhere to be seen. Zhuang Chi glanced around, a little concerned. She couldn’t find Gu Ximian, but she did notice that Ling Jing and Olivia’s game had suddenly become precarious.
“Hey, wait… What’s wrong with you, Olivia?! Shoot! Why do you seem to be spacing out!”
“I… Am I spacing out? I don’t think so. I was just… Ah!”
“What do you mean, ‘Ah’?! It’s just a zombie lunging at you! Didn’t you just take down dozens of them without even blinking?! And you were aiming for the head every time! Why are you suddenly getting all reserved now!”
…It seemed they were in trouble. Zhuang Chi’s attention was captured. Even as a layman, she could tell that their previously stable situation had suddenly become fraught with difficulty. The reason was Olivia, who had abruptly lost her form. Her movements with the gun became flustered, and for some reason, her reactions were much more hesitant. It seemed her concentration was completely off; even when she aimed, she hesitated to shoot, and then, unsurprisingly, lost the initiative.
Under Zhuang Chi’s watch, the game predictably came to an end within three minutes in a total collapse. Ling Jing sighed sorrowfully, put down the model gun, and muttered, “Your performance is too inconsistent, Olivia.” Then she turned and saw Zhuang Chi standing nearby. Her gaze sharpened, and she frowned thoughtfully.
“It’s you, isn’t it?” Ling Jing looked at the bewildered Zhuang Chi and came to a conclusion, stating decisively, “The reason Olivia got distracted!”
“…I was just standing here. I didn’t do anything.”
Zhuang Chi was baffled and protested, but Ling Jing shook her head gravely. “You don’t understand, Zhuang Chi. Playing this kind of game with someone watching is completely different from playing without anyone watching. When Gu Ximian was standing next to us just now, she didn’t do anything either, but I was playing so stiffly. My hands just wouldn’t listen to me.”
Unsure if there was some hidden meaning, Zhuang Chi decided to pretend she hadn’t heard and followed up with a question, “Gu Ximian was here with you just now? Then why don’t I see her?”
“She said she wanted to buy drinks a few minutes ago and left,” Olivia chimed in. She was still holding the model gun a bit awkwardly as she said softly, “Or maybe she got tired of watching this game… Shooting zombies isn’t very pretty to watch, is it…?”
“It’s not so bad. It looks quite interesting.” Besides, it was at the level of an arcade game aimed mainly at students; the graphics and special effects weren’t that realistic or scary. Zhuang Chi smiled. “It feels refreshing and stimulating.”
Olivia’s expression relaxed considerably, as if she had breathed a sigh of relief. But Ling Jing beat her chest and stamped her foot. “Aiya, Zhuang Chi, why didn’t you say that five minutes earlier!”
This person was really hung up on losing the game. Zhuang Chi didn’t know how to respond to her. Olivia, on the other hand, quietly apologized to Ling Jing. After being forgiven, she looked at Zhuang Chi, her face flushed with a faint blush from either the excitement of the game or something else, and asked, “Zhuang Chi, did you come over here looking for Gu Ximian?”
“Not really. I followed An Chen and Lou Che over here,” Zhuang Chi said, tilting her head toward the duo next to them who had already started their game and were playing frantically. She continued, “But when I saw that the rest of us were here and only Gu Ximian was missing, I did get a little concerned.”
“I see…” Olivia replied, but her gaze was slightly unfocused, making Zhuang Chi feel as if she had something else she was hesitating to say. Sure enough, after hesitating for a long while, Olivia finally asked in a small voice, “Zhuang Chi, you… your feelings for Gu Ximian—”
“Um, wait a minute, Olivia. You can’t ask that here.”
Before Zhuang Chi could react, Ling Jing interrupted Olivia. She solemnly crossed her arms in an ‘X’ in front of her chest at the two who were now staring at her. “I’ve asked before, and Zhuang Chi told me back then: she doesn’t want to talk about this kind of topic out in the open. If I asked again, she would leave.”
“…”
It took Zhuang Chi a good while to realize Ling Jing was talking about the time they were writing their resumes together. For a moment, she didn’t know whether to marvel at Ling Jing’s good memory or her quick reaction. Olivia was clearly flustered by Ling Jing’s words and said, at a loss, “Is that so…? Then should I wait until I’m alone with Zhuang Chi to ask her about her thoughts on Gu Ximian?”
Wouldn’t that be even weirder! Alarm bells went off in Zhuang Chi’s head. Just as she was about to speak up and stop Olivia’s dangerous idea, she heard a cool voice from behind her, “What thoughts about me?”
The three of them flinched in unison and turned to see Gu Ximian slowly walking toward them.
“Were you talking about me?” Having apparently only caught the end of the conversation, Gu Ximian looked around at the three of them. She probably guessed from their expressions that it was a difficult topic, so she didn’t press further. Instead, she just lifted the bag in her hand. “I bought drinks, but they only have carbonated ones. Want one?”
From the moment she appeared, Zhuang Chi’s mind was filled with relief, thinking, As expected, talking about Gu Ximian behind her back is a bad idea. It’s a good thing I didn’t say anything. She only snapped back to her senses when the bag was offered to her and saw that there were only two cans left—apparently for her and Gu Ximian.
She didn’t know why Gu Ximian had given drinks to An Chen and Lou Che first, only coming to her last. Zhuang Chi didn’t think too deeply about it. She just said her thanks and reached for a can, but before she could pull her hand back, her wrist was grabbed—by Gu Ximian, of course.
“You can’t play games while drinking. You… should be free right now, shouldn’t you?” Gu Ximian said. Her eyes held a profound look, as if she had something to say but was holding back, yet her words were exceptionally direct. “Can you come chat with me for a bit?”
Zhuang Chi blinked blankly a few times. She felt that the can of soda in her hand was like a payment received in advance, making it impossible for her to refuse.
Watching Zhuang Chi and Gu Ximian’s departing backs, Ling Jing’s expression was quite complicated, and her words were melancholic, “Ah… it’s so hard to describe how I’m feeling right now…”
Olivia was also staring fixedly in that direction. Because she was so focused, it took her a few beats longer to remember to respond to Ling Jing. “What’s wrong?”
“Because Gu Ximian is obviously different with Zhuang Chi than she is with everyone else, don’t you think?” Ling Jing’s face scrunched up in a conflicted expression. “I was originally… interested in Gu Ximian… sigh. But I also think it’s normal for Zhuang Chi to be favored by her. Zhuang Chi is a great person too… It’s too complicated, damn it.”
“You should have it a bit better than me, Olivia.” She suddenly looked at Olivia and said with a sigh, “After all, if Zhuang Chi and Gu Ximian really get together, then you won’t have to stay single and watch over her like some kind of self-punishment.”
“…”
Olivia didn’t answer right away. She stared blankly ahead. Zhuang Chi and Gu Ximian turned a corner, and she could no longer see them. Her gaze lost its focus and fell emptily to the ground.
“…Perhaps…?”
She said softly, not understanding why the end of her own word rose with such uncertainty.
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