Detective at the Noble Boys' School — 19

19

'According to my calculations, there is a 95% probability that F2 wants to fuck you,' the System announced.

The moment the System finished delivering its conclusion, Ji Yue instinctively looked out the window, already thinking about how to get out of here.

The next second, a hand closed around Ji Yue's jaw.

Yuwen Qing wrenched his face around, forcing him to turn.

There in the dim car, he kissed him — abruptly, without warning.

The kiss carried a punishing edge. Yuwen Qing had been holding himself back for a long time, and he could feel the other's body trembling against him, feel it growing warm under the press of that contact.

The heat traveled all the way to the tips of his ears and spread across his chest, flushing everything a soft, helpless pink.

…

His tongue ached. So did his lips.

His cheeks were stained crimson, a faint wet sheen on the skin.

'You get kissed by a man and you react like this — same as last time. I honestly thought you'd keep that blank face of yours like always. Why does this happen to you?'

'…A physiological response. Involuntary.'

'Ah, I see. That's the kind of thing that gets badly misread…'

Ji Yue's head was spinning. The car door finally unlocked, and he climbed out and walked toward the house.

Yuwen Qing followed behind him, also stepping into the courtyard, glancing around at where Ji Yue lived.

'Why don't you just move in with me?'

'Yuwen Qing was furious not long ago about being pursued by another man — a misunderstanding — and now he's already thinking about moving in together! Shameless!' the System muttered indignantly, then abruptly produced a new conclusion: 'That said — if you were to date Yuwen Qing, he would probably cooperate with your work.'

'How did you arrive at that?'

'I ran the analysis for you and all of F4, and the top student — same result every time: 'If Ji Yue enters a romantic relationship with X, X will be highly cooperative with the relevant investigation and the probability of uncovering the truth rises to 99%.'

'However, there is a non-trivial risk: the probability of 'your backside being sore every single day' is also 99%.'

'Your data is genuinely corrupted.'

'I can see Yuwen Qing is still itching to make a move — you need to chase him off fast, or else…'

Ji Yue pushed open the courtyard gate and went inside. The man behind him was still following, and on top of that, saying something very strange.

'By the way — is this your first love too? I've never dated anyone before, and besides…'

He never finished the sentence. A fist came down on his shoulder.

The blow was not light. Yuwen Qing stumbled back half a step, caught off guard, and looked down at him.

Before he was violently ejected, Yuwen Qing caught a glimpse of Ji Yue in full force.

His long hair was disheveled, tumbling loose over his shoulders, a little wild — messed up from when Yuwen Qing had pressed a hand to the back of his neck and kissed him, fingers tangling through the smooth black strands until they were thoroughly undone.

Now, his hands still carried the scent.

Ji Yue stood in the doorway and looked back at him — furious, ice-cold, his pale face vivid with feeling, chin tilted up just slightly, wearing an expression of absolute indifference.

'Do this again, and I won't see you anymore.'

Only the disheveled hair falling around him undercut the full weight of that threat.

The moment he finished speaking, the door slammed shut with a bang, nearly catching Yuwen Qing across the face.

Yuwen Qing stared at the door with a cold smile.

Shut out completely — and somehow found it all the more interesting for it.

He was soft all over. Soft everywhere, including his mouth.

Slipping a hand behind his knees and lifting him had been easy — a light, yielding bundle.

His thighs had been cold to the touch too. He really had been freezing.

Just talked terribly, and was stubborn about it — 'I won't see you anymore,' as if that was a threat worth making. When he clearly liked it so much.

Ha.

Yuwen Qing got back in the car, settled into the driver's seat, and started the engine — but made no move to pull away.

He thought about the kiss just now, and the way Ji Yue had gone red.

Said all the right harsh things, but his body told the truth — couldn't hide a single bit of it.

From his cheeks to the tips of his ears, down his neck, across his chest beneath the T-shirt — all flushed deep pink, a complete contradiction to the cool, detached person he was every other moment.

Yuwen Qing clicked his tongue, opened his third alt account, and began typing slowly.

— Breakfast tomorrow? I'll come pick you up.

He waited a few seconds. The screen lit up.

— Get lost.

----------

BBS

HOT POSTS / HOT….

Thread: School beauty, school beauty — so glad to see you alive and kicking today…

0L: Thank goodness you're okay… (sobbing)

1L: He [Yuanxi] really is a masochist, isn't he… sitting there in the auditorium looking completely satisfied, practically drooling every time he looked at the school beauty — if the school beauty had rolled his eyes at him, he probably would have lost it on the spot! (nauseated) (nauseated)

2L: Our school beauty is such a pure, innocent little treasure — can everyone please stop bullying him?? He [Yuanxi], what exactly did you do to him in the changing room?! Why did the school beauty come out with finger marks on his face and red eyes… (sobbing) (fists)

3L: On another note, the school beauty is apparently going down to visit the top student's hometown for the holiday… what has he done to deserve that!! (sobbing)

4L: The top student really has all the luck! (gnashing teeth)

5L: I refuse to hear this — would F4 even allow it?? (losing my mind)

6L: So Yan [Min] and the top student were sniping at each other in the auditorium, and the top student was as mean as ever — used the age gap to take a shot at Yan [Min] for being old. (hand over mouth, laughing)

7L: Too bad the princess couldn't care less about them pulling each other's hair. (hand over mouth, laughing)

8L: Come guess what happened to the school beauty's mouth — [image]

9L: Holy shit, that is obviously a hickey… who did that (sobbing) (fists)

10L: Our school beauty, who never lies, even gave the most unconvincing explanation that it was an allergic reaction…

11L: Allergic to a man's mouth, were we…

12L: We can at least rule out Li [Xihe] — he was visibly furious. (hand over mouth, laughing) (hand over mouth, laughing)

13L: Promise me — even if you're angry, please don't punish our school beauty for it. Just make it less obvious next time, that's all. (sobbing)

---------

The last working day before the long holiday, Ji Yue was assigned to serve as a staff member at the school's art exhibition.

Before he arrived, the person in charge had told him: 'Mainly just give guided commentary. It's the last day — there won't be many people.'

Things did not go as promised. For reasons no one could explain, the visitors that day were packed in everywhere.

Ji Yue had barely taken his position in the first gallery, hadn't even gotten out his opening line, when a crowd surged around him, all of them looking up at him expectantly, waiting for him to explain the first painting.

By midday, even more students had arrived, until he was surrounded on all sides with almost no room to breathe.

The docent stood at the center of the crowd with his earpiece mic, cool and lovely and pale, blending seamlessly into the modern artworks arranged behind him.

Even while giving commentary, Ji Yue couldn't shake his air of detachment — and combined with the way people had closed in around him from every direction, it inexplicably called to mind a wild cat that had been born with a deep aversion to human company.

His smooth black hair was tied back behind him, the ends swaying gently as he walked and turned his head, making everyone want to reach out and touch it.

The onlookers murmured among themselves — 'school beauty,' 'like a cat,' 'so cute' — and fortunately, Ji Yue with his earpiece mic couldn't make out the words, or his expression would have gone even colder.

At last the shift change came and he could rest. Ji Yue walked to the lockers and dug through his bag for a long moment, unable to find the bottle of mineral water he'd been issued that morning.

He looked up — and found that at some point, a man had appeared beside the lockers, leaning against them with an easy air, refined-looking, wearing gold-rimmed glasses.

Li Xihe was smiling as he held out a cup of lemon water.

Ji Yue drank it down in several long gulps, and only then did Li Xihe speak, his voice unhurried: 'Tired, little sister?'

'Mm.'

Just the one word.

Li Xihe kept smiling, his tone gentle: 'Want me to rub your shoulders?'

'…'

'All right, I just wanted to talk to you for a bit.'

The break room had two rows of benches, all of them empty on either side, but Li Xihe sat down right next to him.

'You went to the school anniversary gala last night?'

As he spoke, Li Xihe reached into a paper bag beside him and handed it to Ji Yue.

Ji Yue took it and looked inside — a tomato sandwich, still faintly warm.

'I did.'

'Why didn't you come sit with me?'

'Didn't want to be in the front row.'

He took a bite, his answer coming out a little muffled.

Li Xihe sighed. 'Fair enough.'

Ji Yue ate his sandwich in a kind of absent reverie, cheeks puffing with each bite, eyes unfocused — in these rare moments when he was eating, he looked a little less like a machine.

Li Xihe sat beside him, chin resting in his hand, watching him eat, watching the occasional slow blink of those long lashes. Oddly charming.

Naturally, once Ji Yue finished, Li Xihe's gaze drifted to his lips. 'What happened to your mouth? I've been wanting to ask since this morning.'

'Allergic reaction.'

Ji Yue's tone was utterly flat.

This was already the third time today he'd answered that question.

He couldn't say he'd been bitten by a dog. Silence only invited more questions. This was the only explanation that worked.

Li Xihe adjusted his glasses and gave a quiet laugh. 'Try to stay away from whatever you're allergic to next time.'

Ji Yue finished what Li Xihe had fed him, washed his hands, brushed his teeth, and tidied himself up completely. Then he set off for the Library.

Li Xihe was still sitting on the bench, watching him — his gaze trailing after Ji Yue's retreating figure all the way to the door, where Ji Yue turned to say goodbye.

Ji Yue had just closed his hand around the door handle when he heard Li Xihe's voice from behind him.

'Little sister — do you still like me? Or… have you already lost interest?'

'Oh my god… Li Xihe has noticed something, hasn't he?! You told him you liked him, that you were pursuing him — but you haven't shown any of the feelings that should come with that…' the System said. 'It took so much effort to keep him settled. F3 really is the suspicious type — he should be shipped off to an ancient palace drama!'

Ji Yue looked up at the ceiling. A lone spider crept across it.

Was this really what a detective's daily life was supposed to look like? Nothing like what he'd imagined before coming to the island.

He was the only detective here. He could not fail. He would not fail.

Li Xihe, reading the silence of Ji Yue's back, already had his answer.

He was about to get up and leave as well — when Ji Yue turned around and came back to him, stopping in front of him, and very abruptly delivered a long reply.

'I'm still very curious about you — I have been from the beginning, and I still am now. Even before that Christmas night in Grasse, you already had my interest. Give me a little time. Don't overthink it. I've been busy lately. Once the holiday starts… I'm planning to come visit you at your home.'

When he finished, Ji Yue reached out and slipped Li Xihe's glasses off, then leaned down.

Li Xihe's vision blurred at once.

The light was dim, and everything softened into something hazy and indistinct.

A breath grazed his cheek — warm. Smooth black hair fell forward, brushing across the back of his hand.

Something soft and faintly cool pressed against his forehead for just a moment.

…A kiss. Gentle, like a reassurance.

'I'll be going now. See you tonight.'

That was what Ji Yue said before he left.

Only a faint, barely-there scent remained in the air.

Li Xihe put his glasses back on and breathed in slowly, deeply.

He sat there for a long time, turning the feeling over and over in his mind.

See you tonight?

He repeated the three words silently to himself, and the corners of his mouth curved up.

Ji Yue, who never gave a straight answer — he was rather endearing, in his own way.

--------

Ji Yue set down his bag and took out his video camera.

This trip to the Library was, once again, for the purpose of investigating the complicated relationship between F4 and the top student.

By the timeline of the original novel, today was close to the end. Yan Min was scheduled to give a public presentation at the Library today — and in the original story, the top student was among the audience.

Given that the two of them had by now made their mutual dislike fairly clear, would the top student still show up for this scene?

'Are you studying how much of the original plot still holds? That's actually a solid angle — you could write a paper on it,' the System said. 'Oh, and I just worked out your holiday itinerary — it is absolutely packed. F3, F1, the top student, and then that overseas island…' The System scratched its head. 'Are you sure you want to go find the client and ask them directly what's going on?'

'I think the client is hiding something too.'

'Dedicated detective!!'

The System gave a thumbs-up.

Ji Yue arrived at the lecture hall and put on a mask before taking a seat in the corner. Before long, philosophy students and professors began filtering in one by one, and soon the room was full.

He checked the time every few minutes.

Si Jing had not come.

'The original plot ends here,' the System said in a mournful tone. 'Let's hope the main system doesn't assign us to patch bugs.'

One minute left.

A student was about to go close the door when it swung open — a young man with silver-white hair burst in, laptop bag over his shoulder, mouthing an apology.

Si Jing.

'Oh? He actually came…'

Si Jing found a seat and immediately began scanning the room, as though looking for something.

Yan Min was up on the stage preparing his presentation, and didn't spare Si Jing a single glance.

Ji Yue observed them both quietly from his corner, and found the whole thing increasingly strange.

At that moment, his communicator chimed with a notification.

sj: [Did you come to watch the philosophy mid-term presentation?]

sj: [I don't see you anywhere. (crying)]

Ji Yue suddenly understood.

— You came here looking for me?

A reply came back the next second.

sj: [Yeah.]

sj: [I see you now.]

Ji Yue lifted his face, and across the room, his eyes met Si Jing's in the back rows.

Something close to shyness had crept into Si Jing's expression.

— Just heard you were here. Wanted to see you. So I came.

Every place the detective of the original novel passed through naturally had to contain either an F4 member or the top student. In those scenes — had this kind of coincidence always existed? Had the person the top student wanted to see not been F4 at all, but the detective? And F4 the same?

'Okay okay okay, I'm genuinely starting to think the main system is going to make us patch bugs,' the System said, its voice going faint. 'What if we're the ones who caused the bugs? No — blame Cupid. Who told him to go shooting arrows at random up there?'

'If that's really what's happening, then what was the original novel even about? And what was the client who sent you to the island thinking?'

Ji Yue didn't know. He wouldn't be able to answer that before the holiday was over.

The half-hour presentation concluded, and a crowd gathered around Yan Min and the professors. The lecture hall filled with noise. Ji Yue got up and stepped outside for some air.

He had just reached the window when a familiar male voice sounded from behind him, out of nowhere.

'I heard you and your boyfriend are going back to his hometown for the holiday.'

It was He Yuanxi's voice.

'…'

'You hit me last time. Don't you think you owe me an explanation?'

Ji Yue showed no reaction.

He heard the words and his expression didn't shift — he didn't even bother with a 'mm,' didn't so much as lift his eyelids.

So I hit you. And?

Anyone with a slightly weaker constitution would be driven to their grave just looking at him.

He Yuanxi stepped closer, stopping in front of him, and lowered his voice: 'Is this just how you are, or is it only like this with me? You're perfectly fine with everyone else — you never slap them.'

'F4 really did come to collect a debt! There are so many people in the Library right now — he shouldn't go so far as to hit you in front of everyone,' the System said.

Before the System could finish, He Yuanxi raised his hand.

But the hand only came to rest on Ji Yue's shoulder, giving it a light pat: 'I suppose it's only fair that I go ahead and ruin things for you. Don't you think? If you're planning to make it up to me, you could come find me in the upper city this holiday… I have something to take care of — I'll head off now. See you later.'

Peculiar.

Ji Yue paid him no mind, and ignored the word 'make it up to me' entirely.

Nothing like that had ever featured in his life, and it wasn't about to start now.

As for going to find He Yuanxi in the upper city — that sounded very much like a trap.

Still, he would genuinely consider going to take a look.

The same went for the other F4 members. Whenever the investigation required it, he would show up uninvited without a second thought.

Most of the time, Ji Yue was like a player frantically clicking through NPC dialogue — as for what the NPCs were actually feeling, he didn't particularly care.

'Heartless detective!'

Back in the meeting room from earlier, Ji Yue spotted Si Jing still there. The moment Si Jing saw him appear, he came over to ask whether Ji Yue had any dinner plans.

'Eat by yourself.'

'Okay.' Si Jing said nothing more, only glanced between Ji Yue and Yan Min. 'You should probably keep your distance from him.'

'Not until you give me a reason.'

'…'

Now it was Si Jing's turn to go quiet.

There was another presentation scheduled in the lecture hall that evening. The professor came back into the room and announced from the podium that everyone needed to clear out first, and the students in the tiered seats began standing up and gathering their things.

Ji Yue was also getting ready to leave. Before he went, he glanced over toward Yan Min — who was bent over something, flipping through it.

'I'm heading out.'

He said his goodbye.

They were far apart, and the room was noisy. Yan Min almost certainly hadn't heard.

Ji Yue came down the steps and looked back — and found that Yan Min was already making his way toward him, cutting through the crowd, until he was standing in front of him.

'Dinner together tonight?'

Yan Min extended the invitation.

Ji Yue shook his head — he'd already made plans with Li Xihe — and without further explanation, turned and followed the crowd out.

Out of the Library, he walked along the East District road for about ten minutes, until he heard the sound of an engine behind him.

He looked back. A black car with a distinctive license plate was approaching from a distance, slowing to a stop at the roadside.

…Yan Min's car.

As though certain Ji Yue would get in, the passenger door had already slid upward and open.

'Is Yan Min always this overbearing? He's determined to have dinner with you?' the System said. 'There are too many F4 members — why not just invite them all out for hot pot together? One a day like this is exhausting!'

'…'

Yan Min watched in the rearview mirror as the long-haired young man came into view — wearing a hoodie and trousers, a backpack on his shoulders, the look Ji Yue most often wore to the Library, usually with a pair of black-framed glasses added on top, ready to pull out and put on at any moment.

As he always did, Ji Yue thought it over for a moment, then got in.

The door closed. Yan Min didn't rush to pull away. He turned on the interior light and looked over at Ji Yue.

'You've been looking into my background?' His tone was perfectly calm — at first listen it didn't sound like an accusation at all. 'Why not just ask me directly?'

The words landed like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, leaving the System gasping.

'What?!'

'Yan Min's line of thinking is a little dangerous!!'

'Why are you following me? And following the others too — doing the same thing to all of them?'

Yan Min pressed on.

Because I'm a detective, and I need to get close to everyone.

That was not something he could say before the final reckoning.

Ji Yue frowned slightly and looked out the window. The car had stopped somewhere out of the way — almost no one passed by here.

Yan Min was clearly intent on getting to the bottom of this.

'What set Yan Min off — why is he suddenly demanding answers?' the System said. 'But then again, all of F4 have the same question…'

'Right now F1, F2, F3, and F4 are all still operating under a misunderstanding. If that misunderstanding gets cleared up, things are going to get very complicated.'

'A remote island. How would you even get off it?'

Ji Yue was well aware of this. His identity could be exposed at any moment.

So — how could he make all of F4, Yan Min included, believe that his feelings toward them were genuine?

'…This is really dangerous. I just ran the numbers and got a result,' the System said.

'What.'

'If this goes wrong, you're going to be in a very bad way.' The System's voice was halting, evasive. 'You absolutely have to succeed… you know what I mean, right?'