Chapter 177 - 176: You’re Too Cold to Me

Pei Yin suppressed the bitterness.

The fragrance before him seemed to repeatedly tease his nerves.

He forced himself to remain calm. "I get one too, right?"

"Mhm." Jian Yu wasn’t bluffing; she had indeed prepared one for him.

Pei Yin raised an eyebrow and held out his hand.

"..." Jian Yu slowly lowered her head and went back to adjusting her dress.

Pei Yin’s fingers froze mid-air.

He pulled his hand back, offering her an out. "If you didn’t bring it, next time is fine."

Jian Yu hummed in agreement and explained softly, "The equipment in Zone 2 was broken. Someone looked really cold, so I gave the scarf for you to them."

She looked up, her eyelashes fluttering. "I bought you a new one. It’s still on its way."

Pei Yin shot a smug glance at Ling Yanzhi, but when his eyes landed on the gloves, the corners of his mouth drooped again.

"Fine. It’s not like I’m in a rush. You don’t have to hurry the star delivery."

Jian Yu’s mouth moved, but she didn’t know what to say and simply closed it again.

She changed the subject. "Where’s Xi Yu?"

Pei Yin’s tone was odd. "He’s off fighting someone. He’s the top fighter at Weis Lan Noble Academy, after all. Everyone wants to trade a few blows with him in these friendly spars."

’What a stupid challenge tournament. All this fighting is so annoying.’

Pei Yin sounded disdainful, his tone like a teacher about to prep students for their college entrance exams. "The challenge tournament... they challenge people way above their level, lose, and are still proud of it. Each year is worse than the last. This new batch of freshmen is complete trash."

Jian Yu pressed her lips together, feeling like she’d been included in his tirade.

She glanced at Ling Yanzhi out of the corner of her eye. He had probably been challenged many times as well; he looked exhausted, leaning back in his chair and resting with his eyes half-closed.

The choker wrapped tightly around his neck had loosened considerably, partially revealing his collarbone. His Adam’s apple was small, delicate, and sexy.

Jian Yu stared blankly. When she came back to her senses, she blinked slowly. "I want to enter a competition too."

Pei Yin’s brow furrowed. "You shouldn’t go. What if you get hurt? You wouldn’t be able to stop the bleeding."

Ling Yanzhi turned his head, his eyes narrowed slightly. "She’s not talking about the challenge tournament."

He reached out and tinkered with something for Jian Yu. "It’s still your old account. Go ahead and log in."

Jian Yu obediently sat up straight and entered her password. "Thank you."

Pei Yin frowned. "I’m very unhappy right now. You’re being too cold to me."

"..." Jian Yu lifted her eyelids, her gaze sluggish.

Pei Yin scowled. "It’s fine. It’s not like you take me seriously anyway. I’ll just sit here and cool off by myself."

Sensing the sourness in his tone, Jian Yu pulled out the chair beside her.

With a deadpan expression, like a puppet that had missed its cue, she asked, "Sit?"

Pei Yin sat down awkwardly. "You’re the one who invited me."

"Mhm. I invited you." Jian Yu stared at the Star Brain screen, her tone wooden as she replied matter-of-factly.

She opened her Star Brain and entered the holographic game.

It was still the game Ling Yanzhi had customized for her, but without the console, it wasn’t quite as smooth.

Pei Yin leaned his head back, arms crossed, and stared intently at Jian Yu’s profile.

She wore a beautiful dress and simple, expensive jewelry, but what truly drew the eye was still that pure, placid face.

Her skin was so fine you couldn’t see her pores, so immaculately fair she looked like a beautiful BJD doll.

Her fragile, cold aura and her dull, slow-moving personality created a strange tension.

Pei Yin couldn’t remember how his relationship with Jian Yu had developed to this point. He only remembered that whenever she got sick or injured, he couldn’t help but show his disdain.

’Troublesome, frail, always ending up in the hospital.’ His tone always seemed to be harsh.

He had treated Jian Yu many times and could have used his position as a doctor to smooth things over between them, but he never did.

Seeing the two men beside Jian Yu coddling her, fussing over her every need, made him want to deliberately pick a fight.

It wasn’t that he’d never seen young couples being affectionate, but it just made him feel inexplicably stifled, and his gut reaction was to be passive-aggressive.

Pei Yin thought back to the time Yan Qin was cooperating with the research. She was constantly talking trash.

He could have ignored her jealous, bitter remarks, but his first instinct was always to coldly snap back. After he did, he’d stubbornly claim he just couldn’t stand seeing people gossip.

It wasn’t just Yan Qin.

After Jian Yu started drawing everyone’s attention, before he had officially taken his place by her side, wave after wave of people had come to test the waters.

Pei Yin was convinced he didn’t like Jian Yu, even thinking she was deliberately trying to seduce him.

But he still disdained to respond to those noble students who were just looking for trouble. No matter how much he disliked her in his heart, he couldn’t admit it in front of them.

Otherwise, a single word from him would have been a signal that they could bully Jian Yu.

’I’m overthinking this.’ Pei Yin’s mind was a mess.

He tilted his head and tugged on a decorative ribbon on Jian Yu’s dress.

His thoughts calmed, and he gradually closed his eyes.

「...」

Not long after Duan Feiye went out, he noticed someone was following him.

He stopped and ducked behind a nearby tree.

A few seconds later, Xu Jianjuan appeared nearby.

Duan Feiye walked out slowly from behind the tree.

His tone was gentle. "Are you looking for me?"

Xu Jianjuan stopped in her tracks, her heart pounding. She looked up with a dazed expression.

Jumbled memories of a past life stretched like a rubber band, pulling her thoughts far, far away.

The voice in her mind gradually matched the person in front of her.

Duan Feiye: "The Border Area Apartment is still empty. I’ll have someone take her there."

The taut rubber band was simply released, but Xu Jianjuan felt a distinct, sharp pain.

Her fingers clenched tightly as a chill shot from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head.

Xu Jianjuan stumbled back two steps in a panic, her breathing spiraling out of control.

"What’s wrong?" Duan Feiye’s expression was peculiar.

In the sealed files on the new students, Xu Jianjuan was the first one recorded as having been possessed by a Soul Ghost Body.

If he recalled correctly, according to Sheng Yue’s records, the Soul Ghost Body’s aura was discovered about a week after the semester began. Location: Professor Lin’s classroom. Soul Ghost Body status: Deceased.

Three Soul Ghost Bodies had already died on Yan Qin. There was no guarantee Xu Jianjuan wouldn’t be targeted by a second one.

Duan Feiye wasn’t sure if Xu Jianjuan had been targeted by a Soul Ghost Body before entering the academy, but the situation with Yan Qin had him seeing enemies behind every tree.

He raised his hand.

Fluorescent insects swirled from his palm, surrounding Xu Jianjuan to perform a routine check.

Xu Jianjuan didn’t struggle, waiting quietly for the inspection to finish.

She also wanted to know if the voice that had disappeared from her mind was related to the Soul Ghost Body.

’I hope he can find something.’

"Not a Soul Ghost Body?" Duan Feiye retracted the avatar of his Soul Beast.

He apologized politely, "My apologies, Student Xu. Your reaction forced me to be suspicious."

"It’s fine." Xu Jianjuan’s clenched palms were slick with cold sweat.

She kept a cold, taut expression, unable to distinguish which memories were real and which were fake.

But at least her medicine was working; it had stopped her from hearing those loathsome voices.

Xu Jianjuan: "Can you answer a question for me?"

Duan Feiye nodded slightly. "You may."

Xu Jianjuan calmed down. "Can you determine when I was first targeted by the Soul Ghost Body?"

Duan Feiye pondered, "Sometime during the first few days of the semester. Or possibly before you were on campus."

Xu Jianjuan pressed, "That’s not a good answer. It’s useless, actually. Let me ask another one. That apartment you mentioned—where is it?"