Chapter 159

Chapter 159

When Lin Lie approached with a stormy expression, Luo Yu clocked him immediately.

Luo Yu quirked a brow, casually exchanged greetings with his classmates, and strode straight toward him.

He could give two shits about Lin Lie.

From the very first time they met, Luo Yu had sensed something sketchy about Lin Lie’s attitude toward Bai Xingshu—his hostility might as well have been neon-lit on his face.

Back then, Luo Yu hadn’t fully understood his own feelings, so he only felt a gut-level irritation.

But Luo Yu was not some wet noodle. After their fight, he had needled Bai Xingshu about it, even talking shit about Lin Lie behind the scenes.

Bai Xingshu, however, brushed it off.

He just shrugged and said to Luo Yu that Lin Lie was like that with all Alphas—even his own brother got the same lip.

—Probably just naturally more sensitive to Alpha pheromones than most.

Bai Xingshu genuinely believed that. But for Luo Yu, now that he understood his own feelings, it was easy to see exactly what game Lin Lie was playing.

Still, Luo Yu wasn’t sweating Lin Lie.

Shen Geng was his Bro Shen—who the hell was Lin Lie?

Lin Lie might have learned from Bai Xingshu that Luo Yu was just some kid to him, but Luo Yu had also clearly sensed from Bai Xingshu that he truly saw Lin Lie as nothing more than a friend.

This guy had been thick as thieves with Bai Xingshu for nearly a year and a half, yet in Bai Xingshu’s heart, he remained just a friend.

A threat?

Not a chance.

When Luo Yu showed up outside the sophomore S-Class, Bai Xingshu would bail on him in a heartbeat, striding back to the dorm with him. If Bai Xingshu had even the slightest attachment to Lin Lie, he wouldn’t have been so decisive.

Bai Xingshu had no feelings for Lin Lie—that was Luo Yu’s greatest confidence when facing him.

As the top dog in the Combat Department, Luo Yu had never backed down from shit.

He’d fought Lin Lie on sight back then, and now was no different.

So when Luo Yu strode up in his face, the first words out of his mouth were, “What, back for round two?” As he spoke, he popped his knuckles.

Lin Lie barked a laugh. “As if you could beat me.”

That had been the outcome of their last brawl.

Luo Yu fought fiercely, but Lin Lie had a year’s head start on training—his stamina and technique were a notch above Luo Yu’s. If Bai Xingshu hadn’t stepped in, once Lin Lie weathered Luo Yu’s initial onslaught, the outcome would’ve been no contest.

But Lin Lie hadn’t come to throw hands this time.

For people like them, winning or losing a fight wouldn’t convince the other side.

Brute force didn’t hold much weight in this kind of confrontation.

This time, Lin Lie had really come to reason with Luo Yu.

—To deliver reasoning that went straight for the jugular.

"I think you should at least have some awareness that you're being a burden to Bai Xingshu," Lin Lie got straight to the point.

"You're just exploiting Bai Xingshu's kindness."

"Does all the time Bai Xingshu wastes on you actually help him?"

"And yet you're still not satisfied—you want to drag him down even more, hogging all the time he could spend with others."

"Is this what you call 'liking' someone?" This was another thing that pissed Lin Lie off about Luo Yu.

He had witnessed firsthand how hard Bai Xingshu worked to improve himself.

Back when Lin Lie wanted to learn team combat techniques from Bai Xingshu, he worked around Bai Xingshu's schedule and studied on his own.

The gift Bai Xingshu later gave him was truly a complete surprise—before that, Lin Lie had never thought of troubling Bai Xingshu for anything.

Whatever his feelings were, they would never become a burden to anyone.

Lin Lie's words hit Luo Yu right where it hurt.

Luo Yu's face said it all.

But Luo Yu also knew he couldn't show even a hint of weakness in front of Lin Lie.

That's how arguments worked.

Any sign of vulnerability would instantly become ammo for the other's ruthless attacks.

Lin Lie wasn't Shen Geng, nor was he Bai Xingshu—he wasn't someone who would treat Luo Yu kindly. His weakness meant nothing in front of Lin Lie.

So Luo Yu doubled down with even more aggression.

With a scoff, he shot back, "Don’t think that just because you’re playing the righteous card now, you’re actually the good guy here. You know damn well what your real intentions are, asshole."

"Judging by how smoothly you do this, you've probably iced out plenty of competition in the past, huh?"

Recalling what Shen Geng had once told him, Luo Yu looked at Lin Lie with disdain. "Just because you like our senior, you’ve schemed to push everyone else away from him—is this what you call 'liking' someone?"

"What a terrifying kind of 'like' that is."

Luo Yu's words hit Lin Lie right where it hurt, and instantly, Lin Lie’s face fell.

But Lin Lie didn’t bite at Luo Yu's bait or let himself be led by Luo Yu’s argument.

That would mean playing right into his hands.

In combat, that was a fatal mistake—and verbal battles were no different.

This, too, was a fight.

Lin Lie quickly changed tactics: "No matter how nicely you phrase it, the truth is you just can't measure up to Shen Geng when it comes to dorm time."

When other classmates talked about their roommates, Bai Xingshu would sometimes mention things about his life, so Lin Lie knew that Luo Yu had been showing up at Bai Xingshu’s dorm way less often lately.

When Bai Xingshu mentioned this, he'd actually sounded pretty happy about it.

To Bai Xingshu, it meant the kid was finally spreading his wings—starting to find his place in the group, and not just clinging to him and Shen Geng anymore.

Good for him. Really.

When it came to Bai Xingshu's dense nature, Lin Lie could relate and didn’t bother responding to Bai Xingshu’s words.

In his view, it was only natural to draw the conclusions in his own words based on these observations.

Shen Geng, that guy, truly lived up to being from the Combat Command Department—his methods were masterful, taking care of things without a trace while Bai Xingshu remained unaware.

What a schemer.

Lin Lie wondered if Shen Geng was behind Song Xiyan, that teacher, no longer appearing around Bai Xingshu since sophomore year.

Lin Lie regarded Shen Geng as a serious threat, but during this argument, he didn’t show it to Luo Yu. Instead, he said disdainfully, "You’re not even on his level—what’s the point of saying all this to me now?"

Lin Lie’s attack didn’t feel particularly sharp to Luo Yu, who barely batted an eye and simply shot back with a scoff: "Like you’re any better."

Lin Lie genuinely didn’t think he was inferior to Shen Geng.

He had proof of his place in Bai Xingshu’s heart.

With over two hundred pages of notes written specifically for him as evidence!

Lin Lie lifted his chin slightly, looking proud as he chuckled at Luo Yu, "I’m undoubtedly Bai Xingshu’s best friend—No debate, no contest."

Luo Yu found Lin Lie’s declaration utterly hypocritical: "Friend? You’re just cozying up to him and calling it friendship."

Lin Lie shot back with a scoff at Luo Yu, but then he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. His eyes flickered, and sure enough, Bai Xingshu’s figure appeared in his sight, approaching them.

So Lin Lie turned back to Luo Yu and said bluntly, "I know my own intentions—no need for your baseless assumptions. If anything, you’re the one taking advantage of Bai Xingshu’s goodwill under the guise of being his junior to push your own agenda."

As he spoke, Lin Lie watched Bai Xingshu’s figure draw closer and closer to them, finally delivering the same line Luo Yu had thrown at him earlier: "Do you dare say it to Bai Xingshu’s face?"

"Tell him you like him?"

Attacking others was, in a way, the most effective method against oneself. Unsurprisingly, this kind of taunting provocation worked best on Luo Yu.

The moment Lin Lie said this, Luo Yu saw red and shot back, "Why wouldn’t I dare?"

"I like him—don’t you?"

They were both suitors hiding their feelings—who were they kidding?

"No, I don’t." Luo Yu watched as Lin Lie, with a smile on his face and a triumphant gleam in his eyes, answered him flatly.

Luo Yu was completely lost.

He didn’t understand at all why Lin Lie would suddenly say "I don’t" with that expression.

Then Luo Yu saw Lin Lie raise his head, gaze shifting past him to look behind.

Luo Yu’s stomach dropped. He faintly sensed something and slowly turned around, meeting Bai Xingshu’s unreadable look fixed on him.

Bai Xingshu was blindsided by hearing such words.

In his memory, Luo Yu and Lin Lie had fought the first time they met. Later, Lin Lie never hid his dislike for Luo Yu, and Luo Yu seemed equally displeased with Lin Lie.

Though Bai Xingshu was a little exasperated, after that freshman year group dinner with the four of them, he had come to understand one thing:

His friends didn’t necessarily have to force themselves to become friends with each other.

After all, the two of them had nothing in common anyway.

Bai Xingshu's solution was to keep their interactions to a minimum.

To Luo Yu, it seemed this was the main reason why whenever he called Bai Xingshu over, Bai Xingshu would promptly say goodbye to Lin Lie.

—He couldn’t let these two start talking again.

This time, Bai Xingshu hurried over for the same reason.

After all, putting himself aside, there wasn't any real bad blood between these two.

Bai Xingshu hated being the cause of arguments.

It wasn't worth it.

But…

While Bai Xingshu knew the tension between them stemmed from him, he never expected it to be for this reason.

Thanks to his keen ears, Bai Xingshu had actually caught their conversation earlier than Lin Lie realized.

From the moment Luo Yu said, "You only dare to cling to the senior and call yourself a friend," Bai Xingshu had heard everything.

A dozen realizations hit Bai Xingshu at once.

Like Lin Lie’s hostile attitude toward every Alpha around him, or the occasional teasing from their classmates, joking that "the Squad Leader and Deputy Squad Leader look like an item."

Like Luo Yu’s weirdly touchy mood lately, always finding excuses to be near Bai Xingshu, his constant sweet talk, and the way his gaze would unconsciously linger on Bai Xingshu, lost in thought.

All these details swirled in Bai Xingshu’s mind, as if confirming something.

Luo Yu’s firm declaration sent Bai Xingshu's heart plummeting. He couldn’t help but look up at Lin Lie, and upon hearing that "I don’t," Bai Xingshu let out a sigh of relief.

Thank god, he hadn’t caused a third misunderstanding.

The tension on Bai Xingshu’s face eased considerably, and he even gave Lin Lie a bright smile before finally turning his gaze to Luo Yu.

Seeing Luo Yu’s rigid posture, Bai Xingshu sighed and looked back at Lin Lie once more.

"Sorry, Deputy Squad Leader, let me talk to him alone."