Chapter 207

Chapter 207

Watching Bai Xingshu act all high and mighty, the students in S-Class were itching to do something.

They came for gossip, not to watch Bai Xingshu show off his power!

So everyone started to mess with their so-called boss—kicking out legs, throwing fake punches, and the like.

These little moves were naturally useless against Bai Xingshu, just fooling around as usual.

After a round of mock fighting, when the group had finished playing around, Bai Xingshu noticed Lin Lie again—quieter than usual, even showing traces of unusual seriousness.

Bai Xingshu was now aware of Lin Lie’s feelings for him.

But…

After the commotion, Bai Xingshu still casually walked over to Lin Lie like always.

Though Lin Lie and the others believed that once Bai Xingshu realized their feelings, he would cut them off cold if he didn’t return them.

In reality, Bai Xingshu liked to think he was at least halfway decent!

A normal person wouldn’t act like someone has the plague after rejecting them.

With Cheng Yunxi and Song Xiyan, it was just coincidence—after rejection, without any effort to keep in touch, they simply drifted apart.

But Luo Yu was different.

Being dorm neighbors, they still occasionally ran into each other, chatted normally, and even threw down on the combat net a few times.

If he could maintain that kind of relationship with Luo Yu, why not Lin Lie?

Bai Xingshu wanted everyone to get along.

Yet in Lin Lie’s eyes, this behavior made him think his crush was still secret.

So when Bai Xingshu approached, Lin Lie worked hard to keep his cool, lowering his voice as he asked, “Why are you alone?”

“Didn’t my brother come with you?” He couldn’t keep the hope out of his voice.

The fishing in the question was obvious.

Pretending not to notice, Bai Xingshu replied casually, “We just talked for a bit, then he left first.”

“At the dorm entrance, Lin Li was only joking,” Bai Xingshu added.

He didn’t want this deal to cause any rift between the brothers.

Hearing this, Lin Lie believed it.

After all, when he caused a scene at Lin Li’s dorm last night, aside from some digs like “In a few days, he’ll be tying the knot with Bai Xingshu while you’re still doing nothing,” Lin Li hadn’t actually said anything about liking Bai Xingshu.

Most of what he said was egging Lin Lie on to make a move anyway.

Still, people tend to hear what they want to hear, and Lin Lie immediately relaxed, his whole face lighting up.

But while happy, this only resolved his biggest worry.

Lin Lie had one more thing on his mind.

His eyes still drifted to Bai Xingshu’s neck, intentionally or not.

At the moment, the collar of Bai Xingshu’s training uniform was slightly raised, covering where his scent gland would be. But the faint lily fragrance Lin Lie had smelled in the morning stuck with him—it was unmistakably real.

Now that the scent was gone, Lin Lie assumed Bai Xingshu must have used some kind of scent masking technique.

So, playing it casual, Lin Lie said to Bai Xingshu, “By the way, there’s an empty spot in Beta Dorm 311 this semester. With your dorm situation being what it is, how about moving in?”

Technically speaking, since Bai Xingshu’s current dorm was a Beta dorm, it should be Shen Geng—who had now presented as an Alpha—who needed to move out.

But for Lin Lie personally, he naturally hoped Bai Xingshu would be closer to him.

Bai Xingshu’s current dorm housed both Shen Geng and Luo Yu—two people Lin Lie couldn’t stand.

Dorm 311 was on the same floor as Lin Lie’s, so in every way possible, Bai Xingshu moving there would be Lin Lie’s most desired outcome.

If nothing else, it would make it much easier for Lin Lie to find Bai Xingshu whenever he wanted.

Lin Lie figured his suggestion made perfect sense. After all, Bai Xingshu had mentioned more than once that he wanted to experience communal dorm life. By all logic, Lin Lie believed Bai Xingshu would agree.

Then, Lin Lie heard Bai Xingshu hum softly and reply almost without hesitation, “Nah, we’re in the home stretch anyway. No need to go through the trouble.”

Completely unprepared for this answer, Lin Lie blanked for a second before immediately assuming Bai Xingshu simply hadn’t realized the implications of Shen Geng presenting as an Alpha (a concept from ABO dynamics).

Having been classmates for over two years, Lin Lie was somewhat aware of Bai Xingshu’s total cluelessness about ABO biology.

So he carefully brought up, “That roommate of yours who presented as an Alpha—is he planning to move out?”

Lin Lie emphasized the word “Alpha” in his question.

Bai Xingshu knew exactly what Lin Lie was hinting at.

Cocking a half-smile, his eyes carrying a hint of scrutiny, he countered, “Class Monitor, who do you think could actually catch me if I didn’t want them to?”

This was a question that practically laid everything bare between them.

It was something Lin Lie understood deep down but had been avoiding entirely.

The students in the Combat Department’s S-Class were all exceptionally skilled. Yet when they’d ganged up on Bai Xingshu earlier, every single move they made had been effortlessly blocked or deflected by him.

Though it had all just been messing around, it still highlighted the massive gap in their abilities.

The answer to that question was clearly—no one could.

Especially when the question was directed at Lin Lie himself.

Bai Xingshu’s words mercilessly shattered the very thought Lin Lie had refused to entertain.

Instantly, Lin Lie’s easygoing act dropped. His face paled slightly, his gaze lowering, though he kept putting up a front as he joked, “But you’ve been caught before, haven’t you?”

He was referring to the team-building drill during their sophomore year, when the entire grade across departments had been called in. They finally managed to grab Bai Xingshu as he climbed up from the base of a cliff, bundling him onto the ship.

Back then, everyone had cheered, parading him onto the ship like some prize catch. Unfortunately, during the process, his head had banged against the doorframe and ceiling multiple times from all the tossing.

Bai Xingshu had bitched about it forever, which stuck in Lin Lie’s mind—which is why he brought it up now, as a teasing remark.

Bai Xingshu didn’t respond to Lin Lie’s teasing.

He wasn’t one to humor every remark thrown his way.

Bai Xingshu knew damn well some things couldn’t just be shrugged off or ignored.

He fixed Lin Lie with a silent stare—no words, but his response was unmistakable.

Bai Xingshu watched Lin Lie’s strained smile slowly crumble.

In the end, Lin Lie closed his eyes.

"Why him?" he asked softly.

Bai Xingshu thought for a moment, then chuckled lightly. "Because I like him?"

That one sentence laid Bai Xingshu’s feelings bare.

Anyone else might’ve melted hearing it—but Lin Lie wasn’t just anyone.

Lin Lie’s chest tightened with a bitter pang.

A bulletproof answer.

After all, this was tailor-made for Lin Lie.

Two years of sharing classes meant Lin Lie understood Bai Xingshu, and Bai Xingshu understood Lin Lie just as well.

If Bai Xingshu had shut him down outright, like with Cheng Yunxi, Song Xiyan, or Luo Yu, Lin Lie wouldn’t have taken it as rejection—he’d have instinctively thought, *I could still make it happen.*

So Bai Xingshu gave Lin Lie an answer heavy with finality—no loopholes.

But in truth, Bai Xingshu had seriously considered the question.

But… being emotionally dense, his overthinking led nowhere.

*Cough.*

What could he do? Once he realized his feelings, everything Shen Geng did made Bai Xingshu’s heart skip.

Luckily, Bai Xingshu had a system to fall back on.

Back when he’d struck his deal with Lin Li, there had been a brief honeymoon phase between host and system.

The system’s motto? Data doesn’t lie.

Bai Xingshu didn’t ask—he demanded the data.

The system didn’t bother with dead weight, focusing only on mission-critical targets. But as its host, Bai Xingshu’s records were intact.

Bai Xingshu asked, and the system coughed up the records without protest.

It was only then that Bai Xingshu clearly realized—the real turning point hadn’t been during his chat with Cheng Yunxi, when he first noticed Shen Geng protecting him.

*Never rely on a clueless guy’s hindsight.*

No, the actual moment his heart stirred was when Shen Geng said he wanted to save Bai Xingshu’s life to release him from bullshit obligations to others—

so he could love whoever the hell he wanted.

The system clearly recorded that moment—Bai Xingshu's racing heartbeat and the surge of hormones in his body.

At the time, however, the completely drained Bai Xingshu didn’t realize this change wasn’t due to his depleted mental energy.

But that didn’t stop Bai Xingshu from remembering how he felt at that moment after seeing the data.

He still vividly remembered the overwhelming desire he had felt—to see the expression on Shen Geng’s face as he spoke those words.

It was a rare emotion for Bai Xingshu, this desperate urge to truly understand someone.

And what made it even more precious was that Shen Geng’s words weren’t empty promises.

In reality, Shen Geng truly acted upon them.

Once Bai Xingshu knew Shen Geng liked him, he realized how sincere Shen Geng had been—his repeated warnings and listing Lin Li’s flaws when Bai Xingshu returned from completing the deal with Lin Li.

Even after Bai Xingshu dismissed each of his concerns, Shen Geng, believing Bai Xingshu genuinely liked Lin Li, quietly resigned himself to it, painfully but silently.

It wasn’t the nicest thought, but Bai Xingshu couldn’t help but feel…

It was kind of cute.