Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Lan Yexing tumbled into the bushes behind the tree, while Qiao You knelt beside him, their shoulders brushing. The tall shrubs swayed in the evening breeze, rustling against their backs.

The dense canopy obscured the fireworks, and in the deeper gloom beneath the tree, both figures were covered in stray leaves, looking somewhat disheveled.

Qiao You casually brushed the leaves from his clothes, about to speak, when Lan Yexing, a small leaf still clinging to his hair, widened his eyes and pressed a finger to his lips, signaling silence. His expression carried a clear threat: if Qiao You didn't comply, he'd pounce and cover his mouth.

Qiao You quietly observed the boy's rather charming and lively demeanor, a faint, almost imperceptible smile playing on his lips, and acquiesced.

Soon, distinct footsteps approached from beneath the tree. The heavy scent of roses, mingled with the petroleum-like aroma of alpha pheromones, permeated the air. Qiao You's face instantly hardened, the faint ripples of amusement in his emerald eyes swallowed by an unfathomable chill.

Lan Yexing didn't notice. His eyebrow twitched, and he clamped a hand over his mouth and nose to stifle a sneeze. Not only were this alpha's pheromones repulsive, but he was also pursuing someone with such an intensely fragrant bouquet of roses!

Of all plants, roses were his only allergy!

Fortunately, the alpha wasn't the persistent type. He scanned his surroundings, found no one, and departed with the flowers.

Only when the footsteps completely faded did Lan Yexing relax. He lowered his hands, began to brush off the leaves, and grumbled, "How did he know you'd be here ahead of time?"

Qiao You raised an eyebrow at his words, giving him a meaningful look.

Lan Yexing froze. "..."

Damn it, he'd gotten too comfortable around this guy and subconsciously asked a question that dug his own grave—that alpha only knew Qiao You would be here in advance, but he not only knew Qiao You would be here, he also knew that alpha would come!

There was no way to explain this, was there?

Qiao You considerately didn't press the matter, nor did he answer the boy's previous question.

A cool smile touched his lips, his forearm resting casually on his bent knee. He gazed through the gaps in the bushes at the distant lake, shimmering with faint ripples. His surroundings were rife with watchful eyes—his classmates, teachers, even the dorm supervisor—most people in this school would readily sell information about him. It was no surprise that alpha knew he would be here.

As for Lan Yexing, he clearly hadn't acquired this knowledge through such channels.

He knew Lan Yexing was constantly and intentionally drawing near through other secrets. His secret, however, was far more convenient than the methods those others employed.

However, unlike the motives of those who sought him out, Lan Yexing seemed to be approaching him to deter them.

As for the person behind him, the information remained unclear.

But regardless of the purpose, he had warned Lan Yexing before that he was unsuited for this game, and it was true: for example, this afternoon, Lan Yexing had grabbed his arm and asked if he was alright, those light eyes holding a startling, almost scorching protectiveness...

That feeling was novel. This boy, though also entangled in the situation, was actually attempting to protect him...

Qiao You's long fingers, resting on his knee, curled momentarily. He withdrew his gaze and lowered his eyes, his expression flickering, difficult to decipher.

Seeing that the other party didn't press the matter, Lan Yexing no longer worried about the slip of the tongue. He also recalled the afternoon's events and said, "Senior, the matter with Duan Chen was also your doing, wasn't it?"

If Qiao You had detected Duan Chen's despicable plans, he couldn't possibly not retaliate. Just as he had retaliated against Yuan Ping earlier.

But...

Lan Yexing: "There's surveillance in that corridor."

With the heir involved in an incident, the Duan family was now expediting their investigation, and they would check the surveillance first. Normally, if Qiao You had done that, he would definitely have left traces in the corridor's surveillance—for example, the surveillance would directly capture him entering that room.

So, when he left, he had originally considered using electricity to disable the corridor's surveillance for Qiao You, but then he realized Qiao You wasn't someone who would overlook such details. Fearing he might do more harm than good, he refrained.

He was still a bit uneasy, though, because he couldn't confirm if Qiao You would actually be implicated.

Qiao You almost immediately understood Lan Yexing's thoughts. He raised his head slightly and glanced at the boy's beautiful face, tinged with faint worry, and said calmly, without a ripple, "In the surveillance, my actions will be completely normal."

His spiritual power was "Extraction." Most people were unaware of his spiritual power, and the few who did know only understood that he could Extract any physical substance.

But no one knew that he could also Extract non-material entities like "space."

Duan Chen's idiotic secretary had appeared before their team even before his match, subtly inquiring about his lounge and resting habits from his teammates, whether intentionally or not.

And to scrutinize a despicable person, one must employ an even more despicable line of thought. For example, he immediately surmised that the idiot would undoubtedly attempt something underhanded in his lounge.

So, he deliberately damaged the old personal lounge's circuit and dirtied the sofa in advance, creating the conditions for him to get a new personal lounge. But at the same time, he still left the old water cup, which he'd planned to throw away, in the old lounge.

After the first half of the match, he would return to the collective lounge with the coach and teammates first—the surveillance in the corridor would capture this.

In the first five minutes after returning there, his coach would hold a meeting with the players to discuss their strategy for the second half.

In the second five minutes, the coach and teammates would go outside to accept interviews with reporters. He had never been interested in this and would stay alone in the collective lounge, which had no surveillance and was currently empty except for him.

Then, he used his spiritual power to "Extract" the space and all matter between the collective lounge and the old lounge opposite for a split second—the effect was that when he opened the door of the collective lounge, he found himself inside the old lounge with his name on it, and the surveillance in the corridor didn't capture any abnormalities.

Duan Chen, that idiot, was indeed already in the room, pouring something into the old water cup—Duan Chen seemed to have thoroughly understood his habits, knowing that he would be having a meeting in the collective lounge at this time and would only return to his personal lounge for water afterward.

He donned his medical mask and medical gloves, arrogantly looking down at that utterly despicable idiot with his back to him, his mood eerily serene.

He first "Extracted" the other person's eyes—after all, the Duan family's spiritual power was "shared vision."

Next were the vocal cords, rendering the person unable to make a sound, and a pampered individual like Duan Chen would immediately faint from the pain.

A completely unconscious person had no vision, so he continued to Extract organs while looking at the two eyeballs still attached to the human nerves in his hand, forcibly stimulating the other person's spiritual power, and judging the impact of different organs on spiritual power by the time and frequency at which the eyeballs in his hand lit up when the ability occurred.

He spent five minutes thoroughly "Extracting" all of Duan Chen's organs and blood to experiment with which organ his spiritual power strength was truly related to.

Perhaps the eyeballs and the nerves connected to them were used too harshly. When he put those organ tissues and blood back, Duan Chen's facial orifices bled uncontrollably, and it was unknown whether his five senses would be affected in the future.

But that was no longer his concern.

He Extracted all traces of himself from this room, including fingerprints and footprints, and then used his spiritual power again to return to the collective lounge.

In the last five minutes, he came out of the collective lounge again and went to the new personal lounge.

So, the final surveillance in the corridor would only show: he and the coach and teammates returned to the collective lounge, and ten minutes later, he came out of the collective lounge and returned to the new personal lounge. From beginning to end, there was no evidence to prove that he had entered the room where Duan Chen was.

Just as he stood at the entrance of the new lounge, the moment before he was about to open the door, that beautiful boy suddenly appeared and crashed into his eyes.

That gaze carried a startling, burning temperature, as if it would pierce the skin and cling to the depths of his being—and at that time, the disgusting sensation of having Extracted organs and held those two eyeballs hadn't completely disappeared from his palm.

...

"Bang, bang, bang," several enthusiastic bursts exploded in the sky for the umpteenth time. At this point, the fireworks seemed to have reached their most beautiful and intense phase.

Qiao You's thoughts snapped back, and he continued to look at Lan Yexing. His expression was calm, his emerald eyes seemingly unruffled. He said faintly, "So, you don't have to worry about me."

Lan Yexing was startled, then completely relaxed. His eyes curved, and he said, "That's good."

With that, he plucked off the last fallen leaf from his body, stood up to stretch, and pushed through the bushes to walk out.

Qiao You naturally rose and followed him.

Reaching the edge of the huge canopy, Qiao You looked past the boy's back at the distant, overlapping crowd and the lake reflecting the fireworks and night sky. A flawless smile appeared on his face, his entire face strikingly handsome. His voice was low and slightly hoarse, containing an unclear emotion. He said, "Junior, shall we go to the lakeside to watch the fireworks?"

Lan Yexing, who had already stepped out from under the canopy and was bathed in starlight and fireworks, stopped and turned to look at him. He blinked and said, "Senior, you go ahead. I'm sorry, but I have something else to do."

He had promised Furball to visit it once a day, and he couldn't break his word.