"Brother, are you and the campus belle together?" Lu Mingze hurried over before Lu Mingfei could even put down his backpack.
"Which campus belle?" Lu Mingfei was quite familiar with all three of them.
"Senior Uesugi, of course. Unless you mean Chen Wenwen?" Lu Mingze knew his cousin had a crush on Chen Wenwen.
Lu Mingfei originally wanted to tell Lu Mingze that Zhao Menghua and Chen Wenwen were together, but thinking of his cousin's show-off nature and big mouth, he decided to keep it to himself.
"How could I possibly be with Erii? Would she ever lower her standards for someone like me?"
"You're already calling her by her first name, and you're saying you're not?"
"What good would lying to you do?" Lu Mingfei was starting to lose his patience with his cousin's cross-examination.
"Then what is this?" Lu Mingze pulled up photos of Lu Mingfei and Erii feeding each other ice cream.
"You've been walking her home these past two days, haven't you?" That was a picture of the two of them walking side by side under the ginkgo trees.
Wait, what was going on? Did he already have a stalker and a private paparazzi so soon? In the photos, the two of them were chatting and laughing just like a young couple.
"Who posted these pictures?!" Lu Mingfei glanced at the username, opened the forum, and found someone named "Heron". Aside from the gender being listed as "female," the profile was entirely blank. Sure enough, she had posted new photos today too. Lu Mingfei stared at the picture of the two of them hugging and fell into deep thought. Working backward from the composition to deduce the shooting angle, it had been taken straight at them from very close range. There were only a few people around the mall. If someone had been standing right there with a camera, there was no way Lu Mingfei wouldn't have noticed.
He looked at the other pictures. The photo of Erii giving him a plush toy had been taken from their left side; in the shot where he was picking a fallen leaf out of Erii's hair, the camera lens was practically shoved right in their faces; and the one in the park with the dog looked as though it had been taken by someone standing right beside him. But how was that even possible? Unless someone could turn invisible, there was no reason they wouldn't have noticed someone trailing them this closely the entire way.
"Brother, is this plush toy the one Senior Uesugi gave you?" Lu Mingze asked, staring at the screen.
"Lu Mingze, you know how to take pictures, right?" Lu Mingfei looked at his cousin with a solemn expression. He remembered Lu Mingze was in the school photography club, and Uncle had bought him equipment worth over sixty thousand.
"I do." Lu Mingze proudly pulled out his camera.
"Do you think there's any chance these photos were taken from far away?"
Lu Mingze examined them closely. "These look like they were taken up close. Especially this one of you two hugging, right here."
Lu Mingfei followed where Lu Mingze was pointing and saw a small green dot.
"This is an optical phenomenon. When taking a picture, light enters through the camera lens and exposes the film. If the light is too bright, it reflects inside the lens barrel, creating this secondary ghost image." Lu Mingze nodded. "This means the photographer was standing directly beneath that streetlamp."
Beneath the lamp? You've got to be kidding me. Lu Mingfei hadn't even seen a single shadow of a person. If someone were really under the lamp, there should have been a shadow, but there was nothing in the photo.
"Are you sure?" Lu Mingfei suspected his cousin was just showing off half-baked knowledge to fool him.
"If you don't believe me, let's go outside and demonstrate it."
"No need for a demonstration. I didn't see the person taking these at all. They must have taken them from far away. With equipment as bulky and obvious as yours, how could I not remember?"
"Believe what you want, then."
Despite saying that, Lu Mingfei still desperately wanted to know who on earth was stalking them and even posting their pictures on the forum.
"Long Legs, our little friend seems to realize something is up." The girl shoved a potato chip into her mouth. "Are you sure your Spiritual Word: Underworld Illumination won't get seen through?"
"See through what? Me sneaking around taking pictures while invisible? Would he actually believe someone can turn invisible?" A woman in tight black clothing tossed her hair.
The computer sitting on the desk was browsing the Shilan Middle School forum.
"Mai, you'd better be careful."
"Potato Chips, you've been nagging a lot lately." The woman named Kudesu Mai looked at the computer screen. "What are you looking at?"
The browser had switched away from the Shilan Middle School forum, and the girl known as "Potato Chips" was reading a web novel on her screen.
"Nothing much."
"Let me see." Kudesu Mai spun the computer screen around. It was a novel about the Dragon Clan and losers.
Her gaze locked onto a passage and stopped: *Spiritual Word—an ability unique to dragons and Hybrids, triggered only by those possessing dragon blood. It is a combat method exclusive to them, manifesting in different forms depending on the individual.*
Kudesu Mai frowned slightly. Just like her own Spiritual Word: Underworld Illumination, which could use her body as the center to bend the surrounding light in bizarre ways, achieving an invisibility effect.
"Su Enxi, hurry up and look up this author. This is basically the setting for Spiritual Words, right? Isn't it a bit much to write it out so blatantly?"
"Would anyone actually believe it?" Su Enxi ate another potato chip. "Though this person is quite clever. Boss is worried about us leaking things that shouldn't be written, and wants me to contact the author, but I still haven't been able to pinpoint their location."
"I see."
"Also, from now on, just call me 'Potato Chips.' Calling me by my real name feels weird."
"Su Enxi, Su Enxi, Su Enxi. It sounds pretty nice, though." Kudesu Mai spun the computer screen back around, picked up her camera, and strutted away.
"Brother, don't try to change the subject. What kind of relationship do you and the campus belle really have?" Lu Mingze refused to let Lu Mingfei off the hook.
"At best, we're just friends. Don't overthink it."
"Then explain why you two were hugging?"
"She's scared of thunder. When a lightning strike hit right outside, she startled and dove straight into my arms."
Lu Mingze wore a mischievous grin. When people encountered danger, they subconsciously gravitated toward the person they trusted most. Throwing herself directly into his arms meant Lu Mingfei was clearly the person Erii trusted above all else. Their relationship was definitely unusual. And he had the nerve to say nothing was going on—who would believe that?
"What about this dog you two are walking together?"
"A stray we met on the road. We aren't raising it."
"And feeding each other?"
Lu Mingfei couldn't really explain that one away, so he stammered, "That's because she wanted to try every single ice cream flavor, and doing it that way was faster."
Lu Mingze shot him a look of utter contempt. "Do you take me for an idiot?"
"Believe it or not, that's up to you."
"Right, and this plush toy is the ultimate piece of evidence. The proof is ironclad, don't even bother trying to deny it." Lu Mingze pointed at the note taped to the back of the little crocodile—*Lu Mingfei and Erii's Little Crocodile*.
"You might not believe me, but ordinary friends really are just ordinary friends."
Even Lu Mingfei felt his explanation sounded weak. He and Erii had only just met, yet they shared a feeling of a long-awaited reunion.
"You've been walking her home every single day these past two days—is that how ordinary friends behave?"
"We didn't do anything out of line." Lu Mingfei felt helpless. Any explanation he offered now was pointless; Lu Mingze was already thoroughly convinced there was something going on between him and Erii.
"Really?" Lu Mingze tapped open the photos one by one. "This one: walking home together. This one: sharing the same umbrella and holding hands. This one: hugging each other. This one: indirect kiss. This one: the atmosphere is purely that of a young couple. This one: like newlyweds out walking the dog. Do you have any defense against all this?"
As Lu Mingfei listened to his cousin's breakdown, he had to admit it did look somewhat suspicious. No wonder people were jumping to conclusions. It seemed he needed to find a chance to talk to Erii; things couldn't go on like this. He used to have much better boundaries than this. Could it be that his judgment had just been temporarily clouded by his recent heartbreak, allowing Erii to catch him off guard?
*No way,* Lu Mingfei shook his head. *I'm a total loser, what could someone like her possibly want from me?*