[Qinghua University, South Gate — September 17, Wednesday, ~5:42 PM]
Liu-23 moved before they reached her.
One step forward, centered in the path between the gate post and the guard house wall. Hands at her sides. Sunglasses catching the last of the flat evening light.
She didn't look at Zhang Yuting. Didn't look at Su Qingxue. Her head turned toward Long Tian and stopped there.
"Sir, Ma'am, this is a restricted area."
Zhang Yuting pulled free of Long Tian's arm and tried to go around. Liu-23 shifted — one step, no urgency — and the gap closed. Zhang Yuting hit the block and her voice broke open.
"That's my cousin in there! You can't just — she's my family, I have every right to —"
Liu-23 didn't acknowledge that Zhang Yuting was speaking. Her body stayed angled toward Long Tian as though the crying girl pushing against her was weather — present, irrelevant, not worth adjusting for.
Zhang Yuting's voice cracked. "Tingting! TINGTING!"
No sound came from the guard house. The window was too thick, or Zhang Tingting couldn't hear, or both.
Behind them, a bicycle rattled through the south gate and the rider didn't look twice. The evening air had gone cool enough that Zhang Yuting's breath hitched visibly between sobs.
Su Qingxue stepped in. She put a hand on Zhang Yuting's shoulder and pulled her back gently, then turned to Liu-23. "We know Tingting is there. Just let us see that she's okay. That's all we're asking."
"I said no."
Long Tian stepped forward.
He opened his mouth — the warm smile already forming, the first word of a reasonable sentence ready on his tongue — and Liu-23's sunglasses turned toward him and held there, and the word died before it reached the air.
I can't move her.
Not with words. Not with Zhang Yuting's tears. Not with Su Qingxue's composure.
This woman wasn't a student or a shop clerk or a campus security guard running on social pressure and politeness. She was a wall in human shape, and nothing in his personal toolkit was going to put a crack in her.
Lin Feng hired someone like this. Just for one girl. Just to stand at a gate and keep people out.
The system notification materialized at the edge of his vision before he'd finished the thought.
--------------------
[Obstacle Detected: Non-heroine blocking access to registered heroine.]
[Suggested Action: Passive Agreeability Enhancement — 5 CP]
[Effect: Increases favorability toward Host. Reduces logical resistance. Overcomes trained defenses.]
[Duration: ~30 minutes.]
[Accept?]
--------------------
Five CP.
Zhang Yuting's hands were shaking at her sides and her voice had gone hoarse from calling Zhang Tingting's name through a window that gave back nothing.
She just wants to see her cousin.
And I also want to save Tingting from Lin Feng.
Of course, is that supposed to be a question?
Accept!
[Purchase Complete: 5 CP deducted.]
[Balance: 4,845 CP]
--------------------
It happened between one breath and the next.
Liu-23's shoulders dropped. Not much — just a centimeter, maybe two — but it was enough to tell Long Tian that whatever the system did, it worked.
Her jaw loosened. The weight shifted off her feet and settled back into her heels. The sunglasses still faced him, but whatever had been behind them — the thing that had made his first word die in his throat — was gone.
She looked like the same woman. Same black clothes, same stance, same hands at her sides. But the wall had become a door, and Long Tian could feel the difference the way you felt a change in air pressure before a storm.
He smiled. Warm. Easy.
"I'm sorry about all that," he said, gesturing back toward Zhang Yuting. "She's just scared for her cousin. You understand. Also, we're just concerned about our friend. My name is Long Tian by the way, I'm Tingting's friend."
Liu-23 nodded. "Of course Mr. Long. It's been a long afternoon after all. So what can I do for Ms. Zhang's friends?"
Her voice had changed too. Not the flat, clipped delivery from ten seconds ago. It now sounded more open, more agreeable, like she was happy to be helpful to him.
"So." Long Tian kept his tone casual, friendly, two people making conversation. "Who asked you to watch over her?"
"Lin Feng. The second young master of the Lin family."
"And who is Lin Feng? What's he like?"
Liu-23 tilted her head. "He is the second child of the Lin Family. For the last four years, the young master was said to be incompetent, only chasing after some woman with the surname Su."
She said it easily, without judgment, the way someone might describe a coworker's harmless quirk. "I've heard from my superior that most of them considered him as an embarrassment."
Long Tian felt his chest expand. There it is.
"Why are you guarding this girl specifically?"
"I was told to guard her and help her move her belongings. That's the assignment."
"Who else is involved?"
Liu-23's brow creased slightly. "I don't... I'm not sure. I report to my handler. I don't know the bigger picture."
"How long have you worked for him?"
"Since yesterday. I was reassigned by my handler from my previous task."
"One more question — has anyone ever watched me? Followed me? Surveilled me in any way?"
Liu-23 shook her head. "I wouldn't know. I wasn't assigned to anything like that. I just do escort and protection work."
Long Tian nodded slowly, letting the picture assemble itself. Somewhere beyond the gate, a scooter engine faded down the street and the campus settled further into evening quiet.
Just as I expected. Even his family considers him useless. He is indeed a minor villain. Just some hurdle along the way.
Also, that Lin Feng is just a dumb second-generation heir after all. He is not smart enough to send someone to spy on me. If he was a bit smarter, Su Qingxue would not have suffered such treatment from him.
And one day, I'm going to make him pay for looking down on me while having no abilities himself whatsoever!
Lin Feng, oh Lin Feng. Now that Su Qingxue has totally abandoned you, you jump ship and harass Ms. Zhang. Hmm! Not on my watch!
And your wealth is not going to help you this time!
The fury settled into his chest like something warm and soon, it turned into pity.
Unfortunately for you, you ran up against me, Long Tian.
You poor bastard. You think money can do what destiny does.
Behind him, Zhang Yuting had stopped crying.
She was watching the exchange with wide, wet eyes, her hand gripping Su Qingxue's sleeve.
She didn't understand what had changed, but she could see that the woman who had blocked them was now talking — smiling, even — and when Liu-23 stepped aside, Zhang Yuting straightened herself.
She then looked at Long Tian's back, her face confirming what she'd believed all along — that Long Tian was everything she thought he was.
Long Tian turned toward the guard house. Through the window, the shape inside hadn't moved.
"Thank you," he said to Liu-23. "You've been very helpful."
Liu-23 smiled. This time the path to the guard house was open.
--------------------
The monitor hummed beside her. The thermos on the desk had gone cold and the guard house still smelled like instant noodles from the security guard's dinner. Zhang Tingting was still smiling when the movement caught her eye.
Then she saw a few figures on the path outside. Three of them, approaching from the campus interior. Liu-23 stepped into their path and stopped, and the relief came so fast it loosened something in Zhang Tingting's chest.
She's handling it. That's what she's here for.
Then she recognized the girl in front.
Zhang Yuting. Red-eyed, bag swinging, mouth moving in words Zhang Tingting couldn't hear through the glass. Behind her — Su Qingxue. And behind them both, half a head taller, golden hair catching what was left of the daylight.
Zhang Tingting's smile died.
She knew that face. Not from campus, not from class. From a monitor in a dark room, yesterday afternoon.
Long Tian's date with her best friend – Su Qingxue, and her cousin – Zhang Yuting.
His hands on Su Qingxue's waist. His fingers sliding under Zhang Yuting's blouse.
The synchronized smiles. The way both women had leaned into him with that same glassy tilt of the head, moving in unison, like neither of them was deciding to move at all.
What is he doing here? How did they find me?
Zhang Yuting was crying on the other side of the glass. Her mouth kept moving — shouting something, Zhang Tingting could tell from the way her neck strained — but Liu-23 didn't budge. Stood there like concrete. Su Qingxue tried next, calmer, and Liu-23 gave her nothing either.
Hold. Please hold.
The golden-haired man stepped forward. Liu-23's head turned toward him and he stopped.
Good. She's got this. She's not moving. She's —
Liu-23's whole posture loosened.
It wasn't dramatic. The rigid line from shoulders to heels just — released. Like a rope going slack.
One breath she was immovable. The next she was nodding along to whatever the golden-haired man was saying, and her hands had come up from her sides in a gesture that looked like helpfulness.
No!
That doesn't happen. People don't change like that. Not her — not the woman who refused to turn around because the other gate was right there. Not in the space of one breath.
"Miss?"
The security guard had turned in his chair. His reading glasses had slipped down his nose and he was looking at her over the top of them.
"Miss, what's wrong? You've gone pale."
"Don't let them in." The words came out before she'd arranged them. "Please. The man out there — something's wrong with him. Don't let them in. They're out to get me! Help me Mr. Guard."
The guard's brow furrowed. He looked at the window, then back at her — at her white knuckles on the chair, at whatever was on her face — and something in his expression hardened. He stood up. His hand reached for the door handle.
The door opened inward before he touched it.
Liu-23 had crossed from the path to the guard house entrance. She held the door open from the outside, standing to one side. Smiling. Behind her — Zhang Yuting, Su Qingxue, and the silhouette of a man against the fading light.
Long Tian.
The guard stepped forward, one arm coming up. "Now hold on — this young lady asked me to —"
He stopped.
His arm dropped to his side. The furrow in his brow smoothed out and the hardness drained from his face, leaving something easy and open in its place — the same impossible softening she'd just watched happen to Liu-23.
He blinked once, looked at the group in the doorway, and stepped aside.
"Come on in," he said. "There's plenty of room inside. So how may I help you kids?"
--------------------
Zhang Yuting rushed through the door and hit her like a wave.
Arms around her, face buried in her shoulder, the shaking transferring from one body to the other.
The guard house was too small for this — five bodies where there should have been one, the roller luggage jammed between the plastic chair and the desk, the monitor still humming beside them like nothing had changed.
Liu-23 stood just inside the door she'd opened, hands folded, pleasant and vacant.
The security guard stood beside her, that same easy expression on his face, watching the reunion with the mild interest of someone enjoying a television program.
Their bodies blocking the door.
"Oh god, Tingting — I thought he — your dorm was empty and everything was gone and I thought —"
Zhang Tingting pushed her off.
Not gently. She wrestled Zhang Yuting off her, hard enough that her cousin stumbled back a step and nearly caught her heel on the roller luggage.
Zhang Yuting stared at her. The relief on her face crumbled into something she didn't have a category for.
"Tingting, what —"
Su Qingxue moved in next. Softer approach, one hand reaching for Zhang Tingting's arm, her voice low and concerned. "Tingting, it's us. We've been looking everywhere for —"
Zhang Tingting slapped her hand away.
Up close, it was worse than the monitors. Su Qingxue's eyes had that quality Zhang Tingting had watched through the screen — not glazed exactly, but smoothed.
Like something behind them was gone. The concern on her face looked real and performed at the same time, and the combination made Zhang Tingting's skin crawl.
"Don't touch me."
Zhang Yuting's gaze had drifted to the roller luggage beside the plastic chair. The suitcase, the bags, everything Zhang Tingting owned packed tight and ready to move. Her eyes went wide.
"Tingting... is that all your stuff?"
"Your dorm was completely empty," Zhang Yuting continued, her voice climbing. "Everything. Every shelf. Even the photo of your parents — it was just a dust mark where the frame used to be."
Zhang Yuting looked at the luggage, then at the guard house, then at Liu-23 and the guard standing by the door with their folded hands and helpful smiles.
"He moved you out, didn't he?" It came out quiet. Certain. "Lin Feng moved you out of the dorm and put you here. With her."
"No. Yuting, listen to me — I'm fine. I chose to be here. Nobody forced me to do anything."
"Of course you'd say that." Zhang Yuting's voice broke. "If he's threatening your family — if he told you what to say —"
"He's not threatening anyone! You need to go. Please. Just take — just take him and go." She looked past her cousin toward the entrance.
Long Tian stood at the threshold. He hadn't entered. His shoulder rested against the frame and his hands were in his pockets and his expression was patient and unhurried — the same look she'd watched him wear at the café, leaning back in the booth while two women pressed against his sides.
He'd waited then too. Let things come to him.
[Zhang Tingting — Affection: -10. No change.]
"Yuting, Qingxue, listen to me." Zhang Tingting, desperate, grabbed her cousin's wrist while looking at Su Qingxue. "Something is wrong with that man! He's… I don't know what he is. He's not — he's not what you think he is. I've seen what he does."
Zhang Yuting frowned. Her gaze moved to Su Qingxue, then to Long Tian, searching for whatever Zhang Tingting was pointing at. Su Qingxue looked back with an expression of open concern.
Nothing wrong. Nothing off. Just a friend worried about another friend.
What am I supposed to be seeing?
Zhang Yuting's frown faded. She turned back to Zhang Tingting, and the pity in her face was unbearable.
"Tingting..." Zhang Yuting squeezed her hand. "It's okay. Whatever he told you about us — about Brother Tian — it's not true. He's lying to you, Tingting."
No way… There's no use convincing them!
Zhang Tingting looked at Su Qingxue's smooth eyes. At Zhang Yuting's pitying face. At the luggage that was supposed to be her escape and was now proof of her imprisonment.
It doesn't matter what I say. They've already decided what happened.
From the threshold, Long Tian spoke for the first time.
"Zhang Tingting."
His voice was steady. Gentle. The kind of voice that made you want to believe whatever came after it.
"My name is Long Tian. I'm a friend of your cousin's. Your friend." He took his hands from his pockets and stepped forward, just one step past the frame. "I can see you're scared. And I know this is confusing. But nobody here is going to hurt you."
He extended his hand.
"Let me help."
--------------------
Zhang Tingting slapped his hand away and stepped back.
The plastic chair caught the backs of her knees and she sat down hard, and there was nowhere else to go. The wall of the guard house was right behind her.
Long Tian's hand stayed where it was. Open. Patient.
"It's okay, Tingting." Zhang Yuting's voice came from beside her, close and steady. "He's safe. He's with us."
Zhang Yuting took Zhang Tingting's hand — gently, the way you'd coax a child — and placed it in Long Tian's.
His fingers closed around hers. Long Tian lowered himself to one knee beside the plastic chair, bringing his eyes level with hers.
--------------------
[Ding! Contact Established — Zhang Tingting]
[Affection Adjustment: -10 → +61]
[Cost: 710 CP (10 CP per point)]
[Method: Sustained physical contact]
[Required Duration: 3:00]
[Timer Remaining: 3:00]
--------------------
His hand was steady. That was the first thing she noticed — the certainty of his palm against hers, unhurried, sure.
And also intimate.
As if she was already his woman.
Lin Feng had not even touched her like that.
Zhang Yuting held her other hand and squeezed, and between the two of them Zhang Tingting felt anchored, which should have been comforting and wasn't.
"You're safe now," Long Tian said softly. "Whatever happened — it's over."
The kitchen came to her unbidden. His sleeves rolled to the elbow, oil popping in the wok, her voice walking him through the timing — now the garlic, not yet, wait for the smoke to change.
The late-night strolls when neither of them had anywhere to be. The weight of his car keys landing in her hands.
The first time she'd ever seen him — a boy leaping from a car to tackle Su Qingxue out of the path of a truck, then standing up and yelling at her for not paying attention.
The way he'd looked, furious and scared and completely unaware that a girl across the street was watching.
All of it was still there. Still vivid. The heat, the oil, the sound of his voice.
But something at the edges was loosening. Like a photograph left in the sun — the colors still present but beginning to fade at the margins.
She reached for the feeling — the specific feeling she'd only just found, sitting in this chair minutes ago, reading his text mess
age and smiling without meaning to while the guard watched her with knowing eyes — and the thought started to form and then didn't finish.
I felt...
She'd never even named it.
Whatever it was — the thing that had made her smile, made the guard notice — she'd held it for minutes.
Not hours. Not days.
Minutes.
And she'd never said it out loud, never put a word to it.
Earlier, there had been no need to name it — that feeling she had suppressed for years.
But now she was reaching for it. Like someone reaching for the moon in the lake.
[Timer Remaining: 2:30]
[Current Affection: 0]
"There you go," Long Tian said. "Just breathe."
The kitchen was still there. She could picture it — the stove, the wok, the counter with the cutting board. But the heat was gone.
She remembered that there had been heat, that oil had popped and left tiny burns on her forearms, but she couldn't feel it. Couldn't summon it.
The strolls — she'd walked somewhere at night with someone. The streets had been quiet. She couldn't remember his voice or what they'd talked about or why it had mattered.
It was real. I know it was real. I felt something.
She tried to hold on.
Zhang Yuting's fingers tightened on hers — still there, still holding, still pulling her toward the reasonable world where everything was fine and the man beside her was kind and her cousin loved her.
Her grip tightened around — whose hand was this?
Long Tian was holding one.
Zhang Yuting the other. Su Qingxue stood nearby, and her smile didn't look wrong anymore.
It looked like a real smile. Her eyes didn't look glassy or smooth anymore, but genuine.
Zhang Tingting nodded at something Long Tian said.
It felt like the right thing to do.
She's calming down. Long Tian watched the tension leave her shoulders, watched her breathing even out. Good. Whatever Lin Feng put her through, it's over now. She's settling. She's going to be okay.
[Timer Remaining: 1:30]
[Current Affection: +30]
The surveillance footage from yesterday had been — what? People in a café. Touching. Smiling. A lovers' quarrel, maybe. Jealousy. Drama.
The kind of thing couples fought about. She'd overreacted.
The cooking lessons with Lin Feng were a business arrangement — he'd paid her family, she'd played matchmaker. A transaction.
A three-year-long transaction.
The strolls were professional courtesy between a client and a contractor.
The car keys were just car keys. And she was just serving him as his driver.
Lin Feng. The name sat in her mind like a word in a foreign language.
Two syllables.
She knew what they referred to but couldn't find the feeling that was supposed to go with them.
[Timer Remaining: 0:33]
[Current Affection: +55]
Something surfaced from far below. A kitchen. Oil in a wok. Someone's sleeve, rolled to the elbow. A laugh she couldn't hear anymore but knew — knew — had been real.
She grasped at it.
It dissolved.
A face. Silver hair. Dark eyes. She'd known that face. She'd felt something when she looked at it. She couldn't remember what.
[Current Affection: +58]
A name.
[Current Affection: +59]
Just a name. Nothing else left.
A feeling began to sprout inside her heart. Disdain, disgust, and hatred for the owner of that name.
[Current Affection: +60]
Long Tian was holding her hand, his face beaming at her like the sun. Zhang Yuting's grip was still there on the other side. Su Qingxue was smiling.
Everything was all fine.
But her body knew something her mind had lost.
Something underneath the fine, underneath the nod, underneath the reasonable world that had settled into place around her.
A signal from a self that was almost gone.
Malevolent thoughts began to flood her spirit, her heart drowning fast.
Yet, at the last moment, in a desperate plea of her dying light, a tear rolled down her face and a thought appeared.
Lin Feng...
please... save me...
[Timer Remaining: 0:02]
VRRRRRRRMMMM—
The thermos rattled off the desk and hit the floor. The monitor flickered. The guard house window hummed in its frame, and through it — light.
A white and blinding light.
Sweeping across the south gate like a second sunrise.
SCREEEEECH—
Rubber shrieking against asphalt. The hard CRACK of a chassis rocking forward on its suspension.
THOOM.
Silence.
The light held. It caught Liu-23's sunglasses and turned them into mirrors. Caught Long Tian's face where he knelt beside the chair, Zhang Tingting's hand still in his. Caught everything and pinned it there.
Ka-chunk.
The rear passenger door opened first.
An SUV. Black. Still ticking from the heat of a drive that had not obeyed a single speed limit between here and wherever it came from.
And standing in the headlights — was a man with silver hair.
--------------------
[End of Chapter]