23: Chapter 23 Winning with Underwear and the Theory Master

The dim, ambiguous lights in the stairwell stretched their two slender shadows long, interlacing them on the wall as if they were engaged in a silent wrestling match.

Leng Qingxuan walked barefoot, step by step, unhurried.

"Hey! Didn't you hear what Huang Mao just said?"

An Ran stood at the top of the stairs, gripping the handrail so tightly that her fingertips turned white.

She tilted her head, looking at that back, her voice trembling: "He said 'suffer the consequences'... He was serious! What if you go up there and he really gets angry?"

Leng Qingxuan's pace didn't falter in the slightest.

"Angry?"

She let out a light laugh that echoed in the empty stairwell, carrying a hint of casual coldness.

"An Ran, do you know what kind of character unconditionally follows the system's instructions in an RPG?"

An Ran was stunned: "What?"

"An NPC."

Leng Qingxuan stopped at the landing, turning her head slightly. In the dim light, her cold, refined profile looked exceptionally bewitching, the corners of her mouth curling into a mocking arc.

"Only pre-programmed code would ignore an 'Access Prohibited' wall. But players..."

She extended a slender finger, tapping lightly in the void. "The meaning of a player's existence is to break rules and trigger hidden plotlines."

"You... that's twisted logic!" An Ran bit her lip in rebuttal. "This is reality, not a game!"

"Reality is just a trash game with better graphics."

Leng Qingxuan turned around, looking down at An Ran as if observing a kitten that hadn't been weaned yet.

"You can choose to stay downstairs and continue playing your role as the obedient childhood sweetheart. I don't mind."

She paused, her tone becoming more playful: "After all, there is only one position for the primary wife. If you voluntarily give it up, it saves me a lot of effort."

"Once I clear this route, if I'm in a good mood, perhaps I'll allow Huang Mao to take a few concubines."

Leng Qingxuan narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze sweeping over An Ran as if evaluating the value of a commodity.

"At that time, I'll remember to save a 'Number One Concubine' spot for you. How about it? Do you want to thank me?"

Boom!

An Ran felt the string in her brain named "reason" snap completely.

A concubine?

The Number One Concubine?!

This woman actually wanted her to be a mistress for Huang Mao, whom she had grown up with!

"In your dreams!"

An Ran let out a low growl, her chest heaving violently. Her original concerns and shame were burned to ashes in this moment by a flame called "desire to win."

She couldn't lose.

She absolutely could not lose to this crazy woman who spoke in nothing but game terminology!

At least, she couldn't let her win so easily!

An Ran took a deep breath, her eyes becoming fierce. She lunged forward, taking the stairs two at a time, charging up in a fury, following closely behind Leng Qingxuan.

Sensing the approaching presence behind her, Leng Qingxuan didn't look back, but the smile at the corners of her mouth deepened.

That's right.

If the opponent is too weak, what's the fun in playing this game?

Just as it was said in a certain manga, a man must be won through one's own strength; it's more satisfying when he's being played...

Ahem, that might not be the exact quote, but that's the general idea.

The two walked one after another to the second-floor hallway.

The air was filled with a faint mist, and the sound of running water could be heard from the direction of the bathroom.

An Ran didn't hesitate; fueled by a surge of hot-blooded adrenaline, she changed direction and rushed toward the bathroom door.

Since she had decided to "disobey orders," she had to go all out. Otherwise, once she stopped, her sense of shame would regain the high ground.

However, just as she was about to pass Leng Qingxuan, the figure beside her suddenly stopped.

Leng Qingxuan didn't head toward the bathroom but turned instead toward the room right next to the master bedroom—her own bedroom.

This abnormal action was like a high-speed race car suddenly pulling the handbrake.

An Ran had to stop abruptly, the soles of her feet screeching against the floor. She turned her head, full of confusion, watching Leng Qingxuan, who was preparing to push the door open.

"Where... where are you going?"

An Ran was dumbfounded.

Didn't she just aggressively say she wanted to seize the primary wife position? Why was she backing off at the door?

"Are you scared?" An Ran asked, reflexively mocking her.

Leng Qingxuan's hand rested on the doorknob; she paused at the words. She turned her head, looking at An Ran with the eyes of someone looking at a "primitive human," and sighed softly.

"Scared? No, I'm just doing pre-battle preparations."

Leng Qingxuan looked An Ran up and down.

At this moment, An Ran was still wearing that pink tracksuit. While youthful and energetic, it felt completely out of place in this sultry atmosphere, like a PE representative who had wandered onto the wrong set.

"You intend to go in wearing that?" Leng Qingxuan raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to take a shower, or are you going for a morning jog?"

An Ran looked down at herself, and her cheeks turned bright red instantly: "What... what's wrong with this! Taking a shower means taking off clothes anyway, does it make a difference what I'm wearing..."

"Naive."

Leng Qingxuan spat out the word coldly, cutting off An Ran's defense.

"If this were a single-player instance, what you wear—or don't wear—wouldn't matter. If you hadn't followed me, I might have just gone in like you."

"But this is PVP mode; it's a contest between you and me."

Leng Qingxuan held up a finger, her tone as serious as if she were discussing an academic issue.

"When competitors are present, the visual impact of the first impression determines whether you can instantly seize the target's attention and thereby gain the initiative."

"This tracksuit you're wearing has defense that's too high and attack power that's zero. By the time you're done undressing, Huang Mao will have already finished showering and come out."

"If you want to win, you must change into 'decisive lingerie'."

"De... Decisive lingerie?! " An Ran's face turned as red as a ripe tomato, and her voice cracked. "You, you, you... what on earth is going on in your head!"

"This is tactics; this is strategy." Leng Qingxuan pushed open the door but didn't rush in; instead, she leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed.

"How... how are you so experienced?"

An Ran looked at Leng Qingxuan suspiciously, her eyes filled with vigilance. "Could it be that you're some kind of veteran in love? Or... have you done some unsavory part-time jobs in the past?"

It was no wonder An Ran was suspicious; Leng Qingxuan's theory was too systematic, not at all like something a college freshman could summarize.

Facing An Ran's questioning, Leng Qingxuan didn't panic in the slightest.

She pushed up her non-existent glasses and said calmly: "Real-world experience: zero."

"Huh?"

"However," Leng Qingxuan changed the subject, her eyes flashing with wisdom.

"I have read over five hundred romance manga, read through thousands of romance novels, and cleared over three hundred Galgames. From pure love to NTR, from harems to reverse harems, I know every trope by heart."

Leng Qingxuan lifted her chin slightly. "In the face of big data, any individual's experience is insignificant."

"I know which lace best evokes a man's protective instinct, I know what angle of a slipping shoulder strap can cause a critical hit, and I know even better that in a hot, humid environment like a bathroom, being half-hidden is far more lethal than being completely exposed."

Leng Qingxuan took a step forward, closing in on An Ran, her voice low and seductive.

"An Ran, do you think that with your unorganized impulsiveness, you can beat me, who possesses a massive inventory of theory?"

An Ran was forced to take half a step back, her back pressing against the wall.

She had been led into a trap.

Although her reason told her that armchair theorizing and practical combat were two different things, looking at Leng Qingxuan's confident appearance, she actually felt... it made so much sense!

Yes, that guy Huang Mao looks serious usually, but he's probably quite repressed.

If she really went in dressed in such a dowdy way, she might truly be outclassed by Leng Qingxuan, this "theoretical master."

But, but now that she knew this, there was still a chance to remedy it! She could overtake on the curve!

"Who... who said I only have impulsiveness!"

An Ran gritted her teeth, shouting to save face. "Isn't it just decisive lingerie? I have it! Of course I have it!"

She recalled the lingerie set at the very bottom of her suitcase, the one she had bought on a whim after accidentally stumbling upon it, which she had never dared to wear.

She had thought it would gather dust at the bottom of the box for the rest of her life, but who would have thought...

"Oh?"

A gleam of interest flashed in Leng Qingxuan's eyes. "In that case, stop wasting time."

She pointed to their respective doors.

"Three minutes. Change into your gear, and we'll meet at the bathroom door."

"At that time, we'll leave the choice to him."

Having said that, Leng Qingxuan stopped paying attention to An Ran, pushed the door open, and walked into her room, locking it with a click.

An Ran stood in the hallway, looking at the closed door, and stomped her foot hard.

"Compete then! Who's afraid of whom!"

She turned and rushed toward the guest room at the end of the hallway, pushed the door open, and then slammed it shut.

The hallway returned to a deathly silence, with only the faint sounds of rustling clothes and fabric friction coming from behind the two closed doors.

It was the calm before the storm.

...

In the bathroom, mist swirled.

Huang Mao was immersed in the large bathtub, the warm water wrapping around his entire body, washing away the fatigue of the day.

He let out a long sigh, leaned his head back against the edge of the tub, and closed his eyes.

"Phew... finally, some peace and quiet."

Recalling the "stern" warning he had given downstairs, Huang Mao felt quite satisfied with the authority he had displayed.

That line, "suffer the consequences," should have been enough to deter those two girls, right?

After all, although An Ran was stubborn, she was a coward at heart; as for Leng Qingxuan, although she sometimes had a strange way of thinking, she was a young lady from a good family, so she shouldn't be able to do something like breaking into a bathroom.

"Looks like I can get a good night's sleep tonight."

Huang Mao splashed some water on his face and began to plan his future cohabitation life in his mind.

Balancing the relationship between these two was indeed a big problem. But as long as he held the bottom line, it should...

Click.

An extremely faint sound pierced through the noise of the running water and drilled into Huang Mao's ears.

It was the sound of the doorknob being gently turned.

Huang Mao opened his eyes abruptly, his body instantly tensing up.

An illusion?

No, not an illusion.

As a semi-pro FPS player, he had a sensitivity to environmental sounds that exceeded the average person—especially footsteps.

Following that, a series of footsteps came from the hallway outside the door.

And it sounded like two people.

One set of footsteps was light and hurried, like a little deer stepping to a beat, carrying a hint of impatient panic; the other was slow and composed, each step falling solidly, exuding an oppressive sense of certainty.

The two distinct sets of footsteps converged at the bathroom door and then stopped simultaneously.