36: Chapter 36 Secret Base and Unexpected Phone Call

Room 502, Comprehensive Building.

This place used to be the office for the old Student Union, located at the corner at the end of the hallway, but it was abandoned after the new comprehensive building was put into use.

The afternoon sun filtered through the gaps in the not-quite-closed blinds, slicing into several thin golden strips that swirled among the floating dust in the air.

The interior furnishings were excessively simple: a set of semi-old beige fabric sofas, a polished coffee table, and a huge projection screen hanging on the opposite wall.

Several professional-looking HDMI cables and power cords were scattered on the floor, looking like a pile of dormant snakes.

At this moment, this quiet secret room was echoing with intense clashing sounds and someone's irrepressible roar.

"Leng Qingxuan! Where is your ultimate? Are you saving it to make dumplings for the New Year?!"

An Ran sat cross-legged on the left side of the sofa, her high ponytail swaying with her body. Her face, usually full of vitality, was flushed red, and her fingers were moving so fast on the phone screen they left afterimages.

Leng Qingxuan, sitting on the right, was clearly lacking confidence, but she refused to yield. She argued forcefully, "Based on my prediction, if I had used my ultimate at that position, the hit rate would have been ridiculously low."

"As a rational mage, I must ensure my survival rate..."

"Survival my ass! The enemy assassin is already right in your face, and you're still calculating probabilities?" An Ran was so angry she wanted to throw her phone at her.

"Alright."

Huang Mao, sitting between the two, spoke calmly to stop their argument.

His fingers tapped on the screen unhurriedly, his eyes as calm as if he were looking at a dull report:

"An Ran, move a bit to the left to provide vision. Leng Qingxuan, you too, stop calculating probabilities. Just cast your skills when you see someone."

"Also, don't stand together, double carries."

"Tch... got it." Although An Ran was stubborn, her body was honest; she immediately controlled her character to move toward the grass on the left.

Leng Qingxuan pursed her lips. Although she was a bit unhappy with the role of "creating chaos," she still obediently shrank back: "Received, Master."

The team fight that was about to collapse was reversed the moment Huang Mao took over command.

He was like a precise CPU, forcefully fusing together two components that were not only incompatible but also mutually repulsive.

An Ran's aggression was guided into a sharp blade for initiating team fights, and Leng Qingxuan's hesitation was transformed into a deterrent for the backline.

A perfect 0-for-5 exchange.

"Game over." Huang Mao put down his phone and picked up the mineral water on the coffee table to take a sip.

On the screen, the enemy crystal shattered with a burst of brilliant light effects, and the huge "VICTORY" sign popped out in shimmering gold.

"Phew—"

An Ran let out a long breath, slumping backward onto the soft sofa backrest, stretching lazily without any sense of decorum, her tight jeans outlining her long, straight leg lines.

"Awesome! That comeback from a losing position was absolutely incredible!" She turned her head, looking at Huang Mao with sparkling eyes, "Speaking of which, where did you get the key to this place?"

"To think you managed to secure such a great place."

On the other side, Leng Qingxuan also put down her phone, the excitement in her eyes not yet fully faded.

She looked around this space with excellent privacy, a hint of unconcealable satisfaction showing in her eyes.

For a "socially anxious person" like her who longed to escape the crowds and didn't want to go home to face an empty, large house, this place was simply heaven.

"Indeed." Leng Qingxuan nodded, casting her gaze toward Huang Mao with a hint of inquiry, "I'm also very curious."

Huang Mao screwed the cap back on the bottle and didn't answer directly.

"Got lucky, just found it." Huang Mao spouted nonsense casually and pointed to the screen, "Enough talk, while we're on a roll, how about another round?"

Upon hearing "another round," the attention of both girls was instantly diverted.

"Come on, come on! This time I'm playing the marksman. Leng Qingxuan, you go play support, and don't steal my gold!"

"Rejected. Support is more suitable for an impulsive personality like yours; if you die suddenly, it's less of a loss for the team."

"Say that again?!"

Although the two were unwilling to yield to each other with their words, their actions were surprisingly consistent—they both reached out at the same time, wanting to high-five the "MVP" in the middle to celebrate.

"Slap."

A crisp sound.

It wasn't the sound of a high-five with Huang Mao as expected.

The air froze for a second.

It turned out that on the back of Huang Mao's hand, which hadn't even had a chance to lift, a fair, slender hand with neatly trimmed, cute, rounded nails had first covered it.

Immediately after, another hand with even more delicate, cold-white skin and fingers as slender as scallion stalks covered the back of An Ran's hand.

Three hands were stacked together like an arhat tower.

The warm sensation of the palms transmitted through the skin, carrying a kind of subtle electric current.

An Ran's face turned red in a flash, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She retracted her hand as if electrocuted: "Can't you wait a second?!"

Leng Qingxuan also seemed to have been scalded; she quickly withdrew her hand and turned her head to tidy up her hair that wasn't even messy: "I return those words to you exactly as they are."

Huang Mao looked at his empty hand and shrugged helplessly.

Just as An Ran was clamoring to start the next round to hide her embarrassment, a sudden vibration sound broke the subtle atmosphere in the room.

"Bzz— bzz—"

The screen of Leng Qingxuan's phone, which was lying on the coffee table, lit up.

She glanced at the caller ID, and her finger, which had been about to click "Ready," stopped abruptly.

Three characters were jumping on the screen: Su Muxue.

Leng Qingxuan's brows furrowed slightly.

This name was like a file that had long been archived into a "useless data" folder, suddenly unzipping itself and popping up a window.

It was the contact information she had exchanged with that Miss Su from the Su Family during a boring family banquet, due to her mother's task.

After that, this number had been as dead as a doornail, never having had any activity.

According to her thinking, for people like them, the best relationship between each other was "zombie friends on the contact list."

Why would she call now?

And during this sacred "game time"?

Leng Qingxuan hesitated for a few seconds and did not answer immediately.

"What's wrong?" Huang Mao keenly noticed her abnormality and turned his head to ask, "It's not your mom, is it?"

"No." Leng Qingxuan came back to her senses, shook her head, and her expression became a bit strange, "Not her. It's someone... who counts as a friend."

A friend?

An Ran perked up her ears and looked at Leng Qingxuan in some surprise. This person actually had friends?

"I'll go out to take this."

Leng Qingxuan grabbed her phone, stood up, and walked quickly toward the classroom door.

Pushing the door open, the hallway was empty, with only a few vague voices occasionally coming from afar.

Leng Qingxuan took a deep breath and pressed the answer button.

"Hello?"

"Good afternoon, classmate Leng Qingxuan."

The voice coming from the receiver was soft, gentle, and carried an impeccable scholarly aura, just like a drizzle in Jiangnan in March.

Su Muxue.

"What is it?" Leng Qingxuan got straight to the point, her tone carrying a bit of displeasure at being interrupted from her game.

The other end of the line was silent for a moment, as if organizing her words, or perhaps waiting for Leng Qingxuan's patience to run out.

"I'm very sorry to bother you at this time." Su Muxue's voice remained unhurried, radiating an extreme sense of upbringing, "That boy you rejected has already left; now, I am the only one on the rooftop."

Leng Qingxuan raised an eyebrow: "What do you mean?"

"I have some things I would like to ask you for advice on."

"Advice?"

"Yes." Su Muxue paused, her voice becoming lower, as if afraid to disturb the wind, "About how you... became 'real'."

Upon hearing this, Leng Qingxuan was stunned for a moment.

She looked back at the tightly closed door of Room 502 behind her.

Inside were the games she liked, the man who made her feel at ease, and that rival childhood sweetheart.

That was the little bit of "reality" she had just touched upon.

And on the other end of the phone, Su Muxue, that marionette who always lived in a perfect shell, seemed to have caught the scent of this thing called "reality" and followed the smell here.

"Where are you?" Leng Qingxuan asked.

"I already said it, the rooftop, just me." Su Muxue's voice was slow and steady, as if even if Leng Qingxuan refused, she wouldn't have any displeasure.

"If it's convenient for you, could you come over for a chat? I think... this shouldn't take too long."

Leng Qingxuan tightened her grip on the phone.

Her inner desire told her that she should hang up the phone now, turn back to the room, and continue playing games with Huang Mao.

And if she left, wouldn't An Ran be alone with him? Although she wasn't worried that An Ran would do anything like overtaking on a curve...

But...

Su Muxue's pair of eyes, always shrouded in misty rain, appeared in her mind.

That look was too much like her former self.

It was a distress signal sent by a fellow being in the darkness.

"...Wait a moment, I'll be there soon."

Leng Qingxuan spat out two words and hung up the phone.

She stood in the hallway, took a deep breath, adjusted her expression, and pushed open the door of 502 again.

The two people inside looked up simultaneously when they saw Leng Qingxuan enter.

"Something came up." Leng Qingxuan tried to make her tone sound natural, "I need to leave for a bit to see someone, a girl."

"Huh?" An Ran was stunned for a moment, then an expression that wanted to laugh but was desperately holding it in appeared on her face, "So sudden? Is it important?"

"Yeah, I suppose so." Leng Qingxuan took a deep look at Huang Mao, "You guys play first. If things go smoothly, I'll be back soon."

If things didn't go smoothly, she might have to waste a lot of breath on that Miss Su.

"Go ahead, be careful on the way." Huang Mao nodded, not asking further.

He always respected others' privacy, and looking at Leng Qingxuan, it didn't seem like she was in any trouble; rather, it looked more like a... determination?

"I'm leaving."

Leng Qingxuan took one last lingering look at the spot where she had just been sitting, then turned and pushed the door to leave.

With a click, the door lock latched shut.

Only two people were left in the room.

The air seemed to become thick in that instant.

Just as Huang Mao was about to pick up his phone to play solo, the sofa cushion beside him sank down again.

A faint, citrus-scented fragrance wafted over.

That was the scent of the shampoo An Ran usually used.

He turned his head and found that An Ran had moved over at some point; the distance between them had shortened from one position to being almost pressed against each other.

An Ran wasn't looking at him, but was looking down at her phone, yet her slightly trembling eyelashes and earlobes, which were red enough to drip blood, betrayed her mood at that moment.

Her biggest rival had voluntarily left the stage.

What did this count as?

This was a god-given opportunity! It was the victory of the childhood sweetheart!

An Ran could no longer suppress the corners of her mouth. She raised her head, brought her phone screen close to Huang Mao's face, and shook it.

"Great, since that lightbulb... cough, since Leng Qingxuan had something to do and left, why don't we two start a round first?"

"I'll support you, we'll take the same lane, and we'll just crush the other side!"