39: Chapter 39 is here to cause you trouble.

【Victory!】

The impassioned female voice echoed through the empty Classroom 502, and the light effects of the crystal shattering on the screen illuminated two young faces.

"Nice!" An Ran waved her fist excitedly, her ponytail tracing a lively arc behind her head with the movement.

"That team fight at the high ground just now was simply perfect! My ultimate ability controlled four of them directly, it was so critical!"

She flipped her phone face down on the table and leaned back into her chair, her face practically shouting, "Praise me already!"

"Huang Mao, you followed up in time too, it's just a pity that the last one on the opposing team arrived late, otherwise you would have gotten a pentakill."

Huang Mao put down his phone, stretched his somewhat stiff neck, and unscrewed his mineral water to take a sip:

"Yes, yes, yes, Heroine An's mechanics are sharp and her game sense is superb. But a pentakill doesn't have any real rewards anyway; winning is enough."

An Ran nodded, picked up some potato chips from the table, and took a crunchy bite. "By the way, why hasn't Leng Qingxuan come back yet? It's been almost twenty minutes, right? Did she fall into the toilet?"

Huang Mao glanced at the time; it had indeed been a while.

"She must be really into the conversation," Huang Mao said casually. "After all, someone that Eldest Miss of the Leng Family would call a 'friend' might be rarer than a giant panda."

"Since they ran into each other, it's normal to chat a bit longer."

"That's true." An Ran nodded thoughtfully. "After all, in the eyes of outsiders, she's a cold, icy beauty. Although there's sand hidden beneath the ice, not many people know that."

"Forget it, let's not worry about her. While we're still on a roll, should we start another round?"

As she spoke, she leaned in close to Huang Mao, her shoulder brushing against his arm, and stared at him with big, blinking eyes, like a kitten waiting to be fed.

This kind of opportunity for a world for two was something An Ran dreamed of.

Let Leng Qingxuan keep chatting with her friend for a while longer.

Huang Mao was just about to nod, as his feel for the game was indeed hot, and winning one more round would secure his promotion.

"Bzz—"

The phone on the table vibrated, and the screen lit up.

Sender: Leng Qingxuan.

The content was concise, carrying the unique commanding style of the Eldest Miss of the Leng Family, yet subtly mixed with a hint of a plea for help:

【Rooftop, the place I came to at noon. If it's convenient, come up here; someone wants to see you.】

Huang Mao stared at the screen for two seconds, raising an eyebrow slightly.

Someone wanted to see him?

In this school, although it was true that there were quite a few people who might look for him, he really could not imagine who would go through Leng Qingxuan to find him.

And the location was chosen on the rooftop, too.

He took a deep breath, shoved his phone back into his pocket, and casually tossed the empty water bottle into the trash can in the corner.

"Three-pointer." Huang Mao stood up and dusted off his pants. "Not now, I'm going out for a bit, I have something to take care of."

The smile on An Ran's face froze instantly, and her invisible tail, which had been wagging happily, drooped down.

But the next second, she immediately stood up alertly, her gaze piercing as she stared at Huang Mao's pocket, as if she could see the message from just a moment ago through the fabric.

"Is it Leng Qingxuan calling you?" An Ran's tone carried a hint of sourness. "What is she up to again? I'm going too!"

A woman's intuition is sometimes terrifyingly accurate.

Although she did not know the specific content, An Ran instinctively sensed a threat.

It was like a treasure chest she had been guarding for a long time was suddenly being eyed by another thief.

"Don't overthink it." Huang Mao reached out and pressed down on An Ran's shoulder as she tried to follow him, pushing her back into her chair. "It's nothing major, probably just some trouble that I need to go handle. And..."

Huang Mao paused, a helpless smile appearing on his face: "She's just the middleman. After I handle it, I should be coming back with her. You stay here and guard our 'base' first, don't let anyone steal it."

"The middleman?"

An Ran was stunned, the half-eaten potato chip in her mouth nearly falling out.

The amount of information in those two words was a bit much, instantly frying her CPU. Who was Leng Qingxuan acting as a middleman for? For that friend of hers? What was going on?

Could it be... a blind date?!

No, that could not be it.

An Ran immediately dismissed this ridiculous thought.

What woman would introduce the man she has her eye on to someone else? Not even a best friend! This is typical behavior of aiding the enemy!

But there was still a bad premonition...

"Hey! Huang Mao, you explain yourself..."

An Ran came to her senses and wanted to pursue the question, but Huang Mao's figure was long gone from the classroom doorway.

"What is going on..." An Ran angrily grabbed a handful of potato chips and stuffed them into her mouth, chewing them loudly with a crunch, but the originally crispy chips now tasted bland and flavorless.

"Being all mysterious, there must be something fishy going on."

"Should I... forget it, I'll definitely be discovered if I follow... I'll just eat all the snacks!"

In the stairwell of the complex building, Huang Mao walked upward at a steady pace.

His footsteps echoed in the empty stairwell, each step sounding as if it were landing on a certain rhythm.

He quickly reviewed the information from just now in his mind.

Leng Qingxuan went to see a "female friend," and now she was calling him over, saying someone wanted to see him.

This was very interesting.

"So she's dumping the trouble on me."

Huang Mao sighed, but the corners of his mouth curled into an amused arc.

Since it was "someone wants to see me," it meant that the so-called "friend" should be the key to this dungeon instance.

Pushing open the heavy iron door leading to the rooftop, the rusted door hinges let out a teeth-grinding "creak."

The afternoon wind was stronger than he had imagined, carrying the unique dry scent of the rooftop as it rushed toward him, causing Huang Mao to narrow his eyes slightly.

His field of vision suddenly opened up.

The concrete floor was bleached white by the sun, and two slender figures were standing by the railing.

Leng Qingxuan was hugging her arms, standing sideways to the entrance, her long black hair flying messily in the wind.

The expression on her face was somewhat subtle, looking as if she were waiting for rescue, yet also as if she were trying hard to endure some kind of awkwardness.

And beside her stood a girl Huang Mao had never seen before.

The girl was wearing an exquisitely tailored high-fashion dress, the fabric clinging to the curves of her body, outlining a breathtaking silhouette.

Especially the size of her chest, which appeared exceptionally prominent even under the loose dress.

A heavyweight contender.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, the girl turned her head sharply.

Their eyes met.

Huang Mao saw a pair of eyes like deep pools.

In those eyes, a flash of astonishment appeared first, followed immediately by the rapid fading of the original nervousness and unease, replaced by a kind of determination and fanaticism that was almost like burning one's bridges.

It was like the look of a drowning person seeing a piece of driftwood.

It was also like the look of someone camping a bridge seeing a fully geared player walking in a large, open area without cover.

【So, why is this woman looking at me like that?】

Seeing Huang Mao appear, Leng Qingxuan's tense shoulders visibly relaxed, as if she had finally unloaded some heavy burden.

She turned around and took two steps toward Huang Mao in her high heels, deliberately increasing the distance from the other girl, as if drawing a line with her body language.

"You're here." Leng Qingxuan's voice carried a sense of "better you than me" relief.

She turned to the side and extended a finger, pointing at the girl behind her who was nervously clutching the hem of her skirt, her tone as flat as if she were introducing a newly released gaming peripheral:

"Let me introduce her, Su Muxue. Eldest Miss of the Su Family."

Huang Mao raised an eyebrow, his gaze landing on Su Muxue. The Su Family? The Su Family that occupied half of the city's commercial landscape?

"She insisted on seeing you." Leng Qingxuan shrugged, mercilessly kicking the ball to Huang Mao's feet.

"She said there are some things she wants to say to you. As for what those things are..."

Leng Qingxuan paused, gave Huang Mao a "handle it yourself" look, then stepped aside, putting on the posture of watching a show:

"The rest is up to you two."

On the rooftop, the wind howled.

Huang Mao, Leng Qingxuan, and Su Muxue stood in a subtle triangular formation.

Su Muxue took a deep breath, her chest heaving violently.

It was as if she had made a resolution that could change her life, and she took a small but exceptionally firm step in Huang Mao's direction.

That step crossed not just distance, but also the twenty years of her life lived by the rules.