167: Chapter 167 Who exactly are you?!

Time flies like a white stallion leaping across a gap.

In the blink of an eye, the final day of high school arrived.

After today, the students in this senior class would go their separate ways, each following their own path.

The classroom was filled with a faint melancholy of parting, mixed with the restless excitement of impending liberation.

It was on the evening of this very day.

Her deskmate, Su Xiaoya, took advantage of the fact that no one was around and leaned in close to Xia Li with a mysterious air.

She gently bumped Xia Li's shoulder, her eyes sparkling with an irrepressible light of gossip.

“A-Li!”

Like a magic trick, Su Xiaoya pulled a pink envelope emitting a faint scent of cologne from behind her back and shoved it into Xia Li's hand.

“Here! It’s from your Prince Charming!”

The moment Xia Li's fingers touched the love letter, her brain fell into a strong trance once again.

Dazedly, she tore open the envelope and read the contents inside.

The handwriting on the stationery was bold and powerful, filled with phrases like 'destined by fate,' 'crossing mountains and seas to meet you,' and 'you are the only light in my eyes'—all that lovey-dovey stuff.

One could tell the writer had used incredibly soulful words.

But for some reason!

As Xia Li looked at these beautiful sentences, she didn't feel the slightest flutter of a racing heart.

Instead, she only felt a powerful sense of incongruity!

It was too passionate! No, perhaps it should be said—it was too tacky!

It was too greasy!

The deliberateness and affectation oozing between the lines practically gave her goosebumps all over!

Just as Xia Li frowned, wanting to throw this disgusting love letter back into her desk and decisively reject it...

Su Xiaoya grabbed her wrist.

“Oh, come on! Stop daydreaming! Go on!”

Without giving her a choice, Su Xiaoya yanked Xia Li from her seat and dragged her out of the classroom.

“Graduation is almost here, don't keep him waiting too long!”

Xia Li's head was groggy as she was pushed all the way by Su Xiaoya to the large banyan tree on the hill behind the school.

Fine, since it's come to this, I'll just reject him flat out...

That's what she thought.

But when she actually saw Lu Yuan, Xia Li felt another moment of daze.

The afterglow of the setting sun filtered through the dense banyan leaves, casting mottled shadows of light.

The man named Lu Yuan stood quietly beneath the tree.

He wore a clean white shirt, hands in his pockets, standing tall with a gaze so tender it seemed it could melt water.

He was as perfect as a meticulously composed painting.

“Good luck!”

Su Xiaoya hid behind Xia Li, playfully sticking out her tongue and making a cheering gesture.

Then she gave Xia Li a sudden push and ran away, leaving Xia Li alone to face the man in front of her.

Xia Li stumbled a step, barely steadying herself.

The man under the tree looked at her, his lips curling into a flawless, charming smile.

He took a step with his long legs, then another, slowly approaching Xia Li.

Watching the man's figure drawing closer, Xia Li's heart was in turmoil.

Reason told her that this man's face was the perfect romantic partner in her heart.

But her subconscious made her instinctively back away.

For every step the man took forward, she took a step back.

Until her back was pressed firmly against the trunk of the large banyan tree.

There was nowhere left to retreat.

The man reached out a hand, lightly bracing it against the trunk beside Xia Li's cheek, completely trapping her between himself and the tree.

The distance between them was mere inches.

Looking at that handsome, familiar face that was beyond reproach...

Xia Li's heartbeat began to accelerate uncontrollably.

The man's face slowly drew closer, as if he wanted to kiss her.

In that instant, the surrounding wind stopped, the rustling of the leaves vanished, and time seemed to cease its flow entirely.

In this near-suffocating second!

“Buzz—!”

Countless real images that had been forcibly sealed flashed frantically before Xia Li's eyes like shattered glass, piecing themselves together!

The wasteland under a sky of acid rain, the crimson heavy tank.

The man with the cold gaze from their first meeting...

Then, in that small bedroom, the man with a face full of arrogance and disdain.

“Well, Xia Li, I kindly save your life, and you actually lust after my body?!”

The scene shifted to the man rubbing his hands together, looking like a mercenary, greedy merchant.

“You want to sleep with me? It's not impossible.”

“But you've gotta pay extra!!”

On the wilderness at night, he sat on the turret, looking down from above, wild and unrestrained.

“Yo! Sleeping Beauty!”

“I almost blasted you guys thinking you were bandits!”

By the camp bonfire, she had thrown herself at him while drunk, only to be heartlessly rejected.

“Hey, don't actually pass out on me!”

“You're a really terrible drunk!”

Finally, it settled on the gnashing resentment and grievance deep in her heart.

“Damn it! Does this man have no interest in me at all?!”

Boom!

The real images were completely pieced together in her mind!

The filter of the illusion was ruthlessly torn apart at this moment.

That man was a scoundrel who spoke nothing but nonsense!

He was a thug who cared only about money!

He was a steel-straight man whose eyes saw only resources and materials, with no room for women!

That's right!

He was so petty and shameless, how could he possibly write such a sappy love letter?!

And how could he possibly look at her with such a soulful gaze, or even take the initiative to pull a 'wall slam' move?!

He would never take the initiative!

Xia Li's brain suddenly erupted in a tearing, stabbing pain.

At the same time, the man's perfect face was already inches away, and a stench of curry so strong it was nauseating instantly overwhelmed the fake cologne scent, rushing straight to her head!

You're asking for it!

The Ice Mountain Queen's eyes snapped open in an instant, the original confusion and shyness completely gone.

In their place was a tangible, biting killing intent!

Facing the greasy man leaning in, Xia Li didn't hesitate for a second.

She jerked her right leg up, her core strength exploding instantly.

A fast, accurate, and ruthless knee strike, accompanied by the sound of breaking air, slammed upward with solid force!

The target was aimed directly at the man's vitals!

The Nutcracker Kick!

Thud!

A dull, scalp-numbing sound of something cracking.

“AAAGHHH!!!”

The perfect man who had been so soulful a second ago had his eyes bulge out instantly, bloodshot.

A shrill scream of extreme agony, like a slaughtered pig, completely shattered the tranquility of the campus.

The man clutched his crotch in pain, his whole body hunching over like a cooked shrimp, his features twisted and deformed by the intense agony.

Xia Li's gaze was ice-cold as she shoved with both hands.

She violently pushed away this curry-smelling fake.

The man fell heavily onto the dirt ground, rolling around frantically in pain.

Xia Li looked down at him from above, like an awakened god of slaughter.

An ice-cold, bone-chilling voice squeezed through her clenched teeth.

“Who exactly are you?!”