Chapter 5: The Campus Belle Takes the Initiative

Lin Ye considered it for only a moment before agreeing.

He’d been planning to find somewhere nearby to stay anyway, and joining Shen Qingyue’s group wouldn’t delay tomorrow’s operation.

More importantly, the memories left by the original owner weren’t especially useful. Beyond the Upper City’s receptions, clubs, banquet halls, and the names of various women, they contained almost nothing about the true state of Skyvault City.

Back when he’d played the game, Skyvault City had been little more than a starting village to him. Kill whatever needed killing, fight whatever needed fighting, and move on to the next dungeon once he’d gained enough levels.

Most of the time, he’d been the one to kill everyone in Skyvault City himself, leaving no chance for anything else to destroy it.

That was precisely why, despite his familiarity with the game’s setting, he was at a loss now.

Shen Qingyue and her friends had lived in the Middle City for years, and all attended Skyvault Academy. He might hear something useful from them.

“I haven’t found anywhere to stay yet, so let’s go together.” Lin Ye agreed readily, glancing at their luggage. “But just so you know, I don’t like too much formality. You don’t have to keep calling me Young Master Lin over dinner.”

Shen Qingyue blinked, then her whole face lit up. As though afraid he might change his mind, she immediately nodded. “All right, we’ll treat you like an ordinary classmate. The place isn’t far from here—about ten minutes on foot.”

She spoke of treating him like an ordinary classmate, but she couldn’t hide the delight and nervousness in her voice.

The other five reacted even more openly.

For someone from the Middle City, knowing an Upper City resident was a rare opportunity in itself, let alone the biological son of Skyvault City’s finance director. People of his standing were ordinarily beyond their reach.

Their families might work for generations just to gain a foothold in the Middle City, while a casual word from Lin Ye could take them somewhere they might never reach in a lifetime.

Their looks grew even more eager. They’d been worried their arrangements were too modest, but now they wished they could lay everything they had before him.

They’d booked a decent inn near the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs.

Behind it was a small private courtyard, usually rented to teams preparing for missions outside the city. A barbecue grill and a long table stood there, making it a suitable place for a gathering.

That evening was livelier than Lin Ye had expected.

At first the young people were somewhat restrained. They watched his expression before speaking and were careful even when offering him a drink.

But as flames rose in the grill and bottles were opened one after another, the stiff atmosphere gradually eased.

They talked about their classes, instructors so strict they bordered on cruel, and the latest rumors in the Middle City.

One person had been so frightened by an aberrant creature during an assessment that they’d fallen into a mud pit. Another had stayed up for three days and nights for a few credits. Someone else had secretly altered a mission record and been caught by the academy. Soon everyone was doubled over laughing.

Lin Ye gradually rediscovered the feeling of his college days in his previous life, drinking and boasting with his roommates at a barbecue stall.

They’d had little money then, counting out skewers to share, yet every one of them spoke grandly about the future, as though a million-a-year salary would come easily after graduation.

Now he was in another world, surrounded by entirely different people, but as the smell of alcohol and charcoal drifted into the night, the feeling of young people bragging without restraint was much the same.

Lin Ye had never been one to put on airs, and after a few drinks he spoke more freely.

Someone mentioned an expensive piece of protective equipment at the academy, saying enviously that even a year’s worth of saved contribution points might not be enough to exchange for it.

Lin Ye took out his phone and opened his account, intending to check how much the equipment would cost. Instead, he immediately drew the attention of those sitting nearby.

The long string of digits on the screen silenced the table for a moment.

They stared at the balance. One person even counted the digits again, wondering if they’d had too much to drink.

“This is just my spending-money account.” Seeing their stiff expressions, Lin Ye casually set the phone on the table, as though it were nothing worth mentioning.

“I don’t manage the family’s assets, and the company account isn’t included. I don’t really plan my spending. Whatever’s left is what’s left.”

He spoke lightly, but to the others it was a bolt from the blue.

That so-called spending money already exceeded the combined assets of all their families. Some people might work their entire lives without earning even a fraction of it, while to Lin Ye it was just a number he couldn’t usually be bothered to check.

One young man couldn’t help asking what his biggest purchase had been. Lin Ye thought for a long time before picking out an incident he could just about recall from the original owner’s muddled memories.

“I think I bought a car once.” He took a sip, then reconsidered. “But I gave it away after driving it twice. It wasn’t comfortable. My father got me another one afterward. I didn’t ask how much it cost.”

The people at the table were completely at a loss for words.

Things they discussed at length and had to scrimp and save to buy weren’t even worth a clear memory to Lin Ye. For the first time, the enormous gap between their social classes stood plainly before them.

Envy showed on nearly every face.

The gathering grew more animated. The young men kept toasting Lin Ye, their words full of admiration, eager to become his closest friends on the spot.

The two other girls also kept starting conversations. Even an offhand joke from him drew a particularly enthusiastic round of laughter.

Shen Qingyue stayed beside him throughout.

She was noticeably livelier tonight than at the academy. Gone was the quiet, poised campus belle who rarely took the initiative to grow close to anyone.

She laughed until her eyes curved when Lin Ye told absurd stories about people in the Upper City. When the others flattered him too much, she’d steer the conversation elsewhere, and occasionally she’d quietly correct his misunderstandings about common academy matters.

As she drank, the flush on her face deepened, and several strands of the hair that had been neatly arranged behind her shoulders slipped across her cheek.

Eventually she no longer made a point of keeping her distance. She leaned almost against his shoulder, the faint scent of alcohol on her breath when she spoke.

Everyone in the courtyard was having a good time.

Except Zhou Chengan.

Ever since Lin Ye agreed to come, Zhou Chengan had sat alone at the end of the long table, as though the others had forgotten him. He’d barely touched his drink, but his expression grew uglier each time Shen Qingyue moved closer to Lin Ye.

He’d pursued Shen Qingyue for two full years.

From the moment he’d entered Skyvault Academy, he’d done everything he could to get close to her.

He’d given her expensive gifts, completed academy missions for her, and used his family’s connections to solve plenty of problems on her behalf.

Yet she had always been polite and distant. She never spoke rudely, but she never gave him an opening to grow closer either.

In his experience, Shen Qingyue was always quiet and reserved. She rarely attended gatherings with classmates, and when she did, she never drank a drop, much less took the initiative to approach a man.

No matter how funny a story was, she’d only offer a polite smile. She’d never laughed freely aloud as she had tonight.

The places on the White Stone Town operation had cost the Zhou family a great deal to obtain through the academy.

Zhou Chengan could have arranged a place just for himself, but he’d paid extra to get Shen Qingyue onto the team too.

Thanks to that favor and his long pursuit, her attitude toward him had softened a little, and she’d agreed to come out with him. He’d been overjoyed.

He’d even arranged tonight’s lodging and barbecue in advance, hoping to use the opportunity to bring them closer.

Now Shen Qingyue had indeed relaxed, showing a lively side he’d never seen.

But she was showing it to Lin Ye!

She poured Lin Ye drinks of her own accord, immediately met his eyes whenever he turned, and stayed happy for ages over an offhand compliment from him.

Even after drinking, she would rather lean lightly against Lin Ye than spare Zhou Chengan so much as an extra glance.

His grip on his glass tightened until his knuckles turned faintly white.

Jealousy burned in his chest, but he had nowhere to vent it.

He could sneer at her other suitors at the academy, or use his family’s connections to make them keep their distance. But the man beside her was Lin Ye.

The Upper City’s finance director’s biological son.

The Zhou family had some connections in the Middle City, perhaps, but they were nothing compared with the Lin family.

Lin Ye wouldn’t even need to target him personally. A casual expression of displeasure to someone in an administrative department could put everything the Zhou family had built over the years at risk.

Zhou Chengan didn’t dare offend him.

So he could only sit there, force an awkward smile, and raise his glass to echo the others whenever they looked his way, pretending he was enjoying the gathering too.

But each look he directed at Lin Ye was darker than the last.

The barbecue went on late into the night.

The group drank until they were swaying, and the charcoal in the courtyard gradually burned out.

Back in the room the inn had arranged for him, Lin Ye lay on a bed that wasn’t particularly soft and listened to the lingering laughter outside. To his surprise, he felt a long-missed sense of ease.

It had been a long time since he’d felt that way.

After graduating in his previous life, the people he’d once eaten and joked with had gone their separate ways. Their group chat had dwindled from hundreds of messages a day to months of silence. He hadn’t expected to experience that kind of gathering again after arriving in this dangerous, mad world.

Still, more than tonight’s drinking, what Lin Ye truly looked forward to was tomorrow.

Over a hundred thousand people had vanished from White Stone Town overnight, and even a Sequence 7 powerhouse hadn’t sent back a message. An ordinary aberrant creature clearly couldn’t have done that.

There was very likely an “old friend” there.

Which one of the beings he’d beaten up before might it be…?

At the thought, the haze of drink gradually left his eyes, replaced by unmistakable excitement.

“Who could it be?”

Resting his head on his arm, he looked at the dim ceiling and mentally sifted through several evil gods associated with biochemistry, death, and mass disappearances.

He was about to continue recalling the game’s details when someone knocked softly on his door.

The knock wasn’t loud, but it sounded especially clear in the late-night corridor.

Puzzled, Lin Ye got up and opened the door.

It was Shen Qingyue.

She’d clearly had quite a bit to drink. Her fair cheeks were deeply flushed, and even the corners of her eyes were tinged pink.

Her once-neat hair was a little disordered, and the black dress accentuated her slender waist. In the corridor’s dim yellow light, she looked softer than she had during the day.

When Lin Ye opened the door, she instinctively clasped her hands tighter in front of her.

Leaning against the doorway, he looked at her with some surprise. “It’s late. Haven’t you gone to bed?”

She didn’t answer at once.

First she took a deep breath, trying to steady the heartbeat quickened by the alcohol. Then she lowered her head, no longer daring to meet his eyes. After a moment, she spoke softly. “Young Master Lin, I can’t quite sleep.”

She paused, her fingers tightening on the edge of her skirt. Her voice grew quieter still, but at last she managed to say what she’d come to say.

“Would you go for a walk with me?”