Chapter 25

The night was like a piece of black velvet that had been repeatedly folded, enveloping the city lights in its deepest recesses. In the living room, only the low hum of the exhaust fan could be heard, like the echo of the distant tide.

Pei Yanxi stood barefoot by the bed, her bathrobe retied, the knot of the belt digging painfully into her palm.

Yun Zhan nestled on her bed, sleeping in the spot she often slept in, curled up in a small ball, breathing heavily, her eyelashes casting quiet shadows under the lamplight.

Yun Zhan was caught off guard, like a cat with its belly exposed.

Pei Yanxi looked at her for a long time with her eyes lowered, a very thin mist rising in her eyes, which was quickly suppressed by indifference.

Yun Zhan's phone was inside her coat. Pei Yanxi didn't hesitate, reached in and took it out, her fingertip lightly swiping the back of the phone until the screen lit up.

The screensaver is a cute cartoon character.

Very much in Yun Zhan's style...

In a daze, Pei Yanxi recalled the night she first met Yun Zhan. In the woods, Yun Zhan raised his eyes, his innocent, doe-like eyes clean and pure, kneeling timidly at her, his breath like a fleeting flower.

Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of those eyes, and she almost instinctively wanted to close her phone.

But reason is like an ice blade, pressing inch by inch against my throat.

Yun Zhan is indeed very likely a spy for the principal, and she has no choice but to do so.

She repeated it to herself in her heart, her voice as low as shattered ice.

The phrase "failure means utter ruin" hangs over my head like a guillotine ready to fall at any moment;

And she needed to know Yun Zhan's every move.

Only then could he protect Yun Zhan and himself before the blade fell, blocking the direction from which they might shatter.

She knelt on one knee on the floor, her long hair falling down, the ends brushing against Yun Zhan's fingers.

Yun Zhan didn't wake up, but his fingertips curled slightly, as if he was still searching for her warmth in his dream.

She held her breath, turned around, and took out the black chip, smaller than a fingernail, from the drawer.

The warmth of my fingertips caused a slight dampness to rise from the metal edge.

Charging port, power button, SIM card slot... all the movements are as light as removing a pacemaker.

When the chip is attached to the back of the motherboard, it makes a very light "tap," like a snowflake falling on glass.

She looked up at Yun Zhan—

Yun Zhan's brows relaxed, and the corners of his lips still held a childlike curve, completely unaware of the impending "surveillance".

The location indicator light illuminates a pale blue light for 0.5 seconds, then turns off.

The screen automatically locked and went dark, as if nothing had ever happened.

She maintained her half-kneeling position, her fingertips hovering beside Yun Zhan's face.

Her red lips parted slightly as she leaned down to kiss Yun Zhan. Just as their hot breaths touched, Pei Yanxi pulled back. Their lips were only a centimeter away from touching, but in the end, they did not fall.

...

The next morning, Yun Zhan woke up.

The hangover felt like a dull axe striking the back of his head, throbbing painfully, but it couldn't compare to the sudden emptiness in his chest. Yun Zhan turned over and reached for his phone on the coffee table, the blue light of the fingerprint unlock reflecting in his pupils.

“Last night, Pei Yanxi touched your phone. I don’t know exactly what she did, but she probably installed some kind of chip in your phone.” 21 only dared to speak now. Last night, when Pei Yanxi made her move, it held back and didn’t dare to wake Yun Zhan.

"She left home very early, taking a large group of people with her to the school."

Yun Zhan remained silent for a while, then said after a short pause, "Let's wait and see. She probably suspects me."

Last time I went to the archives, I really ran into Pei Yanxi's line of fire. Perhaps... the subsequent developments will be even more serious than Yun Zhan imagined.

"However, I still have to go to class today." Yun Zhan suddenly rolled out of bed and hurriedly put on yesterday's clothes. She wasn't wearing her school uniform, but that didn't matter anymore.

The first period in the morning is math class, and that teacher likes to call on students to answer questions. If I'm caught being absent... my situation at school will only become more difficult.

Knowing that she had class in the morning, Pei Yanxi did not wake her up.

Thinking about this... Yun Zhan felt a cold sweat break out on his back. What exactly was his senior trying to do...?

As soon as Yun Zhan stepped out, she saw the black sedan parked at the door. The driver got out of the car and took Yun Zhan's schoolbag, saying, "Miss Yun, Miss Pei specifically asked me to take you back to school."

Once seated in the car, Yun Zhan grew increasingly uneasy...

...

The main building of Mington School remained solemn and imposing, but today, the two sentries at the entrance had unfamiliar faces, and the patterns on their uniform epaulets had been changed to symbols that Yun Zhan did not recognize.

An eerie atmosphere pervaded the school.

With no teachers patrolling, the school gates wide open, classes suspended, and the entire campus enveloped in an unsettling stillness.

Yun Zhan frowned and strode to the classroom door. It was class time, but there was no teacher in the classroom. Several students who were talking in hushed tones stopped abruptly when they saw Yun Zhan come in.

The air seemed to be instantly drawn into a vacuum.

Oh, it was Yun Zhan... Thank goodness he wasn't the teacher.

After seeing Yun Zhan's face clearly, they breathed a sigh of relief, then huddled together and whispered to each other.

"It's Senior Pei..."

"The entire dormitory building was brightly lit last night..."

"Xue Qi is here too..."

"Many teachers have been arrested..."

"The principal has already gone in..." Sitting by the classroom door was Tao Ye, the one who splashed Wen Sixue with hot water last time.

At that moment, she peeked out, her fluffy hair obscuring her profile, and whispered to the girl next to her, "The principal was taken away in a police car last night..."

Jiang Yanmo lowered her head and scribbled on the paper with a marker.

Yun Zhan looked down and saw that the principal's stern and serious face had been painted with fangs by an angry student using a black marker.

"Hmph, finally caught. Who knows how much money he'd taken from powerful figures behind the scenes? Serves him right..."

"What exactly happened?" Yun Zhan asked, grabbing Jiang Yanmo.

"The principal was arrested. I heard that it was Senior Sister Pei who led the arrest. Many teachers also went to cooperate with the investigation, so no one taught classes this morning."

Before Jiang Yanmo could finish speaking, Yun Zhan hurriedly left the classroom.

"Hey! Yun Zhan, where are you going...?"

The 32nd floor—is where the teachers' offices are located.

The glass door slid open automatically, and what should have been a morning battlefield filled with the smell of lesson preparation books and coffee was now as if it had been muted.

Almost no one was at each workstation, with only a few intern teachers scattered around.

As their eyes met, Yun Zhan caught a few fragmented lip movements and whispers:

"...They were taken away directly in the early hours of the morning."

"The armed police have all arrived... The principal was taken away without even leaving through the main gate."

"Our access cards were cancelled at 5:30... supposedly to prevent spies from getting in..."

Shh—don't say it.

The sound was like an electric current, shooting through my eardrums in bursts.

Yun Zhan didn't stop walking and went straight to the director's office in the innermost area, Section A.

A temporary access seal was affixed to the frosted glass door, its silver magnetic strip gleaming coldly.

"Excuse me, the teachers aren't here right now. Do you want to ask a question?" A young intern teacher blocked Yun Zhan's way, preventing her from going any further.

"I'll look for Professor Zhao Zhili," Yun Zhan said.

Zhao Zhili is her math teacher, and math class is in the morning.

"Ah, he... isn't here right now. I also study math. If you have any questions, I can help you with them." A hint of panic flashed in the teacher's eyes, and she stammered a little.

Yun Zhan now roughly understands what happened; it must be that Senior Sister Pei used some method to replace the current principal.

There was no reason, no handover, and not even any warning.

There were only three cold, hard words: "Replaced."

Like a silent execution order, it was posted right under everyone's noses, yet no one dared to ask why.

Yun Zhan stood still, his throat bobbing.

Outside the window, the morning mist is being torn apart by the sunlight, and the city's outline is gradually becoming sharper.

Inside, the whispering continued, like ants gnawing at wood.

"I heard it was done directly by higher-ups..."

"The archives room was also sealed off last night."

...

At noon, the cafeteria bell rang like a blunt knife, cutting a crack in the stagnant air.

Yun Zhan sat mechanically on the leather sofa, holding a tray, his fingers gripping the edge of the tray until his knuckles turned white.

She spent the entire morning in a state of anxiety, wondering what Pei Yanxi had done, what she had done to her phone, and what she would do to her next.

But there was nothing there.

Only whispers, like an undercurrent, seeped over her ankles, so cold that she could barely stand.

"...The new principal has taken office."

"I heard it was a promotion that was made exceptionally, and there wasn't even a handover ceremony... I think Senior Pei even became a member of the school board."

"How is that possible—"

"Shh, keep your voice down."

Yun Zhan suddenly looked up, his gaze passing through the noisy crowd and landing on the public screen.

The screen, which was originally displaying logistical notifications, was now occupied by a high-resolution ID photo.

Black background, white shirt, collar buttoned all the way up.

The woman in the photo has her long hair tied up, her eyes are as cold as frost on a snowy night, but her lips are pressed tightly together, as if she is about to give an unquestionable command.

In the name section, it clearly states:

[School Board Member Pei Yanxi]

The world suddenly fell silent.

The tray slammed onto the long table with a clang, splashing soup that scalded the back of Yun Zhan's hand, but Yun Zhan felt no pain.

"What a joke... How could a student become a school board member? What exactly did Pei Yanxi do..." Yun Zhan stared blankly at the electronic screen, shock like an ice pick piercing his heart from the back of his neck.

All I could hear was my heart pounding—thump, thump, like the aftershock of an avalanche in the distance.

Memory reversal.

Last night, Pei Yanxi knelt beside her and gently brushed away the stray hairs from her forehead with her fingertips;

In the early morning, she tightened the belt of her bathrobe, stood with her back to her in the steamy kitchen, and prepared breakfast for her.

Now, Pei Yanxi sits in her office on the top floor of the building, stepping on the carpet woven with gold thread, as the highest authority in the school.

"It's so interesting to see a political intrigue plot in a campus novel in my lifetime!"

21 was much more excited than Yun Zhan; it couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

Yun Zhan sorted out the timeline.

—It was during the moment she was drunk and asleep.

Access control records, armed police parachuting in at dawn, the principal being silently replaced...

It turns out it wasn't "the higher-ups" who were behind it, but Pei Yanxi.

At nine o'clock in the evening, the entire dormitory building was immersed in a quiet atmosphere.

The door at the end of the corridor was Yun Zhan's dormitory. It was opened with a very soft "beep". Pei Yanxi stood in the doorway, the hem of her black trench coat was lifted by the night wind for a moment, and then fell back down smoothly.

She wasn't wearing a school uniform, or rather, she wasn't considered a student here anymore. A holster was on her waist, the gun's grip peeking out from behind her back, revealing a sharp, hard outline.

Yun Zhan was sleeping on the bed, his face hidden in the shadow of the pillow, the blanket had slipped down to his waist, his shirt collar was disheveled and open, and his collarbone rose and fell gently with his breathing.

Pei Yanxi's boot heels stepped across the threshold, the sound almost imperceptible, yet leaving a barely perceptible damp mark on the wooden floor—it was night dew, the result of her standing downstairs for too long, her trench coat shoulders damp with mist.

"Senior?" Yun Zhan rubbed his eyes and immediately woke up.

Pei Yanxi stood by the bed, her fingers twitching as if she wanted to touch Yun Zhan's hair, but she stopped herself.

The knuckles turned white from the exertion, and the fingernails dug into the palm.

In the darkness, she could hear her own heartbeat—heavier than the second hand of an alarm clock, pounding so hard it made her temples ache.

“Yun Zhan”.

This was the first time she had called Yun Zhan's name in such a soft voice, so softly that she couldn't even hear it herself.

Yun Zhan's eyelashes trembled, and he raised his eyes to look at Pei Yanxi.

Pei Yanxi took a deep breath and pressed the back of her fingers against the skin behind her ear—the temperature was even cooler than the night.

For a fleeting moment, a gentle, watery light appeared in her eyes, but it was suppressed by coldness the next second.

She leaned down, placing her palm on Yun Zhan's shoulder. Through the thin shirt, she could feel the clearly defined lines of Yun Zhan's shoulder bones—

That was the arc she had secretly traced with her fingertips at night.

"Yun Zhan, I'm sorry."

The few words were so light, like snowflakes falling on glass, disappearing before they could melt.

Pei Yanxi withdrew her hand, her movements as swift as cutting a fuse—

Click.

The silenced handcuffs were pressed against Yun Zhan's wrist, and the coldness of the metal finally brought Yun Zhan to his senses.

Yun Zhan opened his eyes, his amber pupils suddenly contracting in the darkness as he met Pei Yanxi's icy gray eyes.

There were no screams, no struggles, only a moment of disbelief.

That gaze was like a knife, cutting straight into the softest part of her heart.

Pei Yanxi looked away, her voice turning icy again: "Yun Zhan, the principal has been arrested on suspicion of criminal offenses, and the documents in the archives have been leaked. You appeared in those documents, so you will be detained. You have the right to remain silent, but you have no right to refuse to cooperate."

Pei Yanxi recited it word for word, but her tone was as if she were reciting her own death sentence.

The handcuffs tightened, the metal edge grazing Yun Zhan's arm.

At that moment, Pei Yanxi personally fastened the lock on her door.

In the last second before the elevator doors closed, Pei Yanxi suddenly turned around.

That glance was like the first crack appearing on an ice lake in the spring breeze—the frost was still there, but an undercurrent was rising beneath.

His pupils were extremely dark, with the light shattering into fine snowflakes within them, and a layer of dampness that seemed about to fall.

But the dampness didn't condense into tears; it only trembled on my eyelashes, like dew that wouldn't fall from a branch in the early morning.

Jiang Yanmo was also in the dormitory at the time, so the news of Yun Zhan's arrest quickly spread throughout the entire student group.

Upon seeing the name "Yun Zhan," Wen Sixue quickly put on her coat and ran directly to the vicinity of the forbidden room.

Pei Yanxi stood outside the door, arms crossed, her uniform collar buttoned tightly, guarding Yun Zhan closely.

Opposite her was Wen Sixue, also dressed in black—she had shed her usual timid demeanor, raised her eyes to meet Pei Yanxi's gaze openly, clutching a handkerchief soaked with sweat, her knuckles white.

Pei Yanxi stood one step inside the door, her back straight. She didn't draw her gun, nor did she even take off her gloves. She just looked down at Wen Sixue, her eyes as still as a frosty lake.

Pei Yanxi knew better than anyone why Wen Sixue had come at this time.

“Senior sister.” Wen Sixue looked up, her voice low, “According to the regulations of Mington School, students confined in the restricted room are allowed one fifteen-minute non-recorded visit.”

Wen Sixue reached out to grab the doorknob, but before her fingertips even touched the sensor area, Pei Yanxi grabbed her wrist.

The movement was incredibly fast, like a silent bolt of lightning. Wen Sixue was twisted halfway around, her shoulders pressed against the cold wall, her breath instantly squeezed out.

Pei Yanxi leaned down, her voice close to Wen Sixue's ear, barely audible: "Wen Sixue, you have such delicate skin, don't force me to take action a second time."

Pei Yanxi only let go after Wen Sixue stopped moving.

"Regulations?" Pei Yanxi scoffed, a barely perceptible glint of moisture flashing across her eyes. "Now I am the regulations."

The air felt like a string stretched to its limit, ready to snap at any moment.

Wen Sixue took half a step forward, the heel of her boots making a crisp "tap" on the metal floor.

She bit her lower lip, her voice pleading, "Senior, I know I have no room for negotiation with you. I just want to make sure Yun Zhan is unharmed."

"Intact?" Pei Yanxi repeated the two words, as if chewing them between her teeth. "Wen Sixue, who are you questioning?"

Wen Sixue didn't flinch, her gaze meeting directly into those icy gray pupils.

"I just want to make sure she's safe, please... senior... just let me see her."

Pei Yanxi crossed her arms, her eyes darkening, and after a long silence, she asked, "You like her?"

Yes, I like her.

Wen Sixue nodded without hesitation, a crystal tear hidden in her eye. Her eyes were red and slightly swollen from the cold wind.

She had absolutely no room for negotiation with Pei Yanxi... you could even say she had no dignity. If Pei Yanxi wanted, she could kick her out of the school immediately, and she might never be able to recover.

"Senior, I'm so sorry, I'm begging you..." Wen Sixue looked up, and tears finally rolled down her cheeks, hitting the back of her hand and burning hot.

Her sobs caught in her throat as she watched helplessly as the crack closed, like a page of a book turned by fate.

As soon as I uttered the words "I like her," the corridor overhead light flickered, illuminating the thin layer of mist in Pei Yanxi's eyes.