"He agreed to go with me first!" Wang Xiaoming glared at Bai Ling, his voice rising.
"But you're in the faculty dormitory right now, and besides, without my help, you wouldn't have been able to get into the repair room either." Bai Ling wore a sweet smile on her face, her hands clutching Chen Ge's arm tightly. "Come sit at my place for a while. I have so much I want to talk to you about."
Chen Ge was sandwiched between the two of them, and he understood the situation better than anyone.
The big dog that Bai Ling kept at home was a missing student. Following her home would likely mean being imprisoned and kept as her plaything.
Wang Xiaoming's side wasn't any safer either. He kept insisting on taking Chen Ge to the cafeteria for some delicious food, but refused to say what exactly they would be eating. If Chen Ge actually went with Wang Xiaoming to the cafeteria, it might end up being Chen Ge himself served on the dinner table.
Everyone in this school harbored malicious intentions — they just never showed it.
Both options were death sentences; the only difference was the manner of death.
Looking at the two people beside him, Chen Ge didn't push them away.
He hooked one arm around Wang Xiaoming while gently patting Bai Ling's head with his other hand, putting on a deeply touched expression. "You're both my best friends — one is loyal and dependable, the other is thoughtful and adorable. It's really hard for me to say no to either of you."
After agonizing for a moment, Chen Ge crouched down and picked Bai Ling up. "How about your big brother goes with his friend to the cafeteria to grab something to eat first, and I'll come back to see you afterwards? Okay?"
"No! You can't go with him!" The little girl's sweet expression froze instantly. Small lumps surfaced on her fair skin, and her body seemed to have grown a little taller.
"Fine." Chen Ge looked at Wang Xiaoming helplessly. "Brother, why don't you go to the cafeteria by yourself? I'll keep this little girl company. She's probably scared being alone in the room."
"Are you out of your mind?! If Teacher Bai comes back and finds you in his apartment, he'll throw you straight into the isolation room!" Wang Xiaoming was stronger than Bai Ling, and he yanked Chen Ge over to his side. "Come with me! We're going to the cafeteria!"
Chen Ge was dragged to the doorway by Wang Xiaoming, but Bai Ling refused to let go. "You promised me!"
The changes on her body were becoming more pronounced — her eye sockets sank inward, tears spilled from the corners of her eyes, and the tear trails slowly carved into her face like knives. The monster lurking beneath that cute girl's skin was nearly ready to break free.
"You two are really putting me in a tough spot here." Chen Ge shook off both their hands. "Work it out between yourselves. I'll wait outside the door. Once you've reached a decision, come find me."
He whispered a few comforting words to both Wang Xiaoming and Bai Ling, then opened the repair room door and stepped out.
The moment he shut the door, a muffled thud rang out from inside, as if a head had slammed into a wall.
"I never expected to be this popular here. With so many students in this school, why are they all so obsessed with me specifically?" Chen Ge thought about his two "friends," and after leaving the repair room, he broke into a run without a second's hesitation, bag in hand, rushing toward the exit.
As Chen Ge burst out of the faculty dormitory building, a faint voice drifted from the pitch-black corridor behind him — it seemed to be calling Little Lin's name.
But the biggest difference between Chen Ge and those protagonists in horror films was that he never indulged in pointless curiosity. It didn't matter who was calling his name. What mattered was that he had obtained what he wanted and could now move on to the next phase of his plan.
"I need to speed things up. If it's Bai Ling who comes after me, it's manageable — she doesn't know my exact location. But if Wang Xiaoming chases after me, that's a different story. That desk mate of mine knows I need to go back to the dorm to fix the door, so he'll definitely head there to find me."