TITCFRIBN 14

Chapter 14

An Cheng had his reasons for enjoying playing video games with Bai Qing. The original owner of his current body wasn’t much into PC games, so An Cheng had to create a new account from scratch. This meant his rank was low, and the players they got matched with were not exactly top-tier. Climbing the ranks felt like an endless, grueling task.

But Bai Qing, even though he hadn’t played much before, picked up the game quickly.

Maybe it was because of his dexterous fingers from playing the guitar—he instinctively excelled as an ADC (attack damage carry). He would dart forward aggressively to engage enemies, which was surprising given his normally mild demeanor.

An Cheng, playing as the jungler, didn’t have to worry much about Bai Qing. He just had to focus on leading the team and setting the pace of the game.

After dinner, the three of them—An Cheng, Bai Qing, and Wang Qimeng—returned to the dormitory and started playing ranked games together.

Oh, and Wang Qimeng? He’s a bit of a homebody. He stayed indoors a lot, playing games and was quite skilled.

They played a few matches in a row as the sky outside grew dark. Finally, after an intense series of games, An Cheng leaned back and let out a breath, coolly saying, “Not bad, let’s call it a day.”

As if he wasn’t the same person who had been clicking his mouse like it was on fire just moments ago.

Wang Qimeng powered down his computer. “I’ll call home now—today’s my mom’s birthday.”

An Cheng acknowledged with a nod and then glanced at Bai Qing. He was slumped over the desk, arms folded over each other with his head resting on them, seemingly playing on his phone.

Everyone seemed busy with their own thing, so An Cheng started packing his clothes, preparing to take a shower.

He stepped into the bathroom and hung his clothes on the hook, noticing his fingers felt a bit stiff. He gave them a quick rub.

Back in the dimly lit dorm room—Bai Qing’s small desk lamp was off, making the room feel even darker—Bai Qing quietly opened WeChat. He turned down the volume and clicked on the video that Wang Qimeng had sent him.

The static image began to move. Two boys stood on a raised platform. They seemed both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time—because while the boy on the right looked very close to the one on the left, the boy on the left appeared distant, though not in an unfriendly way.

The voice of the chief instructor could be heard in the background, followed by the introduction of musical instruments. The boy on the left started rolling up his sleeves, revealing his pale, elegant hands as he grasped the drumsticks.

The two boys began playing their respective instruments, standing about two meters apart, yet their performance was perfectly in sync. Throughout the song, they didn’t miss a single beat, and there was a sense of mutual understanding, as if they could sense each other’s unique thoughts.

Bai Qing buried his head lower into his arms and quietly saved the video. After a brief pause, he even added it to his favorites.

When he finished, he straightened up and rubbed his face.

His face felt a little hot.

---

At long last, after what felt like an eternity, An Cheng finally reached the end of military training.

Instructor Wang circled their squad. “Tomorrow’s the military parade! You’ve all trained hard, so don’t let that effort go to waste. Give it your all tomorrow, understand?”

Seeing the end of the grueling days within reach, the students all felt a burst of energy. As the setting sun bathed the field, they raised their heads and shouted in unison, “Yes, sir!”

Instructor Wang nodded with satisfaction and blew his whistle. "Dismissed!"

The crowd started dispersing, but Instructor Wang's eyes searched through them until they landed on Bai Qing. "Bai Qing, come over here for a second."

An Cheng, with beads of sweat sticking to his hairline, stopped in his tracks and turned to look in Instructor Wang's direction. The sun’s warm, yellowish light cast a long, glowing halo around him.

Bai Qing’s gaze lingered on An Cheng’s face for a brief moment.

Instructor Wang called out again, “Bai Qing, what are you waiting for? Come over here!”

Snapping back to reality, Bai Qing’s eyes darted around nervously. When he spoke to An Cheng, he instinctively avoided eye contact. “Cheng-ge, I’ll be back in a moment. The instructor called me over.”

An Cheng responded with a nod, but his gaze remained fixed in Instructor Wang’s direction. After a brief moment of thought, he made a decision.

[007, send me all the dirt you have on Wang Chong.]

He had reached his limit!

Meanwhile, Bai Qing walked over to Instructor Wang. "Instructor, is there anything else?"

Instructor Wang pulled out his phone. "Well, we've been through this whole training together, so how about we add each other on WeChat? It'll make it easier to stay in touch."

Instructor Wang was in a hurry. After tomorrow’s military parade, all the instructors had to leave immediately in teams, and there would be no time to exchange contact information.

Bai Qing smiled politely. “Instructor, my phone’s out of battery. If you ever need to reach me, you can contact Cheng-ge. We’re in the same dorm.”

Instructor Wang frowned. "Then give me your phone number, I'll save it."

Bai Qing maintained his smile. “Next time, we’ll add each other on WeChat.”

Finally, it dawned on Instructor Wang that Bai Qing was not interested in keeping in touch. He found it odd—Bai Qing had always seemed like an easy-going, good student, so why was he rejecting him now?

Before the instructor could say anything more, Bai Qing cut him off. "Cheng-ge’s been waiting for me, so I’ll head back. Goodbye, Instructor."

Instructor Wang watched him run off, wanting to say something but ultimately holding back.

Back with An Cheng, Wang Qimeng stood waiting alongside him. After spending so much time together, Wang Qimeng had a good sense of An Cheng’s personality by now. He didn’t talk much but never bullied anyone—a cool, introverted gamer.

"Cheng-ge, what did the instructor want with Bai-ge?" Wang Qimeng asked.

An Cheng took off his cap, holding it casually. "Not sure."

Bai Qing returned soon after, answering their question. "The instructor wanted me to add him on WeChat, but I told him my phone was out of battery."

Wang Qimeng was surprised. “Bai-ge, I’m pretty sure your phone still had 80% battery.”

Bai Qing nodded honestly. "Yeah, but I didn’t want to add him."

The unspoken thought behind his words—Cheng-ge doesn’t like Instructor Wang, so I won’t add him either—remained unsaid.

An Cheng felt a warm sense of satisfaction. It was like watching someone grow and finally learn how to say no to unreasonable demands.

Later that evening, after their showers, the three of them sat in the dorm doing their own things. An Cheng, feeling a bit bored, scanned the room. Bai Qing was engrossed in something on his phone, while Wang Qimeng was watching videos—not of models, but of game strategies.

After a while, An Cheng casually suggested, “Wanna play a game?”

The little AI voice in his head pouted, having never seen someone so obsessed with gaming.

An Cheng replied inwardly: You don’t understand. I’m just two wins away from reaching Gold!

Bai Qing looked up from his phone. “Sure!”

Wang Qimeng was also interested, immediately booting up his computer. "I just learned a new move, let me show it off to you guys."

Two hours later, An Cheng gazed at his freshly acquired Gold rank and sighed in contentment.

So satisfying!

Suddenly, the AI in his mind started shouting, “Host! It’s done! Chen Hao is being dismissed and punished—he might even go to jail!”

An Cheng nodded absentmindedly. That’s trivial. Reaching Gold was the real achievement.

Bai Qing and Wang Qimeng were also quick to notice the breaking news.

Bai Qing: "Finally, there’s a resolution."

Wang Qimeng: "This is bad news for the university’s reputation."

Bai Qing leaned over towards An Cheng. “Cheng-ge, did you see? Chen Hao is really getting punished for everything he did.”

An Cheng nodded again, “Yeah.”

The weight on Bai Qing’s shoulders seemed to lift entirely, and he felt much more at ease. He thought for a moment about how they should celebrate, but with the military parade tomorrow morning, there couldn’t be any big plans for the night.

Excited, he paced around a few times before finally plopping down on An Cheng’s chair, resting his head on the armrest and looking up at him. "Cheng-ge, how about we play one more game to celebrate?"

He lowered his voice on the last part, making sure only the two of them could hear.

An Cheng: ...Is he trying to tempt me?

“Alright.”

Wang Qimeng, meanwhile, had no choice but to log back in. He was baffled by how both An Cheng and Bai Qing seemed unusually happy, even though two of their university’s professors were being exposed for major scandals. Shouldn't they be worried about the school’s reputation taking a hit, especially as new students?

As the game was loading, Wang Qimeng asked, "Who’s behind all this exposure about Chen Hao and Sun Hua? It seems way too big to not have someone pulling strings behind the scenes."

Bai Qing felt a slight jolt in his heart and instinctively glanced at An Cheng. However, he quickly shook his head. How could that be? Sure, Cheng-ge was impressive, but orchestrating a coordinated media storm seemed impossible.

Meanwhile, the little AI in An Cheng's mind was practically strutting around, tail wagging like a proud cat. With its abilities, pulling off such a feat was child’s play—releasing the news, cutting off the data trail, and ensuring no one could trace it back to An Cheng. It was exactly why An Cheng could stir things up and walk away without a scratch.

Everyone caught in the storm was probably still scratching their heads, wondering who had orchestrated it all.

The game ended with An Cheng losing a star, his mood sinking. He shut down the computer with a heavy heart.

Feeling guilty, Bai Qing cradled his head in his hands. "Cheng-ge, it's my fault. I shouldn't have charged in like that."

An Cheng climbed into bed, his voice drifting down from above, soft and melancholic. "It's fine. Let’s just sleep."

Bai Qing hung his head, feeling a bit remorseful.

Wang Qimeng chimed in with some reassurance, “Winning and losing is part of the game. After tomorrow's military parade, we’ll make up for it!”

Soon after, Wang Qimeng, also feeling tired, climbed into bed, and the room fell into an almost complete silence. Bai Qing turned off the lights and crawled into his own bed. With a pair of earphones in place, he lay in the darkness, quietly unlocking his phone.

There, in the stillness of the night, the faint glow of his phone screen illuminated his face as he scrolled through the news and updates.

Bai Qing quietly opened the video on his phone and watched it slowly. He realized then that he was deeply afraid of Cheng-ge being upset. However, An Cheng didn’t show any signs of anger. The reason he climbed into bed in silence was because he was busy communicating with 007 in his mind, discussing how to expose Wang Jiaojiao's dirt in a more impactful way.

Unlike the situation with Chen Hao's family, Wang Jiaojiao's offenses were different—gambling, illicit activities, and asking female students out during military training. An Cheng mulled over the idea but decided against public exposure. He just wanted to ensure that Wang wouldn’t continue causing harm after leaving the military.

After hashing it out with 007 for a while, An Cheng made up his mind. “Alright, do it. Let’s send it.”

---

The next morning, the familiar march of the People's Liberation Army filled the air. But today, An Cheng felt especially energized. Not only had he survived military training, but Wang Chong was about to face the consequences of his actions.

With renewed spirit, he dressed sharply, fixed his hair, and put on his training cap, waiting for Bai Qing and Wang Qimeng to get ready.

Bai Qing walked over, ready as well, and said, “Cheng-ge, you look really handsome today.”

An Cheng waved off the compliment, “Don’t flatter me.”

In his mind, he found the military uniform, with its dull yellowish hue, particularly unattractive.

Once Wang Qimeng was ready, the three of them headed to the field together. The atmosphere was noticeably different from usual. Large flags fluttered in the wind, and the flag-bearers stood at attention. The different formations, which usually stood scattered, were now perfectly aligned.

An Cheng stood on the field for about half an hour before the music stopped abruptly, and a voice came through the microphone from the stage above.

“In the golden autumn of our campus, the osmanthus blossoms are fragrant. Today, we are gathered here to hold the grand military parade ceremony for the freshmen class of 20x4. First, let me introduce today’s guests…”

Normally, An Cheng would barely pay attention at such events. At most, he would clap when everyone else did. But today, he listened closely, for among the attendees was someone he had to be cautious about.

The dean of the Finance School at Caida, Professor Ren Lin, was among the guests. The Finance School was the best at the university, and as its dean, Ren held considerable power. Such a person could easily keep a student under his thumb, extracting whatever he wished from them.

An Cheng's gaze followed Ren Lin as the introductions continued, watching him stand up to acknowledge the crowd with a warm smile. Hidden beneath the brim of his cap, An Cheng smiled as well.

Easy? Not necessarily.

As the parade began, the formations marched past the reviewing stand. An Cheng and Bai Qing led their squad at the front. As they neared the reviewing platform, An Cheng and Bai Qing called out in unison, “Eyes—right!”

The entire squad turned their heads to the right, stepping in perfect rhythm.

An Cheng raised his head toward the high platform, catching Ren Lin's gaze. Just as expected, Ren’s eyes gleamed with a mixture of admiration and greed. His gaze was like a snake, lurking beneath the surface, barely visible but exuding a chilling malice.

“Eyes—front!” An Cheng commanded as they moved past the platform.

If the plot unfolds as it should, I’ll crush your power into dust.

Up on the stage, Ren Lin looked down at the bright young men below. With a pleased smile, he pointed toward An Cheng and asked, “Who is that student?”

The dean of academic affairs hurriedly checked his notes. “Dean, his name is Bai Qing.”

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