—

Ji Su sat at the desk, thought it over seriously for several minutes, and finally decided to abandon the demand for nudes: "Xiao Qiao, I think a normal selfie would be better."

Qiao Jin didn't understand: "Why?"

Ji Su explained: "Asking for that kind of photo doesn't fit Mengmeng's persona, and the scumbag might not even give it."

"Fair point..." Qiao Jin stroked his chin in agreement. "The scumbag has other people's private photos in his hands, so he should be more alert about this kind of thing. If we startle the grass and scare the snake, that wouldn't be good."

Ji Su nodded: "That's exactly what I mean."

After spending this time with him, he'd discovered the other person was intelligent and perceptive — someone who would certainly suspect his motives.

Of course there was another point — he really didn't want to look at another same-sex person's certain body part, especially one that was terrifying...

Qiao Jin's eyes rolled: "Then why don't you video call him, trick him into a nude chat?"

Ji Su: "Get lost..."

"Just kidding, hahaha!" After laughing, Qiao Jin returned to seriousness. "As long as we know what the scumbag looks like, we can track down his real identity, then hand him over to the senior and let her decide how to handle it."

Once their discussion was done, Ji Su opened WeChat and began typing flirtatiously, face perfectly blank.

Mengmeng: [Good gege, you send first~]

Mengmeng: [I can't meet gege lately, but Mengmeng really, really wants to see gege, wuwu...]

G: [Really?]

Ji Su pressed his lips together and kept typing.

Mengmeng: [I miss gege so much I dream about him...]

G: [No selfies on my phone.]

Mengmeng: [You can take one now!]

Mengmeng: [cat excited.jpg]

Once that message was sent, the other side fell silent.

Qiao Jin suspected: "The scumbag didn't go find a stock photo, did he?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a photo popped up in the chat window.

Ji Su immediately tapped to enlarge it, his gaze first drawn to the beautiful abs.

The familiar eight-pack and Adonis belt; his gaze traced upward along the muscular waist and abdomen, past the solid chest and broad shoulders, finally settling on the face in the mirror.

Sharp, deep-set features, sculpted as if carved from stone; slightly damp fringe falling over high brow ridges; a pair of jet-black eyes slightly narrowed, their gaze cold as they looked into the mirror.

Handsome and proper beyond reproach, radiating an austere, glacial sensuality from every pore.

Ji Su's brain went "boom" — like a bolt from clear sky striking him on the head, leaving him completely stunned.

"Did he send it?" Qiao Jin, still in the dark, leaned his head over. "Is the scumbag super ugly—"

His words cut off abruptly, as if something had seized his throat.

For a moment, the Dormitory fell into an eerie, deathly silence.

"Holy shit?" After a long moment, Qiao Jin was the first to recover. "Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

Ji Su slowly raised both hands, balled them into fists, and rubbed his eyes hard.

When he opened his eyes again, that face was still there.

"It's really Gu Zhao..." Ji Su blinked. "Xiao Qiao, are we dreaming?"

"Hold on." Qiao Jin pinched his own arm hard, yelping in pain. "Ow! Not a dream!"

Ji Su instinctively reached out to touch his arm, his eyes still full of bewilderment.

"No way—" Qiao Jin picked up the phone, staring at the photo, examining it carefully. "How is this possible?"

Ji Su opened his mouth: "I also think it's impossible."

"First of all, if School Hunk Gu wanted to date, he'd just crook his finger and have a flood of men and women throwing themselves at him." Qiao Jin began counting on his fingers. "Second, Gu Zhao's family is super rich — the money he scammed from the senior might not even cover one month of his pocket money."

Ji Su: "I don't know..."

"This is too absurd." Qiao Jin shook his head to himself. "What would Gu Zhao gain from being an online romance scammer?"

"Something must have gone wrong somewhere." Ji Su's rationality gradually returning, he picked up his phone and switched to his main WeChat account. "I need to ask the senior what's really going on."

Ji Su: [Senior, are you sure the scumbag's WeChat ID you gave me is correct?]

If there was any misunderstanding in this matter, the most likely possibility was that he'd added the wrong person from the very beginning.

Lin Yan: [What's wrong, Xiao Susu?]

Lin Yan: [The WeChat ID should be right!]

Ji Su didn't dare say the person he'd added was Gu Zhao, and replied with vague information.

Ji Su: [Senior, I think I might have added the wrong person. The other side is also a student at our School.]

Lin Yan: [What? From our School?]

Lin Yan: [Impossible!]

Ji Su: [Senior, please double-check.]

Lin Yan: [Okay wait, let me look through the chat records!]

Ji Su gripped his phone, waiting anxiously for the result.

A minute later, the senior's reply popped up in the chat.

Lin Yan: [Oh no oh no, I think I really did remember the WeChat ID wrong...]

Ji Su: "..."

Lin Yan: [You really can't blame me for this, such a long string of WeChat IDs is hard to remember in the first place, change two letters and it's completely different...]

Ji Su: [Senior, are you sure this person isn't the one you wanted to get revenge on?]

Lin Yan: [Sure sure, I've never seen this avatar or WeChat name before.]

Ji Su: [Okay, I understand.]

Lin Yan: [Wait, Ji Su, who did you add?]

Ji Su: [Senior, this is a bit complicated, I'll tell you later.]

Qiao Jin beside him was practically dying of impatience: "What did the senior say?"

Ji Su put down his phone: "Xiao Qiao, we really did add the wrong person."

So all this time, the person he'd been sending all those explicit photos to, calling xuezhang gege and acting cute and coquettish with — was actually Gu Zhao?

That walking iceberg, Gu Zhao?

Ji Su only had to imagine the school heartthrob's cold gaze, and he couldn't help but shiver.

"We're done for..." Qiao Jin dropped into a chair. "Of all people to add by mistake, it had to be Gu Zhao?"

Ji Su raised a hand to support his temple, unsure what to say.

"No no no, right now we can only confirm the other side isn't that scumbag, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's Gu Zhao himself!" Qiao Jin suddenly remembered something. "What if the other side is using the school heartthrob's photo for online dating?"

Ji Su's heart flickered with a thread of hope at this: "That's not impossible."

"We've come this far, let's verify one more time." Qiao Jin suggested. "Call him on video, just turn off your camera first."

Ji Su: "That's the only way."

He switched back to the small account, only to discover G had sent him another new message.

* * *

Gu Zhao stood bare-chested in the bathroom, his gaze fixed on his reflection in the mirror.

The overhead light was blindingly bright, fully illuminating the contours of his muscles.

"Gu-ge, are you still using the bathroom?" Wang Mingzhe's urgent voice came from outside the door. "I really gotta go!"

Gu Zhao spoke: "Come in."

"Got it!" Wang Mingzhe turned the handle and hopped into the bathroom on one foot.

But the moment he looked up, he nearly fell flat on his face — fortunately his quick reflexes saved him as he grabbed the doorframe.

"Gu-ge, you—" Wang Mingzhe's eyes went wide. "Why are you taking your clothes off for no reason?"

Gu Zhao wasn't like other guys who liked to go shirtless; even after showering in the Dormitory he'd put on a T-shirt, basically maintaining a fully dressed appearance at all times.

He had even joked with Zhou Yang that Gu-ge probably had his own built-in cooling system, body temperature too low, so he needed clothes to keep warm.

Gu Zhao turned around and took a step toward him: "Do I look like there's something wrong with me?"

Wang Mingzhe was completely baffled: "Wrong with what?"

"Face. Body." Gu Zhao asked expressionlessly. "Anything wrong?"

"What—" Wang Mingzhe caught on and shouted loudly, "Gu-ge, are you trying to humiliate me!"

Gu Zhao was rather baffled: "Humiliate you how?"

Wang Mingzhe clung to the doorframe, his face full of grief and indignation: "Oh great, so I don't even qualify to be humiliated by you anymore?"

Gu Zhao: "..."

Seeing he wouldn't get an answer this way, Gu Zhao stopped wasting words, picked up a black T-shirt and pulled it on.

"Fine fine fine, your abs are perfect, your chest is perfect, and your face is so handsome it's practically a crime against heaven and man." Wang Mingzhe laid on the flattery, then couldn't help asking curiously, "What kind of stimulus did you suffer tonight, old man?"

Gu Zhao: "Nothing."

"Oh! I get it now!" Wang Mingzhe's brain spun fast. "Did your online dating partner finally ask you for a photo!"

Gu Zhao walked to the door, grabbed him by the collar, and effortlessly hauled him into the bathroom: "Talk less."

Wang Mingzhe poked his head out and shouted again: "Gu-ge, you gotta have confidence in yourself! You're A University's school heartthrob!"

Zhou Yang, who had been reading, looked up at the sound: "What? What's going on?"

"Nothing." Gu Zhao pulled out his chair and sat down, opening WeChat once more.

Ten minutes had passed since he'd sent that selfie, and there'd been no response from the other side.

His handsome brows furrowed slightly as he tapped into the input field and began typing.

G: [Why aren't you talking?]

At the same time, Ji Su on the other end of the phone took a deep breath, tapped to place a video call, and quickly turned off his camera.

"Ding ding ding ding ding~"

The ringtone sounded, and Ji Su's heartbeat intensified with each beat, as if awaiting final judgment.

A few seconds later, the video call connected.

Ji Su couldn't help but hold his breath, not daring to even look directly at the phone screen.

The video was dark at first, the camera wobbled twice, and a low, magnetic voice sounded: "Why are you video calling me?"

"Um..." The moment Ji Su opened his mouth, his arm was pinched.

Qiao Jin reminded him with exaggerated mouth movements: "Cutesy voice!"

Ji Su remembered then, and forced his voice higher: "Gege~ why can't I see your face?"

A few seconds later, light finally came through.

A handsome, cold face appeared in the camera, his gaze seeming less frigid than usual.

Ji Su carefully lifted his lashes, glancing tentatively at the phone screen.

The last bubble of hope burst with a soft "pop," completely shattered.

Gu Zhao leaned against the Balcony railing, his dark eyes slightly narrowed: "Why can't I see you?"

Ji Su, almost without thinking, hung up the video call directly.

"Holy shit..." Qiao Jin, who had been holding his breath, gasped for air. "Never thought I'd live to see School Hunk Gu on video with my own eyes!"

But at this moment, Ji Su couldn't hear any sound. In his brain, it was as if a long-broken cassette recorder had been inserted, playing back eight characters on repeat—

"Revenge is certain, dig three feet deep, feet..."