Chapter 5

“No…” Wei Li watched them with growing unease. He could only lean toward Lu Xingzhou and whisper, “Brother Lu, when did the two of you become so close?”

Before Lu Xingzhou could answer, Shu Baiyu said, “Just now.”

Meeting Wei Li’s incredulous gaze, Shu Baiyu nodded to confirm it.

“Just now.”

Wei Li looked at Lu Xingzhou. Seeing that Lu Xingzhou did not spare him so much as a glance, he turned back toward Shu Baiyu, his pupils practically trembling.

“No way. Brother Lu, are you surrendering to the evils of an arranged marriage?”

Lu Xingzhou finally lifted his eyelids and looked at him.

“Shut up.”

From the corner of his eye, Lu Xingzhou saw Shu Baiyu lower his head again. After saying those words, he began rapidly eating his seafood congee, as though determined to embody the saying that food was the most important thing in life.

Lu Xingzhou paused before withdrawing his gaze.

Although Shu Baiyu did not visibly pay attention to them, he had clearly heard their conversation.

So the person sitting beside him really was Lu Xingzhou.

In the novel, there were many cannon-fodder characters like the original Shu Baiyu who coveted the protagonist Alpha or protagonist Omega.

Lu Xingzhou was clearly the cannon-fodder Alpha with the greatest chance of winning the protagonist Omega. He was also the one closest to him.

After transmigrating into the novel, Shu Baiyu had only one mission: to ensure that the original ending occurred and that the protagonist Alpha and Omega ended up together.

Therefore, the method he had chosen was to approach Lu Xingzhou, the cannon-fodder Alpha who made him feel the most threatened, interfere from within, and extinguish any thoughts Lu Xingzhou might have of liking or pursuing the protagonist Omega.

However, the current Lu Xingzhou was obviously distant and indifferent toward everyone, including Shu Baiyu himself.

Shu Baiyu had no other plans.

He would simply cling to him relentlessly.

Before long, he finished his entire bowl of seafood congee.

Turning his head, he saw that Lu Xingzhou was still eating at an unhurried pace.

Noticing his gaze, Lu Xingzhou said, “You can leave first if you’re finished.”

Shu Baiyu replied, “Oh.”

He remained seated.

His eyelids, which usually drooped, were unusually raised as he silently stared at Lu Xingzhou.

After waiting several minutes, he asked, “Are you finished?”

Lu Xingzhou was clearly already done eating. Throughout this period, he had ignored Shu Baiyu’s undisguised staring.

Wei Li silently put down his bowl and chopsticks.

“…I’m finished.”

After receiving an answer, Shu Baiyu picked up his empty bowl and stood. He looked at Lu Xingzhou.

“Let’s leave together.”

Lu Xingzhou did not respond.

Shu Baiyu nevertheless acted as though he had received an answer and immediately followed behind him, matching him step for step.

After leaving the cafeteria and walking along the path back to the dormitories, Wei Li could still sense the figure following closely behind them like a shadow.

By now, he no longer dared assume it had anything to do with the engagement.

Swallowing nervously, he quietly asked Lu Xingzhou, “Did you offend him…?”

Lu Xingzhou’s gaze remained unchanged, but Wei Li knew that his peripheral vision had to be watching the person behind them.

The more Wei Li thought about it, the more frightened he became.

“Seriously, what did you do to offend him?”

Shu Baiyu was no longer wearing his hood, but unauthorized copy his hair was long and fell messily around both sides of his face.

With his head lowered, the shadows completely obscured his eyebrows and eyes. At first glance, he appeared so dejected and gloomy that one might suspect he would suddenly slit someone’s throat the moment they entered the next dark alley.

Furthermore, Wei Li had only recently witnessed Shu Baiyu single-handedly deal with those two Alphas.

His vivid imagination became impossible to restrain.

“Too gloomy. Too terrifying…”

Lu Xingzhou seemed unaware that there was anything strange about the situation.

When he finally withdrew his backward glance, he replied, “He does look like a mushroom.”

Shu Baiyu trailed behind them, walking slowly and occasionally lifting his head to confirm Lu Xingzhou was still there.

He really did resemble a gloomy little mushroom.

Wei Li had no idea what Lu Xingzhou was thinking.

Wei Li shuddered.

Shu Baiyu followed them all the way to the entrance of the Alpha dormitory building.

The moment they arrived, Wei Li shot away like a rocket, disappearing hundreds of meters into the distance.

That left Lu Xingzhou alone beneath the dormitory building, turning to face Shu Baiyu.

Since Shu Baiyu had followed him this far, Lu Xingzhou asked, “Is there something you want to say?”

Shu Baiyu took a moment to process the question before nodding calmly.

“Goodbye.”

“…”

Lu Xingzhou paused.

“I don’t like people pestering me. While I still have patience, you’d better tell me what you want.”

Shu Baiyu stared at him in silence for a while.

Then he turned around and pointed at the back of his neck for Lu Xingzhou to see.

“I don’t know which patches to use. I want you to choose them for me.”

His skin was extremely pale, and the pink suppression patch Lu Xingzhou had selected during class was still attached to the back of his neck.

Now that Shu Baiyu was deliberately displaying it for him to see, Lu Xingzhou’s lips tightened.

This was obviously an excuse.

It was also an exceptionally careless one.

Lu Xingzhou understood that perfectly well.

Yet when Shu Baiyu turned back toward him, the words in his throat changed. After a moment of silence, he unexpectedly said:

“All right.”

Believing that his excuse had worked, Shu Baiyu immediately stepped closer and pulled out his phone.

“Let’s exchange contact information. It’ll be more convenient.”

Lu Xingzhou paused briefly before complying.

Shu Baiyu was finally satisfied.

Even the way he looked at Lu Xingzhou seemed slightly more cheerful. He gave him a small nod.

“Goodbye.”

Lu Xingzhou responded and watched him leave.

Within his line of sight, Shu Baiyu lowered his head again, seemingly fiddling with his phone.

At that moment, Lu Xingzhou became certain of one thing.

Shu Baiyu had changed.

He had become remarkably… alive.

When their families first arranged the engagement, Lu Xingzhou had investigated Shu Baiyu’s background.

Every result had been consistent.

It was as though Shu Baiyu’s entire existence had been confined within a few descriptive labels. Whether in the written information or during their real-life encounters, the other man had always given Lu Xingzhou a subtly rigid impression.

Until Shu Baiyu appeared before him again now.

That strange feeling had suddenly vanished.

It was as though the gloom that once enveloped him had dispersed, blood and flesh had been breathed into his empty shell, and his true appearance had finally emerged.

Alive, vivid, and beautiful.

Whatever the reason, this version of Shu Baiyu made Lu Xingzhou far more curious.

After escorting Lu Xingzhou back to his dormitory, Shu Baiyu returned to his own.

Unlike earlier, the room was not empty this time.

Another Omega was inside—the original character’s “good friend” from the novel.

Since Shu Baiyu had read the original story, he naturally knew this friendship existed only on the surface.

At least, that was how it appeared from the original character’s perspective.

In reality, the other person merely treated him like a gullible fool. Not only did he freeload off Shu Baiyu’s food and drink, but after Shu Baiyu broke up with Qi Yan, he constantly encouraged him, eventually driving the original character to commit numerous acts that harmed both himself and others.

When Shu Baiyu entered, Jiang Min was leaning against the head of Shu Baiyu’s bed while video-calling someone on his phone.

Seeing him come inside, Jiang Min made no attempt to move. Instead, he waved and smiled.

“Xiao Yu, I’m thirsty. Pour me a glass of water, would you?”

Shu Baiyu changed direction and went to pour water at the table.

Jiang Min smiled and reached out to take it, only to watch Shu Baiyu set the glass down on the table.

Jiang Min said, “I’m over here…”

Shu Baiyu faced him.

“I want to rest.”

Jiang Min’s smile stiffened.

An Alpha’s voice came through his phone.

“What’s wrong, Minmin?”

Maintaining his smile, Jiang Min ended the video call and raised his head.

“What’s wrong? Why are you being so fierce today? Did Qi Yan ignore you again?”

Shu Baiyu remained in the same position, silently looking at him.

He repeated, “I want to rest.”

The smile vanished completely from Jiang Min’s lips.

He finally stood and left Shu Baiyu’s bed, muttering dissatisfied complaints under his breath.

Shu Baiyu ignored him.

Once Jiang Min stood up, Shu Baiyu immediately stripped the bedding from the lower bunk and moved it to the upper bunk within several minutes.

Their room was designed for four people, but only Shu Baiyu and Jiang Min actually lived there.

It was not the standard arrangement with beds above desks. They could choose whether to use the upper or lower bunks themselves.

At first, Shu Baiyu had listened when Jiang Min claimed the lower bunk would be “more convenient” and had placed his bedding there.

Now that Shu Baiyu had arrived, he decisively moved everything to the upper bunk.

The entire action clearly showed his dislike of Jiang Min.

Sure enough, after climbing onto the bed, Shu Baiyu casually glanced over and saw Jiang Min’s livid expression.

Shu Baiyu continued ignoring him and lay down.

At this point, he felt nothing unusual physically. Saying that he wanted to rest had only been an excuse.

Once he was in bed, he pulled out his phone and opened his chat with Lu Xingzhou.

Only after seeing that Lu Xingzhou had not sent him any messages did he exit the conversation.

As far as Shu Baiyu knew, the current plot had only progressed to the point where the protagonist Alpha had broken up with the original character.

The protagonist Omega was still abroad and had not even become close to the protagonist Alpha yet.

This was still the early part of the story.

That was why Shu Baiyu had not voluntarily approached the protagonist Alpha when he encountered him earlier.

There was still plenty of time.

His current priority was to keep watch over Lu Xingzhou, the cannon-fodder Alpha.

With that thought, Shu Baiyu opened the notes app on his phone and recorded his current strategy.

1. Approach Lu Xingzhou and become familiar with him.

He had not even completed the first step yet.

Perhaps he was still slightly affected by the onset of heat, because Shu Baiyu remained somewhat sleepy.

He had not been lying down for long when he fell asleep.

Fortunately, he had no classes that afternoon.

Once asleep, he did not wake until around five or six in the evening, startled by the loud slam of a door.

Opening his eyes, he saw that Jiang Min had just left.

He was now alone in the room.

Shu Baiyu checked the time and climbed down from the bed.

For some unknown reason, his eyelids still felt heavy after waking, and his mind remained foggy.

He walked toward the sink, intending to splash cold water over his face.

However, when he raised his eyes, he saw himself in the mirror.

A ring of red rashes had spread across his neck.

Shu Baiyu froze before lifting his shirt to inspect himself.

He had not imagined it.

Aside from the exposed areas of skin, many rashes had also appeared elsewhere on his body.

An allergy…?

He suddenly frowned.

He had not eaten anything he was allergic to.

Nevertheless, he could not ignore symptoms like these.

After thinking for two minutes, he decided to visit the hospital.

Before leaving, he deliberately lifted his shirt in front of the mirror bailiantales.com and took a photograph with his phone.

It was already late, so he went to the hospital nearest the university.

After the doctor examined him and conducted an allergen test, it was confirmed that he was indeed experiencing an allergic reaction.

The cause was the shrimp in the seafood congee he had eaten at lunch.

The doctor prescribed several tubes of topical medication.

After leaving the consultation room, Shu Baiyu passed another department and paused.

He suddenly remembered that Lu Xingzhou had told him to have his pheromones examined at the hospital.

Since he was already there, there would be no harm in getting that checked as well.

Before entering the pheromone department, he sent Lu Xingzhou another message.

Shu Baiyu: I came to the hospital for an examination.

Shu Baiyu: [Medical report] [Medical report]

There was no response from the other side.

After thinking about it, Shu Baiyu decided to make his claim more convincing and sent the photograph of his allergic reaction as well.

Shu Baiyu: [Image]

Shu Baiyu: Live evidence.