After the Evil God Pretends to Be a Player [Infinite] - Chapter 15

Subject: Exposing the true face of that Sophomore School Beauty

No.0 Anonymous User The OP (Original Poster) recently got some hearsay from an unreliable source. Anyone want to hear?

No.1 I Love Strawberry Popsicles Patiently waiting for the tea (smile.jpg)

No.2 Don’t Want Morning Classes Which one? Is it that really pretty transfer student?

No.3 Anonymous User That’s the one! A couple of days ago, the OP saw her leave school after evening self-study and get into a very luxury car. If I didn’t see it wrong, the brand was an Au-di. You guys tell me is there something going on here?

No.4 I Love Strawberry Popsicles What? Her? She usually dresses so normally; she has that kind of background?

No.5 Beauty Sticking Together An inspirational beauty turns out to be a rich second-generation in disguise?

No.6 Anonymous User I have a thought, but I don’t know if I should say it…

No.7 I Love Strawberry Popsicles You’ve already said this much, don’t leave us hanging! Out with it, out with it!

No.8 Anonymous User OP thinks… it shouldn’t be her own background. If her family could afford a luxury car like that, wouldn’t she be carrying a Chanel in her left hand and stepping in Balenciagas?

No.9 Beauty Sticking Together So you think?

No.10 Anonymous User Do you think… she might be doing that kind of thing outside?

No.11 Don’t Want Morning Classes Holy crap! I’ve been wanting to say this for ages! Look at her acting all focused on her studies. Do you know how she acts toward the boys in class? Seriously, her eyes are sweet and seductive, her voice is all soft—you guys can’t even imagine it. I’ve seen a bunch of guys so hooked by her that they stuffed her desk drawer full of love letters. If she’s not a professional at this, I don’t believe it.

No.12 I Love Strawberry Popsicles LMAO. Those guys probably can’t even imagine that the goddess in their hearts has long been lined up and ruined by big shots outside.

…

An hour later, the thread was pushed to the forum’s trending section. A red “HOT” icon appeared next to the title, impossibly eye-catching.

More and more students scrolling through their phones late at night clicked in, typing into the dialogue box: “What happened?”

A few minutes later, after finishing the thread, they would share a knowing smile and forward it to other classmates or friends outside the school.

At 2:00 AM, Yingzi was patted awake several times by her roommate. Before she could even open her eyes, she was hit with a blunt question: “Why didn’t you go stay out tonight?”

Yingzi opened her bleary eyes, meeting her roommate’s gaze with confusion. That gaze was filled with thick loathing and disdain.

The roommate held her phone screen up to Yingzi’s face, waving it mockingly. “See for yourself. Your little business has already spread outside the school.”

Yingzi recognized the interface of the school’s anonymous forum. She had never visited it before; she had only heard about it from a classmate when she first enrolled, saying it was a place to get fresh “tea.” She had no interest in gossip.

But this time, her hands fumbled as she registered an account and clicked into the forum. She saw her thread glowing red on the front page. She clicked in and exited less than five minutes later.

Then, she found a phone number from a blurry photo she had taken somewhere during orientation and dialed it directly.

“Hello, is this the Campus Information Department?” The other end was just a busy signal.

Refusing to give up, she found the number for the Student Affairs Office, but that was also a busy signal.

Her roommate glanced at her sideways. “Looking for someone to delete the post? Don’t waste your energy. Who’s even on duty at this hour?”

Yingzi suddenly snapped to her senses and found another number in her contacts. This time, the call went through.

A middle-aged man’s voice carried a heavy sleepiness. He said gently, “Hello, Student Cui, what is it?”

There was a hint of impatience in his tone, but it was hidden under heavy nasality. In her panic, Yingzi didn’t catch it. Like she had found a lifeline, she recounted the entire incident from beginning to end, then said with a sob in her voice, “Teacher Yang, how can I get the post deleted? I… I didn’t do any of those things… how can they say that about me?”

The homeroom teacher, Mr. Yang, listened to everything. After a pause of several seconds, he said slowly, “Student Cui, it’s so late. I can’t delete the post right away. How about this: wait until tomorrow, and I will go communicate with the Information Department. Is that okay?”

Yingzi had no other choice and could only agree. She lay flat, her eyes wide open, staring at the wooden bed slats. She did not sleep all night.

The next day, she intercepted Mr. Yang before he entered the classroom.

“Mr. Yang, about what you promised me yesterday…”

Mr. Yang let out a sigh, his gaze heavy. “Cui Yingzi, we have to have class first. Come on, we’ll talk after class.”

When she walked into the classroom, everyone looked up. Their smiles were suggestive and subtle. Looking at her former classmates wearing such expressions, Yingzi inexplicably remembered the replies she had seen on the forum last night:

“How much do you think she costs for a night?” “She must be an expert at this.” “Right? Otherwise, how could she attract so many guys to the point of desperation…”

An entire class session—one where she felt as though she were sitting on a bed of nails—finally ended. Yingzi bolted out and ran straight to the teacher’s office.

In the office, Mr. Yang looked her up and down. His gaze was unreadable as he said, “Yingzi, I’ve already looked at that post. Tell me… did you really not do any of those things?”

Disbelief filled Yingzi’s eyes. She argued, “Teacher, how could I possibly do something like that…”

Mr. Yang shook his head. His wrinkled hand came to rest on Yingzi’s smooth, fair hand. He stared directly into her eyes, his voice growing even gentler. “Yingzi, it’s just the two of us here. You have to tell the truth to your teacher. Did you really not do those things?”

Yingzi shook her head frantically. “I didn’t!”

In her panic, she didn’t even notice the small gesture from the usually kind teacher.

Mr. Yang emphasized every word: “Then tell me, why did you get into a luxury car of unknown origin outside the school?”

“Because…”

Yingzi paused for a moment, appearing as if it were difficult to speak. But under the teacher’s pressuring gaze, she finally spoke:

“My parents are divorced. After they started new families, they stopped caring about me. I need to earn money for my tuition. I… I found a part-time job. After evening self-study, I go to a wealthy uncle’s house to do cleaning.”

Mr. Yang’s eyes were full of doubt. “Really?”

Yingzi nodded repeatedly. “It’s true!”

“Was it really just cleaning? Did that uncle ever do… like what I’m doing now?”

Mr. Yang’s hand slid along Yingzi’s sleeve to her forearm, giving it a light squeeze.

A massive wave of goosebumps instantly broke out on Yingzi’s arm. Like a startled animal, she yanked her hand back and blurted out, “No! He really didn’t!”

She was innocent, but she wasn’t stupid. Her gaze toward Mr. Yang was now filled with fear and resistance.

Mr. Yang sighed faintly, looking somewhat disappointed. He put his hands behind his back and said from his height, “I understand everything you’ve said. I still need to report this to the school. The school needs to verify the facts. If you really didn’t do these things, the post will be deleted naturally. Now, go back.”

For the entire day, Yingzi kept refreshing the forum. She had no heart for class, no heart for food. Whenever she had a spare moment, the endless stream of insults echoed in her ears. She had replied to the thread, but no one believed her.

Finally, when the bell for evening self-study rang, she discovered that the thread had finally been deleted. She let out a long breath, her heart—which had been filled with grievance finally finding a temporary peace.

However, after the first session of evening self-study, she discovered to her despair that while the original thread was gone, new “informative” threads had popped up.

One… three… six… eight.

The forum was filled with threads discussing her. Among them, the highest-trending thread’s subject was:

“Why the gag order? Doesn’t deleting the post mean it’s actually true?”

Yingzi went to find Mr. Yang again. This time, she firmly demanded that Mr. Yang provide feedback to the school; she wanted to find the person who started it.

Mr. Yang remained silent. After an unknown amount of time, he said slowly, “Student Cui, this matter of yours has already caused negative damage to the school’s reputation. The school is considering a ‘cold treatment’ approach. If you escalate this to a legal level, won’t that just blow the whole thing out of proportion?”

“The school won’t tell you who the poster is. This is an anonymous forum, and that student’s freedom of speech should also be protected…”

Yingzi left the office in a daze.

From then on, she spent every day being pointed at by others. In the cafeteria, in the classroom, on the playground… perhaps it was because her face was too recognizable, but no matter where she went, someone knew who she was.

She was gradually marginalized and isolated. The girls looked down on her; the boys looked at her with a gaze that made her very uncomfortable, and then cursed her as “fake-pure” after she rejected them.

When it was time for class chores, all the dirty and heavy work was assigned to her alone. In particular, the art room which no one else wanted to clean became her exclusive task.

That day, just as she reached the art room door, a hand with great strength pressed down on her shoulder.

She turned around and saw two boys and two girls. The girl in the lead flicked her red Student Council armband and looked down at her:

“Cui Yingzi, we need to talk.”

Lalai recognized this scene. This was exactly what they had witnessed previously inside the art room.