Sweet Temptation: After Rebirth, The Campus Heartthrob Can’t Hide His Feelings Anymore - Chapter 5

Xu Zhizhi washed the jacket clean, placed it in an exquisite gift bag, and brought it to the Computer Science department’s lab.

To express her gratitude, she deliberately included a box of chocolates in the bag.

The security guard at the Computer Science building took one look at Xu Zhizhi holding the gift bag and immediately said, “Zhou Xuci, Lab 206.”

The endless stream of people coming to deliver gifts had long since numbed the guard.

Xu Zhizhi went upstairs but didn’t find Zhou Xuci. Instead, she ran into Fang Cheng from the same lab.

Zhou Xuci was in a meeting.

“Returning the jacket?” Fang Cheng scrutinized Xu Zhizhi in surprise, confirming again, “Zhou Xuci lent you his jacket?”

Xu Zhizhi nodded obediently and handed over the gift bag with both hands. “Please help me return it to Senior Zhou.”

Fang Cheng took the bag with skepticism, giving Xu Zhizhi several more glances before muttering, “How is this possible?”

Zhou Xuci was a notorious germaphobe!

Xu Zhizhi thanked Fang Cheng and turned to leave.

Outside the lab, a line of ten or twenty girls waited, all there to ask Zhou Xuci to fix their computers.

Fang Cheng sighed in despair. “Ladies, please, I beg you, change your approach. Just because we study computer science doesn’t mean we fix computers!”

Xu Zhizhi couldn’t help but laugh.

Zhou Xuci was seriously popular.

Half an hour later, Zhou Xuci returned to the lab and learned from Fang Cheng that the little campus belle from the Art department had visited.

Zhou Xuci opened the gift bag and took out the freshly cleaned jacket.

The washed jacket carried a faint, pleasant fragrance.

He then retrieved the box of chocolates and a small card with neat handwriting:

[Thank you, Senior.]

Zhou Xuci lowered his gaze, a faint smile lingering in his eyes as he tucked the card into a drawer.

Then, he opened the box of chocolates and ate one.

Sweet and cloying.

Way too sweet.

“Zhou Xuci, I thought you didn’t eat sweets?” Fang Cheng’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he reached over to snag one for himself.

Zhou Xuci deftly dodged, avoiding Fang Cheng’s hand, and placed the box back into the pink gift bag.

No one else was getting any.

Fang Cheng was left gaping at the empty air. “Huh????”

Zhou Xuci pulled out his chair, sat down in front of his computer, and smiled faintly. “Don’t distract me. I need to code.”

“…” Fang Cheng pouted resentfully before reminding him, “Don’t forget, the Esports Club’s recruitment is this Saturday.”

Zhou Xuci: “I remember.”

–

Xu Zhizhi was a bit socially anxious and didn’t enjoy crowded events.

She hadn’t planned on joining any clubs, but she didn’t want to dampen Ling Shuang and Song Jia’s enthusiasm, so she filled out the application form anyway.

In her past life, Ling Shuang and Song Jia had genuinely cared for her. But Xu Zhizhi had been too stubborn, obsessing over Shen Yu to the point of clashing with them repeatedly just to defend him.

This time around, Xu Zhizhi had changed a lot. College life was meant to be experienced, and she wanted to live a bold, reckless youth without regrets.

She had been too rigid before trapping herself in a tiny, self-imposed cage.

On the day of the recruitment event, Xu Zhizhi was completely caught off guard.

She had assumed the interview would be Q&A format and had even memorized ten different speeches in preparation.

But the Esports Club, true to its straightforward, no-nonsense style, cut straight to the chase, skills were all that mattered!

Fang Cheng organized the session, choosing Peacekeeper Elite as the test game.

Xu Zhizhi had played it before!

But she was really, really bad at it.

To be honest, her skills were practically bot-level!

She had zero natural talent!

Shen Yu was an avid gaming enthusiast.

In her past life, Xu Zhizhi had stayed up late practicing relentlessly to please Shen Yu, but her hands just wouldn’t cooperate. No matter how hard she trained, she remained a cabbage.

Filled with the determination to outshine everyone, yet hopelessly terrible!

At this very moment, Xu Zhizhi really wanted to bolt, but Ling Shuang and Song Jia held her back.

“Zhizhi, don’t chicken out, just go all in!” Ling Shuang encouraged.

“Yeah, you’re already here, might as well enjoy yourself before heading back!” Song Jia cheered her on.

“Don’t worry, we’ll team up. Jiajia and I will carry you to victory!” Ling Shuang patted Xu Zhizhi’s shoulder.

Xu Zhizhi covered her face in despair, “…”

Fang Cheng ultimately chose a three-round format for the assessment: solo, duo, and squad. The highest scorers across all rounds would advance.

In the solo round, Xu Zhizhi messed up her parachute landing, plummeting into the ocean. She ended up swimming halfway across the island before finally succumbing to the poison zone!

Next up was the duo round!

A hundred contestants entered the arena, randomly paired into teams of two.

Xu Zhizhi grew even more desperate, once again tempted to flee.

She was so terrible, she’d definitely drag her teammate down!

While she was still questioning her life choices, the system had already auto-matched her with a partner,〖Z〗.

She had no choice but to grit her teeth and go for it!

“Um, sorry in advance…” Xu Zhizhi took a deep breath, nervously warning her teammate, “I’m really bad. I might hold you back.”

When Zhou Xuci heard Xu Zhizhi’s voice, a gentle smile warmed his eyes. Softly, he replied, “Don’t worry. True strength never complains about a teammate’s skill.”

Only the weak made excuses.

“Z-Zhou…” Xu Zhizhi froze, her eyes widening in shock. “Senior?!”

It was Zhou Xuci!

Zhou Xuci: “Mm.”

Xu Zhizhi asked curiously, “Why are you joining the competition too?”

Zhou Xuci replied, “I’m the hidden Easter egg.”

“Huh?”

“Kill me, and you get direct entry into the Esports club.”

A mischievous idea Fang Cheng had come up with.

Originally, Zhou Xuci wasn’t supposed to be matched with a teammate, but he wanted to test his luck and unexpectedly ended up paired with Xu Zhizhi.

“Oh, I see!” Xu Zhizhi, quick on the uptake, brightened and blurted out, “Then… does friendly fire count?”

Zhou Xuci: “…” Junior, that’s a dangerous thought.

The sound of the plane’s flight path rumbled through their headphones.

Xu Zhizhi silently clicked “Follow” for the parachute jump.

Zhou Xuci: “Where do you want to land?”

Xu Zhizhi: “You choose. I’m fine with anything.”

Zhou Xuci picked a less crowded spot. Upon landing, he immediately guided Xu Zhizhi to loot supplies.

He left all the best guns for her.

Xu Zhizhi felt a little guilty. “I’m seriously terrible. Such good gear would be wasted on me. I don’t deserve it.”

Zhou Xuci maneuvered his character through a window into a house, dropping all the freshly looted supplies at Xu Zhizhi’s feet. “You deserve the best equipment.”

A warm current surged through Xu Zhizhi’s heart, her eyes even growing slightly moist.

This feeling of being respected by her teammate was incredibly touching.

It reminded her of how pitiful she had been in her past life.

Back then, Xu Zhizhi had simped for Shen Yu so hard she ended up with nothing.

Knowing Shen Yu loved playing Peacekeeper Elite, she had stayed up late practicing just to indulge the arrogant young master’s whims but she was just too terrible.

Shen Yu would always say impatiently, “Xu Zhizhi, you’re so terrible it’s painful to watch. Even a chicken pecking randomly at the keyboard would do better than you.”

Sometimes, Shen Yu would deliberately set up a four-player match.

He’d bring along his so-called friends to watch Xu Zhizhi’s clumsy gameplay, and together they’d laugh at how her skills were worse than an AI bot.

Even worse, they’d purposely throw Molotov cocktails at her just to mess with her, burning her until she was nearly dead, reviving her, then throwing another one, tormenting her over and over…

She became nothing more than a source of amusement for Shen Yu.

Back then, she was so desperate for his approval that she’d gladly endure it all, just to see him crack a smile.

Thinking back on her past life, Xu Zhizhi wanted to slap herself, how could she have been so spineless?

It was all because she had put Shen Yu on such a pedestal!

“Why’d you stop?” Zhou Xuci’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

Xu Zhizhi quickly walked over to him, feeling a little embarrassed as she whispered, “Senior, I have a level-three helmet and armor… Do you want me to take the bullets for you later?”

“Not worried about friendly fire anymore?” Zhou Xuci teased.

Xu Zhizhi flushed. “…I was just joking!”

A faint smile tugged at Zhou Xuci’s lips. “Little junior, just stay close and keep behind me.”

Xu Zhizhi nodded. “Got it.”

…