Upon returning home, Su Cheng sat at his desk, recording the day's events while pondering.
Suddenly, he wasn't sure how to categorize the incident at the bus stop today.
Were those big guys a result of the S-level Danger, or the B-level Danger from noon?
Thinking about this, he frowned. Actually, he hoped the afternoon incident was caused by the S-level Danger.
But even he didn't believe the S-level would be just this degree of trouble.
Especially since those men in the afternoon seemed to only want to teach him a lesson, it felt more like the B-level difficulty brought on by confessing to Hoshino Mirai at noon.
As expected of an S-level degree.
Now it's making me worry, who knows what's waiting for me next?
"Headache."
Su Cheng sighed softly, picked up a pen, and wrote down the name 'Ji Qingyi' on the paper.
He put down the pen, stared at the name for a moment, then gave a self-mocking smile. The corners of his mouth curved up slightly in a Nike-like arc as he chuckled, "Ji Qingyi? I'll make sure she doesn't come back!"
Well, he was trying to boost his own courage.
Although he was braver than before.
But he was also clearly aware of the status gap between them.
To be honest, he had no ability to confront Ji Qingyi at present. If she wanted to cause trouble for him, she could easily find a reason to get him expelled or even imprisoned, and he would have no way to counter it.
And the only place where he could become stronger was at school.
How could he not be anxious about this?
But what could he do?
So, for now, he could only put on a brave face to comfort himself.
"Sixteen cigarettes left."
Su Cheng murmured, looking at the pack of cigarettes in his hand. "This weekend I need to find someone to test and see the specific effects of the cigarettes."
Then he looked at the list of wanted fugitives in Flame City for a while, memorizing the photos, wondering if he could encounter them to test the effects of his item.
If it could make someone lose three minutes of memory, then he could use it on people, instead of running far away to tell a few dogs to 'give me some face' like he did this afternoon.
"Let's play some games."
After a while, he got up and went to his computer desk, sat down, turned on the computer, logged into his game account, and then clicked "Start Matching."
[Cute and Noble] joined the game
"Oh ho."
Su Cheng saw that he was matched with this person again, and a pleased smile appeared on his face.
A dozen minutes later, he clicked on [Cute and Noble]'s hero avatar, then took his hands off the mouse and keyboard to flex his finger joints, and began to play the piano.
[Yasuo King]: Upvote!
...................................
"Whew~"
"Is five kilometers my limit now?"
Su Cheng looked at the screen displaying the kilometers on his phone with surprise. In the past, he would be out of breath after just three kilometers, but now he could actually run five kilometers.
This one attribute point increase was simply too overpowered.
"If my stamina reaches dozens or hundreds, wouldn't I become a superman?"
It's worth noting that stamina includes strength, speed, reaction, and more...
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but swallow, his eyes revealing a hint of anticipation.
But just as he was pondering, he heard a sobbing sound nearby. The sound was very faint, but it still reached his ears.
He slowly stopped and turned his head, only to see a golden-haired girl curled up on a bench by the lake, her shoulders shaking constantly, as if she had suffered some grievance.
"Hmm, better stay away from her."
He frowned slightly, then turned his head and continued running.
He had been running and ended up outside a wealthy villa area, so he recognized this person as the golden-haired tsundere who had insulted him before, so he felt it was super troublesome.
He wasn't good at comforting people, so it was better to pretend he hadn't seen her and let her cry alone.
"You... you saw, didn't you."
However, the girl seemed to have noticed Su Cheng looking at her, so she immediately raised her head to look at him, wiped her tears, and asked chokingly.
Her voice was heavy with a nasal tone and crying.
"No, I didn't see anything, I have night blindness!"
He shook his head and said with a straight face.
As he spoke, he turned to walk towards his home.
"Wait a minute!"
But Cornelia suddenly stood up from the bench: "Don't think you can ignore me by making up some weird disease!"
She was wearing the school uniform at the moment, apparently not having had time to change. Below were a pair of white knee-high socks, looking pure and cute, except her eyes were red and puffy.
"What a bother."
Su Cheng immediately felt a headache coming on.
He really disliked this kind of tsundere, especially this arrogant and temperamental type.
Seeing the situation, Su Cheng could only choose to compromise: "Do you have any troubles?"
"Don't tell anyone at school!"
Cornelia immediately said sternly.
Even though she was asking for help, she still maintained an overbearing tone, which made Su Cheng extremely displeased.
So he suddenly fell silent, then slowly walked up to Cornelia.
Cornelia immediately became alert: "Stay away from me, or you'll face the consequences!"
"Is this how you ask for help?"
Su Cheng looked down at Cornelia with a superior attitude, especially under the street light where his face was partly hidden by darkness, like a faceless protagonist from some strange anime.
"What... what are you going to do?"
Cornelia became nervous, crossing her arms in a defensive posture.
"Why are you hugging your back?"
There's nothing there to hug anyway.
This act of hugging nothing made Su Cheng snort with disdain, so he said with contempt: "Miss, you wouldn't want the whole school to know about someone crying at night, would you?"
"You... you're threatening me?!"
Cornelia looked at Su Cheng in disbelief when she heard this. She had never encountered such an arrogant person, not only disrespecting her but also threatening her, which was simply unforgivable.
"Threatening you?"
Su Cheng snorted coldly: "The world doesn't revolve around you. I'm just teaching you that when you ask for help, you should have basic manners!"
"You!"
Cornelia gritted her teeth, but didn't know how to retort. She had always been like this since childhood, except for in the game just now. Where in reality had she ever suffered such insults?
"Rephrase it, and add a 'please'!"
Su Cheng persisted, his attitude very firm, as if saying that if she didn't add a 'please', he would tell the whole school tomorrow.
"Wah..."
Cornelia had never had anyone dare to be so fierce with her, and suddenly couldn't help but burst into tears with a 'wah', her eyes full of tears.
"Please don't tell anyone at school."
Cornelia finally lowered her tone and said, her voice carrying a hint of pleading.
"Stop crying."
Su Cheng panicked immediately, not knowing what to do: "Can you please stop crying?"
He didn't know how to comfort girls, and involuntarily reached out his right hand to pat Cornelia's shoulder.
This pat made Cornelia's heart suddenly tremble, then she frantically retreated, avoiding Su Cheng's large hand. Her tears fell even more fiercely, her entire face covered in tears.
"Okay, okay, I won't say anything. This secret I'll eat, oh no." He suddenly realized something and quickly corrected himself: "Actually, I wasn't going to say anything in the first place. It was mainly your words that made me angry, so I said that out of anger. Please don't be afraid."
"Really?"
Cornelia wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and said with a sob.
Su Cheng let out a sigh of relief when he heard this: "Yes. Can you tell me why you were crying here? What happened?"
Cornelia raised her head and said to Su Cheng: "Nosy, it's none of your business."
"Alright then."
Su Cheng couldn't wait for Cornelia to send him away, after all, he wasn't in the mood to waste time with a tsundere now.
"Eh, wait!"
Just as he was about to step away, Cornelia called out to him: "Um... what I told you, you can't tell anyone else."
"You don't need to worry about that."
Su Cheng turned around and said self-mockingly: "I don't have any friends at school, even if I said something, no one would believe me."
"Oh right, you're the confession maniac."
Cornelia finally nodded in sudden realization, then sat down on the chair and began wiping the tears from her eyes, her white-stockinged legs swinging adorably.
"Can't you consider other people's feelings before you speak? Even though I do have that nickname, it still hurts my feelings."
Hearing this, Su Cheng sighed and walked over to sit in another chair some distance away.
"If you don't tell me, how am I supposed to know how you feel?"
Cornelia raised her head and glared at him.
"..."
Maybe this is what they call tsundere.
Even though she's a cute beautiful girl.
But this person is completely different from Senior Liu. Senior Liu is gentle and understanding to everyone, while she...
Sigh~
Su Cheng shook his head.
"I was playing a game and someone insulted me, and they said some really nasty things," Cornelia suddenly looked up and said to Su Cheng. "Then I got angry and cried pathetically."
Su Cheng turned to look at her and said, "That's normal. The world is so big, there are bound to be some ill-mannered people. Those who insult others in games are usually losers in real life who can only find an outlet in games. You can just report them directly."
"But reporting something like that is embarrassing, and my parents would find out too."
Cornelia looked a bit distressed as she continued, "The things he said were so awful. I've never heard such vicious words in my life."
"Oh."
Su Cheng responded noncommittally, but he was a bit puzzled inside, wondering: Could the person she's talking about be me?
After all, he had insulted someone yesterday and today as well.
So he probed, "What game were you playing?"
"Well..."
Cornelia hesitated for a moment, glanced at Su Cheng, then lied, "Some cute dress-up game..."
After all, it wouldn't be appropriate for a girl to play those violent and crude MOBA games. How could a popular beautiful girl at school possibly play that kind of game?
"Oh, I see."
Su Cheng breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The internet is like that. When you're online, you never know if the other person is human or dog. Next time you encounter something like that, just block them."
"I know that, of course, but blocking them feels like admitting defeat, and then I won't know what they're saying..."
Cornelia pouted cutely and said, "So, what should I do?"
"Why not just apologize?"
"Absolutely not. That person is really hateful. I'll never apologize to him!"
Su Cheng couldn't help feeling a bit frustrated, thinking this tsundere was too stubborn.
"Then next time you can take the initiative and strike first."
Su Cheng suggested.
"How do I strike first?"
Her eyes lit up as she looked at Su Cheng and asked.
"For example, when he's about to insult you."
Su Cheng paused here.
"What? What!?"
"Just start insulting him, insulting him."
"Huh?"
"This way, you'll be in an unbeatable position. Your words will imply that you're looking forward to him insulting you, and suddenly he'll feel like he's punching cotton."
"I see. But what if he insults me first?"
"Then say, 'Getting angry, are we? No way, right? No way?'"
Cornelia's eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had found some secret martial arts manual. Her tone became urgent as she asked, "What if I'm really bad at the game and everything he's saying is true?"
"Then you drag the conversation into real life, forcibly change the subject, or just keep going along with what he's saying, constantly repeating 'so' and 'then'."
At this point, Su Cheng stood up and said, "Remember one thing: although being bad at e-sports is a sin, once you know you're bad, you should practice more. To forge iron, one must be strong oneself."
He turned to look at her seriously and said, "But essentially, playing games is for entertainment and passing time. If you feel unhappy, you can insult them however you want!"
"Alright, I'm going home now."
"Wait..."
Cornelia suddenly called out to him, then said, "Thank you!"
She flashed a brilliant smile, giving Su Cheng a momentary feeling of being in another world.
Maybe tsunderes aren't so bad?
Su Cheng was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and turned around, waving his hand. "Goodbye!"
"Wait."
"What else do you need!?"
Cornelia blushed and lowered her head, not daring to look at him. Her voice was as tiny as a mosquito's buzz: "Um... about rejecting you last time... I'm... I'm sorry!"
"Alright, I'm going home now. You should head home soon too. Goodbye!"
"As if I'd bother saying goodbye to you..."
Seeing that he didn't respond to her apology and apparently hadn't forgiven her, Cornelia reverted to her tsundere mode. She snorted coldly and tossed her head, her golden twin tails spinning in the air, then quickly ran through the gates of the villa area.
"This is why I really dislike tsunderes."
He liked gentle people, but only if they were gentle exclusively to him.
Watching her retreating figure, he shook his head and turned to leave.