How much does she love me to be this sick

【Hey bros, I found hundreds of photos of myself being secretly taken at a girl's house. What should I do in this situation? (sweating emoji) (fear emoji), I'm in a hurry, please help.】

After posting this on Zhihu, Lu Qing stared at the four hundred plus photos of himself in front of him, his expression a mix of shock and disbelief.

— He was literally sweating buckets.

Cold sweat, hot sweat, sweat that made his skin crawl.

He thought he was playing at a higher level,

But Tang Hua? She was in a league of her own.

“……”

His heart raced, his hands trembled, his pupils dilated, and his pulse refused to slow down.

With a flick of his fingers, he opened a few of the photos—

Outside his home, he was captured rushing out with a backpack on, Bluetooth earphones in, a slice of toast in his mouth;

At the apartment building, he was seen squatting down, pouring a 3 yuan bottle of Baishishan mineral water into a special cat drinking pool he had bought,

While gently petting the soft fur of a big orange cat, watching it purr contentedly in the sunlight;

At the entrance of the community, he had forgotten his access card, and Uncle Wang came out of the security room, smoking a pipe, to open the door for him. Lu Qing smiled gratefully at him, his profile captured in the shot;

Across the street at the hairdresser, he was getting a new hairstyle done by a familiar barber, the scene captured from outside with a zoom lens, showing his unfinished new look;

In the subway station, he was waiting for the next train, bored and playing with his phone, the photo so clear it seemed the distance was less than 3 meters;

In a restaurant, he was caught in the act of taking a huge bite of a hotdog, his face contorted in a grimace;

Inside the school, during a spring day with peach blossoms scattered everywhere, a peach leaf had landed on the back of his neck, captured by her;

In the hallway outside the classroom, after school, he stood by the balcony, looking out at the sunlight, his expression calm and his smile soothing;

And in the men's restroom, he…

“What the hell is this?”

No.

No, stop, no no.

“……What is this?!?!?!”

Lu Qing almost screamed out loud.

How did Tang Hua get these photos?

How did she manage it?

Did she hire some guy to do it?

Did she spend a fortune?

This has to be illegal, right?

This is basically private investigator level privacy invasion, isn’t it?

What if she threatens me, demands 100,000 yuan from me, or else she’ll spread these photos around?

What if I don’t give her the money, or can’t meet her demands, and she posts these all over the school noticeboard…

How do I deal with that??

Tang Hua, what’s wrong with you?! She seemed like just a shy, timid little… girl.

How did she get these?

“…………”

For the first time, Lu Qing’s face showed a look of complete overload.

Usually confident in his high EQ and IQ, he was utterly stumped by Tang Hua’s “collection.”

The sound of the shower in the bathroom continued.

Tang Hua was still blissfully unaware.

But in the room, an inexplicable chill crept over Lu Qing’s body.

Gritting his teeth, Lu Qing began to think deeply,

His mind racing at 180 thoughts per second.

What’s the situation now?

What’s going on with Tang Hua?

Are these items normal?

Is this something a human being would do?

Did I walk into some air wall portal after leaving home and end up in an alternate world, now facing a succubus’s illusion magic?

“Emm……”

Lu Qing racked his brain,

Trying to connect all the clues to reality.

Too abstract.

Way too abstract.

“First, I’m awake.”

He convinced himself.

“I’m very rational.”

He thought.

“Second, I originally wanted to ambush her.”

“I wanted to catch her off guard.”

Yeah.

“But she set a trap for me, trying to trap me in her room.”

He frowned, certain of his thoughts:

“Which I managed to crack.”

Okay, maybe she’s just not good at cleaning her room. I won’t point that out, it’d hurt her feelings.

But now, the issue has escalated beyond hurt feelings,

It’s about my personal privacy… even photos that could be used as leverage, all obtained by her.

【She, with a ghostly low presence, infiltrated every aspect of my life.】

【Without my knowledge, she obtained everything that is most real about me.】

“……”

Lu Qing had no doubt that if he hadn’t discovered these today,

In a few days, even the daily life inside his home with Su Ling would be in Tang Hua’s hands.

She was like the FBI or a top-tier spy, everywhere, always watching, knowing everything she wanted to know.

Too dangerous.

Way too dangerous.

Wait.

What’s this dry, cracked stuff on the photos?

“?”

Lu Qing rubbed his fingers over the raised cracks on some of the photos.

He frowned, pondering.

— What’s this?

Tea spilled on them?

No, she doesn’t seem like the type to drink tea like Uncle Wang.

Maybe it’s milk tea or milk, something girls like.

Maybe she accidentally spilled some while drinking?

Lu Qing guessed.

He was about to bring the photos to his nose to sniff them.

But at that moment, a thought struck him.

“That’s right, Bai Xing told me there’s always a stalker hanging around my house!”

That rainy night, a woman in rubber boots, sunglasses, fully equipped, with devices, lingering without leaving…

Lu Qing glanced at the wardrobe,

Seeing the half-open corner with the green rubber boots neatly stacked…

“。”

He finally understood everything.

“Good.”

“Now it seems Bai Xing wasn’t lying. The stalker, if not you, then who?”

Case closed.

Fully confirmed.

Time was limited.

Lu Qing quickly went through all the photos again,

While taking pictures of the evidence with his phone, just in case she ever tried to blackmail him, he could go to the police and they’d surely help him deal with the situation.

The shower water stopped.

Hearing the bathroom water turn off, and Tang Hua moving on to drying herself,

Lu Qing’s expression tensed. He quickly restored the blanket on the chair, put all the photos back under it, making it look untouched.

He knew he couldn’t let her know he’d discovered her secret.

“Yeah. Stay calm. I need to stay calm.”

Lu Qing’s thoughts were clear.

Originally, he was in the open, Tang Hua was in the shadows;

Now, he was in the shadows, Tang Hua was in the open.

He felt it was necessary, and he absolutely had to find out, what her motive was for doing this.

Such extreme behavior, even his sister at home didn’t come close, did she?

Tang Hua, was she harmful or harmless?

Could her actions be supported by some positive motive?

And, was her mental state stable?

Lu Qing wanted to know.

He wanted to figure all this out.

Clearly, Tang Hua’s desires had overwhelmed her rationality.

She was sick, and she was very sick.

So, if she, like Bai Xing, had her own hardships, then maybe he could help her, pull her out of this quagmire, save her while protecting himself;

But if her actions were driven by some other ulterior motive, then don’t blame him for tearing the mask off and not being polite with her once the truth came out.

「Don’t provoke me, I won’t provoke you. If you provoke me, I’ll return it tenfold.」

This was Lu Qing’s code of conduct, regardless of gender or special relationships.

Just the same for everyone.

“Boss…?”

With a timid, almost frightened voice,

Tang Hua opened the bathroom door a crack.

Peering out, she meekly asked:

“My hair is very long… Could you, could you get the hairdryer from the wardrobe and help me dry it?”

Lu Qing didn’t know how much courage it took for Tang Hua to make such a request.

Even during the entire process of taking a shower, he had racked his brain to come up with "reasonable words."

"…Alright."

Of course, he wouldn't refuse. He just tried to adjust his expression as much as possible and walked over to the wardrobe.

He reached into the spot where the hair dryer was placed, gripping its handle.

Then, under the light of the bedroom's ceiling lamp, his peripheral vision accidentally caught sight of something again—

Next to the hair dryer,

there seemed to be a partially open square metal box.

Through the opening, there was a stack of cards that looked quite similar to the "stolen goods" he had just seen.

His pupils constricted as he thought of something.

He quickly reached in and flipped open the box lid.

The next moment…

"…Good heavens, there are hundreds of them??"

…

Looking at the illustration of herself on the title page,

and the wall-push perspective that she had specifically adjusted and fine-tuned,

Lu Qing couldn't help but finally realize a question—

【How much does she love me to have gone this far?】

…

…