Wild Tranquility - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

In the cramped rental room, I opened my phone’s front camera and deliberately tugged my shirt lower.

Click.

The light filtering in through the window happened to fall right across my chest.

A silent temptation.

With practiced ease, I sent the photo to the number saved with no contact name.

An hour later, he replied.

[Don’t let me find you.]

The corners of my mouth lifted.

He would find me.

This time, I had deliberately revealed the billboard outside the window.

Following those clues, he would find me.

The System spoke in a leisurely voice. “Friendly reminder: you have two months left.

“If you fail to successfully seduce Shen Kuangye before time runs out, your body in the real world will die.”

“I know.”

Resting my chin on my hand, I swiped through the photos I had sent Shen Kuangye in the past.

From my calf, to my waist.

Then to my collarbone, my chest.

Every single one was blatant and suggestive.

Every single one included a recognizable landmark leading from the school to this rental room.

With the next photo, he would be able to find me without a hitch.

Shen Kuangye was broke and distant, ruthless and obsessive.

And yet, he just had to be born with a face that drove girls crazy.

There was no end to the people chasing after him.

It was the System’s fault too, for giving me such an ordinary identity and a face that wasn’t pretty enough.

Compared to those girls, I didn’t stand out at all.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had to take such an extreme route and go to all this trouble.

After a moment of silence, the System asked hesitantly, “Aren’t you afraid he’ll wring your neck once he finds you?”

“…”

Of course I was.

That was why, a week ago, I had already put the second step of my plan into action.

Playing the part of Shen Kuangye’s fangirl.

The next morning, Shen Kuangye threw the breakfast I had brought him into the trash like always.

Our classmates were already used to it.

Some even tried to persuade me to give up.

“Ning Sheng, you and Shen Kuangye aren’t the same kind of person. You’re not pretty enough either. There’s no way he’d ever like you.”

The brutally honest words made my eyes redden, and I looked helplessly toward Shen Kuangye.

But he didn’t even glance at me. He just put his head down on the desk and fell asleep.

I noticed there were cuts on his knuckles.

I wondered who he’d gotten into a fight with this time.

I ran to the infirmary to buy some bandages. During the break between classes, I carefully handed them to Shen Kuangye.

After autumn arrived, everyone zipped their school uniforms all the way up. Only I had deliberately pulled my zipper down, revealing the tiny mole between my collarbones.

Shen Kuangye lifted his head impatiently, his mouth already opening to say “get lost,” but the moment his eyes landed on the mole at my collarbone, he paused.

My gaze was sincere and worried. “Your hand… you should put one on.”

Before Shen Kuangye could refuse, I placed the bandages on his desk and turned to run back to my seat.

Even without looking back, I could feel his icy gaze on me.

For the rest of the day, I didn’t try to make my presence known in front of Shen Kuangye again.

But his gaze had already started to settle on me, faintly, every now and then.

And on his finger was one of my bandages.

When school let out that afternoon, I deliberately packed my bag as slowly as possible.

Most of our classmates had already left, but Shen Kuangye remained motionless, his eyes locked tightly on me.

The moment I slung my bag over my shoulder, he grabbed the strap and dragged me out of the classroom.

I obediently followed him.

After we left the school and reached an empty alley, Shen Kuangye finally let me go.

He glanced at my raised collar and asked, “Where do you live? I’ll walk you home.”

I hurriedly shook my head, both scared and pleasantly surprised.

Shen Kuangye stepped closer, his features bewitchingly beautiful, but the words he spoke were merciless.

“Don’t you like me? Aren’t you going to cherish this chance?”

Tears quickly gathered in my eyes, and I said shakily, “No…”

“No what?”

He pressed me. “You don’t like me?

“You didn’t deliberately send me those kinds of photos?

“You didn’t deliberately try to seduce me?”

Word by word, he forced me back against the wall.

I showed a look of shock, helpless and panicked. “What photos? What seducing…”

Shen Kuangye sneered and grabbed the zipper of my uniform.

With a sharp rasp, he yanked it all the way down.

Cold wind rushed in, and I shrank back.

But Shen Kuangye gripped my shoulder, his thumb lightly rubbing the mole at my collarbone.

“I told you not to let me find you.”

His eyes were dark, and the hostility around him surged.

I felt like he was going to strangle me in the very next second.