Lu Sicheng carried the person on his back step by step toward the team headquarters when he suddenly realized the one on his back had gone silent. Pausing, he turned his head slightly and saw the chin resting on his shoulder now belonged to someone with closed eyes, even breathing, sleeping... peacefully. Like a dead pig.
"...Hey."
He tentatively called out to the person on his back, but there was no response. Lu Sicheng hesitated for a moment, then as if testing, leaned his face closer—until the tip of his nose nearly touched hers. The man stopped, his calm gaze fixed on the face resting against his shoulder for a long while. Not only was there no reaction, but a drop of drool also dangled precariously from the corner of her lips...
Lu Sicheng: "..."
He briefly considered just hauling her back to the headquarters and tossing her into the nearest trash can. But as he took another step, he suddenly remembered the scene from earlier when he had entered the bar—someone clinging stubbornly to another person like a koala, refusing to let go.
Tomorrow, the ZGDX Team had to wake up early to pick new uniforms for the Summer Split, so everyone would be turning in early tonight. If someone finished washing up and was about to sleep, only to have this stinky thing suddenly latch onto them without warning... how infuriating would that be?
With that thought, Lu Sicheng forcefully retracted his foot. Instead, he walked to a pavilion in the residential area, bent down, and set the person on his back onto the ground. He patted her cheek. "Wake up."
Tong Yao groggily opened her eyes.
"You can’t go back to the headquarters like this. You’ll ruin the team’s discipline. I’ll go buy you some hangover medicine. Stay here. Don’t wander off."
The moment she touched the pavilion pillar, Tong Yao immediately wrapped her arms around it and let out an "Oh," nodding vigorously. Lu Sicheng patted her head, almost tempted to hand her a piece of candy, then turned to leave—only for the hem of his shirt to be yanked from behind.
Lu Sicheng turned back. The person behind him grinned up at him, giggling. "What’re you glaring for? You’ve yanked me before too, almost made me fall. I’ve wanted to try this for a long time..."
Tong Yao slowly widened her eyes, looking expectant. "Are you gonna fall now?"
Lu Sicheng mercilessly tugged his shirt back, deciding it wasn’t worth arguing with a drunk. Still uneasy, he emphasized again, "I’ll be back in five minutes."
"Long legs are so impressive. It’d take me ten minutes just to get to the gate!" Tong Yao giggled. "But what if a pervert shows up?"
This residential area required access passes—even mosquitoes couldn’t get in. Where would a pervert come from? And what time was it anyway... Lu Sicheng checked his watch. The hour hand was about to point to "1"...
"A pervert wouldn’t want you," Lu Sicheng replied.
Tong Yao let out an "Oh," then after a pause, mumbled, "Yeah, you’re right." As she spoke, she hugged the pillar even tighter. "Don’t worry, I won’t wander. Right now, I’m Wei Sheng (*an ancient man who waited under a bridge for his lover. When she didn’t come and the waters rose, he refused to leave, clinging to the bridge pillar until he drowned)..."
Lu Sicheng smirked mockingly, thinking, You’re pretty cultured for a drunk, still able to quote classics on the spot. He tossed out a "Then hold on tight, Wei Sheng," before turning and walking toward the residential gate—
His steps were hurried.
It really did look like he intended to make it back in five minutes.However, Lu Sicheng had no idea that even if he flew now, it wouldn't make much difference. Because the person who claimed to be "Wei Sheng" had let go of the pillar she was hugging the moment he left, muttering drunkenly to herself—"I'm not drunk, who needs sober-up pills?" "We were just talking about ideals," "I'm perfectly sober"—before standing up. Locking onto what she assumed was the direction of the team headquarters, she began staggering toward it.
The ZGDX club's logo was unmistakable.
Even in this upscale villa district where everything looked similar, Tong Yao could easily spot it... Marveling at her own brilliance, she fished out her keys and opened the headquarters' door, ready to loudly announce to everyone inside, "Your daddy Tong Han San is back!" But when she pushed the door open and looked around, she found the first floor eerily quiet. The living room was dimly lit, with no voices, no familiar clatter of keyboards or clicking of mice.
Tong Yao: "?"
Still gripping the doorknob, Tong Yao froze in place, baffled. She glanced down at the keys in her hand, wondering if she had somehow opened the wrong door like an idiot...
Just then, she suddenly noticed that one of the computers along the wall had lit up—
It was Lu Sicheng's.
At that moment, the glow from the screen illuminated the person crouched in front of it—a man with jet-black hair, his right ear adorned with silver hoops and a streak of green dye in his sideburns. He was staring at the screen, absentmindedly chewing on the thumbnail of his left hand with a faint "click, click" sound. Hearing footsteps, he turned his head and expressionlessly glanced at the girl frozen in the doorway...
The moment she saw his face clearly, cold sweat instantly drenched Tong Yao's back—her vision swam, and her tongue tied itself in knots as she stared at that handsome, impassive face tilted slightly toward her: "C-Cheng Ge, didn’t you go shopping? How did you get back before—"
Before me?
No, no, she had clearly watched him walk in the opposite direction. How could he have circled all the way back to the headquarters and ended up in front of his computer?
Just as Tong Yao's thoughts spiraled into chaos, the man suddenly smiled. He stopped biting his thumbnail, the corners of his lips curling to reveal a row of gleaming white teeth—
Clatter.
The headquarters keys slipped from the girl's hand and hit the floor.
Her face, previously flushed from alcohol, instantly drained of color. She stumbled back two steps before bolting out the door!
......
When Lu Sicheng returned with the sober-up pills, he spotted a rabbit-like figure sprinting toward him at full speed, arms pumping like blades—
Under the streetlights, her face was as pale as paper.
Lu Sicheng stiffened, his heart dropping as he frowned and raised his voice: "What are you doing here? Don’t tell me you actually ran into some per—"
Before he could finish the word "pervert,"
The girl leaped into his arms—Lu Sicheng staggered back a few steps from the impact, dropping the sober-up pills. His hands instinctively caught her, gripping her thighs to steady her as he stared blankly: "What the hell are you doing?"The person hanging onto him was breathing heavily, her chest heaving violently. She shivered, tightened her arms around the man's neck, then looked up earnestly into his eyes and said, "Cheng Ge."
Lu Sicheng: "?"
Tong Yao: "I saw a ghost."
Lu Sicheng: "..."
Tong Yao: "I saw a ghost at the team headquarters. It looked exactly like you."
Tong Yao: "Scary."
Lu Sicheng: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "Get off me, you drunk lunatic."
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