Chapter 38: Brazen Defiance

Lin Bai clicked on the recording while feeling perplexed. As he listened to the conversation between Qin Ruowei and Chen Shuya, he gradually understood Qin Ruowei’s intentions.

However, Lin Bai knew that this recording alone was far from enough.

*Snap!*

Suddenly, a crisp sound echoed. Lin Bai’s expression shifted, and he sat bolt upright on his bed.

The recording continued. Chen Shuya’s curses, combined with the concerned voices of Zhou Min and Wang Xiaoli, proved one fact: Qin Ruowei had been slapped by Chen Shuya.

A surge of hostility flared in Lin Bai’s eyes. He initiated a video call to Qin Ruowei.

The call connected, but Qin Ruowei turned off the video, allowing only her voice to come through.

"Give the phone to Chen Shuya," Lin Bai said, his voice devoid of emotion.

Qin Ruowei, who had a visible handprint on her face and was currently applying ointment, guessed that Lin Bai had found out. She looked toward Chen Shuya.

Chen Shuya, also recognizing Lin Bai’s voice, felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of dread.

Qin Ruowei stood up and held the phone out to her. "Here. Isn't this who you’ve been wanting to talk to, my boyfriend?"

Chen Shuya glared viciously at Qin Ruowei and snatched the phone. "What do you want?"

"Chen Shuya, for that slap today, I will make you pay it back tenfold. Remember that."

Chen Shuya sneered. "Lin Bai, you’d better worry about how to clean up your own mess first."

With that, she tossed the phone back to Qin Ruowei.

Qin Ruowei took the phone and returned to her seat. "Lin Bai..."

"I'm sorry, Ruowei. It’s my fault. I won't let you suffer that slap for nothing. Trust your man."

"Mm."

Qin Ruowei offered a sweet smile and hung up. Looking at the mark on her face again, she felt it didn't hurt quite as much.

"Oh, 'trust your man,' *tsk tsk tsk*..."

Zhou Min and Wang Xiaoli began their sarcastic teasing again.

Blushing, Qin Ruowei quickly scrambled back into bed. "I’m not talking to you guys anymore."

...

Almost every teacher and student at the university had seen Chen Shuya’s post.

Yuan Fengcai, Li Ruonan, Wang Peichuan, Li Yu, Xu Youmeng...

Each person had a different reaction upon seeing it.

Yuan Fengcai gloated at his screen and commented below: "Serves you right! You piece of trash, let’s see how you crawl out of this one!"

Li Ruonan frowned, clutching her phone as she weighed her options. Ultimately, she decided not to call Lin Bai to ask about it.

After reading the post, Xu Youmeng simply smiled. "The little freshman is in trouble now."

...

Compared to the others, Li Yu was left conflicted after reading the post.

"That bitch is being a bit too ruthless, isn't she?"

...

The night passed without incident.

The next day, Monday, Lin Bai acted as if nothing had happened. He followed his usual routine: early morning laps, exercise, breakfast, and then class.

Lin Bai clearly noticed that there were many more eyes on him than usual, most of them laced with hostility.

He didn't take it to heart.

With no classes in the afternoon, Lin Bai took his three roommates and began a frantic photoshoot.

In front of his Mercedes-Benz, Lin Bai struck various cool poses, making sure to highlight the car emblem and the expensive watch Qin Ruowei had gifted him.

To sum it up in one word: flexing.

Yes, it was pure, unadulterated flexing.

After taking numerous photos, Lin Bai and his roommates headed to the Mixue Ice Cream store on the second floor of the East District cafeteria to find "Brother Luo."

"Hey, look who it is—the big celebrity of Jiangcheng University. Have a seat, fellas."

Brother Luo was, as always, fond of joking around.

Lin Bai ordered the most expensive milk tea for himself and his three roommates, then pulled Brother Luo aside.

"Brother Luo, I need a favor. It’s like this..."

...

"No problem! We’re brothers; no need to be formal. I was just wondering how I could help you out. This is great—you’ve really got guts, kid."

After confirming everything with Brother Luo, Lin Bai left with his roommates and returned to the dorm.

Back in the room, Zhao Fangting used his computer to log into the school forum and helped Lin Bai set up an account.

Once the account was ready, Lin Bai sat down, uploaded a photo of himself in the car, and added a caption:

*They throw mud at me, I use it to plant lotus flowers.*
*They throw stones at me, I use them to build a small tower.*
*Hello everyone, I am Lin Bai.*

After writing it, Lin Bai prepared to hit the Enter key, which would publish the post.

At the critical moment, Chen Zhe stopped him. "Big brother, are you sure you want to do this? Isn't this a bit too arrogant? You're already in the eye of the storm—are you really going to add fuel to the fire?"

The other two nodded in agreement. In their eyes, Lin Bai’s move was indeed quite brazen.

Lin Bai just smiled, decisively hit the Enter key, and turned to the three of them.

"Ever heard of fighting fire with fire?"

Without waiting for their response, he went to his desk and sighed, "I really need to buy a computer."

He didn't have one yet, and it was becoming very inconvenient.

...

Over at the computer, Zhao Fangting, Lu Xiaobin, and Chen Zhe huddled together to check on Chen Shuya’s post from yesterday.

After a night of fermentation, the post’s popularity had only grown. The number of comments had exceeded five thousand, and the view count was over sixty thousand—more than the total number of students at Jiangcheng University!

This meant one thing: many people were revisiting the post repeatedly.

The comment section was unbearable to look at; it was filled entirely with people calling Lin Bai a scumbag and insulting his family.

The three of them recoiled and quickly closed the post.

"Wait? There are already comments?"

The post Lin Bai had just made already had replies. The three of them clicked on it.

"You scumbag! You still have the nerve to open an account and post? Go to hell!"

"Don't think that just because you're handsome and rich, you can do whatever you want! We women aren't so easy to bully!"

"I suggest you apologize to classmate Shuya immediately, or I curse your whole family to get hit by a car."

"Extra! Extra! The scumbag Lin Bai has opened an account. ID: XXXX... Everyone go and curse him!"

"..."

The three roommates grimaced as they read the comments.

Lin Bai leaned over, glanced at the comments, and shook his head.

"The quality of internet trolls these days is really lacking."

All three turned to look at him. "Brother Bai, I think it’s best if you lay low for a while."

Lin Bai remained silent. Ignoring the forum drama, he went back to his desk, took out his bag, and started on his morning homework.

"Brother Bai, aren't we going to reply to anything? Are we just going to let them curse us like this?"

"No replies. Let them curse."

...

By the time he finished his homework, it was past three in the afternoon.

Lin Bai calculated his finances. Having just received his subsidy yesterday, he had 1,000 in the system account and 7,000 in his bank card—a total of 8,000.

That was more than enough to buy a laptop.

Lin Bai immediately stood up, left the dorm, and headed to the computer mall.

Zhao Fangting was playing games, Chen Zhe was lying on his bed chatting with someone, occasionally letting out a goofy laugh, and Lu Xiaobin was reading.

Stepping out of the dorm, the heat was unbearable.

Lin Bai remembered Li Ruonan’s task. There had been no progress so far, and with only four days left, he would be dead if he failed.

If he died, everything he was doing now would lose all meaning.

With that in mind, Lin Bai found Li Ruonan’s number and dialed.