Chapter 37: Her Secret

Shen Xing broke into a cold sweat at the mere thought of what awaited him tomorrow.

His heart pounded so violently that sleep was out of the question. Playing the villain was thrilling in the moment, but when it came to suffering the consequences, the one who actually had to endure the beating knew best. Shen Xing felt that after his few hours of "suicidal" venting, he would be lucky to still look human after Ouyang Lin was done with him. Ouyang Lin was the type who never bothered with words if she could use her fists, so no matter how he looked at it, he was destined for a thrashing. After all, he couldn't keep threatening her by staying naked forever.

Thus, Shen Xing desperately needed to find himself a talisman. And he firmly believed that such a talisman must be hidden somewhere in a woman’s boudoir!

"Ouyang Lin, don't let me down! Everyone has secrets, everyone has a side they keep hidden! And a bedroom is the place where that side is most exposed. If it happened, there must be traces left behind! Shen Xing, for the sake of survival, keep going!"

Thinking that he only had a few days left of this training before regaining his freedom, Shen Xing wished for time to speed up. Once that day arrived, he could use his system to grow rapidly. It wasn't like his current bitter existence, where he possessed a cheat code but was too terrified to use it. He didn't even know how many eyes were watching him in this place, given his identity and importance. In short, all Shen Xing wanted was to find any way to survive these next few days unscathed. To that end, he was even willing to abandon his integrity and his bottom line.

After pulling open the bottom drawer, he saw a stack of neat little panties. Shen Xing reached out instinctively. By the time he realized what he was doing, he already had two pairs in his hand.

"Oh my god!"

Shen Xing was startled and threw them aside as if electrocuted. Then, he hurriedly grabbed them back, trying to fold them neatly again.

"Damn it! Is there a technique to folding these? Why can't I make them look identical? Ouyang Lin will definitely notice! What do I do? What if I... just take these two? That way she might not notice. Besides, she has so many in here; she might not even realize two are missing."

After weighing his options between certain death and courting death, Shen Xing chose to court death. The search continued.

"Clothes, skincare products, accessories, snacks..."

He checked several cabinets, but found nothing suspicious.

"Is there nothing?"

Shen Xing began to break into a sweat again. Just then, a bookshelf nearby caught his eye.

"They do it in the movies all the time—important things are often tucked away in books!"

Shen Xing immediately rushed over to search through them carefully.

"Romance novels, introduction to philosophy, human history, poetry and prose... why are these all useless books? You're a teacher at Qingbei, aren't you? How can you read nothing but fluff? Why isn't there a copy of 'Monster Compendium' which everyone should have?"

Another dead end. Shen Xing felt his heart starting to race.

"If I just kneel and beg before she loses her temper tomorrow, would my survival rate be higher? She probably won't kill me, but if she forces me to lick her feet to humiliate me, wouldn't that be even worse than death? No, I can't give up yet."

Shen Xing encouraged himself and set his sights on the desk in the corner.

"This is my last hope. Whoever is listening, please bless me. Grant me a secret powerful enough to hold over Ouyang Lin!"

His silent plea turned into resolve as Shen Xing hurried to the desk. He pulled the chair back gently, imagining what he would do if he were Ouyang Lin sitting there.

Shen Xing sat down and first picked up the two notebooks on the desk to flip through them. One was a memo pad, simply recording a few errands that had been crossed off—likely completed. The other was a reading log, listing several book titles, how far she had read, and some simple reflections.

"Damn it! Why write such boring things? Can't you write a diary? Why not write a diary! Why not fill it with those shameful things, the ones you can't tell anyone, the ones that would make life impossible if found out, the ones that would force you to obey me! Can't you just do that!!!"

Shen Xing felt his foreboding growing stronger. There were three drawers left. If there was nothing here, he was as good as dead.

He hesitated and pulled open the first one: it was filled to the brim with snacks. Shen Xing’s expression began to crumble.

He hesitated again and opened the second one: a beautifully bound notebook! Found it!

Shen Xing felt a surge of joy and immediately opened the book. It was new. Completely new. Undeniably new.

"Just... just destroy me. There's only one drawer left; it's impossible for a miracle to happen now..."

Trembling, he pulled open the third drawer.

"Huh? A photo album? It must be childhood pictures or family photos. So, there really is no miracle?"

Shen Xing’s pupils lost their focus. Driven by the instinct for survival, he flipped through the album; at this moment, his reason had already surrendered.

However, when his vacant eyes scanned the photos in the album, Shen Xing suddenly regained some spirit. They weren't records of a childhood or family portraits, but photos of very beautiful women. And none of them were Ouyang Lin herself.

"Who is this? Her sister? Why do they look so familiar?"

Shen Xing frowned and flipped to the next page.

"Huh? Who's this? She's quite pretty too."

He flipped again.

"No way, does she have that many sisters?"

He continued flipping for several pages; they were all photos of beautiful women. Each page featured a different woman, with no repeats.

"Why does this feel so strange?"

Shen Xing pondered, trying to grasp what exactly felt off. Vaguely, he felt that this was the answer that could help him.

"What is so strange about it? Beautiful women... photos..."

Shen Xing's head began to ache. Just as he was starting to grow impatient, a flash of inspiration struck.

"Holy crap! No way?! These photos don't all look like normal, flattering shots! The image quality is inconsistent, and the sizes differ. And most importantly, some of these aren't even taken from normal angles! Those are... candid shots?!"

Shen Xing felt much more alert. He continued flipping, becoming more focused and serious. When he reached the middle, his eyes suddenly widened!

He had seen the woman on this page just recently. Although he didn't know her name, she was definitely a friend of Ouyang Lin. Shen Xing had seen them laughing and chatting together; they seemed very close. Of course, having photos of a good friend didn't mean anything—unless...

The nature of some of these photos clearly exceeded normal boundaries. In the center one, the woman appeared to be drunk, sprawled carelessly on the floor. Beside her lay someone else. Their bodies were intertwined, their gazes intense; no one could look at that and call it innocent.

*Click.*

The photo captured that very moment. And the person who took the photo was Ouyang Lin.

"..."

Shen Xing gulped, a chill running down his spine.

"Les... lesbian. She hid it so deeply. I hadn't sensed even a hint of it before."

As the realization hit him, Shen Xing closed the album, feeling a sense of admiration for Ouyang Lin.

"Why did you stop looking?" a gentle voice asked from behind him.

"What's the point of looking once you've found the sec..."

In an instant, Shen Xing felt as if he had fallen into an icy abyss!