"Bro Long, doesn't An Han seem weird lately?"
Late at night, on the dorm balcony, Chen Junjie lit a cigarette and leaned against the railing, asking Long Xing.
"Does he?"
Although Long Xing looked like a hardened thug, he actually didn't smoke at all—and even disliked it. He waved his hand in front of his nose, trying to dispel the smoke drifting over from Chen Junjie.
"At most, he's just gotten a bit prettier lately," Long Xing replied after a moment's thought, sounding unconcerned. "What's the problem?"
"The problem is huge!"
Chen Junjie adopted a dead-serious expression and began analyzing: "Look, the girl you like looks a lot like An Han. She has that milky scent, and An Han has that milky scent too. She…"
"I've told you before—don't use my stuff to mess with Xiao Han," Long Xing cut him off. "I'm not stupid. I can tell a guy from a girl. Even if I couldn't tell by looks, I'd recognize the voice."
He paused, then turned his head away irritably. "Anyway, I still think it's An Han."
Ever since he'd first seen that photo Long Xing had secretly taken, he'd stubbornly believed it was An Han in drag. But if that were true, how come the voice sounded perfectly feminine with no cracks or tells?
"Hey! You two watching the movie or not? It's about to start!"
An Han suddenly poked his head out from inside the dorm, gripping the balcony doorframe and calling out, "What're you whispering about out here? So secretive!"
It was pitch black—neither the balcony nor the dorm room had any lights on. Long Xing turned around, catching An Han's silhouette faintly illuminated by the glow from the opposite dorm building.
In the dimness, An Han's facial features blurred, and for a split second, Long Xing instinctively thought he was looking at a girl from the neighboring dorm—
and one who looked almost identical to the girl he'd fallen for at first sight.
Same big eyes, same high nose bridge, same delicate lips.
The only difference was in their eyes: the girl he liked always carried a hint of shyness and wariness, while An Han's eyes sparkled with mischief and playfulness.
"What the hell are you staring at?" An Han, unnerved by the intense gaze, worried something might give him away. He quickly ducked back inside without hesitation. "Didn't we agree to watch Marvel tonight? I went through so much trouble to find a 2K version! Hurry up and get in already!"
He hurried back into the room, and Long Xing turned again to Chen Junjie.
"Aren't they the same? Especially at night—aside from the hairstyle, they're practically identical."
Long Xing hesitated, then pulled out his phone and opened that photo he'd taken that night. After staring at it for a long while, he finally let out a deep sigh of relief, his expression softening with quiet satisfaction. "They're not the same."
"Huh?"
"If An Han ever dressed up as a girl, she'd definitely be prettier than her."
"…"
Last time Long Xing had met An Han in drag, he hadn't really taken a good look—his judgment was based solely on that photo.
Surprisingly, he now found himself thinking An Han in drag was even more beautiful than the girl he'd fallen for.
Long Xing walked back into the dorm first. Inside, An Han was sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Wang Sheng, watching a movie on Wang Sheng's 144Hz monitor.
The only light in the room came from the computer screen. Hearing the door open, An Han turned and asked, "Did Junjie say again that the girl you like is me in drag?"
"He's got some weird ideas in his head," Long Xing replied.
"He just hates me and's trying to gross me out!" An Han declared indignantly, "Total bad conscience!"
Long Xing just smiled at him—kept smiling until An Han grew flustered and looked away.
"You… don't think it was me in drag, do you…?"
An Han poured milk into a glass, then deliberately spilled a bit onto his pants.
He felt uneasy inside. He'd thought dressing up as a girl to meet Long Xing would solve everything—but now it seemed the more he did, the more mistakes he made, revealing even more clues.
It had started with just looking similar—but now they'd noticed even more uncanny similarities…
"No, no way," Long Xing said, dragging a stool over to sit beside Wang Sheng and propping his legs up as he watched the movie on screen.
Wang Sheng, for his part, had zero interest in getting involved. The guy was practically a monk—aside from gaming, he had no other hobbies and barely made his presence felt in the dorm.
A knock came at the door, and the dorm supervisor pushed it open. "Roll call."
He glanced around the room. "Where's Chen Junjie?"
"On the balcony."
Hearing the commotion, Chen Junjie stuck his head in through the balcony door and waved at the supervisor.
An Han quickly trotted over to the supervisor, putting on his most ingratiating smile. "Hey, Uncle, is the school doing electrical appliance inspections lately?"
"Haven't heard anything about it."
"Oh~ Good, good."
It wasn't that he was worried about their hotpot gear getting confiscated—he was terrified that if the school did a thorough search for banned appliances, they might stumble upon his stash of girls' clothes.
The thought of the dorm supervisor, the counselor, the student union, and even the department head all seeing that… An Han couldn't even bear to imagine it.
The supervisor checked off names on his sheet and shot An Han a sideways glance. "Planning another hotpot in the dorm again, huh?"
"No way~"
"You never learn! You guys are the worst students I've ever seen!"
An Han let the scolding wash right over him—he'd heard that exact line since childhood. He was thoroughly numb to it.
After seeing the supervisor off, he flopped back onto his chair and stared at the Marvel movie playing on screen.
Honestly, he had zero interest in superhero flicks—but Long Xing and Wang Sheng were die-hard fans, so he had no choice.
Yawning, he watched the flashy CGI scenes with half-closed eyes, his mind completely preoccupied with his own troubles.
Ever since that system showed up, his life had just gotten more and more complicated.
An Han glanced down at his chest. Though it wasn't getting noticeably larger, the persistent soreness lately had him seriously considering a hospital visit over the weekend.
And then there was the embarrassing issue of visible nipples—his roommates hadn't seemed to notice yet, but he himself was painfully aware of it.
[Task completed.
Reward received: +1 to Physique attribute.]
The sudden system notification startled him. Almost immediately after, a message popped up on his phone from Wu Dongming:
"I actually rented a girlfriend for a day. Ridiculous."
"Don't bother showing up tomorrow! Get lost!"
An Han read Wu Dongming's two messages, his mood turning uneasy again.
His physique attribute was now at two points.
Would this push him toward rock-hard abs… or toward bigger breasts and longer legs? By now, there should be some clear signs.
"You leaving?" Long Xing suddenly heard the sound of a chair scraping and looked up to see An Han's slender figure heading toward the balcony.
"I'm gonna take a shower."
Long Xing scratched his head, still staring at that backlit silhouette.
When did An Han's waist get so slim?
From behind, he looked utterly feminine—graceful, petite, delicate. There was nothing remotely masculine about his frame.
Long Xing found himself wondering: if the girl he liked turned out to be An Han in drag… maybe that wouldn't be so bad after all?
"What're you spacing out about?" Chen Junjie sidled up beside him, grinning slyly.
"Xiao Han…" Long Xing murmured softly, almost to himself, "is getting cuter and cuter."