Oh no! My yandere school beauty is so clingy!

Lin Anran spent a long time picking and choosing at home before finally changing into a decent outfit. She looked at herself in the mirror again and again before leaving the house satisfied.

I took the bus to the mall; it was still early.

She glanced around the coffee shop on the first floor but didn't see Shen Yu. She knew he probably hadn't finished his business yet.

She wasn't in a hurry, so she started wandering around the mall aimlessly.

The shopping mall was quite crowded on the weekend.

She strolled along, stopping occasionally to look at the clothes in the shop windows and touch the plush toys outside the toy store, feeling a rare sense of relaxation and anticipation...

Where will they go after Shen Yu arrives...?

But after walking around for about twenty minutes, Lin Anran slowly stopped.

She stood in front of the glass display case in a jewelry store, pretending to look at the sparkling hair clips inside, but her eyes subtly glanced at the space not far behind her...

She had a vague feeling that something was off when she was in the women's clothing section.

It seems... there's always a gaze fixed on her back.

The feeling lessened as she quickened her pace, but returned as soon as she slowed down or stopped...

At first, she thought it was her imagination; it was normal to have a lot of people around.

But when she deliberately went around to the home furnishings section where there were relatively few people, and then made a quick turn at several corners, the feeling of being followed did not disappear, but became even clearer.

Someone is following her.

She turned slightly to the side, and with the help of the reflection in the jewelry store's glass, she finally saw the figure following behind her, neither too close nor too far.

It's Zhou Xiaowen.

Zhou Xiaowen?

A silent smile appeared on Lin Anran's lips.

She never expected that it was Zhou Xiaowen who was following her.

OK...

They delivered themselves right to my door...

She pretended not to notice anything and started walking again, but her steps had changed.

No longer just strolling around, but rather as if planning a route, I walked briskly towards the other end of the mall... a secluded corridor with a sign that read "Employees Only, No Customers Allowed".

It leads to the warehouse area and fire escape, and is usually deserted.

She walked up to a heavy fire door.

She looked around to make sure no one was watching, then quickly turned the doorknob, slipped inside, and closed the door slightly before silently hiding in the shadow of the recessed wall behind it.

Through the crack in the door, one could hear Zhou Xiaowen's slightly hurried footsteps approaching from afar, pausing for a moment outside the door as if hesitating.

Then, the doorknob was turned gently, and the door was pushed open a crack.

Zhou Xiaowen cautiously peeked halfway into the dark passageway...

Zhou Xiaowen frowned, seemingly sensing something was wrong, but she couldn't resist the urge to find out what Lin Anran was doing. With a determined effort, she squeezed in sideways.

The instant she stepped completely into the passageway, her back to the door—

"Bang!"

A dull, loud bang exploded behind her!

The heavy fire door was slammed shut with great force!

It shut out all the light and noise from the outside shopping mall!

The passageway instantly fell into near-absolute darkness and deathly silence!

"Ah—!" Zhou Xiaowen was so frightened that she screamed and turned around abruptly.

By the faint light from the emergency lamp shining through the crack in the door, she saw Lin Anran standing by the door, her back against the door she had just slammed shut.

His face was expressionless, but his eyes shone brightly in the dim light.

"Lin...Lin Anran?" Zhou Xiaowen's voice trembled with extreme fear, choked with sobs. Her body recoiled uncontrollably until her back slammed against the cold wall, leaving her nowhere to go...

"What...what do you want? Open the door! Let me out!"

"Get out?" Lin Anran spoke, her voice exceptionally clear and cold in the closed, silent corridor.

"Didn't you follow me in yourself?"

She took two steps forward, her footsteps echoing in the empty corridor. Zhou Xiaowen shrank back in fear.

"I...I meant no harm! I just...saw you and wanted to say hello!"

"Say hello? You've been following me for so long just to say hello?"

"I..." Zhou Xiaowen's throat tightened, her face filled with nervousness, her hands trembling slightly behind her back.

After a moment, she realized she couldn't hide it any longer, so she spoke:

"I...I did run into you by chance, and I followed you...to see if Shen Yu and you were together. I wanted to ask you about Shen Yu..."

"About Shen Yu?" Lin Anran stopped a step away from her, tilting her head slightly...

"What does his business have to do with you?"

"Because I like him! And I believe he feels the same way about me! I don't believe he would just delete me like that! It must be related to you!"

"Like?" Lin Anran repeated the word, as if she had heard something utterly ridiculous, a cold, mocking smile curving her lips.

"You dare say you like him?"

She suddenly stepped forward, getting close to Zhou Xiaowen, their faces almost touching.

"Shen Yu is mine!" Lin Anran said each word clearly, her voice soft, yet it pierced Zhou Xiaowen's ears like nails!

"From the inside out, from head to toe, even the air he breathes should smell like me. Who do you think you are? Do you even know him? And you dare say you like him?"

"You...you're insane!"

Zhou Xiaowen trembled with fear at the terrifying obsession in her eyes, managing to squeeze out broken words from her throat.

"Crazy?" Lin Anran chuckled softly, the laughter not loud in the dark passage.

Her raised hand froze in mid-air, and she didn't look into Zhou Xiaowen's eyes.

Instead, he slowly scanned Zhou Xiaowen's face, stiff with fear, her trembling lips, and her violently heaving chest, as if admiring an object.

"I just wanted to tell you something. Didn't you want to know about Shen Yu?"

Zhou Xiaowen's breath hitched, and she stared wide-eyed at Lin Anran, who was so close yet seemed like a complete stranger.

"Do you know which side he likes to sleep on at night?" Lin Anran tilted her head slightly, her eyes somewhat unfocused, as if lost in some sweet memory.

"It's on the right. His breathing is very light and steady, but if you get close enough... you can hear his heartbeat, thump... thump... thump... It's very clear and very pleasant to hear."

Her fingertips finally landed lightly on Zhou Xiaowen's shoulder, without applying any force, just resting lightly.

"Do you know what the first thing he does when he wakes up in the morning is? He stares blankly at the ceiling for a few minutes, his eyes are empty, he's thinking about something, and he looks... so cute, only I can see it."

Her fingertips slid very slowly down Zhou Xiaowen's shoulder to her collarbone, and then stopped there.

"Did you know that when he's feeling down, he unconsciously rubs the side of his left index finger repeatedly with his right thumb?"

With each word Lin Anran spoke, Zhou Xiaowen grew colder.

These overly private and meticulous details are like cold needles.

It pierced through her hazy, superficial "like" for Shen Yu, which was based on the appearance of being on campus.

In Lin Anran's narrative, Shen Yu is no longer a distant and perfect "class monitor."

Instead, she was someone whom Lin Anran completely possessed and spied upon in a way that Lin Anran could not comprehend...

This terrified Zhou Xiaowen more than any direct threat.

Lin Anran's understanding and possession of Shen Yu had penetrated to the level of her pores and breath.

Zhou Xiaowen's superficial affection paled in comparison to Lin Anran's suffocating "possession."

It seems so ridiculous, so... insignificant...

"Look..." Lin Anran finally refocused her gaze on Zhou Xiaowen's terrified, dilated pupils:

"I like him much more than you do! You don't deserve to like him."

She leaned down slightly, brought her voice close to Zhou Xiaowen's ear, and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"What is your affection? Is it watching from afar? Is it sending a few messages that go unanswered? Is it... like now, secretly following him, like a thief who dares not face the light of day?"

"Cheap, low-grade, boring, pathetic, disgusting!"

As the last word faded, Zhou Xiaowen's psychological defenses completely collapsed.

She collapsed, sitting helplessly on the ground, tears streaming silently down her face.

For the first time, she realized with such clarity that the girl in front of her was from a completely different world.

Just when she was on the verge of a mental breakdown—

"Bang!"

The fire door was opened from the outside!

The blinding light and the faint noise of the mall rushed in instantly!

Both of them were startled and looked towards the doorway. When they saw the person standing there, their eyes widened in surprise.

"Shen...Shen Yu..."