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Bonus chapter! Thank you to Samie for the donation! ^^
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When the lights throughout the entire school suddenly went out, the class had only progressed halfway.
The classroom plunged into darkness.
In the instant the lights dimmed, Qiao Nuo opened his eyes. His eyes were clear, and there was no sign that he had just been asleep.
As Qiao Nuo opened his eyes, a talisman appeared in his hand, and he cautiously observed his surroundings.
The noise of students around and the breath of classmates in the classroom still existed.
It was only around 8 o’clock, so it shouldn’t be a ghost domain.
...It seemed like a simple power outage.
Qiao Nuo looked out the window. Although power outages were rare at the First University, it wasn’t impossible. Normally, there would be advance notice before a power outage.
However, this time, there was no notification.
It was a bit strange.
Ruan Qing, who was sleeping face down, had his line of sight completely blocked by his elbow, so he didn’t wake up because of the sudden darkness.
The noise awakened him.
Ruan Qing had just lifted his head and found the classroom pitch-black. His immediate reaction was that the Ghost King he had stabbed had come for him.
Now Ruan Qing was completely awake.
His whole body immediately trembled and went weak. His mind went blank, and even his lips trembled.
After hearing the breathing of the person next to him, Ruan Qing subconsciously hugged Qiao Nuo’s waist, burying himself in his embrace.
Because his brain wasn’t fully awake after just waking up, combined with the fear and darkness, Ruan Qing hadn’t realized it himself.
By the time he realized, he was already hugging Qiao Nuo in his arms.
For a moment, Ruan Qing was unsure whether to let go or not.
Although it was initially assumed to be a power outage, Qiao Nuo didn’t take it lightly. He remained vigilant, not focusing on the person beside him.
And he had never expected Ruan Qing to suddenly hug him.
So Qiao Nuo hadn’t reacted yet, and there was suddenly someone in his arms.
Qiao Nuo immediately widened his eyes, instinctively raised his hands, and his body froze.
His heartbeat paused, then started racing wildly in the next second.
The talisman in his hand slipped away, falling to the ground without being held.
This time, not only did Qiao Nuo’s ears turn red, but his handsome face also blushed.
The power had been out for a few minutes, and Qiao Nuo had adapted to the darkness, able to vaguely see the young man holding him.
He could also clearly feel the warmth of the young man.
Despite not being hot, it felt as if it could burn like fire.
Moreover, the elusive scent of orchids continued to waft toward him, stirring an inexplicable emotion deep within.
As if something took root deep within, crazily growing and tightly binding his heart.
This overwhelming and unfamiliar emotion couldn’t be restrained, as if it wanted to engulf him.
Qiao Nuo, perplexed, covered his chest. What was this feeling?
His heart pounded incessantly, the sound so loud that it drowned out the other noises in the classroom, leaving only the rhythmic beating.
Qiao Nuo didn’t know what this emotion was, never having experienced it before. But in this moment, he suddenly felt that sexy older sisters, and the like weren’t that impressive.
Finding someone like this young man would be just fine.
Even though the young man cried a lot and seemed useless, at least he was quiet and obedient, making it hard not to feel tenderhearted.
And why did he have to like sexy older sisters, anyway?
Even though he had never been infatuated with anyone before, why did he suddenly feel like he liked sexy older sisters?
Qiao Nuo at this moment was somewhat different from his usual self.
Although his face remained the same, his pupils deepened, inexplicably giving off a sense of intrusion and oppression, no longer reflecting the previous sunny and cheerful demeanor.
However, due to the power outage, the entire classroom was pitch-black, and no one noticed Qiao Nuo’s peculiar behavior.
Qiao Nuo lowered his gaze to the person in his arms, his eyes deepening. Almost absentmindedly, he reached out his hand.
But before Qiao Nuo’s hand could touch Ruan Qing, the next moment, a sharp pain shot through his head, like being pricked by needles, causing an excruciating headache.
Qiao Nuo immediately closed his eyes, his right hand firmly pressed against his forehead, his eyebrows tightly furrowed, and fine sweat appeared on his forehead.
Evidently, the pain was almost unbearable, and even his pupils seemed a bit dilated.
However, despite this, Qiao Nuo made no sound, biting down on his lower lip, forcefully resisting the pain.
After a while, he gradually recovered.
After Qiao Nuo regained his composure, it seemed like he had forgotten what had just happened. He rubbed his temple with his right hand, only to realize halfway that he was being embraced by someone. He almost instinctively kicked the person away.
Fortunately, Qiao Nuo recognized the person before taking any action.
The one hugging him was his crybaby roommate, Xia Qing.
Stiffly, Qiao Nuo looked at the young man in his arms, blushing. He stammered, “W-why are you hugging me?”
Qiao Nuo felt like he had asked a silly question only after he finished asking it. After all, the young man was tightly clinging to him, his slender body trembling slightly, showing extreme unease.
Obviously, he was afraid because he woke up in total darkness.
Qiao Nuo also didn’t know why he allowed Xia Qing to hug him. If it were someone else, he would have kicked them away already.
Perhaps it was because if he kicked Xia Qing away, the crybaby would cry for a long time, and that would surely be quite troublesome.
Qiao Nuo awkwardly covered his mouth with his hand, cleared his throat, and lowered his voice, “It’s just a power outage; why are you so scared?”
“Hurry, let go. What’s with two grown men hugging each other like this?” Qiao Nuo nervously glanced around, as if afraid of being noticed.
Hearing Qiao Nuo’s first half of the sentence, Ruan Qing froze. Just a power outage?
He awkwardly released Qiao Nuo and looked around.
The classroom was filled with people, still somewhat noisy. Many students were discussing the power outage, and some were using their phones as flashlights.
It seemed like it was indeed just a power outage.
Qiao Nuo watched as the young man so readily let him go, and his face immediately darkened. He felt somewhat displeased for some reason.
Even though he was the one who said “let go,” what’s with this attitude of discarding him after use?
At least, a simple “thank you” would have been appropriate!
Ruan Qing sat by the window, and as he looked around the classroom, he suddenly saw a dark figure flashing outside the window in the darkness. It startled him, and for a moment, he almost embraced Qiao Nuo again.
Fortunately, in the next second, Ruan Qing saw what it was.
It was a cat.
The cat seemed to notice Ruan Qing looking at it, and it looked back at Ruan Qing. After a moment’s pause, it jumped directly onto the windowsill next to Ruan Qing.
Because Ruan Qing felt unsafe with the window open, he closed it before lying down to sleep.
After jumping onto the windowsill, the cat vigorously scratched at the window, even starting from the edge.
Perhaps due to the cat’s small strength and the window being somewhat stuck, despite its efforts, the cat couldn’t open the window.
Realizing it couldn’t succeed on its own, the cat softly called out to Ruan Qing while rubbing against the glass window, adopting a coquettish demeanor.
Qiao Nuo also noticed and furrowed his brow, “Where did this stray cat come from?”
In the First University, there were many stray cats. Many students, upon seeing stray cats, would feed them. As a result, most of the stray cats on campus were somewhat friendly, meowing and acting affectionately when they saw people.
However, because the students who came to the teaching building were mostly attending classes and didn’t usually have food with them, the stray cats were clever enough to explore around the supermarket and cafeteria areas. There were rarely stray cats that ventured to this side.
Seeing the cat’s desire to come inside, Ruan Qing reached out and opened the window.
As soon as the window opened, the cat leaped up, seemingly wanting to jump into Ruan Qing’s arms.
However, the cat stopped halfway through its jump in mid-air because Qiao Nuo grabbed it.
Qiao Nuo lifted the cat by its nape and shook it from side to side. The shaking made the cat emit a pitiful cry, and it bared its claws and teeth towards Qiao Nuo.
As if wanting to take a bite and kill Qiao Nuo.
However, it was too weak, unable to break free from Qiao Nuo’s restraint.
Seeing the cat behaving aggressively and attempting to bite, Qiao Nuo, without hesitation, was about to throw the cat out of the window.
Fortunately, Ruan Qing promptly grabbed Qiao Nuo’s hand, stopping him.
Qiao Nuo froze when Ruan Qing held his hand. He lowered his head to look at his hand being held. It wasn’t until the young man released his fingers, taking the cat away, that Qiao Nuo reacted.
“Wait, this cat is quite aggressive...”
Qiao Nuo didn’t finish his sentence and silently swallowed the latter part.
Initially, he was worried that the cat might harm someone, but to his surprise, the cat became extremely docile in the hands of the young man, gently rubbing against his slender fingers.
Completely devoid of its previous fierceness.
Ruan Qing gently touched the cat’s head and smoothed its fur.
The cat was clean, not resembling a stray cat.
In reality, the university prohibited students from keeping cats or dogs in the dorms, but many students still did it secretly.
This cat seemed to be owned by a student.
Due to a power outage, classes were obviously canceled, and many students had already left the classroom.
Just as Qiao Nuo and Ruan Qing were about to leave, the lights in the classroom suddenly came on.
The entire university’s lights also lit up.
Power was restored.
Ruan Qing then saw clearly that the cat in his arms was a black cat, entirely black to the point that one couldn’t even find its eyes if they weren’t looking carefuly.
The breed was also unclear.
Qiao Nuo, looking at the cat obediently staying in Ruan Qing’s arms, seemed displeased and commented, “This cat is too ugly.”
As if understanding, the black cat immediately bared its teeth at Qiao Nuo.
Seeing this, Ruan Qing comforted the cat, “It’s actually not that bad, take a closer look, it’s quite cute.”
“Oh,” Qiao Nuo glanced at the black cat, “Maybe you’ve cried too much and your eyes turned blind.”
Ruan Qing pretended not to hear Qiao Nuo’s words and gently placed the cat back on the windowsill, trying to get it to leave.
But it didn’t move.
Just as Ruan Qing was about to push it again, the classroom lights went out once more.
The cat on the windowsill instantly stood on end, staring fixedly at the front of the classroom, as if there was something there.
Ruan Qing, noticing this, instinctively looked in the same direction but saw nothing.
Pitch black.
Apart from him and Qiao Nuo, there was no one else in the classroom.
Just a moment ago, there were still many people who hadn’t left, and they wouldn’t have left so quickly.
Moreover, after the classroom fell into darkness again, the air temperature dropped by a few degrees.
Ruan Qing’s eyelashes trembled, his hands shook slightly, and even his voice had a hint of tremor. “Is it another power outage this time?”
Qiao Nuo didn’t answer but quickly grabbed Ruan Qing, holding him and jumping out of the window.
Clearly, it wasn’t another power outage this time.
the cat is definitely not normal. also qiao nuo's internal dialogue is literally everything
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