Why Are the Psychos Obsessed with a Mere NPC?
Chapter 2: Psychologically Twisted

Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Psychologically Twisted

Jian Yu followed her memory back to her dorm room.

It was a two-person dorm, very spacious, with a dividing line drawn right down the middle.

As luck would have it, she was sharing a room with Xu Jianjuan.

However, after her speech at the freshman assembly, Xu Jianjuan had moved out of the dorm and into her lab.

The school gave every student their own private lab, which not only allowed them to conduct experiments in peace but also to avoid certain ’aristocratic games’.

’What a Mary Sue-ish background setting.’

Jian Yu let her mind go blank for a moment, then took a shower, got into bed, and quietly began to pore over her books.

The system was just too considerate. To make it easier for her to "eat melon," it had not only made her the female lead’s roommate but had even given them the same status for entering the school.

According to the plot, students with poor grades couldn’t participate in the activities of the upper-class circle.

As a special admission student who got in on her academic merit, she wondered if she’d be bullied if her grades were at the bottom.

There was a quiz in three months. Jian Yu thought about it and decided she should probably do some last-minute cramming.

"DING! Verification successful."

The dorm room door suddenly opened.

It was the female lead.

The other girl ignored the dividing line, stopped by her bed, and gave her a sweet, friendly smile.

Jian Yu froze. She subconsciously bared her teeth, returning the gesture with a polite but forced smile.

Snapping back to reality, she immediately lowered her head.

She grumbled internally, ’I’m just a background character. You can’t see me, you can’t see me.’

Xu Jianjuan pretended not to notice her deliberate avoidance and took the initiative to greet her. "Jian Yu, is it?"

’Jian Yu,’ she thought. ’Like "picking up fish."’

It was the name Jian Yu had chosen for herself after leaving the orphanage.

She dreamed of one day living by the sea, picking up fish to eat every day.

’Did Xu Jianjuan get the meaning of my name, too?’

She smiled and said, "Your name is very interesting. I don’t think I’ll forget it."

"Mm," Jian Yu replied with a cool nod, not wanting to say another word.

She was ’well-read’ and knew that when cannon fodder characters met the female lead and tried to get on her good side, there were only two possible outcomes.

First, they’d suffer beatings and abuse alongside the female lead, only to be left out when it was time to enjoy the rewards.

Second, due to some strange plot deviation, they’d be used by the crazy male leads to threaten the female lead.

"Jian Yu, I can’t get into my lab, and I don’t have a blanket. Can I crash with you for one night?"

’Xu Jianjuan is actually asking me for help!’

It was true that special admission students had more restrictions than others when it came to accessing their labs, such as not being allowed in after ten p.m.

But Jian Yu frowned. This hadn’t happened in the plot.

’Something’s fishy.’

"No. You’ll disturb my studies."

Xu Jianjuan had never expected to be rejected. In her past life, when those people were around...

She cut off the memory, not wanting to dwell on it.

"Actually, you could..." Her well-rehearsed words trailed off as she looked at Jian Yu’s face.

Xu Jianjuan’s gaze went vacant.

Jian Yu tilted her head, a hint of confusion appearing on her delicate face.

"If there’s nothing else, I’m going back to my book."

Her expression was cold and taut, but on her soft, pale face, it created a sort of cute contrast.

Her pale pink lips parted and closed, and the breath she exhaled seemed to carry a fragrance, inexplicably bewitching.

Xu Jianjuan found herself staring at the plump center of Jian Yu’s upper lip, lost in thought.

’Without her glasses and makeup, is she really this beautiful?’

For the first time, she was truly seeing her roommate.

On the list of the top ten school beauties, Xu Jianjuan was ranked seventh.

But Jian Yu, who wasn’t even on the list, was every bit as beautiful.

"We’re both special admission students. I thought you would understand my predicament." Xu Jianjuan said after snapping out of her daze, her smile now filled with an overwhelming bitterness.

If she had been just a tad more subtle, Jian Yu might not have seen through her act.

She picked up the large, black-framed glasses from her desk and put them on.

As she sealed away her good looks, she also locked away the human emotions that shouldn’t have surfaced.

Jian Yu’s tone was earnest, her face serious. "Are you trying to drag me down with you?"

’She knows she’s being ostracized by the whole school, yet she’s deliberately trying to get close to me?’

"Of course not, I would never think of doing that," Xu Jianjuan replied with a sincere gaze, her tone urgent.

’I hate my own ridiculously beautiful face. It’s because of this face that those seven psychos targeted me in my past life.’

’But I also know how to use this innocent face to my advantage.’

"I really do want to be friends with you. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone."

Xu Jianjuan leaned forward, her expression pleading.

"I don’t want you to get hurt either, so tomorrow at six—no, five. I’ll leave quietly at five."

Jian Yu had a thing for pretty faces, and she was indeed mesmerized by Xu Jianjuan, if only for three seconds.

She didn’t want to get into trouble.

Given the nature of this school, as soon as she was labeled ’Xu Jianjuan’s good friend’, a life of misery wouldn’t be far behind.

Suddenly remembering something, she pointed to Xu Jianjuan’s locker. "This is your dorm room too; I don’t have the right to kick you out. Besides, there’s a fresh set of bedding over there. The school has people who change it once a week."

"Oh, thank you." Xu Jianjuan pursed her lips in embarrassment.

Before she was reborn, she either lived in the lab or took turns staying at those guys’ villas. How would she know about these things?

If she hadn’t needed someone to divert the attention from that post on the school forum, she wouldn’t have even come back to the dorm today.

Once again, the image of Jian Yu’s retreating back as she callously left her for dead flashed through her mind.

It wasn’t that Xu Jianjuan couldn’t accept others seeing her in such a pathetic state, but that person shouldn’t have been her roommate.

She was just making excuses for herself; when she was first reborn, she hadn’t even remembered that the girl was her roommate.

"You saw what happened today, didn’t you?"

’Just a special admission student, on what grounds...?’

Xu Jianjuan’s heart pounded. She was horrified by her own subtly twisted thoughts and how her values had been warped by those people.

Panicked, she hurried away.

Jian Yu didn’t respond to Xu Jianjuan’s attempt at conversation, nor did she notice her leave.

Her attention was completely absorbed by the knowledge in the book.

By the time she looked up, Xu Jianjuan had already made her bed.

Jian Yu breathed a sigh of relief and went back to her book.

Her photographic memory allowed her to quickly familiarize herself with the textbook.

The profound knowledge fascinated her, so much so that she once again missed the complicated look Xu Jianjuan shot her way.

When she closed the book, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

Jian Yu heard Xu Jianjuan washing up and raised a hand to rub her eyes.

A two-person dorm for special admission students, but it was the only room on this floor.

There would be no one lining up with stainless steel lunch boxes waiting for the cafeteria to open for breakfast, nor would there be the clamor of others waking up in the hallway.

Jian Yu was very satisfied.

She had dropped out of high school for two reasons besides having no money: school life was miserable—noisy and stressful—and the curriculum was too simple for her to have any interest in learning.

She worked her fingers to the bone to earn tuition, only for the teachers to teach things she could understand just by reading a book.

She felt it wasn’t worth it; she would have been better off buying a couple of extra fish for dinner.

"Professor Lin’s first class is at eight," Xu Jianjuan reminded her.

Aside from the F7, no one dared to be late or absent for Professor Lin’s class.

Anyone late without a valid reason would be mercilessly issued a Yellow Card warning by the student council president, Sheng Yue—F2 in the book.

Once you accumulated two Yellow Cards, it would be upgraded to a red card, and regardless of whether you were an aristocrat or not, you would go from being a Hunter to the prey of the entire school.

"Thanks." Jian Yu snapped out of her daze, offered her thanks, and quickly climbed out of bed to wash up.

’It was fun to read about in the novel, but now that it was happening to her, why was it so terrifying?’

Xu Jianjuan watched Jian Yu with a conflicted expression, sensing the lifeless aura she exuded after staying up all night.

This kind of person, at a glance, wasn’t the type those aristocrats would enjoy targeting. There was no fun in bullying her.

Xu Jianjuan’s hesitant gaze turned resolute.

She had thought about it all night but had come up with no answer.

But she had to admit that she had been ’assimilated’.

If anyone was to blame, it was Jian Yu for having such a beautiful face and for happening to be her roommate.

There weren’t many classmates Xu Jianjuan could interact with; at least, for now, no one would approach her without malicious intent.

The only person she could target was Jian Yu, even if she was unwilling to cooperate.

It would only be for two weeks. In her past life, she herself had suffered for more than just two weeks.

If she could bear it, then Jian Yu certainly could too.

Later, as long as she went to the classroom with her, she had a way to make that person’s gaze fall on Jian Yu.

She remembered very clearly that while ’those few’ might not show up for Professor Lin’s class, Sheng Yue never missed it.