Chapter 55: Bastard, I’m Screwed

  In the end, Joyce didn’t go to Qingyuan Hotel to pick a fight with Zhang Yang. The reason was simple. Although she didn’t attend the final press conference, those omnipresent media outlets were terrifyingly efficient—within less than an hour, they had dug up her entire life story, from birth to her current status as a pharmacological targeted drug master’s student at the Medical School.

  Then she blew up overnight. The title of future Huaxia’s and the world’s youngest and most beautiful Nobel Prize winner in Medicine was securely pinned on her head. Her Weibo exploded instantly—within two hours of the news broadcast, over two million people were following her. Childhood photos, grown-up photos—everything was found and plastered online.

  Then came the overwhelming flood of online sleuths. Although many websites consciously tried to block details about Joyce’s background, the sheer power of netizens was unstoppable. In less than three hours, the background of the great beauty Joyce was exposed, and everyone online was stunned.

  It turned out this top-tier beauty who had kept a low profile actually had such a terrifying background. As a direct descendant of one of Huaxia’s powerful aristocratic families, she had chosen to study pharmacology at a university that wasn’t even considered top-tier. It made no sense at all.

  Then came a storm of comments—both good and bad. Some claimed she rose through family privilege, while others believed she was a one-of-a-kind genius. The internet split into two camps. But when Meining University students joined the fray and revealed that Princess Qiao was still a single goddess, her positive support rate skyrocketed to 99%. Anyone who dared speak ill of her was instantly doxxed and verbally crucified.

  And then—and then Princess Qiao had already turned off her phone, computer, and TV. She was wondering whether she should move to a new house tomorrow.

  After Zhang Yang finished fooling around with Xu Danlu, he casually went online, and when he saw the endless flood of news, his legs immediately trembled as he woke Xu Danlu up.

  “Th-this... this place isn’t safe anymore. We have to move out tonight.” Zhang Yang said seriously as he rummaged through the luggage.

  “Why?” Xu Danlu rubbed her still half-closed sleepy eyes, stretched lazily, and then, like a cat, wrapped her arms around Zhang Yang’s waist, resting her chin against his chest. Inside her loose beige nightdress, her perky, snow-white peaks were fully visible to Zhang Yang’s eyes without a hint of cover.

  “Because someone might come to kill us.” He hadn’t told Xu Danlu about being detained at the Qianshui Police Station, but this time was different. Beauty Qiao definitely wouldn’t let him go. Damn it, if he’d known she came from such a terrifying family, he would never have let her make that announcement at the seminar.

  Of course, his reasoning was solid—his English was simply too awful to handle the stage. That grand anti-cancer declaration had been left to Sister Qiao instead.

  But who could’ve known that girl had such a powerful background? He’d originally thought her fancy car just meant her family was rich—but after the online sleuthing, he was scared shitless.

  One of the top twenty aristocratic families in Huaxia! Even if she was just the daughter of the third heir, she was definitely a princess-level figure. She’d been hiding quietly at Meining University, living a laid-back life, and now—thanks to the Super Anti-Cancer Cell—she’d been catapulted into the heavens.

  And judging from the online chaos, Meining University would be flooded with fans tomorrow unless strict access control was enforced.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Wow, Sister Qiao is that amazing?” Xu Danlu skimmed through the news and commented casually, then looked at Zhang Yang with confusion. “But what does Sister Qiao’s fame have to do with you?”

  “What does… it have to do with me?” Zhang Yang repeated hesitantly, nodding. “Yeah… good question. What does it have to do with me, huh.”

  Could he tell her that the Super Anti-Cancer Cell and its suppressor gene theory that Qiao had presented had all come from him?

  That he’d told her all that, then immediately slipped back to the hotel to play strip-and-bite games with Xu Danlu?

  Knowing Sister Qiao’s temper, she was definitely furious by now—probably revving up her flashy R8, leading a squad of burly bodyguards to drag him out of bed and announce to the world that *this bastard* was the real creator of the Super Anti-Cancer Cell.

  But fine, Zhang Yang checked the time—it was already past 2 a.m. and she still hadn’t shown up. That didn’t seem right. Could she be trapped at school by her fans?

  Zhang Yang started to worry about her.

  “Zhang Yang, what’s wrong? You look so tense.” Seeing the change in his expression, Xu Danlu looked a little downhearted. “If you’re worried about Sister Qiao, you should go check on her.”

  The look in her eyes didn’t escape Zhang Yang. He quickly rubbed her sleepy little face and said, “Well, you see, Qiao Xier’s a pretty low-key person. With all this fame blowing up, part of it’s my fault. I’m just worried that if she loses it, I’ll get dragged down with her—and that’d be bad for you too.”

  “But it’s already this late. She’s probably asleep…” Zhang Yang glanced down at the two soft, round, snowy mounds visible through her collar, feeling a bit tempted again. Too bad her damn period hadn’t ended yet.

  Xu Danlu rolled her eyes, patted her lips, and yawned. “Let’s just sleep. We still have class tomorrow.”

  “Alright.” Zhang Yang nodded. Still, late that night, he secretly called Beauty Qiao—but her phone was off. After a moment’s thought, he fell asleep again, dreaming that just as he was about to strip Xu Danlu and start the battle, Beauty Qiao appeared behind him with a shovel and smacked him hard on the ass.

  Early the next morning, Zhang Yang went to the Molecular Cell Research Lab at the Medical School but didn’t find Sister Qiao. Professor Shangguan and the others were meeting with Dr. Hill and Academician Hao. When they saw Zhang Yang, they tried to pull him into another seminar, but he slipped away. They did mention, however, that Joyce had called in sick that morning.

  Hearing that, Zhang Yang felt slightly relieved. But when he tried calling Joyce again, her phone was still off. Now he was really worried. He skipped his English class, grabbed a taxi, and headed to Haijing Huating to check if all her body parts were still intact.

  But before he even reached the gate, he saw what ‘a sea of people’ really meant. Reporters and TV crews crowded the entrance, their necks stretched, waiting for Beauty Qiao to appear. Inside, several tough-looking men dressed like ninjas, probably sent by the Qiao family, stood guard with fierce eyes.

  Poor girl! Seeing she was safe, Zhang Yang smacked his lips, shook his head, and prepared to head back to school like a good student.

  But before he could hail a taxi, his phone rang—it was Beauty Qiao’s voice, though from a different number.

  “You bastard, I see you.” Her voice was full of fury, and even through the phone, he could feel the force of it.

  Instinctively, Zhang Yang looked up at her apartment floor—and sure enough, there she was, pitifully leaning against the glass of the balcony window, waving at him stealthily.

  “You see how miserable I am now?” Her tone was still calm, not yet hysterical. “You’ve got ten minutes. Think of a way to get me out of here. Otherwise, you’re dead this time.”

  She hung up before he could say anything.

  Zhang Yang stood frozen for a while. This was tough. There were at least a hundred people blocking the gate. Even if he took them all down one by one, it’d take forever.

  But pulling a disappearing act was still easy. Zhang Yang thought for a moment, walked calmly into the crowd of reporters, and suddenly shouted, “Joyce ran out the back gate!”

  In an instant, the whole place went silent.

  But instead of chaos as he expected, everyone looked at him skeptically, then burst into motion—rushing straight toward the back gate, leaving the front empty.

  Not a single person moved. A bearded photographer gave Zhang Yang a weird look, scanning him up and down like a strange animal, then patted him on the shoulder sympathetically. “Bro, didn’t you hear? That trick was used yesterday. Everyone knows this place doesn’t even have a back gate.”

  “Uh…” Zhang Yang could clearly see Joyce laughing hysterically upstairs.

  Slipping away from the crowd, he ducked around a corner. Judging by the situation, calling a helicopter seemed like the only option. Just as he was about to call Joyce to surrender, a white BMW X6 slowly appeared nearby. In a neighborhood like this, a million-yuan car was nothing unusual.

  But when Zhang Yang looked closer, he recognized the driver—a familiar face. Of course, she didn’t know him.

  Even though she wore sunglasses covering half her face and had no assistant with her, Zhang Yang knew her instantly. She was none other than Lin Yin, the top beauty of Meining University’s Music Department and one of the most popular pop idols in the country—Goddess Lin herself.

  Goddess Lin was as stunning as ever. Even sitting in her car, her beauty radiated with such impact that no windshield could contain it.

  “Beauty Qiao’s saved!”

  As the BMW X6 turned toward the gate, a wild idea flashed through Zhang Yang’s mind. He charged forward, shouting at the top of his lungs, louder than a hundred decibels:

  “Lin Yin! The pop diva! Goddess Lin Yin! In the white BMW!”

  That was a massive bombshell. Between the pop diva and the beauty scientist, who had more news value? Even a fool could tell. And Goddess Lin sneaking alone into a luxurious, quiet neighborhood? Definitely juicy news.