The “Sweet” Air and the Price of Presence

A soft glow filtered through the youth’s thick, long eyelashes, casting a beautiful crescent shadow beneath his eyelids.

When Ji Yanli spoke those words, it felt as if someone had cupped their hands over Chu Ci’s ears; the sound he heard was hazy and blurred.

As the protagonist of the book, Ji Yanli was always the center of attention. From the moment he entered the classroom, the eyes of everyone else had been gathered on him.

The clear pronunciation of the name “Chu Ci” escaped his lips. Once it reached the ears of the others, they finally noticed the youth standing before Ji Yanli.

He looked utterly ordinary—thin, with sharp shoulders protruding through his school uniform and black bangs long enough to veil his eyes, hiding whatever expression lay beneath.

Ji Yanli lowered his gaze. From this angle, he could see the slight tremor in the youth’s eyelashes.

He was the only one who could see it.

Chu Ci didn’t speak. In an act of self-deception, he lowered his head to break eye contact, awkwardly biting his lower lip as his brows knitted together.

He didn’t understand what Ji Yanli was playing at.

Sitting in the sunlight, the youth’s skin appeared translucent and white, though his intertwined fingertips flushed a faint red. His crimson lips tightened and released. Ji Yanli waited for a moment, and when he saw Chu Ci finally give up on biting his lip to look back at him, he raised an eyebrow.

Ji Yanli thought Chu Ci was about to say something meaningful, but instead, he saw those lips quiver, followed by a loud—

‘Is this guy’s brain short-circuiting?’

Ji Yanli felt his temple throb involuntarily.

“I’m busy.” Chu Ci blinked, casually swatting at Ji Yanli’s hand that was resting on the desk, displaying a look of pure disdain.

Xiao Ba jumped out the moment he heard this. Its black, furry body bumped hard against Chu Ci’s cheek as it shouted in a panic: [Host!! How can you say that!]

[This is a total failure! A textbook example of what NOT to do!] Little sparks were practically flying out of Xiao Ba’s white, round eyes.

Chu Ci glanced at the little system out of the corner of his eye, then waved his hand, swatting the noisy Xiao Ba away from his ear.

The system let out a wail before vanishing into thin air.

Finally, some peace.

Ji Yanli was still watching him. Regarding Chu Ci’s answer, he clearly didn’t believe it: “Really busy?”

Chu Ci curled his lip and repeated: “Busy.”

Ji Yanli leaned down, staring straight into Chu Ci’s eyes as if trying to read something within them: “Then what are you doing this weekend?”

His persistence made Chu Ci even more impatient. His brow furrowed tighter, and his gaze toward Ji Yanli cooled.

‘Look, bro, are you looking for trouble on purpose?’

‘Are we even close?’

‘You’re overstepping, you know? You’re overstepping!’

Chu Ci clicked his tongue: “Nothing in particular.”

“Since there’s nothing, why say you’re busy?”

Under Ji Yanli’s aggressive questioning, Chu Ci’s face successfully darkened.

‘Will someone please come and deal with this.’

‘Where did I even offend him?’

He ground his back teeth, about to snap, but at that exact moment, Xiao Ba’s voice rang in his head: [Detected Host’s resistance to continue pursuing the protagonist bottom. To ensure mission completion, Deep Affection BUFF has been automatically activated.]

Chu Ci: “?”

In the next second, Chu Ci felt a bolt of electricity surge through his body. His throat tightened, and the words at the tip of his tongue were forced back down.

“It’s not that…” He spoke in a voice as soft as a mosquito’s buzz. The coldness in his eyes vanished, replaced by a dark pupil filled entirely with Ji Yanli’s reflection.

The youth’s voice was crisp, yet it carried an undeniable, soft tenderness: “It’s because when I’m with you, even the air around us is sweet.”

“I’m afraid… I’ll get addicted to it.”

Every single word of that short sentence drifted clearly into Ji Yanli’s ears.

Ji Yanli pursed his lips, staring intently into the youth’s eyes. Those obsidian-like orbs were dull and vacant, making him look like a puppet being controlled by a string.

A few seconds later, Ji Yanli watched as Chu Ci shook his head. The spirit returned to his eyes, accompanied by his usual passionate inner monologue.

‘Try controlling me one more time and see what happens!!!’

‘God d*mn it, this is like seeing a ghost! The air is sweet?!’

‘Aren’t you afraid of getting diabetes!’

Chu Ci felt as if ants were crawling all over his skin. He couldn’t help scratching his palms, yet he couldn’t suppress the weird, lump-in-the-throat feeling.

He reached up to mess up his hair, hiding his frustrated face in the crook of his arm. The heart beneath his ribs was pounding so violently it felt like it might leap out of his chest.

Then, a light chuckle brushed past his ear. Chu Ci felt someone pat the top of his head, and a cool palm gently covered the back of his hand.

Ji Yanli lowered his gaze, his slender fingers sliding through Chu Ci’s thick hair. The dark strands wound around his knuckles.

“What?” Ji Yanli tried to suppress the amusement in his voice. “Feeling awkward about your own words?”

Chu Ci froze and tried to look up, but his head was held down firmly by Ji Yanli’s hand, rendering him immobile.

Immediately after, Ji Yanli leaned in, his hot breath brushing against the curve of Chu Ci’s ear. He lowered his voice intentionally: “Actually… I’ve suddenly found that you’re quite interesting.”

Chu Ci’s eyes widened. He felt his spine go numb; it was as if every strand of hair was a sensory nerve, making every movement of Ji Yanli’s hand feel magnified a hundredfold.

His ears grew red and hot under Ji Yanli’s gaze, the flush creeping onto his cheeks, impossible to hide no matter how hard he tried.

“If you have nothing to do this weekend, let me tutor you,” Ji Yanli continued. Their hair intertwined at the temples, and every breath from his speech drifted perfectly into Chu Ci’s ear.

Chu Ci couldn’t stop shivering. He bit his lower lip hard until his teeth pierced the skin. The metallic taste of blood slipped into his mouth, the sharp sting pulling back his sanity from the brink.

“I—” Before he could get a word out, Ji Yanli pressed a finger against his lips. The soft fingertip pressed against the small cut Chu Ci had just made, and the blood stained Ji Yanli’s finger.

Ji Yanli didn’t seem to mind. He casually rubbed the corner of Chu Ci’s mouth, smearing the blood onto the fair skin.

“Just consider it helping me out.”

Chu Ci’s head went “buzz.” He was confused as to why Ji Yanli would say that, but the youth before him seemed to sense his thoughts. He stepped to the side, revealing Lin Yu, who was still standing stubbornly at the door.

Lin Yu had witnessed everything.

His hands were clenched so tightly at his sides that the veins on his wrists bulged. His brow was furrowed deep. When Chu Ci accidentally met his gaze, he saw Lin Yu freeze for a moment before looking at him with eyes full of erupting resentment.

Thinking of Lin Yu’s character setting in the original novel, Chu Ci’s scalp went numb. He immediately looked away, not daring to meet Lin Yu’s eyes for another second.

‘So scary, so scary. Looking at him feels like I’m about to be murdered. Is this the power of a “yandere” male lead?!’

‘It’s no wonder Ji Yanli avoids him in the original story after sensing his extreme personality.’

‘This kind of setting is fine in a novel, but in real life, who wouldn’t run away…’

Chu Ci secretly patted his chest to calm his frightened little heart.

After a while, Chu Ci couldn’t help but peek at the door again. Confirming that Lin Yu had left, he let out a long sigh of relief.

Ji Yanli silently shifted to block Chu Ci’s view. He then crouched down, gripping the edge of Chu Ci’s desk with both hands. He tilted his head up, his fox-like eyes wide and round, looking like a puppy trying to show off its presence.

“So… what is Student Chu Ci’s answer?”

Chu Ci finally came back to his senses and looked at him.

Ji Yanli had suddenly run over to ask for “help.” You didn’t need to be a genius to realize it was because he was being pestered by Lin Yu. If Chu Ci actually agreed, a petty person like Lin Yu would probably use him for target practice once he fully blackened.

No, no, absolutely not!

He didn’t want to die in this bizarre world!

Haha, Master Ji, go find a ghost to help you!

Chu Ci took a breath, closed his eyes, and refused coldly: “No need.”

Ji Yanli’s smile collapsed, looking extremely wronged: “Are you really willing to just watch me…”

“—No. Need.” Chu Ci repeated it one word at a time, not wanting to give Ji Yanli another chance.

“Fine.” Ji Yanli stood up and returned to his seat just before the teacher entered, leaving Chu Ci with a lonely-looking back.

As Ji Yanli walked away, the eyes that had gathered on Chu Ci vanished. However, Xiao Ba jumped out excitedly: [Host! Good news! Your presence has successfully upgraded from “Invisible Passerby” to “Unremarkable Background Character”—Wait, ahhh, Host!!]

The moment Xiao Ba appeared, Chu Ci snatched it into his hand. He began squeezing and kneading its round body into irregular shapes.

Chu Ci ground his teeth, squeezing out every word.

“You triggered that ‘Deep Affection BUFF’ just now, didn’t you! ‘The air is sweet’?! If I don’t teach you a lesson today, you won’t know how the sun rises tomorrow!”

Xiao Ba’s eyes turned into wavy lines, and a stuttering, dying-machine voice emerged from its small body: [H-Host, spare me! If Xiao Ba hadn’t helped you just now, the protagonist bottom’s favorability would have k-kept dropping!]

“I don’t care if his favorability rises or falls! If you make me say disgusting things to Ji Yanli again, I’m going on strike! Do you hear me? Strike!”

Xiao Ba screamed: [If you go on strike, you’ll bleed from your seven orifices and die instantly!]

Chu Ci’s temple pulsed. He was about to talk back when a dull thud came from the podium. The math teacher’s voice rang out: “That student over there, since you seem so restless, you must know the answer to this problem.”

Chu Ci froze. His grip on Xiao Ba loosened instinctively. Xiao Ba huffed a sentence, [“This batch of hosts is too hard to lead,” ] before vanishing with a poof.

The math teacher pushed up the glasses sliding down his nose, sharp eyes piercing through the lenses. Following his words, several students around Chu Ci turned to look at him.

The feeling of being noticed was truly unpleasant.

But before this, he used to talk to Xiao Ba in class or even walk out the back door without anyone noticing.

Was his “presence” actually increasing, just like Xiao Ba said?

Chu Ci swallowed.

“Don’t just stand there. Come up and explain the solution to your classmates.” The math teacher spoke coldly, taking a sip from the tea on his podium. “We just covered this formula; it shouldn’t be hard.”

The projector light spilled down, illuminating the teacher’s high forehead. Under the gaze of the crowd, Chu Ci stood up, his eyes wandering over the problem on the board.

It was over. As a corporate s*ave who had graduated years ago, how was he supposed to remember high school math?

Is this the price of slacking off in class!

Perhaps because his expression was too guilty, the math teacher’s brow furrowed with displeasure. He tapped the blackboard with his chalk: “You can’t do it, yet you don’t listen. Let’s see what you score on next month’s exam!”

Chu Ci gave an awkward, thin smile.

The math teacher looked down, flipping through the roll call sheet, seemingly trying to find Chu Ci’s name. He flipped back and forth but couldn’t find it. He took a confused breath.

A moment later, the teacher looked up again and, acting as if he hadn’t even seen Chu Ci standing there, continued teaching with full focus.

Chu Ci finally sat back down.

An NPC’s increase in presence was only temporary. Once the “Protagonist’s attention” was gone, he went back to being a ghost.

Chu Ci lowered his head and picked up his pen, tracing it idly against the rough paper.

Then, Chu Ci felt something hit his head. A small white object arched through the air and landed successfully by his foot.

Chu Ci looked over, paused for a few seconds with a frown, and then hesitantly bent down to pick up the crumpled ball of paper.

His slender fingers unfolded the wrinkled note. Between the black and white lines, a string of digits—a phone number—was revealed.

And below that was another sentence…

[This is my contact information.]