The Peculiar Pendant and a Hidden Camera

Lin Yi remained wary, prompting Chen Sishi to stomp her foot in exasperation, the usual sparkle in her eyes dimming. With a sigh of resignation, Lin Yi leaned closer.

The next moment, a thin string was tied around Lin Yi’s neck. He looked utterly bewildered, his gaze fixed on the jade pendant that now hung naturally, leaving him speechless.

“Lin Yi, don’t move, alright? Just a few minutes.”

“Ah? Okay…”

And so, Lin Yi remained rigidly still, frozen in that peculiar posture. Passersby cast curious, even strange, glances his way, making his face burn with embarrassment.

“Brother Lin, are you unlocking a new pose?”

Li Yan, who had been silent until now, simply couldn’t hold back his amusement. Lin Yi’s current pose, with his rear end sticking out, left Li Yan utterly dumbfounded.

A mind prone to less-than-innocent thoughts, he naturally conjured up some rather inappropriate images.

Both Lin Yi and Chen Sishi’s gazes snapped towards Li Yan, forming a rare, unified front against him.

Under their combined stare, Li Yan felt a flicker of panic. His Adam’s apple bobbed involuntarily, as if he were prey caught in the sights of two predators.

“Carry on, both of you. Just pretend I was talking nonsense.”

He quickly clapped a hand over his mouth, signaling he wouldn’t utter another word, before they finally turned their heads away.

“There! Now I have a jade pendant that Lin Yi has worn.”

Chen Sishi excitedly unfastened the jade pendant from Lin Yi’s neck. A radiant smile of contentment bloomed on her face, seemingly capable of dispelling all the world’s gloom.

Reluctantly, he sank back into his chair, utterly convinced by Chen Sishi’s peculiar logic.

****

Back in the school building, Lin Yi yearned to return to his seat for another nap. However, as he reached the classroom door, he discovered his spot was already occupied.

The girl’s white school uniform shimmered, reflecting the midday sun. Her brown hair was tied into a neat ponytail, with a stray strand dancing gently across her forehead in the cool breeze.

Her slightly aloof expression was etched with profound concentration. A black pen was gripped firmly between her slender fingers, poised over a sheet of paper already filled with meticulous writing.

Having just finished her report, Qin Ruoxue looked up and met the gaze of the young man standing at the doorway.

“Lin Yi, how are you feeling? Is your body alright?”

“I’m fine, I don’t feel any issues.”

Lin Yi stretched, finding his physical condition was as good as ever—even far superior to his previous body, in ways he couldn’t quite pinpoint.

Still, Qin Ruoxue remained worried. She gently but firmly pushed Lin Yi back into his seat, then took his wrist in her hand.

After a moment, she nodded.

“Mhm, there’s indeed no problem. Just remember to drink more water when you get back.”

Though somewhat perplexed, Lin Yi nonetheless nodded obediently.

Qin Ruoxue had barely taken two steps when she suddenly recalled something, prompting her to turn back and look at Lin Yi.

“Lin Yi, you’re attending a gathering this weekend, aren’t you?”

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

Lin Yiting had informed him about it that very morning, but Lin Yi hadn’t mentioned it to anyone else. How could Qin Ruoxue possibly know?

“Lin Yi, you must protect yourself. I’ll be there this weekend too.”

With that, Qin Ruoxue picked up the paper she had been writing on and exited the classroom without another word.

Lin Yi rubbed his throbbing head, his brain already overwhelmed. It truly felt like one crisis hadn’t ended before another began.

It seemed this weekend was destined to be another eventful day.

****

When school dismissal time arrived that afternoon, the campus gates remained closed. Impatient students, Lin Yi among them, rushed to wait by the entrance.

It wasn’t that Lin Yi was eager to go home; he simply wanted to use the cover of the crowd to escape Chen Sishi’s watchful gaze.

Scanning the crowd, he found no black-clad bodyguards outside the school gates. Lin Yi let out a sigh of relief, just as he was about to make his escape, Chen Sishi’s voice echoed like a nightmare once more.

“Why are you running so fast? I really just saw a little orange cat in the woods.”

The silver-haired girl quickly ran up to Lin Yi, puffing out her cheeks. The “big orange cat” she spoke of had been lounging in the school woods earlier.

She had wanted to drag Lin Yi to catch that chubby feline, but he had vanished without a trace.

“Sishi, my sister is home today. If I go back late, she might hit me.”

Lin Yi’s voice was laced with helplessness. The excuse was a half-truth, yet perfectly reasonable.

Chen Sishi, however, was clearly unconvinced. She continued to cling to Lin Yi, chattering as they walked.

“Seriously, seriously, just come take a look! That orange cat is as fat as a pig.”

At her words, the corner of Lin Yi’s mouth twitched. He suddenly remembered when he first encountered his family’s tabby cat, a very plump orange cat had been bullying it.

More and more students gathered at the school gate, and at last, the iron doors slowly creaked open. The crowd instantly erupted, surging towards the exit like a tide.

Lin Yi struggled to squeeze his way out of the throng, then bolted directly towards his rental apartment, leaving Chen Sishi standing alone in the crowd, utterly bewildered.

****

Pushing open the door to his rental apartment, he saw a person and a cat squatting in front of the sofa, all four eyes fixed intently on the gap beneath it.

Lin Yi watched, utterly confused, wondering what on earth they were doing.

Hearing the door open, Lin Yiting waved him over.

“Xiao Ling, come quickly! I found something.”

“What is it?”

Still puzzled, Lin Yi saw a clenched fist extended towards him. His first instinct, believing Lin Yiting was about to strike him, was to instinctively step back.

“I’m not going to hit you! Look what I found.”

As she spoke, her palm opened, revealing a miniature camera. It immediately caught Lin Yi’s eye.

Lin Yi’s eyes widened in shock. A miniature camera in their home? He didn’t need to guess who was behind it. In the original story, only Chen Sishi would have such a device.

But he hadn’t brought Chen Sishi home. How could she have installed a miniature camera remotely?

“Sister, how did you find this thing?”

“Oh, it wasn’t me. *It* found it.”

Following the direction of Lin Yiting’s finger, Lin Yi saw a tabby cat sprawled on the sofa, looking utterly listless, like a salted fish.

As both their gazes turned to it, the cat deliberately flicked its tail, then proudly turned its head.

It seemed to be saying, ‘Are you even capable? Someone’s been sneaking into our home for weeks, and you still haven’t noticed?’

Lin Yi was convinced he must be losing his mind, to perceive such blatant sarcasm from a mere cat. Could he possibly tolerate this? Absolutely not!

Angrily, he scooped the tabby cat into his arms, then sat on the sofa, furiously ruffling its soft fur.

The tabby cat lay limply in Lin Yi’s embrace, as if life had lost all meaning, occasionally flapping its slender tail against his thigh to express its displeasure.

Watching the two troublemakers create a ruckus at home, some of the gloom in Lin Yiting’s heart dissipated. With one hand, she fiddled with the miniature camera, while with the other, she opened her phone to search for information.

She wanted to figure out how to turn the device off. Ideally, she hoped to use it for reverse-tracking, but after a long search, Lin Yiting couldn’t find a single useful piece of information.

The suggestions she found were either completely irrelevant or filled with useless jargon. Moreover, there wasn’t even a visible switch on the device, leaving Lin Yiting at a loss for what to do.

Turning the lens downwards, she saw the somewhat chaotic internal structure. Lin Yiting, unfamiliar with such mechanisms, felt a bit dizzy just looking at it.

However, she had a friend who specialized in these kinds of devices.

She quickly snapped a photo with her phone and sent it over. A message from her friend arrived almost immediately.