A Meticulous Search

After their brief embrace, Mu Yaochen regained her composure. Luo Yao, meanwhile, retreated directly to his own room within the villa.

A glass of water and a plate of bear-shaped cookies awaited him outside his bedroom door, evidently placed there by one of the villa’s maids.

Luo Yao picked up the plate and glass, surmising that Mu Yaochen had prepared them in advance. Indeed, after escorting him inside, she had merely bid him goodnight before ascending to the second floor.

Instead of rushing to unlock the door, Luo Yao used the moment he retrieved the plate and glass to discreetly check his hair. The room, however, was plunged into darkness, rendering everything within invisible.

No matter, Luo Yao retrieved his phone and activated its flashlight. With barely any maids around, he knew no one would pay heed to his peculiar actions.

Absorbed in his task, Luo Yao naturally failed to scrutinize his immediate surroundings.

****

Thankfully, the strand of hair remained undisturbed, a sign that no one had entered his room.

Retrieving his key, Luo Yao unlocked his bedroom door.

There was still one crucial matter he needed to ascertain.

After setting the plate and glass on the table by the window, Luo Yao first drew the curtains, then proceeded directly to the wardrobe.

That afternoon, time had been too scarce to inspect everything item by item.

Now, however, he would meticulously examine every item in the room: his clothes, the quilt, his pillow, and even the toiletries and toilet in the bathroom.

Furthermore, he wondered if this room might contain any hidden surveillance devices or wiretaps.

This, he realized, would prove rather troublesome.

Luo Yao pulled every garment from the wardrobe. Before doing so, he re-examined the strand of hair he’d clipped to it; it remained perfectly intact, confirming no one had re-entered the room that afternoon.

Luo Yao tried his best to appear as if he were simply choosing an outfit, for he was still unable to discern whether any wiretaps or surveillance devices had been installed within the room.

If such devices were present, his overtly strange behavior would surely tip off his unknown observer. While Luo Yao might never discover the identity of the intruder, he had to ensure that nothing he currently used or wore had been tampered with.

‘He mustn’t perceive the women of this world through the lens of his previous understanding,’ he mused. ‘Instead, he should imagine them as the men he once knew, for this world has truly been inverted.’

‘The world always contained both good and bad people,’ he reasoned, ‘and within those categories, there were good men, despicable men, good women, and despicable women.’

Having endured the trials of two worlds, Luo Yao understood the depraved acts some individuals were capable of once their perversions took hold. The mere thought sent a wave of nausea through him, and he finally comprehended why women in his old world would often recoil with such utter revulsion from lecherous men.

Both in scent and degree of creasing, the clothes appeared exactly as he had left them. Luo Yao meticulously inspected every item, from his outer garments to his underwear. This was the conclusion he reached after repeated, thorough checks.

‘So, that person merely entered my room and stole a strand of my hair?’ he wondered.

Luo Yao carefully returned each piece of clothing to the wardrobe. He knew instinctively that something was amiss, yet he had no idea where to begin his search for answers.

The bathroom.

Each guest room in the villa came equipped with its own private bathroom and shower, making this particular area highly sensitive for Luo Yao. He needed to scrutinize it thoroughly, suspecting it might be a prime location for hidden pinhole cameras and wiretaps.

‘For a pinhole camera to operate continuously,’ he reasoned, ‘it would require a substantial battery, which would be easily detected. Therefore, such devices are typically concealed within televisions or air conditioning units. Both these appliances are often in constant operation, allowing a camera to easily draw power and eliminate the need for a separate power module. Moreover, the porous structure of TV speaker panels and the dark, recessed vents of air conditioners provide ideal hiding spots. Thus, these two household appliances are the preferred choices for concealing pinhole cameras or wiretaps.’

‘However,’ he mused, ‘my room has no television, and the air conditioning is a central system. There’s also no router, another common hiding spot for such minuscule devices.’

Left with no other recourse, he decided to search in the dark.

Luo Yao promptly switched off the room’s lights, then activated his phone’s flashlight, meticulously sweeping its beam across every corner of the room.

After a considerable time, Luo Yao had thoroughly inspected every nook and cranny of the bedroom, yet found nothing. He knew that if a pinhole camera were present, even in darkness, a direct beam of light would typically produce a tell-tale reflection.

The lack of discovery didn’t necessarily mean absence, however. Luo Yao found it hard to believe that the intruder would have left absolutely no trace.

After all, the kind of person who would collect a strand of his hair was, in all likelihood, a complete pervert.

Had he found something, Luo Yao might have felt a measure of reassurance. It was the complete absence of any discovery that truly unsettled him.

The bathroom. He still had the bathroom to check.

Having completed another circuit without finding anything, Luo Yao redirected his full attention to the bathroom.

‘But where in the bathroom could a pinhole camera possibly be hidden?’ he pondered. ‘My bathroom contains almost no electrical appliances. If such devices were installed, they would undoubtedly require backup batteries.’

‘Without batteries, the device would deplete its power within days,’ he reasoned. ‘And if it did contain batteries, such a minuscule item would become noticeably bulkier.’

Luo Yao proceeded with a comprehensive series of checks, only to find the bathroom yielded the same result: nothing.

Absolutely nothing. Aside from the strand of hair, the intruder had left Luo Yao no other clues whatsoever. Had it not been for his distinct memory of the hair he’d left by the bed and pillow, and the tiny trigger mechanisms he’d set by the door, Luo Yao would never have suspected that someone had secretly infiltrated his room.

While the thought was inherently unsettling, Luo Yao found himself surprisingly unafraid. ‘After all,’ he mused, ‘I am a man. What is there to truly fear?’

Flipping on the bedroom light, Luo Yao collapsed onto the bed, phone still clutched in hand. The day’s exertions had left him utterly weary. His hand instinctively reached out, hooking a cookie from the plate on the nearby table.

He had to admit, the cookies were exceptionally delicious.

As Luo Yao savored a bite, a sigh of appreciation escaped him.

He harbored a curious suspicion: Mu Yaochen today seemed, in a subtle yet undeniable way, to be mirroring Frost. More than mere imitation, it felt as though Mu Yaochen sought to usurp Frost’s very role.

For instance, Frost would often take him out; Mu Yaochen had done the same. Frost would buy him his favorite foods; Mu Yaochen had also done so.

Yet, Mu Yaochen’s approach carried a distinct edge of assertiveness, a more forceful quality compared to Frost’s.

‘Could this be interpreted as Mu Yaochen being jealous?’ he pondered.

****