That night, An Han sat alone on a stone bench beneath a broken streetlamp at the edge of the campus sports field.
Surrounded by dim shadows, he leaned his chin on his hands, watching distant figures—students jogging for exercise, or couples strolling hand in hand under the faint glow of other lamps.
If he could choose, he'd rather never have gotten this system at all.
Su Peng finding out about his cross-dressing wasn't the worst—Su Peng was decent enough. But Wu Dongming? That was a whole different problem.
He let out a lifeless sigh.
Wu Dongming and Long Ge barely interacted on a normal day—so why had they suddenly started chatting today?
"I should've just told Long Ge the truth from the start."
If he'd confessed that night that he was the one in women's clothes, the worst that would've happened was social death—and honestly, for the sake of completing a system task, that might've been acceptable.
In fact, he'd seriously considered coming clean multiple times back then.
But now…
Long Xing had fallen for his cross-dressed persona.
He'd thought it was just a passing fancy, but now it seemed Long Xing was genuinely smitten.
An Han sighed again, utterly drained. "If I get exposed now, it won't just be social suicide…"
This was Long Xing's first love.
Sure, he looked like a streetwise tough guy—but deep down, he was still an innocent boy who'd blush just talking to a girl.
If the truth came out, who knew? Long Xing might fly into a rage and beat him to a pulp.
An Han glanced down at his own slender arms and legs. Clearly, he stood no chance against Long Xing in a fight.
And how tragic would it be—to have your first love turn out to be… a guy?
An Han suddenly found the irony hilarious and chuckled to himself—only to immediately grimace again.
The problem was, he was the one being "loved." If it'd been someone else, he'd absolutely be piling on the mockery.
"An Han."
A sudden voice cut through his thoughts. He turned to see Wu Dongming jogging toward him. "Couldn't you pick a better spot? I've been searching forever."
"Sit."
He scooted over slightly, making room on the bench.
Out of nowhere, a system interface popped up before his eyes.
[Option 1: Ask Wu Dongming for a solution and follow through. Reward: Random Advanced Skill
Option 2: Kick him and tell him to scram. Reward: Basic Makeup
Option 3: Change the subject. Reward: Random Attribute Point]
An Han blinked, confused.
Could something this trivial really trigger a system task?
Option 2 was absolutely off the table—kicking Wu Dongming would just make him run straight to Long Xing with the truth.
Option 3 seemed pointless. But Option 1? The reward sounded promising—and it aligned perfectly with his original intention.
An "Advanced Skill"—he had no idea how advanced, but given past rewards like lottery numbers or houses, this had to be something substantial. Maybe even "National Level 8 Craftsman" tier?
Whereas previous rewards promised instant wealth, this one offered lifelong security—no matter how hard times got, he'd always have a trade to fall back on.
"What's so urgent you had to drag me out here?" Wu Dongming plopped down beside him. "Is it about your cross-dressing?"
An Han groaned, burying his face in his hands in despair. "What should I even do now?!"
[Option 1 selected. Please complete the task promptly.]
"So you really did come back in women's clothes?" Wu Dongming crossed his legs, grinning smugly. "What's wrong with your brain?"
It's the system's fault! It dangled rewards in front of me when there were better options!
"I just don't want them to know I wore women's clothes—so what?" An Han shot back stubbornly. "And if you hadn't run off with my clothes, would any of this have happened?!"
"If you hadn't tried to trick me into wearing a dress first, would I have done that?" Wu Dongming countered. "If I didn't need your help next week, your little secret would've been all over class by now."
"Alright, alright—we're bros, no need for formalities." An Han clapped him on the shoulder. "So, got any good ideas?"
"Confessing outright is out—too risky. You'd get punched," Wu Dongming said with a sly, mysterious smile. "Come closer—don't want anyone overhearing."
An Han leaned in. "Huh?"
"Then just make that girl actually exist."
"???"
An Han froze.
"You wear the dress again, 'accidentally' run into Long Xing once more, and clearly tell him you're not interested. Problem solved."
"This…"
"Chen Junjie's got connections everywhere. Once he confirms there's no such girl on campus, it'll be obvious it was you in drag—and they already suspect you anyway," Wu Dongming egged him on.
[Task Updated: Cross-dress and meet Long Xing again]
This plan was absolutely insane!
"I'll be exposed the second I open my mouth!" An Han protested gently.
"Learn falsetto, then."
An Han's hair practically stood on end. "I can't!"
"Then forget it," Wu Dongming shrugged. "But honestly, this is the best solution. And you'll probably have to cross-dress again next week anyway—consider this practice."
"I have to cross-dress again next week?!" An Han stared in disbelief. "Why?!"
"Well," Wu Dongming grinned darkly, "since you made my parents think I'm gay, you've gotta help fix it, right? If I just explain it, they'll think I'm making excuses. But if you show up as my girlfriend in a dress—how can they keep believing I'm gay?"
"…" An Han's eye twitched. "That's way too far-fetched."
"Why hold back when I'm scheming against you?" Wu Dongming laughed even harder.
An Han could already picture it: deliberately "slipping up" in front of Wu Dongming's parents, ensuring Wu would never escape their mistaken assumptions about his sexuality—unless, of course, the shorty actually found a real girlfriend someday.
But An Han seriously doubted that. After all, he was objectively better-looking than Wu Dongming—and yet, not a single girl had ever confessed to him.
(Though admittedly, he rarely hung out with girls. He even found them too bad at games to bother teaming up with.)
An Han narrowed his eyes, locking gazes with Wu Dongming—both of them silently plotting against the other.
Technically, the system didn't punish failed tasks. Skipping it wouldn't cause real harm—just a missed reward.
But the bigger issue remained: Long Xing's crush was still unresolved.
Wu Dongming's idea… might actually be worth a try.
"How about this," An Han proposed, "you tell him you got the girl's WeChat?"
Meeting in person in drag was out of the question—but chatting online as "her"? That he could manage.
As long as Long Xing believed the girl truly existed, he'd stop suspecting An Han.
"WeChat? I thought you didn't use WeChat?"
"I just don't use it much."
He only ever used WeChat to talk to his parents, so his roommates had never added him.
"That works," Wu Dongming yawned and nodded, then eyed An Han up and down curiously. "Lately, though… you've been looking weirdly likable."
"What—you didn't like me before?"
"Before? You just looked like someone who deserved a good beating—always pulling shady stunts!"
"Aren't you the same?"
An Han shot back, but inwardly, he was pleased.
So the "Affinity" trait and that +1 Charisma were actually working—just not in obvious ways.
Still… if he'd been sitting here on the sports field for half an hour looking so "likable," why hadn't a single girl come over to talk to him yet?