“That… that can’t be. Actually, aside from the dormitory surveillance, the rest of the cameras were installed only after the incidents with the exhibitionist pervert and Wu Peng.”
Li Yanqiu shrugged as she explained.
“I see!”
Gu Chen finally understood.
It seemed the homeroom teacher really did have the students’ best interests at heart, installing the cameras herself so that if another pervert incident occurred, she wouldn’t need to rely on the school and could directly identify the culprit.
However, if these cameras were only meant to catch perverts, she was probably going to be disappointed.
After all, Wu Peng was already in prison, and after Wang Jun’s identity was exposed, he likely wouldn’t dare to do such things again for a while.
Right then, the bell signaling the end of class rang.
“Alright, I still need to get dressed. Shouldn’t you be heading back? Don’t tell me you want to keep taking advantage of your teacher?”
Li Yanqiu raised an eyebrow, her tone carrying a hint of teasing.
“Ahem… that, I’ll be going now.”
Gu Chen quickly stood up, feeling a wave of uncomfortable heat wash over his body.
He vaguely felt his underwear was a bit damp, unsure if it was because he hadn’t dried himself properly earlier.
After evening self-study ended, he used someone else’s commuter card as usual to slip out of the school gate.
So far, there hadn’t been any issues.
Arriving at the parking lot, he confirmed the scooter’s battery was sufficiently charged before starting it up and heading home.
“Ahh, so refreshing.”
Riding against the evening breeze felt extremely comfortable, and he couldn’t help but sigh.
It was already nine-thirty at night.
There were far fewer vehicles on the road, making the ride much smoother.
When he was about two kilometers from home, Gu Chen saw a shopping mall in the distance still lit up and suddenly remembered something—he hadn’t gone to claim his prize yet.
On the mall’s third floor was an arcade.
He occasionally went there to play during holidays when he had nothing to do, enjoying arcade games like The King of Fighters.
For this, he had even followed the store’s official account, signed up as a member, and got discounts on game tokens.
Not long ago, the store ran a prize draw on their official account.
Members could participate for free once, with rewards ranging from ten to a hundred game tokens.
Gu Chen had been lucky, winning fifty tokens to claim for free.
However, there was a deadline for claiming the prize.
Doing the math, today was exactly the last day.
If he hadn’t seen the mall still open, he would have completely forgotten.
There had been too many things happening recently; he simply couldn’t keep track of everything.
He didn’t know if the arcade was still open, but since he was already nearby, he decided to try his luck.
Parking his scooter at the mall entrance, Gu Chen strode quickly toward the third floor.
Seeing the arcade’s lights still on, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Otherwise, losing out on fifty free tokens would have definitely kept him up tonight.
Approaching the front counter, he scanned the code to claim his prize and successfully received the free game tokens.
Looking around, the arcade still had quite a few people at this hour.
Many of the entertainment machines were still running, especially those with prize rewards.
Gu Chen casually wandered around when he suddenly heard a familiar voice from not far away.
“You cleared it again! Sis Fei is too awesome!”
Following the sound, he saw a group of girls gathered around a dance machine.
They moved with agile, nimble movements, occasionally cheering.
The girl on the platform had golden hair, dancing continuously to the rhythm.
The people around her also had unique styles, with hair of various colors.
They looked like professional dancers, attracting quite a bit of attention.
Gu Chen was also drawn in and turned to look.
From about seven or eight meters away, he saw the golden-haired girl on the platform moving to the music, her long hair constantly swaying.
“Huh, she looks familiar.”
He vaguely felt he had seen her somewhere before and walked closer with his game tokens.
“Isn’t that Long Fei?”
Getting closer, Gu Chen finally recognized her.
It was the ‘spiritual little sister’ he had unexpectedly encountered last time on Willow Street, which led to a series of events.
He never expected to run into her again here at the arcade.
What a coincidence.
Seeing she was focused on dancing, Gu Chen didn’t disturb her, simply standing to the side and watching.
The rhythm was getting faster and faster.
Long Fei’s movements also started to become strained, and she was breathing heavily.
“Too bad. Please try again.”
After two mistakes, the machine announced her failure.
“Damn it! Stuck on this level again!”
Long Fei gritted her teeth, so angry she felt like smashing the machine.
Helped down by her sisters, she first caught her breath, then gulped down several mouthfuls of her drink.
“It’s okay, Sis Fei, you were already amazing.”
“Exactly, they obviously increased the difficulty on purpose. You have to pass this level to get the reward. It’s too hard.”
Long Fei waved her hand dismissively and asked, “I plan to challenge it again. Which one of you still has game tokens?”
The girls looked at each other, then shook their heads one after another.
“All used up. The hundred we just bought are completely gone…”
“Seriously, go buy another fifty.”
Long Fei complained.
“We’re all out of money…”
“Damn it!”
Hearing this, she grew even more annoyed.
Her gaze swept around until it finally landed on Gu Chen not far away.
“Hey, sis… no, bro, what a coincidence seeing you here too?”
“Yeah, came to play for a bit.”
Gu Chen reluctantly greeted her.
This ‘spiritual little sister’ was still out playing so late.
Thinking about it, it was kind of enviable.
Long Fei grinned and walked straight over.
She slung an arm over Gu Chen’s shoulder, but her eyes were fixed on the game tokens in his hand.
Without any pretense, she said, “Handsome, lend me some tokens, will you?”
“Why don’t you buy your own? Didn’t you get compensation money last time?”
Gu Chen had already guessed this wasn’t going to be good.
These were tokens he had worked hard to win in the draw.
He really wasn’t keen on giving them away.
Last time, she had received twenty thousand in compensation.
Treating her little brother’s injuries couldn’t have cost that much; she should still have plenty left.
“Well… the money’s all gone. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be trying to beat this machine.”
Long Fei pouted as she explained.
“Holy crap, what did you spend it all on? It’s gone that fast?”
Gu Chen looked utterly shocked.
That was twenty thousand!
He could make that last a long time.
Spending money at that rate, even if her family was rich, they probably couldn’t keep up.
“Ahem, don’t worry about the details. Just lend me some? I’ll share the reward with you when I win it?”
Long Fei didn’t want to explain further and continued persuading him.
“This…”
Gu Chen looked troubled.
While it wasn’t worth much money, the meaning was different.
Treating someone to a meal and spending money was one thing, but having someone take away something you won in a prize draw just felt unpleasant.
It was like being okay with a friend taking a cigarette, but if they pocketed your lighter, the feeling was completely different.