When Xu Lin stepped into Jiang Zimeng’s bedroom upstairs, he saw her curled up on a beanbag chair, looking at him with a face full of terror.
“There’s a bug…”
“You’re a grown woman and scared of bugs? Though, to be fair, I don’t like them either.”
Xu Lin glanced around the room, then walked over to her, ready to help find whatever creepy-crawly it was.
Suddenly, Jiang Zimeng leaped up and threw herself at him. Xu Lin instinctively caught her.
“What are you doing?”
“The bug…”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know… It was big, gray, just a shadow.”
“Get down first.”“I’m not getting down!”
With that, she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist and clung to his head with her arms.
Without her thick winter coat, the warmth and faint fragrance of her body became all too apparent to Xu Lin. Not to mention the glimpse of her fair skin he’d caught earlier—now pressed against his face. It should’ve been a nice little bonus moment.
But unlike anime, this was far from enjoyable. Jiang Zimeng was holding on so tightly that Xu Lin could hardly breathe, let alone relish the situation.
“Ugh… You… loosen up a bit…”
“What?!”
“Calm down.”
“Find the bug first! How am I supposed to sleep if I close my eyes and it crawls onto the bed?”
“Alright, but let go of me first. Where did you see it?”
“Under my storage cabinet.”
“Got it. Let me check.”
Following her pointed finger, Xu Lin cautiously approached the cabinet. Using his foot, he nudged a few small boxes aside but found nothing.
“Are you sure you weren’t seeing things?”
“No way! I saw it—huge and gray.”
“Gray… That’s not a centipede, is it?”
As Xu Lin tilted his head to think, his cheek accidentally brushed against her neck. Jiang Zimeng, now a bit calmer, suddenly became acutely aware of his breathing and the contact of his face against her skin.
She froze, refusing to look down at him, instead scanning the room around them. From this vantage point, she thought, Wow, this view is pretty great—so high up.
As she glanced around, her eyes landed on her computer and something clicked. Wait a second… I’m still live-streaming?!
“Xu Lin, I’m still streaming! I need to end it now!”
Xu Lin carried her over to the computer. Three monitors lit up the desk: one showing her game, another showing her livestream chat. The chat had completely exploded with messages like:
“What just happened?”
“Is she still there?”
“Is this a paranormal event?”
“My scream earlier must’ve carried all the way to the mic,” Jiang Zimeng said, adjusting her emotions. “Let me say something to them real quick.”
“I’ll put you down.”
“No, just stay like this.”
Xu Lin walked up to the desk, and Jiang Zimeng leaned into the microphone, her voice steadying.
“Everyone, I’m fine. I just saw a huge bug and got scared.”
The chat instantly lit up again:
“Glad you’re okay!”
“Don’t scare us like that again!”
“Wait, I heard a man’s voice just now…”
“Don’t mess with our girl, Dami!”
“I’m serious.”
“Me too! If it’s not a family member, Dami, you should call the police.”
The viewers quickly started urging her to report it to the authorities, making Jiang Zimeng feel compelled to address it further.
“It’s my brother! He heard me scream and came to check on me.”
“Is that Big Brother? Look at me! Look at me!”
“Get out of the way, I’ll marry Big Brother instead!”
“You win, that’s bold.”
“Alright, alright, everyone, don’t worry. It’s just a bug. My brother’s helping clean up the room. I’ll log off for now. Sorry for cutting the stream an hour short today. I’ll make it up tomorrow.”
“Dami, take a good rest. No need to make up for it.”
“Yeah, no worries, rest early.”
Xu Lin glanced at the hundreds of comments wishing her well and couldn’t help but feel impressed. This is what a quality streamer looks like, he thought, not some clout-chaser relying on cheap gimmicks.
Jiang Zimeng reached over to end the stream, but her hair brushed against Xu Lin’s nose in the process. Unable to hold it in, he sneezed loudly.
The chat immediately blew up again. Jiang Zimeng quickly ended the stream in a hurry.
“What are you doing?” she glared at him.
“Your hair tickled my nose,” Xu Lin replied, feeling her accusing stare. I swear it wasn’t on purpose.
Before the stream ended, Xu Lin caught sight of the chat, filled with messages like:
“Big Brother, is that you?”
“Wait, is this Dami’s boyfriend? No way!”
And one very familiar comment from Zhu Zhaoxue:
“Why does that voice sound familiar to me?”
Xu Lin nearly lost it. Doctor Zhu, your hearing is way too sharp.
“Go keep looking for the bug.”
“Then get down first. I can’t squat or move around properly like this.”
“You’re already taking advantage of me, and now you’re complaining, making me sound like I’m not feminine at all.”
“Miss chuunibyou, with how good you smell, how could I not notice your ‘femininity’?” Xu Lin teased, blowing lightly against her neck. Her neck instantly turned red.
“You’re crossing the line!”
“Then get down, and I’ll keep looking.”
“No.”
“Alright, I’ll just look around while carrying you. How about that?”
“But then I can’t see your face.”
“Is a bug really that terrifying?”
“You wouldn’t understand.” Jiang Zimeng shuddered, recalling a childhood memory.
“Fine, fine, I’ll keep looking.”
Xu Lin carried her around the room, checking every corner. A few minutes later, he was starting to feel tired and hadn’t found anything.
“You don’t usually open the windows, do you?”
“No.”
“Then it must’ve been a trick of the eye.”
“No way…”
Jiang Zimeng began to doubt herself, considering they’d searched the small room multiple times. But the thought only made her more anxious—what if it climbed onto the bed while she was asleep?
“I’ll search again. Why don’t you step out of the room? I’ll look on my own.”
“Good idea…”
Both of them suddenly realized that it made more sense for Jiang Zimeng to wait outside while Xu Lin searched.
As they reached the door and prepared to open it, a gray shadow darted across the surface, pausing briefly as if to glance at them.
“Ahhh!!!” Jiang Zimeng screamed and clung tightly to Xu Lin’s neck again.
Xu Lin squinted, took a closer look, and let out a sigh of relief. “It’s just a gecko.”
“Stop yelling, or you’ll call the security guards again.”
“Get rid of it! It moved!”
“I told you, calm down. It won’t hurt you. Geckos are our little helpers.”
“I don’t care about helpers!”
“Don’t you like animals?”
“Not this kind of animal…”
“It eats spiders, moths, flies, and mosquitoes. It’s great at pest control,” Xu Lin explained. He knew the benefits of geckos, though he had to admit, this one was pretty big, so it was understandable that it scared her.
“So what should we do?”
“Just leave it alone.”
Hearing this, the tense Jiang Zimeng relaxed a little. After all, she hated spiders more and found flies and mosquitoes even more disgusting than geckos.
“But I’m scared it’ll run around…”
“Then I’ll catch it and put it outside. It can guard your house.”
“What if it accidentally touches me? That’d scare me even more…”
“Then what do you want to do? It’s freezing outside—do you really have the heart to toss it out?”
Xu Lin’s words made her hesitate. As someone who cared about protecting animals, Jiang Zimeng didn’t feel right about throwing it out into the cold.
“Fine, just put it outside.”
“Alright, I’ll grab it and release it outside. Now, can you get down?”
“Okay…”
She slowly climbed off him, but the moment she did, the gecko suddenly flicked its tail and scurried down the wall.
Jiang Zimeng let out another piercing scream and, like a koala, jumped back onto Xu Lin, clinging to him for dear life!
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