Huh? Isn't This A Galgame?

9527: [Successfully contacted the target, unlocking target information for you—]

[Name: Li Fang (Xiao Fang)]

[Identity: Your reserved and shy junior schoolmate with an unrequited love for you]

[Background: Li Fang is in the same major as you, your bona fide junior. On the day the freshmen enrolled, as the senior, you participated in the welcoming event of the Life Sciences Institute. In the moment you smiled and said "Welcome to T University Life Sciences" to Li Fang, she was completely enthralled by the sunshine in your smile.

Since then, Li Fang embarked on her bittersweet path of unrequited love.

She got your professional course schedule from other senior sisters and found out the courses you were taking. Every time you attended class, as long it wasn't a strictly limited small class, she would show up on time without fail.

She would always choose the back row in the upper right corner, the most inconspicuous and hidden spot, like a stalker, intently watching the classroom door.

Even though for most of the classes you never appeared, Li Fang would still wait with bated breath for your arrival each time.

This went on for half a semester; she remained like a shadow, always following you, but you never noticed her existence.

Until today, her birthday, she planned for a long time to break this bitter unrequited love status quo and invited you.

Before eight in the morning, as usual, she waited for you in the corner of the lecture hall for biochem class. However, by the time class ended, she still hadn't gathered enough courage to speak to you when it was time for lunch.

Until... she was waiting outside the teaching building and saw a pretty girl holding your hand, acting intimately with you as you walked out of the classroom, heading towards the cafeteria together. You served that girl food, talking and laughing all the way, and finally sat down to have lunch together as if no one else existed.

"Is that your girlfriend? A new girlfriend?"

"If not, then it must be in the final ambiguous stage before officially dating. If I don't act now, I'm afraid I'll lose the last chance completely."

Such thoughts filled Li Fang's mind, pressing her to gather her energy and muster the courage to bring the handwritten invitation card to you…]

[Faction: To be unlocked.]

Wen Nan was carefully reading the character introduction and did not immediately respond.

Li Fang nervously clutched her backpack strap, daring not to look at Wen Nan, only lowering her head, looking at her toes, "I..."

Just after uttering one word, Zhao Wanting suddenly reached out from across the table, grabbed the invitation card from Wen Nan's hand, and held it between her fingers, playfully looking at Li Fang, "Classmate, if you're inviting Senior Ye to your birthday banquet, is he allowed to bring a partner?"

Li Fang was startled, her breath catching, her mind almost freezing, "Par-partner?"

"Yes, that's…" Zhao Wanting raised a finger, pointing to the tip of her own nose.

Wen Nan reached out and took the invitation card back, looking at Li Fang, "She's joking, don't take it seriously. I'll attend your birthday gathering on time."

Hearing his answer, Li Fang's heart, which had sunk to rock bottom, soared to the sky. She couldn't suppress the high curve of her lips, "S-Senior, thank you, thank you for giving me this opportunity!"

Wen Nan was amused by her strange wording, "It should be me thanking you for the invitation."

Li Fang immediately waved both hands, "No, no, Senior, don't be so polite." She glanced at Zhao Wanting beside her, afraid Wen Nan might change his mind midway, nervously tugging her clothing hem, and bowed deeply to him. "I'll be going now!" Then she dashed out of the cafeteria.

"Humph." Zhao Wanting watched the retreating figure with disdain, snickering coldly, "So unsophisticated."

After saying that, she turned back, imitating Li Fang's quivering tone, "Senior~ why do you attract so much attention like a little peach blossom?"

Wen Nan looked up, glancing at the "biggest flower butterfly" in front of him, pushing a plate of braised ribs towards her, "Hurry up and eat. All this meat can't shut your mouth."

Zhao Wanting, thinking of how Wen Nan accepted that invitation card right in front of her, felt very uncomfortable. Despite the food in front of her, she was too agitated to eat, poking at her bowl with chopsticks, pondering, she couldn't help but ask:

"Senior Ye, how many insignificant admirers like that one do you meet each day? Do you accept all of them ambiguously like that? Isn't the pond of fish too crowded to fit them all?"

Wen Nan's quick acceptance of Li Fang's invitation was mainly because he didn't want to miss such an important plot line. He needed to meet as many characters as possible in this instance to quickly identify and find all the [Queen] [Princess] [Traitor] [Assassin] hidden within.

Of course, he could never explain that to Zhao Wanting, so he only smiled silently, using silence as his response.

Zhao Wanting thought back to the moment earlier, when she tentatively claimed to be his partner, and he immediately nullified it with "I'm joking," which was his way of turning her down again.

Thinking of this, Zhao Wanting's lips dropped, she numbly picked some rice into her mouth, lowered her eyelids, and softly said:

"I don't mind being one of your fish, as long as… you don't completely cast me out of the pond."

Wen Nan glanced at Zhao Wanting.

Indeed a fine arts student, she knew how to dress herself, with delicate makeup—though her entire head of voluminous wavy hair, bright blue eye shadow, bold red lipstick, and a pair of sparkling silver hoop earrings created a slightly flamboyant, early-2000s vibe—youth and confidence are her greatest assets.

She wore a light blue chiffon dress, which made the blue eye makeup look less out of place. Added to her fair skin, now with red-rimmed eyes, she looked a bit like a little mermaid, evoking a tender, pitiful feeling.

Wen Nan picked some stir-fried Shanghai greens and placed them in her bowl, "Don't just eat meat, have some greens, balance your diet."

Zhao Wanting glanced at the bit of green in her bowl; just this little touch of color quickly lifted her spirits.

She picked up the greens and ate them, then looked back at Wen Nan, saying, "Senior, with so many fish around, why are you still mostly vegetarian? Have you considered eating more meat?"

Wen Nan glanced at Zhao Wanting, not responding to her remark.

Zhao Wanting continued, "Even if we agreed to just be ordinary friends, but… it could also be the kind of friends who only have a physical relationship without romance."

Wen Nan looked at her incredulously, "You call that ordinary friends?"

Zhao Wanting wanted to say something more, but Wen Nan's gaze shifted over her shoulder to the doorway behind her, his face turning solemn.

"Ah——!"

From the door direction came a commotion, followed by the screams of girls, the sound of people hurriedly fleeing, and tables being overturned.

In the center area, vacated by the fleeing crowd, a male student was chasing a female student.

The female student was holding her side with her hand, already soaked with blood, and as she staggered forward, red blood dripped from her fingertips, leaving a long trail.

The male student behind her had his face obscured by a hood, making it hard to see his features. He held a fruit knife stained with blood, relentlessly pursuing her.

The girl, on the verge of collapse, knelt, grabbing the arm of the nearest student for help.

That student, terrified, violently shook her off and sprinted away.

Wen Nan stood up, moving towards the center of the chaos.

As he took a step, Zhao Wanting caught his arm.

"The other has a knife, it's too dangerous," Zhao Wanting said in a low voice, "Don't do anything reckless, call the police and run."

Wen Nan looked at the pair not far away.

By now the cafeteria was mostly emptied of people, the girl lay on the ground, barely able to crawl forward. The hooded boy, like a cold-blooded assassin, poised the knife and approached step by step.

To save or not to save?