Chapter 105 103. Tempting Fate
That evening, An Han arrived at the sports field, deeply worried.
The illustrator of the doujinshi-style images he'd spotted during class had turned out to be very reasonable—after just a few minutes of private messaging and confirming An Han's identity, the artist immediately deleted the pictures featuring him.
But that wasn't the real problem. The real issue was that there had been countless people taking photos of him at the time!
Even if some didn’t have the habit of sharing online, there was no way his qipao-clad, feminine photos wouldn’t end up scattered across countless corners of the internet.
“There’s absolutely nothing I can do… I can’t possibly track each one of them down!”
“The internet’s so huge—it’s actually not very likely Chen Junjie will see them…”
An Han tried to reassure himself, then sighed helplessly and slumped down onto the edge of the grandstand. He crossed his legs, stared down at his phone screen, and started typing.
> “Ask An Kexin to cancel my event registration.”
The school sports meet was on Wednesday. Even if it was too late to officially withdraw, he could just slack off during the event and refuse to compete.
“No more wishful thinking!”
“I absolutely can’t have any more contact with Su Peng!”
He’d originally planned to finish this sports meet with Su Peng—it would at least fulfill the promise he’d made to his class advisor.
But after Wu Dongming told him that Su Peng had been leaving his dorm early every day just to wait for him before class, that feeling of being watched like prey had jolted him awake.
If he kept dragging his feet like this, Su Peng’s affection meter toward him would definitely hit 100%!
As for Long Xing… they shared the same dorm, after all. The best he could do was deliberately avoid talking to him—but beyond that, he had no real options.
He needed to find ways to actively lower Long Xing’s affection too!
Otherwise, with that already-high 90-point affection level, it was only a matter of time before genuine feelings developed between them.
“An Han.”
He looked up. From a distance, Su Peng was walking toward the field, holding a cup of milk tea.
An Han glanced back at his phone. An Kexin had already replied online:
> “What’s wrong? The registration list has already been submitted—we can’t change it now.”
“Understood,” An Han typed back, put his phone away, and looked up at Su Peng, who was now standing right in front of him.
Su Peng placed a cup of milk tea on the ledge behind An Han and said with a smile, “Have some tea before training again? And if I knock you over this time, I’ll treat you to dinner.”
So scheming!
An Han shot him a sideways glance. He’d always thought Su Peng was just a sunny, easygoing guy with zero guile—but after spending time with him recently, it was clear this guy was a total smooth-talking manipulator!
He’d deliberately embarrassed An Han at the anime convention, “coincidentally” waited for him downstairs every morning to walk to class together, and now he was dangling dinner as bait if he managed to trip him again?
Of course he’s gonna trip me! Does he think I’m some airheaded, naive girl?!
“I’m not practicing anymore!” An Han huffed and gulped down half the milk tea in one go.
“What’s wrong?” Su Peng asked, genuinely confused.
“I—”
An Han’s words got stuck in his throat as a system notification suddenly popped up.
【Option 1: Do not participate in the sports meet. Reward: Advanced Mind Reading Skill】
【Option 2: Win first place at all costs. Reward: Basic Flight Skill】
【Option 3: Make up an excuse, but continue training as usual. Reward: Random Attribute Point】
All skill rewards this time?
An Han’s eyes lit up. He faintly remembered his last skill reward—Advanced Vocal Technique—whose only “side effect” was making his originally deep, mellow voice more androgynous.
Sure, combined with his increasingly feminine appearance, that side effect now made it impossible for strangers to tell his gender by voice alone—but compared to the side effects of道具 (items), it was practically a free gift!
No big deal! Skill side effects are way milder than item side effects!
And honestly—mind reading? Flight? That’s basically magic!
An Han wavered, his gaze flickering between Options 1 and 2.
Su Peng, seeing him suddenly space out, hesitated for a moment, then waved a hand in front of his eyes—but An Han flinched backward sharply. “What are you doing?!”
“I just thought you zoned out…”
Two days ago, you practically dragged me into an all-nighter and were super enthusiastic—why the sudden cold shoulder today?
Su Peng was utterly baffled. He steered the conversation back: “Why won’t you practice anymore? Weren’t you worried about losing face?”
“Wait a sec,” An Han held up a hand to stop him. “I’ve got something to figure out. Go run a couple of laps first, okay?”
“Huh?”
An Han ignored Su Peng’s reaction and refocused on the system choices.
Was Option 1—skipping the sports meet—really the hardest?
It didn’t seem hard at all! If he didn’t want to participate, who could force him? If he “accidentally” twisted his ankle, would they really carry him onto the track by force?
Unless… the *consequences* of skipping were so severe they’d outweigh any immediate relief?
Option 2—winning first place—was obviously more difficult on the surface.
And Option 3… he really didn’t want another random attribute point that might make him even more feminine.
Another question popped into his head:
But what if he failed this sports meet task and then refused to attend *any* sports meets for the rest of his life? Would the task stay pending forever? Or would it eventually expire once conditions changed?
After all, the “dress Wu Dongming in a maid outfit” task still hadn’t shown any failure or expiration notice, even after all this time.
The countdown timer on the system prompt was nearly finished.
An Han let out a heavy sigh.
“…Fine. I’ll tempt fate.”
“I’ll just let the countdown expire and see what the system does—does it auto-select a task, or cancel the whole thing?”
“If it auto-selects, I won’t take any initiative. I’ll deliberately ignore the task and see how the system tries to enforce it.”
None of these tasks involved seducing men, cross-dressing, or humiliating “master” commands. Two rewards were highly desirable skills likely with minimal side effects, and one was a permanent attribute boost.
This was the perfect chance to test the system’s limits!
Suddenly, everything clicked into place. An Han quietly watched the timer tick down.
As the numbers shrank, he clenched his jaw unconsciously. His heart pounded faster, his small fists tightening with building tension.
…He was starting to regret this.
“Please, just pick Option 3! Even another body stat would be fine—as long as I don’t have to face some unknown disaster!”
【COUNTDOWN ENDED】
【RANDOM TASK SELECTED】
“So it *is* random! Damn you, system!”
【You have chosen: Do not participate in the sports meet】
The hardest task!
An Han’s pupils shrank. His whole body tensed up instantly.
Even though his original intention—to avoid Su Peng—aligned with skipping the meet, the moment the system got involved, this choice clearly became the most dangerous path.
But I’m going to deliberately resist the task—even act against it—to keep probing the system’s boundaries.
So right now… I’ll train seriously with Su Peng and fully commit to competing in the sports meet.
Let’s see—can the system really break my legs if I choose to participate?
Author's Notes
If there is an "*" sign, please ignore it. It's just a sign for words that I need to change to italics/bold.
And later I will delete it
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