Quick Transmigration: I Was Cannon Fodder But Became the White Moonlight

In the corridor outside the office, light streams in from the high window on the other side, cutting out a boundary between light and shadow on the carpet.

Chen Su stood quietly at the intersection of light and shadow, holding Pei Yue's coat, her gaze fixed on an oil painting on the opposite wall depicting the founder of the academy.

He was a stern-faced old man dressed in a 19th-century suit, with deep and distant eyes, tightly pursed lips, and a slightly raised chin, his expression showing disdain for everything outside the rules.

She stared at the eyes in the oil painting for a few seconds, then looked away and glanced down at the tips of her shoes.

Time flowed slowly, and she didn't know how long she had been standing outside.

The office is very soundproof; you can't hear a single sound coming from inside.

Suddenly, the door opened.

Chen Su immediately composed herself, lowered her head slightly, and adopted a respectful posture.

Pei Fang emerged.

He casually slipped one hand into the pocket of his black trousers, while his other hand gently closed the door from the inside, his movements nonchalant.

He seemed to be about to leave, but his gaze naturally fell on Chen Su, who was guarding the door, the moment he turned around.

Chen Su could feel that gaze, which carried an undisguised scrutiny.

She bowed slightly, her voice soft and gentle, and greeted, "Senior Pei Fang."

Pei Fang looked at her, his gaze lingering on her face for a moment, but he neither immediately responded to her greeting nor left.

Instead, he strode over slowly towards her.

The gleaming black leather shoes made almost no sound on the soft carpet, yet carried an invisible sense of pressure as they stopped just a step away from her.

Chen Su's body tensed up almost imperceptibly for a moment, her head lowered even further, and the fingers holding her coat tightened slightly, revealing an instinctive tension.

In the slightly stagnant air, Pei Fang suddenly spoke, his voice deep and pleasant, his tone casual:

"What's your name?"

The question came directly, even abruptly, completely contrary to his usual style of ignoring such marginalized figures.

Chen Su's long eyelashes fluttered twice, then she raised her head, her face showing a perfectly timed slight surprise and a flattered bewilderment, but she quickly lowered her eyelashes again, answering honestly in a softer voice:

"Chen Su... My name is Chen Su."

"Chen, Su."

Pei Fang slowly repeated the two words, enunciating them clearly, each syllable as if he had savored it on the tip of his tongue.

He took another half step closer, bringing the two of them so close it was almost dangerous.

Chen Su could even clearly smell the crisp and unique woody scent emanating from him, assaulting her senses with a strong presence and aggression.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze like a hook, carefully tracing her eyebrows and eyes.

"Which Su?" he continued, his tone still unhurried. "The Su who has awakened, or..."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over her slightly flushed earlobes and her lowered profile, a smile playing on his lips. "...Soft and tingly?"

He deliberately slowed down his speech when he said the last word, "酥" (su), which carried an almost intimate and ambiguous connotation.

Chen Su was startled by his overly close proximity and ambiguous question. She subconsciously took a small step back, her slender back almost touching the wall.

She looked up and glanced quickly at Pei Fang, her eyes filled with panic, helplessness, and a hint of offended embarrassment. Her voice was timid and soft, yet she seemed to be trying hard to remain calm.

"It's... Su, the senior who has awakened."

"Oh—" Pei Fang drawled out the words, as if he had finally understood, or as if he was deliberately making this look of sudden realization.

He straightened up and put a little distance between them, but the oppressive aura did not leave. His sharp, scrutinizing gaze remained fixed on her face, never wavering.

He looked at her, who seemed like a frightened deer, and the corners of his lips curved into a deeper smile.

"Nice name," he commented casually, his tone ambiguous, neither sincere nor perfunctory.

Then, he abruptly changed the subject, his tone becoming more casual, even tinged with a lazy, conversational air.

But the eyes that were fixed on Chen Su revealed an unmistakable scrutiny.

"Did you have fun in Nirvana last night?" he began, his voice still languid.

He recognized him.

Moreover, it was stated so directly and without any beating around the bush.

Chen Su felt a slight chill in her heart, but her face revealed an even more obvious surprise.

She raised her head, her eyes widening slightly, her pupils appearing clear and innocent in the light, and her lips parting slightly, as if silently asking, "How did you know?"

A thin blush quickly spread across her cheeks, whether from nervousness or embarrassment, it was hard to tell.

"It's...it's alright..." she stammered, her fingers unconsciously twisting the edge of her coat. "I...went to see my friend."

She gave a common, and reasonably plausible, reason.

"Looking for a friend?" Pei Fang raised an eyebrow, a knowing smile flashing in his beautiful phoenix eyes. He seemed not to believe it, but he had no intention of delving deeper.

He leaned forward again, lowered his voice, and asked, clearly interested, word by word:

"And by the way... a hero rescuing a damsel in distress?"

He spoke the last four words slowly, with a slight upward inflection at the end, the teasing and condescending scrutiny in them unmistakable.

Chen Su's mouth trembled slightly, as if she wanted to explain something, but in the end she said nothing.

She glanced at him quickly, then looked away just as fast as she could, as if she didn't know how to answer the question, or perhaps she felt embarrassed that her behavior had been brought up like that.

"Do you know that waiter?"

Pei Fang, however, did not let her off the hook and continued to press her with his casual tone.

Chen Su shook her head, a hint of embarrassment in her gesture, and lowered her voice: "I don't know her..."

She seemed inexplicably embarrassed. "I just... felt so sorry for her..."

Her voice trailed off, the last few words barely audible. It was as if she felt she had done something unwise, even meddlesome, and after being discovered, she was both embarrassed to admit it and vaguely felt she might have made a mistake, carrying a sense of bewilderment and helplessness.

Her lips pursed slightly, then relaxed, revealing a hint of inner unease.

Pei Fang looked at her like this, with her clumsy kindness and a guilty conscience that she thought she had hidden well but was actually obvious, and suddenly chuckled softly.

The laughter was soft, rolling out from the throat, carrying an indescribable meaning, sounding somewhat abrupt in the empty corridor, with undisguised mockery.

"Pitiful?" he murmured, repeating the word as if he had heard something utterly absurd. "There are plenty of pitiful people out there, how can you possibly care about them all?"

Chen Su blinked, as if stung by those words, or as if she couldn't refute them.

Her lips moved slightly, and finally, as if she had mustered up her courage but lacked confidence, she lowered her eyes and said in a lower voice, "I can't manage it."

She acknowledged it, her voice carrying a hint of resigned helplessness.

She paused, as if organizing her thoughts, her voice carrying an almost stubborn seriousness, "But... if I come across it, I'll do what I can to help."

This statement is simple, halting, lacks any power, and is even somewhat naive.

It fits the image of a follower from a reasonably well-off family, with a bit of excessive sympathy, but who doesn't dare to truly defy the rules.

Foolish. He thought to himself.

Typical example: naive, self-righteous, and reckless kindness—cheap and useless.

But this appearance subtly overlapped with, yet also subtly deviated from, the image of the follower in his memory who always kept his head down, was timid and submissive, and had no opinions of his own.

The scrutiny in Pei Fang's eyes intensified.

He stared at her profile, which was lowered, revealing a small patch of her fair neck.

Is it foolishness and naivety?

Or is there some ulterior motive?

"Since it's so great..."

Pei Fang deliberately emphasized the word "great," his tone mocking as he looked down at her with a wicked and probing smile. "Then how can you be content to stay by Yueyue's side as... well, a little follower?"

This question was more acute than any of the previous ones, and alarm bells rang in Chen Su's mind.

But she simply raised her eyes, a hint of confusion flashing in her clear pupils, as if she didn't understand why he asked that question.

She thought for a moment before answering softly, her tone filled with a sense of natural dependence and gratitude: "Sister Yueyue...she's very good to me."

Just then—

"Click".

The door behind me opened again.

Pei Yue and Fu Dongheng walked out one after the other.

Pei Yue still had a lingering smile on her face, clearly indicating that her conversation with Fu Dongheng had put her in a good mood.

Fu Dongheng remained as gentle and refined as ever, with an impeccable demeanor.

Their gazes fell on Chen Su and Pei Fang, who were standing close together not far from the doorway.

Their distance was closer than normal social distance, so close that it seemed somewhat out of place in the relatively open space of the corridor.

Like two trees that should have grown independently, somehow their branches and leaves have become intertwined.

Chen Su seized the opportunity almost instantly.

As if finally freed from some suffocating interrogation, she immediately lowered her head, clutched her coat, and swiftly and deftly slipped past Pei Fang through the gap beside him, quickly walking to Pei Yue's side and handing her the coat.

At the same time, he subtly hid half of his body behind Pei Yue, shielding himself from Pei Fang's intensely scrutinizing gaze.

Pei Yue took the coat and casually draped it over her hand, her beautiful almond-shaped eyes sweeping over Chen Su and her brother's ambiguous smiling faces.

Her brow furrowed slightly, but quickly relaxed, a bright smile returning to her face as she looked at Pei Fang: "Brother, you haven't left yet?"

Fu Dongheng stood to the side, his gaze calmly sweeping over Chen Su before returning to Pei Fang, revealing no particular emotion.

Pei Fang raised an eyebrow as he watched Chen Su swiftly hide behind Pei Yue for protection, as if she were a rabbit.

He slowly straightened up, put his hands back in his pockets, and resumed his usual lazy and unrestrained demeanor.

"Just about to leave." He replied casually to Pei Yue, but his gaze seemed to casually sweep over the meek and unassuming figure behind Pei Yue.

Then, he paused, drew out his voice, and added casually.

"By chance... I chatted with you, my little follower, for a bit."