Chapter 72: Just Been Waiting for This
“Yah!”
Yi Ning grabbed the unfastened front of her white lab coat with both hands, hurriedly covering up the now semi-transparent T-shirt.
A blush instantly bloomed across her cheeks, quickly spreading to her soft pink ears.
Huh?
That voice just now was that from me?
After the initial panic, Yi Ning’s rationality reclaimed the high ground.
Recalling that sound she had just made, she felt an inexplicable sense of shame.
The blush spreading to her ears intensified, turning even her earlobes bright red.
As an evil scientist, she was supposed to always remain composed and wise—how could she act so out of character?
So what if her clothes were wet and her underwear faintly visible?
All she had to do was fasten the buttons on her lab coat.
But instead, she’d panicked like some innocent little girl.
It was absolutely mortifying!
For the sake of maintaining her evil scientist persona, Yi Ning cleared her throat and worked to steady her expression, buttoning up the lab coat with a nonchalant face.
“You’re surprisingly honest, huh.”
She crossed her arms, trying hard to maintain a calm demeanor.
But the blush spreading to the roots of her ears and her evasive gaze silently betrayed that she wasn’t as indifferent as she looked.
Too bad Lu Zheng didn’t get to see how cute she looked.
“I have one more thing to apologize for.”
Still driven by guilt, Lu Zheng kept his head down and confessed all his acts of peeking.
“I’ve actually been peeking through your clothes this whole time. I’m truly sorry. Once this is over, I’ll take off my helmet and apologize to you properly—at that time, feel free to lash me as you please!”
“That’s really no big deal.”
Yi Ning waved it off.
She truly didn’t care much about it.
After all, she had once been a man, too.
That feeling of being momentarily overtaken by one’s lower desires—she could understand it quite well.
Rather, what surprised her most was how honestly Lu Zheng confessed everything.
“But…”
Seeing that Lu Zheng still had more to say, Yi Ning simply interrupted him and forcibly changed the subject.
“Alright, alright, let’s get back to what we were doing.”
If this had been any other time, Yi Ning definitely wouldn’t have minded exploiting the incident to her advantage for some ulterior motive.
But she was still flustered by her earlier girlish behavior and didn’t want to dwell on this topic any longer.
“You’re being held back by society’s norms and your own moral standards. Let’s move on to the next phase and let me walk you through today’s evil plan.”
“Uh… like this?”
Lu Zheng looked at Yi Ning, her clothes clinging tightly to her body, and felt a bit concerned.
Though the thick lab coat now completely covered the pink-and-white underneath, her clothes were still soaked and probably quite uncomfortable.
Plus, damp clothes absorb body heat, lowering her temperature.
As a girl now, she needed to be mindful of these things.
“You should change your clothes first before we continue.”
He advised earnestly.
But unfortunately, Yi Ning didn’t catch his good intentions—instead, she shot him a suspicious look.
“You’re not planning to sneak out while I’m changing, are you?”
Heaven forbid.
Lu Zheng could swear he never had such a thought.
He really was just worried about Yi Ning.
“I swear, really!”
To show sincerity, he even raised his right hand in a vow.
“I don’t believe you!”
But unfortunately, he was dealing with Yi Ning.
Someone who often treated her own vows like hot air when beating up that mutt Xia An.
Lu Zheng’s earnestness only reminded her of all the lies she’d told herself when searching for that guy—making her trust him even less.
“In any case, let’s just continue. We might end up fighting in water later anyway, and I only have these two sets of girl clothes. If both get wet, I’ll have to go on camera completely naked.”
“…Alright.”
Lu Zheng was silent for a long while and ultimately didn’t argue.
She’d made up her mind—what more could he say?
Let go of the hero complex, and respect others’ choices.
Worst case, he’d just take care of her if she caught a cold later.
“Then let’s start filming—action?”
Though phrased as a question, Yi Ning’s tone was full of certainty.
Without waiting for Lu Zheng’s reply, she stepped back a few paces, pointed at him, and smugly declared:
“You’re trapped now! Damn Pixel Mask!”
Why start from here?
Lu Zheng sat in the hot spring watching Yi Ning perform quietly.
He didn’t really understand why Yi Ning liked doing this kind of thing so much, but as a friend, he didn’t mind playing along.
He didn’t have anything else to do anyway.
“What?”
He played along with a shocked expression.
Seeing Lu Zheng cooperate so well, Yi Ning looked pleased.
“Hmmmm…”
Drawing out her voice, she walked to the shore with arms akimbo, full of pride.
“You can’t reveal your primary sexual characteristics in front of a girl! So as long as I’m standing here, you’ll never leave this hot spr—uh…”
Yi Ning suddenly shivered, cutting herself off mid-sentence.
“How about you go change clothes? I won’t run.”
Lu Zheng couldn’t help but try persuading her again.
“If you’re worried about having nothing dry, you can wear mine temporarily—I’ll buy you some new ones.”
“No need!”
Yi Ning wasn’t listening at all.
She slipped her hand inside her lab coat, tugged at the clothes underneath, then wiped her hand dry on the dry part of her pants.
“Let’s continue.”
“This is the price of having morals!”
She pointed smugly at Lu Zheng’s nose.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Lu Zheng gave a few half-hearted responses.
He was seriously considering using his powers to forcibly grab Yi Ning and throw her into a changing room.
“Cut!”
Yi Ning was clearly unhappy with Lu Zheng’s perfunctory performance.
She looked at him disapprovingly.
“You’re supposed to be trapped by a supervillain right now. What’s with the ‘yeah, yeah’? At least struggle or throw out some threats! Are you even a hero?”
“Well then…”
Lu Zheng thought for a moment.
“You’re just a girl who used to be a guy. If I treat you as a man, I can walk out of the hot spring!”
Saying this, he rose slightly, pretending to get out of the hot spring.
But he only faked it—he didn’t have the guts to actually get out.
“Good, that’s the spirit!”
Yi Ning was very pleased with his reaction.
With a “just been waiting for this” expression, she pulled out a remote control from her pocket and pressed a button.
“I prepared this just for you.”
Four cameras rose from around the hot spring, their lenses pointed directly at Lu Zheng.