Ye Mu watched the forum's speculations, the overt and covert criticisms, his dark eyes seeming to drip with water.
Luo Qi sat obediently to the side, originally reviewing his incorrect homework problems, but was drawn over by the anger emanating from Ye Mu.
He put down his pen and peered at Ye Mu's terminal, resting on Ye Mu's hand.
The terminals of the two had never held secrets from each other. This time, however, Ye Mu instinctively blocked it, clearly not wanting Luo Qi to see the contents of his terminal.
Luo Qi, who had only intended to take a casual glance: "?" Fine, you ungrateful wretch (?), you're actually starting to hide things from me?
Ye Mu pursed his lips, knowing his previous action had only aroused more suspicion. But he genuinely didn't want Luo Qi to see the nasty words on the forum.
Luo Qi placed one hand on his hip and the other flat in front of Ye Mu: "What are you looking at? Let me see."
Just like casually looking at someone else's phone on the ancient planet, it was now considered impolite to casually want to look at someone else's terminal.
But for Ye Mu, he had no such thoughts. The person in front of him deliberately puffed out his cheeks, his face round and fleshy, his outstretched fingers still wiggling, the urgency obvious.
So pampered and delicate.
Ye Mu felt that his terminal was nothing. Even if Luo Qi wanted to see his body (x), he could let him see to his heart's content.
He didn't want to show it to him simply because he didn't want him to be sad.
His fingers moved subtly, trying to swipe away the current interface before handing the terminal to Luo Qi.
Luo Qi took the terminal and looked at the displayed page. Ye Mu swallowed, his mind rapidly cycling through dozens of ways to appease Luo Qi.
He then saw Luo Qi in front of him suddenly laugh: "What's there to hide from me?"
Ye Mu: "?"
Luo Qi returned the terminal to Ye Mu. Ye Mu's heart skipped a beat. In this short while he had refreshed, the words on the forum had become even nastier.
"I think that so-called Insect Race heir is a complete waste, he doesn't even dare to challenge, that's why the Mo Clan has the upper hand, right?"
"What's the use of having a cute face? Will he be able to control the Insect Race with it in the future?"
"The Insect Race heir is too far behind the Mo Clan's heir, I really don't understand."
"I don't know what the Insect Race people see in this heir, they haven't abolished him yet."
"Tch, if the Insect Race hadn't used a backdoor, I doubt he could even get in here!"
...
Ye Mu clenched his fists, wishing he could punch all these people.
Luo Qi's hand rested on Ye Mu's, drawing his attention away from the forum posts, and he said:
"They're praising me for being cute."
Ye Mu: "?"
Luo Qi's cheeks suddenly flushed a little: "Even if they want to bash me, they can only bash me for not being on the rankings, for having bad grades, or something like that. No one has said I'm not good-looking!"
Ye Mu was amused and exasperated, not knowing what to say.
Luo Qi sighed: "Ah, haven't you realized yet? Someone is deliberately creating a narrative.
Even if some people notice me and Mo Jue because of our races or other reasons, they wouldn't be so one-sidedly targeting only me.
Mo Jue isn't the only one at the top of the rankings, and it's not just the Insect Race and the Mo Clan who have issues, is it?"
Ye Mu was startled and murmured: "Someone is doing this on purpose?"
He lowered his head and looked closely at the forum, realizing it was indeed the case. Some people had raised the same doubts as Luo Qi, but they were quickly drowned out by the overwhelming rhetoric inciting conflict between the Insect Race and the Mo Clan.
A large number of keywords, both overt and covert, featured Luo Qi and Mo Jue, the Insect Race and the Mo Clan, opposition, comparison, and so on, all designed to catch the eye.
Even if the students on the forum were gossipy, there weren't that many students in primary school who did nothing but monitor the forum to analyze, interpret, or simply complain every day.
These widely appearing keywords, easily influenced by a casual glance, were very effective in creating a narrative.
Even those who initially thought nothing of it might start to wonder if Luo Qi was scared, although many students already found climbing the rankings a waste of time and didn't want to bother.
Furthermore, the people posting these comments weren't entirely foolish. They would occasionally add a few comments purely praising Mo Jue, and some would also bring up the dynamic about Luo Qi's photo again.
One side was proof of strength, the other was a casual selfie. The result of the narrative was obvious.
Luo Qi looked at the frowning Ye Mu, stroking his brow. If this matter didn't involve Luo Qi, Ye Mu would have surely noticed something was wrong much earlier.
It was precisely because Ye Mu didn't want Luo Qi to suffer any harm or abuse that he completely overlooked these details.
Ye Mu understood, but he was still a little unhappy. Anyone who didn't know the truth and only saw these comments might be brainwashed.
Seeing Ye Mu, who had already figured things out, inexplicably get even angrier, Luo Qi was completely baffled. He rolled his eyes and gave a sly smile.
Luo Qi coughed lightly, quickly adjusting his expression, sniffled, and said: "Actually, I'm still a little sad. Do so many people really dislike me?"
Ye Mu's attention was indeed immediately diverted. He closed the terminal with one hand, frowned at Luo Qi, and offered somewhat flustered comfort:
"No, it's not like that, didn't you just say... Don't listen to their nonsense."
Luo Qi pretended to wipe his eyes and said softly: "I'm really upset right now. If I could skip homework today, maybe I'd feel a little better."
Ye Mu was stunned, then let out a cold laugh: "Classmate Luo Qi."
Luo Qi looked up eagerly: "Yes? What is it, what is it?"
Ye Mu: "It's not evening yet, don't dream."
Luo Qi: "..."
Luo Qi rested his chin on the table in disappointment, staring blankly. He had originally hoped to trick his way out of doing homework just once.
The dormitory suddenly fell silent. Ye Mu chuckled softly, knowing that Luo Qi had just been trying to get him to stop caring about the matter.
Seeing Luo Qi's disappointed expression, his heart softened: "Only for today, you don't have to do it."
Luo Qi almost jumped up: "Hooray!"
Ye Mu watched Luo Qi immediately toss aside his terminal and hug the cat, petting it vigorously. He smiled helplessly, then reopened his terminal.
Now that he understood it was deliberate manipulation, the culprit was obvious.
Mo Jue's actions were certainly not solely to provoke Ye Mu. This kind of widespread suspicion and abuse, if directed at anyone other than Luo Qi, would have certainly caused them to lash out. Challenging Mo Jue would be a minor issue; the greater fear would be having their mindset completely shattered.
What if they were brainwashed by those words and truly believed they were disliked by the Insect Race, or that they were not a qualified heir? That would be truly disastrous.
Seeing that Luo Qi was completely unaffected, Ye Mu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Luo Qi, who already felt he wasn't a qualified heir: "?"