Dedicated to studying, yet forced into a chaotic situation.

Chapter 240 IF Line (3)

After a short rest, it was lunchtime. Everyone gathered for lunch, and the afternoon team-building activities officially began.

A hide-and-seek contest involving more than fifty people.

Shi Sui and Xu Chaomu made the arrest.

If you can't catch all the employees in 20 minutes, then all the employees will share a 50 yuan bonus!

Shi Sui asked expectantly, "Xu Chaomu, what if we could catch everyone?"

Xu Chaomu: "We won."

"Just winning?" Shi Sui tilted her head. "A purely psychological reward?"

Xu Chaomu slowly nodded, then immediately looked back and asked, "What kind of material reward do you want?"

“For example—” Shi Sui glanced at the employees around her, “For example, making them go hungry at night and watch you eat with me!”

Employee: It's alright, it's alright. If we lose, we'll just go hungry for one meal, but if we win, we'll get 50!

—And you can also see Sister Sui and Brother Xu showing their affection, it's a total win!

Xu Chaomu: "Okay."

Shi Sui: "You're not finished yet!"

Xu Chaomu: "Hmm?"

Shi Sui's eyes sparkled: "They're going to each perform a talent while we're eating!"

Leopard immediately raised his megaphone and shouted loudly, "Hide and seek begins! Hide and seek begins!"

The employees scattered like wild horses.

Shi Sui looked at the empty space in front of her, which had been cleared up in an instant, and asked in confusion, "Is performing a show difficult?"

Xu Chaomu thought for a moment, then looked at her and suddenly smiled: "It's not difficult to skip a meal."

Shi Sui wholeheartedly agreed and gave him a high five: "Eating is the most important thing!"

The warmth of our hands blended together, dissipating upon contact.

Xu Chaomu then saw the girl withdraw her hand, run to the door, peek through the crack in the door, and turn back with a dejected look on her face: "I can't see anything."

The hiding begins.

Many people prepared props in advance: camouflage clothing to blend into the grass, huge trash cans, and a full set of props to play the role of a cleaner...

Some people even borrowed shovels from resort staff, intending to bury themselves in the ground.

I'll pay any price for 50!

As the countdown bell rang, the hiding time ended, and Shi Sui and Xu Chaomu set off from the waiting area.

The resort, which was filled with laughter and joy just ten minutes ago, has now become a ghost town.

The air was fresh, and everything was green, but there wasn't a soul in sight.

Shi Sui exclaimed, "(⊙o⊙) Wow, they're really good at hiding!"

She looked at Xu Chaomu and asked, "Should we search separately or together?"

"It would be more efficient to search together, but this is my first time here, and I might get lost."

He spoke so earnestly that no one could doubt the truthfulness of his words.

Shi Sui blinked and smiled: "Then let's look for it together. Um, I have no sense of direction."

Despite being terrible with directions, the two seemed to have a GPS tracking system installed, finding people incredibly quickly.

Looking down, he saw: "The two of you in camouflage hiding in the bushes, you can come out now."

Looking up, he asked, "Jiang Ming, are you born in the Year of the Monkey? How did you climb up there? Was the view from up there nice?"

He rummaged through the trash can and said, "I'm sorry to have troubled you."

A glance to the side: "No need to dress up as a cleaner, really, no cleaner wears Air Jordans."

"..."

In less than ten minutes, more than forty employees sat in a row in the elimination area, all expressing their feelings:

"Brother Xu is too good. If I hadn't confirmed that this was his first time at the resort, I would have suspected that he had scouted the place beforehand."

"A man with GPS navigation installed in his brain can create images in his brain as long as he looks at all the maps."

The man who had just entered the elimination zone wearing a garbage bag exclaimed, "Ahhh, I can still get caught even when I'm hiding in a trash can! Sister Sui is way too strong!"

"What are you? I was wearing a diving suit and hiding under the bridge with my head completely hidden, and Sister Sui still found me."

"These two are like a bug in the game; one of them must be banned."

"..."

Watching my colleagues gradually enter the elimination zone, I counted their heads: "Are there any of us who haven't been caught yet?"

Jiang Ming clasped his hands together and replied during a pause in his prayer, "Brother Leopard is still alive."

Where is he hiding?

At this moment, Leopard's body was buried under the dry soil, covered with some grass to disguise its natural environment, with only two nostrils exposed for breathing.

As footsteps drew closer, Leopard held his breath and focused intently.

Silently praying that they wouldn't be discovered.

Good, the footsteps have faded into the distance.

But after only catching my breath twice—

The footsteps are coming again!

"We're only missing Brother Leopard, right?" He recognized Shi Sui's voice.

“Yes, I have a feeling he’s nearby.” Xu Chaomu.

"Let's search around here then. We'll definitely find him in eight minutes."

"That piece of land is a bit uneven."

"Yes, it seems a bit strange."

Leopard's heart leaped into his throat.

“But who would bury themselves in the ground? That’s too much to sacrifice for a game.” Shi Sui laughed. “Let’s go take a look over there.”

Leopard: Waaah, Xiao Sui understands him best. He sacrificed so much.

If they don't leave soon, he's going to jump up and explode because his heart is beating so fast he can't breathe!

Shi Sui pulled Xu Chaomu's arm and whispered, "You also noticed that Brother Leopard was hiding in the ground, right?"

The girl's eyes crinkled with laughter, her pupils were dark and bright, and her smile was incredibly mischievous.

Xu Chaomu nodded: "You dragged me through that area three times, it was hard not to notice."

After a half-second pause, he chuckled softly: "You just kicked a small stone, did that on purpose?"

"I kicked him lightly, just to scare him a little."

“You even shook the leaves down.”

“Make some noise, otherwise he’ll win too easily.” Shi Sui tilted her head. “Well, it wasn’t easy for him to bury himself in the ground.”

Xu Chaomu: "Win?"

“Yes.” Shi Sui looked up to meet his gaze, her eyes curving into crescents. “Isn’t that what you think? Team building is supposed to be about letting them have fun and winning.”

That's not what he thought.

He just wanted her to be happy.

Xu Chaomu lowered her eyelashes slightly, her expression gentle: "Then are you happy?"

"I'm so happy!" Shi Sui replied without hesitation. "We've been planning this for so long, and finally I have time to come and have fun with everyone. The scenery is beautiful, the food is delicious, and the games are really fun—"

Shi Sui's eyes darted around, and she blinked, saying, "Next time, let's hide and let them come looking for us, shall we?"

"can."

There is an open-air fish spa nearby, with shallow pools paved with blue gradient mosaic tiles, filled with schools of small fish.

Sunlight shines down, making the water surface shimmer.

Shi Sui was immediately drawn in and pulled Xu Chaomu over, reading aloud from the informational sign: "The toothless starfish, these little fish don't bite. They're like beauticians in the water, nibbling away at the stratum corneum on people's skin..."

She turned to Xu Chaomu and asked, "Have you ever tried fish therapy?"

The girl's eyes sparkled, overflowing with novelty and anticipation, which was immediately apparent and highly infectious, making one unable to resist joining in the curiosity.

Xu Chaomu shook her head: "I haven't tried it before, but I'd like to give it a try."

"Uh-huh."

Shi Sui immediately pulled Xu Chaomu to sit on the edge of the pool, took off her shoes and socks, and eagerly put her feet into the water.

Suddenly, a school of small fish swam over.

Almost immediately, Shi Sui trembled and pulled her foot back.

Water splashed up, and as if startled, the girl lost her balance and dodged backward.

Xu Chaomu reached out and supported her back: "What's wrong?"

"It's so itchy."

The girl blinked her big, bright eyes at him, looking completely innocent.

Her voice was also soft and sweet.

Xu Chaomu's heart skipped a beat, then began to pound faster.

He withdrew his gaze from hers, lowered his eyes, and his gaze unconsciously fell on the girl's feet resting on the edge of the pool, her fair toes slightly curled.

Xu Chaomu's voice became slightly hoarse: "Do you still want fish therapy?"

"Yes!" Shi Sui took a deep breath. "I was a little scared because I wasn't prepared. Now I'm mentally prepared and I'm not ticklish anymore."

After saying that, Shi Sui stuck her feet out of the pool again.

The school of small fish quickly swam over.

The tingling, itchy feeling made Shi Sui bite her lip to suppress the urge to pull her foot back. After a while, she got used to it.

"How does it feel?" Xu Chaomu asked.

"It feels a little bit pulling, tingly and itchy." Shi Sui turned her head to look at him, and the two looked at each other. "Want to try it?"

"Okay, I'll give it a try." Xu Chaomu.

Shi Sui then saw that he had taken off his shoes and socks.

His feet were the same cool white as his skin, fair and delicate, and his ankles were very slender...

Shi Sui paused for a moment, then turned her head to look at his hand resting on the edge of the pool.

Actually, just by looking at Xu Chaomu's hands, you can tell that his feet must be beautiful too.

Suddenly feeling a warmth rise in her heart, Shi Sui slowly withdrew her gaze and asked, as if trying to shift her attention, "How are you feeling?"

"It's a little itchy."

Shi Sui nodded slightly, her attention wandering again.

The shadows of the trees swayed, and the sunlight gently filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow.

The boy's body was mostly covered by the shadows of the trees.

The girl beside her was not shaded by any tree shadows; her whole body was bathed in warm light.

……

The image of the tree separates them into two worlds.

Shi Sui waded into the water and gently poked him: "Xu Chaomu, come sit over here, you can get some sun here."

The fish scattered and then gathered again, and the electric-like tingling sensation on the back of my foot was fleeting.

Xu Chaomu's breath hitched slightly, and she softly said "okay".

He slowly moved closer, so close that if he moved even slightly, his shoulder would touch his.

The sunlight fell entirely on him, carrying her scent.

Shi Sui looked at the little fish swimming around in the pond and said, as if for no reason, "Time flies so fast. I didn't expect to graduate so soon."

"Brother Leopard's little scheme, oh right, and Jiang Ming too, when they were assigning rooms, what they were thinking was all too obvious."

"And the game design is the same; we need to be tied together."

"So now is perfect, it's just the two of us here."

After saying that, Shi Sui tilted her head and looked at Xu Chaomu, smiling innocently as she asked, "Xu Chaomu, do I look like someone who is slow-witted and easy to fool?"

She may look innocent, but she is not innocent at all.

The hidden undercurrents are becoming increasingly apparent.

Xu Chaomu's throat tightened slightly, and her Adam's apple bobbed up and down involuntarily.

Unspoken feelings become clearer and harder to control as they settle.

It turns out that when Brother Leopard said "Don't overthink it," it was because he dared not overthink it.

Xu Chaomu looked at her.

The lush green branches swayed gently in the breeze, the cicadas' chirping and birdsong gradually faded, and the little fish in the pond simply wagged their tails quietly...

The sunlight gently streamed into those clear, bright eyes.

The boy's expression was focused, his eyes fixed on only one person.

"Shi Sui, I don't want to be just friends anymore, I like you."

“I’m not so oblivious that the whole world knows—” Shi Sui paused slightly, then smiled as she heard what he said. “I know, the whole world knows you like me, and I like you too.”

Language is the most deceptive thing.

But you can't hide the look in someone's eyes when you like them.

The boy's bright eyes were overflowing with love; just looking at her, you could tell how much he wanted to sleep with her.

So he did.

Love is the moment when you turn from darkness to light, a moment when you feel inferior.