A few minutes later, the alcohol and a large platter of snacks they had ordered were served one after another. The group gathered around the table, sitting on the carpet as they took turns shaking the dice cup, ushering in the first round of penalties.
"Who got the lowest?"
Everyone simultaneously pointed their fingers at Jiang Wei.
Jiang Wei looked at the two ones in his hand, his brow twitching. He couldn't quite understand how his luck could be this abysmal.
"Come on, come on. Truth or Dare? Pick one," Xia Shan said, appearing to be the most excited person in the room. "Or if anyone wants to ask a specific question, go ahead."
Jiang Wei glanced around. Perhaps because it was the first round and they were all classmates, no one intended to put him on the spot with a custom question right away. He casually drew a card from the Truth pile.
"Omegas are exempt, but you're an Alpha. If you can't answer the question, you have to drink!"
Tang Zihe scanned the card in Jiang Wei's hand and read it aloud with perfect enunciation: "What is your ideal type?"
"Ooh—!"
"As expected of Brother Jiang! Starting off with something so spicy!"
"A total bombshell right out of the gate!"
Jiang Wei: "..."
Tang Wanbai gripped Yang Xiangtong’s hand, shaking it a few times as she waited expectantly for Jiang Wei’s answer.
Tang Zihe joined the rest of the group in locking his gaze onto Jiang Wei, though his hand resting on his lap tightened into a nervous fist.
Jiang Wei looked helplessly at the card. He truly hadn't expected his luck to be this poor.
"What are they like..." He suddenly chuckled, the image of a little boy who had loved clinging to his side since childhood involuntarily surfacing in his mind. "Well... they're very cute. I think they've always been cute, and they'll be cute forever."
"Wow—!"
Stars of envy practically twinkled in the eyes of Tang Wanbai and the other girls. What a perfect, full-score answer!
"This—this won't do! You have to describe their image in the eyes of the public. How are we supposed to narrow down the search with that?" a boy teased.
Jiang Wei seemed to be in a genuinely good mood and didn't feel like this was a trap the group was digging for him. After a moment of thought, he answered seriously, "I used to think he was a bit of a dork—very easy to trick and easy to coax. He has a particularly good temper, and he's very good-looking..."
He stopped there. The crowd waited for more, but they only saw Jiang Wei place the card back on the table. "I'm finished."
It seemed he hadn't failed to realize it was a trap; rather, he had chosen to slam on the brakes right before falling in, playing the whole group instead.
The players began sizing everyone up around the table, but they couldn't find anyone who fit the description. Xia Shan, in particular, carefully recalled his initial impressions of everyone present, only to reach one conclusion: he had probably never met this person.
For some reason, he looked at the fearless Jiang Wei, then at Tang Zihe, who was sitting beside him with his head down in silence. He suddenly realized that he might have been misinterpreting the relationship between these two all along. And... somehow... no matter how he looked at it, Brother Tang seemed... incredibly pitiful.
Tang Zihe himself—who had inexplicably become the lead in a heart-wrenching drama in Xia Shan's imagination—kept his head slightly lowered. He hadn't moved from that position since Jiang Wei finished speaking, appearing to be in a daze, or perhaps lost in thought.
"Is it someone present?" Tang Wanbai raised her hand to ask.
Jiang Wei winked at her and replied mischievously, "That's a second question. I can only say... why don't you guess?"
"Come on, next round."
Jiang Wei was the first to shake the dice, silently grumbling to himself: *I don't believe it. My luck can't possibly stay this bad, can it?*
Fortunately, he wasn't slapped in the face by reality in the second round.
This time, the "winner" was Tang Zihe.
However, his luck wasn't quite as catastrophic as Jiang Wei's. He rolled a one and a three—four points.
The group was racking their brains, trying to use this rare opportunity to find something provocative for their Academic God. But Tang Zihe didn't give them the chance, drawing a card directly from the Truth pile.
The roles were reversed. This time, Jiang Wei was the quick-handed one who grabbed the card and read the question: "If your first love is present, who is it?"
Jiang Wei's first thought was—it seemed this deck wasn't just unfriendly to him. This question was far more terrifying than the one he had drawn.
He was also curious. During the two years he was gone, had Tang Zihe taken the chance to crush on some little Omega... no, little Alpha?
But as he turned his head, just as a playful glint appeared in his eyes, his heart suddenly felt as though it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.
Tang Zihe's expression had stiffened for a split second when he heard the question. By the time Jiang Wei's gaze returned to him, he had already regained his composure.
Tang Zihe suddenly found the surrounding noise fading away. All that remained was his gaze meeting the other's directly. His brow furrowed slightly, his lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing. He pulled the card from Jiang Wei's hand, placed it on the table, and said bluntly, "How much do I drink?"
That feeling didn't vanish when Tang Zihe turned away. Jiang Wei inconspicuously thumped his chest lightly, cursing inwardly.
He felt that the look Tang Zihe had given him contained many things. Some he couldn't read, and others... he didn't dare to guess.
Suddenly, he also felt like having a drink.
The group was a bit intimidated by this display of intensity. At the same time, they belatedly realized that choosing to drink was essentially a default confirmation—their Academic God's first love was indeed among them.
A boy muttered in disbelief, "So the Academic God's first love really is..."
A girl next to him stomped hard on his foot to shut him up, laughing awkwardly. "Look at how ascetic the Academic God usually is. Maybe he just doesn't have a first love, so he can't answer and has to drink."
As soon as she said this, everyone felt it made a lot of sense—at least, it was much easier to accept than the idea that the Academic God's first love was right beside them.
Xia Shan braced himself to break the awkward atmosphere, opening a bottle of every color and flavor of cocktail available.
It turned out they had to be mixed.
Jiang Wei swallowed hard. Although each bottle probably tasted fine on its own, combined... he'd pass.
Various colored liquids were poured into the glass in front of Tang Zihe. Finally, Ding Banfan—that fearless, death-defying soul—somehow produced a glass stirring rod from nowhere and leaned over to stir it, ensuring the colors were fully blended.
Tang Zihe looked at the murky brown liquid in front of him. His face took on a strange hue that seemed to match the drink, but without a word, he tilted his head back and downed it.
Jiang Wei was absolutely certain that at least two people had just earned the honor of being placed on this young master's hit list.
The next few rounds weren't as "sharp" as those two. Perhaps the Truth cards had sufficiently demonstrated their horror, as several of the chosen students resolutely opted for Dares instead.
Xia Shan was currently giving a soulful performance of "Ren'ai Circulation"—this was the penalty he had just drawn. The player to his right, his "arch-nemesis" Tang Zihe, had been the one to designate the song.
However, given the current scene, aside from the chorus, it was less of a "performance" and more of a rhythmic humming—not a single note was on pitch.
Jiang Wei also drew a harmless tongue-twister challenge. Although his speaking speed was a bit slow, he managed to recite it without a single mistake.
But looking at the game as a whole, Jiang Wei was still the unluckiest one there.
He stared at the two ones he had just rolled again, falling into deep thought.
"Tell me, did I unknowingly commit some great sin in a past life?" Jiang Wei curled his lip, speaking with a hint of helplessness.
"That's what you get for talking nonsense all the time. It's karma," Tang Zihe said from beside him. He had opened a bottle of white peach cocktail for himself and was sipping it occasionally, sounding quite smug.
"No more Dares. I'll take a Truth." Jiang Wei rubbed his hands together, as if hoping to capture some luck from the air, before slowly reaching for the deck.
"Can I ask a question?"
A girl's voice rang out abruptly, drawing everyone's attention.
Fu Cong'an was sitting opposite them, her hand raised, looking at Jiang Wei with a smile.
"Of course." Jiang Wei smoothly withdrew his hand and returned the smile. "Ask away."
Usually, unless someone had a burning piece of gossip they wanted to uncover, they wouldn't choose to ask a custom question at a time like this.
Especially since Jiang Wei felt he wasn't that familiar with Fu Cong'an yet.
However, while others were cheering blindly because they didn't know the inside story, Tang Zihe silently gripped the phone in his pocket. His expression looked several shades worse than when he had drunk that mixed concoction.
If time were rewound to the moment Shen Yannan took out his phone at the amusement park, one would find that Lu Zisheng's so-called "meddling" referred exactly to the string of messages he had sent to Tang Zihe.
*Things are looking up: [Giving you a heads-up.]*
*Standout from the crowd: [Got it.]*
Fu Cong'an cleared her throat. Ignoring the looks everyone was giving her, she asked a question that seemed to come out of nowhere: "Do you agree?"
Despite knowing nothing, this riddle-like question was far too ambiguous. it was enough to make the spectating classmates spin a hundred different theories in their heads, and the way they looked at Jiang Wei gradually began to change.
Jiang Wei's hand on the table suddenly tightened, his fingers digging into his palm.
He hadn't expected this young girl, Fu Cong'an, to use this method to force his hand.
*Clink—*
The sound of glass hitting glass suddenly rang out on the table.
"Oh, sorry," Shen Yannan said, reaching for a bottle of wine and pouring it into his glass. The noise had clearly come from him. "Please, continue."
Jiang Wei's thoughts finally snapped back to reality thanks to the distraction. He smiled and looked at Fu Cong'an again. Their eyes met, and he slowly but firmly shook his head.
As if afraid she wouldn't understand his meaning, he added, "I don't agree."
Each word was deliberate and resonant.
***
**Glossary**
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 真心话大冒险 | Truth or Dare | A classic party game. |
| 学神 | Academic God | Slang for a student who is naturally brilliant and gets top grades effortlessly. |
| 满嘴跑火车 | Talking nonsense / Full of hot air | Idiom meaning to speak without thinking or to lie/exaggerate constantly. |
| 《恋爱循环》 | Ren'ai Circulation | A famous, very "moe" and cute anime opening song (Bakemonogatari). |
| 斩桃花 | Cut peach blossoms | To thwart romantic rivals or end unwanted romantic advances. |
| 欧皇 | European Emperor | Internet slang for someone with incredible luck (especially in RNG games). |
| 反向欧皇 | Reverse European Emperor | Someone with incredibly bad luck (the "King of Bad Luck"). |
