Peach-Orange! – Chapter 143 – I Think… I Might Be a Yandere

Long Mian, the manager of the snack store.

Ma Jicheng, Su Tao’s academic advisor.

As Chi Xiaocheng walked down the street, these two names repeated in her mind.

She knew the early plot of the original story, so she was well aware of the pressure these two put on Su Tao.

The former constantly bullied Su Tao at work: deducting her pay, assigning her heavy workloads, all to set up a “hero saves the beauty” moment for Ye Liang to show off.

The latter, as Su Tao’s advisor, had recognized her exceptional writing talent early on. He then manipulated her into writing papers under the guise of “paving her academic future,” only to publish them under his own name, leaving Su Tao with nothing.

These two characters existed solely to torment readers, torment Su Tao, and give Ye Liang opportunities to play the hero.

Chi Xiaocheng had wanted to deal with them for a long time.

But she’d been tied up with other matters and lacked a proper excuse.

She couldn’t solve these annoying problems directly, but if she got rid of the people causing them, wouldn’t the problems disappear?

‘Who gave them the right to bully my Tao-Tao?’

Stepping out of the elevator, Chi Xiaocheng called Si Chen.

“Hello? Chi Xiaocheng? What’s up?”

“Send some people to wait for me at the school gate.”

“Why do you need my men?”

“To resolve a conflict.”

“???”

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She hung up.

The moment she stepped out of the apartment complex, her Alertness skill suddenly activated. Someone was watching her.

Was it Ye Liang?

Or was it Lin Fangya, targeting Su Tao?

Chi Xiaocheng immediately checked the System Shop.

Her fake suicide and the past two days had netted her 3,466 Emotion Points from Su Tao and others.

If Su Tao hadn’t already built up such strong emotional resilience, she could’ve earned even more.

Even after spending hundreds on preparations and burning through points for medicine, she still had 2,687 left.

A single Substitute Straw Doll wasn’t enough for self-defense.

Walking back into the complex, Chi Xiaocheng pretended to make a call from a pavilion.

In reality, she spoke to the System.

“Do a 10-pull for me, System.”

[Host, you could also spend points in the shop for specific items. In your current darkened state, you don’t need to fear most dangers.]

“System, what are you talking about? How could I—”

She froze mid-sentence.

Staring at her delicate palm, she fell silent.

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“…So I’m in a darkened state right now?”

The realization hit her like a bucket of cold water.

She hadn’t activated her Acting skill.

These past few days, she hadn’t even thought about whether she was acting like a yandere or not. She’d simply followed her instincts, keeping Su Tao at home, protecting her, possessing her…

…believing that, given time, Su Tao might grow to like her.

She’d even convinced herself that constantly using expensive System medicine to replenish her vitamin C then feeding Su Tao “orange juice” was normal.

Because so many times, it was the only way Su Tao would pay attention to her.

‘Did Dark Xiaocheng turn me into this?’

‘Or was it that night in the bathtub, when I was so scared, I started craving Tao-Tao’s everything?’

Back then, feeling her life slipping away, she’d truly believed she might die. But remembering it was all part of the fake-suicide plan and thinking of Su Tao had kept her going.

Yet in the end, she’d still lost consciousness, whispering Tao-Tao’s name.

She’d even regretted the plan.

So did that experience change me?

Or….

“Was I always a yandere?!”

Chi Xiaocheng stood stunned until a glint of reflected sunlight snapped her back to reality.

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She could rationally analyze her past behavior. But once something angered her, that rationality faded.

After a long silence, she finally said, “Do the 10-pull.”

[Understood, Host.]

[10-pull in progress….]

[Obtained: High-Efficiency Vitamin C Pills ×5 (Low on orange juice? Replenishing vitamin C makes sense, right?)]

[Obtained: Sedative ×1 (Quickly calms a person’s emotions)]

[Obtained: Stress-Relief Pills ×2 (Take before bed. Guarantees 8 hours of dreamless sleep, relieving stress and fatigue)]

[Congratulations! Host has obtained Intermediate Skill: Potential Surge] [Potential Surge (Intermediate): Passive skill. When the host strongly desires to perform an action, their potential will explosively activate for an instant. At maximum output, even bullet-dodging is possible. After use, host will be weakened for 10 minutes.]

[Congratulations! Host has obtained Intermediate Skill: Precise Scalpel] [Precise Scalpel (Intermediate): When using bladed weapons, host gains supernatural knife mastery. Every cut lands with near-perfect accuracy.]

Two skills and no useless items!

Most importantly, Chi Xiaocheng had gotten exactly what she wanted: a self-defense skill and an offensive skill!

Though Potential Surge was an unstable passive, combined with Alertness, dodging bullets wouldn’t be hard.

And it synergized perfectly with Precise Scalpel.

Darkened State + Scalpel + Potential Surge.

‘Could even 10 Si Chens take me on now?’

Pulling the fruit knife from her pocket, Chi Xiaocheng flicked her wrist. The blade spun in a smooth, beautiful arc.

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She felt like a martial arts master, capable of carving an apple into a Chinese knot blindfolded.

The new skills eased her anxiety.

“System… thank you.”

[Host just got lucky. It’s not like I did anything.]

[Also, Host, you might think I’m overstepping, but I have to say, in your current state, it’ll be hard to make Su Tao like you.]

Chi Xiaocheng raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you the Villain System?”

[I am, but our enemies are Ye Liang and his group! Tao-Tao’s so pitiful, wuwuwu….]

Chi Xiaocheng looked up at the clear sky and fell silent again.

“But… does Tao-Tao even like me?” she murmured, her eyes dimming. “If I didn’t use ‘orange juice,’ if I weren’t like before… would she still stay with me?”

The System had no answer.

When she’d been obedient, Su Tao brushed her off.

Because an obedient Chi Xiaocheng was “safe,” Su Tao had gone to her fiancé, even lying about the engagement at the hospital.

Now that she’d stopped being obedient, now that she’d become unhinged, Su Tao was afraid.

‘So what do I have to do to make her like me?’

“…Or can she even like me at all?”