Peach-Orange! – Chapter 278 – Possessiveness Outweighs Affection

[Ordinary Favorability Toward Host: 99 (She has completely regarded you as the most important person in her life)]

[Romantic Favorability Toward Host: 75→79 (Because of your memory loss, she has increasingly realized that you are the one she truly cares about. In this state of diminished rationality, her thought process has become more simplistic. Every instance of you “leaving” becomes unbearable for her, leading her to mistakenly believe she is falling deeper in love with you. This affection is obsessive and distorted, yet she forces herself to meet the threshold of what she considers “love.” She has developed an unshakable determination to be with you, even confronting and attempting to surpass societal norms regarding your genders. This twisted love is not conventional romance. Continuing down this path will make further increases in this value exponentially more difficult.)]

[Possessive Favorability Toward Host: 69→80 (The sense of threat from Fang Ning, Dongfang Yang, and Si Chen has forced her to stop running away. The failure to restore your memories has made her face reality. She understands that if she doesn’t hold onto you, someone else might take you away. Pressure and crisis have made her impatient. With her rationality diminished, she can no longer think clearly. Subconsciously, she now prioritizes possessing you and eliminating threats over simply loving you. In her mind, the desire to “reclaim” you has surpassed the wish for you to love her again. To achieve this, she will begin employing underhanded and obsessive methods.)]

Eighty is a threshold. Once crossed, it marks a new stage. And the higher the value climbs, the harder it becomes to increase further.

All the recent friction with Su Tao hadn’t been for nothing. Her possessiveness had finally overtaken her affection.

A little obsessive, but not yet pathological.

In the past, Chi Xiaocheng might have stopped here. But after some thought, she decided to push Su Tao a little further.

The system’s values made it clear: 100 was full-blown yandere.

And the difficulty of raising it would only increase from here. At 90 points, Tao-Tao would be slightly pathological yet utterly fixated on her. That would be the sweet spot.

Chi Xiaocheng felt that her own “pretend yandere” act had peaked around 90 points. Right now, Su Tao was a little unstable, occasionally losing control, but her rationality was still intact.

Converting that….

“My possessiveness toward Tao-Tao is probably around 75 points?”

She wasn’t entirely sure. Self-assessments always had minor discrepancies, after all. So she asked the system directly, “System, what do you think my possessiveness toward Tao-Tao is?”

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[Uh… 75?]

“Seems we’re on the same page. But constantly pressuring Tao-Tao isn’t sustainable. Now that she’s hit 80, I should give her some rewards when she takes initiative.”

She had genuinely worried Su Tao might snap and quit. Excessive pressure clearly wasn’t the way.

So then—

“System, buy another stress-relief sachet.”

[1000 emotional points deducted.]

This should help Tao-Tao relax a little, right?

A smile curled at Chi Xiaocheng’s lips as she pulled out her phone. She was still in “memory loss” mode. The act had to continue.

So she opened her chat with Dongfang Yang.

“Hey, Dongfang Yang, got a minute? There’s something I want to talk to you about.”

At noon, Dongfang Yang, still lounging in his Beijing bedroom while duo-queueing with Qian Qing, suddenly saw a notification pop up from a contact named “Little Fool.”

He jolted upright like a carp leaping from water. “Holy shit, it’s happening!”

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Over the headset, Qian Qing’s confused voice came through. “What’s all the yelling about? Also, we’re teamfighting! Don’t you dare slack off!”

“Teamfight? Screw that, I gotta go AFK. This is an actual emergency. Qian Qing, I’ll explain later.”

He disconnected, but after a moment’s thought, going AFK seemed too extreme. Since the message didn’t seem urgent, he reconnected. “Actually, let’s finish this. I’ll just pretend I didn’t see it.”

Assuming it was some family matter, Qian Qing tactically avoided prying. After securing a clean teamfight victory, he voluntarily left the call.

Only after securing the win did Dongfang Yang finally check Chi Xiaocheng’s message.

“Right after New Year’s, right after getting my gift, she asks if I’m free and says she has something to tell me….”

His eyes widened. “Don’t tell me… Chi Xiaocheng is about to confess to me?!”

Uncertain how to respond, he immediately called his bro Si Chen for advice.

Si Chen’s unamused voice came through. “It’s noon on New Year’s Day. Shouldn’t you be socializing? Why are you calling me?”

Ignoring the sarcasm, Dongfang Yang took a deep breath. “Si Chen, I need to tell you something. Don’t freak out, just analyze it for me.”

“Go on.”

“Chi Xiaocheng… might be about to confess to me!”

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Si Chen: “?”

Si Chen: “Dumbass.”

Click. The call ended abruptly.

Dongfang Yang scratched his head. “Is Si Chen just jealous of me? Why’d he hang up like that?”

With no backup, he had no choice but to face this alone. Anticipating a potential video call, he quickly changed into a crisp white shirt that accentuated his physique, then cautiously replied:

“Here.”

Then, he braced for impact.

His mind raced with scenarios: ‘If she really confesses, should I accept? If I do, what about Su Tao, who also likes me? Would their sisterly bond shatter because of me?!’

But after the initial panic, he realized he’d jumped the gun. Chi Xiaocheng wasn’t confessing.

Xiaocheng: “Since this morning, Sister Su Tao has been acting really weird.”

Dongfang Yang sighed, whether from relief or disappointment, even he wasn’t sure.

“How so? Maybe it’s a misunderstanding?”

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Xiaocheng: “No way. This morning, she started talking about me getting hit by a car, attempting suicide, almost dying, and even said stuff like she loved me or confessed to me. It’s super bizarre!”

Xiaocheng: “I think Sister Su Tao might have mental issues. Dongfang Yang, could you get her a psychologist or something?”

Reading this, Dongfang Yang sighed again. “Chi Xiaocheng’s memory disorder is getting worse. It’s not Su Tao who’s unstable, it’s her!”

‘Su Tao treats you like a little sister and has a crush on me. Why would she confess to you?’

After mentally facepalming, he realized the gravity of the situation.

The problem wasn’t Su Tao. It was Chi Xiaocheng, his conversation partner.

He never expected her memory distortion to worsen like this. Now, restoring her memories would be even harder.

For now, he had to keep playing along, making sure to not let her catch on that something was wrong.

Then, he could—

Mid-thought, another message arrived. This one shocked him even more.

And it was from Su Tao.