My Boyfriend is the Heartthrob, and I’m Just a Passerby.

Wen Yuhe was stunned when he saw the person in front of him.

However, he chose not to press further and waited patiently for an answer. His gaze silently fell on Ye Jishu’s face.

“… ”

Up close, Wen Yuhe realized that Ye Jishu’s face was actually the type he liked.

Why had he never noticed this before?

If they were in the same school—

Such a person would be impossible to overlook.

Was it because he had been completely overshadowed by those around him?

Yet, this was a face with such perfect proportions.

Wen Yuhe’s eyes gradually filled with obsession.

…

Since his parents were renowned doctors in a top-tier hospital, they had cultivated an academic atmosphere by decorating the walls of his room with anatomical charts. These included images of dissected bodies, faces stripped of skin, and diagrams of the brain with sections removed—marked with academic labels like product tags, making the images even more enticing.

At night, lying alone in bed, those fleshy images seemed to crawl towards him, like affectionate, drooling pets nudging against him, giving rise to a disturbing sense of “life is good.”

How nice.

Flesh, bloodstains.

Human tissues, how nice.

Throughout the sweltering, sweaty days of puberty, even when his shirt clung to his body like a second skin, he could smile peacefully at the posters covering the room. His parents would praise him as a “gifted child” and “their pride” for his ability to smile continuously.

When he first saw Yan Mei, he knew it was the most perfect face he had ever seen.

But now—

Wen Yuhe stared at Ye Jishu’s face, and suddenly said, “Why is there a mole on the bridge of your nose?”

Ye Jishu: “?”

Upon hearing this, Wen Yuhe seemed to snap back to reality and quickly apologized, “Sorry, I got distracted for a moment. About the contact information—could you consider it? I won’t message you indiscriminately or disturb you.”

“No,” Ye Jishu declined.

He neither wanted nor had the patience to get to know more people, especially when the other person could be considered a “rival” by definition. Although Wen Yuhe seemed nice based on their brief interaction, there was no reason to exchange contact information.

Ye Jishu only wanted to lead a quiet university life, focusing on internships in junior year, finding a high-paying job in senior year, and repeating the routine day by day.

But now, this standard has changed.

As long as he was in a relationship with Yan Mei, his life could never be considered ordinary.

Everything had been disrupted since the day he met Yan Mei.

“Oh, I see.” Wen Yuhe said, still smiling. “I understand your point.”

He did not persist, maintaining his polite smile, which felt refreshing even in the hot summer.

“…”

Ye Jishu sensed a subtle pressure.

This retreat-and-advance tactic made him feel that refusing to give his contact information might seem overly harsh.

His impression of Wen Yuhe was actually quite good.

So, he hesitated and began, “Actually, it’s not that I can’t—”

“No.”

The person who had been resting on his shoulder suddenly looked up and turned to face Wen Yuhe.

Their gazes met in midair.

Wen Yuhe’s pupils constricted.

Thud—!

A sensation of heart-stopping fear pressed in from all directions, a thick, suffocating darkness he had never experienced before.

Was the presence before him… a [same kind]?

But no, that couldn’t be. Someone who could conceal their presence couldn’t be  [The Source of Infection].

If it were possible, he wouldn’t have to avoid those guys with such effort.

But what was it…? What was it?!

A heaviness settled in his stomach.

His brain felt squeezed, as if he wanted to vomit.

Wen Yuhe lowered his head, his hair obscuring his distorted expression.

His eyes widened uncontrollably, the muscles around his eyes twitching, the pain radiating from his cheeks to his neck.

His body felt like a lump of rotting flesh.

The nerves in his fingers ached violently; he could barely lift his arm.

He wanted to do more but was utterly immobilized…

Wen Yuhe stood there even after Ye Jishu and Yan Mei had left, staring at his open fingers, his pupils wide as if they might fall out.

That look earlier—

It clearly said, “This is mine.”

A cold, piercing sensation gripped his heart.

Amidst the rustling of the grass and the chirping of insects, his once-refreshing face was gradually overshadowed by a rigid, eerie fear.

…

The two walked side by side in silence.

However, unlike before, the atmosphere was not heavy but rather relaxed.

Soon, they arrived at the dormitory building where Yan Mei lived.

Ye Jishu looked at the person before him.

“Head back,” he said. “Remember to go to bed early.”

Yan Mei murmured an “Mm” but did not turn to leave. Instead, he stood facing Ye Jishu for a moment, then suddenly reached out and gently took both of Ye Jishu’s hands. Bowing his head, his slightly long black hair fell to cover his face, obscuring his expression.

The school was renowned for its greenery.

Thus, dense, almost black foliage was planted around the dormitory building.

Even the leaves rustled softly in the breeze, and the chirps of cicadas and the buzzing of unknown insects filled the air.

The air felt moist around them as they breathed.

The hands gripping Ye Jishu’s were warm but conveyed a chill.

“Is something wrong?” Ye Jishu asked.

“Jishu, do you like your current life?”

The cicada sounds buzzed.

The person before him spoke in a low voice.

“As for me, I can’t live without you.”

“No matter what happens, as long as you see only me and hear only my voice, as long as I can cling to you like now and you don’t leave me, it’s enough. I can live this way.”

Even if others didn’t understand.

He openly admitted that Ye Jishu was his [everything].

“Because you’re special, those people might come looking for you. But I don’t want you to see anything disgusting except me, so I didn’t directly disassemble that person who dared to talk to you.”

There was a chilling undertone in his words.

“…What?”

Ye Jishu doubted he had heard the last part correctly.

But the other person continued to mutter to himself.

“But I’m also disgusting. You’d probably hate me if you saw my [inside].”

The grip on his hands tightened slightly.

Ye Jishu felt a sharp pain in his knuckles, likely leaving bruises.

“You… aren’t disgusting.”

The tightening of the grip stopped.

Hearing this, the person opposite him seemed taken aback and then quickly looked up.

“You’re not disgusting at all.”

On the contrary.

Ye Jishu had never seen a person as perfect as him.

And in this world, there probably wasn’t anyone who would find Yan Mei disgusting.

“Really?”

“There are many people who like you.”

Isn’t that enough to prove it?

The wind stirred his hair.

The rustling sound returned overhead.

The other person gazed at Ye Jishu’s face.

A few seconds later, he smiled gently at Ye Jishu, his deep, black eyes seemingly devoid of any reflected light.

“…Ah, is that so?”

He murmured softly.

“Then let’s make a promise. You mustn’t dislike me… Otherwise, I don’t know what I’ll do. As long as you like me as I am now, I’ll do anything to maintain this situation…”

Although it was a usual display of affection, for some reason, Ye Jishu felt a chill creeping up from their clasped hands. The sensation of sticky, entangling something made his cheeks and neck tingle, as if something clammy was wrapping around him.

Even in the night’s stifling heat, a penetrating coldness was spreading to his core.

…

Ye Jishu was playing on his phone.

Walking while playing on the phone was a bad habit.

But since he was alone walking back, it didn’t matter; it was just a way to pass the time.

The game emitted “ping-pong” sound effects.

In the narrow night road, his shadow stretched long under the moonlight, with only his figure visible.

The game was too easy.

Since he could quickly grasp any game, he easily grew bored.

He didn’t even need to concentrate.

His scores had already reached the highest.

While playing the game and daydreaming, an idea suddenly popped into his head.

Ye Jishu needed the scholarship from the mathematical modeling competition. Without it, he might have to find a part-time job to cover his daily expenses before the end of the semester.

…So troublesome.

Ye Jishu minimized the game and opened the school forum.

Generally, if there were any new updates, someone would post about it. He just needed to watch for keywords.

As he scanned the forum’s main page, a few trending posts caught his eye:

[Does anyone know what happened with Chen Heming?]

[I saw intestines for the first time today…]

[Damn, an ambulance was called. What’s going on? Can anyone explain?!]

A familiar face flashed in Ye Jishu’s mind.

…Chen Heming.

That was the name of the rich second-generation kid by the lake.

He had deliberately knocked the pink octopus charm off Chen Heming’s phone to engage with Yan Mei. After the dispute, he left with Yan Mei. Just before they left, he glanced back and saw Chen Heming in a strange state.

His neck was slack, his head drooped.

His eyes were hollow and lifeless, staring blankly with an abnormal pupil tremor.

Ye Jishu refocused and looked at the words on his phone screen again.

Intestines.

Ambulance.

What happened?

Had he been hit by a car?

Or was there a violent incident on campus?

But his intuition told him—

No, it wasn’t like that.

This was a typical campus romance novel; it couldn’t have a bloody incident.

So what was going on?

Feeling inexplicably anxious, Ye Jishu clicked on the first post.

[This afternoon, I saw someone repeatedly jumping into the artificial lake. Is this true? They say water kept pouring into his throat, and his body was about to bloat like a giant. So disgusting. His skin was stretched and his intestines were exposed… Am I watching a horror film?]

The phone screen emitted a soft blue light from the eye protection mode.

The distorted words were hard to connect immediately.

What is this?

He intended to continue reading when suddenly—

He heard an unfamiliar voice in front of him.

“Ye Jishu—is that right?”

Ye Jishu paused his phone. He looked up and met a pair of probing eyes.

The person speaking stood not far from him.

The person wore a uniform, and his expression was unusually serious.

“Sorry to bother you. My name is Lin Lin. I’m handling an ongoing homicide investigation,” the person said steadily. “I have a few questions to ask you. Do you have time now?”