Chapter 61: The Collapse of a Persona

The pinhole camera had been cleverly hidden, placed right in front of the locker, and camouflaged by a cute cartoon sticker. Even for students majoring in computer science, who were trained to notice small details, it would have been nearly impossible to detect the camera without careful inspection.

Clutching the tiny camera tightly in her hand, Gu Yicing stormed out of the classroom with determination.

The boys in the class erupted into whispers as soon as she left.

"She actually installed a pinhole camera in her own locker! Whoever did this is done for."

"Where do you think she's going now?"

"Who knows? Maybe she's going to hunt down the culprit."

A few curious boys trailed behind her, hoping to see what she would do next.

Gu Yicing left the classroom building alone, her actions unpredictable, leaving everyone guessing what her next move would be.

About ten minutes later, something unexpected happened.

Across the entire school, on every classroom's smart TV, and on the outdoor LED display of the multimedia building, a surveillance video began to play.

In the footage, a boy wearing a white hoodie was clearly seen. He had pulled his hood over his head, acting suspiciously as he rummaged through a locker. After a few moments of searching, he found Gu Yicing's white laptop. With a sinister grin, he tossed it to the ground, then stomped on it viciously. He didn't stop there. He picked it up again and smashed it against the desk multiple times, as if venting some deep-seated anger.

Satisfied with the destruction, he forcefully slammed the locker door shut, and the screen went black as the surveillance ended.

The timestamp of the video showed that the crime had taken place at 12:30 p.m., during lunchtime when the classroom was empty.

The footage played on a loop, continuously broadcasting in every classroom. It wasn't long before the identity of the boy in the hoodie was revealed.

He was Xu Cong, a top student from Class 2, well-known for his academic prowess in computer science. More notably, he was the bespectacled boy who had a quiet but unrequited crush on Gu Wenxuan.

At that very moment, the atmosphere in Class 2 was anything but ordinary.

As class time approached, the room was filled with students, all of whom had just witnessed Xu Cong's transformation from a quiet academic achiever to an unhinged, vengeful vandal.

His carefully crafted persona as a calm, intelligent student crumbled before everyone's eyes.

Students began whispering and pointing at him, their voices carrying judgment and disbelief.

"Oh my god, I never thought he'd be capable of something like this!"

"On the surface, he's a genius, but deep down, he's twisted. What did Gu Yicing ever do to him?"

"Pathetic… breaking into her locker and smashing her computer like that."

The flood of gossip and criticism was relentless, drowning him in a sea of condemnation.

Xu Cong hadn't anticipated that Gu Yicing would have installed a pinhole camera in her locker. Caught completely off guard, he found himself panicking, unable to face his classmates. Humiliated and desperate, he skipped class and rushed to find Gu Yicing in her classroom.

He knew that unless he apologized, that video would keep playing, exposing his actions to everyone.

In Class 1, Gu Yicing sat calmly at her desk, tapping her fingers rhythmically against the surface. She was waiting—waiting for someone to come to her and make things right.

A voice called from the doorway: "Gu Yicing, someone's here to see you."

A satisfied smile curled on her lips as she stood up and made her way to the door.

In the hallway outside, a breeze gently lifted the hem of her white dress as she stood with her arms crossed, looking down at the boy before her like a queen surveying her subjects. Cold and commanding, she asked, "So? Why did you do it? Was it all because of Gu Wenxuan?"

Xu Cong bit his lip before suddenly dropping to his knees in front of her with a thud. "No… no, it wasn't because of her. It was me. I found out that the IP address of the person who posted those comments online came from a nearby internet cafe. I spoke to the owner and got the surveillance footage from that day. I saw you there, and I realized… it was you who outsmarted me that day. I couldn't stand the thought of you being better than me. That's why I destroyed your computer out of spite."

Gu Yicing's cold gaze didn't soften in the slightest as Xu Cong confessed.