Ji Yan possessed the reckless, unbridled temperament of a “Mad Dog” who looked down on everyone. Only someone like Lu Zhou would dare to playfully tweak her nose time and time again.
But even a “Smiling Tiger” had her limits. The two were currently at each other’s throats, neither willing to yield an inch.
One sneered at the other’s messy lifestyle, accusing her of targeting Xu Yinian just to spite her. “You’re only squatting in my house so you can watch me devour Xu Yinian firsthand, aren’t you? Does the thought of being a cuckold get you off that much?”
The other shot back with a biting remark about Ji Yan’s morbid mommy issues. “Oh, please. How could I ever compare to you? You’re the pervert who secretly cries out for ‘Mommy’ when you’re about to peak!”
Their venomous smirks froze instantly when a faint knocking sounded from the front door.
…The response was faster than they had anticipated.
Fearing that Xu Yinian’s soft heart would lead her to open the door for Shen Ruoshuang, Ji Yan stormed out of the bedroom immediately.
The living room was eerily quiet, looking exactly as it had before they retreated to argue. Except for one thing: the obedient figure who had been sitting quietly on the sofa, trying her best to blend into the furniture, was gone.
“Are you that afraid I’ll let her in?”
Ji Yan’s heart skipped a beat, a cold sense of dread washing over her.
Ignoring Lu Zhou’s persistent teasing behind her, she strode across the room. She found the bathroom door slightly ajar. The apartment wasn’t large; a single glance was enough to confirm the truth.
Xu Yinian was nowhere to be found.
The knocking at the door continued, relentless and persistent.
Shen Ruoshuang!
The mockery Ji Yan had felt earlier vanished, replaced by simmering rage. She hadn’t even settled the score for being “cuckolded” right in front of her face yesterday, and now the person she had finally cornered—the prize she was about to taste—had somehow vanished into thin air?
Her face darkened with a brooding, irrational fury. She yanked the door open, ready to snatch Yinian back.
However, only Shen Ruoshuang stood in the hallway.
The lines of Ruoshuang’s flawless face were taut, her expression as cold as frost. She looked right past the bristling, hostile Ji Yan into the depths of the apartment.
“What are you playing at, Shen?” Ji Yan’s eyes were dark and cold as she glared at her rival. “Where is Xu Yinian?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Shen Ruoshuang replied.
When she spotted Lu Zhou behind Ji Yan, her face looking equally sour, Ruoshuang realized that Yinian had truly escaped. Without another word to the two women, she lowered her gaze and immediately initiated a video call to Xu Yinian.
She glanced at the time: 11:03 PM. Curfew had already passed.
Her mentor had suddenly decided to change the schedule for tomorrow’s lecture, and her research group hadn’t rested since noon. This was all because Shen Yi had inexplicably agreed to the mentor’s special invitation.
Thinking of this, a strange light flickered in Ruoshuang’s peach-blossom eyes. Whether economically or academically, she remained firmly under Shen Yi’s control. And yet, she remained completely in the dark regarding the true purpose behind her mother’s unusual behavior.
Despite leaving as early as possible, it had taken time to track down Ji Yan’s address.
The call rang for a long time before it was finally picked up. Xu Yinian’s pale, delicate face finally appeared on the screen, looking quite reluctant. The soft, gentle girl subconsciously pursed her lips in guilt, her light-colored eyes shimmering with a damp, nervous mist as she avoided the camera’s gaze.
Ji Yan and Lu Zhou crowded around the phone, their eyes fixed on the screen.
Even seeing Yinian’s habitual expression—that look of forced endurance, that “yielding while resisting” aura—was enough to make their blood boil.
“Are you back in the dorm?” Shen Ruoshuang asked, her voice cool and devoid of emotion.
Xu Yinian didn’t try to hide her surroundings. The background was clearly her familiar dormitory, and there was no one else around.
Since the curfew had passed, none of them could get in. Their plans to chase her down and bring her back were simultaneously crushed.
Ji Yan took a deep breath, suppressing the irritation of having her “prey” snatched away. “Who tricked you into going back?”
She refused to believe that someone as timid as Xu Yinian would have the courage to run away on her own.
“Was it Bai Ran?” Ji Yan’s voice grew even more resentful as she remembered Bai Ran’s history of interference. If Bai Ran could monitor Yinian’s arrival at her house last time, she could certainly do it again.
Hearing that name made Yinian panic. To protect Sister Ran, she found a sudden burst of courage from who-knows-where. Fueled by a mix of shame and resentment, her soft, timid voice actually carried a hint of defiance.
“I… I left on my own! All you three do is argue and fight and… and bully me together!”
Yinian shouted the words in one breath, her cheeks flushing a deep crimson. “I don’t want to choose any of you! I just want to be left alone in peace!”
Without waiting for a response, she hurriedly—and somewhat cowardly—disconnected the call.
Even though she was loved to the point of obsession, she didn’t know how to be spoiled or arrogant. She only knew how to clutch her phone with trembling hands, her heart thumping wildly against her ribs.
The “Darlings of fortune”—these elite women who had been pampered and pursued since birth—had never been so blatantly avoided or rejected.
Yet, they could only coax and honey-word her now. They didn’t even dare to call back with sweet talk for fear of making her hate them even more.
The situation was absurd; none of them had gotten what they wanted, and they had all been collectively “shut out” by Xu Yinian.
Fortunately, seeing the others suffering the same fate brought a twisted sense of balance to their hearts.
Shen Ruoshuang turned to leave, making it clear she didn’t care for the presence of the other two.
Ji Yan’s pent-up hostility from the entire evening finally found a target. The single thread of restraint that held back the “Mad Dog” had snapped.
She narrowed her eyes, propped a long leg against the corner wall, and crossed her arms with a lazy, dangerous drawl. “Did I say you could leave?”
Bai Ran had spent the evening dealing with members of the Lu family. It was only after she returned to her private villa that she noticed something was wrong with Xu Yinian’s GPS track.
The signal was stationary at that familiar apartment—the same place where she had caught her at Ji Yan’s house before.
Her heart sank instantly. She resisted the urge to go there and drag her out in person, choosing instead to play the “damsel in distress” card.
She had been disappointed that she couldn’t return to the dorm to spend the night with Yinian. However, as they stayed on the line while trying to sleep, she realized how much a voice-only connection allowed her dark thoughts to flourish behind the screen.
Although they had already “played” for a round in the afternoon, she had originally intended to finish within two hours and scrub away all evidence. Not only had she run out of time, but she had also ended up bringing Yinian’s underwear back to her villa.
In the pitch-black silence of her room, Bai Ran quietly pressed the garment—a mix of her own scent and Niannian’s—against her face.
![[GL Apocalypse] The Boss is a Beautiful Bottom Protagonist](https://i2.wp.com/dobytranslations.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/appp.png?resize=151,215 "[GL Apocalypse] The Boss is a Beautiful Bottom Protagonist")
