Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest-Chapter 500 - 96: Investigating Ningning

Chapter 500: Chapter 96: Investigating Ningning

The old criminal investigator had a habit, which was to always keep a watchful eye while interacting with others, never fully trusting what they said, even if there were no signs of a flaw.

Whether it was Yan Yu’s explanation or Chen Lingyun’s statement, Zhang Jin took note of them but also held onto a touch of doubt.

Next, it was time to interact with each girl and gather firsthand information.

Zhang Jin’s first choice was Lin Ning. This girl was preparing vegetables in the kitchen when Yan Yu called her to the study on the second floor to meet with Zhang Jin alone.

“Hello.” Lin Ning closed the door behind her, “May I know what this is about?”

“Oh, nothing much, just a simple interview,” Zhang Jin gestured for her to take a seat, “Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”

...

“Go ahead.” Lin Ning agreed without any hint of guile.

“Hmm.” Zhang Jin glanced at the materials in hand, ready to start the conversation, “Lin Ning, I’ve heard you’ve always been an excellent student since you were young?”

“Not exactly excellent,” Lin Ning immediately beamed with pride, yet modestly said, “I’m just consistently within the top three of my class.”

“That’s quite impressive,” Zhang Jin complimented, “Although you didn’t take the college entrance exams, judging from your mock test scores at school, you could’ve easily been among the top thousand in Minyue Province.”

“Mock exams are different from the actual college entrance exam,” Lin Ning said cheerfully, continuing her modesty, “The mock papers the school sets are ultimately not the same as the real thing.”

“Since you’re so outstanding, did boys pursue you back in high school?” Zhang Jin asked with a smile.

“Well, there was only confessions,” Lin Ning said bashfully, “I wouldn’t count that as pursuing. We were young and didn’t know any better, just saying things for fun.”

“Indeed, high school is still primarily about academics,” Zhang Jin had already completed the psychological profile.

This girl had the typical “good child” personality, but was thin-skinned, despite her modest words her emotions were all over her face, giving a feeling of being insincere—what you might call tsundere.

If sensitive topics were touched upon, it would be hard to get answers from direct questions. It was better to probe indirectly.

“Right, right?” Lin Ning took a liking to her, naturally saying, “High school should be about focusing on academics. Over ninety percent of high school couples break up after graduation, what’s the point of a relationship that leads nowhere?”

“Indeed.” While Zhang Jin echoed her sentiment, she crafted her next line of questioning, shifting the conversation, “Speaking of which, your team captain Yan Yu is currently single, right?”

“…What about him?” Lin Ning asked nervously.

Zhang Jin: ………

Too easy to read, with emotions all written on your face!

“It’s just that the higher-ups need me to conduct a psychological assessment of you all,” she smoothly explained, “Your description can help me understand Yan Yu better. By the way, with all the beautiful girls in your team, it’s unlikely he’s still single, right?”

“Oh.” Lin Ning let out a sigh of relief, responding, “The captain is indeed single right now because he’s too proud. He always feels that no girl is worthy of him.”

“Is that so exaggerated?” Zhang Jin purposely furrowed her brow, jotting down emphatically in her notebook, mumbling softly, “Suspected… Sexual orientation… Indifferent to the opposite sex…”

Lin Ning indeed fell for the trap and hurriedly defended:

“The captain is not gay! I suspect he’s just making up excuses… I mean, making up excuses to stay single, so he can just wait for others to pursue him.”

“Are you sure?” Zhang Jin asked skeptically.

“I’m sure,” Lin Ning stated earnestly.

“Hmm.” Zhang Jin neither confirmed nor denied but rather asked, “Lin Ning, when Yan Yu is alone with you, has he ever shown any fondness towards you?”

Lin Ning’s first instinct was to deny, but on second thought, considering I’m such a beautiful and outstanding girl, if I were to say the captain has never taken an interest in me, wouldn’t that actually prove there’s something off with his sexual orientation?

“The captain likes the dishes I make the most,” she conceded indirectly.

“Liking your dishes doesn’t mean liking you,” Zhang Jin said lightly. “If I like to patronize a restaurant, does that mean I’m interested in the chef?”

Lin Ning was suddenly startled, feeling a sense of defeat as if her area of expertise had been completely negated. She quickly added:

“He also… well, when we play together, he occasionally gets handsy with me.”

“Is there sexual harassment too?” Zhang Jin feigned seriousness.

“No, no,” Lin Ning laughed and cried, “It’s just playful teasing between two people, there’s occasionally more intimate physical contact… Of course, this doesn’t mean I like him, I’m just saying he doesn’t seem to mind these things, he actually seems to enjoy it… see, this means he has a good impression of me, right? If he were gay, he wouldn’t show interest in a girl’s body, right?”

“Indeed,” Zhang Jin showed a somewhat convinced expression. “But that’s also strange.”

“Where is it strange?” Lin Ning asked.

“He deliberately stays single, yet enjoys physical contact with you,” Zhang Jin analyzed. “Isn’t that the very definition of a scumbag? Does he do this with the other girls in the team too?”

“Eh, not really,” Lin Ning quickly denied. “A scumbag would actively flirt with girls, but our captain doesn’t.”

“I see,” Zhang Jin continued to write in her notebook, but in her mind, she already had the answer:

Lin Ning from the Zhenhai Team harbors strong feelings for her captain, Yan Yu, but doesn’t get enough in return, therefore she attempts to convey her feelings implicitly through proactive physical contact.

With this in mind, her expression of shy annoyance when facing the Heart Demon in the Mysterious Realm makes sense — initiating physical contact is typically seen as the man taking advantage. In the absence of reciprocal feelings, worry and irritation are natural accompanying emotions.

The essence of this psychological weak point stems from her unrequited love for Yan Yu. The solution is to promptly end this state of unrequited love, either by disenchanting the target or by having her wishes fulfilled.

“Understood,” seeing Lin Ning still glancing at the notebook in her hands, Zhang Jin smiled slightly and said:

“Could you call the others for me? Let’s see, Zhao Yuanzhen, Su Yunjin, Xie Ruoxi, who’s available?”

“Yun Jin seems to be reading in the next room, I’ll call her,” Lin Ning stood up immediately.

She left the study and came to Su Yunjin’s room, knocked on the door, then pushed it open and said worriedly:

“Yun Jin, something’s gone wrong… they’re suspecting the captain is gay because of me, what should I do?”

Su Yunjin: ?

After hearing Lin Ning’s explanation, she couldn’t help but show a laugh-cry expression and said:

“It’s okay, Ningning, if they are going to conduct psychological assessments, they won’t solely rely on your word. I’ll help clarify later.”

She stood up, put the book she was reading aside, and then went to the study.

“Hello,” Zhang Jin greeted her, “Su Yunjin, right? Please sit down.”

“Hello,” Su Yunjin smiled and sat down.

“Lin Ning must have told you about my identity and purpose,” Zhang Jin introduced her reason for being there. “The higher-ups require a psychological assessment for each member of your team.”

“I understand,” Su Yunjin nodded, “It’s because of the encounter with the Heart Demon in the Mysterious Realm, right? Our performance back then was indeed not very good.”

“A moment’s performance doesn’t explain much” Zhang Jin said gently. “Understanding the underlying nature is more important.”

“In that case, I’ll just be honest,” Su Yunjin clasped her hands together on the desk and spoke calmly, “The reason I slipped up at that time was because the image of me being intimate with the captain popped into my head, causing me to lose control of my mental state for a moment.”

“Uh…” Even with all her experience, Zhang Jin was taken aback by Su Yunjin’s “self-confession,” “You mean…”

“I like the captain,” Su Yunjin said softly.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freёnovelkiss.com.