her arm with Huawei's as they marched past the stunned, speechless boy, leaving him frozen like a statue at the school gates.

As they walked down the bustling hallway toward their homeroom, Yue unzipped her school bag and pulled out a colorful, lightweight booklet.

"Oh, by the way, Lu! I found this short romance web novel online last night, and it's so good. I printed out a few chapters. I got a story you can read right now before the teacher arrives!"

Huawei's ruby eyes lit up with professional interest. Stories were her primary source of data. "Thank you, Yue. I will analyze it thoroughly."

Taking the pages, Huawei slid into her desk and began to read the text.

Her analytical eyes scanned the paragraphs, but as she reached the middle of the first page, her entire body went rigid.

The text on the page read:

'...and as the beautiful girl walked through the gates, the handsome boy stepped forward. He looked into her eyes and whispered, "Wonderful day we are having. The sun is shining as bright as you..."'

Huawei's heart skipped a beat.

Her gaze locked onto the printed words, her mind completely short-circuiting.

The lines of dialogue on the paper were an exact, word-for-word match to what the boy at the gates had just said to her.

The handsome boy coming towards her, the specific phrasing, the flirting—it wasn't just a random event. It was a written trope.

A sudden, jarring shock wave traveled through Huawei's analytical brain. It had happened today. A real-world romance trope had targeted her directly, and she had completely failed to recognize it in the moment.

"Hey, Lu?" Yue's voice broke through the ringing silence.

She leaned over Huawei's desk, looking down at her friend with deep concern. "Are you okay, Lu? You look pale as a ghost."

Huawei slowly closed the papers, her hands trembling slightly as she gripped the edges of her desk. Her brilliant ruby eyes were wide with a mix of shock and clinical realization.

"Yeah... I'm fine," Huawei muttered, her voice slightly strained as she forced her posture back to its usual rigid perfection. "I am just remembering something drastic."

Yue tilted her head, looking completely confused by her best friend's bizarre, intense reaction to a simple romance story. "Drastic? It's just a fiction story, Lu. Are you sure you didn't skip breakfast?"

Huawei didn't answer. Her mind was already racing.

She reached into her bag, her fingers brushing against her secret leather-bound notebook.

The field research was no longer an option—it was an emergency. The tropes were real, the boys were actively deploying them, and she needed to map out a defense strategy immediately.