Chapter 8: Let Me Take a Photo of My Face

Jiang Xia filmed the entire process of Yuko Ikezawa’s illegal entry.

After Yuko Ikezawa entered the door, he also picked up his video camera and walked toward the room in silence.

……

Yuko Ikezawa walked into Yoko’s home and casually flipped on the light.

She then walked straight into the bedroom, raised her hand, and scattered a large handful of threatening letters stained with chicken blood onto Yoko Kinoshita’s bed.

Having finished her dirty work, Yuko Ikezawa looked over the bed scattered with bloody letters. Recalling Yoko Kinoshita’s recent miserable state, she felt like a genius.

She tossed her hair, revealed a happy smile, and prepared to leave.

Unexpectedly, as she turned around, she was met head-on by a pitch-black camera lens.

“……”

Yuko Ikezawa froze, a chill rushing straight to the top of her head.

—Standing at the bedroom door was someone who hadn't been there before. The person was wearing a mask, a hood, and gloves, covered tightly from head to toe, with their eyes hidden in the shadow of the hood, making it impossible to see their face.

He was leaning against the doorframe in a leisurely manner. Seeing Yuko Ikezawa turn around, the young man nodded at her and, in a spot where the camera couldn't see, silently gave a thumbs-up, as if he were very satisfied with the woman’s performance just now.

This would normally be a positive gesture.

But as Yuko Ikezawa stared at that camera, her heart turned cold

Illegal entry, harassing and threatening a colleague with blood-stained letters... Once these things she had done were filmed and released, not only would her career be ruined, she might even be sent to jail!

……However, it was fine.

Yuko Ikezawa thought to herself that she was currently wearing a scarf and sunglasses, with the scarf pulled up high, obscuring her face.

As long as she wasn't caught on the spot and her full face wasn't clearly filmed, she could completely clear her name afterward by claiming that someone else had disguised themselves as her to frame her.

—In any case, she had to escape quickly; she absolutely could not be caught!

She looked at Jiang Xia, who was blocking the door, and planned to grab something to throw at him, knock him down or scare him away, and then make a dash for the door to escape.

Thinking of this, her gaze shifted slightly and landed on a footstool nearby.

Just as she was about to pounce and grab the stool to smash it heavily onto Jiang Xia’s head, her vision blurred for a split second—Jiang Xia suddenly closed the distance, snatched the scarf and sunglasses off her face, and instantly stripped away all her disguises.

Yuko Ikezawa’s face was now exposed to the camera without any obstruction.

“……”

Suddenly realizing this, a buzzing sound filled Yuko Ikezawa’s brain. She began to wave her arms wildly like a madwoman, trying to smash the camera.

She naturally failed, and instead, she was grabbed by the collar and slammed onto the bedroom carpet.

Jiang Xia used his knee to pin down Yuko Ikezawa’s struggling hands. Then, holding the camera in one hand, he freed his other hand, pinched her face, and gave it a hard tug.

—Due to the activities of a certain famous phantom thief, many people in this world knew about "disguise techniques."

If he didn't tug on her face right in front of the camera, Yuko Ikezawa might later claim that "someone had disguised themselves as her."

……

Jiang Xia had originally thought that by tugging on Yuko Ikezawa’s face in front of the lens, letting people see that she wasn't wearing a mask and that the skin he tugged would naturally turn red, he could prove that the person he filmed was truly Yuko Ikezawa.

However, Jiang Xia soon discovered with surprise that something was wrong.

—He had indeed failed to tear off a disguise.

But Yuko Ikezawa’s skin hadn't turned red either.

Jiang Xia pulled his hand back in confusion and discovered that his black glove was stained with a thick layer of cosmetic powder.

“……”

After a moment of silence, Jiang Xia refused to believe it and reached out to tug again.

Yuko Ikezawa’s face still didn't turn red.

Perhaps the powder was applied too thickly.

“……”

……In that case, there was no way to prove that it was her real skin.

Jiang Xia looked at his dirty glove, then at Yuko Ikezawa, who was still screaming beneath him, and fell into a brief contemplation.

A moment later, he remembered that when he passed through the living room earlier, there was a box of wet wipes on the coffee table.

A phantom lightbulb of inspiration popped up over Jiang Xia’s head.

He picked up Yuko Ikezawa like a chick, moved her to the living room sofa, and pinned her down again.

Then he grabbed a wet wipe and scrubbed her face vigorously.

This time, it finally came off.

Yuko Ikezawa’s skin turned red under the camera lens; this kind of extremely natural change was something current disguise techniques could not replicate. It could prove that this was her real face.

……

Yuko Ikezawa felt something wet on her face.

She opened her eyes suspiciously. The first thing she saw was Jiang Xia holding a wet wipe covered in her makeup.

Yuko Ikezawa stared blankly at the wipe, then at the camera that was still pointed at her.

After realizing what had happened, she suddenly let out an incredibly angry scream.

Jiang Xia was startled by her suddenly elevated volume and instinctively delivered a chop to the side of her neck.

The scream came to an abrupt end.

Yuko Ikezawa’s beautiful eyes rolled back, and she fell into a deep sleep, her face full of unwillingness.

The surroundings became quiet again.

Jiang Xia pulled back his hand and let out a long sigh of relief.

He held the camera, looked down at Yuko Ikezawa, and hesitated for a moment, feeling that since things had already started, it was best to finish them.

So, he pulled out a few more wet wipes, wiped Yuko Ikezawa’s face completely clean, and filmed the whole process.

Only then did he stop the recording.

With this material, it would be enough to either send Yuko Ikezawa to jail for rehabilitation or threaten her to stop the harassment.

However, there was one problem...

Jiang Xia pulled up the footage he had just filmed, played it back, and paused the image at the very end.

He looked at Yuko Ikezawa’s unmade-up face, then recalled how she usually looked in posters, and suddenly felt a bit lost.

The difference in appearance before and after seemed a bit large?

……Would this really be enough to prove that Yuko Ikezawa wasn't someone else in disguise?

“……”

But since he had already finished wiping it off, it was impossible to put the makeup back on her.

Jiang Xia recalled the desperate look in Yuko Ikezawa’s eyes just now and realized that she herself seemed to care very much about that part of the footage.

……So it probably wouldn't be a big problem.

The plan could still proceed as usual.