Did Xinlu actually look like that the whole time and Taeui was just delulu?

yea pretty much

that's some next level coping bro did

lolol fr. even in the chapters it gave u hints that he looked different than how tay and us saw him. like how he’s strong enough to pin tay down, he was top of his class in academics and physical, etc, etc. tay just twinkified him out of no where.