Chapter 8 08
Tan Quelu certainly knew why Zhong Wan had gone mad.
Just like in the original story, the protagonist is driven to desperately seek an outlet to release his emotions by his parents who have changed beyond recognition.
We've now reached the second plot point of the novel—the second week of school. Pressured by academic credits, the protagonist is forced to work part-time as a scorekeeper at the basketball gym. During this time, the students from Class A deliberately make things difficult for him, but the protagonist remains unyielding, his tenacious demeanor piquing their interest.
It was during Sunday basketball games, and a few students, taking advantage of the fact that the F3s weren't participating in such activities, were secretly mocking the F1's background. However, the F1, who was venting his frustration at the basketball court, overheard them. Without saying a word, he immediately beat the student until his head was bleeding profusely, and the student screamed in agony.
The kind-hearted protagonist, disregarding past grievances, grabbed F1's fist and used his own body to shield the two men, shouting for F1 to calm down and be rational.
"Zhong Wan, are you trying to kill someone?! Can't you look at yourself now?! Do you even recognize yourself?!"
F1 was stunned, seeing his own狰狞 (zhengning, meaning ferocious or hideous) face reflected in the floor. He remained silent for a long time, then suddenly stood up and walked away listlessly, looking utterly dejected.
From then on, the protagonist's treatment in Class A became complicated. His courage and resilience were noticed, which surprised the wealthy students, while F1, though saying one thing, secretly began to understand another side of the protagonist.
Tan Quelu commented: "Are they sexually repressed?"
Bullying that developed into feelings? It was all just part of the play!
The system chimed in: 【Probably, right? Host, what do we do now? It's all the protagonist's fault! He insisted on dragging you into this part-time job, saying he was worried you'd be bullied if you were alone. Pah!】
[Host, you absolutely mustn't hit someone! That would ruin your character!]
Tan Quelu sighed and nodded insincerely, "Okay, then I'll go hide in the lounge for a bit, since I can't ask for leave anyway."
Actually, he wanted to slack off and do nothing.
Okay!
Tan Quelu got up and, taking advantage of the basketball game in full swing, had another special admission student silently take over for him before randomly entering a lounge to slack off.
He pulled back the curtain, opened his phone, and the first thing he clicked on was the homepage of "Users' Strong Observation".
The human head is a white lotus flower in full bloom.
The description is a green tea emoji and a short text: [This person left nothing behind except looking at tea.]
"......"
With a flick of his finger, Tan Quelu decisively blocked the lunatic.
Suddenly, a huge cheer and applause came from outside the door.
Who should have scored? Tan Quelu didn't care. Apart from the main characters, these passersby were all NPCs in his eyes, and there was no need to remember them.
Tan Quelu thought the match would go on for a while longer.
A few minutes later, footsteps suddenly came from outside the door, followed by noisy panting and chatting.
"Where's Little Green Sparrow? Where did he go?" Four or five basketball team members walked into the locker room where Tan Quelu was, sat down imposingly, and took a sip of warm water: "When did he leave? Did you see me score?"
Tan Quelu, who was lazily sitting behind the curtain: "..."
The lounge was large enough to accommodate the entire basketball team for a rest. Tan Quelu sat behind the thick curtains at the far end, where there was a small bed. He was lying on the bed, basking in the sun by the window.
Another person chimed in with a grin, "You forgot, this is Zhong Wan's prey, we can't touch him first."
Otherwise, given the surge in popular science posts on the forum these days about "[how to smear a face]", how could Tan Chuolu have remained stable in Class A until now?
Everyone in St. Weston follows the pyramid rule: Zhong Wan comes from an elite family, and no matter how tempted they are, they cannot get ahead of him when he becomes their prey.
"Tch." The man scoffed, then suddenly muttered disdainfully, "Isn't he just a grandson brought back from the countryside? His father is a good-for-nothing, how arrogant can he be?"
"Shh, are you out of your mind? How dare you say such things here?"
"What are you afraid of? Eden isn't in the lounge. Besides, where did I go wrong?"
"Who in the entire city of Weiss doesn't see the real young master of the Zhong family as a joke? At the last seminar hosted by President Wei, Zhong Niangui wasn't even allowed to enter. Don't you find that laughable?"
"Tsk... Zhong Nian is indeed a waste, but Zhong Wan is not. Last year, he ranked ahead of you in both the competition and his results. Apart from Xie Chenbi and Wei Zhiyan, I haven't seen anyone surpass him."
Tan Quelu lay behind the curtain, basking in the sun while listening to their conversation.
Having been in Class A for almost two weeks, he understood that these wealthy students not only came from affluent families but also possessed outstanding overall qualities. Xia Xing, who was among the top ten in the city, could only rank in the upper-middle range here.
—Students at St. Weston are independent of all other colleges, and their grades are never publicly released except for the college entrance exam. It's hard for people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to imagine that educational resources that are so hard to come by are readily available here. You could throw a stone anywhere and hit a teacher with an impressive resume.
"So what if he benefited from the Zhong family's profits?" The man sneered and threw away the water in his hand. "Do you really think he can inherit the Zhong family? The Tashan project was won by Zhong Niankang a while ago. I think Zhong Niankang will be the head of the family in the future."
"It's hard to say, Xie Chenbi and Wei Zhiyan are with him too."
"So what? You can't change your background. His dad's a joke, and his mom's a joke too. They're always crying and yelling at their son to work hard. They're not so twisted as to treat him like a husband, are they? Hahaha—"
Splash!
The sound of the curtain being pulled suddenly rang out.
The boy who was playing with crickets was startled and stood up abruptly. When he saw that it was Tan Quelu, his pale face suddenly brightened, and he finally dared to breathe deeply.
Tan Quelu tilted her head, leaned against the pillow, and sat on the bed looking at him: "Are you very scared?"
Who are you afraid of?
When the man saw the curiosity in his clear eyes, he felt as if he had been slapped in the face and immediately flew into a rage: "You fucking eavesdropped? Tan Quelu, are you tired of living?! You get over here right now!"
Tan Quelu stared at him without moving, still looking innocent.
He suddenly closed his eyes in the sunlight, expertly making a half-cross gesture, and murmured to himself, "There's nothing wrong with hard work; what's wrong is greed..."
"Greed is desire, and desire corrupts our will. A merciful God tells me that we should cleanse ourselves of all sins of desire."
"You are wrong too. Speech breeds jealousy, and your heart is blinded by jealousy. You cannot see the road ahead, but a merciful god will guide you..."
"What the hell are you doing, you son of a bitch, come here—ah!"
Screams rang out along with the sound of the door frame shattering.
Everyone turned around in shock and found Zhong Wan standing outside the door with a gloomy and cold expression, having been listening for who knows how long.
Without saying a word, he kicked open the lounge door and, amidst the panicked shouts and Tan Quelu's murmurs, grabbed the man's head and violently slammed it against the titanium steel wardrobe.
Bang!
"Wait! Zhong Wan, don't be impulsive!"
No one could stop Zhong Wan.
Seeing that things were going wrong, everyone immediately retreated from the danger zone and ran away without a shred of remorse. In the distance, Xia Xing looked at the crimson stains spilling out of the lounge entrance, frowned thoughtfully, and turned to leave.
Blood spread, slowly soaking the floor.
"I...I was wrong...Zhong Wan, Zhong Wan..."
The boy instinctively cried for help: "Dan peacock green, peacock green... cough! Help me, please help me... sob..."
The familiar smell of blood filled the air.
He started to cry, struggling in fear, but to no avail.
Tan Quelu did not open her eyes, her expression filled with sorrow, and she murmured softly, head bowed: "A merciful God is saving you. Forget jealousy, and you will gain eternal life..."
"A merciful God is saving you. Forget jealousy, and you will receive eternal life, eternal life..."
Read it forty-four times.
Tan Quelu opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by silence and blood.
In the messy lounge, expensive clothes and sneakers were scattered all over the floor. Zhong Wan knelt in a pool of blood, tightly gripping the neck of the unconscious boy. Her platinum blonde hair was soaked in blood, and her brown eyes were narrowed into tiny dots.
It was obvious that he was emotional and had lost control of himself.
If we don't stop it, people will really die.
What a twisted world.
What a wretched soul.
Tan Quelu stepped over the pool of blood, his expression filled with sorrow, and left the lounge directly.
-
The basketball court was already empty.
When the competition ended, the specially admitted students had already packed up and left. When Zhong Wan arrived, those wealthy students realized the situation was serious and immediately ran away. Only a few thought of calling for help.
Tan Quelu stood in front of the vending machine in the stadium and scanned a bottle of iced mineral water.
Suddenly, a barely audible footstep came from behind.
Xie Chenbi walked in with an indifferent expression, holding a book that he had only read half of; the title on the cover was "Social Animals".
It seems F2 has come to the rescue?
Xie Chenbi was tall and slender, with a calm and indifferent face beneath his black hair. His school uniform looked like a Slytherin robe that automatically wrapped around him, and his demeanor gave him an air of being secretly cunning.
In the original work, he is described as a cold and handsome iceberg who is incapable of love.
To talk about Green, one can only say thankfully it's not about sexual dysfunction/impotence, otherwise the readers would tear him apart.
The handsome, icy man indifferently surveyed his surroundings.
Tan Quelu spoke up: "Are you here to see Zhong Wan?"
Xie Chenbi turned his head, his cold black eyes reflecting the boy's pure and innocent face. The boy pointed to the lounge and said, "It's over there."
"...You didn't leave."
Xie Chenbi spoke his first words to him.
In the past, when F3 passed by Tan Quelu, Xie Chenbi was usually the most silent one, as if Tan Quelu's shabby air was so strong that saying even half a word to him would suffocate him.
Tan Quelu didn't answer, but handed over the water in her hand and looked at Xie Chenbi innocently: "I can't open it, help me open it."
Xie Chenbi looked at him indifferently.
A few seconds of stalemate.
He took the water and turned it on with one hand.
When the other person handed it back, Tan Quelu took two steps back and smiled slightly: "Here you go. Zhong Wan should need some water. By the way, I've read that book too; it's very good."
They were referring to the book in Xie Chenbi's hand. The other person's eyes flickered slightly: "You've read it?"
“I’ve seen it,” Tan Quelu nodded with a smile. “Speaking of which, I’d say I’m a bit of a psychology enthusiast.”
After saying that, he didn't look at him again and left the basketball court leisurely.
The bloody violence a few minutes earlier seemed to have no effect on Tan Quelu. The boy walked back to his dormitory and even had the leisure to open Weibo and edit his bio.
Delete the lyrics.
Change to: [This person left nothing behind except a secret crush.]
Update the text.
User tqlhpl: [Our first conversation today felt like a dream... Actually, sometimes I envy those two people, because they can walk alongside you openly and honestly.]
The sun overhead was blazing hot.
Tan Quelu closed his phone with satisfaction, his cheeks burning from the sun. He liked the sun, but due to his constitution, he would have an allergic reaction if he was exposed to it for too long.
Tan Quelu touched her bag and realized she had forgotten her umbrella, so she could only hide in the shade of a tree on the side of the street.
A small shadow suddenly appeared above my head.
The familiar green checkered handmade umbrella came into view.
Someone easily kept up with him, his straight shoulders shielding the sunlight behind him, enveloping the small space and bringing a clean and refreshing atmosphere.
Tan Quelu looked up in bewilderment.
Wei Guan held an umbrella with one hand, still wearing a shirt and trousers. His young and handsome face was rendered by light and shadow, making him look frighteningly handsome.
"...President Wei?"
[System, why did the welfare NPC suddenly launch a surprise attack on the school? What's he doing here?]
The boy's tone was completely innocent, the opposite of when he blocked him.
Wei Guan lowered his eyes and calmly replied, "I'll return the umbrella."
A note from the author:
Wei: Surprise attack!
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