Wang Xiaoya's thoughtless remark, "Plastic besties, huh? They'll fall apart at the slightest touch," accurately exposed the thin veil between the two.
The air seemed to freeze in an instant.
Everyone who was quietly doing their own thing in their own beds was completely drawn to this straightforward statement, and several pairs of eyes suddenly swept back and forth between Qiao Lin and Li Yue.
In those eyes, there was schadenfreude, and a desire to see more trouble.
Li Yue, sitting on the wooden chair at the west end, suddenly trembled. Her head, which was already lowered, was buried even deeper. She bit her lip tightly to prevent herself from making a sound, but her violently shaking back silently told of the humiliation and collapse in her heart.
Qiao Lin, who was sitting on the east side of the bed, suddenly turned a deep purplish-red.
She slammed the half-folded blanket she was holding onto the bed with a loud thud.
She raised her head, her eyes slicing through Wang Xiaoya like knives, her gaze seeming to want to devour Wang Xiaoya alive.
"You country bumpkin, what are you gossiping about! If you can't speak properly, then shut your mouth!"
Wang Xiaoya was so frightened by her cannibalistic appearance that she trembled, her face turning deathly pale. She quickly shrank back and hid behind the tall Liu Landi, no longer daring to utter a sound.
Su Tang glanced indifferently at the furious Qiao Lin, said nothing, and led her three followers back to the innermost bunk area of the dormitory.
The entire dormitory fell into an eerie silence, with only Qiao Lin's heavy breathing and Li Yue's suppressed, almost inaudible sobs intertwining in the cold air.
Everyone else, including Zhang Man and Zhou Zhihui who had just formed an alliance, sat on their beds, seemingly oblivious to their own thoughts, but in reality, they were all plotting their own schemes.
This ten-person dormitory, which has just undergone a major reshuffle, is like a pressure cooker at this moment. The surface is calm, but the inside is turbulent and could explode again at any time.
Only after all four of them were seated on the edge of the bed did Wang Xiaoya dare to lower her voice, lean closer to Su Tang, and look at Su Tang with bright, adoring eyes:
"Su An, did you see Qiao Lin's face? It's like a rock in a latrine, smelly and hard! You're practically a living saint in our dorm! Not only do you not look down on our poor grades, but you also stood up to that shrew Zhao Yan in front of the whole camp for Xiao Cao! You're so loyal!"
Liu Landi nodded emphatically beside her. She was not good with words, but her eyes were filled with the most sincere respect and admiration when she looked at Su Tang.
In her simple worldview, Su An's behavior was that of a great hero who would "go to great lengths for his friends" as described in folk tales.
When Chen Xiaocao's name was called, her cheeks flushed slightly, and she lowered her head even further.
She twisted the hem of her clothes, her voice barely audible, like a mosquito's hum: "Su An... I'm sorry... It's all my fault... If I hadn't been so useless, you wouldn't have had to fall out with Zhao Yan in front of so many people because of me..."
The more she talked, the more aggrieved she felt, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt that she had dragged Su Tang down with her.
Su Tang is a sharpshooter, the best in the entire battalion. She should stand with someone like Jiang Yan, receiving everyone's admiration and worship.
But now, just because she chose her as a burden, she has to be criticized and ridiculed by others.
Overwhelmed by immense guilt and self-blame, she was engulfed like a tidal wave.
Her eyes reddened, and the tears she had been holding back for so long finally spilled out, one after another, falling onto the bedsheets with a pattering sound.
"I...I'll definitely ruin the assessment for you...I'm just a burden...I don't deserve to be your teammate..."
Looking at the sixteen-year-old girl in front of her, whose shoulders were shaking from crying, Su Tang felt a sudden softening in her heart.
In that instant, she seemed to see her good friend from a past life, Lin Xi.
Lin Xi was the same way. She had always followed her around in tears since she was a child in the orphanage. She was timid as a rabbit and loved to cry and act spoiled.
Later, after countless brutal and inhumane training sessions, he was finally honed into a sharp blade and grew into a top-notch agent capable of working independently.
But Su Tang could never forget that after a mission where she had narrowly escaped death, Lin Xi, covered in blood, hugged her and said, "Sister Tang, I miss the me who would cry for half a day if I broke a bowl."
People always have to grow up, but sometimes growing up comes at the cost of losing the most precious innocence.
Su Tang disliked depriving a child of the right to cry and be vulnerable. No one dictates that growing up means having to be strong and powerful. Why can't a child be vulnerable when they can be protected?
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