Nanya High School
She was so engrossed in chatting with the system about the plot that she seemed to have forgotten that Yu Mian in her arms had been beaten and was unable to move. After being reminded by the system, she finally recovered, picked up Yu Mian and ran out. "Quick, get him to the infirmary!"
While Yu Mian was being rescued inside, Wu Shi chose not to go in but waited outside the door. Yu Mian, a woman from a poor family and thin and frail, felt light and frail when Wu Shi held her in his arms. Blood was oozing from the wound on her face, but her heart was beating wildly.
Her thoughts drifted involuntarily back to that cold world. Because she had no parents, she, too, had been a victim of others' chopping block. But she chose to fight back, biting back with even more ferocious fangs, forcing herself into a lone wolf that no one dared to mess with. No one to rely on? Then make yourself one! But Yu Mian... she lacked those fangs, only a fragile spine and silent endurance.
His fingertips irritably swiped through the air, bringing up the system interface. The item library had indeed been updated, overflowing with items, yet it evoked a sense of absurdity.
"Final exam? System, you're selling even this? Where's your moral integrity?" Wu Shi complained in his mind.
"A life-saving talisman for poor students. It prevents you from being expelled due to poor grades, which would affect the main mission (protecting the heroine in the college entrance examination)." The system's electronic voice was serious.
"Hey, what is this? An assault rifle?! Are you sure this thing can work? This is a school campus! It's illegal to carry a gun, brother!" She felt her temples twitching.
"From the underworld," the system said succinctly. "This is an unconventional option. It is recommended to be used with caution except in extreme circumstances."
"Huh? 'Selective Memory Erasure Potion (Mild Type)'?" Wu Shi's eyes were fixed on an inconspicuous icon.
"A practical little prop. Used to eliminate unnecessary witnesses or alleviate the target's psychological trauma. Side effect: May cause short-term mild dizziness." System explanation.
"Thoughtful! This is it!" Wu Shi made the decision almost immediately, "It's perfect for now!"
"Host, is it too early?"
"Early? Not early!" Wu Shi's voice rang out in his mind. "Didn't you say you would protect her through the college entrance exam? The shadow of bullying, especially being stuck in the bathroom and almost... that kind of fear and humiliation, will cling to her like poison ivy! Leaving her with this kind of scar before the college entrance exam? No! Forgetting it would be a relief for her!"
After an unknown amount of time, the suppressed cries of rescue in the ward finally died down. When Wu Shi was allowed in, Yu Mian had already woken up, or rather, his consciousness was struggling to float in the chaos of severe pain.
Yu Mian's swollen eyelids felt heavy as lead, barely cracking a murky slit. The world was a blur of flickering light and shadow. The slightest movement of her cracked, aching lips pulled at the burning wound on her face, causing her to gasp and lose any coherent sound. She could hear the teachers' carefully hushed, worried discussions and a familiar, suppressed sob—her mother. Yu Mian's heart suddenly clenched. She tried to struggle to get up, to tell her mother she was fine, but even moving a finger felt like every bone in her body gave way, and the excruciating pain instantly overwhelmed her.
Just then, a warm straw gently touched her cracked lips.
"Student Yu, have some water." A clear but barely noticeable female voice sounded.
It was that girl! The girl who had screamed for help in a moment of despair and pulled her back from the brink of the abyss! A strong sense of gratitude instantly surged in Yu Mian's heart. He tried his best to say "thank you", but only a hoarse sound came out of his throat, and his swollen lips moved in vain a few times.
"Shh... Don't rush, don't talk." Wu Shi's voice softened, her movements unmistakably gentle. She carefully lifted the back of Yu Mian's thin neck, allowing her to rest halfway in her arms. The warm rim of the cup moved closer. Yu Mian obediently sipped the water, the clear liquid sliding down her burning throat, bringing a fleeting solace. She didn't notice that a drop of colorless, odorless potion had dissolved into the water.
After a few sips of water, fatigue and the effects of the potion surged like a gentle tide, quickly drowning Yu Mian's remaining consciousness. She tilted her head and leaned heavily into Wu Shi's arms, falling into a coma again.
Wu Shi maintained his supporting posture, feeling the weight in his arms and the weak yet steady breathing. "System, she wouldn't have forgotten who I am, would she?"
"Yes."
"Well, the heroine and I have become strangers again."
Okay, here are the scenes of rushing to the infirmary after school, witnessing Fang Hua being humiliated, and Fang Hua's reaction, with richer descriptions of actions and expressions:
Wu Shi sat back down in the classroom, everything around her as if separated by a layer of frosted glass. Her deskmate, Xiao Qingqiu, had sparkling, admiring eyes that practically glued to her. The subdued, excited chatter of her classmates was like a swarm of annoying bees—"Amazing!" "How dare she?" "Xu Man is in trouble this time?"—these voices penetrated her ears, but couldn't leave the slightest trace on her tense nerves.
Her entire attention was focused on the system interface on her retina, which only she could see. The "information" page about Xu Man was shockingly concise.
"Xu Man: A student at Nanya Middle School. Family background: mysterious, with deep ties to the local underworld."
"Level of connection: unknown."
"Family power structure: unknown."
"Core members of the family: No names mentioned."
"Influence: No specific description."
Wu Shi's fingertips fretted and scratched at the edge of her book under her desk, almost tearing a hole in it. She growled at the system in her mind:
"System! Are you writers so broke you can't even afford ink?! 'Mysterious family background, a gangster'? How's that any different from 'This person has a background'?! What seat does he hold? What power does he hold? Not even a name! This is too bad for me! I'm completely in the dark now, I don't even know how powerful the enemy is! Is this a setup for me? Do I have an aura?"
A strong sense of crisis gripped her. Without the script's foresight, facing this behemoth lurking in the shadows, her mind raced through strategies she'd heard of in the real world. First, gather evidence and leverage their power: find a powerful supervisory agency unconnected to the Xu family, or even opposed to it, and submit irrefutable evidence. But this would require time, connections, and, most importantly, an absolutely secure channel. Second, seek refuge: find the Xu family's overt enemy and seek temporary alliance or protection. But this would be tantamount to seeking the skin of a tiger, extremely risky. And why would she, a mere nobody, be interested?
"Tsk...trouble." She tapped her temples with her knuckles in frustration, her thoughts a tangled mess. "Forget it, let's just deal with it as it comes. Now we can only take it one step at a time."
This absurd plot setting made her even more depressed. She looked up, her gaze unconsciously sweeping across the eloquent math teacher at the podium, but her thoughts drifted even further: "Why does this school bullying scene have to fall on the heroine? Just because she comes from a poor family, has excellent grades, and is a 'scholar'? Does the title of 'heroine' have a built-in 'suffering attractor'? Does she have to go through all kinds of hardships to be called the heroine?" Her inner villain rolled his eyes furiously, "Look at the second female lead. That's the template for a winner in life! She has a distinguished family background, top grades, and a childhood sweetheart to protect her. She's had a smooth journey to the pinnacle of life... Have screenwriters in this world signed a lifelong contract with the word 'suffering'?!"
After finally waiting for the bell to ring, Wu Shi grabbed her schoolbag and rushed out, dragging Xiao Qingqiu, who was still packing her stationery. "Hurry up! To the hospital!" The ominous premonition in her heart grew stronger and stronger, and her mind was filled with Xu Man's evil face.
The two of them jogged all the way and just as they reached the relatively secluded staircase leading to the infirmary, they were nailed to the spot by the scene before them.
Ten meters away, in the shadows of the corridor.
A short woman in washed-out, bleached clothes—Yu Mian's mother, Fang Hua—was silently surrounded by several towering bodyguards in matching black suits. They formed an impenetrable wall, emitting a cold and oppressive atmosphere.
The leading man was exceptionally burly, his face covered by a pair of dark sunglasses that obscured most of his features, revealing only a hard jawline and thin, tightly pursed lips. He held a thick stack of banknotes in his hand, his attitude conveying both a condescending almsgiving and impatience.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
He casually raised his wrist, and brand new hundred-dollar bills, like dirty fallen leaves, hit Fang Hua's thin, pale cheeks with insulting force, and then fell to the ground.
The touch of the cold paper made Fang Hua's body tremble violently. She subconsciously turned her head away, trying to avoid the humiliating "raindrops".
The man in sunglasses spoke with a voice that was emotionless, low and cold, like the friction of metal:
"Apologize?" The corners of his mouth twitched, as if he were sneering. "Take the money, be smart, take your daughter and get out of here. Don't be an eyesore."
Fang Hua's body was tense like a drawn bow. She didn't look down at the banknotes scattered at her feet, even clinging to the tops of her worn shoes. The muscles on her weathered face twitched violently, and in her eyes, clouded by overwork, burned a rage bordering on pathetic sorrow and a humiliation that penetrated her bones.
She stared at the man in sunglasses. Even though his face was hidden behind the sunglasses, her gaze seemed to penetrate the lenses and penetrate into the depths of his soul!
She thought of her husband—the same thin, silent man. That same year, on a construction site, he had fallen from a height due to a safety hazard... In the end, those people had just done the same thing, coldly throwing down a stack of money without even a proper apology, wanting to throw away a life and the life support of her and her daughter for the rest of their lives!
Money? Money again! She didn't want money, and she didn't want to be associated with it. Mianmian's safety was the most important thing.
Under the black-clad bodyguards' scornful and expectant gazes, Fang Hua straightened her back, slightly hunched from years of labor. Then, she stood up from the cold ground. She walked straight toward the gap in the "human wall" of bodyguards, quickly disappearing around the corner of the corridor leading to the ward, leaving behind only scattered banknotes and a group of stunned black-clad men.
Wu Shi and Xiao Qingqiu hid at the stairs and watched the whole process with bated breath.
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