Nanya Secondary School
The afternoon sun lazily streamed through the windows, casting dappled patches of light on the desks. From the podium, the teacher's voice was as smooth as a still river, flowing with meaning long since dried up by time. The air was thick with chalk dust and a dull, routine air.
Wu Shi's back was straight—the last bit of her stubbornness, a lasting resistance against the endless boredom. Her eyes were open, but their gaze, as if covered by a layer of frosted glass, fell blankly on the open textbook. Those densely packed words and illustrations were like a mystery to her, or perhaps a form of spiritual torture.
Boredom… so bored… the thought lingered in her mind like a fly she couldn't shake off. Every day was a crude replica of the day before. Class, sleep, class, sleep, school, sleep… the cycle repeated itself over and over again. Even more stifling than the boredom was the fact that she couldn't understand anything.
"System, can you skip the class scenes from now on? I can accept the appearance of being young, but my IQ is not so good at it."
"Host, just treat it as a lullaby. Anyway, your character this time is just a poor student."
"Then I really thank you."
"Warning! Warning! The life of the heroine Yu Mian is in danger! The system is about to collapse!"
"Isn't this class in progress? How could my life be threatened out of the blue?" Wu Shi's butt had already left the bench. The savior had no time to wait. She said politely, "Teacher, I need to ask for leave to go to the bathroom." The heroine Yu Mian and Wu Shi were not in the same class. Yu Mian was in the top class, but there was only one bathroom on this floor, so Wu Shi's destination was obvious.
Yu Mian pressed her back against the cool plastic door of the restroom stall. The suffocating entanglement had begun a week ago—a few unfamiliar, overbearing girls, clinging to her like an inescapable shadow. At first, it was just errands, and she endured it, wanting nothing more than to keep the peace. However, tomorrow's crucial exam, their intentions became clear. Their words were laced with sarcasm, their eyes full of innuendo—they wanted her to help them cheat.
At that moment, Yu Mian understood everything. This was not a trouble that could be dealt with perfunctorily, but a bottomless quagmire. If she stayed with them, she would only be dragged into the darkness together. So, this morning, when they asked her to buy breakfast as usual, she shook her head for the first time. The consequence of her refusal was a cold order "You are not allowed to enter the classroom." Then, as soon as the bell rang, she was pushed by several pairs of malicious hands and dragged all the way to this toilet filled with the smell of disinfectant and stale water vapor. She wanted to ask for help, but she didn't have many friends on weekdays, and surprisingly, she didn't see the teacher along the way. Yu Mian's heart had sunk to the bottom.
Yu Mian could hear the chaotic approach of footsteps, mixed with deliberately suppressed sneers. Outside the narrow compartment, figures swayed, blocking the already dim light. The air seemed to solidify into a sticky gel. They blocked the only exit, and obscenities splashed on the door like dirty water:
"Are you getting bolder? You don't even buy breakfast?"
"What's the use of hiding here? Will you agree to what happens tomorrow?"
"You won't open the door? See how long you can hide!"
Yu Mian's heart was beating wildly in his chest, each beat making his eardrums buzz. His fingertips were cold, and his palms were sticky with cold sweat.
The door of the toilet cubicle groaned in agony under the continuous heavy blows, and each impact seemed to hit Yu Mian's spine directly.
"Bang--!"
The last loud bang was like a cannonball, and the door lock completely shattered. Yu Mian staggered under the huge impact, and his back slammed hard against the cold tile wall, and the dull pain instantly exploded.
"Hey, isn't this our aloof Yu Mian?" A girl with fiery red hair squeezed in first. She was Xu Man. Xu Man was a well-known figure in Nan Ya Middle School. Her family background was mysterious and unknown, so students kept a distance from her, and teachers avoided her. "What's going on? The toilet stall smells better? Why are you so reluctant to come out?"
Several girls behind her also filed in, and the narrow space was instantly filled with their figures and the smell of perfume.
Xu Man took a step forward and, without warning, suddenly reached out and grabbed Yu Mian's soft bangs. The pain of her hair being torn from the roots made her vision go black. Xu Man's arm erupted with incredible strength, slamming Yu Mian's head against the wet wall beside her!
"Bang!" With a dull sound, Yu Mian's forehead hit the hard tiles. Stars flashed in front of his eyes, his vision blurred instantly, and his ears were filled with sharp buzzing sounds.
"You stinking bitch!" Xu Man leaned in very close, spraying her cigarette-smelling spit on Yu Mian's face. "I gave you the honor of not saying a word, so why are you pretending?"
Yu Mian tried to speak, but her throat felt like it was blocked by rough sandpaper, and she could only let out a broken sob. In response, Xu Man raised her hand high and slapped her.
“Bang!”
The first blow was fierce and crisp, landing firmly on Yu Mian's left cheek. The force was so great that she was thrown sideways. Her cheek went numb instantly, and then a searing pain spread rapidly, as if her flesh had been singed.
"Snap! Snap! Snap!"
Slaps fell one after another, without any rhyme or reason, like dense hailstones hammering down on fragile wheat seedlings. Left, right, left... the world spun wildly, turned upside down, and shattered before her eyes. Her vision was completely blurred, leaving only the blurry, swaying, hideous faces, the twisted walls, and the dusty, dim light of the ceiling lamp. Warm liquid trickled down her nose and mouth, carrying a strong smell of rust. Each slap was accompanied by the gleeful laughter and vicious curses of Xu Man and the girls around her.
"Bitch!"
"You are blind!"
"Today will teach you a lesson!"
Consciousness drifted further and further away in a storm of dizziness and excruciating pain, like a kite with a broken string. Her body instinctively forced her to curl up into a ball, futilely shielding her head and face with her arms. A buzzing in her ears drowned out the harsh insults, leaving only her own heavy, rapid, dying breaths. Icy despair completely overwhelmed her, and darkness quickly engulfed her from the edge of her vision. It was over... so be it...
"boom--!!!"
A bang, far louder than any previous collision, exploded like thunder in the small space! The wooden door of the restroom was flung open, and Wu Shi, fighting against the light, looked like an angel descending. Although she had promised not to use force a few days ago, her hands could no longer bear the sight of such a scene.
"Host, do not fight violence with violence, do not fight violence with violence!" The cold system notification sounded like a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguishing the rage that threatened to explode in Wu Shi's chest. Just then, seeing Yu Mian trapped in the toilet cubicle, a violent impulse, born from instinct, almost took over her. Her body was already soaring into the air, muscles tensed, with a fierceness that could tear through the air.
However, the system's will, like an invisible chain, suddenly tightened at the peak of her power! Wu Shi felt the surging current in her body being abruptly cut off. The huge backlash made her breath choke, and she was forcibly "dragged" back to reality from several meters high. Her chest was so pent up that it felt like it was about to explode! I couldn't do it... I couldn't do it... But what about Yu Mian?!
“Help! Someone’s being beaten!!”
This shout was like a thunderclap, its effect immediate. Classroom doors were flung open one after another, and teachers and students, mingling together, quickly blocked the toilet entrance, a black mass.
In reality, many people knew what had happened in the restroom. Xu Man's group had been bullying people for a long time, but the scars left by the daily beatings and scolding were mostly insignificant, and Xu Man's strict approach made it difficult for anyone to find fault with her. Therefore, everyone chose to remain silent and "stay away." As long as the fire didn't reach them, they pretended not to see the thick smoke.
But today is different!
Wu Shi unexpectedly broke through the window paper wrapped in silence and fear, exposing the unbearable scene in the toilet nakedly to everyone's eyes - the man was caught red-handed, in full view of everyone!
Xu Man clearly hadn't expected things to get out of control like this. She looked around, and those eyes that had once been filled with fear or avoidance now held inquiry, contempt, and even... a hint of schadenfreude?
Soon, the dean of students and several male teachers rushed over, their faces livid, and pushed through the crowd. Under the countless gazes, Xu Man, lips tightly pursed and eyes sinister, was escorted away by the teacher. However, her eyes were fixed on Wu Shi like a hawk, and she finally smiled a devilish smile of excitement.
"System! What was she laughing at just now?! That look, that smile... She looked like a demon crawling out of hell and finding a new sacrifice! So creepy!" Wu Shi's inner villain was scratching the wall frantically, "And who is this person? There's no such thing in the script! I've been diligently following her these past few days... uh, protecting the heroine's baby. Seeing them walk together occasionally, I thought they were sisters! I never imagined! And why does the bullying part have to happen? Is the heroine's baby's fate so complicated? I have to stay by her side every step of the way."
"A newly activated important plot character, Xu Man, a vicious female supporting character. Her family's power is entrenched in the core of the local gray area, with deep roots, and her style of action is... relatively 'direct.'"
"The underworld... the underworld?!" Countless pornographic movie clips flashed through her mind: a man in a suit and sunglasses, a blood-stained baseball bat, late-night dock transactions... She was completely confused. "Wait! System, are you sure you got the right script?! Isn't this labeled 'Youth Pain Campus Inspirational Drama'? How did the style suddenly change to 'Pornographic Police Action Film'?! How could the heroine, Baby, have such a dangerous person around her?! The ending of the story can't be changed, and the heroine, Baby, survives her senior year safely."
While she was madly complaining in her heart, she was quickly flipping through the encrypted information about Xu Man that the system had just transmitted. The more she read, the tighter Wu Shi's brows furrowed, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but twitch:
"Hiss... this information... this person is not 'relatively direct' at all, he's simply a walking collection of 'pure perverts'!" "No wonder! No wonder that look just now was so creepy! That wasn't just anger or offense, that was... that was the ecstasy of discovering a new toy! In her eyes, that cry of 'help' was probably the drumbeat of my announcement to join the game? That devilish smile was definitely a 'declaration of war' and a 'notice of perversion certification'! What kind of show of force? It was simply a perverted declaration of 'I've got my eyes on you, you can't get away'!"
The more Wu Shi thought about it, the more he felt a chill running from the soles of his feet straight up to the top of his head.
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!"
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