004: Are You Hiding Yet? Here I Come!
The next day at noon.
Wen Yan took advantage of her lunch break to sneak out of the classroom and head straight to the mall outside the school.
She had been holding in her pee for nearly half a day, all because she was afraid of running into Pei Jinye and his gang in the restroom.
But fate had other plans—the more she feared something, the more it seemed to come for her.
She had just stepped into the mall when a long, straight leg stretched out from around the corner, blocking her path.
The thick smell of cigarette smoke hit her before the person even fully emerged, and she already knew who it was.
Instinctively, she turned to run, but the moment she spun around, Pei Jinye’s lackeys blocked her escape.
They pressed forward step by step, forcing Wen Yan to retreat back.
The next second, a heavy hand clamped down on her shoulder, and a low, malicious voice sounded from above: “Good afternoon, Wen Yan. What a coincidence, we meet again.”
Wen Yan’s blood ran cold.
Coincidence? How could it be a coincidence? They must have anticipated she wouldn’t dare use the school restroom and came here to lie in wait.
Wen Yan looked up and glared at him fiercely. “Pei Jinye, please move aside!”
“I won’t.” Pei Jinye crossed his arms and looked down at her with a “what are you going to do about it” expression.
“Pei Jinye, what exactly do you want?” Wen Yan’s voice rose, trembling slightly. “Bullying me over and over again—don’t you ever get bored?”
The air fell silent for a moment, then Pei Jinye suddenly let out a mocking laugh.
“Now that you mention it, you’re right.” He reached up and tucked a strand of her disheveled hair behind her ear. “So today, I want to play something different with you.”
Wen Yan shuddered violently and took a cautious step back. “What do you want?!”
“Let’s play a game of cat and mouse.” Pei Jinye smiled cruelly, flicking her cheek lightly with his finger. “I’ll give you one minute to hide. After that minute is up, if you haven’t hidden well, you’re in for a good, thorough bullying today.”
Wen Yan was still staring at him in shock when he slowly began to speak: “Fifty-nine.”
Wen Yan snapped back to reality and bolted toward the women’s restroom.
“Running to the women’s restroom?” Pei Jinye’s amused voice came from behind her, like a snake’s hiss. “That’s a dead end, you know.”
Wen Yan’s steps faltered. After a few seconds of hesitation, she dashed toward the fire escape.
The stairwell was dimly lit, and Wen Yan accidentally twisted her ankle, but she gritted her teeth against the pain and climbed all the way to the third floor, where she found a storage room to hide in.
She had barely closed the cabinet door when footsteps echoed from outside.
Wen Yan clamped her hand over her mouth, not daring to make a single sound, barely even breathing.
Suddenly—”Bang!”—a cabinet door was yanked open with force, slamming against the wall before bouncing back.
Then a second bang, a third… Pei Jinye seemed to be in a good mood. He counted slowly while pulling open each cabinet door one by one.
“Where did you hide, little mouse?” His voice carried a smile, filtering through the door panel. “Three!”
He began his countdown.
Wen Yan looked around frantically. This was a closed cabinet—if she went out now, she’d be caught red-handed.
“Two!”
Wen Yan spotted a mop lying by the cabinet. She could use it to defend herself. But with her strength, going head-to-head with Pei Jinye would only provoke him further and invite even more insane retaliation.
“One!”
The next second—”Bang!”
The cabinet door was ripped open from the outside with tremendous force, and a huge shadow instantly loomed over her.
Wen Yan looked up in panic, meeting Pei Jinye’s deep, vicious eyes.
She was done for.
She still hadn’t managed to escape.