The icy rain stabbed He Wanying’s thin clothes like a dense shower of steel needles; the bone-piercing cold seeped into her marrow.
She knelt in a mess on the cold stone steps at her front door, rain mixing with tears of humiliation and streaming freely down her face.
“You worthless money-loser! I’ve fed you, clothed you, and paid for your schooling all these years, and this is how you repay me?!”
Her father’s furious roar thundered through the tightly shut door and still rang in her ears like an explosion.
“E-rank masseur?! Heh, great! Then you useless piece of trash can go find a massage parlor to work at! If you can’t earn money, don’t even think about coming back through this door!”
“Bang!”
But the only answer to her desperate pleas was the heavy thud of the door being locked for good.
“Dad… please… let me in… Mom’s medicine isn’t finished yet… I was wrong… I really was wrong…”
He Wanying’s voice was hoarse as she pounded on the cold door, “Xiaoguo… Xiaoguo will be scared sleeping alone tonight…”
Inside came only her father’s cold, merciless ultimatum: “Want to come back into this house? Fine! From now on bring me 10,000 a month! Miss a single cent and forget it!”
Icy despair flooded over her like a tide; her mother lay tangled in sickness, her little sister was naive and young, and her father was addicted to gambling…
This crumbling home had once been the entire motivation behind her frantic studying and drive to become stronger. She dreamed of awakening a powerful combat class, slaughtering the alien races that killed her grandparents, and supporting this family!
But now… E-rank masseur.
All her hopes and pride had been ground to dust on the transfer platform.
How unjust fate was!
She didn’t know how she staggered through the heavy rain, like an empty shell whose soul had been pulled out. The cold rain couldn’t wash away the despair in her heart; if anything, it made her feel as if her whole body, even her heart, had frozen.
In the end, whether fate was toying with her or not, she stopped in front of the Star-Moon Massage Parlor, its ambiguous neon lights flickering.
“So be it…” a cold voice rang in the depths of her heart, full of self-mockery and resignation. “Even heaven wants me to be a masseur. If I keep struggling… what does it mean?”
Slaughter the alien races? Avenge Grandpa and Grandma? Ha! In this life… she would never be able to do it…
In the end, by virtue of her masseur class, He Wanying successfully joined the Star-Moon Massage Parlor and was given by the manager a high base salary of 10,000 a month, plus commission and the title of gold-medal masseur.
Of course, it wasn’t just because she was an E-rank class masseur with a photographic memory for massage techniques… a born top-tier masseur.
It was even more because of He Wanying’s beauty, her temperament, her figure, and the fact she was an 18-year-old freshly graduated female student.
Massage techniques can be learned; even if one can’t fully master them, learning most of them isn’t a problem.
For customers who come to places like the Star-Moon Massage Parlor, are they really there purely for superb technique?
Of course not!
Customers value the “resources” in the parlor: one young, beautiful technician after another is what keeps them coming back.
If the technicians have special class attributes, it excites the customers even more… students, flight attendants, etc…
Otherwise, wouldn’t it be more cost-effective to go to a hospital’s old bone-setting doctor or a blind masseur?!
A newcomer getting a 10,000 base salary made all the other technicians stare at He Wanying with envy, but she couldn’t feel happy at all.
Growing up in that family, whenever young He Wanying wanted a toy, her father required her to meet certain conditions first… modeling at children’s clothing stores, filming cute-baby videos for money.
All gifts had secretly had prices attached.
That’s how her closest family member, her father, had always seen her.
Now, what was her value in the eyes of this massage parlor’s boss to deserve such a high monthly salary?
He Wanying didn’t dare think too deeply.
After more than two hours of prickly, mechanical new-employee training, before she’d even signed the contract, the boss eagerly arranged her first assignment.
The trainer told her the first order was a student booking; the customer was a newly awakened class holder, supposedly the kind with a good temperament… perfect for her to practice on.
He Wanying didn’t believe it.
Are students inherently decent? If so, why are there so many campus bullying incidents in the news?
She’d heard some massage parlor customers have dirty hands and take liberties with technicians whenever possible.
I hope I get at least a decent customer…
Luckily, two customers had come, and according to one customer’s preference, a masseur named Yang Xiaorou was chosen to pair with her.
Seeing the solid figure of Yang Xiaorou, said to have awakened C-rank class warrior, He Wanying felt somewhat reassured.
Yang Xiaorou, having heard she was a newcomer, took care of her on the way and patiently shared tips and experiences on how to make the customer more comfortable.
Clinging to a tiny, unrealistic hope, He Wanying took a deep breath, swallowed her humiliation, suppressed her anxiety, and pushed open the frosted glass door.
Then the world seemed to freeze.
The handsome youth lying on the massage bed, those curious, probing eyes looking at her…
Lu Sheng!
Her classmate! The same Lu Sheng who a few hours ago had also awakened an E-rank class on the transfer platform!
She had awakened E-rank, been driven out, and ended up at this Star-Moon Massage Parlor.
Lu Sheng had also awakened E-rank, yet here he was with classmates, chatting and laughing as they got massages.
Same experience, same result, different treatment.
A crushing shame and sense of disparity overwhelmed her like a tsunami!
Blood rushed to her head and then froze. Behind the mask her cheeks burned; her mind went blank.
Why did my first job have to be someone I know?!
Though resigned to her fate as a masseur, being seen working in this seedy place by someone familiar filled her with unbearable shame, shattering her pride.
“I’m wearing a mask; he might not recognize me…”
“Don’t stare at me… please… stop looking…”
She prayed silently, forcing down her tremors and pretending not to know Lu Sheng, though her voice kept shaking.
“C-customer… shall we start?”
Lu Sheng clearly caught the panic and pleading in He Wanying’s heart; the playful smile at the corner of his mouth deepened.
“Let’s start.”
She felt as if pardoned, quickly crouched, and with slender, cold fingers carefully cradled Lu Sheng’s foot.
When her fingertips touched his warm skin, an indescribable chill and tremor swept through her body.
She concentrated, dipped his feet in warm water, and her slender fingers began to knead clumsily but precisely. Each press carried the instinctive technique granted by her E-rank class, easing Lu Sheng’s foot muscles.
Lu Sheng subconsciously narrowed his eyes.
As expected of a class masseur!
The perfect pressure, precise acupoint work, combined with warm water and the scent of oil, sent a tingling comfort like electricity from his soles through his body.
Lost in the comfort, his consciousness blurred and he fell asleep.
He slept for a full hour.
“Bro! Bro! Wake up! Time’s up! Let’s go!”
Zhang Dapao’s booming voice cut through the dark comfort and pulled Lu Sheng awake.
“Mm?” Lu Sheng opened his eyes groggily, still languid from deep relaxation. He yawned contentedly, stretched, and asked, “Over?”
At some point He Wanying had stopped, standing quietly to the side with her head bowed like a fragile porcelain doll.
Only the sweat in her hair and the flushed cheeks beneath her mask proved that she’d diligently massaged him during that hour.
“Yeah! Time to go, bro!”
Zhang Dapao urged, drenched in sweat as if fished from water, yet wearing an indescribable satisfaction.
His hands trembled slightly, showing the weakness after intense exertion.
Yang Xiaorou, standing not far away, blushed and bowed shyly, her build noticeably sturdier.
Good grief…
Lu Sheng’s gaze swept between them.
He’d only joked a few words and Pao had actually massaged Yang Xiaorou’s feet for an hour.
“Pao, you go ahead.”
Lu Sheng’s gaze finally fell on He Wanying, who still hung her head and wished she could sink into the floor, and a meaningful curve played at his lips.
“I… want to extend time!”
The two words hit He Wanying like thunder!
She trembled, instinctively looking up at Lu Sheng with eyes full of doubt and a faint, barely detectable fear.
Could it be… he recognized me? The thought chilled her through.
“All right then, bro, I’ll head home first, you know…”
Zhang Dapao gave a bashful look and scratched his head.
“My parents worry I’ll get bullied outside, so I have to be home before nine every night.”
“Then you’d better go back early!” Lu Sheng nodded with concern.
“Pao, hurry home. If you go back too late and encounter someone trying to molest you, I won’t be able to rest either.”
Zhang Dapao chuckled, “Bye-bye, bro!” and left the room with Yang Xiaorou, satisfied.
Yang Xiaorou gently shut the door behind them.
Now the cramped room held only Lu Sheng and He Wanying. The air stiffened; only faint water sounds next door and their breathing were audible.
The silence pressed on He Wanying like a heavy stone. She kept her head down, each second stretching like a century.
“Continue. Just now your pressure was so good I fell asleep before properly enjoying it.”
After scanning to extend the time, Lu Sheng looked at He Wanying in a relaxed tone, as if extending was simply for better service.
That slightly loosened the taut string in He Wanying’s heart.
“Looks like… he didn’t recognize me?”
The thought brought a wave of sour sorrow.
So even Lu Sheng, also E-rank, hadn’t recognized her…
When her old classmates became powerful class holders soaring in the sky, she… once the “heaven’s favored daughter” in teachers’ and students’ eyes… would probably have vanished into dust, an unnoticed backdrop under the murky lights of this parlor…
“The water’s cooled, customer. I’ll change it for you.” Her voice was hoarse, as if she’d fully accepted her fate; she bent to pick up the basin.
As she leaned forward, all attention on the rim of the basin, a hand brushed her hair and, while she was off guard, hooked the edge of her mask and tugged!
“No… !”
He Wanying cried out like a frightened rabbit!
She jerked her hand up to cover her face, to stop the last shred of cover being torn away!
But it was too late.
The mask came off, revealing a pale, delicate face full of panic and disbelief.
“Isn’t this our big campus belle, classmate He Wanying?”
Lu Sheng’s playful voice rang in her ear, and her world spun!
All her disguises, luck, and self-comfort were shattered by that casual sentence!
Overwhelming humiliation and shame crashed down like a tsunami!
A strong hand clamped her slender wrist like iron, the other mercilessly pinched her delicate chin, forcing her tear-streaked, despairing face up to meet Lu Sheng’s smiling gaze.
“Big campus belle He…” Lu Sheng chuckled; to her it sounded like a demon’s whisper. “Why are you losing little pearls now? This isn’t how the cold, proud ice-mountain goddess who crushed all the city’s senior students should look, is it?”
He Wanying bit her lower lip until blood welled up. She strained to look away; tears dropped like beads from a broken string.
Her pride and dignity lay trampled under the man’s feet.
Just as she was about to be crushed by this humiliation and slip into darkness…
The smile on Lu Sheng’s face vanished.
A sharp, dazzling golden light flared in his deep eyes.
He leaned close, his voice low and filled with a bewitching, nearly demonic strength, each word pounding on He Wanying’s nearly broken heart.
“Big campus belle He.”
“Tell me…”
“Do you… crave strength?”
A strange golden gleam flickered across Lu Sheng’s pupils.
『Be My Son!』
Activate!