[Task Six: Jiang Xinian got a red card…
[Task Six: Jiang Xinian got a red card, and you feel absolutely thrilled. What you hate most is this kind of pretentious show-off. You’ve also just learned that he’s an unfilial son who abandoned his poor old father! You decide to get in touch with his father so the whole school will know the ugly truth hidden beneath Jiang Xinian’s mask!]
[Please expose Jiang Xinian’s scandal before 24:00 tomorrow night]
[Task success reward: survival time increased by 24h]
[Task failure penalty: survival time reduced by 48h]
Cen Wan lay listlessly across his desk and asked 0813: [So we have tasks this overbearing, huh?]
0813 wiped away a bout of electronic cold sweat: [Hehe]
[Y-yes, yes we do!]
The phone in his pocket vibrated, alerting Cen Wan to a new message. He opened it, it was Fu Xingjian
[Why did you leave so early?]
[Even though the doctor said there’s nothing seriously wrong for now, your health is in poor shape. You’d best stay a few more days for rest and observation.]
[I was away handling something else yesterday so I wasn’t at the hospital. I heard you came looking for me. Was there something you needed?]
Cen Wan: [Just wanted to tell you I’m heading out. Thanks, Brother Fu. I’m fine]
Cen Wan: [Kitty spinning in circles jpg.]
The other side went silent for a good while. Cen Wan had already turned off his phone and was about to pocket it when another message came through,
[Mm]
Fu Xingjian stared at the words “Brother Fu” on his screen for a long moment. He couldn’t say what felt off, only that it didn’t make him particularly happy.
Cen Wan was still racking his brain over how to contact the protagonist bottom’s father when the system unexpectedly refreshed
[Task Seven: Your plan to climb the social ladder has failed, and you believe it’s all that little bitch Jiang Xinian’s fault. You’ve learned he’s at the library today. Bullying him now means currying favor with Loren, so you decide to go teach him a lesson.]
[Please arrive at the library within 1h, tear his notebook to shreds, and make him kneel down and use those worthless scribbles of his to shine your shoes!]
[Task success reward: survival time increased by 24h]
[Task failure penalty: survival time reduced by 24h]
[Task countdown: 59:59]
[59:58]
Cen Wan only had six or seven days of life left in total. Any more deductions and he’d be on the endangered list.
Eyes brimming with tears, he sprinted for a full twenty minutes to reach the library, which was far removed from the teaching buildings. For the first time, he utterly despised Saint Rhode’s enormous campus.
It was only upon arriving at the library’s second floor that he discovered someone had gotten there even earlier than him.
“Let go! You dare touch me? Just you wait, you poor little pauper!”
“Q-quick, send a message to Young Master Loren!!”
The delicate-looking black-haired boy’s face was twisted with fury, his neck flushed crimson. Jiang Xinian, a full head taller, had his arms wrenched behind him, pinning him by the nape against the icy floor. Even with his lovely face contorted out of shape, he was still twisting an arm backward, trying to fight back.
Several onlookers stood nearby, looking troubled and not daring to step in. Clearly, they’d already had a scuffle before Cen Wan arrived every one of them was sporting some kind of injury.
The most badly hurt, though, was the protagonist bottom at the center of the crowd. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, and bruises mottled his face and body. His hair and clothes were soaked through in large patches; the drenched strands hung down, covering the only feature that looked even slightly gentle his pale eyes. Gray-black stains were splattered across his platinum-white uniform, his cold face like that of an asura.
The sound of the elevator doors opening rang out, and the chaotic, noisy scene instantly hit pause.
Wen Qing, pinned firmly to the ground, glared viciously at Jiang Xinian and sneered under his breath:
“You shameless dead rat, you’re dead!”
Then his expression changed in an instant. On the verge of tears, he turned his head and cried out:
“Young Master Luo, save me!”
A bit of dust smeared his fair face as he looked over with red-rimmed eyes, utterly pitiable.
Cen Wan met his gaze, then caught the even more furious look from the other, and froze awkwardly in place.
And Youhe stared at the stunned crowd for a few seconds before looking away first, rubbing his nose with a greeting:
“Uh, haha”
“What a coincidence.”
Not.
So unlucky.
Cen Wan shed buckets of tears inside while forcing himself forward step by step under everyone’s cold stares.
Wen Qing cursed a few times, but suddenly felt the hand holding him down loosen. He immediately crawled a few steps in a most undignified manner out of Jiang Xinian’s reach, and by the time he stood up, his usual arrogance had returned.
“You” Jiang Xinian’s voice was hoarse, a flicker of light in his eyes. He was about to say something to Cen Wan when Wen Qing, standing far away, cut him off impatiently:
“Who are you? What are you here for?”clearly interrogating Cen Wan.
Cen Wan didn’t dare meet the protagonist shou’s expectant gaze.
Better short pain than long pain he absolutely couldn’t let the protagonist shou hold out hope for a vicious cannon fodder like himself.
Tilting his face with feigned disdain, he said:
“Tch, what do you people know?”
“If you want to destroy someone’s will, the most important thing is to destroy what they cherish most.”
Under everyone’s suspicious gazes, Cen Wan leisurely looked around, walked up to the only table nearby that was in use, and casually picked up a book to examine it.
It was falling apart.
Cen Wan felt he wouldn’t even need to tear it with a bit of force, the books would fall to pieces on their own. The pages, torn into fragments, had been mended back one by one by their owner, who clearly cherished them dearly.
Cen Wan suppressed his reluctance and steeled himself,
With a great ripping sound, he tore off their covers and shredded them to pieces in a few swift motions.
Then he hurled the books to the ground and stomped on them hard right in front of Jiang Xinian, leaving several gray footprints, before crossing his arms and declaring:
“These lousy books are all he cares about. Trampling them to pieces will do.”
【Mission complete. Reward: survival time extended by 24 hours.】
“Besides, didn’t people say some professor was especially fond of him? I don’t buy it. Otherwise, why hasn’t he come after hearing his precious student was being bullied?” Cen Wan suddenly brought this up with an unreadable expression.
Everyone else looked puzzled, but Jiang Xinian stared at Cen Wan with a dark, inscrutable look, his chest tight with suffocation, mocking himself for his own sentimentality.
“So annoying.”
Everyone turned toward the voice.
The speaker was a man dressed in a snow-white shirt. His ink-black hair, smooth as satin, was tied in a low ponytail draped over one shoulder. His brows were like distant mountains in faint shadow, his phoenix eyes fringed with long lashes refined to the point of being almost feminine.
Looking listless and weary, he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and said coldly:
“Anyone who keeps talking gets thrown out.”
“Ah, A-Yan has a bad temper.” A tall, blond man nearby spoke up with a smile, though his tone carried the same condescension:
“But I don’t much like people making a ruckus in the library either.”
When Wen Qing saw Loren, he shot Jiang Xinian a you’re-finished look, then turned and stammered forward, head bowed and eyes lowered:
“Young Master Luo.”
Loren’s lips curved in a half-smile:
“Be good. I hate troublesome people.”
Wen Qing raised his eyes to meet that indifferent gaze, bit his lip, and answered:
“Yes.”
“However” Loren’s tone shifted, drawing out his words.
Wen Qingxin’s spirits soared, secretly delighted that he really was different from the others he did carry some weight with Young Master Luo.
But the next moment, Luo Lun’s words sent him plummeting back down.
“You’re very good.” At first, Wen Qing thought it was directed at him, but when he looked up, he found Luo Lun’s gaze fixed on the special-admission student.
He shot Jiang Xinian a resentful glare, but didn’t dare say anything more that might annoy Luo Lun.
Jiang Xinian instinctively frowned, feeling that Luo Lun wasn’t speaking to him.
Sure enough, Luo Lun strolled over leisurely, but stopped in front of Cen Wan.
Cen Wan kept his eyes lowered, watching a pair of exquisitely crafted leather shoes come to a stop right in front of him. He thought, This is bad. The mandatory face-slapping scene for cannon fodder is here.
His lashes trembled slightly as he asked 0813: [Baobei, do we have anything like pain-blocking functions?]
0813 whimpered twice and said no.
Fine. Cen Wan was pretty tolerant he’d been hoping to avoid pain if possible.
Unfortunately, no such luck.
He could only shift his feet back slightly and prepare himself if F1 tried to hit him, he’d immediately cover his head!
Otherwise, his right ear, which already had below-average hearing, would be slapped deaf.
“Raise your face.” Luo Lun’s voice rang out, tinged with a smile.
It’s over. He really is going to slap my face.
“Don’t touch him.” Jiang Xinian’s face turned grim, and he suddenly reached out to shield Cen Wan.
This was the first time Jiang Xinian had shown any emotion other than coldness and disgust in front of Luo Lun.
Luo Lun’s smile deepened as he swept a glance over Jiang Xinian from top to bottom.
“You think, with your abilities, you can stop me from doing whatever I want?” Luo Lun merely stated the fact calmly, but it made Jiang Xinian’s expression even worse.
Inside, Cen Wan’s inner self was bawling its eyes out moved to tears by the protagonist shou’s gesture but he didn’t think F1 had any interest in him.
Far more likely, it was just to spite the protagonist shou.
Cen Wan sighed and, as if facing death itself, lifted his gaze to meet those deep, brooding eyes like the abyss of the sea.
“Cen Wan?” Luo Lun spoke his name.
Without waiting for a reply, he continued:
“Would you care to join me for afternoon tea?”
“That bitch!” Wen Qingxin furiously smashed a white porcelain cup, shards flying everywhere. The attendant nearby caught the other man’s gaze and retracted his half-extended foot.
“All he’s got is that seductive, vixen face! How dare he seduce Young Master Luo. Cousin! You have to help me this time!”
The other man was none other than Wang Cun the kidney-deficient guy who had just been rushed through his expulsion paperwork by Fu Xingjian, and who was likewise seething with hatred.
Two days later, his injuries hadn’t healed; they were far worse than that night. One of his legs was now wrapped in bandages, with a crutch propped beside his chair.
Thinking of how his parents, who had always doted on him, changed the moment they received Fu Xingjian’s message cursing him out and beating him so viciously they broke one of his legs resentment festered in Wang Cun’s heart.
It was all that little bitch’s fault.
The two of them schemed darkly for a long while, then Wang Cun’s eyes darted as he came up with a vicious plan.
“That little slut thinks he can play the high and mighty? I’ll show him.” Wang Cun narrowed his severely swollen eyes, his smile nearly lewd.
Wen Qingxin had never seen his cousin whose features were actually rather refined and handsome look so ugly. He felt momentarily uncomfortable.
Meeting that smile, he faltered and looked away. Hesitantly, he said:
“Maybe we shouldn’t go too far. What if Young Master Fu…”
Hearing the hint of restraint in Wen Qingxin’s words, Wang Cun flew into a neurotic rage, slamming the table with a bang that startled Wen Qingxin.
“Do you have any idea what he’s done to me?! My parents are talking about divorce because of this!”
“I fucking heard them say they want to kick me out, to cut ties with me completely!”
“Right now I’d love nothing more than to flay that bitch alive and tear her tendons out!”
He looked like a madman, shouting at Wen Qing to vent the hatred filling his chest. After finishing that last sentence, he panted heavily a few times.
Then he let out a sneer:
“What’s there to be afraid of? Of course I made sure everything was ready before starting this plan.”
Wang Cun kicked aside the porcelain shards at his feet and said smugly:
“Fu Xingjian hasn’t had any time to help him lately.”
“By the time Fu Xingjian finishes dealing with all that, Cen Wan will already be a notorious bitch everyone loves to hate. I refuse to believe that by then”
“Fu Xingjian will still care about him.”