A roar of noise erupted below.
After a brief silence, the clamor grew louder, and the huge gymnasium boiled over with disdain and ridicule.
“Is she crazy?”
“Who does she think she is? One person for a whole team, how could she possibly beat us?”
“I think that bucket of water must have gotten to her brain…”
Even Xie Zhoulin, who had been standing off to the side, stepped forward, frowning as he said to her, “If you leave now, I can still mark this class as sick leave.”
Voices of protest rose from below: “Class rep, she doesn’t care, so don’t bother thinking for her.”
“If she wants to make a fool of herself in front of everyone, let her. She’ll behave once she’s embarrassingly knocked out of the circle!”
Ji Shu ignored Xie Zhoulin.
She simply retracted her hand, looked at the unfamiliar faces filled with malice, and lightly tapped her temple with her index finger. Her tightly pressed lips curved slightly:
“If I were you, I wouldn’t be standing here talking nonsense right now. I’d be thinking carefully about how not to look completely ridiculous when you get hit in the head later.”
Xie Zhoulin said nothing further. He simply noted her name on the test sheet and rearranged the teams.
Then he turned and dragged over the basket full of dodgeballs, blowing his whistle.
“First dodgeball test for the girls’ teams, begin—”
As his words fell, the previously roaring gym quieted, leaving only the rhythmic thump of balls hitting the floor.
Within two minutes, some small teams had already determined a winner. Among the girls were athletic elites, to strengthen their college applications, most Flandre students selected and excelled in one or two sports courses, often training in extracurricular activities right after afternoon cultural classes.
Beating them wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t impossible either.
Ji Shu effortlessly dodged the balls thrown by the opposing teams and accurately struck one girl in the head.
When her hands were empty, she heard someone call her name from behind.
“Ji Shu.”
Ji Shu turned her head. Xie Zhoulin was standing just outside the circle, reaching into the basket and tossing a ball toward her.
Ji Shu stood perfectly centered in the circle and caught it with precision.
Her black eyes were deep and steady, she didn’t speak. Instead, she turned and let her actions prove the power of that single ball.
“Thud! Thud!”
A double hit.
The small team was out.
The girls on the opposing side, still stunned and shocked by Xie Zhoulin’s casual throw, were caught completely off guard. The ball struck them, and they collapsed to the floor with cries of pain.
Xie Zhoulin pursed his lips. “Take it easy.”
Ji Shu still didn’t answer. She caught the ball he tossed again, weighed it in her hands, but Xie Zhoulin could tell she had restrained her force for the next round.
As expected, she won the subsequent matches. The later rounds were progressively more difficult. Even though Ji Shu was repeatedly hit on her arms, thighs, shoulders, and torso, she was never struck on the head.
No matter how many points she lost, as long as her head remained unharmed, she wouldn’t be out. The opposing players threw with all their strength, but she merely groaned in pain, her eyes locking onto her target like a predator, hit or die.
Thirty minutes passed. The basket grew emptier with balls, and the bruises on her body multiplied. The bright lights of the empty gym burned down on her, and only the heavy panting and occasional sniffles could be heard. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the “monster” in the circle.
Under the original rules of dodgeball, one of three players was chosen as the team’s “king,” and the others were meant to protect that “king” from being hit in the head. Although Flandre’s version had removed this rule, Ji Shu’s battered yet upright, slender figure seemed like a “king” incarnate.
Standing in the circle, she was the king.
Murmurs of disbelief and complaints rose.
“She’s a monster…”
“Too scary… what round is this? And she still has energy!”
“How many times has she been hit? Doesn’t it hurt? This isn’t even a real match, it’s just a test. Why is she trying so hard…”
Even though Xie Zhoulin had warned about controlling the force at the start, not everyone managed their throws like Ji Shu. Seeing that they couldn’t hit her head, their courage grew, and they aimed for her easier-to-hit spots. Each loud impact barely affected her, her expression never changed, her gaze darkened further, and in her turn, she would strike the person who had thrown at her right in the head with pinpoint accuracy.
Finally, Xie Zhoulin blew the whistle.
He had been standing outside the line, tossing balls to Ji Shu, witnessing every team eliminated.
The basket was now completely empty.
The test ended, and almost everyone was sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath, too exhausted to speak, a scene of stunned, defeated chaos.
In the gym, only one person remained standing in the circle.
She looked coldly at them and said, “I know you’re using the young duke’s behavior as a guide, so whether you ignore me or mock me, I can treat it as herd-like self-preservation. I really can’t provoke the young duke. But if any of you don’t mind feeling my fists, you’re welcome to be the first to step up. Just don’t be afraid of pain.”
The arena fell silent.
Ji Shu herself wasn’t in great shape. The moment the whistle blew, all the pain in her body surged at once.
She didn’t even know how many times she had been hit by balls. Every joint felt shattered, and her shoulders and back could barely support her weight.
Her body wavered as she tried to move.
Xie Zhoulin had just finished recording the scores. His voice sounded behind her as he read the test results.
“…First place, Ji Shu. Points scored: 215, points lost: 42, total: 173—”
Before he could finish, he saw her collapse to one side.
A collective gasp and murmurs echoed through the low-ceilinged gym.
Before anyone could react, Xie Zhoulin, who had been standing outside the circle, stepped in, scooped up the unconscious girl, and called a few attendants. He tossed the score sheet to one of them, glanced at her face, pale and slick with cold sweat, and without hesitation lifted her in his arms. He gestured to the others and strode toward the infirmary.
Her body was terrifyingly cold, though the back of her neck burned faintly. Bruises spread visibly across her thighs and arms, and her brows were tightly furrowed in pain.
Flandre’s indoor gym had a built-in medical room. Even in that short walk, Xie Zhoulin could feel her body heat gradually rising through the thin layer of her athletic clothes. Her face pressed against his chest, and the warmth radiating from her slowly climbed over his own chest.
“Is she okay? She’s not dead, is she?”
“Don’t even say that!!”
“Look at her color, she might as well be dead…”
Xie Zhoulin shot a cold glance, and the others went silent, exchanging uneasy looks.
For some reason, even the small patch of skin where her thigh pressed against his bent leg felt uncomfortable. The mix of sweat and heat clung to him, nearly unbearable.
As he walked, he couldn’t help but recall her this morning, drenched from the cold water.
Her collarbones were pale and bluish, her nearly transparent shirt clinging tightly to the skin of her chest, rising and falling with each breath. The soft, pale pink beneath the fabric was faintly visible.
Her expression then had been dazed and helpless, as if she had been entirely excluded from the world, left alone in the eye of a storm.
Xie Zhoulin’s brow furrowed even deeper as he lifted his gaze, looking straight ahead.
One of his attendants, knowing his fastidious nature, stepped forward eagerly: “Class president, should I go?”
“…No,” Xie Zhoulin said, his expression unchanged. “Go call the teacher and explain what happened here.”
He quickened his pace as he spoke.
After climbing the stairs and entering the corridor, he reached the infirmary door. Someone behind him opened it, and Xie Zhoulin strode inside, bending down to place her on the hospital bed.
Suddenly, he froze.
The girl had started crying, though he hadn’t noticed when. She didn’t make a sound, but the air became damp with traces of moisture. Tears seeped from the corners of her eyes, sliding down her lashes silently, mixing with the cold sweat on her skin. Stray strands of hair clung to her cheeks.
The tears felt like another bucket of cold water.
Xie Zhoulin remembered the video from the storage room that day. While he did not approve of Lu Mingxi’s methods, he had not wanted to meddle. In that video, the girl knelt in the dim room, head bowed, shoulders twitching. The person holding the camera laughed and asked mockingly, “Why are you crying?”
“What right does the perpetrator have to cry?”
—Why should the perpetrator be allowed to cry?
Xie Zhoulin stared at her face in silence, thinking, until the sound of the door being pushed open and approaching footsteps reached him.
“Class president, the teacher is here!”
“…Got it,” Xie Zhoulin snapped out of his thoughts. He glanced once more at the girl on the bed, drew the white privacy curtain, greeted the school doctor, and left the infirmary.
An attendant reported to him: “The test sheets are completed and submitted, but some of the girls’ teams are dissatisfied with their results and requested a retest.”
Xie Zhoulin replied as he descended the stairs, “Ignore them.”
He paused briefly, then asked, “Paper?”
“Paper? Uh, I’ll see… it’s in the changing room. I didn’t bring it. Should I buy a pack from the vending machine?”
“Forget it.”
Xie Zhoulin said nothing, only quickened his pace.
The sticky sensation left on his palm made him uncomfortably restless, as if it were quietly spreading across his skin. He clenched his left hand, then released it, and finally turned and went into the restroom.
He turned on the faucet, letting the rushing water wash over his hands. Slowly, the inexplicable irritation in his chest began to ease.
But soon, his brow furrowed again.
Looking into the mirror, he noticed a small patch of damp, faint tear stains on the otherwise dry and tidy front of his uniform.
“…”
Xie Zhoulin decided to wait for it to dry before leaving.