Following a period of settling in and making a name for himself, Fei Qinan drew even greater favor from the female students within his own class and the neighboring ones. His desk was constantly filled with a steady stream of love letters and small gifts, most of which he threw straight into the trash can without even glancing at them.
Even so, it did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm. After class, numerous admirers would crowd behind the doors and windows to catch a glimpse of the legendary “top student and basketball prince,” while earning the envy, jealousy, and hatred of the other boys.
For the past couple of days, Qi Shun had essentially stopped speaking to Fei Qinan altogether. Both treated the other as a transparent presence, one spent his days sleeping, while the other buried himself in his studies.
“Hey, do you guys want to play a game we haven’t played in a while?” A few students sat slumped lazily in the corner of the classroom, and Lin Hao, sitting in the middle, wore an evil smirk.
He still harbored deep resentment over the incident on the basketball court that day and had been constantly looking for an opportunity to teach Fei Qinan another lesson. After all, they were all kids whose futures had been paved with golden pathways by their parents, so they naturally needed to find some amusement to pass the time during their boring student lives.
“Hao, are you starting to think about playing that routine again?” his companion immediately caught on.
“The main thing is, we shouldn’t piss off Qi Shun, right?” another glasses-wearing boy chimed in with a hint of worry. In their class, no, across their entire school, probably nobody dared to provoke that plague god, right?
Leaving aside the fact that nobody’s family background could rival his, just his fists alone were enough to make anyone think twice. He remembered when the semester first started, some clueless punk had offended Qi Shun for reasons unknown and ended up hospitalized by the end of the day.
Pressured by Qi Shun’s family, the school administration had tried their absolute best to sweep the matter under the rug, but guys like them weren’t stupid enough to play with their own lives.
“I think the little woods behind the school work pretty well.” That spot was secluded and practically nobody went there.
During the lunch break, a student ran over to tell Fei Qinan that a teacher was looking for him in the small woods behind the school and seemed to want him to help out with something.
Without giving it a second thought, Fei Qinan walked out of the classroom. The student who passed along the message immediately made a quick phone call to report, “He’s on his way,” before trailing outside as well.
Qi Shun shifted his sleeping posture, muttered something that sounded vaguely like “idiots,” and went back to silence.
Arriving at the designated spot, Fei Qinan looked around and saw nothing except rows of lush, green trees; there was no sign of any teacher in sight. Just as he turned to head back, four figures suddenly darted out from who-knows-where and blocked his path. Instantly, he realized this was all a prank.
“Well, well, Fei. The teacher is looking for you, how could you just walk away like that?” chimed in Lin Hao, wearing a wicked grin.
“That’s right. Look how frail you are aren’t you scared of running into a big bad wolf coming to the woods all by yourself?” Lin Hao’s lackey joined in on the taunting.
“Hahaha… Look at that little housewife look on him. Tsk tsk tsk, almost makes a guy feel bad about laying a hand on him.” Another classmate mocked derisively.
The moment Lin Hao caught sight of Fei Qinan’s detached, aloof expression, the memory of his humiliation rushed back, fueling his anger even more.
“Damn it, stop talking crap and just strip him for me right now.”
The few flunkies rushed forward and shoved Fei Qinan to the ground. Two of them pinned him down while another started tearing off his clothes. The strange thing was that he put up zero resistance, letting them subject him to the humiliating act of stripping him bare.
In no time at all, Fei Qinan lay flat on the ground completely naked. Large swathes of dust clung to his body, along with a few fallen leaves stuck to his skin.
With no struggle, no shouting, and no argument, when Lin Hao and his gang finally saw the massive blankets of scars spread across his skin, they instantly froze.
Those mottled bruises, inflicted by who-knew-what kind of weapon, stretched all the way from his chest down to his calves. Virtually not a single patch of skin on his body was intact. The combination of nearly healed wounds and intersecting scars of varying shades caught the pranksters completely off guard.
“What the actual fuck? What kind of monster are you, damn it? How unlucky, ugh..spit!! You completely ruined my good mood.” Lin Hao glanced down in disgust at Fei Qinan lying motionless on the ground like a corpse. Losing all appetite for further torment, he gave Fei Qinan a couple of irritated kicks, spat on the ground, and led the others away.
The other two guys tossed Fei Qinan’s clothes aside and doused them in gasoline. Before leaving, a single lit match reduced them to a pile of charred black ashes.
After the four of them scurried off, Fei Qinan waited a moment before finally getting up from the ground, stark naked, and walking over to sit beside a slightly thicker tree trunk. His expression remained entirely blank throughout, save for a soft sigh as he watched the fire gradually burn itself out.
The afternoon sunlight filtered down through the gaps in the leaves, dappling his body with shifting spots of light. He pulled his limbs tightly inward, curled his body into a ball, and buried his face in his knees as he slowly drifted off to sleep.
If I had just died back then… wouldn’t things be much better than they are now?