Chapter 2

Zhu Shiyan himself did not know why he was so certain. Despite having never even touched him, the moment he saw him, he felt inexplicably convinced that this was the protagonist he had been looking for.

The figure on the playground gradually faded from view, and Zhu Shiyan retracted his gaze. Qiao Li, extremely annoyed by his persistent indifference, pouted and asked, "I'm talking to you! Why are you ignoring me?"

"Sorry."

Zhu Shiyan offered a perfunctory apology and turned his head. "What did you just say?"

"I said, why did you go to help him!"

"Oh." Zhu Shiyan propped his chin on one hand and replied listlessly, "I helped because I wanted to."

Qiao Li seemed quite dissatisfied with his behavior and wanted to argue further, but the teacher for the second period had already entered. She had no choice but to shut her mouth, dragging her chair a bit further away to make her stance clear.

Zhu Shiyan didn't pay it any mind. In his eyes, everyone in this world was an NPC; he only needed to concern himself with the protagonist's circumstances.

Halfway through the class, Xi Fei returned.

He stood at the doorway, his hair damp against his forehead. Half of his exposed face bore clear bruises, and a smear of uncleaned blood stained the hem of his trousers.

The teacher glanced at him, as if ignoring the injuries on his body, and said coldly, "You want to come in after being this late? Stand outside."

Xi Fei did not retort and stood outside without a word.

His position happened to be right next to Zhu Shiyan. Zhu Shiyan secretly opened the window and called out to him softly, "Hey."

Xi Fei didn't react.

He might not have heard, or perhaps he had heard but chose to ignore him, preoccupied with staring blankly at his own worn-out, tattered shoes.

Having learned his lesson from the first period, Zhu Shiyan didn't dare to call out loudly. After thinking for a moment, he tore a sheet of paper from his notebook, wrote a sentence on it, balled it up, and threw it at him.

The paper ball hit Xi Fei on the shoulder and landed in a parabola at his feet.

This time, Xi Fei reacted, but he only glanced at him before returning to staring at his shoes, ignoring the paper ball at his feet as if it didn't exist.

Zhu Shiyan: "..."

He patiently made another paper ball and threw it at him.

Qiao Li noticed his movements and looked at him as if he were a monster, silently moving her chair a little further away.

Xi Fei still didn't move.

Zhu Shiyan lowered his voice and said, "Pick it up and take a look."

Xi Fei paused for a moment, then picked up the two paper balls.

He opened them with a numb expression, but the expected insults—"little beast," "bastard," "poker-face"—did not appear. The paper held only a simple sentence: "Hi, my name is Zhu Shiyan. What's your name?"

Xi Fei’s expression faltered. He turned his head to look at Zhu Shiyan, who gave him a wide, bright smile through the window.

Xi Fei’s fingers curled, and he turned away in silence to continue his punishment.

Zhu Shiyan: "..."

The protagonist is truly difficult to handle.

The commotion here had already caught the teacher's attention, so Zhu Shiyan didn't dare throw any more paper balls and focused on the lesson.

When the teacher announced the end of class, Zhu Shiyan hurriedly looked out the window. The person who should have been standing there was gone, and the two paper balls on the ground had also disappeared.

He turned to look at the last row. Xi Fei had returned to his seat, a high stack of textbooks piled in front of him. His slightly long hair obscured his brows and eyes. When others passed by him, they would deliberately steer clear, even showing disgust if they accidentally touched his belongings, wishing they could scrub their hands several times to ward off the "bad luck."

Only the group led by Zheng Xingyan would interact with him, but every time they did, it was to cause trouble, and even then, they did so cautiously, terrified of being tainted by his misfortune.

Zhu Shiyan had observed for two days, and connecting this with the plot of the original book, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly. It was no wonder the protagonist would eventually go dark and kill them all; in this kind of environment, anyone would go insane.

Tomorrow was the first critical plot point in the book.

The school was a boarding facility with strictly enforced bed checks. Zheng Xingyan didn't live on campus, but a few days ago, he had taken a group of his cronies to an internet café outside the school. Two of them were in the same dormitory as Xi Fei. When the teacher came for the bed check, those two weren't there. When asked, Xi Fei stayed silent, so the group was tracked down through the chain of events.

Tomorrow, the disciplinary action would be handed down, and each of them would receive a major demerit.

Zheng Xingyan, unable to swallow his anger, pinned all the blame on Xi Fei. Tomorrow after school, he would lead a group of lackeys to block him in an alleyway and beat him half to death.

Xi Fei, already suffering from an injury to his right leg that hadn't yet healed, would be dealt a heavy blow. With no money for medical treatment, he would only be able to treat it simply, causing the wound to worsen. Over time, his leg would gradually deform, and eventually, it would become untreatable, leaving him a limping cripple.

The culprits, meanwhile, would remain at large without any punishment.

This incident was the starting point for the protagonist's complete descent into darkness, so Zhu Shiyan had to prevent it from happening.

Zheng Xingyan and his group were caught because the principal happened to be eating nearby; it had nothing to do with Xi Fei. But regardless of whether Xi Fei helped them hide or not, they would blame him—they simply needed a vent for their frustration.

Zhu Shiyan couldn't stop what had already occurred; all he could do was intercept their assault and try his best to save the protagonist's leg.

He lay in bed, calculating how to act tomorrow, and didn't fall into a deep sleep until two in the morning.

The next day, the disciplinary notices were issued, and as expected, everyone received a major demerit. Although Zheng Xingyan’s family used their connections to erase his record, he was still given a brutal beating by his father.

Nursing a grudge, he blamed everything on Xi Fei. Upon returning to the classroom, he frantically messaged a group of people on his phone, planning to teach the kid a lesson after school.

A shadow fell over him. Zheng Xingyan looked up in confusion to see the transfer student standing before him with a beaming smile: "Brother Zheng, can you take me along?"

Zheng Xingyan turned off his phone and played dumb: "What are you talking about? I don't understand."

Zhu Shiyan lowered his voice, acting as if he were afraid of being overheard, and said mysteriously: "Aren't you going to... beat that guy tonight? Take me with you."

Zheng Xingyan’s eyes lit up, and he lowered his voice too: "You want in?"

"Yes." Zhu Shiyan's voice held a hidden trace of anger. "I tried to be kind and help him, but he ignored me and embarrassed me. I want to teach him a lesson."

Zheng Xingyan nodded repeatedly, feeling a sense of shared hatred: "Exactly, he’s just that ungrateful. But..." He looked at him strangely. "Didn't you help him that day? Why do you want to join me this time?"

Zhu Shiyan blinked: "I was just putting on a show. I had just arrived, so I had to play the part a little. But I heard about his business later and realized my actions that day were completely unnecessary. Someone like him isn't worth my help."

That day, Zhu Shiyan had caused Zheng Xingyan to lose face, leaving him quite annoyed. But Zhu Shiyan had a deep family background, so he had to swallow his frustration. He had thought he’d run into a tough opponent, but it turned out he wasn't a good person either.

Zheng Xingyan felt instantly relieved and patted him on the shoulder: "You're right, someone like him isn't worth sympathy. Since you want to join, I'll give you this favor. Don't leave after school, wait for me to call you."

Zhu Shiyan looked very happy: "Alright, then I'll be waiting for your good news, Brother Zheng."

The final bell rang.

It was Friday. As soon as the teacher announced the end of class, everyone rushed out of the classroom, and within less than a minute, more than half the room was empty.

Xi Fei sat in the last row, waiting until most people had left before he slowly began to pack his things.

Aside from him, only Zheng Xingyan’s group and Zhu Shiyan remained. As if sensing something, just before leaving, he looked toward the front. His gaze paused for a second as it swept over Zhu Shiyan, then he lowered his head as usual and left in silence.

Once he was gone, Zheng Xingyan immediately beckoned to Zhu Shiyan: "Let's go, let's follow him."

Zheng Xingyan’s method of tailing someone was truly clumsy—it was hard to tell if he was just that stupid or simply reckless. Zhu Shiyan followed him with a complicated expression, watching him lead a large group of people in a loud, boisterous procession behind Xi Fei. He thought to himself that if the protagonist couldn't notice this, then he really was too naive.

Fortunately, Zhu Shiyan had already seen Xi Fei stop several times along the way, so he didn't seem oblivious. He felt a little relieved, but before his heart could settle, it leaped back into his throat—Xi Fei was walking into increasingly secluded areas, and finally, he turned into a dead-end alley!

Zhu Shiyan felt a lump in his throat. Gritting his teeth, he secretly felt for his phone in his pocket.

—He decided to call the police in advance.

Zheng Xingyan clearly realized this too; his eyes lit up, his face filled with the excitement of someone finding a pillow just as they were getting sleepy. He gestured to those behind him, and the group blocked the exit of the small alley, closing in step by step.

Xi Fei stopped at the deepest part of the alley.

He turned around, his expression calm upon seeing them, as if he had expected this all along.

"What do you want?"

Zheng Xingyan sneered: "You caused us to get major demerits, and you're asking what we want?"

Xi Fei lowered his lashes and clenched his fingers. "You violated school rules first, even if I hadn't said—"

"Bang!"

Zheng Xingyan didn't give him a chance to finish, throwing a punch at his face. Xi Fei couldn't dodge in time and was knocked to the ground by the heavy blow.

Zhu Shiyan hadn't expected him to strike so suddenly. His pupils contracted sharply, and his feet moved forward uncontrollably before he forced them to stop.

He looked anxious, his brain racing. The police report had been sent, but it would take several minutes for them to arrive. Zheng Xingyan had a lot of people with him; even if he rushed out now, he would be no match for them. He would only end up getting beaten alongside the protagonist, achieving nothing.

With a trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, Xi Fei lowered his head to wipe it away, stood up, and spoke in a very soft voice: "Zheng Xingyan, aren't you afraid of being tainted by bad luck?"

"Pah!" Zheng Xingyan spat. "Beating you will only bring me good luck!" Despite saying this, he took a wooden stick from one of his lackeys to avoid direct physical contact.

"Beat him!"

Xi Fei knew he couldn't escape today, so he stopped arguing and simply protected his vital areas, silently waiting for the brutal beating to come.

Just as the stick was about to descend, a fair, slender hand intervened, forcibly stopping the blow.

Xi Fei was stunned, and so was Zheng Xingyan.

"Zhu Shiyan, what are you doing?!"