As the bell rang for the end of class, the classroom instantly erupted into an uproar. Wei Yuan was buried in his studies when a hand suddenly slammed down onto his book.
Wei Yuan looked up and saw one of Li Tianci's lackeys standing beside his desk. Wearing a fierce scowl, the boy sneered, "If you've got the guts, don't leave after school! Brother Tianci is waiting for you in the woods behind the school!"
"I don't have time. Beat it." Wei Yuan's voice was calm and mechanical.
Enraged, the boy swung a punch. "Who do you think you are!"
In Wei Yuan's eyes, the punch was exceedingly slow. He prepared to catch the boy's wrist, jerk him off-balance, and then, without even rising from his seat, kick the side of his knee. That would bring him straight to his knees on the spot and leave him limping for days.
The entire sequence flowed like water in his mind, but in reality, Wei Yuan's hand was only halfway up when the boy's fist crashed into his face.
Having landed his hit, the boy looked at Wei Yuan's calm expression and thoughtful demeanor, and an inexplicable fear suddenly seized him. Dropping a quick "Don't you dare skip out, or you're dead meat," he scurried back to his seat.
Wei Yuan, on the other hand, kept staring at his own hand, pondering why his movements had been so sluggish.
In the blink of an eye, the school day was over. Many classmates packed their bags with lightning speed and vanished within moments. Reluctantly putting down his textbook, Wei Yuan asked Bao Yun, "What class do we have tomorrow?"
"Physics."
Wei Yuan felt another surge of energy; for reasons he couldn't explain, his mood instantly brightened.
As Wei Yuan, Bao Yun, and Peacock walked toward the school gate together, Peacock grew slightly worried and asked, "Are we really not going to Li Tianci's thing?"
"No time. Oh, right, why are they picking on us anyway?"
Peacock was somewhat astonished. "Brother Yuan, how come you don't remember anything? I heard Li Tianci comes from a very wealthy family, has recruited several lackeys, and bullies people around school all the time. We enrolled in this school together, and one day after school, they cornered me and demanded my pocket money. I didn't have any, so they beat me up. You happened to walk past, saw it, and ended up getting beaten up along with me."
Wei Yuan raised an eyebrow. Why did that last sentence sound so off?
Wei Yuan looked at his hands again. He always felt he should be faster and stronger, even in this body. Yet it felt as if another consciousness resided within it, doing everything it could to obstruct him. Some of the things his body did on its own were also decisions made by that consciousness.
For instance, whenever he threw a punch, he would subconsciously pull his punch halfway through. By the time he realized something was wrong and tried to exert force again, it was already too late—not only was the strike slow, but it was also weak and limp. That was also why, despite Wei Yuan pinning Li Tianci down and beating him multiple times, the guy was still bouncing around completely unharmed.
Peacock continued, "...But Brother Yuan, you were even poorer than me. They cornered us three times, and we got beaten three times. Then you said three times was the limit—we definitely had to strike back once, so we agreed to lie in wait for them at the school gate. You even said bricks could only be smashed against backs, never heads, or things could easily go wrong. Later on, Sister Bao claimed you were her boyfriend, and Li Tianci let it be known that he'd beat us every time he saw us."
Wei Yuan asked, "He's so arrogant—does he have some other backing?"
"The dean of students really likes him. Any students he bullies who complain to the dean just end up getting reprimanded instead. So over time, nobody dares report him to the teachers after getting bullied."
"Oh, so we can only rely on ourselves, or beat up the dean too." Wei Yuan roughly understood.
He felt solving this was unimaginably simple—hardly different from playing house. Yet precisely because it was so simple, an eerie strangeness hung over it.
Wei Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "Li Tianci's family is very rich?"
"Yes."
"And he still comes to rob our pocket money?"
"Yeah."
"...Is he out of his mind?" Wei Yuan was genuinely baffled.
Bao Yun said, "Maybe he just wants to find people to bully to show off how special he is."
"...He really is sick in the head," Wei Yuan said, illuminated.
Chatting along the way, the three of them reached the school gate, only to find a crowd of students gathered there, all craning their necks and peering toward something.
Curious, Wei Yuan followed their gazes and saw a tall girl walking out from the academic building. Her hair was rare in that it was pinned up, and her neck was slender as a swan's.
She was half a head taller than the other girls, and her skin was slightly wheat-toned, which also set her apart from the rest. She was breathtakingly beautiful, her upswept brows exuding wildness and pride. She was also wearing the school uniform, yet the legs beneath her short skirt were shapely, long, and full of power; she wore the uniform with effortless allure.
A clamor broke out among the onlookers, murmurs rising from all sides.
"Senior Xuanlu is finally here!"
"So gorgeous!"
"I wonder who's prettier, her or the new transfer student!"
"They have different kinds of beauty, you can't compare."
"Man, I really wish I could have both!"
...
The wild young woman also noticed Bao Yun. She took a serious look at her, then shifted her gaze to Wei Yuan. After lingering on him for a moment, she looked away, walked out through the school gate, and vanished.
The three of them walked out the gate as well.
...
Wei Yuan looked around. Morning sunlight was just slanting through the windows, and the auntie's booming voice echoed through the hall. He found himself back in the morning cafeteria.
Bao Yun set a basin of steamed buns onto the table, then produced a card, handed it over, and said, "I got a supplementary card. Swipe it for whatever you want."
In an instant, every eye in the cafeteria locked onto them. The boys glared with daggers in their eyes, while the girls scrutinized him with intense curiosity.
Wei Yuan took the supplementary card, slipped it into his pocket, and said, "If it's not enough, I'll ask you for more."
Beside them, a piece of bun got lodged in Peacock's throat, stuck halfway down. The surrounding boys were equally stunned, unable to believe someone could actually utter such shameless words.
Bao Yun said, "The clubs are recruiting new members this afternoon. Sounds pretty fun. Let's each go sign up for something!"
"All right," Wei Yuan agreed, tilting his head back bit by bit to swallow the buns down.
When the bell rang for class, an aging middle-aged female teacher walked in. The corners of her eyes and mouth drooped downward, her gaze sullen and sinister. Wei Yuan always felt her complexion had a greenish tint, faintly mottled with dark spots.
For the first question, the teacher called on Wei Yuan again. Naturally, Wei Yuan couldn't answer. After sitting down, he quietly asked the girl in front of him and learned that his grades had always been dead last in the grade. Failing to answer was completely normal; giving a correct answer would have been abnormal.
Wei Yuan didn't mind at all. He flipped the book open to page one and began reading with keen interest.
This female teacher treated Wei Yuan especially harshly, calling him up every now and then for a scolding. Wei Yuan accepted it all placidly and continued reading his book from the beginning. The physics covered here was rather elementary. In his impressions, Wei Yuan felt he had studied things far more difficult than this, though he couldn't remember where.
As the bell rang for the end of class, the classroom suddenly grew noisy. Wei Yuan remembered something, tapped the sweet-looking girl in front on the shoulder, and asked, "Is there anything in the cafeteria in the morning besides buns?"
The girl replied, "Of course, lots of things! Any breakfast you can think of, we have it here. After all, our academy is famous for great food and pretty girls."
Wei Yuan asked again, "How come I haven't seen anything else?"
"Because you didn't go get it. Think carefully—weren't the other students eating other things?"
Wei Yuan thought back. With that recollection, the details of the imagery in his memory grew much clearer. Sure enough, aside from their table, no other students were eating buns.
Wei Yuan thought for a moment and asked Bao Yun, "Why are we always eating buns?"
Bao Yun replied, "All I see are buns."
In the blink of an eye, afternoon arrived.
Club recruitment was always the liveliest time. For once, Bao Yun and Wei Yuan went their separate ways to look for clubs they liked. The gymnasium hosting the recruitment was bustling with clamorous voices.
When Wei Yuan emerged from the gymnasium, he had an extra backpack on him. As soon as he stepped out the main door, he suddenly stopped. Ahead of him appeared a girl—plain-looking, barely passing as delicate, though her long hair was jet-black and straight, leaving a deep impression. She seemed completely out of place in the whole school, walking quietly toward a building Wei Yuan had never visited: the library.
Wei Yuan followed the girl with his eyes, watching her enter the library doors. But right then, an obnoxious face appeared before him. It was one of Li Tianci's lackeys, his hair covering one eye, its tips dyed purple.
He tried his hardest to put on an arrogant expression that he thought looked cool, saying, "Brother Tianci wants you at the gymnastics hall for a fight to the death! Don't even think about running—Sister Bao is already there."
Wei Yuan was about to say he didn't have time, but hearing that Bao Yun had gone, he immediately followed the boy to the gymnastics hall.
The gymnastics hall wasn't large, dimly lit and noticeably run-down, with thick dust settling over much of the equipment. The moment he walked in, Wei Yuan saw Li Tianci and his cronies crowding around Bao Yun, seemingly fawning over her.
After not seeing her for an afternoon, Bao Yun had completely changed her look. Her hair was dyed blonde, a cigarette rested in her hand, and she leaned lazily against a vaulting horse. Yet her face remained exquisitely beautiful; this style gave her an aura of nonconformity, wild rebellion, and flawed beauty.
Why flawed beauty? Wei Yuan pondered the question, feeling the answer might lie in the library.
Seeing Wei Yuan enter as well, Li Tianci said, "Bring him out."
Two boys hauled Peacock out and shoved him over to Wei Yuan.
With a cigarette between his fingers, Li Tianci jabbed Wei Yuan's chest and tossed his hair with his other hand. "As long as Bao Yun agrees to be my girlfriend—not just in words, of course; she has to kiss me ten times just like she kissed him—and then this bastard kneels and apologizes, I'll forgive him and stop messing with him. How about it?"
Wei Yuan looked at Bao Yun. Bao Yun blew a smoke ring and spread her hands: Up to you.
Wei Yuan said, "I need to go to the library. Can we not waste time with this idiot?"
Before Bao Yun could speak, Peacock let out a cheer, pulled out a white cloth headband, tied it around his forehead, and shouted, "I've had enough of holding back! I signed up for karate—today I'm going to teach you bastards a lesson!"
"Fine, I'll join in today too." Bao Yun flicked her cigarette butt to the floor and pulled an elegantly curved bat from the backpack behind her. "I signed up for baseball. Wei Yuan, what did you sign up for?"
Wei Yuan looked at the strange implement that appeared in his hand and said, "Hammer throw."
A short while later...
Wei Yuan lay on an infirmary bed, looking at the harsh, buzzing fluorescent lights, wondering why he was lying here. On the neighboring bed, Peacock was groaning and whimpering.
Bao Yun sat by the edge of the bed, helped Wei Yuan sit up, and handed him a glass of water. In the fight just now, just as the hammer in Wei Yuan's hand was about to strike Li Tianci's head, his movements had suddenly stiffened, and the flying hammer had hit himself instead. Peacock hadn't fared much better; after letting out a few battle cries, he had been instantly knocked flat. In the end, Bao Yun had stepped in, taking on all seven by herself and knocking out every single opponent.
Bao Yun picked up a strand of her blonde hair, brushed it against Wei Yuan's face, and asked, "Does it look good?"
"No," Wei Yuan answered truthfully.
Bao Yun gave a soft smile and said, "But dying your hair blonde makes you a better fighter in school."
Wei Yuan said, "...It also makes you look less smart."
Chapter 760