Chapter 9: Night Attack

After sorting through the information she had gathered, Qiong Cang sat lost in thought for a moment before finally leaving Xiang Qingxi’s room.

Night fell quickly. The school’s evening self-study session officially ended, and the students headed back to their dormitories right after the bell rang.

Qiong Cang’s roommates began to return one after another.

Because of what had happened yesterday, the atmosphere in the dorm room was extremely awkward.

The girls had been chatting and laughing, but the moment they pushed the door open and caught sight of Qiong Cang, they collectively shut their mouths. They then scurried over to their respective beds.

Qiong Cang had no intention of trying to get along with them either. Still wearing her daytime clothes, she sat at the desk with her arms crossed, looking aloof and inscrutable.

Before long, the dormitory lights went out, plunging the room into the dark night.

With her eyelids half-closed, Qiong Cang stared blankly at the ticking time on her phone. Once the footsteps of the teacher on duty faded into the distance, a beam of light shone through the window, just like yesterday.

Qiong Cang moved, preparing to stand up. Her chair scraped against the floor with a harsh, grating screech. Before she could do anything, the girl in the opposite bed lost her composure and shrieked, “It’s not me! It has nothing to do with me!”

Qiong Cang hadn’t been startled by the person outside the window, but the girl’s sudden scream made her flinch. She went to the door, grabbed the clothes hanger pole she had bought earlier that day, slipped a high-powered flashlight into her pocket, and walked out onto the balcony.

Her dorm was on the first floor, with a small step below. Climbing over the low balcony railing allowed one to jump directly onto the grass behind the building.

Qiong Cang adjusted the position of her flashlight and looked toward the source of the light. Behind the beam, she clearly caught sight of a dark figure standing not far away, fiddling with a lighting device.

When Qiong Cang suddenly appeared, the dark figure froze. He apparently hadn’t expected her to show herself, and after a moment of shock, he immediately turned and fled.

The distance between them was less than two meters. Qiong Cang reacted faster than him, lunging forward while thrusting the pole in her hand toward his back.

This patch of grass was uneven. Since it faced away from the main road and didn’t affect the school’s appearance, few people came here, and the school never bothered to maintain it. Plenty of gravel lay hidden within the overgrown weeds.

The dark figure was clearly unfamiliar with the terrain as well. In his panicked flight, he tripped over something. Immediately after, Qiong Cang’s pole struck his back, nearly sending him sprawling. In the brief moment he stumbled, Qiong Cang caught up and swung the pole against his leg.

“Holy shit!”

Qiong Cang recognized the familiar voice from those two short words.

“Xu You!”

She knew it! She didn’t understand high school romance. But that wasn’t her fault, because this wasn’t romance at all!

Seeing that he couldn’t escape, Xu You simply turned around and yanked off his cap, revealing his face openly to her.

He took the initiative and asked, “What do you want?”

Qiong Cang was amused. “You’re asking me that? Then should you also ask me if you have any shame?”

Xu You said, “You don’t know what I’m trying to do?”

“When you speak, use fewer rhetorical questions and more statements,” Qiong Cang said calmly. “I don’t know.”

She pulled out her flashlight, avoiding Xu You’s eyes, and waved it in the air. “Be honest. Tell me yourself.”

Xu You’s eyes turned red. “Don’t tell me you don’t know how Zhou Nansong died either!”

Qiong Cang said, “She jumped.”

“You drove her to it! If you hadn’t deliberately ostracized and intimidated her, her depression wouldn’t have triggered her to jump and commit suicide. The school paid compensation for you, apologized, and appeased her family. But let me tell you, it’s not that simple. You think writing two self-criticisms¹ is enough? Everyone knows about this. You won’t have a single easy day for the rest of your life!” Xu You sneered. “What, you can’t take it already? I’m just letting you experience what she felt before she died. You should be held responsible for that!”

Qiong Cang thought about it and said with amusement, “I never did the things you’re doing. Don’t pin your escalated, twisted mistakes on me.”

Xu You said, “I heard it all! Before Zhou Nansong died, she called her mother and said she was sick of living in fear. You frightened her both openly and secretly. Who knows what else you did behind her back?”

Countless curious heads poked out from the balconies, hiding in the darkness of the night, peeping and eavesdropping.

Qiong Cang sneered, “You idiot.”

Xu You clenched his teeth. Hearing her accusation, he trembled with agitation. “I’m an idiot? So what if I’m an idiot? Let me tell you, a murderer is a murderer. No matter how you try to cover it up, you can’t change that! You are the murderer!”

“Do you feel relieved just by calling me a murderer a few times?” Qiong Cang’s tone sounded almost playful in the dark night. “Is your justice really that cheap and easily satisfied?”

Xu You stared at her in disbelief and shock. “Don’t you feel even a shred of guilt?”

“Why should I feel guilty toward you?” Qiong Cang asked. “Have I done anything to wrong you? Or did Zhou Nansong commission you to seek revenge on her behalf?”

With a hoarse roar, Xu You lunged forward and grabbed her collar tightly.

As Qiong Cang tried to pry his hands off, her flashlight dropped to the ground and rolled aside.

Their faces blurred into the night, leaving only their anger vividly clear. A chorus of gasps rose from the onlookers around them, eager for a show. Some were even egging Xu You on to hit her.

All the restless emotions in the air were stimulating the young man’s nerves.

In the middle of this frantic torrent, Qiong Cang’s flat voice sounded almost out of place. She said, “Your mistake is absurd.”

Xu You roared, “How am I wrong!”

“Everyone thinks they aren’t wrong, and in the end, no one does the right thing. Is that it?” Qiong Cang curled her lips, her facial muscles twitching stiffly. She was truly laughing out of anger. “Fine, let’s do the math. If what I did makes me deserve to die, then what are you and the rest of you going to pay with for doing things far worse than what I did? Huh? With that completely groundless justice of yours?”

Xu You said, “No matter how groundless you think I am, you can’t deny the filthy things you’ve done!”

Qiong Cang pried his hands off inch by inch. “You think you’re acting in the name of a righteous cause, so you can’t be wrong?”

She grabbed Xu You’s wrist and shoved him forward. “Go ask the people in prison how many of them were born murderers or psychopaths. Let them tell you how life pushed them to the brink, and how they became criminals in the eyes of society. Every single one of them can tell a story about their past that is deeper and more justified than yours. Your excuse doesn’t even qualify as a grand justification! But so what? Did the law let them off? Were their crimes forgiven? Can their responsibilities be wiped clean? Do you think those people were right? Is the stability, right, and wrong of this society measured by your personal moral yardstick? Is this what all those years of compulsory education taught you?”

Xu You yanked his arm free and shouted, “Don’t push me!”

Qiong Cang slapped him across the face.

Xu You stared at her, wide-eyed, helpless and horrified. Only after a long moment did he slowly raise his hand to cover his face.

The world fell silent.

Xu You: “You…”

“Yes, it’s me,” Qiong Cang said. “If I were you, I’d get to the point. Find the evidence, throw it in their faces, and get it over with, whether you want to fight or curse. Don’t rely on your so-called guesses and deductions, trying to claim the moral high ground while seeking revenge, doing dirty deeds behind closed doors while holding up a banner of justice. You think you’re so capable! You’re only capable of bullying honest people. If you ran into someone who wanted to fight you to the death, do you think it would just end with a slap? If Wang Dongyan were actually ruthless, she would have called the police on you the very first day, you idiot!”

The noise of their argument alerted the dorm warden, and the duty teacher, having been notified, finally rushed over.

“What are you people doing over there!”

Two weak beams of light wobbled over. Qiong Cang squinted and let go of him.

“Don’t move!” The two duty teachers ran up, out of breath. Fearing the students would run away, they shouted, “Names! Classes! Who is your teacher? Nobody move!”

Qiong Cang cracked her neck, feeling a slight dampness on her hand and a burning pain on her skin.

In the struggle just now, Xu You’s hand had been scratched in several places by Qiong Cang, and her neck bore marks as well. She could imagine how disheveled she looked right now, though she was probably in much better shape than the bedraggled Xu You.

After a chaotic scramble, Xu You was dragged away, his face filled with resentment, his sharp gaze still fixed on her. The duty teacher urged Qiong Cang from behind, saying, “You come with me too! Have you all lost your minds? Every single one of you! Everyone, go to sleep! We’ll be checking the dorms in a bit. If there’s any noise in a dorm, that class will have double points deducted!”

Disappointed sighs echoed through the corridor. Qiong Cang saw the character’s Suicide Progress steadily climbing.

·

Qiong Cang had virtually no room to intervene in the interactions between the NPCs.

The subsequent scenes played out like a fast-forwarded cutscene, quickly wrapping up.

The Homeroom Teacher and school leaders, who had already been asleep, were dragged out of bed and rushed to the school. A group of middle-aged adults gathered in the duty room to discuss how to handle the students and resolve the issue. The two offending students sat in the adjacent room on cold, hard wooden chairs under a teacher’s watch, waiting for the school’s decision.

Qiong Cang leaned her head back, smelling the faint musty odor in the air as she stared blankly at the cobwebs in the corner.

When the clock on the wall ticked past two in the morning, a group of people crowded in front of them and announced coldly and indisputably, “Tomorrow morning, you will deliver a self-criticism under the red flag². Also, call your parents. I need to have a serious talk with them.”

Qiong Cang sat up straight and turned her gaze toward them.

Given that two students had already committed suicide by jumping off buildings, the student body was highly agitated, and this latest conflict was closely related to the previous two incidents, the school’s most logical course of action should have been to appease the students, downplay the incident, and suppress all subsequent fallout to prevent any irrational copycat behavior.

Yet, they were making Xu You and Wang Dongyan go up on stage to deliver self-criticisms.

She saw no desire from the school to sweep things under the rug. Instead, they seemed genuinely intent on stamping out this school bullying issue once and for all.

With the parties involved being so emotionally unstable, how could they possibly deliver a proper self-criticism? They were far more likely to take the opportunity to cause trouble.

This segment was likely the active plot point driving Wang Dongyan to suicide.

As requested, Qiong Cang called the contact labeled “Mom” in her phone, then handed the device to the teachers to let them handle the communication.

·

Dawn broke at the Rostrum next to the flagpole.

Thousands of students stood on the plastic track of the sports field, their eyes glued to Xu You as he delivered his self-criticism on stage.

Holding the microphone, Xu You cleared his throat and addressed the crowd, “My name is Xu You. Zhou Nansong was my girlfriend.”

Qiong Cang curled her lips into a smirk.

A commotion broke out among the school administration. A duty teacher took two steps forward, hesitated for a moment, and ultimately stepped back.

“Not long ago, she committed suicide by jumping off a building.”

“Before she jumped, she called her mother. She said, ‘I’m so tired. I’m sick of living in fear. I never thought the school would become like this one day. I’m not a brave person, and I let down Tian Yun’s trust in me. I don’t think I can go on. I hope you can avenge me.’ That’s what she said. Yet, after she died, the people who should be held responsible are still running free. And today, I stand here to apologize to her.”

In an instant, countless gazes swept toward Qiong Cang’s position.

“I’m sorry,” Xu You said perfunctorily, then walked off the stage.

Qiong Cang took the microphone from his hand and slowly walked up to the Rostrum³.

Translator’s Notes