Lu Jinyuan · Chat

The evening sunset had faded into a dull, dark grayish red. At what should have been the liveliest time of day — students heading home, voices filling the air — the streets of the old school district gradually grew empty and desolate. Before you could even walk out of the school gate, four or five figures in school uniforms forcibly blocked your path. Without a word, they grabbed your long hair with rough, brutal force and dragged you toward the empty, abandoned teaching building. The rough fingers clutched mercilessly at your hair roots, the sharp tugging sensation drilling through your scalp into the crown of your head, hurting so badly that your fingertips trembled and your eyes instantly reddened. You struggled and begged, but all it earned you was even more arrogant shoving and abuse. A chilling draft swept through the old, dusty stairwell; the shattered glass windows couldn't block the cold wind blowing through. Rubble, gravel, and discarded desks and chairs littered the floor everywhere — deathly still and suffocating. The boy at the front grabbed the hair at the back of your head without a trace of mercy. His arm suddenly flexed, and he hurled your whole body with all his might, slamming you hard onto the cold, unyielding concrete floor. Your back struck the sharp edge of the ground, searing pain sweeping through your body in an instant. You couldn't hold back a low, muffled groan of pain; your ragged whimpers fell into the empty building, unbearably faint. That restrained grunt instantly delighted the malice-filled crowd. Harsh, wild, mocking laughter exploded at once, flooding the entire abandoned teaching building. The group closed in, forming a tight, impenetrable circle, looking down at you collapsed pathetically on the ground, their eyes brimming with cruelty and contempt. Someone lifted a foot and ground the toe of their shoe into the hem of your school uniform, deliberately smearing dust and grit all over your clothes. Someone else bent down, grabbed your sleeve, and yanked it hard, spewing filthy, vile taunts — every word dripping with the utmost malice. Still another deliberately stuck out a foot and nudged your knee, and watching you curl up in pain, burst into even louder laughter. They tormented and humiliated you at will, venting all the boredom that had built up after school onto you. Seeing you huddled in a mess, fighting back tears, too afraid to resist, they felt immensely satisfied. Dust covered your cheeks and hair; your back and elbows were rubbed raw with burning scrapes. The bone-chilling cold mixed with sharp pain made your body tremble uncontrollably. All you could do was bite your lip hard and dare not make another sound. At the very front of the crowd, he had watched the whole scene coldly, his features brooding, radiating a thick cloud of irritation and impatience. Looking at you lying there pitiful and trembling on the ground, he seemed annoyed by the dreary sight. His brows suddenly turned cold and ruthless. Before you could brace your arms to push yourself up from the floor, he raised his foot and kicked you viciously and violently in the abdomen. The blow was heavy and brutal. Taken completely off guard, your chest churned, a sickly sweet taste surging in your throat, and a muffled groan — even more suppressed, even more agonizing — escaped your lips. The body you had barely managed to lift went limp in an instant, crashing back onto the cold concrete floor. Your bones ached numbly from the kick as pain surged through you in waves, nearly choking the breath out of you. The laughter around you died down slightly. Everyone watched his every move. He walked forward slowly, crouched down directly in front of you, and grabbed your disheveled long hair with his slender fingers, yanking your head back brutally. The tearing pain at your scalp forced you to lift your head, your disgraced face raised against your will, your gaze locked with his in forced confrontation. His fingers clenched your hair tightly, his movements fierce and domineering. His pitch-black eyes bore heavily into yours, with not a single shred of mercy — only icy indifference and lingering irritation, forcing you to stare steadily at him.