Chapter 42

“Dead body?”

“The thing in the bag doesn’t even look like a person, does it?”

The air in Black Harbor City was damp and hot, with a heavy rain falling from the clouds. A group of players, exhausted, huddled under the eaves to avoid the rain, their once-stylish hair now limp and soaked.

“Where do you think the First Killer and the Hidden Boss are?”

“We’ve searched the entire map, traveled across almost every country—every time we reach another country, we hit an invisible wall. The system tells us we’re outside the game map boundaries. Where could they be hiding?”

“I’ve practically dug up the land in Black Harbor and the surrounding cities. We’ve checked out maps like Paris, North City, South City, but we shouldn’t have missed anything!”

“Aren’t they supposed to be scheming in some big city?”

The players pointed to different cities on their maps, marking them with different colored dots. Yet, none of them noticed a snow mountain and a small town beneath it.

The blonde man, who served as the team leader, furrowed his brow. This player, who had seemed more calm and strategic than any other since he was forced into the game, showed an unusual expression of confusion and frustration that was more evident than anyone else’s.

But suddenly, his fingers, which had been twirling a pen, froze.

The woman with long black hair quickly noticed. She asked, “Captain?”

“Go to the port and check that bag of seafood again,” he said, his eyes fixed ahead, his gaze flickering. “I don’t know what it is, but something like that shouldn’t be here. Maybe we can find more clues.”

“Alright,” the woman with long black hair said with complete belief.

They opened two umbrellas and stood up, walking into the rain. The blonde man tucked his leather jacket, and at that moment, the woman with long black hair noticed something.

“Captain, what’s that accessory on your belt? I’ve never seen it in the game before, it’s quite unique,” she said. “I don’t remember seeing it in the character creation screen.”

“Oh, this? It’s a reward from the beta test survey,” the blonde man casually replied.

He subtly hid the badge under his leather jacket.

If the woman with long black hair had a wider range of experience, she would know that this wasn’t a beta tester’s medal.

It was an exclusive item that only internal game designers could equip on their accounts.

The blonde man looked up at the gray sky, segmented by black buildings. The heavy rain poured down, but amidst the fleeting shadows of crows flying across the city, he saw a white figure.

“…The White Death, how could you disappear from this city?” he murmured.

Although he didn’t know your finalized name or appearance, I was your original draft’s creator.

“He” would never live a peaceful life. Not now, not in the future. Because a life filled with hatred, anger, and abuse that kept him from integrating into a normal childhood and nature was his life’s theme.

—–

Bai Wei ran into the office behind the art classroom, desperately drinking water from a teacup.

“Mr. Bai? Mr. Bai?”

“Have you seen Mr. Bai? Where did he go?”

“Bai——Teacher——”

The voices of the girls faded away from the window ledge. Only then did Bai Wei crawl out from under the cabinet where he had been hiding and wiped the sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief.

“Are girls this dramatic nowadays?”

Before entering the school, Bai Wei never expected to be greeted with such unprecedented enthusiasm. When he walked onto the playground, students had already been glancing at him. When he left the principal’s office, the door was crowded with people watching. The moment the first art class started, all the students were staring at his face.

Bai Wei had no doubt that they hadn’t listened to anything in the first class; they were too busy staring at him.

“…Art class is easy. You just need to read through the PPT. All the students will either read novels or do math homework underneath, and no one will care what you’re saying…”

Bai Wei’s mind flashed back to Qiao Min’s words.

But that wasn’t true!

“Girls are very enthusiastic, aren’t they?” The art teacher from another grade entered the office, holding her lesson plan and teasing Bai Wei with a smile. “During my class, the students asked me if I knew about the new, very handsome art substitute teacher in ninth grade. Mr. Bai, do you mind if I give them your phone number?”

Bai Wei almost choked on his own saliva. As he coughed, the art teacher laughed, “Alright, don’t worry, I was just joking. Those students said you spoke very professionally… Uh, why is there someone here?”

She looked at the position under the window ledge.

A few boys popped their heads up from underneath the ledge, blushing. “Sorry, teacher! We were just picking up the ball!”

With that, they ran off empty-handed.

Bai Wei: …

The art teacher chuckled, “What a blatant excuse, haha. But you should be used to it, right? You were probably very popular in middle school.”

The art teacher clearly had a good impression of Bai Wei. She found many common topics to try and engage him in conversation. However, every one of Bai Wei’s responses was stiff and formal, “No.”

“Not popular? That shouldn’t be the case.” She blinked at him.

Bai Wei: “Just ordinary classmates.”

The art teacher made one last attempt to keep talking, but Bai Wei’s answers were always polite yet standard responses, neither witty nor humorous.

So, he was a wooden beauty.

She seemed a little disheartened and left the office under the pretense of going to teach a class.

After she left, Bai Wei got cleaning tools and started tidying up, especially the area where the art teacher had dropped her hair. Also, her fingers—her paint-smeared fingers had brushed against Bai Wei’s desk, leaving marks as they absentmindedly rubbed it during their conversation. Paint and fingerprints were all over the table. Bai Wei had been holding his patience, but when she finally decided to leave, his patience almost reached its breaking point.

While cleaning, his mind found temporary peace.

Laughter and noise from the playground echoed distantly, almost as if coming from his teenage years. Perhaps at some fleeting moment, or just when sunlight illuminated a corner of the books on his desk, Bai Wei felt a fleeting, disoriented illusion.

—-

Outside the glass, divided into four views by dark window frames, it was not the White Horse High School playground but the playground of his own middle school. The shadow reflected in those four sections wasn’t his adult self dragging a mop, but his teenage self doing the same.

“Bai Wei, cleaning again?”

“Don’t talk like that, it’s impolite.”

Unlike when he was a child, the maliciousness of the teens wasn’t as obvious—especially at a prestigious school. Everyone had learned politeness.

Especially in front of Bai Wei, who had excellent grades and came from a well-known local family.

No one would provoke Bai Wei, and when faced with someone different, their hostility would turn into unfamiliarity. Moreover, Bai Wei’s constant feeling of being out of place would often cause them to feel fear. Even the most reckless students would instinctively stay silent when he was around.

Bullying didn’t disappear at elite schools. Bai Wei had once seen it. A student was isolated, held down in a sink by a few others. When the playful students saw Bai Wei walking by, they scattered in fear without him doing anything.

Only the chubby boy sat there, hair disheveled by the sink. Bai Wei glanced at him and said, “You should report this to the teacher.”

The chubby boy said, “You are Bai Wei! I know you. You’re always alone, and they don’t play with you, just like how they don’t play with me.”

Later, Bai Wei saw the follow-up to this incident in the teacher’s office. The homeroom teacher had called in the chubby boy’s parents and the parents of the bullies, and they had a somewhat ineffective discussion in the office. Later, during the class meeting, Bai Wei’s own homeroom teacher also mentioned the incident.

She said, “Isolating classmates and not playing with them is wrong.”

After the class meeting, students grouped up in twos and threes to go to the convenience store or the cafeteria. Bai Wei stayed at his seat, cleaning his desk alone. No one called for him, no one asked him anything, and of course, no one threw his pencil case somewhere else.

His peers would say that loneliness is shameful. They would bully those who eat alone because they are lonely. But Bai Wei was an exception. He was alone too, but no one bullied him, and no one spoke to him—just as the chubby boy had said.

The chubby boy’s isolation could be reported as a bullying incident to the homeroom teacher. But Bai Wei’s loneliness couldn’t be described in words. He wasn’t being bullied, he wasn’t looked down upon, and his own feelings weren’t too bad.

But he had no friends.

Maybe everyone needs a few friends. Bai Wei didn’t want to seem too abnormal. But he really couldn’t understand how to talk to them, nor could he comprehend their constant need to share—how easily they brought up everything with the people around them as if it were a worthy topic or perhaps hidden emotions worth sharing.

Bai Wei tried to be friendly, but he truly couldn’t bring himself to care about what they were doing. Perhaps there was nothing to give from the emptiness inside. No matter how many gifts he gave, these people remained polite and distant.

Just like how emotions can’t be replaced by the value of a gift—it’s really a headache.

The chubby boy who was bullied had once appeared in Bai Wei’s life. After that, he attached himself to Bai Wei, wanting to be friends. But after a semester, he left.

After that, he transferred to another school. Bai Wei left a page for him in the class yearbook, but he never looked at the other boy’s phone number.

Ten years passed, and Bai Wei was still here, maintaining the cleanliness of the ground… At that moment, his phone rang.

“Darling.”

On the other end of the phone came Lu Sen’s calm yet rich, elegant yet affectionate voice.

Bai Wei: …

What a mature voice. It was completely different from the lively “darling” Lu Sen had said earlier this morning at home.

It was clear that Lu Sen was surrounded by students, trying to sound like an elite adult man to reflect his charm! Bai Wei could even imagine him sitting in a wheelchair, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a striped suit.

“You…” Bai Wei adjusted his tone. “Your class is over.”

Lu Sen chuckled softly, “Yes. The kids here are very perceptive and eager to learn.”

Bai Wei: …

Goosebumps were rising. Please, return to normal.

Lu Sen: “Shall we go to a Western restaurant for dinner tonight?”

“Why else? You didn’t buy groceries this morning.”

Bai Wei covered his mouth with his hand. He couldn’t believe he had just said that. He didn’t want the people in town to know that he argued with Lu Sen. Fortunately, there was no one else in the office… Lu Sen probably wouldn’t be foolish enough to turn on the loudspeaker in the hallway… Bai Wei steadied himself and finally said, “Okay, hubby.”

Lu Sen laughed softly again, “I’ll pick you up after class.”

Bai Wei: …

Pick me up with your wheelchair?

“Stop watching those messy TV shows and novels,” Bai Wei finally said irritably.

It was only when Bai Wei hung up the phone that he noticed someone standing at the door of the office. He was almost startled because he realized the person seemed to be staring at him intently.

Did he overhear my conversation with Lu Sen?

The person was also sitting in a wheelchair. He was smaller than Bai Wei, wearing loose clothes, and his legs were thin and frail. It seemed like he had been sitting in the wheelchair for many years. His hair wasn’t very short but was neatly styled, indicating it was well cared for. His clothes were also very clean.

But aside from this, his overall appearance suggested prolonged illness and weakness. When Bai Wei saw his pale lips, he felt the person looked somewhat familiar.

“Hello,” Bai Wei said.

The person finally shifted his gaze from Bai Wei’s healthy long legs. He smiled at Bai Wei with his pale lips. “Hello… cough cough. I came to the office to pick up my painting.”

Is this person a student at the school? Bai Wei found it strange. Despite looking frail, this person’s age didn’t seem to match that of a teenager.

“I’m not a student here. I’ve been painting in the school’s art studio for the past few years because my sister graduated from this school,” the person said. “Our family has also made some donations to this school…”

This person’s identity sounded vague. But as the person rolled his wheelchair and found his painting from a pile of canvases, Bai Wei remembered the art teacher’s introduction of the art classroom this morning.

“The classroom at the end of the hallway is a private art studio. It used to belong to the former school board member’s son. This whole art building was donated by them. Haha, are you surprised that the school has quite a few facilities for people with disabilities? Those were built by the previous school board member…”

Bai Wei keenly picked up on the word “previous,” but hadn’t yet understood its meaning. But now, looking at the person in front of him—wealthy school board members, former board members—he began to form a guess.

The board member was “former” because he was dead, or because he had died in a car accident. The person in front of him was the board member’s son, disabled from another car accident.

The only person who fit this condition was Longdong’s brother, Longxia.

Sure enough, that person said, “Are you the new substitute teacher at the school?”

“Yes, I am Bai Wei,” Bai Wei replied.

“Oh! Hello, I’m Longxia,” the person said.

This also explained why Bai Wei thought his face seemed somewhat familiar. Longxia and Longdong were siblings, and they shared many similar facial features.

Before continuing with further introductions, Longxia said, “Oh! Actually, I’ve already heard about you.”

“Hmm?”

“A well-educated family that moved to Snow Mountain Town more than half a year ago, everyone in town knows about you,” Longxia said. “And you’re also my brother-in-law’s classmate. He often mentions you at home.”

“I see,” Bai Wei replied.

He was a bit distracted, his mind focused entirely on how Luson’s last class had gone. Because of this, he didn’t notice the hatred and jealousy flashing in Longxia’s eyes as he looked at him.

There was also a sense of unwillingness.

“I’ll help you move the painting into the classroom,” Bai Wei said politely as he passed the end of the hallway.

“No need,” Longxia replied.

Perhaps this was a matter of Longxia’s pride. But Bai Wei still politely waited outside the classroom for a while, just in case Longxia needed anything. Even though he was anxious, his mind was still preoccupied with wondering what Luson was doing in the classroom, probably trying to get his students to fall asleep.

Longxia’s gaze towards Bai Wei grew darker and angrier.

He knew that Bai Wei’s offer to help was merely out of politeness. He wasn’t genuinely offering help.

He felt like a cold-blooded creature, all appearances but no real warmth.

“My family will come to pick me up at the school gate soon,” Longxia said after leaving the art building. “You seem in a hurry. Do you have something to do? I can go by myself.”

Even though Longxia knew Bai Wei would fake a gesture to accompany him to the school gate, he still deliberately asked.

The school had originally arranged for someone to accompany him. But since he knew Bai Wei was in the art classroom, he had purposely made sure the other person left.

Longxia found it hard to explain his dark emotions. He looked at Bai Wei, who was still as polished and flawless as he had been in high school. Perhaps he just wanted to enjoy the strange satisfaction that came from seeing Bai Wei having to do something out of politeness. He knew Bai Wei was being fake and hated him, yet he still felt twistedly excited by it.

But to his surprise, Bai Wei nodded and said, “Yes. I’m really sorry. I have to go check on my Husband. Since you can go on your own, I’ll head off first.”

?

Longxia was shocked. This was a development he hadn’t expected at all.

And, Bai Wei hadn’t even recognized him.