The blood-stained sheet of paper was tossed onto the desk, still bearing the traces of blood wiped from Chen Ge's hand.
From the moment Chen Ge entered the classroom to the student being knocked to the ground, the whole process took only a few minutes. Nobody could have anticipated something like this happening — it was far too sudden.
Slung a bag over one shoulder, Chen Ge didn't so much as glance at the boy sprawled in the back row as he walked toward Teacher Liu.
"You — stand outside right now!" This was the first time Teacher Liu had encountered such a student. Far too bold, far too reckless — the boy showed complete disregard for her authority, raising his hand against someone right in the middle of class.
"Teacher, you can punish me however you like, but he was the one who started it. He doesn't seem to know where his legs should go — I was just trying to teach him." Chen Ge had barely sat down when he was called out again.
Shouldering his bag, Chen Ge opened the classroom door. As he stepped out, he saw the boy in the very last row push himself up off the floor. A reddish-brown liquid seeped from the top of his head, trickling along the bridge of his nose down to the corner of his mouth.
The boy's eyes were filled with malice, his expression twisted — but the moment Teacher Liu approached, the venom vanished from his gaze. He forced out a few tears and put on a look of wounded innocence.
"Quite the little actor. These precocious types — they're completely different in front of teachers and parents versus in front of the kids they bully. On one side: innocent, bright, hardworking, diligent. On the other: vicious, cutting, dumping all their negative emotions onto their victims."
Stepping out of the classroom, the gazes of those students flashed through Chen Ge's mind: "I've already memorized every one of them who was just waiting to watch me make a fool of myself, gloating. There's no way these cretins could earn the school's will's approval."
The will of the Supernatural School was forged from the merged despair of countless children. Most of those who had previously qualified as "Door Openers" had been victims of school bullying.
To complete the mission assigned by Chang Wenyu and bolster his own strength, Chen Ge needed to find the other "Door Opener" candidates who had been crippled by the Painter's seal.
"Help the bullied. Use my own methods to educate the bullies. Maybe that's another way to earn the school's will's approval."
There were many benefits to being recognized by the school's will. Chen Ge knew he had never personally endured those kinds of sufferings, so he had found a different path to gain that recognition.
"The blood-red campus beyond the door is enormous, and there are vast numbers of students here. Pinning down those specific children who qualify as 'Door Opener' candidates won't be easy."
Standing in the corridor, Chen Ge peered through the window into the classroom, scanning across the faces of each student. "Third row from the back — the student sitting next to my seat has mud stains on his clothes, and his textbook is crumpled as though someone wadded it up. This kid has probably been bullied too."
Seating was arranged by academic performance. The boy sat in the third row from the back — not great grades, but not terrible either.
Teacher Liu was lecturing inside the classroom when she suddenly noticed that many students' eyes weren't on her at all — they were looking out the window. Frowning in confusion, she turned her head and locked eyes with Chen Ge right there at the glass.
"Outrageous!"
The more she thought about it, the angrier she grew, and she marched straight out of the classroom. "What are you looking at? I told you to come out and reflect on your behavior! Stand there properly!"
"Teacher, I've been reflecting, but there's one question I just can't figure out." Chen Ge met Teacher Liu's gaze evenly. "What kind of mistake does a teacher have to make to be sent into a world drenched in negative emotions and suffocating despair? Did they turn a blind eye to bullying? Or were some of their own actions a form of bullying toward certain children?"
"That is not something for you to reflect on!"
"Back in the classroom — you saw it too. He was the one who put his shoe on my chair first. I wanted to talk to him about it, my hand slipped, the chair tipped over, and I accidentally bumped into that classmate. I'll admit I was in the wrong, but was he really completely innocent?" Chen Ge spoke quickly. "In fact, the whole thing could have been avoided — all you had to do was say a single word when you noticed. That boy acts perfectly behaved in front of you. He seems like he listens to everything you say."
Teacher Liu tried to retort, but Chen Ge cut her off. "But you didn't do that. Maybe you just thought it was a hassle, or maybe you didn't care at all. The boy's behavior probably looked like nothing more than kids' games to you — you've got enough frustrations in your life already, so why go looking for more trouble? And there's yet another possibility: when you saw me being bullied, somewhere deep inside you felt a very secret thrill."
"Bullshit!"
"Humanity is a flower blooming over an abyss. Everyone craves the sunlight, but who knows what hides beneath your roots?" Chen Ge's pupils were dark and fathomless, pressing Teacher Liu back until she dared not meet his gaze.
Both were about to say more when, at that moment, the dismissal bell rang from deep within the corridor.
Unlike a normal dismissal bell, the sound was laced with all manner of things — deeply unsettling to hear.
"You stay here and reflect. Before school lets out, I want a three-thousand-word self-criticism on my desk! Otherwise I'll go straight to Director Lei and make sure he knows exactly what kind of problem student you are." Teacher Liu turned, strode back into the classroom, announced dismissal without even bothering to grab her lesson plans from the podium, and hurried off.
"This teacher is a bit irresponsible."
Chen Ge carried his bag back into the classroom. Some of the students seated in the front rows saw him come in and immediately, almost instinctively, gathered up their textbooks and water bottles before scrambling out the door — as though they already knew what was about to happen.
The classroom felt much more spacious now, but Chen Ge paid it no mind. He walked over to his own seat.
He looked at the student seated beside him and flashed a friendly smile. "Hi — I'm Chen Ge. Your new deskmate."
The student heard him speak but didn't dare respond, keeping his head down, eyes fixed on his textbook, his calves trembling involuntarily.
"Da Bing, the guy's talking to you." From the very last row of the classroom, a student with his school uniform jacket tied around his waist stood up. Four more students clustered around him, and the group of them closed in, surrounding Chen Ge and his deskmate.