Ying Hong's feelings toward
While Ying Hong was wrestling with that contradiction, Chen Ge had already taken her hand and started talking to the students who were ganging up on someone.
Perhaps it was the adorable Ying Hong that lowered the student's guard, or perhaps he'd realized Chen Ge was more terrifying than any of the thugs in that study room. Whatever the reason, his attitude toward Chen Ge was remarkably polite.
"Why are they bullying you?" Chen Ge helped the student in the taekwondo uniform to his feet. "Don't hold anything back."
"We wanted to start a taekwondo club, but the school wouldn't allow it, so we created one on our own."
"Creating a club means jumping one person with a whole group?" Chen Ge felt the kid wasn't telling the whole truth.
"I'm the sparring partner. Everyone new goes through this. There were a couple of students before me, but they couldn't take it, so it rolled around to me…" The student trailed off, and tears began to stream down his face involuntarily. His body looked faintly translucent — a sign of an imminent soul dissolution.
"Stop pressuring him." Ying Hong stepped out from behind Chen Ge. "That big guy is a Red Dress."
She tugged at the hem of Chen Ge's shirt, gesturing toward the door, trying to keep him from getting himself killed by accident.
"A Red Dress?" Chen Ge had initially assumed the student was merely a half-Red Dress. He'd placed far too much trust in the Yin Eye.
"A real one — and a terrifying one at that." Ying Hong's lips curled upward, revealing her cute little fangs. "His name is Han Song. He has gigantism. From the time he started elementary school, he's been surrounded by stares from people who saw him as different. At first everyone was afraid of him, but once they figured out he wasn't too bright and was completely honest, a bunch of bored people started messing with him. They called themselves his friends, but really they just bossed him around, used him as a tool — even treated him like livestock. What makes it even more pathetic is that all of this happened at school. His family never found out. They were actually happy he'd made friends. His parents even invited those very kids who were bullying him over to their house."
"Then how did he end up inside the door? If it was physical bullying, with his build he should've been able to flatten anyone who tried." Lao Bai hadn't been comfortable leaving Chen Ge alone and had followed him in. When he saw that the tall figure was only a half-Red Dress, he'd been half-tempted to spar with him.
"This is the hardest kind of bullying to deal with — cold bullying. Nobody touches him physically. They just freeze him out, attack him with words, give him the silent treatment, and do everything they can to make him feel like a monster." Chen Ge understood this all too well. "Some useless people who can't stand being worthless themselves love to prop themselves up by tearing others down. They're brimming with malice. The more this kid tries not to look like a monster, the more they insist on calling him one."
"Exactly. Han Song ran into a group like that. One time they pushed him too far, and they got into a fight. In the end, Han Song was the one who got punished. He was the one who got hurt, he was the one who got damaged, but those kids' parents went after him viciously. They all wanted Han Song expelled — they thought their children would be in constant danger around someone so stupid and violent." A cold smile hung at the corner of Ying Hong's lips. Her eyes glowed crimson, as if she were ready to kill every living thing she laid eyes on.
"What happened next?"
"The school didn't punish anyone, but the cold bullying of Han Song only got worse. What they did to him grew more and more extreme. His school used to have a taekwondo club. Every other club refused to take Han Song, but this one actually invited him to join. They were worried he might snap, though, so they only let him be a sparring partner — basically a human punching bag."
"Han Song treasured that opportunity. But some people just can't stand seeing him do well, so they joined the taekwondo club too. The rest you can see for yourself." Ying Hong pointed at the male student currently being beaten on the floor beside Chen Ge. "That's what he went through. Outside the door he's the one being bullied. In here, he's become the bully."
"How do you know so much about Han Song's situation?" Chen Ge was curious.
"We went to the same school." Ying Hong didn't elaborate further. Something unpleasant seemed to have surfaced in her memory.
"Mm. I know what to do now." Chen Ge looked at the students in the study room who were being systematically crushed, then pulled out the red high heels. "Han Song probably thinks that if he's the one bullying other people, if he makes them afraid, then nobody will be able to bully him anymore."
"What are you going to do?" Ying Hong always felt like she couldn't read Chen Ge.
"I'm going to show him that he's wrong." Before Chen Ge could finish, a roar erupted from inside the study room. Han Song, who had been pinned to the floor moments ago, was pushing himself up off the ground with both hands, rising slowly, inch by inch.
His outer clothes were soaked through with blood-red stains. His body was expanding, swelling larger and larger, emitting a pungent, nauseating stench. Across his exposed skin, scar after scar writhed like earthworms.
"How did he get those scars?"
"I don't know. I only know about what happened to him at school. Maybe things happened to him outside of school too." It was the first time Ying Hong had seen Han Song pushed to this point.
"His entry through the door probably has something to do with his family as well." Chen Ge looked at the berserk Han Song with a measure of surprise. Facing the simultaneous assault of the Headless Female Ghost and
Chen Ge couldn't afford to waste any more time here. He whispered a few words to the red high heels in his hand, but the heels didn't respond at all. Out of options, he simply hurled them straight at Han Song. "Big sis, do me a favor. I can't leave the ghost school, and neither can you. I'll make you a verbal promise right now — the moment I get out of this ghost school alive, I'll set you free immediately. We'll be square."
Ying Hong stared at Chen Ge like he'd lost his mind. But what happened next was something she never anticipated. The sound of a high heel's slender stiletto tapping against the floor echoed through the room. One by one, red shoe prints appeared across the tables and chairs, and then those prints began materializing directly on Han Song's body.
Before long, the blood-red shoe prints transformed into fine black threads that burrowed deep into Han Song's flesh — the curse that the red high heels excelled at most.
After devouring the curse carried by the prenatal spirit, the red high heels seemed to have become even more terrifying.
The three Red Dresses combined their strength to suppress Han Song, but even as he was on the verge of having his soul torn apart and scattered, he refused to yield.
His blood-red coat dulled, his movements grew slower and more labored, and most of the crimson drained from his eyes. It was as if he was seeing the version of himself that used to get bullied all over again.
Nothing had changed after all…
Wounds accumulated on his body, and just as Han Song was about to be devoured by the three Red Dresses, the study room door was shoved open once more. A short, stout old man came rushing in.
"Stop!"
The old principal had been standing outside the door, his heart clenching at every sound. When he stepped inside, the sight nearly sent him reeling — as far as the eye could see, everything was bathed in blood-red.
Chen Ge signaled Xu Yin and the others to cease their attack, then turned to the old principal with a look of genuine grievance. "They started it. When I walked in, I saw them beating up this student. I'm not in the wrong here."
"Is that so? All I see is you laying into someone!" The old principal looked down at the student on the ground, but the boy in the taekwondo uniform seemed unwilling to cause trouble. He stammered but said nothing.
Han Song lay crumpled on the floor. Everything unfolding before him felt eerily familiar.