"Principal, these guys were bullying a classmate. I couldn't stand by and do nothing." Chen Ge grabbed the male student by the collar. "When I walked in just now, he was being ganged up on by those people. I was helping him."
"But I only saw you beating up others!" The old principal looked furious, a trace of disappointment on his face. He walked over to the male student. "Are the ones lying on the ground the ones who were hitting you just now?"
"We were just practicing with him! Shen Qing, answer him! Quick!" The boys who had been bullying him earlier had finally gotten their savior to arrive, and they shouted at the top of their lungs.
The boy in the taekwondo uniform opened his mouth, but no words came out for a long time. Finally, as if he had made up his mind, he pointed at the students sprawled on the floor. "They said every new member has to go through this process. When the first newcomer was beaten up for their amusement, I didn't say a word. Under their pressure, I even took a few swings at the kid myself. When the second newcomer was bullied, I stayed silent again. Until finally, it was my turn."
Shen Qing hadn't been intimidated. He chose to tell the truth. "I made mistakes before, but I won't again."
Everyone in the study room was staring at Shen Qing. He was terrified — his shoulders and calves were trembling, and his voice sounded unnatural.
"Principal, you see for yourself. The ones lying on the ground brought it on themselves. I wasn't bullying them — I was standing up for the kids who'd been bullied." Chen Ge waved his hand, signaling Xu Yin and the Headless Female Ghost to continue their assault on Han Song. Han Song lay sprawled in the center of the study room, a bloody, mangled mess on the verge of death — a truly wretched sight.
But something was strange about it. The boy kept staring at Shen Qing, his gaze complicated, filled with a tangle of emotions.
Things had unfolded differently from how Han Song himself had experienced them. When he had been framed, no one had stood up for him. Even when he protected others, no one was grateful — they kept their distance for all sorts of reasons.
"Maybe it's really because I'm a monster? Is that why everyone treated me that way?"
To give Han Song a lesson he wouldn't forget, Chen Ge had instructed his employees to hold nothing back. Being attacked simultaneously by three Red-clothed ghosts — the fact that Han Song had held on this long was already astonishing.
His body was growing translucent, his blood-red clothes fading, the memories in his head becoming hazy. His former obsessions surfaced before his eyes. His crimson eyes were brimming with negative emotions, without a single trace of hope.
"I became the person I hated most, but it didn't make me happy. There's no one left who can bully me now."
His swollen body gradually returned to normal, but the foul stench clinging to him didn't dissipate — it only grew stronger, like the despair festering in his heart slowly fermenting.
"If only I wasn't a monster. People wouldn't hate me, and Father wouldn't have despised me."
Something pressed down on his head. The curse slithered through his body like writhing venomous snakes — the longer it dragged on, worse his condition became.
Han Song wanted to flee, but every exit had been sealed. He felt his body being eroded bit by bit, as though someone were tearing and carving it apart.
"So tired…"
An indescribable drowsiness surged up from every part of him. Just as his eyes were about to close, a short, stout old man stepped in front of him.
The old man wasn't tall, and his face looked kind, but at this moment his expression was utterly solemn.
"Chen Ge, you may think it doesn't matter even if you kill him, but I hope you'll think this through carefully. This child was also a victim once. You despise school bullying, but fighting violence with violence is never the answer — because one day, you may encounter someone even more terrifying than yourself." The old principal had roughly understood Chen Ge's plan before entering the room, but once inside, when he walked over to Han Song, he was still shaken. The clash between Red-clothed ghosts was a hundred times more vicious than that of ordinary spirits.
He realized that Chen Ge's Red-clothed ghosts were genuinely intent on killing. They wanted to devour this Red-clothed ghost — to tear out his heart!