The Arrogant Nearshore People

1:35 p.m., Trillan Junior High, cafeteria area.

"Hey, Chen Kong, we're classmates, at least. How could you be unwilling to treat the class to just a few bottles of Blue Mountain City juice? You're really not putting your classmates in your eyes."

"Yeah, yeah, Young Master Dekola is right. It's just a few bottles of Blue Mountain City juice. It wouldn't cost you much. Do you have to be this stingy?"

"Sigh, looks like some people only call us classmates with their mouths. In their hearts, they don't care about us at all."

Listening to the mocking jeers of his classmates around him, as well as those amused, spectacle-seeking stares.

Chen Kong, introverted and poor with words, knew they were wrong, yet he could not think of any reason to refute them.

All he could do was lower his head awkwardly and remain silent.

Just that morning, he had thought this group of classmates was exceptionally "warm."

The moment class ended, they had all "asked after his well-being," and some had even taken the initiative to say they wanted to be friends with him.

Faced with this sudden concern and kindness.

Chen Kong, who had grown accustomed to being excluded and ignored at Ember Base, immediately felt a warmth he had never known.

Without a second thought, he accepted their invitations and became their "friend."

Yet cruel reality soon dealt Chen Kong a heavy blow.

These people's so-called "friendship" was merely a way to make Chen Kong into their little errand boy, serving them tea and fetching water.

At lunchtime, they had already used similar excuses to make him queue up at the cafeteria for them. In the end, they had even made Chen Kong pay for their lunches with his own money.

Though he had already suffered once at the time, Chen Kong had still been fooling himself.

Perhaps they were merely using this method to help him fit into this unfamiliar class as quickly as possible.

They were not truly bullying him.

But now that they were forcing him to buy drinks for the whole class.

That flimsy excuse could no longer convince Chen Kong himself.

After all, he had neither reason nor obligation to suddenly pay out of pocket and treat the entire class to drinks for the sake of so-called "friendship."

Although Chen Kong had already sensed the malice coming from Dekola and the others.

For some strange reason, he did not snap back at them. Instead, he silently swallowed the grievance, making everyone watching feel thoroughly frustrated.

But his forbearance did not make Dekola, the ringleader, let him off. It only made him push things even further.

As a well-known rich kid from the Nearshore District.

Dekola's favorite thing was watching country bumpkins like Chen Kong flounder around in helpless embarrassment.

Whenever that happened, not only did he feel no shame whatsoever, he instead gained an immense sense of superiority.

He felt heartfelt pride in being a "Nearshore person."

Still, as a clever rich kid, Dekola was not some fool with no sense of judgment.

He knew perfectly well whom he could bully and whom he could not.

That morning, before figuring out Chen Kong's bottom line, Dekola had maintained the courtesy expected of a noble Nearshore person toward him.

That act lasted until he learned from Chen Kong that the reason he had come to Trillan Junior High as an exchange student.

Was not because his family was wealthy, nor because he was related to some powerful figure in the Nearshore District.

It was purely because his grades were good enough for his school to send him here.

Once he learned that crucial information, Dekola immediately dropped the act altogether.

What the hell? Which countryside dirt-leg had come running to our Nearshore District to beg for food?

Watching Chen Kong get thrown into at a loss by just a few cutting remarks from him.

Dekola, standing amid the crowd, did not let Chen Kong off. Instead, he spoke with feigned generosity.

"Sigh, I thought exchange student Kong here was like us, with tens of thousands in pocket money every month. That's why I thought of having you treat the whole class to drinks, so you could get along better with everyone else."

"But now it seems I misunderstood. Sorry, Student Kong. Let me pay for the drinks this time. Consider it a welcome gift for our new classmate."

Before Chen Kong could respond to Dekola's words.

Dekola's lackeys immediately chimed in with remarkable tact.

"Wow, Young Master Dekola, you really are generous. Unlike some poor brat who can't even afford a few bottles of drinks."

"Yeah, yeah. He can attend our Trillan Noble School, yet he can't even afford a few drinks. Who knows if he's really that broke, or if he just doesn't consider us friends and is deliberately pretending to be poor?"

Seeing how well his lackeys played along, Dekola immediately put on a show of explaining things for Chen Kong.

"Hey, hey, hey, how can you talk like that? I believe Student Kong definitely isn't as stingy as you think. He's probably just genuinely broke."

"Hahaha, true, true. Young Master Dekola is right."

"Right, right, listen to this mouth of mine. How could I suspect Student Kong of being stingy? He's simply poor, that's all."

Watching Chen Kong get bullied by a bunch of bratty kids yet fail to give any reaction for so long, the audience outside the Dimensional Screen was utterly speechless.

What the hell? You got bullied at Ember, and now that you're out of Ember, you're still getting bullied? Then didn't you leave Ember for nothing?! Answer me!

Chen Kong: You kicked me? Then congratulations, you kicked cotton!

Protagonist? Punching bag!

Just as the audience fumed at Chen Kong's timid and introverted personality, frustrated that he refused to fight back, a familiar voice suddenly came from offscreen.

"Hey, this female student, I'm asking whether this is our school's cafeteria. Don't just stand there spacing out. Hey, hey?"

As that voice rang out, the anime's camera instantly shifted away from Chen Kong and onto Tiandao at the cafeteria entrance.

In the scene, Tiandao was wearing his signature little sunglasses, looking speechlessly at an unfamiliar female student before him. She was clutching snacks in her arms and staring straight at him.

He clearly had no idea why she was frozen in place.

And thanks to the production team's meticulous work, Tiandao was obviously wearing the same blue-and-white Trillan school uniform as everyone else.

Yet the ultra-high-definition details, so refined that one glance made it clear he was the production team's favored son, combined with that top-tier face known as the "pinnacle of Stellaris beauty."

Immediately made that rather ordinary Trillan uniform look entirely different on Tiandao.

He was clearly not even in the same art style as the people around him.

By now, the production team's favoritism toward their "most popular character" had become so brazenly obvious that they did not even bother pretending anymore.

In the anime scene, after Tiandao reminded her several times, the dazed female student finally came back to her senses.

She shyly glanced at Tiandao, then pointed behind her with a slightly stumbling voice. "Um, th-this is our school's cafeteria."

Having gotten the answer he wanted, Tiandao immediately smiled.

"Then I found the right place. Thanks, classmate!"

With that, Tiandao walked straight inside.

Watching Tiandao's departing back, the unfamiliar female student seemed to think of something.

She immediately ran toward her class with an excited expression, clearly unable to wait to share some incredible secret with her friends.

And after Tiandao entered the cafeteria, he "coincidentally" ran into Chen Kong, who was being mocked from all sides.

Looking at Chen Kong, surrounded by Dekola and the others with his head lowered in silence.

Tiandao immediately ignored the strange atmosphere around them and greeted him with a smile.

"Yo, not bad, Kong. You've already blended in with your new classmates so quickly?"

At Tiandao's sudden appearance, Chen Kong, who had been so embarrassed that he did not know what to do, instantly lit up as though he had seen his savior.

Meanwhile, Dekola looked at Tiandao, this unfamiliar uninvited guest, from within the crowd.

His pimple-covered face was instantly filled with wariness.

Though he had never seen Tiandao before and had no idea where this guy came from.

Just the man's looks, along with the "absolute confidence" he exuded in every gesture.

Made Dekola inexplicably feel an intense sense of danger.

One look at this guy's face was enough to tell him. He was absolutely not someone to mess with.

But Trillan Junior High was Dekola's turf.

Though he could not quite gauge Tiandao's background, that did not stop him from wanting to find a way to take the wind out of this guy's sails.

There was no other reason. The moment he saw Tiandao's unfairly handsome face, he felt inexplicably irritated.

Noticing the change in Dekola's expression, Tiandao immediately laughed to himself, knowing the other guy had taken the bait.

Let me reclaim, all in one go, the grievances the Dimensional Audience suffered at your hands—the grievances I, the Stellaris popularity champion, will take back.

Of course, I'm not doing this to steal the spotlight or gain popularity for myself.

I simply don't like seeing people engage in regional bigotry.

Besides, what's wrong with Nearshore people from the Deep Blue Metropolis?

Strictly speaking, I, Tiandao Siming, am even an alien!

Playing regional bigotry with me?

Friend, congratulations. You've really found the right person!

At that moment, Tiandao could not help but once again marvel at the Stellaris District's outstanding matching system.

Whenever he was running out of material and struggling to raise his popularity.

Chen Kong, the anime's protagonist in name, would always deliver timely support and help him make something happen.

In that regard, Tiandao sincerely recognized Chen Kong as the protagonist of Stellaris and hoped he would keep being the protagonist forever.

After all, if someone else became the protagonist, how could Tiandao so easily gain such massive popularity?

PS: As always, please keep reading and send those monthly votes!