The next morning, at dawn.
After spending the entire night at the hotel, Su Ming quietly slipped back into the academy before morning training began.
Originally, Su Ming had not wanted to come back.
He had no choice. Faced with the pack of rabid simps at Demon Hunter Academy, Su Ming could only admit that he was genuinely panicking.
Before going to sleep the previous night, Su Ming had checked the Academy Network forums to see what was going on. But after reading through the posts, all he saw were those irritable simps shouting about killing him and discussing what kind of torture they should inflict on him.
That had frightened Su Ming so badly that he had even considered never returning to the academy.
Fortunately, just as the academy was gradually filling with murderous hostility, An Zijin finally spoke up.
The girl next door had finally stepped forward to explain, telling everyone about her relationship with Su Ming.
Only then did people learn that Su Ming and An Zijin had been neighbors who had known each other since childhood. Because they had moved away, the two of them had not seen each other for ten whole years. That was why An Zijin had been so excited when they met yesterday and had thrown herself directly into Su Ming's arms.
The academy's students finally understood what had happened, but at the same time, they felt rather sour.
"So they're neighbors?"
"Do neighbors still have such a good relationship in this day and age?"
"I'm so jealous. Why don't I have such a cute girl-next-door?"
"This Su Ming sure is lucky."
The students gradually transformed their hostility into jealousy. That sourness could practically be smelled from the forum posts, even from far away.
Thanks to this, Su Ming went from being someone everyone wanted to kill to someone everyone envied, hated, and resented.
In essence, there might not have been much difference between the two. The latter could turn into the former at any time, and there were certainly still plenty of people in the academy who wanted to beat Su Ming to death. But since An Zijin had spoken up, they no longer had a reason to shout for Su Ming's death.
That was why Su Ming hurried back to the academy while he had the chance. He was not hoping to make his presence known—he only wanted to avoid being blocked at the door.
Of course, after returning to the academy, Su Ming's days were no longer as comfortable as before.
At the very least, Lei Hao and Ye Bai spent all day making sarcastic remarks at him.
"Well, well, isn't this Young Master Su, entangled with all the School Belles?"
"My apologies. I hope you won't look down on our tiny temple for being unable to accommodate the biggest winner in life?"
Remarks like these had already become Lei Hao and Ye Bai's catchphrases.
Not only Lei Hao and Ye Bai—even people who had rarely interacted with Su Ming would give him a warm greeting whenever they ran into him.
"Long time no see. Still in good health?"
"Nothing serious or minor bothering you lately, right? What? No? You're perfectly healthy? Tsk."
"How did Young Master Su end up reduced to wandering around with his roommates? Shouldn't you be playing sweetly with your girl-next-door?"
"You still have School Belle Xu's note, right? What did it say? I really hope it was a bill demanding payment!"
Just look at them. Were those things human beings said?
Su Ming felt that these bastards no longer wanted to be human—and did not deserve to be human.
Being surrounded by such a pack of assholes left Su Ming utterly despairing.
Fortunately, Su Ming still had chances to retaliate.
Ever since they reunited that day, An Zijin frequently came to the dormitory to see Su Ming.
"Brother Su Ming, I made you some soup. Drink it while it's hot."
"Brother Su Ming, I bought these clothes for you. The weather's starting to turn cold, so remember to keep warm."
"Brother Su Ming, play a game with me. It's so boring alone."
"Brother Su Ming."
An Zijin came to the boys' dormitory almost every day, clinging to Su Ming's side and calling him Brother Su Ming from one sentence to the next. She even arranged every aspect of his daily life. Sometimes she brought him breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even late-night snacks; other times, she would barge into Su Ming's room and help him make his bed.
The School Belle junior who was called the girl-next-door but functioned as a live-in housekeeper made many of the rough men in the boys' dormitory so envious that their souls nearly left their bodies.
Lei Hao and Ye Bai, especially, nearly broke down from jealousy as they watched An Zijin care for every detail of Su Ming's daily life.
"I want to change rooms!"
That had been Lei Hao's catchphrase lately.
"I want to kill someone!"
That had been Ye Bai's catchphrase lately.
Clearly, the two of them could not take it anymore.
Ye Bai in particular had recently started acting like a lunatic. One moment he would be laughing, the next crying; one moment his face would be filled with happiness, the next with resentment. He made Su Ming feel nervous just watching him.
As Ye Bai put it, being able to see his goddess every day and live under the same roof as her was an incomparably joyful and happy thing.
So he would laugh and feel happy.
But whenever he remembered that his goddess did not belong to him, but to Su Ming, he would feel as if everything had gone wrong.
So he would cry and feel resentful.
Recently, the guy had even started hiding under his blankets in the dead of night to secretly watch some anime about a primary-school detective. He would binge it all night and keep watching all day, making Su Ming afraid to sleep at night. He was worried that he might suddenly be murdered by some rebellious commoner in his sleep.
As for everyone else, Su Ming always felt that whenever he walked down the road, hostile gazes would shoot into his back from time to time. The people around him would stare at him sinisterly, making him tremble with fear.
Su Ming could even see many extremely unfriendly posts on the Academy Network forums.
For example:
"If this post reaches one million replies, I'll personally go kill Su Ming!"
"Daily check-in! Anyone who wants to curse Su Ming can come in!"
"I have elderly parents above me and young children below me, so I can't die without a care. If any water friend can provide a reliable way to kill someone while helping me avoid prison and becoming a suspect, I don't mind personally taking action and ending that bastard Su Ming!"
"Checking in, checking in! This is the fourth day I've wanted to kill Su Ming!"
Look at them. Were these posts written by actual water friends?
As qualified water friends, shouldn't they have been fawning over their goddess every day, building towers for her, and then arguing among themselves? One person would say that the goddess had looked at him today, another would say that she had smiled at him, and then they would accuse each other of dreaming.
Besides, as fans of the two School Belles, shouldn't they have launched vicious attacks online? One would say that his goddess was the most beautiful, another would say that the other person's goddess was nothing but a vulgar, painted face compared to his own, and then they would point at each other and curse until they were covered in spit?
The water friends of this generation were no good!
"What kind of ability is it to kill someone else? If you have the guts, go die for love!"
Su Ming was nearly furious enough to explode.
If he were not afraid of drawing everyone's fire, Su Ming would definitely have shown these trolls what a proper keyboard warrior was.
After returning to the academy, Su Ming's days became plain, miserable, and painfully real!
He was no longer an obscure Side Character, but a Side Character whom everyone wanted to kill!
Yes, fortunately, he was still a Side Character.
After all, Su Ming had made his name through scandals and hatred. The people in the academy might all know him by now, but in everyone else's eyes, he was still that mediocre little Warlock student whose grades were neither good nor bad.
The result was that Su Ming could no longer hide himself, but his plan to become the Sword God of Ten-Mile Slope had not completely failed.
He, Su Ming, could still continue being a Side Character.
That was the only thing that comforted Su Ming.
However, the good times did not last.
Su Ming only wanted to be a Side Character, but the World Will refused to let him do so.
One week after Su Ming returned to the academy, extremely important news spread throughout it.
"According to the latest intelligence from the Base City's Detection Division, an entrance to the Spirit Fiend Abyss will appear in Huaming District of this city in approximately six days."
"The Base City's higher-ups will summon all the Hunters and Warlocks in the city to Huaming District to establish a defensive line and jointly resist the invasion of Phantom Demons from the Spirit Fiend Abyss."
"The academy's students will also be summoned. They will form teams and head to Huaming District together to construct a defensive line."
"Students are requested to form teams on their own and submit their team rosters to the academy. Three days from now, everyone will depart together under the academy's organization."
Such earth-shaking news smashed the academy's feuds and grudges to pieces.
There was no doubt about it—the students exploded.
And without question, the entire academy grew noisy.
Demon Hunter Academy, boys' dormitory.
Inside their room, Su Ming, Lei Hao, and Ye Bai had gathered together to discuss the major news they had learned that day.
"An entrance to the Spirit Fiend Abyss actually appeared in the urban district?" Lei Hao said with an unpleasant expression. "Isn't that unbelievably unlucky?"
"Who says otherwise?" Ye Bai sighed. "Ever since the outer side and inner side of the world came into contact, entrances to the Spirit Fiend Abyss have appeared from time to time all over the world. But the ocean is already far larger than the land, not to mention that a Base City is only an insignificant speck on the entire continent. For an entrance to appear in an urban district, that's even unluckier than choking on water."
"It really is unlucky." Su Ming frowned and said thoughtfully, "I wonder whether some other factor caused it."
Su Ming's words did not attract any attention from Lei Hao or Ye Bai.
"Whatever caused it, now that it's happened, we'll definitely be summoned to help."
Lei Hao spread his hands helplessly.
"There's no way around it. We can't take this lightly. If we fail to stop the invading Phantom Demons, the entire Longyao City could be finished."
Ye Bai did not avoid this reality. Instead, he accepted it.
Even Su Ming knew that this incident could not be avoided.
When faced with a major Phantom Demon disaster, the Base City drawing personnel from the academy was something that could be expected—and was practically certain.
"Still, we're only students. There's no way they'll send us to fight on the most dangerous front line. We'll probably just help out from the rear and handle some logistics, right?"
Su Ming said this with a smile.
"Right."
"With our strength, it's unlikely we'll be given any important assignments."
Lei Hao and Ye Bai nodded in deep agreement.
Thinking of this, the pressure in the three men's hearts eased somewhat.
Su Ming was no exception.
"I can still be a Side Character."
Su Ming was deeply comforted.
However, the happy ending did not last long.
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