I Lied to You

The boy who suddenly walked over was about 1.75 meters tall, with a lean build. His face was covered in marks left by acne, and his eyes held a smug, roguish air.

He completely ignored Ling Yun beside him, his gaze fixed on Jiang Yingqing's face. He grinned, revealing uneven teeth, "Hey beautiful, wanna be friends? Add me on QQ? My name's Zhang Yang, I'm a sprinter." His tone was familiar, brooking no refusal.

"Zhang Yang?"

Hearing the name, Ling Yun's heart leaped. Fragments of memories from his past life surged forward—he had indeed heard of this name.

It was on Ning City No. 1 High School's infamous "List of Deities"! That electronic screen that only recorded serious offenders who were expelled, but never stated the reasons.

Later, the truth was pieced together through countless student whispers: a scumbag expelled for extreme, disgusting dormitory bullying!

He had forced his clean-cut dormmate, Su Chenyang, to "serve" him, even becoming addicted. Eventually, his other roommates, unable to bear it any longer, anonymously reported him.

The incident was suppressed. Su Chenyang quietly dropped out. Zhang Yang was merely expelled, avoiding even detention due to Su Chenyang's shame and cowardice.

All that remained on campus was a nauseating legend.

A wave of intense disgust instantly gripped Ling Yun. He felt that even a second longer in the presence of such scum was too much!

The smile on Jiang Yingqing's face had long since vanished, replaced by a chilling distance.

She even took half a step back, her voice clear and detached, "Sorry, my QQ friends are only family. I don't add outsiders."

The rejection was swift and decisive, leaving no room for negotiation.

The smile on Zhang Yang's face froze, then he put on an even thicker skin. He took a step forward, "Hey, there's always a first time for everything! More friends, more paths, just add me? It's not like you'll lose a piece of flesh."

He ignored Jiang Yingqing's resistance, his tone even carrying a hint of coercion.

Jiang Yingqing's delicate brows furrowed. She found his persistence troublesome and disgusting.

She subconsciously looked at Ling Yun, a hint of a plea in her eyes.

Receiving Jiang Yingqing's signal, Ling Yun didn't hesitate for a moment.

He stepped forward, a solid barrier shielding Jiang Yingqing, completely cutting off Zhang Yang's uncomfortable gaze.

The corner of his mouth curled into an undisguised sneer. His voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear, like needles dipped in ice:

"Hey, I say, Mr. 'Specialty Student,' are you feeling so pent up that your brain has developed a hole? If you're that desperate for affection, go home and find your mom! Stop being disgusting here!"

Ling Yun unleashed a torrent of words at Zhang Yang.

"What the hell did you say?!"

Zhang Yang's face instantly turned the color of pig liver. Shame and anger instantly morphed into explosive rage!

He pointed at Ling Yun's nose, his voice suddenly rising, sharp and piercing, "You dare to meddle in my business?! Are you looking to die?!"

The sudden conflict between the two, like magnets, instantly drew the attention of all the remaining students on the field.

The crowd swarmed over, filled with curiosity, nervousness, and the excitement of watching a spectacle, forming a semicircular crowd.

Under so many stares, Zhang Yang's vanity and embarrassment swelled to their peak.

He suddenly took a step forward, pointing at Ling Yun's nose, his voice rising even higher, with a kind of blustering arrogance, "You little brat! You like showing off and sticking your nose in, don't you? Fine! Today, Grandpa will make sure you can't face anyone in school! I'll show you why the flowers are so red!"

Before he finished speaking, he swung his fist without warning, whistling through the air as it hurtled towards Ling Yun's face!

This punch was fast and vicious, clearly relying on the physique of a sports student to establish dominance with a single blow!

However, in Ling Yun's eyes, the movement was as slow as a snail crawling!

Just as the fist was about to touch his nose—

An afterimage flashed!

The onlookers didn't even see how Ling Yun moved! They only saw a blur!

The next second, everyone's eyes widened in horror!

Zhang Yang, who had been aggressive just a moment ago, now had both his feet off the ground!

He was like a chick being grabbed by the scruff of its neck, his collar firmly gripped by Ling Yun's right hand, lifted at least twenty centimeters off the ground!

The rage on Zhang Yang's face froze, then was replaced by immense terror!

The sensation of weightlessness from his suspended feet and the suffocating tightness around his neck made his mind go blank!

He looked in terror at Ling Yun's cold, emotionless eyes up close, as if he had seen some ancient beast!

"Uh... Bro... Brother! It's a misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding!"

An intense survival instinct made him change his tune instantly. He forced out a smile uglier than crying, his voice trembling, "I... I was just kidding! Joking around! Don't... Don't take it seriously! Let me down... Let me down!"

Ling Yun looked indifferently at the "clear" eyes in his gaze, now filled with fear. The sneer on his lips deepened.

He casually flicked his arm—

"Get lost! If you dare to bother her again, I'll beat you so badly your own mother won't recognize you every time I see you!"

Whoosh—Bang!

Zhang Yang, like a tattered sack, was sent flying by an immense, irresistible force!

He tumbled four or five times on the dusty ground before managing to stop, covered in dirt, grimacing in pain.

He struggled to get up, not even daring to look back. He scrambled away, fleeing madly towards the edge of the field without looking back!

What revenge? What settling the score? The fear of being dominated by absolute power in that instant had completely shattered all his courage!

Seven or eight people? In the face of that kind of power, they were nothing more than a few more rolling gourds!

"Holy crap!!!"

"Brother Yun is awesome!!"

"He threw someone away with one hand?! Is this guy Superman?!"

The onlookers instantly erupted in a huge wave of astonishment and cheers! Their gazes towards Ling Yun were filled with shock and adoration!

Jiang Yingqing quickly walked to Ling Yun's side. In the afterglow of the setting sun, her cheeks were tinged with a moving blush, her eyes sparkling, filled with gratitude and lingering fear. "Ling Yun... Thank you! Just now... you... you were so cool!"

Her voice trembled slightly, almost imperceptibly.

Ling Yun raised an eyebrow, deliberately leaned closer, and asked with a wicked grin, "Oh? Only cool just now? Not cool usually?" He was in a great mood; that move earlier had been incredibly satisfying.

"N-no!" Jiang Yingqing's face turned even redder, like a ripe apple. She lowered her head slightly, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum, but she added with unusual clarity, "You're cool usually too... but just now, you were... you were super cool!"

Boom! A surge of immense satisfaction and a strange flutter instantly struck Ling Yun's heart.

Being praised as "cool," and even "super cool," so directly and publicly by such a beautiful girl... this feeling was a hundred times more satisfying than getting a pentakill in his previous life's games!

He felt like the corners of his mouth were about to split to his ears.

However, he quickly remembered what Jiang Yingqing had said when she rejected Zhang Yang, and asked with a bit of curiosity, "By the way, you said you only had family on QQ? Is that true?" He thought it was just an excuse.

"Of course it's fake!"

Jiang Yingqing immediately looked up and retorted, speaking rapidly.

"Who would be so bored as to only add family members!"

After saying that, she seemed to realize her reaction was a bit too intense. Her eyes flickered rapidly, and she subconsciously avoided Ling Yun's probing gaze, her small earlobes also turning red.

"Haha, I knew it!" Ling Yun felt there was no need for Jiang Yingqing to lie to him. With an expression of "just as I thought," he laughed heartily.

Just then, Drill Instructor Cheng Yuanzhou returned to the training ground with the boarding students who had learned to make "tofu block" beds.

Soon, the glorious deed of "Ling Yun throwing the sports student Zhang Yang away with one hand" spread like wildfire throughout the entire assembly.

The girls looked at Ling Yun with undisguised adoration and starry eyes, while the boys were a mix of envy, jealousy, and hatred, wishing they could be that formidable.

"Brother Yun! You showed off again!" Zhou Da squeezed over, nudging Ling Yun with his shoulder, his tone sour enough to be pickled in lemon juice. "I seriously suspect you're the protagonist of this world! Tell me, did you bind some 'Show-off and Slap-face System'? Get me one too!"

"Pfft!"

Ling Yun almost choked on his own saliva, his heart skipping a beat! How did this silly guy guess right?!

He suppressed his momentary shock and quickly put on an expression like he was looking at an idiot, unceremoniously slapping the back of Zhou Da's head. "Are you obsessed with reading novels? Is your brain fried? A system? Why don't you say I'm Ultraman!"

Zhou Da rubbed the back of his head, chuckled foolishly, and felt his earlier speculation was a bit far-fetched. He scratched his head sheepishly.

"Assemble!" Cheng Yuanzhou's booming voice cut through the noise. "Training ends here for today! Tomorrow, same time, assemble at the same spot! Dismissed!"

The crowd surged like a breached dam, most heading towards the cafeteria. Ling Yun and Jiang Yingqing, just like yesterday, walked side-by-side towards the school gate.

The afterglow of the setting sun cast long shadows of the two. As they neared the school gate, Jiang Yingqing's steps suddenly slowed.

She lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously twisting the corner of her camouflage uniform. The lingering blush on her cheeks looked especially delicate in the sunset.

"Ling Yun..." Her voice was very soft, with a hint of nervous determination.

"Hmm?" Ling Yun turned his head to look at her.

"On the training ground just now... I lied to you."

Jiang Yingqing took a deep breath, raised her head, and looked directly into Ling Yun's clear eyes with an unprecedented seriousness and a hint of imperceptible shyness.

"I said I had many QQ friends was a lie... On my QQ friend list, besides family, there's really only... you."

After saying this, as if she had used up all her courage, she didn't dare to look at Ling Yun's reaction. She turned and, like a startled fawn, quickly ran towards the black Maybach that had been waiting at the school gate, pulled open the door, and quickly got in.

The Maybach slid silently into the traffic, leaving Ling Yun standing alone at the school gate, the evening breeze ruffling his hair.

His heart was beating irregularly and powerfully in his chest.

A complex emotion, a mixture of immense pride, intense excitement, and a touch of bewilderment, washed over him like a tide.

In his two lives, for the first time, a girl had cast a stone named "special" into his heart so clearly, creating ripples.