Reconciliation

Su Ming stared at the scene, dumbfounded. What was going on? Wasn't Teacher Tang here to counsel him? How did he end up breaking down himself while trying to counsel?

He helplessly reached out and gently patted Teacher Tang's back to comfort him.

"Teacher, don't be sad. You need to learn to make peace with yourself!"

"Ah~"

Hearing Su Ming's words, Tang Yan cried even more sadly.

At this moment, Minke and the other classmates heard the crying and all fell silent. They turned to look at Tang Yan, exchanging glances as they walked over.

"Su Ming, what happened? What's wrong with Teacher Tang?"

"Why is he crying so sadly?"

Su Ming helplessly spread his hands, not knowing how to explain. He could only say to everyone.

"Maybe he's going through menopause, his emotions are a bit sensitive and fragile right now. It's okay, he'll feel better after crying it out."

"Wuwu~"

Tang Yan completely broke down and started sobbing uncontrollably.

Su Ming rubbed his forehead and sighed helplessly.

"Sigh~"

Deep into the night.

Thirteenth District, Lower City · Grand Garbage Disposal Site.

Discarded furniture, broken appliances, tattered plastic products, and sticky household waste were piled high, stretching for kilometers.

A pungent, rotten smell filled the air, and swarms of flies buzzed above the garbage.

At this moment, two men in gray work uniforms, wearing illuminated helmets and carrying metal shovels, their skin dark from the sun, were patrolling the garbage heaps.

"Zhao Yuan, it's almost four o'clock. Can we take a break?"

"Wu An, you patrol your side, I'll check the other. They just patched the hole in the wall a few days ago, who knows if those guys have dug it open again to sneak in and steal things."

"Sigh, it's endless, they even steal garbage. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have to work so hard."

Wu An sighed.

"There's no choice, it's all for survival. I don't want to make things difficult for them either. But if they steal too much, we'll lose our jobs. We have families to support too."

Zhao Yuan shook his head, his voice a little low.

Although this place was piled with garbage, which the Upper City residents found disgusting, it was a treasure trove for the Lower City residents.

Not to mention that broken appliances could be exchanged for food, and if they were lucky, they might even find expired medicine here.

"Alright."

Wu An replied helplessly and then walked towards a corner ahead.

Soon, Wu An reached the garbage heap near the wall. He looked around, confirmed no one was there, and turned to leave.

Just as Wu An took a few steps, the sound of a metal can rolling came from behind him.

"Who's there? Come out!"

Wu An immediately turned around, raised his shovel, and shouted.

However, the garbage heap in front of him was silent, with no response.

Wu An didn't dismiss it as a hallucination; these thieves were very cunning. He cautiously walked forward, holding his shovel, and kept shouting.

"Come out, I see you."

As Wu An walked forward step by step, the metal can that had rolled earlier suddenly moved, making a faint sound.

Wu An was startled and looked down at the tin can in front of him.

At this moment, a rat with black fur, bulging flesh, and dark red eyes emerged, baring its teeth at Wu An.

Squeak squeak~

Wu An's heart skipped a beat. He raised his shovel and brought it down hard.

Thwack~

The rat was instantly flattened. Wu An breathed a sigh of relief and slowly raised his shovel.

To his surprise, the flattened rat, still alive, crawled up. Its eyes were wide open, filled with disbelief.

The mutated rat suddenly lunged at Wu An.

"Ah!"

Wu An stumbled backward in panic and swung his shovel again, but this time he missed.

The mutated rat lunged onto Wu An's right foot. He looked down in terror and kicked his leg, trying to shake it off.

But the rat seemed to be stuck to his foot, and he couldn't get rid of it.

At this moment, the deformed rat suddenly opened its mouth and bit down.

"Ah~"

Wu An immediately let out a scream and fell to the ground.

Immediately after, a mass of black cells seeped out from the deformed rat's mouth and entered his body through the wound on his leg.

Zhao Yuan, not far away, heard Wu An's scream and immediately rushed over.

As he got closer, he saw Wu An, who had fallen to the ground, from a distance and immediately shouted anxiously.

"Wu An, what's wrong?"

At this moment, Wu An shakily got up from the ground.

Zhao Yuan instinctively felt that something was wrong and stopped, looking at Wu An uneasily.

"Wu An, are you okay? Say something."

At this moment, Wu An slowly raised his head.

Zhao Yuan saw Wu An's face, his pupils instantly widened, and he retreated in terror.

At this moment, Wu An's entire body's blood vessels had turned black and bulged, black stripes appeared on his face, his fingernails began to grow long and sharp, his eyes turned dark red, and the entire person looked like a deformed monster, slowly walking towards Zhao Yuan.

"Don't come over, don't come over!"

Zhao Yuan shouted as he retreated in fear. Seeing Wu An still approaching, he gritted his teeth and swung his shovel, smashing it onto Wu An's head.

Bang~

Wu An immediately stopped.

Zhao Yuan fearfully moved the shovel away, only to see Wu An's head was crooked.

But then Wu An twisted his head, straightening his crooked neck, and at the same time reached out and grabbed the shovel.

Zhao Yuan was startled, and before he could react, Wu An had forcefully snatched the shovel and directly threw it at Zhao Yuan.

Bang~

Zhao Yuan was sent flying two or three meters and crashed to the ground. The intense pain made him unable to get up for a moment.

He looked at Wu An, who was walking towards him step by step, with a face full of terror, and then the terror in his eyes turned into despair.

Behind Wu An, pairs of dark red eyes lit up.

Immediately after, swarms of deformed rats charged over!

A strong desire to survive made him get up directly from the ground. But at this moment, the swarms of deformed rats passed Wu An and pounced directly onto Zhao Yuan.

Before Zhao Yuan could steady himself, he was instantly knocked to the ground by the swarms of rats.

Then, masses of black cell matter seeped out from the rats.

"No, no..."

Zhao Yuan let out a heart-wrenching cry.

The black cell matter wriggled like living creatures and drilled into Zhao Yuan's mouth.

--

The next morning.

Mient Junior Academy · Classroom.

Su Ming and the others were already sitting in their seats.

The ringing of the class bell continued.

Everyone's gaze subconsciously turned to the open doorway, but when the bell finished ringing, they did not see Teacher Tang, who was supposed to be there.

"Teacher Tang is actually late? Did the sun rise in the west?"

"This is truly rare!"

The classmates in the classroom kept discussing.