Reconciliation

Su Ming was dumbfounded as he watched the scene. What was going on? Wasn't the teacher supposed to be here to counsel him? How had he ended up breaking down first while doing the counseling?

He helplessly reached out and gently patted Teacher Tang on the back, comforting him.

"Teacher, don't be sad. You have to learn to reconcile with yourself!"

"Ah~"

Tang Yan cried even harder after hearing Su Ming's words.

At that moment, Minke and the other students heard the crying and all fell silent. They turned toward Tang Yan, exchanged bewildered looks, and walked over.

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

"Why is he crying so miserably?"

Su Ming helplessly spread his hands. He had no idea how to explain it, so he could only say to everyone,

"Maybe he's going through menopause and feeling particularly sensitive and fragile. It's fine. He'll be all right after he cries it out."

"Wuwu~"

Tang Yan completely broke down and began wailing loudly.

Su Ming rubbed his forehead and helplessly sighed.

"Sigh~"

Late at night.

Inside the Far-Reaching Garbage Disposal Plant in the Thirteenth District's Lower City.

Discarded furniture, damaged appliances, battered plastic products, and sticky household waste had been sorted into heaps piled as high as mountains, stretching for several kilometers as far as the eye could see.

The air was thick with a pungent, rotten stench, while swarms of flies buzzed over the garbage.

At that moment, two men in gray work clothes and illumination helmets, each holding a metal shovel, were patrolling the garbage heaps. Their skin was dark all over.

"Zhao Yuan, it's almost four already. Can't we take a break?"

"Wu An, patrol your side. I'll take a look over there. The hole in the wall was only plugged a few days ago. Those guys might have dug it open again and crawled in to steal things."

"Sigh, it really never ends. They even steal garbage. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have to work this hard."

Wu An sighed as he spoke.

"We can't help it. Everyone's just trying to survive. I don't actually want to make things difficult for them, either. But they steal too much. If this continues, we'll lose our jobs. We have families to support, too."

Zhao Yuan shook his head, replying in a somewhat dejected voice.

Although this place was full of garbage that people from the Upper City found utterly disgusting, to the residents of the Lower City, it was a massive treasure trove.

Not only could the damaged appliances all be exchanged for food, but if they were lucky, they might even find expired medicine here.

"All right."

Wu An replied helplessly, then walked toward the corner ahead.

Before long, Wu An reached the garbage heap near the wall. He turned his head and surveyed the area. After confirming that no one was there, he turned around and was about to leave.

After Wu An had taken only a few steps, the sound of a metal can rolling suddenly came from behind him.

"Who's there? Come out!"

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

However, the garbage heap before him was deathly still, without the slightest response.

Wu An didn't assume it had been his imagination. Those thieves were extremely cunning. Clutching the shovel, he cautiously walked over, repeatedly calling out,

"Come out. I saw you."

Just as Wu An was advancing step by step, the metal can that had rolled ahead suddenly moved, making a faint noise.

Wu An jumped in fright and lowered his head to look at the tin can in front of him.

At that moment, a rat with black, fleshy growths raised all over its body and dark-red eyes crawled out, baring its teeth at Wu An.

"Chitter, chitter~"

Wu An's heart jolted. He raised the shovel and slammed it down.

Smack~

The rat was instantly flattened. Wu An relaxed slightly and slowly lifted the shovel.

Yet Wu An saw that the flattened rat hadn't died. It was climbing back up, its eyes opened wide with an expression of utter disbelief.

The deformed rat suddenly sprang at Wu An.

"Ah!"

Wu An retreated in panic and raised the shovel to strike again, but unfortunately, he missed this time.

The deformed rat suddenly leaped onto Wu An's right foot. He looked down in terror and violently kicked his leg, trying to fling it off.

Unfortunately, the rat seemed stuck to his foot and wouldn't come off no matter how hard he shook it.

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

"Ah~"

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

Immediately afterward, a mass of black cells seeped from inside the deformed rat's mouth and burrowed into his body through the wound on his foot.

Not far away, Zhao Yuan heard Wu An's scream and hurried over.

When he got close, he saw Wu An lying on the ground from a distance and anxiously shouted,

"Wu An, what happened?"

At that moment, Wu An staggered as he climbed to his feet.

Zhao Yuan instinctively sensed that something was wrong. He stopped and uneasily looked at Wu An.

"Wu An, are you all right? Say something."

Wu An slowly raised his head as well.

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

Wu An's blood vessels had turned black and bulged all over his body. Black stripes had appeared across his face, while the fingernails on both hands had grown long and sharp. His eyes had turned dark red. He looked like a deformed monster as he slowly walked toward Zhao Yuan.

"Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer!"

Zhao Yuan retreated in terror while shouting. Seeing that Wu An was still approaching, he steeled his heart, swung the shovel, and smashed it into Wu An's head.

Bang~

Wu An came to an abrupt stop.

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

But then Wu An twisted his head. The crooked head was forcibly straightened, and he reached out to grab the shovel.

Zhao Yuan jolted in shock. Before he could react, Wu An had already wrested the shovel away with brute force and hurled it at him.

Bang~

Zhao Yuan was sent flying two or three meters before crashing to the ground. The intense pain left him unable to get up for a moment.

He looked painfully at Wu An as he approached step by step. Terror filled his face, but the terror in his eyes soon turned into despair.

Behind Wu An, pairs of dark-red eyes began to light up.

Then, swarms of deformed rats charged over!

His intense desire to survive drove him to scramble up from the ground. But at that moment, the swarms of deformed rats passed Wu An and pounced directly onto Zhao Yuan.

Before Zhao Yuan could steady himself, the swarm of rats instantly knocked him to the ground.

Then, clumps of black cellular matter seeped from the rats' bodies.

"No, no—"

Zhao Yuan let out a final, heart-rending cry.

The black cellular matter writhed like living creatures as it burrowed into Zhao Yuan's mouth.

The next morning.

Inside a classroom at Mient Junior Academy.

Su Ming and the others had taken their seats early.

The ringing of the class bell continued to sound.

Everyone instinctively looked toward the open doorway. Yet when the ringing stopped, they still didn't see the Teacher Tang who should have appeared.

"Teacher Tang is actually late? Has the sun risen in the west?"

"That's really strange!"

The students in the class kept discussing it among themselves.