The Purple Red Mark

"You're back? Sit down. There's one more dish, it'll be ready soon."

Mom, Li Qinglan, wore an apron as she leaned halfway out of the kitchen, spatula still in hand.

Dad, Lu Dahai, came out of the bedroom with a smile, holding the bottle of baijiu he had treasured for years.

"Son, have a drink with Dad today. No, I should be the one drinking with you."

The wrinkles that had barely shown on his face were now all bunched together as he smiled with particular delight.

The house was lively and bustling, laughter blending with the sizzling sounds of cooking.

But Lu Feng stood in the doorway without a word, his facial expression so gloomy it seemed ready to drip water.

"Older Brother? What's wrong? Aren't you happy?"

Lu Mingxue rolled her wheelchair closer and asked softly.

Lu Feng did not answer. He merely raised his eyes toward his parents.

"Dad, Mom... stop busying yourselves. I didn't get in."

Those words were like a basin of cold water, instantly extinguishing the atmosphere in the room.

After saying that, he walked into his room without looking back and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

The entire Living Room fell silent at once.

Even the sound of stir-frying from the kitchen came to an abrupt stop.

That afternoon, Lu Dahai and Li Qinglan did not go to work.

Their son kept himself locked in his room without speaking. No matter how they questioned him or knocked on the door, there was no response from inside.

With no other choice, they contacted his classmates and Teacher.

But none of his classmates knew what had happened.

Even Fatty Shen, who was closest to him, could not explain it.

Lu Feng had clearly been admitted, yet his name could not be found in the college entrance examination Network System.

His homeroom Teacher, He Qing, also kept claiming that he knew nothing.

He understood why Lu Feng had kept it hidden. He only wanted to protect his family.

Since his name had already been replaced, telling his Parents the truth would only bring them more worry.

As people at the bottom of society, they had no way to contend against the lofty forces of the government.

In the Living Room, the once joyful atmosphere had long vanished, leaving only several plates of cold food sitting silently on the table.

Deep Night.

Lu Feng stood in the bathroom and turned on the shower, letting the tap water wash over his entire body.

But water could only wash away the sweat and grime on his body. It could not wash away the humiliation and rage that had seeped deep into his heart.

When he closed his eyes, Zheng Tong's smug, fat face appeared before him again, along with his homeroom Teacher's expression of indignation on his behalf, mixed with helplessness.

He thought of his Parents knocking carefully on his door, his Younger Sister's quiet questions, and the untouched meal on the table that had long gone cold.

Why?

Three years of hard work had been taken from him so easily by those lofty powers with a single phone call.

Anger tightened around his throat like vines, leaving him almost unable to breathe.

A powerful hatred took root and sprouted like a seed in the heart of this once innocent Youngster.

Lu Feng dried himself and returned to his room.

In the two-bedroom apartment, his Parents slept in one room while he and his Younger Sister slept in the other.

The room contained an iron bunk bed.

He slept on the top bunk, while his Younger Sister slept on the bottom.

It was already midnight, and he had assumed his Younger Sister would be fast asleep.

Yet when he quietly entered the room, Lu Mingxue, who had been pretending to sleep, suddenly opened her eyes.

"Older Brother... are you okay?"

She did not know what had happened today, but she could tell that her Older Brother must be suffering terribly.

Otherwise, he would never have gone to shower in the middle of the night.

"Why aren't you asleep yet?"

Lu Feng put on his usual stern Older Brother expression and reached out to pull up her blanket, covering her stomach.

"Ah—!"

Lu Mingxue suddenly let out a soft cry. Her clear eyes widened as she stared fixedly at his chest, her face full of surprise.

"It's the middle of the night. What are you yelling for?"

Summer was hot, and Lu Feng was not wearing a shirt.

After years of tempering his body, his muscles were sharply defined, and the outlines of his abs were clear.

But this was not the first time his Younger Sister had seen him bare-chested. There was no need for such a huge reaction, was there?

"Older Brother, y-you have something... what is that?"

Following the direction of her finger, Lu Feng lowered his head to look at his chest—

At some unknown time, a cup-sized Purple Red Birthmark had appeared there.

There had been nothing there yesterday. Where had this Mark come from?

Could it... be a Mark that had appeared after his rebirth?

But what did it mean?

He reached out and pressed the Purple Red area.

"How is it? Does it hurt?" Lu Mingxue hurriedly asked.

"I can't feel anything."

"Then how did this happen?"

"Maybe I got so angry it appeared."

"Who made you angry? Older Brother, tell me the truth. You clearly got in, so why can't you attend Martial University?"

"Go to sleep!"

Lu Feng gave his Younger Sister no chance to continue questioning him.

He swiftly turned off the light and climbed neatly onto the top bunk, leaving behind a room full of silence and unanswered questions.

Yet this was destined to be a sleepless night.

Mom and Dad in the master bedroom were awake, and his Younger Sister on the bottom bunk still had her eyes open.

Lying in bed, Lu Feng's mind was filled with hatred he could not shake.

Outside the window, the night was deep. Only the faint sound of wind occasionally drifted over, brushing through the trees in the residential complex and making the leaves rustle.

Don't Know How Long Passed.

Lu Mingxue spoke softly in the darkness. "Older Brother, don't you think... it's especially quiet tonight?"

On ordinary nights, there were always a few barks from dogs in the complex, or the cries of stray cats.

But tonight, the surroundings were unnaturally quiet.

"Older Brother, Older Brother! Look at the window... what is that?"

A trace of panic suddenly entered Lu Mingxue's voice.

Lu Feng, who had not been asleep at all, immediately looked toward the window.

He saw more than a dozen pearl-like spheres hovering faintly outside the window, looking especially eerie in the darkness.

He quickly flicked on the switch.

The instant the light came on, the Brother and Sister finally saw clearly: five or six stray cats were crouching silently on the windowsill, utterly motionless.

"What the hell... did these little beasts come here to hold a meeting?"

Lu Feng could not help muttering a curse.

This was the fifth floor. How had they Come Up here? And why were they all crouched on the windowsill outside his room?

He got out of bed, pushed open the window, and snarled fiercely, "Get lost!"

As though they had been given a terrible fright, the stray cats turned and jumped straight off the fifth floor.

Lu Feng immediately leaned out to see whether they had fallen to their deaths, only to be stunned by what he saw next—

More than a dozen dogs from the residential complex had gathered downstairs at some unknown time. They all looked up at his window in unison, their tails wagging nonstop as if currying favor with their Master.

What the hell was this?

Lu Feng only found it absurd. He shouted downstairs, "All of you, get the hell out! Go find your own poop-scoopers and stop getting in my way!"

The moment his words fell, the dogs and cats downstairs seemed frightened out of their wits and scattered in an instant.

"They're that obedient?"

"Older Brother, what happened?" Lu Mingxue, who could not see downstairs from her bed, asked worriedly.

"It's nothing. Go to sleep."

The strange events of that night were like nothing more than a minor interlude in life.

Over the following days, those cats and dogs did not come to bother him again.

Lu Feng continued to shut himself up at home, spending his days in a daze.

Until one noon, someone called the Communicator on his wrist.

After he answered, Shen Yu's familiar chubby face appeared on the holographic Virtual Screen.