Unlike a Good Person

"Wang Wen." The skinny boy gave him a furtive look. "Come back with me. They don't look like good people!"

"Like I couldn't tell?"

Wang Wen covered his forehead, caught between laughter and tears.

He'd barely stepped into the alley when someone had hit him on the back of the head. He didn't know who'd done it, but the blow had been feather-light—not even enough to make him dizzy. It felt like a girl had hit him with a soft pillow.

A large crowd had gathered in the alley, but he didn't recognize a single face.

Was the mastermind not going to show himself?

"Hey, hey, hold on." Wang Wen rubbed the back of his head and held out a hand to stop the people closing in from every direction. "Could you all tell me why you're here first? I just finished eating. I shouldn't be doing anything strenuous!"

"I hear you're pretty arrogant!" A man who looked like a small-time leader came forward with his hands on his hips.

Wang Wen picked up on the key point and asked curiously, "Who told you that?"

But the little leader didn't bother answering. He raised his leg and whipped it toward Wang Wen's head in a spectacular high kick.

"If you want to talk, then talk. Quit throwing your weight around." Wang Wen caught the incoming foot and casually shoved it back.

The man's balance was all over the place as he showed off his high kick. One shove sent him sprawling onto his back.

"Damn it! Get him!" The little leader shouted for his companions to attack, red-faced with humiliation. At the same time, he pulled a dagger from his clothes and got to his feet, gritting his teeth.

Seeing Wang Wen "surrounded," the skinny boy charged in with his backpack, yelling "Ahhh!" He tried to shove people aside while shouting toward the mouth of the alley, "Help! Somebody, help!"

"Pfft."

The little leader turned and plunged his knife into the boy's stomach.

"Thud."

The boy fell to the ground, mouth open as he struggled to breathe.

The little leader flicked the blood from his dagger and looked coldly at the boy on the ground. He spat and said, "What a noisy brat."

In the middle of the brawl, Wang Wen had just dodged a slow-moving punch and was about to hit back when he caught sight of the boy lying in a pool of blood.

"Thud!"

Someone suddenly realized he could actually land a kick on that slippery eel of a guy.

But the guy acted as if he hadn't felt a thing, calmly pushing through the crowd and walking away.

The people he shoved aside were annoyed and kept punching and kicking him in the head and face.

Before long, his face was bruised and swollen.

The little leader watched him approach and twirled his dagger with a cold laugh. "Kid, there are some girls you aren't qualified to touch. Understand? Take your beating today and we'll call it even. Otherwise, we'll be waiting for you every day."

Wang Wen acted as if he hadn't heard him. He bit into the relatively clean lining of his clothes, tore off a strip, and pressed it against the wound in the boy's abdomen.

The boy gasped with his mouth open. Every breath tugged at the wound, and he was struggling to breathe.

Wang Wen smiled. "Don't worry. It's a small wound. I'll take you to a doctor."

The boy grabbed Wang Wen's arm and struggled to get the words out. "Run. Now."

Seeing the two of them talk among themselves as if he weren't there, the little leader flew into a rage. He raised his dagger and stabbed toward Wang Wen's back.

"Voom!"

A deep rumble rang out across the flat ground.

Like a mountain rockslide, a storm sweeping over the sea, thunder rolling across the sky, or the earth sinking beneath the surface.

The little leader's ears rang. Every sound in the world vanished.

Then it felt as if some tremendous force had struck him, sending him flying backward through the air.

Every thug in the alley was sent flying backward as well.

As if they'd been hit head-on by a massive train, they crashed into the high wall behind them in a heap.

From above, the cracked ground in the alley would have looked like a fan spreading out from Wang Wen's position.

Wang Wen turned around. Blood poured from his nostrils like floodwaters released from a dam, impossible to stop.

He walked over to the little leader with blood streaming from his nose and asked, "Who sent you?"

The little leader had been slammed against the wall and was still dizzy. At the sound of Wang Wen's voice, he instinctively struggled backward a few times.

When he realized the wall was right behind him and there was nowhere to go, he gritted his teeth, stuck out his neck, and shouted, "Damn you! If you've got the guts, kill me!"

Wang Wen nodded. "All right."

"???" The little leader could hardly believe his ears.

"Boom!"

It was like an earthquake, as if the sky had fallen and the ground had split open.

The ground beneath the little leader caved in, as if some transparent prehistoric beast had stomped down hard.

His entire body was embedded in the ground. He coughed up blood in short spurts, then went silent.

Wang Wen turned and walked back to the boy. As terrified screams erupted behind him, he lifted the skinny boy into his arms and walked toward the mouth of the alley, blood still streaming from his nose.

The Academy infirmary.

The doctor on duty saw a blood-covered student in Academy uniform walk in, carrying a boy whose face was ashen.

"What happened?" The doctor got up to check.

"We're students from the Science Decryption Department. He's injured. Save him." Wang Wen laid the boy on a bed and calmly pulled out his student ID to fill out the registration.

As soon as the doctor heard they were Academy students, he hurriedly called over an assistant and started up the machines for emergency treatment.

"This is a knife wound! What happened to you two? Did you enter the World Tower?" the doctor asked as he treated the boy.

He questioned Wang Wen for a while but got no answer.

When he turned around, he saw Wang Wen slumped over the desk, unconscious after finishing the registration. A pool of bright red blood lay beneath his face. The parts of his face not covered in blood were frighteningly pale. The contrast made the red look redder and the white look whiter.

Wang Wen had finally relaxed once he was back at the Academy, and he slept for a long time.

When he woke up, he found himself lying in a private hospital room.

Three groups of people were keeping watch inside.

It was easy for him to tell.

The person keeping a meticulous watch by the door looked vaguely familiar. They resembled a team member from the First Consortium's Intelligence Department whom he'd met some time ago. They were probably the Intelligence Department's representative.

The person dozing on the sofa also looked familiar. They resembled one of the sycophants who often hung around the Department Chair, so they were probably the Academy's representative.

Then there was the person leaning against the railing beside his bed.

The moment Wang Wen saw her profile, he was wide awake.

Long eyelashes, a delicate nose, soft, rosy lips, and skin that seemed to glow.

Cheng Queyi!

Seeing how soundly she was sleeping, Wang Wen reached out without hesitation and nudged her awake.

Her sleepy eyes had barely opened. She hadn't even had time to rub them before her face lit up in a smile. "You're awake, senior!"

She got up and pressed the call button to summon a doctor.

Wang Wen asked hoarsely, "Why are you here?"

Cheng Queyi poured a glass of water and wrapped both hands around it to test the temperature. Once she was sure it wasn't too hot, she handed it to Wang Wen. "It's so dangerous around you, senior. I couldn't trust anyone else to watch over you, so I had to come myself."

The person on the sofa jumped up and hurriedly called the Academy.

The person by the door pressed and pulled both hands together. Their smart device lit up, and they promptly reported to their team leader.

The doctor hurried into the room, checked Wang Wen with various instruments, and nodded. Then he addressed the people gathered around him. "The patient is out of immediate danger. He should rest and recover for the next two weeks, then come back for another checkup."

"Thank you, Doctor." Cheng Queyi smiled sweetly as she thanked him.

The experienced doctor waved to show it was nothing to worry about, then hurried out of the room, fighting off a spell of dizziness.

The person from the sofa came over to Wang Wen and asked with concern, "Student Wang, is there anywhere else you're feeling unwell?"

After Wang Wen confirmed he was fine, the person relayed the Academy's message. "Don't worry. The Academy has already arranged leave for you. All your classes will be recorded, so you can catch up whenever you're ready and won't fall behind."

The person by the door came to his bedside and formally delivered the Intelligence Department's message. "The team leader said not to worry about any expenses. The Intelligence Department will handle everything. Rest and recover without a care."

Wang Wen thanked both of them and the organizations they represented, then tried to sit up.

The others hurried to help him.

As if reading his mind, Cheng Queyi spoke up. "Are you wondering about the boy you brought to the Academy infirmary?"