Ironclad Evidence and the Abyssal Gaze

The wound on his forehead still throbbed faintly, a thin scab of blood covering it like a brand of humiliation. The chill from the icy filth that had soaked his bunk seemed not to have fully left his bones. Lin Feng curled up in the filthiest corner of cell 107, every breath heavy with despair.

Daylight still could not pierce the gloom here. During exercise time, he stood silently at the edge of the yard. The conspicuous wound on his forehead and the oppressive air surrounding him made Scar and the others ease up on their direct harassment for the time being, though they cast him more glances mingled with contempt, wariness, and amusement. Whenever Skinny Monkey passed him, he deliberately snorted, his eyes venomous.

Lin Feng did not react. Half of him was steeped in the bone-chilling cold of last night's bucket of water and the exhaustion that had followed his resistance. The other half was occupied by a hotter, more urgent anticipation-the listening device. He needed more. He needed decisive words to nail those enemies of his to the pillory of their crimes for good!

Time passed slowly in torment. At last, night fell once more.

When the cell lights went out and snores gradually rose, Lin Feng immediately sank his entire awareness into the link. His earlier eavesdropping had confirmed the frame-up, but the parts about the "uncle" and "Li Jing offering to help" still lacked the most direct details that could serve as evidence. He needed to hear names, to hear exactly how they had done it!

Perhaps the "smooth sailing" of the past few days had made Sun Tingting drop her guard, or perhaps her joy at securing the postgraduate recommendation had left her unable to resist showing off. Tonight, the goddess of fortune-or perhaps misfortune-"favored" Lin Feng once again.

First came a burst of cheerful music through the signal, with Sun Tingting humming along. She seemed to be in an excellent mood.

Then a phone rang.

Sun Tingting answered, her voice cloyingly sweet. "Hello~ Uncle!"

Lin Feng's heart jolted! Here it comes!

"Mm-hmm! I saw the announcement! Thank you, Uncle!!" Sun Tingting's voice was coquettish and jubilant. "...Oh, I know, I know. I'll definitely study hard from now on. I absolutely won't embarrass you!"

The person on the other end seemed to say something.

Sun Tingting giggled. "I know~ It was all thanks to you stepping in, Uncle~ That sly old fox Teacher Li Jing wanted to smooth things over at first, but after one phone call from you, her attitude did a complete one-eighty, faster than anyone's! The very next day, she came to me on her own and said she'd helped me 'polish' my story. She even taught me how to make that Lin Feng write the confession 'of his own free will'... Hehe, old ginger really is spicier..."

"Polish my story"!

"Taught me how to make"!

"Of his own free will"!

Every word was like a red-hot dagger, plunging viciously into Lin Feng's heart and twisting cruelly!

So that was it! Li Jing hadn't merely turned a blind eye and enabled them. She'd offered the plan herself, an accomplice who had schemed with care! She'd used her position as a teacher and the original owner's trust to push him into this trap of eternal damnation with her own hands!

Such intense hatred made Lin Feng nearly grind his teeth to pieces! His body trembled uncontrollably once more, not from the cold, but from the savage killing intent that nearly burst out of him!

The person on the other end said something else, apparently reminding her to be careful.

Sun Tingting said dismissively, "Oh, Uncle, don't worry~ The confession is ironclad evidence now! He could have mouths all over his body and still couldn't explain himself! Besides, who'd believe the words of a molester like him? Teacher Li is in the same boat as us now. Would she dare not speak up for us? Does she want to lose her job?"

The contempt in her voice and the arrogance of her attitude were outrageous!

The call finally ended.

Music and Sun Tingting's cheerful humming returned to the listening device.

But Lin Feng's world was now utterly filled with darkness and icy killing intent.

Evidence!

This was ironclad evidence!

Although he could not record it-the simple device Zhao Si had installed lacked that function, or Lin Feng had yet to think of having the hacker deathsworn try to record it remotely-every word was seared deep into his memory like a branding iron! "Uncle," "Li Jing offered the plan," "in the same boat"... Linked together, those key phrases formed a complete, ugly chain of wrongdoing!

He lay on the icy bunk, eyes wide as he stared into the endless darkness, his chest heaving. After the anger came a suffocating despair. A vice principal for an uncle... That meant he was facing not one person, but a small clique whose power might have deeply tangled roots. How could he, a student trapped behind bars and burdened with a criminal charge, fight them?

Just as his mind churned, the enormous shadow pressing down on him until he could scarcely breathe-

Splash!

Without warning, a bucket of bone-chilling dirty water was dumped over him from head to toe!

The sudden shock of cold nearly made him cry out! He jerked violently, soaked to the skin, cold water streaming down his hair and cheeks. The cold pierced him to the bone!

"Humph! Wide awake in the middle of the night, staring into space. Who're you thinking about? You still want to splash me with water? I'll cool you off!" Skinny Monkey's vicious voice rang out beside him. He still held the empty plastic bucket, a savage grin of revenge on his face. Clearly, he remembered being splashed last night and had come for revenge in the dead of night!

Before the icy, suffocating sensation had passed, Scar's gloomy voice came from the communal bunk. "Looks like last night's cold water didn't teach you a lesson. Skinny Monkey, Iron Head, wake him up properly."

Iron Head jumped down from the bunk with a savage grin. Together with Skinny Monkey, he dragged the drenched, shivering Lin Feng off his bunk without another word!

"What... are you doing?!" Lin Feng forced the words through clenched teeth and struggled with all his might, but two fists were no match for four hands.

"What are we doing? Teaching you the rules here!" Skinny Monkey cursed as he and Iron Head pinned him firmly to the icy cement floor!

Then something shocking happened!

They actually... began forcibly stripping off Lin Feng's soaked prison uniform!

"Get off!" Shocked and furious, Lin Feng fought desperately. The wound on his forehead split open again in the struggle, blood flowing down with the cold water. But that only stirred up Iron Head and Skinny Monkey's brutality.

Riiip!

The thin uniform was roughly torn apart, pulled off him, and tossed aside.

It was late autumn, and without heating, the cell was bitterly cold at night. Lin Feng's bare upper body was suddenly exposed to the cold air. A dense layer of goosebumps immediately rose on his skin, his body shook violently beyond his control, and his teeth chattered.

Humiliation! Utter humiliation!

It was not just the water or the beating. Like an animal, he had been stripped of the cloth that covered his shame and exposed to the cold and everyone's eyes!

Scar watched coldly, as though enjoying a good show. Of the other prisoners who had been awakened, some were indifferent, while others let out muffled snickers.

"Cold?" Skinny Monkey crouched down and slapped Lin Feng's icy cheek, his tone vicious. "Beg me. Maybe I'll give you something to wear? Or bark like a dog a few times. Make me happy, and I'll let you go back and lie down. How about it?"

Lin Feng curled up on the floor, his arms clasped tightly across his chest as he tried to draw out a tiny scrap of warmth. The icy air scraped his skin like knives, and his blood was nearly frozen solid. Blood flowed from the wound on his forehead, and the humiliation of being naked almost swallowed him whole.

At the same time, Sun Tingting's light, venomous words from the listening device echoed over and over in his mind:

"Polish my story..."

"Taught me how to make..."

"In the same boat..."

"Who'd believe the words of a molester like him..."

Attacked from within and without!

Extreme cold!

Extreme humiliation!

Extreme despair!

Extreme hatred!

Several extreme emotions collided and exploded wildly inside him, threatening to tear his reason to shreds!

He jerked his head up. His bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at Skinny Monkey, then Iron Head, before finally settling on Scar, who watched coldly from the communal bunk.

That look was no longer the lifeless stillness or anger of before, but a nearly mad gaze from the abyss! It was filled with the most primal, savage desire for destruction!

The terrifying look sent a chill through Skinny Monkey and Iron Head, and they loosened their grip without thinking.

Scar frowned as well, the sense that something was "uncanny" growing stronger.

At that moment, Lin Feng abruptly lowered his head, looking at no one. Using all his strength, he broke free of the two men's grip and, almost crawling, stumbled over to his torn, soaked uniform. He wrapped it haphazardly around himself, then curled up and rolled back into the equally wet and icy corner of his bunk. He buried his face deep in his knees and moved no more.

Through it all, he did not say another word, neither begging for mercy nor cursing.

But that silence was more unsettling than any roar.

Skinny Monkey and Iron Head looked at each other, unsure for the moment whether to continue.

Scar stared for a long while at the figure curled into a ball and trembling slightly. Finally, he waved a hand impatiently. "Enough! Go to sleep!"

He felt a little disappointed, and a little uneasy for no apparent reason. This newcomer was getting stranger and stranger.

The cell fell quiet again.

There was only the faint sound of Lin Feng's suppressed trembling, which he could not control because of the extreme cold and anger.

The cold against his bare skin, the sharp pain in his forehead, the soaked bedding... All that physical suffering seemed far away now.

In his heart, all that remained was killing intent, chilled to its very limit and settled within him.

A vice principal for an uncle?

A small clique with power?

So what!

If the law could not give him justice, if the world was unjust to him, then he would tear it all to pieces!

The enemies outside, the bullies inside...

Not one of them will escape!

He needed power! He desperately needed the power to break through all of this!

The next summon! At the next summon, he had to get something that could change his situation!

He curled up in the icy darkness like a dying beast, waiting for dawn, waiting for... the summon that alone could bring destruction and rebirth.

Hatred had settled into the hardest bedrock.

Hope rested entirely on that elusive random summon.

The abyss had opened its great maw beneath his feet. And he was staring into it, ready to drag everything down into it.