The Break

A ward in the infirmary.

Zhou Zanli came in with some water and snacks he had bought.

Shi Su lay on the bed. Whenever he moved even slightly, the places where he had been hit cried out in pain.

So he could only lie perfectly straight, with his head the only part he could turn.

The people Shen Si had brought hadn't hit his face, aiming only for places covered by his clothes. His body was now a mass of ugly black-and-blue bruises.

Zhou Zanli set the things down and sat by the bed without a word.

Shi Su thought he felt guilty. After all, he had been beaten up because he was protecting Zhou Zanli.

Even in so much pain, he managed a smile as he reassured him. "It's okay. These injuries will heal in a couple of days."

Zhou Zanli looked at the floor, still silent.

"I'm really fine. Don't-"

Zhou Zanli raised his head, cutting him off.

"What happens from now on?"

"...What?" Shi Su didn't understand.

Zhou Zanli looked down at him, his eyes dark. His face was expressionless, the overhead light dividing it into light and shadow.

At that moment, Shi Su's heart seemed to skip an extra beat, throwing its rhythm into disarray.

His good friend felt a little unfamiliar.

"You took a beating for me today, but what about next time?" Zhou Zanli's voice was soft.

Shi Su's throat was a little dry. "I'll help you next time too..."

His words made Zhou Zanli laugh.

Shi Su didn't laugh, because he could tell it was a mocking laugh. His heart was racing, and for no apparent reason, he felt a little panicked.

He forced himself to calm down, trying to convince himself that his friend was just a little scared.

But Zhou Zanli's next words felt like a sledgehammer smashing into his temple, turning the world upside down in an instant.

"Shi Su, you're too naive. Ridiculously naive."

For a long time, he couldn't pull himself out of that blank state. It was as if his soul had separated from his body and was floating overhead, listening as Zhou Zanli accused him word by word, while his body could do nothing.

"Don't you understand yet? You can't save me every time. You're lying in bed now, and you can barely even move your arm, while Shen Si is still out there, like a sharp sword hanging over my head!"

"That sword could fall at any moment, maybe tomorrow, maybe right now. Why did you have to help me? Maybe if he'd given me that beating, he would've vented his anger and let me go!"

Zhou Zanli shot to his feet, knocking over his chair with a piercing scrape against the floor.

His chest heaved violently, and a near-mad redness crept into his eyes. "You! This is all your fault! He's even angrier now! He won't let me go. He won't!"

"Why did you have to meddle? Why? Wasn't it enough for you to be isolated? Did you have to drag me into it too?" he roared at him, his voice hoarse.

Shi Su lay sunk in the soft bed, staring blankly at him, the injuries on his body still aching dully.

He wanted to say that wasn't true, that he had never thought that way. He had only wanted to help him, to protect him from getting hurt.

But his throat was as dry as if he had swallowed a handful of rusty blades. He opened his mouth in vain, unable to make a sound.

His soul floated in midair, watching helplessly as his only friend at this school drifted farther and farther away from him.

The door shut with a bang.

Inside and outside were completely cut off from each other, becoming two separate worlds.

In an instant, his soul returned to his body.

Shi Su lay with his head turned to the side, his eyes fixed on the closed door.

The sky had suddenly clouded over. Black clouds swept across the heavens, and a heavy rain was coming.

Ding Yiheng had gone back to the dormitory, and Cen Xia happened to run into Zhou Zanli as he walked back alone.

His face was pale and his eyes bloodshot as he swept past him like a gust of wind.

Cen Xia glanced back at his retreating figure, which had "something's wrong" written all over it, and found it a little strange.

He didn't dwell on it. The infirmary entrance was just ahead, and he walked in with a few quick strides.

The moment he stepped onto the ground-floor tiles, a rumble sounded outside, and heavy rain came pouring down.

He congratulated himself on his good luck. He hadn't caught a single drop.

The wards were on the second floor of the building behind the infirmary. He crossed the long corridor and went up the stairs.

The hallway lights had been dimmed. Two nurses had finished checking on the patients and were about to go downstairs.

"That boy was fine this afternoon. Why did he suddenly stop talking?"

"Didn't his friend leave? I just asked him if anyone would be staying with him tonight, but he didn't say a word. His injuries aren't very serious, but he'll still have to lie in bed for a few days. He definitely won't be able to move tonight."

"I told him to ring the bell if he needed anything."

The two nurses passed him, chatting among themselves.

Cen Xia called out to them with a wide smile. "Miss, are you talking about the boy in room six?"

They both recognized him. After all, what he had pulled yesterday had thrown the entire infirmary into chaos.

The infirmary had been around for as long as Kanlitel had been a school. Over the years, it had treated only minor ailments like headaches, fevers, bruises, and sprains. If a student really came down with something serious and difficult to treat, a private hospital's car would have taken them away long before.

Yesterday had been the first time in the infirmary's history that it had encountered a truly big "client."

"Yes. Are you classmates?" the slightly younger nurse asked.

Cen Xia nodded.

"Yes. How badly is he hurt?"

"Surface injuries, but it'll still be a couple of days before he can get out of bed."

Outside ward six.

A sheer curtain had been drawn across the glass set into the center of the solid wooden door, blocking the view inside.

Cen Xia stood outside for a while. The soundproofing was excellent, and he couldn't hear a thing.

He returned to his own ward and opened the window a crack to let in some air. Rain was pouring outside, and it wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

When he had gone out that evening, he had stopped by the dormitory to pick up a change of clothes. He took a shower in the ward's shower room and tossed himself onto the bed, feeling refreshed.

This life was great: no classes, no following the plot, and no threats from the world's will.

He let out a long, contented sigh.

He picked up his phone and saw that Lin Jiandu had sent him a message twenty minutes ago.

Lin Jiandu's profile picture was a white lotus against a background of teal ink wash, with a string of Sanskrit beside it.

It was a very, very old-fashioned profile picture, completely at odds with the man himself.

Lin Jiandu: How are you? Have you had another episode?

They all thought he had some longstanding condition that couldn't be diagnosed.

After all, he had all but dropped to his knees and sworn that his illness wasn't serious or fatal, and that his family knew about it.

Just thinking about it gave Cen Xia a bit of a headache. He replied: I'm fine. I can go back to class the day after tomorrow.

Lin Jiandu was probably doing something else. Unlike Ding Yiheng, who always replied instantly and never put down his phone.

In the middle of the night, Cen Xia was sleeping in a daze when, without warning, a blinding flash of lightning on the horizon and a deafening clap of thunder jolted him awake.

He shuddered all over and sat bolt upright out of his dream.

Lightning was still flashing outside, making the room flicker between light and dark.

The window was open a crack, and rainwater was rushing through the gap, leaving a long, wide streak down the wall.

He had forgotten to close it before going to sleep.

Cen Xia hurried out of bed and shut the window tightly. Only after making sure no more rain could blow in did he return to bed, reassured.

He checked the time. 2:18.

He had fallen asleep sometime after eleven, so even counting generously, he had only slept for three hours.

Startled awake halfway through the night, Cen Xia was no longer sleepy at all. He switched on the light and decided to play a couple of games to get himself sleepy again.

He had just opened the game and claimed the rewards sent through the in-game mail when someone knocked softly at the door.

It certainly wasn't a ghost knocking at this hour.

Because it was the nurse.

Cen Xia opened the door and saw the younger nurse standing there, looking at him cautiously. "Could I trouble you with something?"

Looking closely, he could also see a trace of embarrassment flash across her face.