LABMY CH6

“As long as you call me ‘Grandpa Fu’ whenever you see me at school from now on, I’ll let you go today. How about that?”

Fu Pengyi looked down at Wei Zhenge, who was lying on the ground, speaking as if he were showing great mercy.

At that moment, Wei Zhenge suddenly thought of Jian Yuanbai. On his pale, bloodless face, a faint smile appeared. “What? You want to be Wei Chengye’s dad?”

Fu Pengyi’s face darkened as he waved his hand, “Keep pouring.”

“Fu-ge, why not just beat him up directly? Pouring water is too much trouble.” The sports student clenched his fists, ready to strike.

“Idiot,” Fu Pengyi cursed.

“Blood will be everywhere if we beat him up. What if it gets reported to the police? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing?”

“I’ve suffered this loss before,” Fu Pengyi sighed. “But now, at most, it’ll just look like a classmate accidentally fell into the water.”

The sports student looked like he had been enlightened. “But, Fu-ge, what if they check the surveillance cameras?”

Fu Pengyi patted his shoulder, “The school’s surveillance? If my dad says there’s footage, there’s footage. If my dad says the camera’s broken, it’s broken.”

“As long as the school says we’re excellent students and Wei Zhenge’s parents say we’re righteous, what can a mere high school student like him do? What evidence does he have?”

Fu Pengyi grinned smugly, “Learn from this. My dad taught me all of this.”

“If Wei Zhenge dares to cause trouble, we’ll be seen as the good students who bravely rescued a drowning classmate, hahaha.”

“Damn, will they even give us an award for it? Hahahaha.”

The three of them exchanged glances and laughed together.

In the chilly September weather, Wei Zhenge lay on the cold restroom floor, wearing only a thin shirt. The water from the hose kept pouring over his thin body.

His face was as pale as paper, his lips devoid of color. His body trembled from the cold, his eyes half-closed, teetering on the edge of unconsciousness.

If this continued, a high fever for a couple of days would be the least of his problems.

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed, startling the three of them.

In the moment before completely passing out, Wei Zhenge saw Jian Yuanbai.

“Ding dong! Mission: Make Wei Zhenge say the ‘Ultimate Protagonist Line’: ‘Today, you use the power of the Fu family to bully and humiliate me. One day, I will crush the Fu family’s doors all by myself!’

“Requirement: Full of emotion and intense hatred.”

The system muttered, “Strange, why is the plot starting early?”

Jian Yuanbai didn’t really hear what the system was saying. The scene before him filled him with rage that flooded his mind, desperately seeking an outlet.

He tilted his head and suddenly smiled, “Is bullying your classmate fun?”

“Who the hell are you—”

Before the guy holding the hose could finish, Jian Yuanbai punched him squarely in the jaw.

The sports student fell backward, struggling to get up, but Jian Yuanbai stomped on his hand.

Fu Pengyi shouted at the other guy, “What are you standing there for? Hit him!”

“There’s three of us! How can we lose to one guy?”

However, three minutes later, Fu Pengyi’s arrogance had completely vanished.

The three of them looked at Jian Yuanbai in terror. The so-called “three-on-one” fight hadn’t even touched a corner of Jian Yuanbai’s clothes.

In the restroom of Jinyang No. 1 High School, there was a long hose used by the cleaning staff. It was usually coiled and hung on the wall. Now, it was tightly wrapped around the two sports students.

Fu Pengyi’s hair was originally a short, ear-length cut, but now he wished he’d shaved it all off. His scalp was burning in pain as Jian Yuanbai yanked his hair and dragged him to the sink.

The faucet was turned on, and water poured endlessly from the spout. The sink didn’t have a basin, just a flat surface, and Fu Pengyi’s face was pressed firmly against it as the water flowed continuously over his head.

Jian Yuanbai lightly patted his face, “Classmate, I asked you a question. Why aren’t you answering me?”

“I said, is bullying your classmate fun?”

As he spoke, Jian Yuanbai took out his phone and recorded Fu Pengyi’s pathetic state.

Fu Pengyi’s face turned red with anger, “Let me go, you bastard! Do you know who my dad is?”

Jian Yuanbai ignored him, tightening his grip on Fu Pengyi’s hair, forcing him to twist his head awkwardly. Water gushed into his nose and mouth, making him choke and splutter.

He wanted to turn his head away, but the pain from his scalp forced him back into place.

It hurt like hell. He felt like Jian Yuanbai was about to rip his scalp off.

“Is bullying your classmate fun?”

Fu Pengyi gritted his teeth, “Let me go! My dad will kill you!”

Jian Yuanbai remained cold and emotionless, repeating the same question over and over.

Eventually, Fu Pengyi couldn’t bear the choking water and the searing pain in his scalp anymore. He bit his lip and admitted, “No, it’s not fun, okay?”

Only then did Jian Yuanbai let go. Fu Pengyi collapsed on the ground like a drowned rat.

At this moment, Jian Yuanbai suddenly remembered something, “System, you said Wei Zhenge needed to say the ‘Ultimate Protagonist Line,’ right?”

System: “…Yeah.”

Jian Yuanbai squatted next to the unconscious Wei Zhenge and scratched his head in distress, “But he’s already passed out.”

“What should I do? Should I give him mouth-to-mouth?”

With a conflicted expression, he seemed to be facing a life-changing decision, “But this is my first kiss. I’m saving it for my wife.”

“And giving it to him… feels kinda wrong, doesn’t it?”

The system finally snapped, “Did some of that water splash into your brain?! He passed out from a fever, not drowning!”

Jian Yuanbai reached out and touched Wei Zhenge’s forehead. It was burning hot. He smacked his lips, “Damn, that’s hot.”

Somehow, the system felt like Jian Yuanbai was actually a bit disappointed.

“Can we delay the line mission until next time?” Jian Yuanbai asked as he picked up the soaked and unconscious Wei Zhenge.

System: “It must be completed within 24 hours. It’s too late now. Get ready for a penalty.”

Jian Yuanbai’s eyes fell on Fu Pengyi, who was struggling to untie the hose from the other two. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

“Who said it’s impossible? Let’s give it a try.”

“You three, come with me to the hospital,” Jian Yuanbai said coldly.

Fu Pengyi sneered, “Even if you want us to go to the hospital, you’re finished. My dad will make sure you’re dead.”

Clearly, he hadn’t truly learned his lesson. The moment Jian Yuanbai loosened his grip, he reverted to his arrogant self.

Jian Yuanbai raised an eyebrow, “As the ones who did this to Wei Zhenge, I have every right to take you to the hospital as his guardian.”

Fu Pengyi rolled his eyes, “Why the hell would I go with you?”

He turned to leave but was stopped in his tracks by one sentence:

“What? You don’t mind the entire school seeing you getting your face dunked in the sink?”

“Or maybe… your dad? And Tong Lerong?”

On the way to the hospital, Jian Yuanbai was still amazed, “System, how did you know that would work?”

System: “Fu Pengyi is arrogant and a bully, but he cares deeply about his pride. And he’s just a high school student who values his reputation more than anything.”

“How did you think of recording the video?”

Jian Yuanbai answered without hesitation, “I just thought it’d piss him off more. You’re so smart.”

For some reason, despite being praised by Jian Yuanbai for being smart, the system didn’t feel praised at all.

The three of them—Fu Pengyi and his two lackeys—were chased out of the hospital room by Jian Yuanbai. The video was in his hands, and since they had already come to the hospital, he wasn’t worried about them running away.

Inside the room, it was quiet, with only him and Wei Zhenge. Wei Zhenge lay on the hospital bed with its blue-and-white striped sheets. The bit of wrist exposed from beneath the oversized hospital gown appeared thin and frail.

A needle was inserted into the back of his hand for the IV drip, with dark veins and fine purplish-red blood vessels clearly visible.

Too thin.

Jian Yuanbai recalled the sight of Wei Zhenge’s emaciated body when he helped him change out of his soaked clothes. Now, looking at him lying on the hospital bed, his pale face void of awareness, Jian Yuanbai couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy.

Suddenly, Wei Zhenge’s brows furrowed.

Thinking he was waking up, Jian Yuanbai quickly leaned closer to check.

Under his gaze, Wei Zhenge cried.

His eyes remained shut, still deep in unconsciousness, but crystal-clear tears silently slid from the corners of his eyes, dampening the side of his face.

It seemed like he was having a bad dream. He wept without a sound, his tears vanishing into his dark hair. His delicate face bore traces of warmth left by the moisture, and occasionally, a soft whimper escaped his lips.

Jian Yuanbai actually didn’t know much about Wei Zhenge’s past. His role in this world was that of a marginal character, and the storyline he received was vague at best.

All he knew was that when Wei Zhenge was still a child, his mother had jumped to her death while pregnant, leaving him behind. From then on, he lived a life where his father disliked him, his stepmother was unkind, and he never had enough to eat or wear.

In high school, he suffered a bout of school bullying. Pushed to his limit, he reported it to the police, but the school, the Wei family, and the Fu family worked together to sweep the matter under the rug. His efforts weren’t entirely in vain—at least after that, Fu Pengyi never provoked him again.

However, right before graduation, Wei Zhenge, who had no computer of his own, used the school’s computer to submit his college applications. Unbeknownst to him, Fu Pengyi had secretly recorded him entering his password and later altered his choices.

That was the first eighteen years of Wei Zhenge’s life. Compared to the latter half—where he gained a cheat ability and fought back against those who wronged him—his past seemed unbearably stifling and pitiful.

Jian Yuanbai had only received these events as plain text in the storyline, but now, for the first time, he truly felt that these terrible things had actually happened to Wei Zhenge.

Why would someone cry even while unconscious? What was he dreaming about?

Jian Yuanbai gazed at him, and for some reason, an image surfaced in his mind—like a small, drenched animal, lost and helpless in the rain.

It made him want to hold an umbrella over his head, to shield him from the storm.

He wanted to protect him.

That feeling left Jian Yuanbai at a loss, prompting him to speak to the unconscious person nonstop:

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t cry.”

“How did you suddenly start crying? Do you want me to drag those three back here and beat them up again?”

“Is the IV hurting you? If that’s the case, I’ll have them get IVs too. Doesn’t matter if they’re sick or not—hanging a glucose drip should be fine.”

Of course, there was no response.

Avoiding the hand with the IV, Jian Yuanbai carefully scooted over to the other side and gently pulled Wei Zhenge into his arms, wiping away the tears from the corners of his eyes.

Again and again, he murmured, “Don’t cry, don’t cry.”

As he spoke, he even lightly patted the blanket covering Wei Zhenge, like a lullaby in motion.

The system, which had been watching for a while, couldn’t help but ask, “What are you doing?”

Jian Yuanbai: “I’m soothing a kid, can’t you tell?”

“I’ve seen mothers do this in dramas. How is it? Am I doing a good job?”

So he got tired of playing dad and now wants to be a mom?

The system felt inexplicably drained. It should have known better than to ask. With Jian Yuanbai’s thought process, it was impossible to expect a serious answer.

Just then, a soft cough interrupted their conversation.

Wei Zhenge’s hazy mind had yet to fully wake up when he heard a hearty young male voice:

“You’re awake! How are you feeling?”

“Don’t be afraid—Daddy’s here.”

Feeling the rhythmic patting on his stomach and hearing that voice right beside his ear, Wei Zhenge’s head pounded with pain.

Unable to bear it any longer, he let out a frustrated growl:

“Shut up!”