Yingning nearly smashed her schoolbag into my face.

“Don’t you *ever* bring that up again!”

Fair enough. Yingning was still a kid—a seventeen-year-old ordinary middle schooler. Crime felt galaxies away from her world… though maybe it was just *I* who’d grown too numb to it.

*Murder*. Just two syllables, yet enough to make her soul tremble.

The little Yatou wasn’t wrong. The law *was* the only shield the weak had. Against a titan like the school board? Yeah, we were definitely the underdogs.

Whether for the bullied students or for me, the law was the only path Yingning could see.

“Option two: I kill the witnesses myself.”

*Thwack*. The schoolbag hit my face.

Panicked, her voice cracked with tears: “Ge! Are you insane?! I don’t want to lose you forever!”

Alright, alright—I knew she was worried… but seriously, did she think I’d get caught?

“Option three: seize their lifeline… force them to apologize.”

“Their *lifeline*?” Yatou tilted her head, a trace of confusion on her face.

“Victory *is* justice. Understand?” I ruffled her hair gently—only to have her swat my hand away, annoyed.

“I understand!”

“Sometimes… justice isn’t served by the law—”

“I *get it*!” Yingning cut me off, eyes suddenly bright. A new idea sparked in her mind. “Xiang Ling said her whole family’s obsessed with *Zhui Xun II*! If we build enough power *in-game* to threaten them, they’ll back down! They’ll apologize!”

“No,” I said flatly. “I meant knocking Xiang Ling out, taking nude photos, and sending them to her dad. Disobey us? Leak them online.”

*Thwack*.

My face met the schoolbag again.

“*Ge*, that’s enough!”

In the end, we reached no solution.

We attended most morning classes as usual. The school stayed quiet. I napped peacefully till lunch break, while Yingning buried herself in textbooks.

At noon, I headed to find her for lunch.

Neither of us had many friends here. I slept through conversations; Yingning’s brilliance kept others at arm’s length. Her rigid sense of justice hadn’t won her allies—only enemies.

“Sorry… Ge… I’m not hungry,” Yatou mumbled, slumped over her desk.

I didn’t reply. I dashed out the gate, bought her favorite half-baked cheesecake from the bakery she loved, then sprinted back.

I found her on the rooftop, staring blankly at the sky, lunch untouched.

“Ge… was I wrong?” Her voice was hollow, eyes distant. It hurt to look at her.

“Yeah. Wrong.” I didn’t soften it.

Watching her shoulders slump further, I added: “Skipping lunch? *That’s* what’s wrong.”

I sat beside her, opened the cheesecake box, and held a piece to her lips. “Open up. Ahh—”

She didn’t move.

“Ge… I still remember. When Mom and Dad were driven to bankruptcy by the bank. When they… took their own lives.”

“Don’t dig up the past… Think of happier things.” I sighed, popping the cheesecake into my own mouth.

*That year… my mistake too.*

I never imagined our parents’ thriving business would collapse overnight from a malicious loan recall. They’d hidden the truth to protect us kids—until the lawsuit failed.

Their lawyer had been bought off by the bank.

That night, they jumped.

Only when we saw their bloodied corpses did Yingning and I grasp what happened. Too late.

*That night*—Yingning’s permanent shadow. The moment that shattered her life… I’d failed to watch over our parents’ business. Regret came too late.

“Ever since then… I keep wondering. If we’d had a *real* lawyer—one with integrity, not bought by the bank… would Mom and Dad still be here? Would we have a complete family now? Would anyone still call us… bastards?”