(November 2014, XN City)
“Hey, Sis Shenjing—Shenji. Skipping class again? Where you off to today?”
My deskmate called out to stop me as I was running for the door with my schoolbag in hand...
“To meet an online friend~”
I smugly shook the beat-up phone in my hand and flashed a grin...
“An online friend? Damn, you’ve already got an online romance lined up that fast? What kind of guy managed to win over our Sister Shenji?”
My deskmate slapped her thigh in surprise and asked curiously...
“What are you thinking? We met in a game. She’s my wife. Though I don’t actually know if she’s a guy or a girl, hehe...”
I really didn’t know their gender, because I’d never gone out of my way to ask...
It was a few days ago, I think. I’d skipped class and was gaming at an internet café when someone nearby suddenly added me...
Then I pulled her into dungeon runs to grind levels together...
I played a warrior. She played a healer. We farmed dungeons together all night...
We really clicked while chatting, so we just got married in-game. She kept calling me hubby, but she probably didn’t know that in real life, I was actually a girl...
For the next few days, we ran dungeons together every day, and we got closer and closer...
Yesterday, she suddenly said she wanted to meet up, grab a meal, and make friends. I thought about it and didn’t refuse...
I never asked her gender. I figured if we got along this well, then if he was a guy, maybe something could happen. If she was a girl, we could still be good friends...
“Be careful not to get scammed! There’ve been tons of online dating scams lately!”
My deskmate gave me a kind warning...
“But you probably won’t fall for it anyway, so whatever...”
She let out a relieved sigh and waved her hand...
“Of course not! Anyway, gotta go. If I don’t leave now, class is starting!”
I checked the time. The golden window for skipping class was already more than half gone...
After saying goodbye to my deskmate, I slipped out of the classroom...
Then I climbed over the low wall behind the school. This class-skipping operation was officially a complete success...
My name is Wei Shenji. I’m a girl studying at an ordinary vocational school in XN City...
Though calling me a female student isn’t quite right. To outsiders, I looked more like a delinquent girl. At school, I mostly slept. Then after waking up in the afternoon, I’d skip class, hop the wall, and go online...
I’d been living like this for a long, long time. Ever since my father disappeared, I guess. I’d been like this ever since...
As I walked through the crowd on the street, I quietly took a drag from the vape in my pocket...
Cigarettes smell too strong. Every time I smoked, Mom could always tell. And once she noticed, a scolding was unavoidable. Then she’d quietly start crying, which made me feel pretty guilty too...
To keep that from happening again, I switched to vaping. Even if the electronic stuff barely had any kick...
Still, it was fine. It’s not like I had much of a nicotine habit anyway...
I got to the meeting spot early...
I tidied up my shoulder-length short hair, fixed my bangs, and touched up my makeup...
I came here with a making-friends mindset, sure, but honestly, I was still hoping for a full-on romantic encounter...
I pulled all-nighters a lot, so the dark circles under my eyes were kind of hard to suppress...
But luckily, I was pretty good-looking, so the dark circles almost gave off a smoky-eye vibe instead...
I gave people the feeling of a bad girl, like a black rose. Fallen, rebellious, sinking... but beautiful...
It was a little cold, so I zipped my school uniform all the way up and popped the collar...
I’d already altered the legs of my uniform pants into a tapered fit...
And with my favorite pair of white skate shoes on top of that...
My look for today’s meetup shouldn’t be bad at all!
Thinking that, I started feeling a little excited about how the meetup would go...
But after waiting a long time, the agreed time had already passed...
She still hadn’t shown up...
“Where are you?”
I was getting a little impatient, so I texted her...
“...”
That was her reply...
A bad feeling instantly rose in my chest. Was she seriously about to stand me up?
“?”
I replied...
At the same time, I looked at the passing crowd. All kinds of people brushed past me. Some didn’t even glance at me. Some kept staring. Every person looked at me differently, and I had no way of knowing what was going through their heads...
...
“You there? Something happened on my end!”
Her message came again...
“Huh?”
I frowned. Was she really going to ditch me?
“I’m being hunted down. Save me!”
That was her reply...
I was so annoyed by that message I almost laughed. Could your excuse for standing me up get any more ridiculous?
“What happened? I can help you call the police.”
“She’s hiding in her room right now. Someone’s smashing at her door as hard as they can...”
Then she sent me a voice message. The pounding in it was seriously violent, thud thud thud...
I tilted my head and listened through it, then blinked...
What the hell? What was this person even trying to do...?
I was starting to not understand at all...
“What exactly is going on?”
I still thought she might be messing with me, but basic kindness made me ask about the situation anyway...
“It’s my dad’s friend. He came back...”
Her reply was vague...
“So the one smashing your door right now is your dad’s friend?”
I tried to make sense of her words...
“Yes. My dad’s friend is a very vindictive person. Since he came back this time, he’s probably here to take something away.”
That was her reply...
“Then you should call the police now, shouldn’t you?”
I sat down in one of the open public seats nearby, crossed my legs, and kept chatting with her.
“No, I can’t call the police. My dad is a drug lord!”
She replied instantly...
“Can you come help me? I can give you a lot of money!”
She asked me for help again...
A drug lord, huh. This person had quite the imagination...
“Sure. Where are you? I’ll come save you...”
I replied with a half-joking attitude...
Then she sent me an address. It was a place I knew very well, and it wasn’t far from where I was either...
I suddenly remembered that yesterday, she seemed to have mentioned that our meeting place was very close to her home...
“How long will it take you to get here? The door’s about to be broken open!”
She replied...
I felt like I was starting to get a little too into this...
“Would I really be able to help if I came?”
“Does your dad’s friend have any weapons?”
I asked seriously, while already starting to think about calling the police...
“He’s empty-handed...
“Actually, can you bring a few helpers too?”
I stared at my phone screen and took a deep breath...
“I think it’s better if I don’t get involved in underworld grudges between you mafia people...”
It was getting harder and harder to tell what was real, so I wanted to end the chat quickly...
If I got stood up, then I got stood up. Worst case, I’d just go looking pretty to the internet café and pull another all-nighter!
“My name is Liu Xiaozhen...”
“Please, I’m begging you. If he breaks the door down, he’ll skin me alive!”
She replied...
“Huh? Skin you alive? Why?”
I was starting to feel this was getting absurd...
“Because before... my dad skinned him alive.”
“...”
“??!”
