The hallway of the school building.

Su Mo set her phone down by her pant leg. Her gaze lingered outside the window, though no one could tell what she was looking at.

Zhou Heng clasped his hands in salute again and spoke with heartfelt sincerity.

“I’d be most grateful if you’d do me this favor, Senior Su.”

Su Mo turned her gaze away from the window.

To be honest, things had reached this point. Su Mo shouldn’t have kept getting tangled up with Chu Ji. Dropping out wasn’t all that hard to accept, after all. She could even cover Zhou Heng’s transfer and enrollment fees, and say she’d done everything she could.

But that was how you dealt with ordinary people. Zhou Heng was different. Su Mo didn’t just owe him a favor—he was also one of the people from her world. Who knew when she might need his help?

Any Mutant had the potential to be worth investing in.

As for Chu Ji...

He was just an ordinary person.

Su Mo picked up her phone and held it to her ear.

The school field. Chu Ji’s side.

After a long silence, the phone spoke again.

“Chu Ji, what if I told you I don’t want to see Zhou Heng drop out?”

Disappointment—or something else?

Chu Ji couldn’t imagine anything that could make Su Mo’s feelings for Zhou Heng more obvious.

How dare that thug Zhou Heng—how could he—lay a finger on the goddess even Chu Ji didn’t dare profane?

And how could Su Mo allow a guy like Zhou Heng to stand by her side?

Chu Ji gritted his teeth as he spoke.

“Senior Su, you said I shouldn’t meddle in your relationships. So what gives you the right to dismiss my feelings?”

Su Mo’s voice was cold as ice.

“So there’s nothing left to discuss?”

Chu Ji threw up a hand.

“Senior Su, when did you ever think we had anything to discuss?”

A long, drawn-out silence. Then, from below freezing, the temperature surged to the point of explosion, its heat lingering by Chu Ji’s ear.

Su Mo spoke one word at a time.

“Chu Ji, I’m warning you…”

A warning?

Chu Ji couldn’t help laughing.

His anger had been building for a long time. Now, with disappointment acting as a catalyst, it set off a chain reaction, and Chu Ji didn’t hear a word of Su Mo’s warning.

Instead, he spoke coldly into the phone.

“Su Mo, why are you sticking up for that thug Zhou Heng? Don’t tell me you slept with the guy, got pregnant by him, and now can’t wait to marry him?”

Smack.

Smack.

Two hands landed on Chu Ji’s shoulders, one on each side.

Wang Tao and Cheng Xu stared at him, their eyes wide, and said in unison,

“Are you fucking crazy?”

Chu Ji shuddered. The blazing anger that had been surging through him cooled at once, and his face flushed an odd crimson.

Chu Ji hurriedly shouted,

“N-no, Senior Su, that’s not what I meant! Listen to me…”

All he heard from the phone was silence after the call ended.

In the school building hallway.

Zhou Heng heard a strange crackling sound. Then electricity flickered around the hand Su Mo had wrapped around her phone, and its screen quickly went dark.

“Negotiations failed.”

Su Mo lowered the hand holding her phone and turned toward the window.

“Since talking won’t work, we’ll use the most primitive method.”

Zhou Heng scratched his head.

“Senior Su, do you want me to go apologize to Chu Ji in person?”

“No.”

Su Mo opened the window. The breeze coming in lifted the bangs from her forehead. Her features were as lovely as a painting, her gaze dreamy, like a fairy in a picture.

And the fairy parted her lips, speaking with elegant composure.

“I’ll find a chance to beat Chu Ji until he gives in.”

That was certainly a simple, crude, and direct solution.

Zhou Heng cautiously reminded her,

“But I’m meeting with the principal tomorrow to negotiate…”

Su Mo rubbed her chin.

“Got it. I’ll take care of it before tomorrow. Just wait for good news.”

Zhou Heng clasped his hands, bowed in thanks, and left.

The day’s classes came to an end.

Zhou Heng walked home from school with Lu Yile and Zhang Xuan.

Zhou Heng felt troubled.

He’d been betrayed before, but he’d never seen anyone betray him as brazenly as Wang Ping had.

Being betrayed was one thing. But the consequences of that betrayal sat like a weight in Zhou Heng’s chest.

From what Chu Ji had said, dropping out wasn’t something you could just close your eyes and get through.

As for Su Mo, she’d promised to help, but Zhou Heng still wasn’t sure what to expect.

He hadn’t truly entered the world Su Mo had talked about yet. Who knew what the world of Mutants was like?

What if Su Mo didn’t have as much influence as Zhou Heng imagined?

Zhou Heng patted his forehead, looking miserable.

His two close friends exchanged glances. Zhou Heng hadn’t told them about his conversation with Su Mo, so they had no idea he was worried about being expelled. They thought he was fretting over having his parents called in and the compensation he’d have to pay.

Lu Yile spread his hands to show there was nothing he could do.

Zhang Xuan raised an eyebrow, walked over to Zhou Heng, and said,

“How about I pay the money for you?”

Zhou Heng tilted his head and glanced at Zhang Xuan out of one eye.

Zhang Xuan grinned.

“Have you seen Home with Kids? There’s a bit where a kid with bad grades is about to have his parents called in, but he doesn’t dare let them find out how he did. So he hires a middle-aged man from the labor market to pretend to be his parent. We could do that too.”