After class.

As usual, their homeroom teacher left, while the students kept complaining that he’d gone over class time again.

“Why’d Old Man Yang have to keep us late again today?”

“What’s the point of having class at a time like this?”

“Mr. Wang already quit so he could travel the world.”

“I wish I could enjoy myself to the fullest before the end of the world…”

“Sigh!”

The students all felt that going to class now was a waste of time and youth. But as students, they couldn’t take part in preparing for the end of the world. So everything carried on as before.

It was a fact that the end of the world was drawing near. But it was also a fact that society had to keep running as usual until it arrived. Otherwise, humanity would lose all order before the apocalypse even came.

The government said that with the end of the world approaching, talent was needed more than ever, and people should work even harder at their studies.

After they finished complaining about their homeroom teacher, the other students glanced at Jiang Yuan now and then. None of them dared approach him, though. A little while later, a girl suddenly came over to him.

Jiang Yuan remembered that she was Li Xiaoyan, the class representative for studies. She got excellent grades and was pretty, too. If she weren’t so shy, she’d have no shortage of admirers.

“Is something wrong?”

When Jiang Yuan saw Li Xiaoyan approach, he immediately greeted her with his sunniest smile. He never passed up a chance to make someone like him.

“Um…”

“Go ahead. If you’re having any trouble, I’ll definitely help!”

“I…”

Li Xiaoyan seemed a little fidgety, clearly wanting to do something but unable to make up her mind.

After a little while, she suddenly took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and spat right in Jiang Yuan’s face.

“D-die!”

Li Xiaoyan cursed at him, putting on a fierce act. Then she tapped away at her phone, turned around, and left without saying another word to Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan smiled in silence. The smile on his face slowly turned bitter.

Jiang Yuan had a pretty good idea what Li Xiaoyan was doing. There was a bounty on him online: she could earn thousands, even tens of thousands of yuan for insulting him in any way. If she killed him, she’d get an even bigger reward—hundreds of millions!

Jiang Yuan remembered that Li Xiaoyan’s family was in a bad way and that she struggled to get by. She relied on government assistance and scholarships to stay in school.

Ten thousand yuan must’ve been a fortune to her.

Jiang Yuan gently wiped the spit from his face with the back of his hand, then took out the new phone the military had given him. He’d been reluctant to use it before. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that everything he did on it would be monitored.

He worked up the courage to open the messaging app and log in. His friends—including some of his relatives—had all left him messages.

They told him to die. Or gently urged him to die in the name of some greater good.

He opened the class group chat, intending to message Li Xiaoyan privately, only to find that she’d already sent him a message.

【I’m sorry.】

There were only three characters in the chat box. Jiang Yuan had been about to tell Li Xiaoyan not to take it to heart, but those three characters changed his mind at once.

He was reminded once again just how frightening the world could be. Even the few people who didn’t hate him would sooner or later be swept along by the tide—or treat him as an enemy for their own gain.

【Next time, slap me instead. The reward should be a little higher.】

Jiang Yuan typed the message and sent it to Li Xiaoyan. She saw it almost right away, then turned to look at him. Her lips moved a few times, but she still couldn’t bring herself to say anything.

In the end, she was too timid to do anything more than type out a message in the chat app.

【I believe you’re not the guilty one. When I have money, I’ll pay you back several times over!】

【Thanks for believing in me.】

Jiang Yuan closed the chat app and slipped his phone back into his pocket. He was still in a pretty good mood. Even though someone had spat on him, Li Xiaoyan’s words—I believe—had given him strength.

Not bad. He could still hold on!

Later, Jiang Yuan went to the bathroom for a bodily necessity. But not long after he entered a stall, someone dumped dirty water on him. He heard footsteps, followed by the sound of people laughing and messing around.

Black, filthy water ran down his cheeks. Jiang Yuan lowered his head and quietly zipped up his pants. Then, as if nothing had happened, he finished up and walked out of the stall. Students passing through the bathroom saw him soaked like a drowned rat. They laughed at him as they took pictures and uploaded them online.

Suddenly…

“Jiang Yuan? Shouldn’t you go change your clothes? I think there are spare uniforms in the supply room.”

A low, aged voice sounded beside Jiang Yuan. He looked up. It was his homeroom teacher, Mr. Yang—the stubborn old man the students had complained about countless times in private.

Even Jiang Yuan had complained about him a few times.

“Thanks, Mr. Yang. I’ll have to trouble you…”

Jiang Yuan was about to accept when the corner of his eye caught sight of the document tucked under Mr. Yang’s arm. The words “retirement and resignation” were written on it, but the rest was hidden behind his arm.

Mr. Yang had reached retirement age a long time ago. The only reason he hadn’t retired was that he’d insisted on staying.

A lot of teachers from the older generation were like that. They believed that a person’s life had value only if they kept working until their final moment. And yet now, a respected teacher like him had suddenly quit!

It was obvious he hadn’t done it willingly.

Jiang Yuan quickly pieced together what had happened. His nose stung, and he immediately bent forward in a deep bow.

“No, thank you, Mr. Yang. I hope that one day you’ll be proud to say I was once your student.”

After he said that, Jiang Yuan walked away at once. Mr. Yang watched him go, standing there and sighing over and over.

“What a mess… Isn’t the whole point of teaching to help students learn? What is this supposed to be?”

“Sigh… I’m getting old.”

Mr. Yang had wanted to help Jiang Yuan, but there was nothing he could do. What he didn’t know was that every kindness he showed Jiang Yuan that day would give him confidence.

When Jiang Yuan returned to class, Yi Nanye was still leaning against the wall, playing on her phone. His own desk was piled with trash, his textbooks had been torn to pieces and scattered across the floor, and his seat was covered in countless footprints of all sizes.

The students in the class were all silent, pretending it had never happened.

It was clearly bullying, but it was more than that.

When the whole world bullied him, he became the sinner, and everyone else became justice itself.

Silence.

Jiang Yuan simply walked to his seat and quietly started picking up the trash and cleaning. Fortunately, there was only so much rubbish the students could make: scraps of paper and empty bottles. Just then, someone’s phone rang out with its sound still on.

“Ten thousand yuan has been deposited into your account. Please check your balance.”