Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Xu Muchan, locked in the equipment room, sighed, thinking that these bullies really lacked creativity, just recycling the same childish tricks over and over.

What year was this? If you were locked up and couldn't get out, wouldn't you just call for help?

The three of them hadn't even considered that possibility, locking him in and walking away—Xu Muchan couldn't wrap his head around it.

But he was playing along with this stupid act for a reason anyway, so he wasn't in a hurry to leave. Instead, he slowly felt his way around, found a place to sit, propped his cane against the wall, and took the stone deity out of his sling bag, hugging it to his chest and saying in a downcast voice, "Brother, you're not here, and I'm getting bullied again."

"I thought at a new school, someone might finally want to be my friend..."

The boy's voice got sadder and sadder, his bowed profile lit by the dim light behind him, looking so fragile and pitiful.

His thin shoulders curled in a little, and after a moment of silence, they suddenly shook hard, like he was crying but didn't want anyone to see, so he hid his face in his arms, fooling himself.

Wei Yao, watching from outside the window, couldn't help swearing.

He'd planned to wait until the little blind kid had suffered a bit before swooping in to save the day, but seeing this unexpectedly made Wei Yao feel a rare twinge of guilt. He couldn't hold back anymore and pounded on the window, yelling, "Hey, little blind kid, quit crying! Wait there, I'll get the door for you!"

He ran to the main door, only to find it locked.

Wei Yao cursed again, said "Hold on," and kicked the door as hard as he could.

But the metal door was clearly tougher than Young Master Wei's flesh and bones. That kick didn't move the door an inch and nearly broke his leg. He winced in pain but was scared of being heard inside, so he gritted his teeth through it with a screwed-up face before shouting, "Don't worry! I'll go find that dumbass Jin Qi to get the key and open the door. I'll be right back!"

Then he limped off like the wind.

Xu Muchan slowly lifted his head: ?

He recognized the voice as Wei Yao's from his class, but he didn't get why Wei Yao, who hadn't been friendly to him before—they'd even had a falling out—would suddenly jump in to save him.

He really hoped Wei Yao wouldn't stick his nose in and ruin his plan.

He needed to speed things up.

With that, Xu Muchan put the deity back in his bag, got up with his cane, and headed for the door without hesitation.

The equipment room was packed with metal shelves, and all kinds of sports gear was piled up next to them, some of it not even put away, just scattered around messily. A sighted person could easily dodge them, but for a blind, panicked kid, they were way too many obstacles.

Just as he was about to run into a shelf, the metal shelf in front of him suddenly slid aside like an invisible force had pushed it, the metal legs scraping across the tile with a sharp, piercing screech.

Xu Muchan, though, seemed startled by the noise and stumbled back in a panic—but behind him were more shelves piled with gear, and stuff that didn't fit on the shelves was just stacked along the aisle.

Just as he was about to trip again, the shelves and clutter behind him were moved out of the way one by one, just in time, and for a moment, the whole equipment room was filled with all sorts of harsh, grating noises.

Xu Muchan suddenly stopped, like he'd realized something, and turned his head, searching: "Brother, is that you?"

The boy's voice was soft and gentle, brimming with joy.

No one answered.

The boy's face visibly fell, but he went on, "Brother, are you still mad at me? Because I didn't listen to you and insisted on leaving the village to go back to the Xu family?"

The noise in the equipment room stopped. Everything within two meters of Xu Muchan had been cleared. Shelves were stacked on shelves, sports gear scattered everywhere, like a storm had blown through.

Xu Muchan let go of his cane, squatted down right there, hugged his knees, and looked even more pathetic: "I remember being sold. If I had any other choice, I wouldn't have come back. But I can't see anymore. Yundong doesn't have good hospitals, and I don't have enough money saved for treatment. I won't be able to go to school anymore, and the villagers won't take care of me... But the Xu family has money, and they can send me to a big hospital. Maybe they can fix my eyes..."

Xu Muchan had only been faking it, but as he talked, he actually started to feel wronged. His eyes got a little wet, and his voice shook a bit: "I don't want to be blind my whole life. I want to go to college, and then get a good job..."

The boy's shoulders shook a little, his lashes drooped, and clear drops of water hit the tiles with a soft patter.

Xu Muchan hadn't cried when he first found out he might go blind. Back then, he'd just frantically looked up information, preparing as best he could for the worst.

But now he was crying, not sure if it was fear or hurt.

A faint sigh echoed in the darkness, and Xu Muchan felt something cool touch his sore eyelids. He reached up to touch it, but felt nothing, like that brief sensation had been an illusion.

"Brother, are you still mad?" Xu Muchan asked, his voice thick with a stuffy nose.

His answer came as a creak—the metal door opening. A faint breeze came from behind him—the door was open.

Brother had opened the door for him, but still wouldn't show himself.

Xu Muchan couldn't figure out why, but he didn't forget what he'd come here to do. He fumbled around, picked up his cane, sniffled, and asked the empty air, "Will brother still protect me like he used to?"

"There are so many ghosts and spirits outside the village. I can't see them, and I'm scared."

The open door swung back and forth in the wind, the old hinges creaking eerily, like they were urging Xu Muchan to hurry up and leave.

Xu Muchan got it. He casually wiped his face, curved his lips into a smile, and said, "Thanks, brother. With you here, I'm not so scared anymore."

Wei Yao sprinted back with the key, terrified the little blind kid would be scared out of his mind if he took any longer.

.

To get the key as fast as possible, he'd gotten into a fight with Jin Qi and taken a punch to the left cheek, which was still throbbing.

But that pain was nothing compared to the thrill of saving the little blind kid from trouble. Wei Yao ran back to the equipment room like the wind, only to see the door—which had been locked from the outside—now half open.

His heart skipped a beat. He rushed up and pushed the door open, running straight into Xu Muchan, who was fumbling his way toward the door. If Xu Muchan hadn't been walking so slow, the door, shoved open with force, would've slammed right into his face.

Xu Muchan stopped, tilted his head to listen, and asked hesitantly, "Wei Yao?"

Wei Yao was panting hard. Seeing Xu Muchan and the open door, he was confused too, and asked, "Who opened the door for you?"

Xu Muchan was quick to react, asking back with a puzzled look, "Didn't you open it?"

Wei Yao scratched his head, finding the whole thing weird, but he couldn't explain it right then, so he just grabbed Xu Muchan's wrist and pulled him out: "Forget it, let's not talk about that. Let's get out of here first."

Xu Muchan stumbled a couple of steps as he was dragged out of the equipment room.

But he quickly shook off Wei Yao's hand and said with a frown, "I can walk by myself."

Wei Yao turned around, about to lecture him, but when he saw Xu Muchan's red eyes and dried tear tracks, he suddenly stammered: "Y-you're way too scared, aren't you? I was only gone for like ten minutes. How'd you end up crying like this?"

Xu Muchan hadn't expected an outsider to see him looking so pathetic, and he was instantly annoyed.

Plus, Wei Yao's way of talking was seriously annoying—calling him a coward. The little goodwill Wei Yao had earned by helping out instantly dropped back to zero. Xu Muchan turned his face "toward" Wei Yao's right side and suddenly asked, "Wei Yao, who's that person next to you?"

Wei Yao: ????

He whipped his head around in terror to look at both sides, stammering even worse: "It's late at night—d-don't say stuff like that! There's nobody next to me!"

Xu Muchan tilted his head like he was listening. After a moment, he turned toward Wei Yao and said, sounding puzzled, "But he said he's your brother."

Wei Yao's face went white instantly. He had had an older brother, and he was dead.

Very few people knew about that. Xu Muchan had just transferred here—there was no way he could've known...

Wei Yao felt like he was having a heart attack. He didn't even dare to steal a glance from the corner of his eye, blatantly changing the subject, and said with a trembling voice, "Stop talking... it's almost time for night study hall, let's hurry back to the classroom. There are more people there..."

Xu Muchan could hear the fear in his voice, tilting his head and asking, "Are you afraid of ghosts?"

Wei Yao shot up like a startled cat, lowering his voice to scold the clueless Little Blind: "Don't mention that word at night, you might actually summon one!"

Xu Muchan gave a half-hearted "Oh" and graciously dropped it.

Truth was, he wasn't just trying to scare Wei Yao. There really were ghosts around Wei Yao—not just one, but a whole bunch.

The two had just left when Jin Qi and his two buddies came back.

Seeing the wide-open door of the equipment room, Jin Qi cursed, "Damn! Is that dumbass Wei Yao out of his mind? Why's he suddenly butting into other people's business?"

When Wei Yao came to him for the key, Jin Qi naturally refused. Although he and Wei Yao had no real connection and their social circles didn't overlap, they had both heard of each other's reputations. This was their first direct confrontation.

Jin Qi had figured Wei Yao would back off, but the guy just started swinging without a word, like a rabid dog.

Even though there were three of them on his side, Wei Yao had clearly trained in martial arts and held his own even when outnumbered. Jin Qi came out on the losing end; he could still taste blood in his mouth. He angrily kicked the door of the equipment room and growled fiercely, "I'll remember this. I'll get him back for it sooner or later!"

Chen Zhou, standing nearby, glanced into the equipment room through the open door and was startled by the mess inside: "How did all the shelves in the equipment room fall over? Did that dumbass Wei Yao go ballistic and do this?"

Liang Yong also saw it, walked in out of curiosity and kicked the nearest shelf: "No way? These shelves are so heavy."

Jin Qi was fuming and couldn't give a damn about the shelves. Seeing the two still wasting time checking out the shelves, he snapped, "Quit screwing around, are we leaving or not?"

"Let's go, let's go."

Seeing his grim expression, Liang Yong exchanged a glance with Chen Zhou and started heading out.

Just as they were about to leave, the wide-open door suddenly slammed shut with a loud "bang," startling all three of them.

"Who the hell is playing pranks outside?"

Jin Qi stormed over to yank the door open, cussing up a storm: "Damn idiot! When I catch you, you're dead!"

He yanked at the handle violently a few times but found the door wouldn't open. Only then did he realize something was wrong. He turned to Liang Yong and Chen Zhou and said, "That dumbass outside probably locked the door. Call Xi Long and tell him to come let us out."

Xi Long was the class sports committee member, always on good terms with the PE teacher, and had a key to the equipment room. Jin Qi had gotten his from him and made a copy.

Liang Yong pulled out his phone to make a call but found there was no signal at all.

"My phone has no signal. What about yours?"

Chen Zhou took out his phone and saw it also had no signal, so he turned to ask the person next to him: "Jin Qi, does your phone have signal?"

"Mine doesn't have signal either..." the person next to him said with a giggle, the voice almost brushing against his ear.

It was a female voice, not Jin Qi.

But if it wasn't Jin Qi, then who was it?

Terror seized Chen Zhou. His throat locked up from sheer fright, and his head, moving on pure instinct, creaked around like a rusty gear, one stiff click at a time, until he came face-to-face with a pale, malicious grin...