Chapter 2: Me?

Even though he kept telling himself Fu Huan’s inner thought was nothing, Gu Shiying couldn’t concentrate in class all afternoon. His mind wandered off more times than he could count.

Why on earth would Fu Huan think something like that?

Tie him to the bed? So he couldn’t like anyone else? That was way too bizarre. Would a normal person even think that?

Gu Shiying spent the whole afternoon trying to self-regulate, telling himself over and over: he definitely misheard it!

“Ying’er, what are you spacing out for? Class is over. Ready to go?”

Zhang Zhi clapped a hand on Gu Shiying’s shoulder.

“Nah, I’m fine. Let’s go.”

At this hour, the elevator would be packed, so they opted for the stairs.

They chatted as they walked.

“What’s your plan for the weekend? Part-time job or staying on campus?”

“No part-time this week.”

“Why not come hang out with me? I’m taking my friend around to see the sights.”

Zhang Zhi’s high school classmate was visiting for two days, so he’d be playing tour guide all weekend.

“Too hot. I don’t want to go out.” Gu Shiying watched the steps as he spoke. “You guys have fun.”

Normally, he’d be happy to go, but ever since he’d gotten this mind-reading ability, going out meant a high chance of bumping into people. Especially on a weekend at scenic spots—wall-to-wall people. He’d go crazy if his brain got stuffed full of other people’s bizarre inner thoughts.

Zhang Zhi: “I’ll bring you back something tasty.”

Gu Shiying was about to say something when he spotted a guy ahead, pushing his way upstream through the crowd of students coming down. He wore a hoodie, his thin face showing a stubbled chin, his eyes downcast.

Under normal circumstances, Gu Shiying wouldn’t pay any attention to a student heading the opposite way up the stairs. But as they passed each other, the guy accidentally bumped his arm.

【I’m gonna stab that cheating bitch to death with a knife. One stab isn’t enough. I want to stab her three times, ten times, fifty times. I want her to bleed out!】

This bloodthirsty inner thought flooded Gu Shiying’s mind, nearly stopping his heart.

Was that what this guy was thinking right now? This is terrifying!

Gu Shiying immediately spun his head to look at the guy heading upstairs. In the wide sleeve of his hoodie, he could make out the outline of a knife handle.

It couldn’t be real, could it?

In the past month, he’d unintentionally heard plenty of students’ inner thoughts. Even when they had dark ideas, none had ever reached the level of wanting to kill someone.

Zhang Zhi noticed Gu Shiying suddenly stopped moving: “What’s wrong? Don’t just stop here, you’ll get bumped into.”

Gu Shiying turned and looked upwards: “You head back to the dorm first. I think I left my phone in the classroom. I’ll go back and grab it.”

He wasn’t comfortable letting this go. If this student really took a knife to kill someone, at the very least, he could help alert the authorities. Not knowing was one thing; knowing and doing nothing was another. He couldn’t pretend he hadn’t heard, couldn’t just ignore it. If nothing happened, fine. But if something did, it was a living, breathing human life on the line.

Zhang Zhi believed him and was about to say something more when he saw Gu Shiying already heading back the other way.

“Running that fast?”

Gu Shiying was indeed running pretty fast, but he was going against the flow of people. Not everyone consciously kept to the right side, and there were still people blocking the way. He almost lost track of the guy.

The guy seemed tireless, just kept climbing the stairs.

Gu Shiying had already gone down three flights before this, and now, chasing someone up, he’d climbed at least five more.

During this time, he kept intermittently hearing the inner thoughts of various students, a chaotic mess in his head.

The guy turned onto the 11th floor.

Gu Shiying breathed a sigh of relief, stopping at the 11th floor.

But when he stood there, classrooms were to the left and right. He didn’t know which way the guy had gone.

He started searching the right side first. He absolutely could not let anything happen.

The walls between the corridor and the classrooms were glass, making it easy to see inside. This also made it easy for people inside to spot what was happening outside.

As he searched room by room, he didn’t notice someone in one of the classrooms noticing him.

Fu Huan put down his pen, his gaze locked onto the figure moving outside the window.

His friend, Liang Qi, nudged him: “What are you looking at?”

Fu Huan shook his head: “Nothing.”

Liang Qi nudged his arm again: “What’s the plan tonight?” Fu Huan glanced at his hand. Liang Qi raised his hands in apology, “Sorry, I’ll be careful next time.”

Just then, Fu Huan saw Gu Shiying walking back from the other side in his peripheral vision. His gaze didn’t pull away this time. Instead, he stood up and headed outside.

Liang Qi: “Hey, where are you going?”

His curiosity got the better of him, and he eagerly got up to follow.

Gu Shiying didn’t find the guy in the right-side classrooms, so he must have gone to the left.

He was already moving as fast as he could. He just hoped that before he caught up, nothing bad would actually happen.

Right as he was praying, Gu Shiying heard a shriek!

It came from Classroom 1102.

The classroom door was wide open. Inside were only three girls who hadn’t left yet, all of them terrified. One didn’t even grab her phone, just bolted out. As she did, she bumped into Gu Shiying, who was standing right at the doorway.

The guy in the hoodie from before had now revealed his menacing face. He was brandishing a fruit knife at a girl with long hair.

“You stinking bitch! Spending all my money, then trying to dump me the second my money’s gone! Let me tell you, it’s not that easy! Today, either you die or I die!”

The very thing Gu Shiying least wanted to see was happening.

The girl being threatened by the knife point: “You… what do you want? When did I ever spend all your money?”

The Guy: “I took you to expensive restaurants and bought you pricey designer stuff. You didn’t spend my money?”

The girl tried to argue, but with the fruit knife almost poking the tip of her nose, her voice was trembling.

The Girl: “You… you were the one who insisted on giving me those things. I never actively asked you for them…”

The Guy: “You post pictures of these designer bags and luxury skincare products on your social media every day. Isn’t that just hinting at me?”

The Girl: “…”

By now, the enraged guy hadn’t noticed someone creeping up behind him.

Gu Shiying quietly signaled to the girl with his eyes, wordlessly telling her to distract the guy.

In her terror, the girl couldn’t fully calm down. If she replied now, it would only enrage the guy further. She was stuck in the middle seat, with no way to retreat. Her gaze fell on Gu Shiying, who was getting closer and closer to the guy.

The guy got even angrier when the girl didn’t reply: “Say something! Du Xinxin! Why do you want to break up with me?!”

The girl: “We… our personalities just don’t match. If you feel I spent your money, I can return all the gifts you gave me. I can even reimburse you in cash. Just… just put the knife down.”

The guy’s hand holding the fruit knife was trembling: “Do you look down on me?! You just want to be with some rich guy!”

The girl explained, her eyes flicking to Gu Shiying, who was getting ever closer to the guy: “You’ve misunderstood. I never thought that. Really, I never did. My family isn’t short on money. Neither am I.”

The guy was very sensitive. He realized the girl’s gaze wasn’t on him while she talked and suddenly whipped his head around, spotting Gu Shiying!

“Who the fuck are you?! Get lost! Take another step closer and I won’t be polite! Oh, I get it. You’re that rich, pretty-boy gigolo she likes, aren’t you!”

Gu Shiying felt this was a gross injustice: “Misunderstanding. First, I’m not a pretty boy. Second, I’m not rich. Buddy, put the knife down. This is way too dangerous. Can’t we talk things out?”

He was trying to figure out how to wrestle the knife away from the guy.

At the same time, the girl had started edging away from her seat the moment the guy’s attention shifted to Gu Shiying. But the chairs were the flip-up kind, and they made a sound when she moved. The guy noticed. He turned his head towards the girl, and in his agitation, he swung the knife right towards her chest.

The girl couldn’t help but shriek again: “Ahhh!”

Gu Shiying was now to their side, only two meters away. He couldn’t worry about anything else now. He launched himself at the guy’s back, slamming him down onto the desk.

The girl’s body recoiled backwards in fright. The knife had nearly stabbed her heart. When she opened her eyes, she saw a brave, handsome guy pinning her assailant onto the table, one hand also clamping down on the hand holding the knife.

Gu Shiying yelled at her: “Run!”

Though the girl was panicked, her survival instinct remained. She scrambled sideways away from the seat and stumbled her way outside.

The guy, pinned by Gu Shiying, struggled with all his might. Gu Shiying could barely hold him down. He also had to watch that the knife didn’t slice him.

Gu Shiying gritted his teeth. He really couldn’t control the guy much longer. He deeply regretted not working out more often.

“Fucking bastard! Mind your own damn business!”

His strength had limits. The guy’s hands were rough; he probably did plenty of physical labor normally. Gu Shiying could only hold out for a moment. The hand holding the knife swung backwards, throwing Gu Shiying off. He even felt a searing sensation as the blade grazed his arm.

Gu Shiying scrambled back a few steps, trying to put distance between himself and the guy, who was becoming even more crazed. But the guy, blinded by hatred, gripped the knife tighter and lunged to stab Gu Shiying.

Gu Shiying thought to himself, This is it. This is where I kick the bucket…

He raised his hands to block the knife, but the expected blow never landed. Instead, he heard a loud ‘Boom!’ and ‘Bang!’, followed by a scream from the guy.

Then, Gu Shiying heard the sickening snap of a bone breaking.

“Aaaaaarrrghhh!”

It sounded a whole lot more painful than the cut on his own arm.

Gu Shiying lowered the hands that had been shielding his vision and saw clearly who had broken the knife-wielding hand. The guy was now pinned to the floor, face scraping against it.

Gu Shiying stared in disbelief, eyes wide: “Fu Huan?”

Fu Huan had wrenched the knife from the guy’s grasp. His black sneaker was brutally grinding against the guy’s cheek. If the floor were dirt, the guy’s face would be buried in mud. The corners of Fu Huan’s eyes were sharp with ruthlessness.

“Aaaaaarrrghhh!”

Liang Qi, who had followed Fu Huan here, gasped: “Holy shit!”

Fu Huan’s eyelids drooped lazily. He reined back the ferocity in his eyes and said to Liang Qi: “I called the police. Liang Qi, hold him down. There’s surveillance in the classroom that we can give to the police.”

Liang Qi understood immediately: “Got it. I’ll keep an eye on this son of a bitch.”

He switched positions with Fu Huan.

Gu Shiying’s heart, which had been hanging in suspense all this time, finally relaxed. That was when he noticed the pain in his arm. It hurt quite a bit.

The bright red blood on his arm was a stark sight, making one frown. Fu Huan looked at Gu Shiying: “We’re going to the hospital.”

Gu Shiying nodded. Naturally, he wouldn’t refuse.

Fu Huan acted more urgently than Gu Shiying expected. His hand came down directly on Gu Shiying’s arm. Then, Gu Shiying’s entire body stiffened.

It wasn’t because Fu Huan had grabbed his injured arm, but because Fu Huan’s inner thoughts shot straight into his brain.

【I want that dumbfuck to die along with Gu Shiying.】

【How did I end up liking this reckless fool?】

【He deserves to die for his stupidity!】

Gu Shiying quietly lifted his eyes to look at Fu Huan, whose face had returned to its usual cool, indifferent mask: “…” Was he talking about me?