Chapter One: Farewell to This World

"His head is bleeding so much."
"Looks like he can’t be saved!"
"Quick, call an ambulance!"
"This—this isn’t my fault, that kid suddenly ran right into the street..."
Staring at himself lying on the street, Qin Xiaochuan was utterly bewildered. What on earth was going on? Why was he on the ground, surrounded by so many people? The driver responsible for the accident stood in front of his car, frantically explaining himself to the gathering crowd, panic etched across his face.

Before long, the ambulance arrived.

"Please move aside, move aside!"
Weaving through the curious onlookers, two paramedics hurried over with a stretcher and knelt beside the fallen Qin Xiaochuan. One of them pressed his hand to Qin Xiaochuan’s neck to check for a pulse, and then nodded at his colleague. Together, they swiftly lifted him onto the stretcher and rushed toward the ambulance.

Watching his own body being carried away, Qin Xiaochuan chased after them in a panic. "Hey, hey, wait! Uncle, hold on a second! I’m right here! That isn’t me—it’s not me!"

But the two paramedics carrying the stretcher didn’t seem to hear him at all. Without pausing, they kept running, intent on getting the body into the ambulance as quickly as possible.

"Listen to me, you idiots!"
When his shouts drew no reaction, Qin Xiaochuan’s patience snapped. He balled his fist and swung it with all his might at the head of the paramedic at the rear—only for his fist to pass right through the man’s skull, as though he were striking thin air. What was happening?

As the ambulance sped away, sirens wailing, Qin Xiaochuan sat down at the curb, crestfallen.

"So they just left me here... What kind of paramedics are these? They just ignored me..."
He gazed at the fresh pool of crimson blood on the asphalt, willing himself to calm down, and tried to recall what had happened in the past few hours.

About three hours earlier, he had been sitting idly on the school rooftop, lazily smoking a cigarette, pondering where he might go after ditching class today.

"Qin Xiaochuan, Qin Xiaochuan, please report to the instructor’s office to see Mr. Huang Kui. Please report to the instructor’s office to see Mr. Huang Kui."

As the loudspeaker blared across the sports field, the door to the rooftop was flung open and a ponytailed girl came running over.

"There you are, Qin Xiaochuan! Smoking again, you delinquent!"

Qin Xiaochuan regarded the girl running toward him with a look of disdain, and said impatiently, "Ah, it’s Fan Fan. You’re as much of a nag as ever, you preachy, ugly pest."

"How am I annoying? Don’t you know smoking is bad for your health? You just want to act cool while you smoke. You finally come to school, but you’re up here misbehaving on the roof instead of in class. If you keep skipping like this, you’ll never advance to the next grade!"

When Qin Xiaochuan showed no interest in her scolding, Fan Fan snatched the cigarette from his hand, crushed it underfoot, and ground it into the floor with all her strength.

"Mr. Huang Kui has been looking for you for ages. If you don’t go, even I’ll get scolded as class monitor!"

"All right, all right, I get it!"

Tired of Fan Fan’s incessant nagging, Qin Xiaochuan stood up, hands jammed in his pockets, and grumbled, "Fine, I’ll go. Seriously, you cling like some evil spirit. Let’s just get this over with."

Not wanting to endure another lecture, Qin Xiaochuan made for the stairwell leading down from the rooftop. If Fan Fan caught him, she’d never stop berating him, and he simply couldn’t take it. Seeing him head for the stairs, Fan Fan pursed her lips and followed, marching ahead of Qin Xiaochuan with a defiant tilt to her chin. As they left the rooftop and walked toward the instructor’s office, she swung her arms determinedly, still smarting from his earlier insults.

"It’s not like I enjoy chasing after you. I’d love to cut off this ill-fated connection we’ve had since kindergarten, you know. Hmph!"

"Tch."

"Could you walk a little faster? Honestly, you’re impossible."

Fan Fan pouted as she walked, clearly regretting the day she first met him in kindergarten.

Watching her storm ahead in a huff, Qin Xiaochuan couldn’t resist a mischievous impulse. With a quick flick, he lifted the hem of her sailor-style skirt and peered underneath.

"Wow, your underwear is filthy, and it’s got stains all over it..."

The instant she felt her skirt lifted and heard his teasing, Fan Fan spun around, livid, and slapped him hard across the face, sending him flying sideways.

"Go to hell, you filthy jerk! Idiot! You absolute bastard!"

Clutching her aching wrist, Fan Fan glared at Qin Xiaochuan. "You’ve always been awful, haven’t you? You never change!"

"Get back here!" she yelled at his retreating form. Seeing him vanish the moment her slap sent him flying, Fan Fan stomped her foot in exasperation in the corridor. "He got away again! Just you wait!"

"Fan... Fan Fan,"
"What are you two doing, lurking over there?" Fan Fan turned to see Xiaolin and Zhou Ying peeking nervously from behind the classroom door.

"It’s just... Qin Xiaochuan is really scary," Zhou Ying stammered.

Fan Fan snorted, unconvinced. "Is he? Sure, he’s rude and uncouth, but he’s not a bad person."

"It’s impressive you can talk to him so calmly," Xiaolin said.

"Yeah, even some of the teachers are afraid of him," Xiaolin added, shuddering at the memory.

Zhou Ying glanced around, then pulled Xiaolin closer and lowered her voice. "There are some wild rumors about Qin Xiaochuan. They say all the delinquents in the city’s middle and high schools want him dead. At least three gangs have tried to recruit him. If he gives the word, he has two thousand followers at his beck and call!"

"Wait a minute," Fan Fan interrupted, waving her hands. "That’s total nonsense. Sure, he gets into fights and there are strange people coming and going at his house, but two thousand followers? He can barely get two people to listen to him! He hardly has any friends at all. It’s only because you all believe these rumors that you misunderstand him more and more."

"But still..."

"Qin Xiaochuan, Qin Xiaochuan, report to the instructor’s office at once!"

Hearing Mr. Huang Kui’s voice over the loudspeaker, Qin Xiaochuan kicked an empty can along the ground, bored, and wandered toward a corner of the building, planning to slip out behind the school and circle around to the main entrance. Just then, he overheard laughter from around the corner.

"Is that true or not?" a bespectacled boy asked, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

"Of course it’s true. I made eight hundred out of it," replied a freckled boy, lighting a cigarette for his friend. "Yesterday some guys tried to pick a fight with me in the street, and I just said, ‘I’m Qin Xiaochuan’s cousin.’"

"And then what, the guy just handed you his wallet? Heh heh," the bespectacled boy snickered.

"Heh heh heh..."

"You’re pretty wicked. But if Qin Xiaochuan finds out, he’ll kill you for sure."

"No way. Most guys at our school do this. It’s the clever student’s way—when you’re not good at fighting, you use brains instead. That’s why you need fools and scissors," the freckled boy said, exhaling smoke with a satisfied grin.

Just then, the bespectacled boy looked up—and froze. Qin Xiaochuan was standing at the corner, fixing them with a cold, unblinking stare. The cigarette slipped from the boy’s lips, and he stammered in terror, "Q...Qin Xiaochuan!"

The freckled boy turned to see Qin Xiaochuan approaching. His cigarette fell from his trembling hand and he pressed himself against the wall, knees shaking. "S-sorry! Please, spare me!"

Expressionless, Qin Xiaochuan walked over and stopped in front of the freckled boy. He pulled his right hand out of his pocket and jabbed it against the wall next to the boy’s head, grinning menacingly. "Hand over five hundred yuan."

The freckled boy, as if suddenly pardoned, fumbled frantically through his pockets. "Okay, okay, just a second, I’ll get it, hang on..."

After a moment of desperate searching, he finally produced five hundred yuan from his back pocket and, hands shaking, handed it to Qin Xiaochuan.

"Thanks."

Qin Xiaochuan snatched the money, stuffed it into his pocket, and turned to leave. The two cowering boys let out a long sigh of relief—at least their lives had been spared. But just as Qin Xiaochuan was about to walk away, an irksome voice sounded behind him.

"Hey, what are you all doing here?"

"Ah, Mr. Li..."

Seeing it was Mr. Li from the discipline office, both boys straightened and pressed themselves against the wall, heads bowed.

"You again, you little punk."

Mr. Li, dressed in his usual checked suit, appeared out of nowhere—clearly he’d been keeping an eye on Qin Xiaochuan for some time.

"What did you just say?" Qin Xiaochuan glared at him, hands in his pockets, his eyes smoldering with anger.

"No need to be afraid. Did he threaten you? Was he extorting you?" Mr. Li turned to the two boys, who couldn’t meet his gaze. He pressed them sternly.

"Ah... no..."

"Nothing happened."

"You don’t have to cover for him. I’m not like the other teachers who turn a blind eye to this sort of thing. I’ll make sure troublemakers like him are expelled from this school," Mr. Li said, his face darkening as the two boys remained silent.