"I really went, bro!" The previously unruly Lao Huang became much more obedient around Yang Yi: "When he heard you were looking for him, his eyes were even more excited than my girlfriend's!"
"Damn! Stop talking, I'm disgusted!" A tall, fat boy at the door made a vomiting gesture: "How can there be such a perverted person!"
"Who cares!" Yang Yi spat on the ground. "We've got nothing better to do, so let him give us some fun!"
"Haha," the tall, muscular boy laughed loudly, "He's so happy right now! He has no idea why we called him here!"
When Lu Shi arrived at the auditorium, he realized that, just like when he answered Lao Huang's question, he was completely unable to fight against this body with willpower.
He suddenly pushed open the auditorium door, revealing the urgency in Gao Yang's heart.
Four pairs of eyes came from all directions, and finally all focused on Lu Shi.
The tall, muscular boy standing at the door walked directly up to Lu Shi and pinched Lu Shi's cheek with his thick palm:
"You're Gao Yang? Why didn't the head of discipline shave your long hair?"
"Da Niu, have you forgotten? Our new principal loves to promote this whole 'free and civilized speech' thing! He even said he's going to hold a Pride Culture Festival next week. I think he's completely lost his mind!" Old Huang sneered.
"Come here."
Yang Yi stood up and then kicked the envelope, which was covered in footprints from his footsteps, with his shoe.
The moment Lu Shi saw the envelope, he felt an immense pang of heartache.
This heartache couldn't possibly come from him; it must be Gao Yang's own feeling.
Lu Shi's first reaction was that even in this new era with mobile phones, he didn't expect letters to still be so popular.
After the heartache gradually subsided, Lu Shi obediently walked up to Yang Yi.
Lu Shi is now completely unable to control his body and is simply willing to be a bystander.
My heart aches so much that it pounds wildly, even though it's only a few steps away.
Even though Lu Shi was an old-fashioned person with zero romantic experience, he could still sense Gao Yang's unusual feelings for Yang Yi.
This was destined to be a tragedy. After observing Yang Yi's expression, Lu Shi could easily tell how much the boy disliked Gao Yang.
It seemed to take a lot of effort for him to patiently communicate with Gao Yang face to face.
Even so, when Gao Yang's eyes gradually brightened, Yang Yi frowned immediately.
"Did you write this to me?" Yang Yi stomped on the envelope with his foot.
However, Gao Yang's body, which Lu Shi had criticized many times for its extremely poor physical fitness, suddenly burst out with incredible speed at this moment, protecting the envelope on the ground with his body before Yang Yi's foot could step on it.
Without hesitation, Yang Yi stepped on Gao Yang's palm, which made Lu Shi even angrier from the pain.
Since he can't control Gao Yang's body, why should he make him feel the same way as Gao Yang?
This instance is as malicious as ever!
"Hey, so worried about the envelope, what an idiot!" the fourth person in the room said.
He was standing the furthest away, wearing a baseball cap that covered most of his face.
Looking at Gao Yang's expression, which was a mixture of pain, fear, and pleasure, Yang Yi actually felt a twisted sense of pleasure.
He was disgusted when he received the love letter.
When a man likes her, Yang feels a chill run down her spine and her stomach refluxes.
Why would such disgusting things exist? Seeing Gao Yang's meticulous choice of words and the joy that naturally flowed through his writing only made Yang Yi feel desecrated.
But when he stood high above Gao Yang, stepping on his hand and crushing this perverted, self-righteous affection, Yang Yi felt incredibly satisfied.
"You like me?" Yang Yi leaned down, a wicked smile on his face, and stared at Lu Shi.
Lu Shi just wanted to slap him and then tie him up with a rope. But Gao Yang nodded anyway.
"You dare to nod!" Yang Yi, who was just laughing, suddenly changed his expression and kicked Lu Shi in the face.
Blood gushed out from her nose.
"How dare you hit me!"
Lu Shi was about to lose control of his anger, but this was in a dungeon, and the restrictions on him were still beyond his control.
He could only watch as the four boys in the room casually beat up the boy who was the same age as them.
Even the reason they beat him seemed ridiculous to Lu Shi—simply because Gao Yang liked him.
Their fists rained down on Lu Shi's face, abdomen, and back like a storm.
To deter Gao Yang from retaliating, they did what other regulars in school violence: they grabbed Lu Shi's swollen hair, stripped him naked, and recorded the beating on their phones.
After venting his anger, he casually dropped a threat: "If you dare tell anyone else, we'll post the video on the school's online forum! Then everyone will see that you have a mole on your butt!"
As Gao Yang lay on the cold floor of the auditorium, staring at the ceiling with a sense of existential crisis, Lu Shi also woke up with a start.
This was definitely not a pleasant memory. Lu Shi shook his head in disgust, only to find that his back was soaked with cold sweat.
The phone he was holding was burning hot, as if it had been roasted, but Lu Shi still didn't dare to throw it away.
He first cautiously glanced at Gao Yang on the bed. His eyebrows seemed to have relaxed a bit, and he was sleeping quite soundly.
I glanced at the time on my phone again: 7:59.
The number was too coincidental, so the cautious Lu Shi no longer intended to use Gao Yang's face to unlock the phone, but instead put it back on the bedside.
After doing all this, Lu Shi lay back down on the floor.
The clock hands silently moved from 7 to 8, and Gao Yang, lying on the bed, woke up like a wound-up robot.
"Why do people have to go to work!" Gao Yang rubbed his temples and sat up in bed, clearly annoyed.
The phone, which was scorching hot just a second ago, has now returned to normal temperature.
Gao Yang glanced at his phone but didn't notice anything unusual.
From the moment he got up, washed up, and left the house, Gao Yang didn't glance under the bed once.
After all, no one would assume there's someone under their bed out of thin air, right?
At 8:30, Gao Yang left the room on time.
During this time, Lu Shi was sorting through the stories he saw in Gao Yang's memories.
It wasn't until three familiar knocks came from next door that Lu Shi responded to Ye Bugui.
Immediately afterwards, Ye Bugui's voice came from the doorway: "They all left during the day, so we should be able to come out and talk."
Lu Shi didn't rush to answer Ye Bugui. Instead, he walked to the door, glanced at the person outside, and saw that it was indeed Ye Bugui.
After all, monsters might be able to mimic Ye Bugui's voice, right?
Ye Bugui, standing outside the door, wasn't angry at all. On the contrary, he felt even more confident in his judgment. Lu Shi's vigilance was even better than many veteran players; the two of them were sure to obtain even more contaminants!
Before Lu Shi could even open the door, he asked, "What did you treat me to when we first met?"
"Grandma Chen's Hot Pot Restaurant." Ye Bugui readily agreed.
With a creak, the door was finally opened by Lu Shi.
He peeked out and discovered that the other five players were already standing at the door.
Except for the witch doctor, everyone else got through the first night safely.
They exchanged glances, their attitudes no longer as cold as when they first met.
At this moment, the purple-haired female player cleared her throat and was the first to speak:
"Currently, this instance doesn't require us to fight each other, nor does it have a points system based on contribution rankings. I think we can cooperate."
Lu Shi didn't say anything, but Ye Bugui had already squeezed into his room quite consciously and stood behind him.
Before Lu Shi could protest, Ye Bugui explained in a serious tone, "My current persona is that of a rich guy clinging to your coattails. It would be strange if I didn't stick close to you."
Well, Lu Shi was convinced. Besides, Ye Bugui's proximity to him didn't make him uncomfortable.
On the contrary, Ye Bugui had a reassuring smell of soapberries that had been dried in the sun. His tall stature also reminded Ye Bugui of Gao Yang's dream.
If Ye Bugui were by his side in the dream, this man could easily deal with those four rascals without relying on his abilities!
"Cooperation? It's not impossible." A somewhat sharp and dry voice rang out. The female player's face was very ordinary and would not leave any impression.
What puzzled Lu Shi was that even though he had met all the female players yesterday, he had no recollection of her face at all.
The female player continued, "Cooperation is based on openness and transparency, so let's talk about our names and our rankings on the leaderboard!"
Even though Lu Shi was still a newbie, he knew that he should never tell others about his character cards.
However, the ranking on the leaderboard is different; it can be used to reflect a player's skill level.
As expected, the suggestion was approved by everyone, and even Ye Bugui stepped out from behind Lu Shi.
"I'll go first!" It was the same unassuming female player again: "Chen Xin, currently ranked 658th on the leaderboard."
The second player to speak was the woman in sunglasses who had met Lu Shi and his group once before.
The female player first glanced at Lu Shi and Ye Bugui hiding behind him before speaking:
"Sherry, ranked 1042nd on the leaderboard."
After she finished speaking, she looked at Lu Shi and took the opportunity to ask, "I'd really like to know your ranking."
"Supreme Demon Lord," Lu Shi said without changing his expression, referring to his nickname: "You may call me Lu Shi as well. I am currently ranked 965th on the points leaderboard."
If Ye Bugui hadn't just rewarded Lu Shi with a Soul-Returning Incense, Lu Shi's ranking might not have been as high as Xue Li's.
Sherry gave an "oh," her expression shifting subtly between Lu Shi and Ye Bugui.
At this moment, Ye Bugui spoke up, "As a streamer from the Bronze Hall, I don't need to register, right?"
Upon hearing that Ye Bugui was a bronze-level streamer, the other four players, just like Sherry back then, failed to control their expressions.
Considering that this person dared to be the first to leave, they all felt it made perfect sense.
"Yes, that's definitely not necessary." Chen Xin gave a friendly smile: "You guys are teaming up, right? Then you'd better stick close to him."
However, no one warned Ye Bugui that his actions were dangerous. Everyone here assumed that Ye Bugui, who was only at a bronze level and yet very daring, was perfect for sacrificing himself to pave the way for them.
The other two female players, who were clearly also in a team, exchanged a glance and spoke almost simultaneously:
"I am Han Baobao, ranked 913th on the leaderboard."
Han Baobao has a sweet appearance, and even her voice sounds like she has a mouthful of candy, so sweet it's almost cloying.