I need to get up!
He's going to stand up!
Lu Mingran instinctively stretched out her right hand!
However, what greeted him was not a shoulder, but Su Yun swiftly grabbed Lu Mingran's wrist and twisted it forcefully.
Then Su Yun stood up, grabbed his shoulder bag, and started hitting Lu Mingran while saying:
"Pervert! Pervert!"
The rain was fierce and torrential; all Lu Mingran could do was cover her head and scream.
How big of a commotion is this?
Mr. Hu sat there, desperately trying to squeeze towards the window, afraid of being affected.
Chapter 4 Want to become a Grandmaster? No way (4)
Su Yun felt particularly aggrieved at that moment. He thought, "Why is it that being a good person always brings no good reward?"
He had a kind thought in the shop and offered the man some food. And what happened? He thought he was helping a poor person, but instead, he attracted this harassing guy. Speaking of which, Lu Mingran got into that car just to follow him, right?
Follow him, and then what? Extort money from him or just rob him? Or do something else shady?
Su Yun was physically weak and had been bullied since childhood, but when pushed to the limit, he could be quite strong.
In an instant, the chill that Su Yun had felt from being frightened by the passengers dissipated, and he wholeheartedly devoted himself to beating up Lu Mingran. He was careful and took out his water bottle from his bag beforehand, so although the beating looked fierce, it didn't actually hurt that much.
The fighting behind them was so intense that even the girl sitting in front, with her headphones on, could feel it. She turned around, startled by the chaotic scene before her, and exclaimed:
"Hey, what are you doing? Let's talk this out!"
As she spoke, the girl took off her headphones and called out to the passengers in front of her, "Everyone, don't just stand there watching, come and help pull it up."
After saying those words, the girl's fingers, which were gripping the earphones, trembled slightly.
Because she realized that those people weren't even looking over, and even though there was a huge commotion later, they all seemed deaf and blind.
Perhaps they were indifferent and didn't want to meddle, but the way these people bowed their heads was so uniform that the girl even thought that if she took a ruler to measure it, the angle at which they bent their necks would all be the same.
In her panic and confusion, the girl suddenly heard a deep, steady male voice coming from behind her to the left:
"Young lady, I overheard you talking to your classmate on the phone earlier... you said you were getting off at the next stop, right?"
No, it's not at the next stop.
The young girl looked in the direction of the voice and met the middle-aged man's gaze. She wanted to argue, but when she saw Mr. Hu's deep eyes, her heart suddenly wavered, as if a voice was telling her that she should get off the bus.
This is also why Su Yun didn't remind Mr. Hu to get off the bus in the book. This man didn't look like he needed help, so much so that others overlooked that he was also a living person and was on the bus.
Seeing the young girl looking over, the man smiled gently and said, "I noticed you're wearing headphones, and I was worried you might miss your stop because you wouldn't hear the announcements."
"...Oh, okay, thank you, Uncle."
Just then, the train arrived at its stop. The girl grabbed the railing, stood up, and quickly jumped off the train.
Meanwhile, Mr. Hu waved his phone at the two young people who were still entangled and said, "If you continue to disturb the peace like this, I will call the police."
In the chaos, Lu Mingran's ears caught this sentence precisely, and a new idea came to him. He immediately and laboriously moved sideways like a crab, dragging Su Yun away from her seat while shouting:
"Driver, don't close the door! We want to get off the bus; we want to go to the police station to argue with him!"
"You're a pervert!" Su Yun grabbed him tightly and wouldn't let go.
"Look at what you're saying! You even hit me! Who's the bigger pervert here!"
Amidst their scuffle and shouting, the two tumbled off the bus in a disheveled state. As they nearly landed face-first, Lu Mingran faintly smelled the rusty odor of blood from the bus.
The car quickly and leisurely drove away, the smell vanishing in an instant.
That's good, it's finally over.
Lu Mingran relaxed, only to be hit several more times by Su Yun. However, Lu Mingran was in a good mood at the moment and didn't care.
As long as the task is completed, that's fine.
Lu Mingran stood there, waiting for the system to announce the results. However, the system regretfully told him that Mr. Hu would come to find Su Yun again, and he had to stay in this world to complete the mission.
"...Hmm? Why?"
Lu Mingran was about to explode: "What does he see in a petty thug who can fight?"
He sacrificed so much to create the image of Su Yun as a hoodlum!
"Beep—beep—"
For some reason, the system started to play dead, so Lu Mingran could only smile wryly and look at the person next to her.
He discovered that Su Yun was actually quite timid. This guy had acted bravely and hit him on the bus, but once he got off, he was still that shy and obedient boy, standing there holding his bag, looking at Lu Mingran warily. At first glance, he looked like a child who had been wronged.
“Okay,” Lu Mingran wanted to pat his shoulder but then stopped, her arm hanging in mid-air. “I was just teasing you. I apologize.”
As Lu Mingran softened her stance, Su Yun quickly followed up with:
"Then I apologize to you too."
As he spoke, Su Yun suddenly laughed: "This is the first time I've ever fought so fiercely with someone."
The fight itself wasn't the point; the context was. Su Yun had many ghostly experiences, each one terrifying and agonizing.
This time, however, the terrifying experience of seeing ghosts didn't affect him at all. To act out in front of a group of evil spirits—this novel experience was something Su Yun had never had before.
Because of this, his attitude towards Lu Mingran softened.
At that moment, the night wind swept across the ground, waking them both up. They looked around and saw that this place was truly remote, pitch black all around, with only the streetlights at the station casting a soft orange glow.
"Where am I?" Lu Mingran muttered, rubbing her cold arms.
Su Yun, who lived just ahead, casually told him, "Peach Garden."
"By the way, how many stops is it from here to your house?"
Home? Lu Mingran was speechless. It seemed that the system hadn't arranged a dormitory for him at all.
So he had no choice but to honestly tell Su Yun: I'm from out of town, I was scammed, and I have no money.
Su Yun: "..." He had a bad feeling that he was about to be entangled with someone.
Before Lu Mingran could make her premonition come true, Su Yun hastily said goodbye and headed towards her home.
But as he walked, he became worried and turned back.
Lu Mingran was still standing at the bus stop, alone, her shadow stretched long by the streetlights.
After their eyes met in the air from afar, Lu Mingran's eyes lit up like a wolf seeing a sheep.
Chapter 5 Want to become a Grandmaster? No way (5)
Upon seeing Lu Mingran's expression, Su Yun immediately guessed what he was planning to do.
Therefore, as Lu Mingran jogged over, Su Yun quickly stepped back and called for her to stop.
"You...you just stand there and don't move!"
"?" Lu Mingran paused, her raised leg still, and looked at him in confusion.
Then, following the direction Su Yun pointed, Lu Mingran looked at the cracks in the stone bricks beneath her feet.
“You, you’re standing behind this crack.”
Su Yun was very nervous and stammered a bit, but she still insisted on drawing the boundaries:
"Don't move! Don't step over here!"
To Su Yun's surprise, Lu Mingran actually obeyed, standing there with his legs still. Su Yun stared at him in disbelief for a minute, confirming several times that he really wouldn't step over, before cautiously turning around.
One step, two steps... Good, there were no more footsteps behind.
But just as Su Yun breathed a sigh of relief, Lu Mingran sprinted up behind him and shouted:
"I have nowhere to stay! Could I stay at your place for the night?"
"It was intentional, absolutely intentional," Lu Mingran said, jumping up and down, her voice especially loud, just to scare him.
Su Yun was genuinely frightened; his heart skipped a beat. Lu Mingran's scream was no less shocking than that of a female ghost in the middle of the night. After his heart skipped a beat, he instinctively took off running.
If someone were watching at this moment, they would probably light a cigarette with a sense of melancholy, feeling as if they had mistakenly entered a mental hospital.
In the dead of night, a young man was running ahead, panting heavily, while another man chased after him, running and jumping, shouting loudly, drawing out the last syllable:
"I want to stay at your house! I want to stay at your house! Is that okay?"
"Ah—!" The person in front responded miserably.
...
After chasing each other like this, Su Yun unknowingly led this big bad wolf into his residential area.
If Lu Mingran continues shouting like this, waking up the neighbors and letting the elders who watched him grow up know—Su Yunming might as well give up on being a human being.
Therefore, before Lu Mingran could utter the next syllable, Su Yun turned around and immediately covered Lu Mingran's mouth with her hand.
"Mmm...uh!"
"Don't move," Su Yun said in a low voice. "Listen, I can let you stay overnight, but you're not allowed to do anything reckless."
"If you understand, give me a hand gesture."
Lu Mingran raised her right hand and made an OK sign.
————————————————————————
While working in the kitchen, Su Yun, wearing an apron, thought for a moment and, after careful consideration, concluded that it was unlikely that Lu Mingran would commit murder and robbery in the middle of the night.
This person was a year or two older than him. He was a bit crazy, but Su Yun could tell that he was probably just a bit crazy.
With a thud, Su Yun brought out two bowls of water after preparing them.
In the cramped living room, Lu Mingran was standing in front of the portraits of Su Yun's parents, her eyes closed as she earnestly offered incense and bowed.