Chapter 20: How Does It Feel

Although the old residential area was pitch black, Xu Yannuo’s eyes hadn’t fully adjusted yet after just entering, so she couldn’t see anyone clearly at the moment. Nevertheless, she quickened her steps inward. She walked past a bicycle shed and took a few more steps forward, spotting an arched doorway ahead—likely another exit of the complex. The doorway was swallowed by shadows, utterly dark, clearly sealed off and unused at present.

So, Chen Ciyi was probably right there.

By now, Xu Yannuo’s eyes had adjusted to the surrounding darkness. She quickly scanned the ground of the complex and spotted a discarded mop near a trash bin. Immediately, she tiptoed over, picked up the mop, and efficiently stomped off the mop head. Then, gripping the wooden stick, she strode toward the pitch-black arched doorway.

As she approached the doorway, she heard a faint, almost whimpering voice: “Deskmate, save me!”

Xu Yannuo frowned and quickly ran over. In the darkness, she saw Chen Ciyi already beaten to the ground, his face filled with fear as he looked at her. Around him, four boys surrounded him—two stepping on him while the other two pinned him down to prevent any movement.

Looking at Chen Ciyi’s pained and pleading face, Xu Yannuo suddenly remembered her own middle school self. Her breath hitched, and she immediately stepped forward, delivering several fierce blows with the stick to the four individuals. Just as Xu Yannuo was about to strike again—whether it was because she had exerted herself too much in her earlier excitement or because those four were simply too weak—somehow, after just one hit, they staggered and collapsed to the ground. Xu Yannuo glanced at them once more to confirm they wouldn’t get up and retaliate, then hurried over to squat beside Chen Ciyi, helping him up. “How are you? Can you still stand?”

But Chen Ciyi couldn’t get up anymore. She tugged at him a few times, but he remained lying there motionless, moaning in pain with his face pressed against the ground. No matter how hard she pulled, he wouldn’t budge, looking as if his tendons had been severed from the beating.

The buzz-cut guys behind him watched Chen Ciyi, who was lying on the ground refusing to get up and kept moaning about how much it hurt despite clearly being fine, with extremely complicated expressions.

Bro, just act a little—aren’t you overdoing it?

But none of them dared to say a word.

Because at this moment, they not only knew that Chen Ciyi was completely fine but could also clearly sense the murderous aura radiating from the small figure crouching beside him. Despite her current efforts to help Chen Ciyi up, they still felt she might angrily stand up at any moment and give them another beating.

The facts proved their thoughts were correct. Seeing that Chen Ciyi was truly beyond help, Xu Yannuo pulled out his phone to call 120. But as soon as he pressed “1,” Chen Ciyi stopped him. “I—I—I—fuck… hurts hurts hurts, I’m fine, my bones aren’t broken, they didn’t stab me with a knife. It’s just—I—I kept begging, but they were gonna beat me to death! Mmm~” By the end, his voice was almost breaking into sobs.

The four people behind him looked at Chen Ciyi with tears in their eyes, thinking, “Hey, stop acting, bro. Any more and it’ll be too much!”

Looking at Chen Ciyi’s face filled with pain and fear, Xu Yannuo recalled her own self during middle school.

She stood up, the air pressure around her dropping even lower.

Holding the stick in her hand, she walked toward the four people behind Chen Ciyi. Seeing her approach, their faces twisted in terror, and despite the pain in their bodies, they scrambled to their feet and fled without daring to look back.

Driven by anger, Xu Yannuo was about to chase after them, but after running just two steps, she remembered Chen Ciyi behind her. She stopped, threw the stick away, and walked back.

Returning to Chen Ciyi’s side, she crouched down again and sighed before asking him, “Can you get up?” Without waiting for his reply, she forcefully flipped him over onto his back and gently pressed on his rib area, but didn’t hear him cry out in pain.

It probably wasn’t broken. She glanced at his two straight, long legs—they still appeared intact in shape. So it must be just flesh wounds.

Xu Yannuo patted his arm and then tried to pull him up with some effort. “See if you can stand up.”

With Xu Yannuo’s support and having lain there long enough—the ground was a bit hard, after all.

Chen Ciyi slowly propped himself up with one hand on the ground while using the support of Xu Yannuo’s helping hand to finally “struggle” into a sitting position. Then, as if it were a real ordeal, he pretended to feel slightly dizzy and sat on the ground for a while longer before finally standing up.

Xu Yannuo looked up at Chen Ciyi, who was a head taller than her, and frowned with concern. By now, her eyes had fully adjusted to the dim light. Chen Ciyi’s face was dirty but showed no obvious injuries, though there were traces of bloodstains on his clothes—likely from the nosebleed he’d gotten during the earlier scuffle. She hesitated for a moment before asking, “How do you feel?”

Chen Ciyi moved his legs a bit. “Seems like nothing’s wrong,” he said. He took a couple of steps in place, then looked at Xu Yannuo with a well-behaved smile. “Thanks for coming to save me just now, deskmate.”

Xu Yannuo also looked Chen Ciyi up and down to confirm that he was truly unharmed, then turned away reassured.

Chen Ciyi immediately took two steps forward to catch up. “Hey, desk mate, why did you suddenly leave?”

Xu Yannuo ignored him and kept walking, feeling nothing but annoyance at the sight of him now that the matter was settled.

Beside her, Chen Ciyi kept following closely, “Hey desk mate, slow down! Wait for me!”

“……”

“Deskmate, did you come over just now specifically to save me?” Chen Ciyi’s face was full of excitement.

“…” Xu Yannuo was visibly impatient. If he had known it would be this troublesome, he wouldn’t have come.

“No answer means yes, right? So deskmate, since you’ve already saved me, does that mean we’re friends now?”

“No, just forget about it.” Xu Yannuo walked forward without even glancing at him.

Forget? Chen Ciyi looked at Xu Yannuo. “Deskmate, are you a heartbreaker? Saving someone and then acting cold!” How ungrateful!

Xu Yannuo inexplicably thought of the phrase “hit it and quit it,” nearly spitting out a mouthful of blood. She finally stopped and turned to Chen Ciyi, glaring at him for two seconds before squeezing out a single word through gritted teeth: “Scram!”

After that, she continued walking forward.

Chen Ci jogged a couple of steps to block her path, “We’ve known each other for a while now, what’s the harm in just being friends?”