The comments said I was deeply affectionate, I just added points by using an alternate account.

It was an almost instinctive trust, and he himself couldn't explain why.

Perhaps they were just different kinds of people, and these were things he couldn't bring himself to tell his other friends.

Long Ao didn't expect Chen Guan to give him any guidance, but he just wanted to confide in him.

Chen Guan did not respond.

What could he say?

Tell him that your grandfather didn't lie to you.

He can't; that would be suicide.

The two sat there in silence, one leaning against the wall, the other against the railing, oblivious to the surrounding noise.

Just then, a roar like a thunderclap resounded across the training ground.

"Haven't you eaten?! You're moving like a kindergarten kid!"

Chen Beixuan appeared in the center of the arena at some point, his hands behind his back, his face dark, his gaze sweeping across the entire area.

"Everyone, immediately! Assemble here!"

The students fell silent, as if they had been electrocuted. They immediately stopped all their small movements and desperately gathered in the center of the field, afraid that if they were even half a second slower, they would be locked onto by that murderous gaze.

Long Ao also sprang up from the bench. He took a deep breath, as if trying to expel all the despair from his lungs, and then, dragging his aching body, limped into the crowd.

His back remained straight, like a gun that refused to bend.

Chen Guan leaned against the railing, Long Ao's words echoing in his ears.

……

Chen Beixuan's terrifying voice only subsided when the bell rang.

The students, feeling as if they had been granted a pardon, scrambled away from Chen Beixuan's clutches.

Chen Guan walked against the flow of people toward the dormitory building.

On Friday evening, the setting sun cast long, slanted shadows of the teaching building, and the air was filled with a sense of relaxation before the weekend.

He walked along the ginkgo avenue covered with golden fallen leaves, his leather boots making a dry, cracking sound as they stepped on them.

The wind swirled a few leaves around his feet.

A furry head peeked out of the pocket.

Leopard rested half its head on the edge of its pocket, its nose twitching as it quietly sniffed the cool evening air. Its golden vertical pupils reflected the sunlight, giving it a somewhat languid look.

Chen Guan found an empty bench and sat down.

The iron chair surface was cold, and the chill seeped through the fabric and crept up my spine.

Not far away is a personal training ground.

Bang, bang.

One heavy, persistent thud after another emanated from within.

Chen Guan didn't need to look to know that it was Long Ao smashing the sandbags.

Because he was so familiar with them, he could tell who it was just by listening to the frequency.

Moreover, Long Ao is a sentimental person; he always likes to hit the same sandbag at the same time, in the same place.

After exhausting his energy, that guy didn't even bother to eat dinner before starting a new round of self-torture.

It was as if he wanted to vent all the frustration he had suffered at his hands that day on that sandbag.

Compared to myself, he's the one who never gets tired.

Chen Guan leaned back in his chair, looked up, and watched the sky change from orange-red to gray-blue, and then be swallowed by indigo.

One by one, the streetlights lit up, casting a dim yellow glow on the ground.

boom.

The persistent striking sound continued, one strike after another, seemingly so futile.

He sat quietly, like a sculpture blending into the night, until the dull thumping finally stopped.

The vast campus fell into a deathly silence.

Just then.

hum.

The phone in my pocket vibrated with a buzzing sound.

Chen Guan took out his phone, the cold light from the screen illuminating his emotionless face.

The sender was Baihu, and the message was even simpler, containing only an address.

The phone screen went dark.

The light disappeared, and Chen Guan's face was once again hidden in the dappled light and shadow cast by the streetlights.

He put his phone back in his pocket, stood up from the bench, and patted off non-existent dust from the floor.

Without hesitation, he turned and walked towards the school gate.

Friday night, the campus was as deserted as an abandoned city, with most students flocking to the commercial street outside the campus to enjoy the rare weekend.

Chen Guan walked through the deserted tree-lined path, past the brightly lit teaching building, and finally merged into the bustling traffic outside the school gate.

As night deepened, he hailed a taxi and gave a tongue-twisting address.

The car started, leaving the gilded signboard of Huaqing College behind. The city's neon lights rushed past the car window, stretching into a blurry band of light.

"Young man, what are you doing in such a remote place?"

The driver was a talkative middle-aged man who sized up the coffin in the rearview mirror.

"Those are all old warehouses slated for demolition; you won't see a soul there most of the time."

Chen Guan leaned against the car window, his gaze fixed outside, and didn't reply.

The driver, having been rebuffed, gave up and turned on the car radio, filling the entire carriage with loud pop music.

As the car headed west, the scenery along the roadside changed accordingly.

Skyscrapers gradually thinned out, replaced by low-rise old-style residential buildings and drab factories, and the streetlights became dim and yellowish.

Just then, a slight commotion came from Chen Guan's pocket.

A hairy head peeked out from the edge of the inside pocket of his trench coat.

Leopard sniffed the air hard, its golden vertical pupils scanning the desolate scene outside the window warily, and a very low whimper came from deep in its throat.

Its tail, which usually swished lazily, was now taut like a stretched string.

Chen Guan raised his hand and gently rubbed its fluffy head with his fingertips.

Leopard seemed to be calmed down, and the sounds in its throat stopped, but its body remained tense.

The car drove for another ten minutes or so before finally stopping at a roadside intersection overgrown with weeds.

"This is the end; the car can't go any further."

The driver pointed to a narrow road ahead that was swallowed by darkness.

"Be careful."

Chen Guan paid the money and opened the car door.

The taxi turned around and quickly disappeared into the night, leaving Chen Guan alone, standing in the boundless darkness.

The address given by Baihu is deep within this abandoned warehouse district.

He walked along the bumpy path, his footsteps echoing in the deathly silent alley. Guided by the map on his phone, he navigated through the maze-like warehouse complex.

Finally, after turning a corner piled with discarded tires, he stopped.

Ahead, at the end of the alley, stood a massive iron gate, taller than half a person.

The door was covered with dark brown rust, mottled and uneven.

In stark contrast to the dilapidated scene, a warm yellow light shone through the half-open door, casting a thin, elongated patch of light on the cold ground.

Chen Guan reached out his hand, his fingertips touching the rust on the door. He exerted force with his palm and pushed the heavy iron door inward.

crunch.

As the door opened, the scene inside was fully revealed to him.