The pretty little follower gets targeted by the crazy guys at the elite academy

Li Ruo's legs were going weak, but she didn't stop.

She forced herself to see, remember, and understand, and then used this advantageous information to turn the tide and win back the game for herself.

Fu Chenzhou followed behind her at a leisurely pace, like a true collector showing his treasures to a guest.

"Number 23, a ballerina, the principal dancer of Swan Lake at her peak. I recorded her 'Dance of Death' for a full three hours."

Li Ruo looked over.

She was a young woman.

She lay on her side in the glass cabinet, wearing a white gauze dress, her long hair loose, one hand under her face, and the other hand gently resting on her waist.

A slight smile even graced her lips, as if she were having a very long, beautiful dream, the kind she never wanted to wake up from.

"Before she died, she saw the person she loved most."

Fu Chenzhou's voice came from ahead:

"She thought that person had come to save her. But no, that person was long dead. What she saw was just my hallucination."

He paused, a hint of satisfaction in his voice:

"But she died beautifully. That's enough."

"Number 47, the pianist. His hands are the most perfect I've ever seen. They can still play the piano now. Would you like to hear them?"

Li Ruo: "..."

"Number 89, the painter. His eyes can see colors that ordinary people cannot. I took it out and soaked it in a special solution, and it's still working."

[Help... what does he mean by "job"?!]

[Can those eyes even see? Disgusting! Utterly disgusting!]

[Li Ruo's face is so pale! She can't hold on much longer!]

Li Ruo gritted her teeth and walked past each of the cabinets.

There was someone in every cabinet, but everyone looked like they were asleep.

There is no pain, no struggle, no fear, only eternal peace.

Li Ruo took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

It must not be tilted.

It absolutely must not fall.

Once you fall, you'll become one of those people here.

As she walked and looked around, a question came to mind.

Are these people dead or alive?

If he was dead, how could his body be preserved so well?

If they are alive... how long can they lie there without eating or drinking?

She stopped in front of a cabinet.

Inside was a girl who looked only fifteen or sixteen years old, with chubby cheeks.

She curled up in the corner of the cabinet, hugging a plush rabbit, like a sleeping child.

The nameplate reads:

Collection No. 112: Pure and innocent.

Collection date: May 17, 2022.

Storage status: Excellent.

Li Ruo stared at that tender little face.

The girl's eyelashes were long, like two small fans, casting a small shadow.

Her lips were slightly parted, as if she were saying something in a dream.

Li Ruo suddenly felt very cold, a cold that didn't come from the outside, but seeped from the very marrow of her bones.

"She's the most well-behaved one."

Fu Chenzhou's voice suddenly rang out behind her.

Li Ruo didn't turn around; she sensed him approaching.

The stench, a mixture of oxidized paper ink and a faint smell of blood, enveloped me from behind, like an invisible net.

She cried a lot when she came.

His voice was very soft, as if he were telling a trivial story:

"She said she misses her mom. She wants to go home. She misses her rabbit."

"And then?" Li Ruo asked.

"later?"

Fu Chenzhou chuckled softly, a chuckle so faint it was almost devoid of warmth.

"She stopped crying after that."

"She knew this was her home."

Li Ruo: "..."

Are you scared?

This question is like a hunter confirming that his prey has finally revealed a hint of fear.

Li Ruo turned around.

Fu Chenzhou was standing less than a meter behind her.

This distance is too close.

She was so close that she could see the fine blood vessels on his eyelids and the faint silver rim in the depths of his gray eyes.

She was so close that she could feel his almost non-existent breathing.

He was like a living statue, his breathing merely an unnecessary imitation.

"Afraid."

Li Ruo met his gaze: "Of course I'm afraid."

"A normal person would be scared if they saw this."

Fu Chenzhou's eyelashes twitched slightly.

It was as if she hadn't expected to admit it so directly.

When they came, they either knelt down and begged him, cried and cursed him, or fainted from fright.

But she was different.

She stood there, looking at him, her face expressionless, saying that being afraid was useless.

Is this... normal?

"But will being afraid do any good?" Li Ruo continued, "Will being afraid make you let me go?"

Fu Chenzhou didn't answer, but instead asked him:

Do you know why I collect these?

Li Ruo didn't answer his question, but instead asked him in return:

Do you think their actions are more meaningful than simply living?

Fu Chenzhou paused for a moment, then asked, "What do you consider to be living?"

"Having a heartbeat, breathing, being able to speak, walk, eat, and sleep—is that being alive?"

He continued:

"While they are alive, they will grow old, become ugly, get sick, suffer, feel fear, betray, and leave."

"But here,"

He looked around, arms outstretched, like a king surveying his kingdom:

"They will forever remain at their most beautiful moment. They will never grow old, and they will never change."

Li Ruo's breath hitched for a moment, then she spoke steadily again:

Are they happy?

Fu Chenzhou stopped moving.

He looked at her, his gray eyes filled with incomprehension and a thirst for knowledge:

"Come with me."

Li Ruo stood there, watching his black figure gradually disappear into the blood-red light and shadow.

She took a deep breath.

Keep up.

This time, Fu Chenzhou walked very slowly.

It was as if he was waiting for her on purpose, or perhaps he was admiring his collection.

Li Ruo stopped in front of a cabinet.

He was a boy.

She looks no more than fifteen or sixteen years old.

He huddled in the corner of the cabinet, hugging his knees with both hands, his face buried between his knees, looking like a wounded little animal.

Li Ruo's footsteps were rooted to the ground.

She looked at the huddled boy.

Looking at his face buried in his knees.

Looking at his slightly trembling shoulders... He... he's trembling?!

Li Ruo's pupils suddenly contracted.

The boy was trembling! He was alive?!

She suddenly turned her head to look at Fu Chenzhou.

Fu Chenzhou had stopped and was standing not far away, facing away from her, looking at another cabinet.

Noticing her gaze, he turned his head away.

Those grey eyes, under the blood-red light, were deep and calm.

"You found out?" he asked.

Li Ruo's voice was a little dry: "He...is still alive?"

"To live."

Fu Chenzhou nodded, his expression as calm as still water.

"Some collections need to be alive to remain perfect."

"Once you're dead, you're gone."

He spoke so calmly and matter-of-factly, as if he were discussing the preservation of a work of art.

Li Ruo's stomach began to convulse violently.

She stared intently at the huddled boy.

His shoulders were still trembling.

a bit.

a bit.

a bit.

It seems like it will never stop.

"he……"

Li Ruo's voice trembled slightly, but she quickly suppressed it, trying to make her voice steady again:

"How long has he been like this?"

Fu Chenzhou thought for a moment:

"Five years? Or six years?"

"I can't remember."

"Time here has no meaning."

Li Ruo missed another breath.

Five years.

Six years.

A fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy huddled inside a glass cabinet for five or six years?

Day after day, year after year, living in fear, in pain, in despair?!

Just because it's perfect?

She looked at Fu Chenzhou, whose gray eyes were looking at her, calm, elegant and indifferent, as if he were looking at an ant, as if he were looking at a collectible.

"So what do you consider to be perfect?"

She didn't know the answer.

But she knew this issue was important.

If you answer correctly, there might still be a glimmer of hope.

I answered incorrectly...

She looked at the glass cabinet next to her, at the girl holding a rabbit.

"You might think that being alive is beautiful, but those collections don't answer me that way."

"The beauty of life is too easily lost."

"You get tired of the same face after three years."

"A body becomes old after five years."

"A person ages in ten years."

His gaze moved from the side of her neck to her cheek.

The chill in his eyes gave Li Ruo goosebumps.

What I want to preserve is not beauty.

Fu Chenzhou's voice was very low, so low it seemed he was speaking to himself:

What I want to hold onto is a certain moment.

He turned his head and looked at the girl holding the rabbit.

"When she arrived, she was holding the rabbit, crying and calling for her mother."

"At that moment, there was something in her eyes."

"Not fear, not despair, not sadness."

"It is...pure."

"A purity that doesn't belong to this world, forged through suffering."

"I want to hold onto that moment, is that not possible?"

Silent Little Lamb Li Ruo: "..."

He stood beside her, his grey eyes sweeping over the display cases as if admiring his own masterpiece:

"I saved their beauty."

"Without me, this beauty would decay and disappear over time."

"And now, they are gone forever."

He turned to Li Ruo, his voice as soft as if reciting poetry:

"Do you want to join them?"

"I can make you the centerpiece of the exhibit. Your beauty deserves to be seen by everyone."

Li Ruo forced herself to calm down.

She looked into Fu Chenzhou's eyes and asked, word by word:

"Mr. Fu, was the first piece you collected... really your first love?"

These words were spoken.

The air froze instantly.

Fu Chenzhou's expression disappeared.

That cold, inhuman aura emanated from him.

How dare Li Ruo ask such a question?!

[This is Fu Chenzhou's biggest taboo!! It's all over, Li Ruo has crossed the line!]

A long silence.

Just when Li Ruo thought Fu Chenzhou would get angry, he spoke up instead:

"You are very smart."

He said, a hint of appreciation flashing in his grey eyes:

"They know how to use questions to disrupt my rhythm."

"But you're wrong."