Redemption from the Abyss: The School Beauty Insists on Pulling Me Out of the Mire

[3:00 AM the previous day · Genting Music Room 1602]

The city's hustle and bustle had long since subsided, but the light in Xie Wang's room remained on. The curtains were drawn tightly, letting in only a few faint rays of streetlight.

Countless green codes on the screen reflected in Xie Wang's slightly tired yet unusually bright pupils. He hadn't slept. The joy he felt after returning from the Su family lasted only a moment, replaced by a more urgent sense of crisis.

There were some things he didn't say to Lu Wen in the car. Lin Wanyi's acceptance was dignified, but it was also condescending. If he wanted to truly stand tall by Su Qinghe's side and even protect her from future storms, he couldn't just be a poor boy with good grades.

He needs a knife that can pierce the heart of the Tianlong Group.

[X]: K, if you're still here, we need to talk.

This was a message he sent two hours earlier. At that moment, the chat window finally flickered.

[K]: Aren't you asleep yet?

Xie Wang twitched the corner of his mouth and tapped a series of crisp sounds on the mechanical keyboard.

[X]: Enough with the nonsense. You mentioned before that Tianlong Group has several overseas subsidiaries used for laundering funds. I want the specific details.

There was a long silence on the other side of the screen.

After a long while, an encrypted compressed file was sent over.

[K]: This is the entrance. Also, here's some news for you: Tianlong Group is currently facing a tight cash flow situation regarding the development of that land in the southern suburbs. If you can find evidence that they've embezzled public funds to cover their losses... that would be a nuclear bomb.

[K]: Good luck.

Xie Wang closed his laptop and let out a long sigh.

[12:30 PM the following day · Genting Music Room 1602]

Xie Wang was woken up by hunger. The intense mental work had exhausted him. He sat up in bed with messy hair, and the sunlight streaming through the curtains made him squint.

I grabbed my phone from the bedside table and glanced at the date: July 25th.

Xie Wang's previously drowsy eyes instantly cleared, and his sleepiness vanished. One week left. August 1st. It's Su Qinghe's eighteenth birthday.

This was their first birthday together, and also her coming-of-age ceremony.

Xie Wang wiped his face, picked up his phone, and dialed Lu Wen's number: "Wake up, Young Master Lu. Can I borrow your car? Come with me to somewhere."

……

[2:30 PM · Jiangcheng Antique and Jade Market]

The afternoon sun was scorching. Lu Wen, dressed in a flashy limited-edition streetwear outfit and wearing sunglasses, stood in the dusty market filled with the noise of cutting machines, looking utterly hopeless. He watched Xie Wang squatting in front of a stall selling all sorts of "strange stones," shining a powerful flashlight around, and finally couldn't hold back any longer and exploded.

"Brother Wang, my dear brother!" Lu Wen took off his sunglasses, pointing around with a pained expression: "Are you sure this is the place to prepare a birthday gift for Sister Qinghe? Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about the word 'romance'?"

Xie Wang didn't even look up, focusing on the stone in his hand: "Then what do you suggest as a gift?"

Lu Wen immediately perked up, counting on his fingers as he began to impart his "rich second-generation's secrets to winning a girl's heart": "Bags! 'Bags' cure all ills, you know? Hermes Himalaya, though difficult to get, I can use my connections to get it. If that doesn't work, jewelry? Cartier's panther, Bulgari's snakehead, what girl can resist something sparkly? If all else fails, how about a sports car? Although her family doesn't lack them, what you give her is different from what her dad gives her!"

Listening to these suggestions, Xie Wang finally put down the stone in his hand, stood up, and dusted off his hands: "Lu Wen, if Su Qinghe wanted any of these things, her entire walk-in closet would be overflowing. What I want to give her is something unique in the world."

"Then what are you going to give as a gift? A rock?" Lu Wen looked at the stall with disdain. "That's too shabby. If Uncle Su saw that you gave his daughter a broken rock, he would kick you out of the house on the spot."

"This is no ordinary stone." Xie Wang picked up a piece of unremarkable mineral, only the size of a walnut, with a black, pitted surface. But under the bright light of a flashlight, the cut surface of the stone faintly revealed a deep, olive-green texture, as if containing the stars and the sea.

"This is the original Moldavite." Xie Wang looked at the stone, a hint of tenderness flashing in his eyes: "It comes from a meteorite impact 1500 million years ago. It was a star that wandered from the depths of space for billions of years, burning up as it passed through the atmosphere, before finally landing on this planet."

Lu Wen was stunned: "Stars?"

"Hmm." Xie Wang gripped the stone tightly. "I plan to polish it myself and make it into a necklace. I won't hire a craftsman; I'll polish it myself."

Lu Wen's mouth dropped open, and after a long while, he managed to stammer out, "Holy crap... you academic geniuses really know how to have fun." He gave a thumbs up, looking completely convinced.

Xie Wang carefully put the extraordinary raw stone into his pocket.

The two stepped out of the market. The sun shone brightly, and the sweltering air was filled with the vibrant energy of youth. Xie Wang was in high spirits, even humming a song—a rare occurrence for him. Everything was ready; all that was left was to go back and buy the tools to get started.

Just as he opened the car door to get in, his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. The name "Teacher Su" appeared on the screen.

"Oh, here to check up on you?" Lu Wen winked at him from the side.

Xie Wang chuckled, answered the phone, his voice still carrying the joy he'd felt while choosing the gift: "Hello, Teacher Su? What's up? It's only been half a day..."

"Thank you for your vain."

On the other end of the phone, Su Qinghe's voice was unusually low and devoid of any warmth, like a bucket of ice water that instantly extinguished the smile in Xie Wang's eyes: "I'm in the old newspaper and magazine room of the provincial library. Come over right away; I have something to tell you."