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

Before they could even recover from Lin Lu's gossip, Old Li pushed open the front door of the classroom.

Old Li's expression was priceless; it was the bewilderment typical of a homeroom teacher who had taught science for years and encountered an incomprehensible biological subject.

"Ahem, come in." Old Li waved to the door, his tone complicated, "Let me introduce the new students to everyone."

All fifty-odd pairs of eyes in the class turned to look at the doorway.

The boy who walked in looked completely out of place in this classroom.

He was very tall, but as thin as a bamboo pole. His school uniform was loose and baggy, and the buttons on his shirt underneath were misaligned. His skin had a pale complexion that had never seen the sun, and his hair was rather long, messily covering his eyebrows and eyes.

The most outrageous thing was that he was carrying an old book with a yellowed cover in one hand, and in the other hand... he was actually holding a small, slightly wilted wildflower that he had just picked from the roadside.

He walked up to the podium, not looking at the students below, but first glancing up at the pale fluorescent lights in the classroom, and letting out a barely perceptible sigh.

"Introduce yourself," Old Li urged.

As Lu Yi turned around, a dreamy look appeared in his eyes:

"Road One".

"The road ahead is long and arduous; the one that gives rise to two, and from two comes three."

He held up the wilted little flower in his hand, his tone light and airy, as if reciting poetry:

"I'm here because my parents think my soul needs to be 'corrected' by the logic of science, but I suggest you don't get too close to me..."

He paused, a melancholy smile curving his lips:

"Art is a disease, it's contagious, and I'm terminally ill."

"..."

The entire class fell silent.

Then a burst of suppressed giggles erupted. The students all lowered their heads and shrugged their shoulders.

Shen Hao, sitting in the back row, couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha! Holy crap!"

Even Su Qinghe, looking at Lu Yi on the stage, couldn't help but lower his head, a faint, helpless smile curving his lips.

This new classmate... is indeed quite unique.

Old Li felt his blood pressure was a bit high, so he quickly waved his hand to interrupt the farce:

"Alright, alright! Stop laughing! Shen Hao, shut up!"

Old Li pointed to the back row of the classroom:

"Lu Yi, you can sit in the empty seat behind Xie Wang! Talk less and do more problems!"

Lu Yi shrugged indifferently, carrying his poetry collection and small flowers, and slowly drifted to the last row like a wandering poet.

He sat down, didn't take out his textbook, but instead put the little flower in the pen holder and opened the book in his hand.

Shen Hao, sitting at the table in front of him, couldn't contain his gossip-loving spirit any longer. He turned around and, with an air of familiarity, approached Shen Hao to strike up a conversation.

"Hey buddy, I heard you're from Beijing?"

However, Lu Yi ignored it.

He didn't even lift his eyelids, completely ignoring Shen Hao.

"...Feed? Can you hear me?" Shen Hao waved awkwardly in front of Lu Yi.

Lu Yi finally raised his eyelids.

But his slightly dazed eyes skipped over Shen Hao, and his gaze went over the back of the chair, landing precisely on Xie Wang, who had been silent and watching the show with one hand twirling a pen.

That look in his eyes instantly went from empty to focused.

He leaned forward slightly, completely ignoring Shen Hao's presence, and spoke to Xie Wang in an aria-like voice:

Lu Yi stared at Xie Wang:

"You smell bad."

Xie Wang: "?"

Lu Yi pushed up his glasses, looking serious. "Classmate, your soul is restless, and very captivating."

Xie Wang's lips twitched slightly, then he turned back to Su Qinghe and said:

"It's confirmed; this person isn't quite right in the head."

……

[3:00 PM · Playground]

For senior high school students, physical education class is simply paradise.

The PE teacher, well aware of the pressure these children were under, waved his hand after gathering them and said, "Everyone, you're free to do whatever you want! Just don't leave the school grounds!"

"Wuhu—!!"

Cheers echoed across the playground.

After the meeting was dismissed, everyone dispersed in twos and threes.

At the edge of the playground, a furtive figure was trying to climb over the barbed wire fence.

"Shh—Little Deer! Help me out!"

Lu Wen, dressed in a slightly tight No. 1 Middle School uniform that he had somehow gotten his hands on, and wearing black-rimmed glasses to disguise himself as a "good student," was struggling to squeeze himself through the gap in the fence.

Lin Lu was sitting on the grass drinking water when he saw this scene and almost spat it out. He quickly ran over and pulled him inside.

"Lu Wen, what are you doing in here?"

"Accompanying someone to study!"

Lu Wen straightened his messy hair, pulled out two cups of still-cold mango pomelo sago from his pocket, and looked at him expectantly, seeking praise:

"I know you're having a tough time in your senior year of high school, so I came here specifically to offer some support and, while I'm at it, to see if anyone dares to bully you."

Lin Lu looked at the sweat on his forehead and said with disdain, "You childish rascal." But her hand honestly took the milk tea, inserted the straw, and handed it to him to take a sip first.

"Is it sweet?" Lin Lu asked.

"Sweet." Lu Wen smiled.

Not far away, Xie Wang and Su Qinghe, who were warming up, were thoroughly fed this wave of PDA.

Xie Wang straightened up and stretched his ankles. "Let's go, Teacher Su. Today's task is to jog four laps to build up our physical strength for the sports meet."

The two ran side by side onto the track.

On the red synthetic track, the figures of boys and girls became the most beautiful sight.

After running three laps, Xie Wang was still breathing steadily, while Su Qinghe's cheeks had begun to turn slightly red, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Wang-ge! Stop running away! Come play ball!"

On the basketball court, Shen Hao was holding the ball and shouting. A lot of boys had already gathered there, and they were obviously missing a key player.

Xie Wang slowed down and glanced at Su Qinghe.

Su Qinghe stopped, put his hands on his knees to catch his breath, and waved his hand:

"Go ahead. I'm tired too, I'll rest for a bit."

"Okay." Xie Wang helped her unscrew the water bottle. "Then go sit in the shade over there for a while, don't get sunburned."

After saying that, he took off his jacket, revealing a black quick-drying T-shirt underneath, and turned to run towards the basketball court.

Su Qinghe took the water and walked to the stands by the playground.

Xu Youzheng sat there with a vocabulary book spread out on his lap, but his eyes kept drifting toward Shen Hao, the big guy who was grinning foolishly on the basketball court.

"Su Su, sit here." Xu You moved to the side and patted the empty seat next to her.

Su Qinghe sat down, took a sip of water, and looked at the spirited figure on the basketball court. Xie Wang had just entered the game when he stole the ball and made a beautiful three-step layup, which drew screams from the girls around him.

"What a... scene brimming with primal vitality."

Just then, a faint voice came from behind.

Su Qinghe turned back.

Suddenly, Lu Yi, a new classmate, appeared at the very back of the stands.

He was holding an old-fashioned film camera, staring blankly at a cloud in the sky.

"Lu Yi?" Su Qinghe was somewhat surprised. "Aren't you going to exercise?"

"sports?"

Lu Yi frowned slightly, as if he had heard some vulgar language, and looked away from the clouds:

"That consumes spiritual energy. I prefer observing the restlessness of humans during their mating season rather than sweating."

He put down his camera and slowly moved to sit down on the steps next to Su Qinghe.

Lu Yi looked at Xie Wang, who was running all over the court and sweating profusely, and then turned to look at Su Qinghe, who was sitting upright with a cold and aloof temperament.

He suddenly spoke, his tone carrying a philosophical sense of bewilderment:

"Excuse me, I have a question that I can't understand from an aesthetic point of view."

Su Qinghe turned around and looked at this strange new classmate: "You say it."

Lu Yi pointed at Xie Wang on the field, then looked at Su Qinghe, adjusted his glasses, and asked in confusion:

"He is a wildfire out of control, and you are a piece of porcelain with a constant temperature. From an aesthetic point of view, this is called 'style collapse'."

"Why would someone who strives for perfect order allow such uncontrollable variables to intrude into your world?"

Su Qinghe glanced at Lu with surprise, clearly a little confused by the guy's analogy.

Then, she shook her head helplessly, her gaze returning to the boy, her tone calm yet sincere:

"The reason is simple."

"I don't feel cold when I'm with him, and that's enough."

Lu Yi was stunned for two seconds, then let out a desperate sigh.

"Click."

He raised his camera and pressed the shutter on the playground.

"I was going to indulge in some sentimental thoughts, but I ended up being bombarded with dog food," Lu Yi said, shaking his head as he looked at the photo. "This photo is called—'The Fall of Reason,' tsk, vulgar yet romantic."