"I'm tired." Hong Bao typed in his laptop, huddled in the balcony. His frail body freezing carelessly without a blanket nor jacket to keep him warm. It was around six to seven in the morning and he had not slept a wink.
"Did something happened?" One wrote back, their haddle was OceanOfTears.
"Is it Zhang Wuxian again?" Another chimed in. The username a long string of word forming: TimeCannotBeReturned. "At a Sunday freaking morning?"
Hong Bao stared at the two messages in silence before writing into the chat again.
"...No."
"He hasn't been bothering me this week."
"That's a good thing right?" OceanOfTears sounded hopeful, they were always hopeful.
Reading that message was like watching the part within himself that believe thing were going to turn out alright.
"Don't be fooled, he will strike again. Be prepared." TimeCannotBeReturned refute them, and cemented that hopeful feeling right back to the tomb of the mind and brought out a sense of wariness in Hong Bao. Deep inside he confirmed their statement.
No matter how hard he tried to escape and stay hidden, Zhang Wuxian would get him out of nowhere and treat him like shit again, give him new injuires and scars to look over, ache and wish he was never born into this damned world.
"I say you get back at him, preparing is for idiots. What's there to prepare for? To get punched in the face? Stupid." Four joined the conversation.
Once again, Hong Bao found himself agreeing, a bit.
It would be asweet pleasure to get back at Zhang Wuxian.
A pay back for all the times he suffered during these five long years.
Maybe get a punch in the face. Or two.
In his mind it played out really nice, but he knew reality wasn't so simple. Specially when facing such a rich folk such as Zhang Wuxian.
"I can't get back at him, it's impossible."
":(" OceanOfTears commented, seemingly helpless.
"It's better to just graduate, get rich and go far away." TimeCannotBeReturned suggested.
"And let them get away with what they have done to him?" Four hit back. "I would hate to live my life knowing I was just a mat for them to stomp all over for no goddam reason. Getting revenge is easy."
Hong Bao only sighed, the blue light exposure for a total of 10 hours contributing to his fatigue.
"I don't know."
He then typed once more.
"Guys, I'm gonna go."
"Thank you for being here, you are all really great friends."
"Of course!" OceanOfTears replied. They even send in a cute sticker. Always the more chirpy out of the group.
"Sure, just watch out." TimeCannoBeReturned once again warned Hong Bao to be careful. Paranoid, untrudtful, but always swearing by being prepared for any situaiton while expecting the worst outcome.
"...Don't wait for them to hit you, hit them first." Four was harsh as ever, the only one out of them who got to actually have some sort of revenge agaisnt their bully.
"I'll be signing off."
That was the last of Hong Bao before he closed his laptop.
Looking into the horizon, Hong Bao watched the sky getting clearer and brighter.
It was just a shame he didn't feel the same way.
Almost stumbling when he was getting back on his feet, Hong Bao stood up and went back to the room in the most quiet way he could as his roommates were still asleep. Three other scholarships students that didn't want to get invloved with him for fear of getting targeted next.
He set his laptop on his desk and crawled into his bed, the fatigue finally catching up to him.
-
At the same time as Hong Bao had signed off, another group of people simultaneously logged out of their account.
The remnants of the conversation, however, was displayed on a big screen in a conference room.
"How long until the fish snaps?" Seated at the center of the U, taking the best spot in the table, a man in a suit asked for answers. He was with no hurry despite the meaning of orgency in his words.
Standing up from her desk, OceanOfTears, or in another world, a fiery red head woman spoke up.
"It should be about a month."
The man to her right laughs.
"Make that two months."
The red head rolled her eyes.
"Always making a competition out of nothing. Don't you ever get bored?"
"With you? Never." The man was cheeky, winking at her.
"Enough." Another of the group stood up. This time it was a hooded man with a streak of white hair sneaking out.
"No matter how long it takes, we will get him realize his path. He's just fortunate enough he was chosen."
"Well, he is in fact chosen, as the girl we are chasing down this years is... a fake."
The hooded man tilted his head, looking intimidating. "She should still pay for her doings."
"You still shouldn't have sent the red envelope." The red girl was not deterred and kept pressing on.
"Children, sit down please." The man in the suit stopped them.
"Yes, N was wrong to send the... envelope without our approval, however, it still fits our purpose."
"Her family is using very important resources of the military just to hide her when she's not even worth it."
"We will still do a favor to the country."
"So for now... she's a real target."
"It also helps to have two cases. It helps split the forces when they find out there's another brat to protect. It makes our job easier."
"It is just a matter of whatis hit first." The man shrugged. "Her or Zhang Wuxian."
"That will be all for today."
"Dismissed."