Her knee was likely injured when she fell from the table, rendering it too painful to exert much strength; each step sent a piercing throb through it.
Entering the bathroom, Song Shi discarded the tissue soaked with blood in her nostrils into the trash. She bent over the sink, splashing her face with handfuls of water, the clear liquid mingling with blood as it washed away. Lifting her head, the bleeding had stopped, and most of the bloodstains on her face had been rinsed off.
In the mirror, a fresh bruise marred the corner of her mouth, one that didn't need any makeup to cover it. It was swollen and purple, and even after cleaning, blood oozed out once more. Her right eye was puffed up, and her cheek was battered, a result of someone kicking her face amid the chaos.
Vaguely, she recognized the face of the attacker, and in this moment, she added them to her "revenge list."
Her hair was a tangled mess, but Song Shi couldn't be bothered to fix it. She made her way to the classroom.
She needed to prepare. Yesterday, around this time, her body had begun to heat up uncontrollably, and she had struggled to stay awake.
Pushing open the back door, the instructor, who was lecturing from a thick moral "code of ethics" book, furrowed his brow at the sudden entrance. Slamming the book onto the desk, he growled, "Late again, it's always you!"
The students in the room turned to glance at the back door. Upon seeing Song Shi, disheveled and bruised, their minds instinctively recalled the scene in the cafeteria, where she had stood on the table, wielding a tray to knock people out.
They silently agreed on one word: lunatic.
Song Shi raised her eyelids to look at the instructor. Even though one of her eyes was swollen to the point where only a slit remained visible, the coldness radiating from the other eye remained piercing. "Don't you know why I'm late?"
The instructor was immediately silenced.
Song Shi shut the door behind her with a sharp click and limped to her seat.
Her spot was at the far end of the middle row, an addition to the seating with no neighboring desk.
She slowly sat down, retrieving the ethics book from the drawer. She casually flipped it open to a random page, then lowered her head, her bangs concealing her eyes, making it unclear what she was doing.
The instructor slammed the book twice, his loud taps snapping the students' attention back. He cleared his throat, no longer acknowledging Song Shi, and continued his monotonous, brainwashing lecture.
Underneath her desk, her right hand gently held her knee, trembling slightly. The act of sitting down had pulled at her kneecap, and the pain was enough to make her want to cry out. She could only grit her teeth, lowering her head further to hide the expression of restraint on her face.
Her left fist clenched tightly on the desk, bracing herself to prevent collapsing.
She waited for the familiar surge of heat in her chest, but as time dragged on, and the pages of the textbook flipped by, with the bell ringing repeatedly, the comforting force she longed for did not appear.
Song Shi's forehead was dripping with sweat, and she bit her tongue to stay alert. She compared today's situation with yesterday's, pondering where the mysterious power that had appeared without warning had come from, why it emerged, and why it was absent today in the same situation.
The screen in her mind flickered:
**[Anti-abuse value progress: 32%]**
**[Abuse value progress: 38%]**
The progress was greater than yesterday's. If the healing power was tied to this progress, there was no reason why she hadn't felt it today.
What could it be? Song Shi's mind stirred with irritation. She ran her fingers through her hair and felt something wet. Looking down, she saw blood trapped deep within her roots that hadn't been cleaned properly.
Staring at the vivid red on her fingers, the stench of blood flooded her nostrils, and an inexplicable surge of agitation rose within her.
She sought to rid herself of the blood, every cell in her body recoiling at the stench. She smeared the blood haphazardly across the open pages of a book, wiping her fingers one by one on the paper to cleanse them.
The book lay ruined beneath her, desecrated by her actions, yet her gaze fixated on the vibrant red, a desperate longing to see more of it rising within her.
A bloodthirsty killing intent surged violently within her.
The boy sitting in front of Song Shi, his head propped up lazily as he teetered on the verge of sleep, was jolted awake. His scalp prickled as if struck by an electric shock. Sitting up straight, he ran his hand over his neck, his hair standing on end, and hesitantly glanced behind.
What met his gaze was the bloodshot eyes of Song Shi, the tabletop splattered with pools of blood.
"Ah!!"
He screamed, tumbling off his chair, too weak to stand as his legs gave way. Struggling, he scrambled backward, his eyes wide with terror as he stared at Song Shi.
His outburst interrupted the instructor's lecture and snapped Song Shi out of her daze, bringing a flicker of clarity to her thoughts. She quickly regained her composure and turned the page of her book.
"What's going on? What's this? Yelling during class! Do you not want to study anymore?!" The instructor roared, pointing angrily at the boy.
The class turned their confused eyes on him.
The boy, trembling, pointed at Song Shi, stammering, "She… she… she's going to kill me! She's going to kill me!"
All eyes in the room immediately fixed on Song Shi.
The instructor stormed down from the podium and confronted Song Shi, "What did you do?"
Song Shi lifted her eyelids, her eyes betraying only deep weariness.
She spread her palms wide. "I haven't done anything. If you don't believe me, you can check the surveillance."
Clearly unconvinced, the instructor scanned her desk. Aside from a textbook that was open to the wrong page, there was nothing else. He crouched down to inspect her desk drawer, finding only several pristine, unopened books.
Frowning, he stood and turned back to the boy, still trembling on the floor. "Explain to me, what exactly did she use to threaten you?"
The boy, recalling the scene from earlier, was still unable to calm the lingering chill in his soul. "Her… her eyes…"
The instructor blinked, speechless.
"Get out of here! Stand in the corner! You've disrupted the class, minus one point!"
The boy, once dazed, snapped to attention at the mention of a point deduction, grabbing the instructor's hand. "Don't take a point from me! I've already lost four! If I lose another, I'll be sent to the isolation room!"
The others cast him sympathetic glances— the isolation room was a nightmare for all of them.
The instructor jerked his hand away. "Mistakes must be punished! If pleading worked, this school, 11-6 Branch, would cease to exist!"
"But I'm not lying! It's really her… it's her…" He pointed at Song Shi, meeting her eyes. His finger curled into a fist, his voice losing conviction as he spoke.
In the end, he was taken away by two other instructors, and the class resumed.
Song Shi lowered her gaze, replaying the scene in her mind where she had almost lost control.
She had always been a person with stable emotions, but since arriving in this world and enduring these chaotic events, she could feel her emotions slipping beyond her control. More often than not, she found herself engulfed in irritation, and during those moments, she wanted nothing more than to destroy everything and everyone before her.
(End of Chapter)