"Ling Yun, I'm warning you—stop bothering me!"
A sharp and clear reprimand instantly drew the attention of every student attending their self-study session. All eyes turned toward the scene, where a strikingly beautiful and statuesque young woman stood proudly beside a desk, her gaze filled with disdain as she looked down upon a flustered, red-faced boy.
This ordinary-looking boy, Ling Yun, had never been the center of such attention before. Overwhelmed with nervousness, his face burned crimson, and his voice trembled as he stammered, "L-Li Lingling, w-what do you mean by that?"
"What do I mean?" Li Lingling, emboldened by the eyes upon her, raised her chin even higher. Her crisp, high-pitched voice nearly pierced through the ceiling. "Ling Yun, do you truly lack even this much self-awareness? Let me give you some advice—take a good look in the mirror when you get home. No looks, no height, terrible grades—how dare you think you can pursue me with a pathetic, third-rate love letter? Laughable! If we weren't classmates in Senior Year Class One, I wouldn't even remember what you looked like!"
Ling Yun's face darkened. "What love letter? Li Lingling, what gives you the right to humiliate me?"
With a sharp snap, Li Lingling flung a crumpled piece of paper onto Ling Yun's desk. "See for yourself. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's fools who don't know their place." She sneered, then, without so much as a backward glance at Ling Yun, turned to leave.
Dozens of eyes remained fixed on Ling Yun, each reflecting a different emotion—pity, sympathy, disdain, indifference, schadenfreude, curiosity... a myriad of sentiments flickered within them.
"Stop right there!"
Gasps filled the room. Ling Yun's face, at first flushed with humiliation, turned deathly pale. Then, as if making some irrevocable decision, he clenched his teeth and called out, his voice resolute.
Li Lingling halted in surprise, turning to him. In her memory, this quiet and introverted classmate had never even spoken a complete sentence with confidence. How had he suddenly transformed into someone so fierce, so unyielding?
Yet, she remained unfazed. As the center of attention, blessed with beauty and intellect, Li Lingling had been treated like a princess since childhood. Suitors constantly buzzed around her, and when they became too irritating, she never hesitated to publicly humiliate them. Compared to the many admirers she had dismissed before, Ling Yun wasn't even worth her notice.
Ling Yun picked up the crumpled letter and slowly unfolded it. "You have no right to ridicule someone's feelings, Li Lingling. Yes, I had a crush on you. But I never harassed you. I wrote this letter, but I never gave it to anyone. I have no idea how it ended up in your hands."
His voice suddenly rang out, firm and unwavering. With a swift motion, he tore the letter into shreds. "If I once admired you, then my only regret now is having wasted my time on someone like you."
He let the fragments of paper fall to the ground.
A stunned silence filled the room. No one had expected the usually timid Ling Yun to respond with such decisiveness, his words resounding with newfound strength. Even those who had secretly suffered from Li Lingling's arrogance couldn't help but feel a surge of silent approval.
Li Lingling, who had never been challenged before, stood frozen in disbelief. Her face flushed crimson with fury. She trembled, her finger pointing at Ling Yun, but the words caught in her throat. "Y-you… how dare you?"
Without sparing her another glance, Ling Yun grabbed his backpack from the desk and strode out of the classroom.
Just then, the school bell rang, signaling the end of class.
Students from Senior Year Class One murmured among themselves, discussing the unexpected confrontation as they trickled out of the room.
Li Lingling's eyes shimmered with unshed tears, her hands clenched into fists so tightly that her nails nearly broke the skin. Her lips quivered in rage—she had never been so humiliated in her life. At that moment, she loathed Ling Yun with every fiber of her being, utterly forgetting that it was she who had initiated the insult.
Then, as if suddenly recalling something, she stormed back to her desk, yanked a sleek Samsung phone from her bag, and swiftly dialed a number.
Meanwhile, Ling Yun had just stepped out of the school gates. He exhaled a long breath, his tension dissipating at last. What had come over him? It felt as though he had been driven purely by a surge of emotion, the words spilling from his lips as though in a dream. Even he was astonished by his own audacity.
"One either breaks free from silence or is consumed by it."
Recalling the famous quote, he couldn't help but chuckle bitterly and shake his head. Quickening his pace, he set off toward home. Since the last period was always a self-study session, dismissal followed immediately after. With his house far from the school, he had developed the habit of walking quickly to avoid getting home too late.
The sky was growing darker, the wind howling ominously. A blinding flash of lightning split the heavens, followed moments later by a deep rumble of thunder. Ling Yun looked up—the sky was thick with heavy clouds, like ink blotting out the sun. A storm was brewing.
Realizing he had forgotten to bring an umbrella, he hastened his steps.
As he turned into a secluded alleyway, his hurried strides suddenly came to a halt.
At the entrance of the alley, a group of young men loitered—some squatting, others standing. They were clad in garish clothing, their expressions insolent. Two of them had cigarettes dangling from their lips, eyeing Ling Yun with unmistakable hostility.
It took him mere seconds to recognize one of them.
"Zhang Yunfeng?"
Ling Yun's expression stiffened as he recognized the somewhat baby-faced delinquent—his classmate, Zhang Yunfeng. Known for skipping classes and mingling with street thugs, Zhang Yunfeng was notorious within their grade. Most students feared and despised him in equal measure.
Zhang Yunfeng grinned, cracking his knuckles as he sauntered forward. "So, I heard you've got guts, huh? Daring to insult my girlfriend in front of the whole class?"
Ling Yun frowned and instinctively took a step back. "Your girlfriend? Who?"
"Don't play dumb, country bumpkin," Zhang Yunfeng sneered, savoring the fear in Ling Yun's eyes. It gave him a sick sense of triumph. "Obviously, I'm talking about Li Lingling. Weren't you just running your mouth at her? Come on, then—be a man. Say it to my face."
Ling Yun's face darkened. "Li Lingling is your girlfriend? I didn't insult her—she humiliated me first. I only defended myself."
Zhang Yunfeng's eyes narrowed. "Defended yourself?" His expression twisted into something vicious. "You think you have the right to talk back to my woman?"
With no warning, he lunged.
A sharp pain erupted in Ling Yun's stomach as Zhang Yunfeng's kick landed squarely.
Caught off guard, Ling Yun staggered backward, clutching his abdomen with a strangled gasp. Before he could regain his footing, a rough hand yanked at his hair. Then—
Smack! Smack!
Two resounding slaps left his cheeks stinging, his face instantly swelling.
Zhang Yunfeng's voice growled above him. "You little piece of trash. You actually think you deserve to 'defend' yourself against my girlfriend? It's natural for someone like you to be humiliated."
Rage flared within Ling Yun. Ignoring the pain, he lifted his head, his bloodshot eyes locking onto Zhang Yunfeng's with chilling resolve.
"Zhang Yunfeng, you may beat me today, but mark my words—I will repay this tenfold."
Zhang Yunfeng's sneer deepened. "Oh? Still acting tough?" He turned toward the older thugs beside him. "Boss, this kid thinks he's got guts. What do we do?"
The man smoking a cigarette smirked. "Why waste words? That chick who called us wants us to teach him a lesson. Do it."
"Gladly," Zhang Yunfeng chuckled darkly.
Yanking Ling Yun's hair again, he drove a brutal fist into his stomach. As Ling Yun doubled over in pain, the gang swarmed him, kicking him to the ground.
Ling Yun struggled to his feet, mustering all his strength as he lunged toward Zhang Yunfeng. Yet, he was neither skilled in combat nor physically strong enough to stand against a seasoned fighter like Zhang Yunfeng. Let alone the other thugs watching him like wolves circling their prey—before he could even get close, a foot swiftly tripped him, sending him tumbling to the ground.
The gang of ruffians erupted into laughter and swarmed around him, unleashing a relentless barrage of kicks upon his curled-up body.
Gritting his teeth, Ling Yun endured the searing pain that seemed to penetrate his very bones. His lips remained firmly pressed together, not a single cry escaping him. Yet within his chest, a blazing fire raged.
Zhang Yunfeng grew infuriated at his stubborn resistance, his kicks growing even fiercer. "Still acting tough, you wretched country bumpkin? Let's see which is tougher—your body or my boots! D*mn it, did you think I wouldn't notice your pathetic crush on Lingling? You really thought you could keep it a secret? Let me enlighten you—your pathetic love letter? I took it from your bag and personally handed it to her! I wanted her to humiliate you! And you dare fight back? You really are a worthless piece of trash!"
Ling Yun suddenly lifted his head, his gaze as cold as ice, sharp as a dagger. For a fleeting moment, an eerie silence fell over the alley. Even the gang of ruffians, seasoned in street brawls, felt an inexplicable chill creeping down their spines. Instinctively, they hesitated, their feet faltering. Zhang Yunfeng himself took a step back, unsettled by the silent defiance in those eyes.
With a hand caked in dirt, Ling Yun wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His frozen gaze swept across the group as he spoke, each word striking like a hammer upon iron:
"Zhang Yunfeng, I told you once—today, you beat me down, but one day, I will return the pain to you tenfold. If you have the guts, kill me now. Otherwise, I swear, you will regret this. Every single one of you will."
The air tensed.
"Well, well, look at that," sneered one of the older thugs, flicking away his cigarette. "Talking big even while lying in the dirt? Alright then, boys, since he wants to play tough—let's oblige him. Beat him until he can't stand again."
With a collective roar, the gang resumed their assault, their kicks landing harder and faster. At first, Ling Yun tried to roll away, dodging what he could. But his movements grew sluggish, then ceased altogether. Even as the brutal blows rained down upon him, not a single plea for mercy, not a single whimper of pain escaped his lips. He lay motionless, like a lifeless log.
For the first time, unease seeped into the thugs' hearts.
They had beaten countless men before—always, their victims would wail, beg, scream in agony. That was what made the act so satisfying. But Ling Yun? He simply lay there in eerie silence, as if his will had long surpassed the threshold of pain. A man like this, either possessed an unyielding spirit or a terrifying resolve—and whichever it was, it unsettled them deeply.
After another round of kicks, Ling Yun lost consciousness, his battered body sprawled across the rain-slicked ground, his clothes torn to shreds. The thugs, too, were exhausted, bent over, panting heavily.
One of them wiped his brow. "Boss, what now? If we keep going, we might actually kill him. I say we call it quits."
"Yeah," another chimed in. "This kid is something else. We've beaten him half to death, and he hasn't made a sound. I'm done—this is draining."
The older thug hesitated before turning to Zhang Yunfeng. "Kid, this was your show. What do you want to do?"
Zhang Yunfeng had, in truth, already wanted to stop. He never intended to push things this far. He only wanted to teach Ling Yun a lesson. But the boy's unyielding defiance had incensed them all, turning the scuffle into a merciless beating. Now, staring at Ling Yun's motionless figure, even he felt a tinge of dread.
He hesitated, then muttered, "I just wanted to knock him around a little and vent some anger. We've done enough. The storm's coming—let's get out of here."
"Fine." The older thug nodded. "Boys, let's move."
And just like that, they vanished into the night, leaving Ling Yun lying alone at the desolate alley's mouth, his battered form nearly indistinguishable from the rain-soaked earth.
Thunder rumbled, shaking the heavens.
A bolt of golden lightning tore through the ink-black clouds, momentarily illuminating the world in a blinding flash. Then, with a deafening roar, the sky unleashed its fury—a torrential downpour cascading from above.
None bore witness to the anomaly hidden within the storm—high within the swirling, obsidian clouds, a peculiar seven-colored radiance shimmered faintly.
A single, near-invisible beam of light descended amidst the rain, piercing straight into Ling Yun's broken body.
And then, it was gone.
At that very moment, an inconspicuous news report aired across the local television screens of Tongjiang City:
"According to meteorological experts, the recent surge in thunderstorms may be linked to the presence of radiation clouds—an extremely rare natural phenomenon. These clouds, while emitting high-energy radiation capable of altering biological genetic structures, pose no direct threat to human health. Citizens are advised not to be alarmed..."
Unbeknownst to all, Ling Yun's fingers twitched.