Rage

Fu Liangxia's shivering stopped abruptly.

Upstairs, Kang Jin and Li Yuanfan's faces went pale the moment they saw who it was. Their lips trembled, and they could barely stay upright without gripping the windowsill. "N-nothing... we weren't doing anything..."

But no one paid them any mind. The two soaked girls standing below made what they'd just done painfully obvious.

When Cheng Xingzhou's icy gaze swept over him, Kang Jin felt as if he'd been plunged into an abyss. His legs shook so violently he nearly collapsed.

How could they be this unlucky, running into the Student Council of all people?

Everyone knew Cheng Xingzhou despised rule-breakers. What would happen to them now?

An inexplicable dread crept over Kang Jin, and he decided to strike first. "We were just helping the teacher wash rags, and our hands slipped..."

His voice faded under Cheng Xingzhou's stare, dying out beneath the boy's deep gaze. A white-gloved hand lifted, two fingers crooking in a gesture that carried overwhelming pressure.

"Come down."

His tone was calm, like the sea's surface just before a tsunami.

Neither Kang Jin nor Li Yuanfan dared to argue further. They scrambled toward the stairs at once, stumbling and crawling, not even daring to take the elevator, terrified that a second's delay would provoke Cheng Xingzhou's wrath.

From the moment they left the window to the moment they stood before Cheng Xingzhou, no more than a minute could have passed.

Yet what made them nervous was that Cheng Xingzhou didn't punish them at all—he didn't even glance their way.

He walked forward a few steps. His strides were long, but unhurried and pleasing to watch.

"President..." The chubby boy looked up in confusion, only to see his president walk straight past him without the slightest pause.

As the boy drew near, Bai Kewei instinctively took a half-step back in wary defense.

She didn't hold much goodwill toward most people at Saintland, and the Student Council was no exception.

But all he gave her was a faint, indifferent glance—a look with no meaning at all, which made Bai Kewei feel like she was nothing more than a lifeless object in his eyes.

He withdrew his gaze after just a moment.

The crisp scent of juniper berries brushed past her nose. The wind stirred up as the boy passed her made Bai Kewei shiver.

She watched as he walked past her and stopped in front of Fu Liangxia, standing so close that it seemed to exceed normal social distance.

Bai Kewei couldn't help but furrow her brows.

Cheng Xingzhou: "Why are you just standing there?"

Fu Liangxia was stunned for a moment.

Her face, made even more delicate by her dazed expression, only made Cheng Xingzhou clench his fingers tighter, as if he were restraining himself with great effort. He leaned forward slightly, his gaze locked firmly on her.

"He poured water on you, and you just stand there waiting for him to do it again?"

Something suppressed simmered in Cheng Xingzhou's dark brown eyes. "Can't you dodge? Or did some cheap trick scare you stiff?"

The boy's collar slipped down a little as he leaned in, revealing the Adam's apple hidden beneath his shirt, its curve alluring.

His body-warmed hem brushed against Fu Liangxia's arm, making her flinch slightly.

Having always occupied the most powerful position among the students, Cheng Xingzhou's tone unconsciously carried a note of interrogation, sounding cold and heartless. Kang Jin and Li Yuanfan didn't even dare breathe loudly, terrified that the flames of his anger would land on them.

In that heavy atmosphere, Fu Liangxia suddenly smiled.

She met Cheng Xingzhou's gaze in silent confrontation, sneering inwardly, finding it both ridiculous and absurd.

What made him think this body of hers could react in time?

And then he asked why she didn't dodge.

Even Bai Kewei hadn't managed to pull her away. How could her weak, useless body possibly dodge?

He made it sound like she simply didn't want to.

Did he think she stood there on purpose, just to play the pitiful victim in front of him and force him to step in?

It was a laughable assumption, but Fu Liangxia had a vague feeling that might be exactly what it was.

After all, people like him were so far above everyone else, convinced the whole world revolved around them.

At the thought, Fu Liangxia nearly choked. Her wet hair caught the wind, and her head throbbed with a piercing pain.

Her face grew even paler.

Her mood, too.

Cheng Xingzhou stared down at the girl before him without blinking, his eyes locked on her face, missing not a single shift in expression.

Black, wet strands of hair clung to her pale, small face. Her eyes were dark, like an unfathomable whirlpool threatening to pull him in. Her damp lashes trembled restlessly, like startled butterfly wings.

The tip of her nose and the corners of her eyes had flushed a faint red from the cold. Her frame, outlined by the soaked clothes, was thin and fragile, as if she might shatter at any moment.

Seeing this, Cheng Xingzhou's brow furrowed even deeper.

"What are you smiling at?"

Fu Liangxia had gone nearly numb from the cold. She'd caught a chill in the early hours and had already been fighting a cold. Now, standing in wet clothes with the wind cutting through her, her whole body was frozen to the point of insensibility.

Her soul felt like it was floating somewhere above her. She drew on every ounce of self-control she had to slowly open her mouth and say, "I was just laughing at how good President Cheng is at joking."

The girl's voice was light and fleeting, as elusive as she herself was, as if it might be carried away by the wind at any moment.

"Do I look like an athlete to you? Or did I give President Cheng the impression that I'm in great shape?" Fu Liangxia looked at him, her gaze unfocused.

The fragility was even more pronounced.

It sparked a sudden impulse in Cheng Xingzhou—as if, if he didn't grab hold of her, she would simply vanish.

The thought crossed his mind, and he acted on it.

Almost the moment the words left her mouth, Fu Liangxia felt a warm, forceful hand close around her wrist, and there was no breaking free.

The owner of that hand had terrifying eyes.

The pain in her wrist made Fu Liangxia frown, but her gaze remained calm, still as a lake: "Got a problem? Then call the police."

Staring at that captivating face before him, Cheng Xingzhou was almost amused into anger.

Fragile enough to snap at a touch, yet bold enough to do something naively foolish. Did she ever take his words to heart? Did she really think the Upper City was such a simple place?

Ugh... this brat Cheng Xingzhou really had a grip of iron. Fu Liangxia suspected she might die of pain before freezing to death.

She only pretended to be calm on the surface; inside, her anger was rising steadily.

She truly wanted to snap the necks of the bastards who'd poured water on her—and the person in front of her along with them.

If she weren't still mindful of not doing anything too outrageous that might draw the World's attention, did he think she'd still be standing here obediently?

Still, the ones who poured water on her... Fu Liangxia's gaze slid imperceptibly across Kang Jin and Li Yuanfan's faces in the distance.

She'd remember this.

She hoped they wouldn't regret what they'd done today.

Watching the two of them in silent confrontation, the chubby boy Xue Changgui's cold sweat was about to pour.

What on earth was wrong with the president today? He was acting so unlike himself. Before, when he'd stopped this kind of bullying, he'd just dealt with the perpetrators by the book. Why was he arguing with the victim today instead!

It was too strange. Way too strange.

And this girl actually dared to mock the president! Yet the president didn't even seem that angry...

Xue Changgui was completely stunned.

Just as the air was about to stagnate completely, a sudden "crack" rang out.

Kang Jin, standing in the distance, apparently startled out of his wits, twitched and crushed the basin he was holding.

As if only then remembering there were others present, Cheng Xingzhou tilted his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over Kang Jin before landing on the basin on the ground.

A chill spread through Kang Jin's entire body, as if the next moment he, too, would be shattered like that basin.

Fortunately, Cheng Xingzhou said nothing—just one glance before withdrawing his eyes, because—

"Ah-choo!"

Fu Liangxia quietly pulled her jacket tighter around herself, but the knit top was soaked through. Even pulled tight, it offered no warmth.

Just then, a school blazer carrying body heat was draped over her shoulders. The familiar scent of juniper berries filled her nose, and a slender hand brushed past the back of her neck for but a moment before withdrawing.

Fu Liangxia looked up. Cheng Xingzhou wore that expression again—one that seemed caught between patience and a desire to scold her, with something else hidden in his eyes that looked rather frightening.

She couldn't help but shiver slightly.

"How much longer do you plan to stand there like an idiot?"

Cheng Xingzhou looked down at her from his height, still with that cold, aloof air: "Do you have spare clothes?"

At Saintland, except for the privileged few who had their own private rest areas, everyone else was assigned by class to share a common lounge, only available for a brief rest during lunch. Naturally, one couldn't change clothes there.

And Fu Liangxia had only transferred in the day before yesterday. She hadn't even laid eyes on the common lounge, so of course she had no spare clothes stored there.

Fu Liangxia: ...Come to think of it, wasn't she changing clothes a bit too often these days?

Yesterday she got food dumped on her, today water. Did her clothes have some kind of grudge against her?

Though her thoughts wandered all over the place, she answered obediently, "No..."

Before she could finish, a current ran through her entire body, and the System's voice suddenly rang in her ears:

[Warning: Due to dangerously low body temperature, a random affliction will soon be triggered!]

As the voice sounded, a wave of dizziness hit her. Her eyelids grew heavy and drowsy, and her entire body shook with cold...

But Cheng Xingzhou suddenly looked up, his gaze passing over her shoulder to behind her: "Why are you here?"

Who came?

Fu Liangxia's nearly stalled brain went fuzzy, and her body turned instinctively.

A handsome, sharp-featured man strode over, his face breaking into a smile aimed at Cheng Xingzhou—but the moment he saw her turn her head, his expression suddenly darkened.

Fu Liangxia: "?"

Was she really that repulsive to him?

He got angry just from seeing her face?

And he called that 30 Affinity Points? What a joke!

Fu Liangxia wanted to glare at him, but even the slightest change in expression sent searing pain through her head. She had a vague feeling and tried to raise a hand to touch her forehead.

But her hand had only lifted halfway when a sudden dizziness hit her. She swayed violently and, beyond her control, crumpled to the side.

"Miss!"

"Xiaxia!"

"Fu..."

Several voices reached her ears. At the last edge of her consciousness, she saw the people before her rushing toward her.

So it wasn't that he was entirely unaffected after all... 30 Affinity Points.

A bitter, mocking smile curled at the corner of Fu Liangxia's lips. He was a far cry from the way he'd avoided her like the plague yesterday.

Still, the fall landed her in an embrace faintly scented with juniper berries.