"Young Master Si? Young Master Si!"
Someone seemed to be calling him, but he didn't react. Sensing his mood, the person took the hint and left.
Si Jiang sat hunched over, arms braced above his knees in a closed-off, defensive posture. Liquid dripped from his face; his drink had fallen to the ground at some point, the liquid gurgling as it spread, catching his sweat. Together, they vanished into the dust and noise, trampled by the constant movement of sneakers.
At some unknown moment, his fingers began to twitch as if struck by an electric current, followed quickly by spasms in his arm muscles.
*This won't do.*
Si Jiang tried to stand but failed, sinking back down weakly. On his second attempt, he forced himself up. He looked around, searching for Zong Yan.
He couldn't find her. He had to find her and ask for the truth.
But he couldn't find her.
Everything before his eyes began to spin slowly. Heaven and earth swirled into a turbid vortex of muddy colors, sucking in his internal organs and churning his brain into mush. Si Jiang broke into a cold sweat, his head spinning.
In this world devoid of order, a single, complete silhouette suddenly appeared, breaking through the abstract and bizarre imagery as it walked into the distance.
He chased after it subconsciously.
Along the way, various colors crashed into him; everything in existence seemed to be blocking his path. The sweat on his forehead felt like a burst water bag, stinging his eyes as it poured in.
It hurt.
Si Jiang wiped his eyes, unwilling to lose track of that silhouette.
But it hurt so much. Every step was agony.
Why did it hurt this much?
His muscles were twisting, contorting, and screaming in protest. He could even hear a terrifying creaking sound coming from within his body. Were his bones and joints screaming?
Si Jiang leaned against the wall, shuffling forward, unaware that his teeth were chattering uncontrollably. His pace grew slower and slower.
He missed a step.
It was as if he could no longer feel his legs.
*Zong Yan. Zong Yan!*
Where was Zong Yan?
Leaning against the grey wall, he looked ahead. The corridor was empty; there was nothing. An endless void rushed toward him.
She was gone. She had left again.
*Heh.*
Si Jiang lifted his head in agony, veins bulging. He gripped his own throat with both hands. *It hurts. Why does it hurt so much inside?* His nails dug into his flesh, clawing from his jaw down to his collarbone, as if trying to tear something out from beneath his skin.
He could no longer see. The world felt like a giant box, rapidly swallowing everything in its path as it rolled toward him.
A soft chuckle sounded in his ear.
Si Jiang’s eyes widened in horror.
"Zong—!"
"Zong Yan!"
The girl crouching on the ground counting the remaining supplies turned at the sound of her name. It was a girl from their class.
"Have you seen Si Jiang?" the girl asked, her face etched with anxiety.
"No, why?" Zong Yan asked.
"The next half is about to start, but we can't find him anywhere."
Zong Yan paused and stood up. "Wasn't he just in the rest area?"
"Never mind the talk, let's go look."
The two of them ran, checking nearby rooms, but found nothing. They passed the men's restroom and called his name, but there was no response.
"What do we do? There are only ten seconds until the start!" The girl looked at the time, nearly on the verge of tears.
Zong Yan took a deep breath. "It's fine. Let's head back first. He might already be on the court."
As impulsive as Si Jiang was, he wouldn't treat a game like a joke.
They hurried back toward the inner court. Just as they rounded a corner, they saw someone standing in the middle of the corridor.
His head was lowered, staring at the floor. He wore a short-sleeved jersey, but his arms were tightly wrapped in compression sleeves. With that flamboyant silver-gray hair, who could it be but Si Jiang?
The girl from class immediately cried out in excitement, "Senior Si Jiang! So you were here!"
Zong Yan was about to call him too, but the words died in her throat.
She felt something was wrong.
The lights in this corridor were old, flickering intermittently as if light and darkness were constantly fighting for territory.
Si Jiang’s back was to them. Hearing the voice, his shoulders twitched. Then, like a machine that had been rusted for a long time, his head turned slowly, clicking frame by frame. The rest of his body remained perfectly still.
"Senior Si Jiang?" the girl asked, sounding a bit frightened.
The light hit the side of his face, his high bridge of his nose dividing the brightness from the shadow. That handsome yet gloomy half-face looked toward them. His eyeballs rolled in their sockets like marbles, searching for focus, finally landing on Zong Yan.
Si Jiang’s lip twitched, and then his mouth split into a wide grin—unnervingly fast. His eyes were dark and hollow as he flashed an incredibly eerie smile. "It's you."
As they walked out, Zong Yan could hear the other girl whispering a complaint: "Holy crap, why did he suddenly become so terrifying?"
Zong Yan remained noncommittal and didn't respond. Her gaze, however, remained fixed on the man walking toward the basketball court, who appeared to have returned to normal.
It was very strange.
She had seen Si Jiang with all sorts of expressions: angry, aggrieved, arrogant, obedient, bratty, and patient. But she had never seen him look like that.
It was as if a non-biological entity was attempting to mimic a human expression for the first time, failing to grasp the nuance and unable to coordinate its features.
The way he looked at her was different, too. It wasn't the gaze he usually tried—and failed—to hide. It was primal, piercing through her with raw intensity.
She felt as if she were looking at a monster that had been trapped in a cramped, dark space, suddenly gaining its freedom and escaping with a heart full of dense malice.
*What happened?*
Zong Yan crossed her arms and walked cautiously to the front of the spectator area.
*Tweet!*
A sharp whistle blew. Everyone froze.
The referee pointed at Si Jiang and signaled: "Personal foul! Hacking!"
It seemed like a minor incident, though the player who had been hit felt his arm go numb and instinctively began to guard against Si Jiang.
"Si Jiang!"
A teammate intercepted the ball and signaled to him, passing it for a shot. This was the scoring method Si Jiang had been best at during the first half, but when the ball was passed, Si Jiang actually failed to catch it.
The ball missed his hands and bounced off the floor. The opposing team took the opportunity to snatch it back.
*Was that a mistake?*
The pace of the game was intense; they had no time to ponder the question and immediately threw themselves back into the action.
Meanwhile, Si Jiang remained standing where he was, staring at the basketball. His gaze was sinister.
Less than a minute later, the whistle blew again. "Charging foul!"
It was Si Jiang again. The boy defending him had been knocked to the ground.
Now, everyone realized something was wrong.
Free throws followed—one after another. The score gap began to close rapidly. The people from their class who had been cheering loudly gradually lowered their voices.
Whispers began to spread. "What's wrong with Senior Si Jiang?"
Zong Yan knit her brows, watching the figure weaving through the crowd on the court.
If at the beginning Si Jiang had seemed like a novice who didn't know what he was doing, now he was a deliberate offender, using every opportunity to test the loopholes in the rules.
He was doing it on purpose.
When Si Jiang used his elbow to strike an opponent's chest in the referee's blind spot—but right under Zong Yan's nose—she realized his goal.
After repeated malicious fouls and injuries, even the most good-natured opponents became furious. A basketball court is naturally a place where emotions are easily triggered.
The other side began to foul back. A perfectly good game had suddenly turned sour.
The referee blew the whistle for the fourth time. Another foul by Si Jiang.
One player from the opposing class couldn't take it anymore and had to be subbed out. Now, the glares coming from that side were filled with nothing but hostility.
The brief timeout ended, and everyone returned to the court. The atmosphere was explosive.
The Sports Representative and the other teammates were already flustered and disheartened by Si Jiang's performance, making them unable to withstand the opponents' angry assault.
With great difficulty, they managed to grab the ball and instinctively passed it to Si Jiang.
This time, Si Jiang caught it. He dribbled the ball toward the basket. A substitute player who had just entered the game was responsible for defending the rim and blocked his path.
The player asked in a low voice, "Why are you targeting him?" The injured player who had been subbed out was his best friend.
Si Jiang’s brows arched, his eyes mocking. He said airily, "Because I feel like it."
The other boy's face darkened instantly, completely provoked. He lunged forward, grabbed Si Jiang’s collar, and threw a punch.
Si Jiang’s reactions were lightning-fast. He pinned the boy to the ground and returned the punch.
The referee immediately rushed over to pull them apart, and others swarmed in.
Si Jiang shook his hand. Seeing the blood on his fingertips, he became even more excited. When the referee forcibly pulled him away, he actually raised his hand again, intending to attack the official.
"Si Jiang, are you crazy?!"
The boys from his class rushed over to stop him. But Si Jiang’s strength was extraordinary at that moment; for a while, they couldn't even restrain him.
It looked as though his punch was about to land on the referee's face.
*Slap!*
A forceful slap landed on Si Jiang’s face.
He looked over coldly.
Zong Yan stood beside him, looking at him with an extremely stern expression.
Si Jiang moved his cheek. Like a provoked beast, he flashed a terrifying smile and opened his mouth. "You..."
*Slap!*
Another slap.
Zong Yan grabbed his jaw, pulled him forward, and said coldly, "How many more slaps will it take for you to wake up?"
But Si Jiang maintained that eerie expression, seemingly unaffected. He simply continued, "You hit me?"
Zong Yan asked, "And?"
His smile grew more delighted. "Why don't you just go die?"
"Hmm? Why don't you just die?"
Seeing that the people nearby were about to overhear, Zong Yan truly didn't want him to continue his madness here. She covered his mouth and gripped his wrist.
"Referee, can I take him away?"
Only then did the referee snap out of it. He blew the whistle one last time in anger. "Five fouls, attacking an official—ejected and suspended!"
Zong Yan then led the culprit off the court. Some people tried to follow, but she turned them away.
She needed to have a talk with him.
***
