Redemption from the Abyss: The School Beauty Insists on Pulling Me Out of the Mire

Friday night, 20:30 PM.

After a week of intensive training, Xie Wang's desk was piled high with completed test papers.

Sudden.

A soft "snap" sound.

The overhead lights went out without warning.

Immediately afterwards, the entire library, and even half of the teaching building, was plunged into darkness.

The sound of the central air conditioning stopped abruptly, and only the sound of the wind outside the window became clear.

"Is there a power outage?"

Xie Wang stopped writing. In the darkness, his first reaction wasn't to look for his phone, but to instinctively reach out and precisely block the corner of the table in the dark, protecting Su Qinghe opposite him.

"Don't move, be careful not to bump yourself."

"Um."

Su Qinghe's voice remained calm in the darkness, "It must be a circuit breaker tripped."

She turned on her phone's flashlight, and the beam pierced the darkness.

"It's too stuffy. I can't stand staying here with the air conditioning off."

Su Qinghe stood up and pushed the small door leading to the rooftop. "Let's go up there for some fresh air."

……

The rooftop terrace.

Pushing open the iron gate, the night breeze, carrying the dampness of the river, rushed in and dispelled the stuffiness inside.

The moonlight is beautiful tonight; its cool glow shines on the concrete floor like a layer of frost.

Standing here, you can overlook most of Jiangcheng No.1 Middle School, and even see the bright neon sign of the Su Group building on the opposite bank of the river, which looks like a lonely lighthouse in the night.

The two leaned against the railing, looking at the lights in the distance.

Xie Wang placed his hands on the railing, pointed to the tallest building in the distance, and spoke with a hint of casual probing:

"Su Qinghe, that's your building, isn't it?"

"Looking down from that position, don't you feel quite insignificant?"

Su Qinghe followed his gaze, the night wind ruffling the hair beside her ears.

She didn't answer directly, but said softly:

"It's very small. And it's very cold."

Xie Wang turned around, leaned against the railing, and looked at Su Qinghe.

Under the moonlight, she was as beautiful as a porcelain doll, yet she exuded a sense of aloofness that made people afraid to approach her.

This sense of alienation wasn't due to arrogance, but rather because she stood too high up, with no one around her.

"Su Qinghe".

Xie Wang's Adam's apple bobbed as he finally asked the question that had been weighing on his mind.

Even though his grades have improved now, that huge class divide still sticks to him like a thorn.

"Families like yours, are you all very particular about... what's that term again? Marrying someone of equal social standing?"

"Not only do they need good grades, but they also need to have a clean background, preferably being a scion of a prominent family, to be considered respectable?"

He didn't explicitly say it was for himself, but his dark eyes were fixed on her, betraying his nervousness.

Su Qinghe turned her head and looked at the deep unease hidden in the boy's eyes.

She paused for a moment, then turned her gaze back to the solitary building in the distance.

"Xie Wang, do you know?"

Her voice was very soft, as if she were talking to the night breeze:

"I've been surrounded by many people since I was a child, but very few people have ever talked to me."

"They are either afraid of me, or they want something from me, or... they just want to use me as a beautiful ornament to decorate their home."

Su Qinghe turned around, revealing for the first time to Xie Wang the vulnerability and loneliness that belonged to a girl her age:

"My parents are very open-minded. They gave me a lot of freedom, but they also gave me a huge empty shell that I need to guard."

"That road was difficult to walk on and very crowded, but I was the only one walking on it."

She took a step forward, closing in on Xie Wang, her phoenix eyes staring directly into his soul:

"Therefore, the Su family does not need any suitable match, nor does it need a marriage alliance to add to its prestige."

"What I need is someone who can keep up with my pace."

"Someone who can stand firmly by my side when I'm in the eye of the storm, shielding me from the wind, instead of letting the wind blow me away."

"As for who he is, what his name is, whether he comes from a wealthy family or a poor alley..."

Su Qinghe looked at Xie Wang, a faint trace of tenderness flashing in her eyes:

"As long as he's strong enough, nothing else matters."

Xie Wang was stunned.

My heart was pounding violently in my chest, striking my ribs.

It turns out that what she wanted was the "only solution" to help her fight loneliness.

The gloom in Xie Wang's eyes was dispelled by the Moonlight Disc player at this moment.

He took a deep breath, a relieved smile appearing on his lips.

"Yeah?."

Xie Wang did not make his intentions clear.

But the aggression and ambition in his eyes said it all.

Just wait, I'll be standing by your side.

"ah--!!!"

Just when the atmosphere was just right and their eyes were locked on each other.

A piercing scream came from the stairwell, shattering the tranquility of the rooftop.

"There's a ghost!!!"

Lin Lu, holding her phone and with disheveled hair, rushed up to the rooftop. Seeing Xie Wang and Su Qinghe was like seeing her saviors; she pounced on them.

"Waaaaah! I was so scared! I wanted to come up here to find you, but the power went out halfway up! It was pitch black and I thought there were shadows moving around!"

Xie Wang reluctantly withdrew his earlier imposing aura and put his hands back in his pockets.

Su Qinghe helped the trembling Lin Lu up and said helplessly, "That's just the shadow of a tree, don't scare yourself."

"No, no, it's too dark, my legs are weak."

Lin Lu clung tightly to Su Qinghe's arm, on the verge of tears. "Qinghe, let's go quickly. I don't want to stay here anymore."

Xie Wang sighed, walked over, and opened the iron gate:

"Let's go, it's almost time to get out of school, let's pack up and go home."

……

Downstairs in the library, on a secluded path.

Because of the power outage, all the streetlights in this area went out.

Only the dappled moonlight filtering through the leaves made the path leading to the dormitory appear exceptionally secluded.

The three walked out along the path.

Xie Wang led the way, with Su Qinghe leading the deer behind him.

"strangeness……"

Xie Wang suddenly stopped, his brows furrowing slightly.

It's too quiet.

Although the power was out, this place wasn't far from the dormitory area, and we should usually be able to hear the noise from there. But right now, it was eerily quiet, and even the chirping of insects had disappeared.

"What's wrong?" Su Qinghe keenly noticed his tension.

"It's okay, just stay close to me."

Xie Wang lowered his voice, his muscles tensed instantly, and he entered a defensive stance.

Just as they were about to leave the alley and turn onto the main road.

Several red dots suddenly lit up in the shadows ahead.

That was the glow of a cigarette butt.

"Hey, isn't this our top student Xie Wang?"

A vulgar, sleazy voice rang out.

Immediately afterwards, seven or eight dark figures emerged from the bushes and corners of the wall, completely blocking their path.

The leader was a bald man with a burly face, wearing a floral shirt, and playing with a solid baseball bat in his hand.

It was Tiger, the notorious gang leader in the area.

"Someone is willing to pay to buy one of your hands."

Tiger spat out the cigarette butt from his mouth, sparks flying in the darkness.

His lewd gaze swept over the two girls behind Xie Wang, and he whistled:

"Lucky you guys, you've got two hot girls with you? Looks like we're in for a treat tonight."

Lin Lu screamed in fright and hid behind Su Qinghe.

Su Qinghe's face instantly turned cold, but she did not back down. Instead, she instinctively tried to step forward to protect Lin Lu.

"Step back."

Xie Wang reached out and blocked Su Qinghe and Lin Lu behind him.

His back was ramrod straight, like a wall, isolating him from all danger and malice.

"Su Qinghe, take Lin Lu and run back to the security room to call the police."

Xie Wang's voice was soft, yet it carried an undeniable ruthlessness.

"I'll handle this."

"I'm not leaving! There are so many of them!" Su Qinghe gritted his teeth.

There were eight people on the other side, and they were all armed. How could Xie Wang possibly defeat them all by himself?

"obedient!"

Xie Wang let out a low growl, threw his schoolbag to the ground, and stretched his wrists.

Those eyes, which had been gazing at her tenderly in the moonlight just moments before, were now filled with a violent, bloodthirsty red.

He was born a stray dog.

He was familiar with this kind of scene.

"You want to mess with them?"

Xie Wang stared at Tiger Brother, a bloodthirsty smile curling at the corner of his mouth, and casually picked up a half-brick from the roadside:

"Then let's see if you're lucky enough to run into them."

"He won't listen to reason, so he'll have to suffer the consequences! Go! Cripple him!"

Tiger gave the order.

Seven or eight thugs rushed up, wielding sticks.

The wind howled.

Xie Wang had no choice but to bite the bullet and go forward, but he didn't dare to go too far because there were two girls behind him to protect.

At this critical moment—

Om-! ! !

In the distance, a roar like that of a wild beast suddenly came from an engine!

That's the sound of a motorcycle speeding by at top speed!

A blinding beam of high beam, like a sharp sword, instantly tore through the darkness and hurtled straight toward the group of thugs!