Le Jun was silent for a moment before speaking in a low voice. “When I was little, my parents were always busy with work and rarely spent time with me at home. Sometimes, a phone call in the middle of the night would send them rushing right out.
“One night, I woke up thirsty and came out to get some water. As I passed the living room, the lights were off, but someone had forgotten to turn off the TV. It was playing a foreign zombie movie, right at the part where a zombie was eating a person, and the camera even zoomed in for a close-up.
“I was only six years old and all alone in the house. I was so terrified that I ran back to my bedroom, and that very night, I came down with a high fever. It wasn't until my parents came home the next day that they took me to the hospital.
“After that, I could never sleep properly. I was terrified of the dark and couldn't bear being alone. I had nightmares all night long, and I grew anxious and irritable, sometimes even trembling uncontrollably from head to toe. My parents took me to the hospital, and the doctor said I had developed a phobia.
“Later on, my parents sent me to my grandmother's place, and after more than half a year of recuperating, I gradually got better.”
Yet it still left him with severe psychological trauma.
To this day, he still didn't dare watch a single zombie movie, and even seeing related pictures on the internet filled him with dread.
“No wonder!” Ye Li sighed softly, an expression of realization washing over her face.
For a child so young, still naively exploring the world, suddenly stumbling upon such a terrifying, gruesome scene was far beyond what a child could bear. It was more than enough to trigger severe mental shock and psychological trauma, leaving behind a wound that rarely healed.
Childhood trauma like this, if not addressed and soothed in time, often stayed with someone for life, becoming a nightmare they could never shake off.
“Yeah.” Le Jun lowered his gaze.
Apart from his family, this was the first time he had ever shared this “secret” with anyone.
He didn't know why, but when she asked, he had simply laid it all bare.
Perhaps it was their current predicament and the fact that they were in this together, or perhaps, instinctively, he simply didn't want her to look down on him.
Yet having spoken of it, despite a hint of awkwardness, he also felt a sense of relief.
“What about you? Why don't you look scared at all?” Le Jun asked in return.
Granted, he had past trauma that made his reaction extreme, but what about her? She barely had any reaction at all. He had never seen a girl as daring as her!
Of course, he didn't interact with many girls in his daily life, but even among boys, few could hold a candle to her!
“Maybe because I've seen it all too often,” Ye Li replied nonchalantly.
Seeing too much made one numb to it; the abnormal became mundane!
“Then you really are impressive!”
Le Jun automatically assumed she had watched countless horror movies in that genre, steeling her nerves in the process.
Ye Li gave an indifferent shrug and changed the subject. “Did you get into fights a lot before?”
Earlier, she had seen how agile he was in a scrap, balancing offense and defense with practiced skill. He was clearly very experienced!
“I guess so...” Le Jun nodded. “Back in middle school, I wasn't very tall, and I didn't talk much. A few bigger guys in my class always liked picking on me. Later, when I went to high school, I switched to a different school and grew taller, so it rarely happened after that.”
Although he spoke with complete calm, Ye Li could still hear the underlying bitterness and weight behind his words.
In this world, there were always people who liked to prey on the weak to assert their own dominance. If one didn't want to be bullied, the only choice was to find a way to grow stronger.
The law of the jungle was an eternal truth!
“Then why did you take up swimming?” Ye Li asked.
Usually, those who chose the path of a student athlete either struggled with academics or possessed an exceptional passion for the sport. Le Jun clearly belonged to the latter.
“Because all other sports are too noisy.” Le Jun's answer was somewhat unexpected. “I like the feeling of being submerged in water. That feeling where, apart from the sound of rushing water and my own heartbeat, the whole world falls completely silent.”
It was a blissful retreat where nothing that occurred in the universe mattered to him in that moment; the feeling of purely focusing on swimming forward was both intoxicating and addictive.
“A sport for the solitary!” Ye Li smiled.
This guy's childhood really had been full of tribulations—scared out of his wits, bullied, and even picking a solitary sport on top of that. Growing up into someone this tall and good-looking really couldn't have been easy!
Made slightly self-conscious by her smile, Le Jun straightened his posture and rolled his neck, only to suddenly feel a slight stinging sensation at the back of it.
Reaching back to touch it on instinct, he found the sting intensified, as if there were an open wound.
Le Jun's expression changed instantly. Nervously, he said to Ye Li, “I... I think I got hurt just now.”
“Where?” Ye Li asked.
Le Jun lowered his head, exposing the nape of his neck to her. “Right here on my neck!”
Ye Li leaned in for a closer look. The wound wasn't large—three small scratches, somewhat blackened, looking like claw marks.
“Must've been scratched by one of those monsters,” she stated plainly.
“No way?!” Le Jun's face drained of color in an instant. Looking completely bloodless, he stammered, “Th-Then... will I get infected?”
That was how it always went in zombie movies: anyone scratched or bitten became infected.
Even though he hadn't dared watch them, he was familiar with the tropes.
“Probably not.”
Ye Li offered that verbal reassurance, yet in practice, she picked up her chair and scooted two paces away.
Le Jun: “...” Could she make her distaste any more obvious?
Feeling somewhat miserable, he wrapped his arms tightly around himself. After a prolonged silence, he suddenly spoke up: “If I really do get infected, just kill me.”
“Why?” Ye Li was slightly surprised.
Le Jun whispered, “I don't want to turn into a monster.”
Into the very thing he dreaded and reviled the most.
Ye Li fell silent for a moment before giving a quiet “Mm.”
Time ticked by, minute by minute. In the blink of an eye, it was past eleven o'clock, leaving less than an hour until midnight.
In the end, Le Jun didn't undergo any mutation, but Ye Li had waited long enough for her stomach to rumble with hunger.
Unable to bear the gnawing emptiness, she pressed a hand over her churning belly and pulled her feet up onto the chair, curling into a ball.
Seeing this from the side, Le Jun asked with concern, “What's wrong?”
“Hungry...” Ye Li responded weakly.
As if to corroborate her words, her stomach let out a loud rumble, clearly audible even to Le Jun sitting beside her.
As if remembering something, Le Jun reached into his pocket, rummaged around, and held out his hand to Ye Li. “Here!”
Ye Li looked over. Resting in his open palm was a piece of chocolate wrapped in gold foil.
Her eyes lit up instantly. “Where did you get that?”
“I grabbed it from my locker earlier when I got the key. It's the only one left. Go ahead and eat it,” Le Jun said.
Ye Li didn't stand on ceremony. Taking the chocolate, she peeled off the foil wrapping and eagerly popped it into her mouth, chewing away.
The chocolate's velvety smoothness melted over her tongue, rich cocoa aroma instantly flooding her mouth.
But in the very next second, Ye Li's chewing ground to a sudden halt.
Her entire face scrunched up immediately, and she demanded in a muffled voice, “What is this? Why is it so bitter?”
There wasn't the slightest hint of sweetness—the more she chewed, the more bitter it became!
“Oh, I forgot to mention...” Le Jun realized, hastily explaining, “I use that chocolate to replenish my energy during training. It's one hundred percent pure cocoa, completely unsweetened.”
“You...” With her mouth filled with unbearable bitterness, Ye Li found herself unable to either spit it out or swallow it down. Her gaze toward Le Jun was full of accusation!
This damn thing was way too bitter!
Seeing her scrunched-up, utterly miserable expression, Le Jun couldn't help letting out a laugh, two small dimples showing on his cheeks.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that this girl, who seemed fearless in the face of everything, would actually be defeated by a bitter taste.
Catching sight of the girl's increasingly darkened scowl, however, he tactfully turned his head away and clapped a hand over his mouth.
In the end, Ye Li forced herself to swallow the bitterness. Hugging her legs, she rested her chin on her knees in deep contemplation.
“What are you thinking about?” Le Jun asked somewhat uneasily, seeing the girl suddenly fall quiet.
Ye Li looked up, her expression deadly serious. “I'm thinking that next time, maybe we should hit the cafeteria to chow down first!”
Le Jun: “...”
Clang!
Right at that moment, a loud crash echoed from outside, like something heavy smashing onto the ground.
Along with it came countless rattling gasps and chaotic, heavy footsteps echoing down the corridor outside, rapidly drawing closer to their location.
Rate on N.U.
