Chapter 1

“A symbiotic relationship refers to two organisms living together for mutual benefit. Without each other, their lives would be greatly affected, even to the point of death.”

The biology teacher’s voice was hoarse yet ringing, like the cicadas outside the window, every sound dutifully made.

The scorching sunset slanted into the classroom, drawing a line between light and shadow. Chen Nian sat right on that boundary, perfectly quiet.

Sunlight covered the fine hair on her forehead, turning it golden. She narrowed her eyes, her dark, long lashes futilely blocking the light.

A shadow fell over her.

It was the homeroom teacher, with two police officers behind her.

The classroom instantly fell silent.

“Chen Nian,” the homeroom teacher stood at the door. Rarely did this usually stern woman look so gentle. She waved at her. “Come out for a moment.”

Chen Nian looked at the two uniformed officers, and her expression changed slightly.

She glanced at the empty seat in front of her, finally put down her mechanical pencil, and as she stood, tugged at the school-uniform skirt sticking to her thighs.

The biology teacher and the entire class watched her go. Once their eyes could no longer see her, their ears followed instead. Even the fine hairs inside their ear canals seemed to stand up, eager to hear something new.

The homeroom teacher patted Chen Nian’s thin shoulder and comforted her. “Don’t be nervous. They just want to ask you a few questions.”

One officer looked serious. The other was very young and smiled at her gently, revealing dimples.

Chen Nian nodded and silently followed the homeroom teacher toward the office. After a few steps, the homeroom teacher turned back to look at the classroom full of students craning their necks and snapped, “Pay attention in class!”

Once they reached the office and sat down, the air-conditioning crawled into her pores like insects.

The homeroom teacher looked certain as she gazed at Chen Nian and asked, “Chen Nian, you should know why these two officers are here, right?”

“I kn-know.”

Chen Nian had a stutter. She was not particularly nervous; her pale complexion was simply because her skin was naturally thin and delicate.

The younger officer was considerate of her and asked, “You know we’re here because of Hu Xiaodie falling from the building?”

Chen Nian nodded, her black eyes fixed on him.

“We didn’t ask others. We came to ask you. You know why too, don’t you?”

“I was on d-duty that day.”

“That day, Hu Xiaodie, you, and two other students were on cleaning duty together. After the classroom was cleaned, the other two left first. When they left, only you and Hu Xiaodie remained in the classroom.”

Chen Nian nodded.

“You said you left before Hu Xiaodie?”

Chen Nian nodded again.

“That day, did Hu Xiaodie reveal anything to you?”

Chen Nian shook her head, her eyes clear in black and white.

“Did you notice anything unusual about her?”

She shook her head again.

The other officer cut in. “Can you tell us what Hu Xiaodie’s condition was like when only the two of you were left in the classroom that day?”

“It’s all written in… in the s-statement.”

The homeroom teacher interjected, “This child has real difficulty speaking. She was already asked once last time, and it was all recorded.”

Chen Nian quietly glanced at the homeroom teacher.

The officer thought for a moment, then asked, “You said that after school that day, you didn’t see Hu Xiaodie, so you went home first?”

Chen Nian nodded.

A week ago, during a patrol, the security guard had discovered a pool of blood on the floor tiles in front of the teaching building. Hu Xiaodie’s corpse lay broken inside it.

Hu Xiaodie was the school beauty, yet she had ended up with the ugliest death.

The police had preliminarily determined it to be suicide. But the reason for her suicide was still unclear.

There were no more questions. The homeroom teacher told Chen Nian to return to class.

Chen Nian walked out of the air-conditioned room, and a layer of stifling sweat immediately wrapped around her, like a sheet of plastic film.

She looked at the dazzling white sunlight, as if she had seen Hu Xiaodie’s milky-white body. A chill crept up from the soles of her feet.

Hot and cold tangled together.

After a few steps, someone called her from behind. “Chen Nian.”

It was the young officer. He handed her a business card and smiled. His gaze was extremely deep, as if it could see through something.

“My surname is Zheng. If you need help in the future, call me.”

Chen Nian’s heart knocked hard. She nodded.

When she entered the classroom, it was as though someone had pressed the mute button. Ballpoint pens and exercise books were so quiet they seemed to be spasming. Chen Nian acted as if she knew nothing and walked toward her seat. Among dozens of gazes, one was especially sharp, as if it wanted to cut a slit through her body.

Chen Nian glanced at Wei Lai sitting in the back row. Those eyes, lined with eyeliner, looked especially deep and dark, carrying a cold-blooded threat.

Chen Nian sat back down.

The classmate diagonally in front of her, Zeng Hao, scratched at her leg under the desk. Chen Nian reached over and felt a slip of paper in her hand. On it was written: “What did they ask you?”

Chen Nian remained silent. She glanced at Hu Xiaodie’s empty seat in front of her, then swept her peripheral vision over the people around her.

One person had suddenly disappeared from the class, but everyone did not seem too affected. Only Hu Xiaodie’s friend Zeng Hao cried from time to time.

As for the others, most were discussing it. More than sorrow, there was curiosity and confusion.

Or perhaps bewilderment. In lives of seventeen or eighteen years, everything was mysterious.

One major characteristic and advantage of youth was forgetfulness. It was easy to move forward.

The students who had been whispering one second earlier all quieted down now. Their eyes were starving, shining like dozens of light bulbs, staring intently at the wall clock above the blackboard.

One minute until school ended!

Whispering in class was not allowed, but the end of school was like opening a birdcage. Students who usually ignored the rules moved the countdown from their hearts to their mouths, openly challenging the teacher.

“20… 19…”

Gradually, others followed, like a swarm of bees approaching from afar.

The biology teacher understood biological convergence and herd behavior better than anyone. Helpless and unwilling, he refused to put down his textbook.

More and more students joined the countdown.

“13… 12…”

Chen Nian’s heart beat like a drum, following the rhythm of the boys’ voices. She had already packed her schoolbag under the desk, waiting only for the bell to ring before rushing out of the classroom.

In the sweltering evening, sweat seeped out on the wings of her nose.

The biology teacher refused to give up and asked, “Besides symbiosis, parasitism, and competition, what other interspecific relationship is there?”

The entire class answered excitedly, “Predation!”

“Predation!”

“Ring—”

The school bell detonated the classroom. Noise, the collision of desks and chairs.

Chen Nian strode out of the classroom. Once she was sure she had escaped that gaze, she broke into a run. She ran down the corridor, turned into the stairwell, her white canvas shoes alternating on the steps in near panic.

Her calves were very thin, as if they might not withstand such speed and would snap.

Several boys rushed past her with loud whoops. Chen Nian paid them no attention and ran with all her strength, looking back from time to time, as though an evil ghost invisible to others was chasing her life.

She was prey being hunted.

By the time the school bell finished ringing, her white uniform skirt had already disappeared beyond the school gate.

Chen Nian ran all the way home. When she reached the small alley near her house, she truly had no strength left. Supporting her waist, she panted as she walked forward.

Her heart thundered like a drum. She wiped the sweat from her mouth and clutched the strap of her schoolbag.

The bluestone alley was covered in the evening glow, like an oil painting. A few greasy strands of the smell of shredded pork with green peppers drifted over from behind courtyard walls.

Clang, clang, clang.

The sound of a spatula striking an iron wok.

And the sound of fists and feet landing.

In the corner, a group of scruffy delinquents were beating someone. A boy in a white T-shirt was curled on the ground, not fighting back, making no sound.

Chen Nian lowered her head and held her breath as she walked past.

That group cursed and swore, filthy words spilling nonstop.

Chen Nian walked past quickly without looking sideways. Around the corner, she took out her phone. She had only pressed two numbers when someone grabbed the back of her collar.

Like a little chick, she was dragged into the middle of that group.

Under another’s roof, one had to lower one’s head. Chen Nian’s head was almost buried in her chest.

One delinquent slapped her face once, then again.

“Little bitch, who are you calling?”

Chen Nian lowered her eyes. “My… my mom.”

The other person grabbed her wrist and twisted it around. The screen showed the digits “11.”

“110?”

A slap came down hard on her head and face.

“Fuck your mother, you looking to die?”

Chen Nian fell onto the boy in the white T-shirt. Her cheek burned. She regretted it. She should not have meddled. What did it have to do with her whether they beat someone up or killed someone?

“What the fuck is this?”

The person lifted a foot to kick her, but another waved him off, crouched down, grabbed her ponytail, and forced her to raise her head.

Chen Nian saw that the delinquent still had a school uniform tied around his waist. He was the same age as her, yet an uncrossable gulf lay between them. It was as if they were natural enemies, belonging to different species.

He lifted his chin and pointed at the boy in the white T-shirt who had been beaten.

“You know him?”

He tugged Chen Nian’s hair, twisting her head over. Chen Nian crashed into a pair of pitch-black brows and eyes, hidden in the dusk, their emotion impossible to see.

“Don’t kn-know…”

It was somewhat difficult for Chen Nian to speak.

“I don’t know him.”

“You don’t know him?”

The delinquent held her bird’s-nest-like hair and shook her head.

“You don’t know him, but you stick your nose into other people’s business?”

“I won’t… won’t interfere anymore.”

Chen Nian’s voice was very small, carrying genuine regret and weak pleading.

She lowered her eyes, not daring to look into the white-T-shirt boy’s eyes.

For a moment, the delinquent found it boring, yet he was unwilling to let her go. He got stubborn with her.

“If you don’t know him, why did you try to save him, huh?”

As if he truly cared so much about her reason.

Chen Nian said, “I don’t know.”

She sensed that something was wrong.

“You think he’s good-looking?”

Chen Nian said nothing. There was no answer in her mind. When their eyes had met just now, his gaze had been forceful. That single instant was enough for her to judge that he was a good-looking boy. But before that, she had not looked at him.

“Of course he’s good-looking. His mom is a famous beauty in our city.”

They exchanged glances, smiling maliciously and obscenely.

“A lot of people line up to get into her bed. Fuck…”

“Maybe one day it’ll be my turn. I already thought it through, I’d go in from behind—”

Chen Nian clenched her teeth. A shame that did not belong to her exploded across her face. She dared even less to look at the boy in the white T-shirt.

They finally finished mocking him and grabbed Chen Nian by the collar.

“Do you have money?”

“Huh?”

“He doesn’t have money. Do you?”

So they were bullying students and stealing money. Chen Nian’s family was not well-off, and she could not bear to part with money. But she was also afraid they would search her. At last, with reddened eyes, she took out seventy yuan and said in a low voice, “This is… all I have.”

The other person cursed her as a “poor bitch” in dissatisfaction and snatched the money away.

Since the amount was too little, he had to find some psychological balance, to prove that his power was worth more than seventy yuan.

“Come on, come on. You saved him, so your reward is kissing him.”

Chen Nian froze, then pushed away hard, bracing her hands on the ground as she climbed up.

Several delinquents surged forward. With many hands, they pressed her flat onto the ground. She became a wretched, soaked dog.

Shame and anger. Humiliation.

But what the hell was humiliation?

Chen Nian screamed, struggled, and resisted. The boy in the white T-shirt narrowed his eyes slightly and watched her coldly, but he made no sound.

Her mouth crashed into his. Soft lips against hard teeth.

Scorching heat.

The back of her head was held down, and the two of them were ground into the dust. The delinquents laughed happily as they counted, saying they would count to 110.

She gave up resisting, tears smashing one by one onto his face.

The boy in the white T-shirt quietly looked at her without making the slightest sound.