Player Reload

To find information online, one must have a tool capable of completely concealing one's presence.

This isn't being overly cautious; it's rigorous logical reasoning.

Firstly, it's clear that the so-called Special Affairs Administration has been around for a while, specializing in dealing with anomalies and suppressing news.

From their perspective, internet surveillance is undoubtedly an important aspect.

Whether someone has survived an anomaly and shared their bizarre experiences online, or someone plunged into one vanished strangely, causing their family to ask for help over the net. The Special Affairs Bureau would take interest.

That also means, every online platform is equipped with a detection system.

Once terms like "Special Affairs Bureau," "Shadow Realm," "Divine Calamity," or even their acronyms are detected, an alert is automatically triggered.

AI programs or designated individuals will first examine whether these correspond with any anomalies. Then, they're manually cross-checked.

Even input method software, document software, cloud storage services, they're all under surveillance, interconnected by sensitive keywords.

This is similar to smartphone applications. If you search for something on a search engine, you'll likely be bombarded with related products when you next visit an online shopping platform.

Li Cheng can't bank on the Special Affairs Bureau's unprofessionalism.

He pocketed the USB drive and stepped out of the cafeteria, only to be stopped after a few steps by a teacher, "Students, could you help me move some books?"

"Oh, sure."

The speaker was the computer teacher whom Li Cheng knew. He immediately went over and picked up a stack of textbooks.

Ye Jiaying approached too, holding another stack of books, she tilted her head with a smile, "What a coincidence."

"Indeed, quite a coincidence."

Li Cheng nodded somewhat awkwardly, about to ask Ye Jiaying to add her stack into his arms but then thought the better of it.

"Students, could you please take these books to the teaching research room on the third floor of the technology building? Thanks a lot."

With that, the computer teacher took out his buzzing phone, answered a call and went off to chat with a school leader.

"Let's go."

Ye Jiaying started walking, her checkered skirt swinging, exuding a faint scent of lavender.

Li Cheng followed silently by her side, suddenly annoyed at why the school leader hadn't made this dappled, tree-lined avenue longer and more winding.

"Are you going to participate in this year's New Year's cultural performance?" Ye Jiaying asked with a smile. "I heard you can play the guitar?"

She was the class representative for Chinese lessons and was also in charge of cultural activities, planning the New Year's performance was part of her responsibilities.

"It's okay, I guess."

Clearing his throat, Li Cheng feigned nonchalance. Thanks to his aunt and uncle's intensive education method, he had taken many hobby classes with his cousins as a child, and playing the guitar was one of the few skills he'd picked up.

"So, do you want to form a band?"

Ye Jiaying asked, "I can play the cello and the drums, Han Letian can play the keyboard, and Mu Yulu knows the bass. Plus you as the guitarist."

"You can play the drums?"

Suppressing his excitement, Li Cheng inquired knowingly.

Of course, he was aware the girl had learned music, having deduced her birthday, favorite music, movies, food, and more through traces on QQ Space and other social platforms.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good at it," she chuckled, "What do you think? Want to join?"

"Yeah!"

Li Cheng nodded vigorously, his mind running wild with fantasies.

On the noisy stage, he'd make a swanky entrance in a black coat, strumming the guitar with unbridled coolness, triggering screams from the audience, electrifying the whole place.

The passionate crowd waving glow sticks would form a shimmering sea, and Ye Jiaying, drumming behind him, would look on with adoration.

Thud!

A dull sound shattered Li Cheng's daydream. He tilted his head subconsciously, feeling the lingering pain on his forehead where he'd been hit.

A brightly colored Wilson basketball, inevitably worth at least eight thousand, had bounced off his head and into the bushes after a few bounces on the ground.

"Sorry about that, man, didn't mean it."

On the basketball court, a handsome guy in a Givenchy T-shirt, tall and handsome, waved at him with a smile, "You alright?"

Luo Zhengxin, a sophomore student in the tenth class, came from a well-known cosmetics company-owning family and was quite handsome. He played forward on the school's basketball team.

The basketball court was quite a distance from the tree-lined path, with a row of trees as a barrier. It was too coincidental to be accidental that the ball had hit someone.

Probably because a few months back, he had confidently and publicly confessed his feelings to Ye Jiaying with a rose-shaped heart outside the school gate, only to be politely rejected.

"Hey, man, you good? Don't zone out."

"You're not going to collapse just from that, are you?"

"Bro, can you toss the ball over here?"

On the basketball court, the young men playing with Luo Zhengxin all chimed in to ask for assistance. Both the boys and girls watching their game from the sidelines had smiles on their faces, enjoying the spectacle without minding the chaos.

"That's sick."

Ye Jiaying frowned and muttered under her breath, putting down her book and rubbing Li Cheng's forehead, "How's that, does it hurt?"

To onlookers, her gesture appeared somewhat intimate, which caused Luo Zhengxin's smile to stiffen on his face.

He pretended to be nonchalant, shaking his collar and flipping out his platinum Saint Laurent pendant.

"I'm fine."

Li Cheng, who just the night before had sliced open his own throat, was not one to simply endure in silence, a sudden rush of righteous anger rising within him, yet his face still wore a smile.

He casually put down his textbook, picked up the Wilson basketball, tossed it lightly, and said to Luo Zhengxin on the basketball court, "Here it comes, can you catch it?"

Luo Zhengxin grinned confidently, "Throw it as you like."

He stood tall, a head taller than Li Cheng, who appeared slender and clearly not given to much physical exercise.

In Luo Zhengxin's imagination, he pictured how he would catch the basketball with flourish, spin around, and make a perfect three-pointer jump shot.

Seeing him so optimistic, Li Cheng gave a slight smile, grabbed the basketball with his right hand, and as he gently tossed it, his fingertips spun it slightly.

The basketball, not moving fast, landed right in Luo Zhengxin's palm, and as he went to grip it with both hands, he felt the spin still on it.

"!!!"

His palm got caught in the spin, his wrist twisting sharply, and the back of his hand slammed hard against his own face.

Bang!

After a muffled thud, Luo Zhengxin began to bleed from the nose, his grip slackened, and the basketball hit the ground.

"..."

The court fell silent. To everyone else, it looked like Luo Zhengxin casually caught the slow-moving ball and then, out of nowhere, smacked himself in the nose, causing a nosebleed.

It was the scream of a girl on the sidelines that snapped everyone back to reality, "Ah! Zhengxin brother is bleeding from his nose!"

His basketball buddies and the spectators all crowded around, asking if he was okay, offering him water and tissues, and wiping his blood. Someone even ran to call the school doctor.

"Hey, man, you alright? Don't space out. Don't tell me you can't take a hit."

Li Cheng's expression was one of surprise as he returned the sentiment he had received earlier. Seeing the court in disarray, he once again picked up his textbooks, nonchalantly walking away with Ye Jiaying towards the Technology Building.

"You can't leave!"

A well-dressed young man and woman crossed the grass to block Li Cheng's path.

Qiu Yingxun and Qiu Yourong. These two were the movers and shakers of Class Eleven, the so-called 'overseas study class', with their families running publicly-listed companies, wealthier even than Luo Zhengxin's. Though... their sexual orientation was somewhat unconventional.

Both brother and sister could feel attraction towards both the same and opposite sex.

"You made Zhengxin brother bleed from the nose, and you think you can just walk away like that?" Qiu Yingxun challenged sternly, while patting Li Cheng's shoulder with a palm still stained with Luo Zhengxin's blood.

"What if you've permanently disfigured him? Can you afford to pay for that?" Qiu Yourong shouted, "He's going to play in the NBA in the future!"

"What the NBA cares about is skill, not looks."

Facing the two wealthy siblings who looked good but somehow exuded a foolish vibe, Li Cheng earnestly replied, "Of course, I don't doubt student Luo's abilities. Sooner or later, he will achieve what my idol Kobe Bryant has done.

By the way, I should mention that Kobe has received 5 NBA championships, 1 regular-season MVP, 2 Finals MVPs, 4 All-Star MVPs, 2 scoring titles; was selected 18 times as an All-Star starter, included in the All-NBA Team 15 times (11 times in the first team, 2-second team, 2 third team), and NBA All-Defensive Team 12 times (9 times in the first team, 3-second team), not to mention he passed away once."

Qiu Yingxun and Qiu Yourong stood there, dumbfounded as they listened to this diatribe, only realizing that Li Cheng and Ye Jiaying had walked far away after they finished speaking, stomping their feet in frustration, "You can't leave!"

"Don't stop him!"

Luo Zhengxin poked his head out from among the classmates who were voicing their concerns, his voice hoarse as he yelled, preventing the Qiu siblings from chasing after Li Cheng.

As the school team's forward, failing to catch a slow ball and causing a nosebleed was embarrassing enough.

If the situation got blown out of proportion, and others came to know, his reputation would be beyond saving.

From that point on, this is how people would refer to him, "Hey, do you know Luo Zhengxin from our school's basketball team, the one who says he's going to play in the NBA?"

"Yeah, what happened to him?"

"He got hit by the ball and bled from his nose, ended up lying in the school's infirmary all afternoon, with many doctors from the city coming to consult. It took a long time to stop the bleeding; now the next big challenge is figuring out how to cut his hair without anesthesia—truly, a dilemma of the century."

Climbing the steps to the Technology Building, Ye Jiaying looked back at the indignant Qiu siblings and couldn't help but laugh, "They're really funny."

"Right, there's a kind of stupid innocence in their eyes, like hamsters."

Li Cheng also couldn't help but laugh. He went into the teaching and research office, set down his books, and dusted off his hands.

Outside the window, the trees formed a lush backdrop against the brilliant sunset. Music played from the loudspeakers, students on the field practiced running, pulled up on the horizontal bars, boys wandered in groups excitedly discussing the latest video games, and girls huddled together, casually discussing personality tests from Xiao Hong Shu.

They could just make out a couple walking through the small woods, hands intertwined, uttering endless sweet nothings; as soon as they spotted a teacher approaching, they would hurriedly let go of each other's hands, moving far apart as though strangers.

A vibrant scene of thriving life, the chase of nature, right before their eyes.