“I’ve had enough!!!”
After eighteen years, Chen Youzai finally erupted.
He burst through the crowd and sprinted from the school gates. By the time the guard reacted, he was already racing onto the highway.
I’ve endured too long. I’m done with this life.
Every humiliation replayed in his mind. He longed to conjure a stunning face on the spot and silence them forever.
He rushed home, seized the bank card he had secretly opened, and withdrew eighteen years’ worth of saved New Year’s money.
His next appearance was before a cosmetic surgery clinic.
Standing at the entrance, he hesitated.
What if it failed?
What if his mother no longer recognized him?
What if old photographs resurfaced to mock him?
As he wavered, a line of staff appeared at the door, smiling beatifically.
“Sir, would you like to come in for surgery?”
His face flushed crimson. Still, he forced a flippant tone.
“Someone like me—needs surgery?”
For one full second, they froze.
Then, in perfect unison, they swallowed and retreated inside.
Despair closed in.
No one understood the pressure he had borne for eighteen years—the smiles before others, the tears in solitude. Now that change lay within reach, he found himself unsure how to grasp it.
Think of the good days ahead, he told himself.
Think of beauties gazing at you in awe. Think of the girl you secretly love abandoning her boyfriend to seek you instead…
He narrowed his eyes and let out a giddy laugh—
—and felt his bag jerked from his shoulder.
He looked down. Empty hands.
A fleeing figure in the distance.
“Thief!!!”
He gave chase.
But where was this place? How had he run so far he no longer recognized the roads? The air grew colder, darker. Panic crept in.
Had he stumbled into a nature reserve?
Finally, exhausted, he stopped beside a vast lake. The water looked calm enough. Surely no wild beasts would leap out here?
He sat by the shore, intending to call the police—only to realize his phone had been in the stolen bag.
Slapping his forehead, he panted in frustration.
Then—
A faint cry for help.
He stiffened.
Someone else in trouble?
Perhaps they could find the way back together.
He followed the sound.
His gaze fixed upon the lake’s center.
Someone was drowning.
He could swim—but knew nothing of the lake’s depth. Still, for all his resentment toward society, he was not heartless enough to watch someone die within his reach.
Besides…
That person might know the way home.
Futile Devices Scans 
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