Futile Devices Scans

For a variety of reasons he could neither clearly explain nor put into words, Qin Shu somehow managed to endure it.

Although Pei Zhao’s embrace was frighteningly cold, Qin Shu still did not ask him to let go. He would rather continue sitting pressed against him like this.

At least Pei Zhao could block the wind. That was perfectly reasonable.

Gritting his teeth, Qin Shu sped up and, before the sky had fully darkened, successfully arrived at the hotpot restaurant in the eastern district.

The restaurant was brightly lit and packed with customers. The rich aroma of numbing spice and chili filled the air, warm enough to feel from the scent alone. In the harsh depths of winter, it was practically irresistible.

Qin Shu rubbed his somewhat stiff arms and neck, helped Pei Zhao off the scooter, locked it, and picked up their backpacks. His other hand still had to rest on Pei Zhao’s shoulder as he pulled him close and led him toward the restaurant.

They looked exceedingly affectionate, but in truth, Qin Shu was genuinely freezing to death and merely forcing himself to endure it.

Fortunately, the restaurant had heating. Only then did Qin Shu’s smile stop looking stiff. Curling his lips, he said to the server, “Hello, table for two. Can we have a private room? A minimum charge isn’t a problem.”

Pei Zhao disliked crowded places. Conveniently, after spending the entire day inside a haunted school, Qin Shu was also happy to enjoy some peace and quiet.

“Of course, sir. Our six-person private rooms don’t have a minimum charge. Please follow me.”

Fortunately, they had arrived early, before all the private rooms were booked. The server efficiently led them upstairs to a room named Prelude to Water Melody.

The private room was not particularly large, but its antique-style decor was finely detailed. It even had a small tea table and an automatic kettle for brewing tea, which was more than spacious enough for two people.

Qin Shu scanned the ordering code with his phone and scrolled down to check the prices of the teas they offered. To his surprise, there was no markup at all.

So he looked toward the server and said without hesitation, “We’ll have the beef-tallow broth, medium spicy. We can order the dishes ourselves. And bring us a large pot of ripe pu’er tea, please.”

“Of course, sir.”

The server gently closed the door and left. In less than five minutes, they returned with a large pot of pu’er tea and several cold dishes.

Qin Shu sat beside Pei Zhao and lowered his head, leaning over to watch him slowly place their order. He seemed to have no concept of personal space at all; their heads were nearly touching.

But Pei Zhao said nothing. Holding Qin Shu’s phone, he slowly scrolled through the menu with exceptional concentration, his tastes extremely particular.

This was their second time at the hotpot restaurant in the eastern district. The last time, they had chosen everything blindly. This time, however, Pei Zhao knew perfectly well what he wanted to eat and what he did not.

He only wanted freshly slaughtered animals from that very day, especially fish and shrimp. They had to have died that afternoon before he would eat them, and the quality could not be too poor either.

If raw dishes were available, Pei Zhao also preferred eating them uncooked—for example, the sashimi and rice with pasteurized raw egg that this restaurant offered. Even then, it was merely a preference, something he could tolerate eating. It did not mean he particularly liked it.

“…So perverted.”

Qin Shu could not help muttering. Pei Zhao lifted his eyes and gave him a neither-heavy-nor-light glance, and Qin Shu immediately pretended nothing had happened.

There was no helping it. His tastes and Pei Zhao’s were completely opposite. Qin Shu was the type who absolutely did not dare eat raw food. Even steak had to be nearly well-done before he would touch it; the moment he saw anything blood-red, he found it difficult to swallow.

After looking over the dishes Pei Zhao had chosen, the back of Qin Shu’s neck began to feel cold again. He hurriedly turned away and gulped down a large cup of hot tea, finally feeling as though he had come back to life.

Once his body had warmed up and the beef-tallow hotpot began releasing its rich, tempting aroma, Qin Shu’s state of mind suddenly adjusted itself again.

Having different tastes was actually a good thing. A seventeen-year-old high school student was still at an age when he could continue growing taller, and with the added strain of using his brain so much, his appetite absolutely could not be underestimated.

Even someone like Pei Zhao, who looked so thin, would turn into a gentle bottomless pit once he slowly began eating.

Conveniently, because they liked different things, there was never any need to compete over food. When Pei Zhao fished shrimp paste from the pot for the third time, expressionlessly picked it up, and personally placed it in Qin Shu’s bowl, Qin Shu suddenly realized that he felt very happy.

He did not know what exactly he was happy about. He just felt wonderful inside. Hmph… In the future, he had to drag Pei Zhao out to eat with him more often.

After eating and drinking their fill, they still had plenty of time. The sky beyond the private room’s window was extremely dark, while increasingly harsh frost and snow drifted down. The falling snow was crushed beneath the tires of the endless stream of traffic, turning into a stretch of bone-chilling, muddy ice water.

Qin Shu only glanced outside before deciding they could not leave in a hurry.

He ordered another pot of hot tea, pushed the complimentary ice cream and chilled starch jelly toward Pei Zhao, and said with a smile, “Zhaozhao, you eat. I’ll work on some practice questions. I’ll ask you if I get stuck.”

“Mm.”

This was the difference between an excellent student and a god-level student. Pei Zhao only completed his homework on time. He never did extra practice questions and had never attended any after-school tutoring.

At least in every place Qin Shu could see, Pei Zhao had truly never worked hard in secret. He was the kind of genius who only needed to learn a concept and complete the homework before eventually placing first in the entire grade.

Perhaps even most repetitive assignments were merely burdens that wasted Pei Zhao’s time… Qin Shu sighed inwardly, spread out his test paper, looked at the math problem he had derived into a complete mess, and aggressively took a sip of tea.

No. He could not always think of asking Pei Zhao the moment he encountered difficulty. He had to try solving it himself first.

On one side, Qin Shu wrote furiously across his scratch paper. On the other, Pei Zhao frowned slightly and somewhat reluctantly picked up the long, narrow metal spoon.

He stared at the ice cream on the plate, cold air wafting from it, and tried very hard to persuade himself to taste it. Only then did he laboriously lift his hand and scoop out a tiny piece.

The silky vanilla ice cream melted on his tongue, and Pei Zhao’s eyes quietly lit up.

Narrowing his golden-amber eyes, in which ghostly light flickered, he slowly swept his gaze across Qin Shu’s focused profile. Then, without making a sound, he picked up his own phone, scanned the code, paid the entire bill, and ordered three more flavors of ice cream.

When Qin Shu finally solved the troublesome problem and emerged from his deeply immersed thoughts, he was just about to ask Pei Zhao to praise him… but the moment he turned his head, he was completely dumbfounded.

The little plates used for the ice cream had been piled beside Pei Zhao like a mountain, stacked so high they could already be called towering. The visual impact was astonishing.

“You eat this.”

The expression between Pei Zhao’s brows had softened, and his tone was gentler than usual.

He seemed to have eaten himself into a good mood. He pushed the chocolate flavor he did not particularly like toward Qin Shu, then took Qin Shu’s completed paper on his own initiative and carefully examined it with interest.

“Uh… thanks?” Qin Shu ate the ice cream in confusion. Looking at Pei Zhao’s beautiful eyes, now lazily half-lidded, he once again found himself wanting to speak but stopping.

Eating this much raw food and ice cream all at once in the middle of winter… Would he really not get sick?

“There’s nothing wrong with this problem. You did very well.”

Something even stranger happened. Pei Zhao actually praised him without being prompted, and did so very seriously, without Qin Shu needing to ask.

Under Qin Shu’s blank stare, Pei Zhao carefully folded the test paper, put it back into Qin Shu’s backpack, then reached out and tugged his sleeve. “I’ve had enough.”

“…Mm, okay.” Still dazed, Qin Shu picked up the backpacks, then reached back to hold Pei Zhao’s wrist and led him out of the private room. “I’ll pay, then call a car and take you back. The snow outside is really heavy.”

Pei Zhao obediently allowed himself to be led, following behind Qin Shu with silent steps as he reminded him, “There’s no need to pay. I already settled the bill.”

“Why would you do that? We agreed I was treating you.” Qin Shu froze again upon hearing this, his tone faintly aggrieved.

“I have a lot of money,” Pei Zhao explained softly. “It’s the same if I treat you.”

“It’s not the same!”

Pei Zhao tilted his head and fell into puzzled thought. But before he could work out why, the car Qin Shu had called had already arrived outside the hotpot restaurant.

Qin Shu opened the rear passenger door and poked Pei Zhao’s lower back with faint resentment. “Get in. I’ll go back to No. 2 High School with you.”

Pei Zhao’s movements stiffened imperceptibly, then he acted as though nothing had happened and sat inside, raising his head to look at Qin Shu, who was blocking the car door. “I can go back by myself.”

Perhaps Pei Zhao himself had never noticed that when he looked up at someone, his eyes appeared especially large. Against the passing traffic and nighttime streetlights, they faintly glimmered with a strange pale-gold ghostly light, possessing an unfamiliar sort of beauty.

Yet his pupils were slightly different. As the night deepened, they gradually contracted, becoming narrow vertical slits like those of a wild beast, inexplicably exuding a chilling coldness.

Qin Shu stared into those eyes and blanked out for a moment, directly forgetting what he had been unhappy about just now. Without hesitation, he squeezed into the car, draped an arm over Pei Zhao’s shoulders, and pulled him into his embrace.

“…It’s dark, the snow is heavy, and No. 2 High School hasn’t been very safe lately. I’m worried.”

“…Mm.”

Pei Zhao did not struggle. Although he did not understand why Qin Shu wanted to hold him again, he was already used to it.

They had been deskmates for a long time. Old Fu had assigned seats according to grades after the midterm examination in their first year. Because both of their grades remained stable, their seating arrangement had never changed since.

Over the past two years, Pei Zhao had not understood many of the things Qin Shu did. But once again, he was already used to it.

The ride-hailing car was somewhat bumpy, and the heater was not turned up high enough. Qin Shu unconsciously held him tighter and tighter, yet still felt it was not quite comfortable enough.

That was why people said habit was a terrifying thing. Pei Zhao leaned lightly against Qin Shu’s chest, the warmth of the young man’s body causing his brows to furrow faintly. His gaze rested on the busy lanes outside the window, while for once, his mind emptied completely and he thought of nothing at all.

Ding-ding—

As they approached the school gate, Qin Shu’s phone rang.

He fumbled around in the pocket of his school uniform for a long time before pulling out the phone he had completely forgotten about. It was Tang Rui Cheng.

“What is it, Old Tang? Is evening self-study over?”

“Cough… S-something happened, Qin Shu. Someone jumped from a building…”

Tang Rui Cheng’s voice sounded wrong. It seemed as though he was enduring intense pain, and the weak, drained quality passing through the receiver made Qin Shu’s expression instantly turn serious.

“Driver, please go faster! Old Tang, are you injured? Which building? Okay, before the ambulance arrives, don’t let anyone move you, understand? Don’t hang up. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

The driver was quite professional. Hearing the urgency in Qin Shu’s voice, he stepped on the accelerator and sped off, avoiding the congested overpass and taking a shortcut through the alley near the back gate of No. 2 High School.

The moment the car stopped, Qin Shu swiftly pulled Pei Zhao out. Without hesitation, he hoisted Pei Zhao and his backpack together over his shoulder, took long strides toward the back gate, and called over his shoulder without turning around, “Thanks, sir!”

“Study hard, kids, and stay safe!” The driver smiled and shook his head. “Ah, it’s great to be young. Look at that strength…”

At the same time, Pei Zhao was carried over Qin Shu’s shoulder in extreme confusion, watching the flowers and plants along the school path flash rapidly past the edge of his vision. For once, he experienced a ride even bumpier than the car.

In truth, he could also run very fast. In truth, Qin Shu did not need to bring him along. In truth, he could walk over by himself… Pei Zhao sighed softly. Considering the emergency, he ultimately said nothing.

“Zhaozhao, do you think Old Tang will be all right?”

Pei Zhao did not speak, but Qin Shu grew even more anxious and suddenly asked between breaths.

A dense smell of blood drifted from the direction of the dormitory building. His senses were now far too sharp, and he could practically tell directly… that was the scent of death.

Someone had definitely died, and the death was very recent.

“Tang Rui Cheng won’t die,” Pei Zhao thought for a moment before offering the stiff reassurance.

“Really?”

“Mm.”

“That’s good.”

His tone was stiff, but it worked. The heavy anxiety in Qin Shu’s heart eased considerably, and he finally remembered to put Pei Zhao down from his shoulder. Holding his hand, he squeezed with him into the crowd.

“Go back, all of you! Which class are you from? No photos! Hand over your phone and let me see! Nobody is allowed to post pictures online. Anyone with questions can wait until tomorrow’s disciplinary talk!”

At that moment, the area beneath the boys’ dormitory building was packed with people. Teachers and security guards were using loudspeakers to maintain order. The police had not yet arrived, and with such a major incident, relying on security guards alone to disperse everyone was clearly insufficient.

Using his height and strength, Qin Shu forcibly and slowly squeezed through the crowd of spectators. The scene that entered his view was enough to make his entire body turn cold.

Tang Rui Cheng lay motionless on the frost-covered concrete, his eyes tightly shut, the corners of his mouth stained with dark, unmistakable blood.

And the boy lying beside Tang Rui Cheng… had no legs. The back of his head was caved in at a grotesque angle, while a twisted crack like a centipede split open the side of his skull.

His brain matter had completely seeped into the muddy bloodwater, impossible to distinguish from it.

“Where did his legs go?” Qin Shu froze for a moment, his mind abruptly going blank as he murmured to himself.

The moment the words fell, Qin Shu suddenly felt a gentle coolness spread across his palm. Instinctively lowering his head, he discovered that Pei Zhao had taken his hand.

Pei Zhao lightly squeezed his fingers, his voice extremely soft.

“His legs are with the teacher.”

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