Chapter 72: The Bullied Youth

West Sea City.

On the rooftop of a dilapidated apartment building, the cement edge was covered with green moss.

Lin Fan wore a loose black hooded sweatshirt, sat on the eaves with one leg hanging free. The evening wind tossed the strings of his sweatshirt wildly.

He pulled a piece of bread from his chest and chewed it expressionlessly.

Next to him, a cracked-screen phone glowed, displaying a worldwide wanted notice for him and Ling Xinyu, with the photo captioned in bright red with the words "Extremely Dangerous."

He had just "borrowed" this phone from a few petty thugs.

In the air, strands of black hair materialized out of nowhere, intertwining and converging.

A delicate girl in a white dress gradually coalesced beside him.

No longer the swollen, pallid, blood‑ied, terrifying specter.

She regained her living appearance, eyebrows and eyes curved, clean as a handful of spring water.

After exacting revenge, the overwhelming resentment that had nearly possessed her completely dissipated, and she could finally be free from that terrifying form.

Ling Xinyu quietly nestled beside Lin Fan, watching him gnaw the hard‑to‑swallow bread, her eyes full of concern.

"So, where should we go… after this?" she asked softly, her voice tinged with an ethereal emptiness.

Lin Fan swallowed the bread, picked up the phone, waved the wanted notice in front of Ling Xinyu, and let a carefree smile curl his lips.

"Where else can we go? On the run across the world, that's it."

He turned his head, looking at Ling Xinyu; his human left eye was clear and bright, reflecting the girl's shadow.

"Isn't this the globe‑trotting adventure we once dreamed of?"

"Look, the first stop—West Sea City—we've never been here before. As long as I'm with you, any corner of the world… any place is scenery."

Ling Xinyu was stunned.

Something flickered in her illusory eyes.

She reached out, interlocking her fingers with Lin Fan's slightly rough hand.

Her hand was cold, yet Lin Fan felt a surge of warmth.

"Alright." She smiled, pure and beautiful:

"Let's go 'travel' together."

The boy's and girl's hands tightened, as if sealing an indelible bond between them.

In that fleeting moment of warmth, a suppressed wail and harsh shouts erupted from the dim alley below.

"You idiot! Let go or not? Let go!"

"You think you can protect them! Let's see how long you can keep that up!"

Lin Fan and Ling Xinyu both looked down.

A frail boy was surrounded in a corner by three or four delinquent youths in school uniforms with dyed hair.

The boy wore a faded‑white school uniform, clutching his old backpack tightly, enduring a rain of punches and kicks without ever letting go.

One delinquent, impatient, kicked the boy's stomach hard!

The boy let out a muffled groan, curling up like a shrimp whose spine had been crushed, collapsing onto the ground.

His backpack remained clutched to his chest.

A flash of cold, dissatisfied chill passed through Lin Fan's eyes.

Ling Xinyu beside him instantly blurred, turning back into countless strands of black hair that merged into his body.

A deep blue flame suddenly ignited in Lin Fan's right eye.

But this flame no longer brimmed with hatred and venom; it felt more like… an innate part of him.

He didn't leap down directly.

A strand of black hair tougher than a steel cable slipped from his sleeve cuff, silently wrapping around a distant billboard.

Like a spider‑man of the night, he used the billboard's suspension to swing and silently land in the shadows at the other end of the alley.

"Heh, still stubborn."

The leading delinquent, Huang Mao, snarled, crouched, and yanked the boy's hair.

"No money, huh? Fine, we'll strip you of those rags, take a few artistic photos of your soft‑skinned sissy body, and post them on your school forum, how about that?"

"No… please…," the boy begged, his voice trembling with tears.

"Too late!"

Huang Mao's hand already reached for the boy's thin collar.

Just then,

A cold, emotionless male voice sounded from the shadows behind them.

"Enough, let him go."

The delinquents snapped their heads around.

A hooded sweatshirt‑clad teen emerged slowly from the darkness, his hat brim pulled low, obscuring his face.

"Who the hell are you? Trying to play hero and rescue a damsel?" Huang Mao spat, standing up, then sneered, "You're still interested in this kind of thing?"

"You have three seconds, get out." Lin Fan's voice remained calm.

"I'll fuck your mother!"

Huang Mao laughed angrily, swinging his fists as he charged.

Lin Fan didn't even need to use the power of his hair.

He simply tilted slightly, evading the punches, then delivered a clean, decisive side kick!

"Bang!"

The kick struck Huang Mao's abdomen squarely!

Huang Mao's body arched like a shrimp, his expression froze instantly, and he nearly vomited the overnight rice.

The other two delinquent youths, seeing this, let out odd cries and pounced together.

Lin Fan's movements were as fast as lightning.

He crouched to evade a sweeping kick, his right hand darted out like lightning, precisely gripping the opponent's ankle, then he yanked it upward forcefully!

The delinquent youth immediately lost his balance, his occiput slammed heavily onto the cement ground, emitting a dull thud, and he rolled his eyes on the spot.

The last delinquent youth was so frightened his legs went weak, and he turned and fled.

Lin Fan casually picked up half a brick from the ground, without looking, and tossed it backward.

"Aaa—!"

The brick struck the opponent's occiput with precision; the delinquent youth let out a wail and collapsed to the ground, crawling away while crying out for his mother and father.

The whole process took less than ten seconds.

The alley regained its silence.

The boy on the ground, Liang Chao, stared blankly at everything before him, and slowly got up.

He looked at the "hero" who had saved him and bowed gratefully.

"Thanks! Thank you......"

Lin Fan walked up to him, reached out and patted his frail shoulder.

The obstructing dust drifted away.

Lin Fan said:

"Strike with a single punch, to avoid a hundred punches later."

"Blindly tolerating and retreating only invites fiercer jackals."

Liang Chao lifted his head and looked into this person's eyes.

What kind of eyes were those?

One eye was clear and resolute, the other seemed to conceal a deep, dark‑blue sea, brimming with a heart‑pounding power.

He nodded vigorously; in his eyes there was gratitude and a rekindled spark of hope.

After solemnly thanking Lin Fan and bidding him farewell,

Liang Chao returned to his rented studio, less than ten square meters in size.

The room contained only a bed and a table, with no other furniture.

The air was filled with a faint musty smell.

A harsh environment enough to ruin one's mood.

But Liang Chao was unusually happy today.

Because today was his "lucky day".

When Liang Chao was very young, his adoptive parents bought him from a human trafficker, but they died in an accident when he had just turned three.

After that he lived with his elderly grandmother, maintaining a life of poverty.

During elementary school, because of his family background, he endured countless bullying incidents; having his money stolen and being beaten were commonplace.

In middle school, he was repeatedly molested by a woman teacher in her forties, until the affair was exposed.

Since then, Liang Chao had contemplated suicide countless times and was diagnosed with severe depression.

It was only because his grandmother was still alive and encouraged him that he did not take his own life.

Unfortunately, later the grandmother who had been his sole support also died.

Before his grandmother died, Liang Chao was told that he had been bought.

He still had real relatives in this world, a Sanctuary, and a home.

Thinking of this, Liang Chao regained the motivation to live.

So a month ago he posted his first video looking for his family, introducing his background and hoping to find his biological parents.

With the help of netizens and officials, not long ago he successfully located his long‑lost biological parents and arranged to meet them the next day.

And today he encountered a true hero who stepped in to save him.

He felt that his life was finally about to turn around.

The dark past is about to end, and bright days are beckoning him.

He excitedly opened his phone, preparing to edit a new short video.

While browsing material, he inadvertently came across an account called "Dr. Chu's Medical Mini‑Science".

In the video, a doctor wearing gold‑rimmed glasses, appearing gentle and refined, was calmly explaining emergency knowledge about heart disease in an extremely gentle tone.

Liang Chao thought the doctor explained it wonderfully and seemed so friendly.

He casually clicked follow.

Late at night.

After finishing editing the video, Liang Chao, brimming with excitement, wrote a title for his new work:

"I am the happiest kid in the world!"

In the video, he faced the camera with a radiant smile, sharing his joy of finding his biological parents with all netizens.

The video quickly went viral, and the comment section was flooded with blessings.

"Congratulations! Finally the bitterness has turned to sweetness!"

"Tears in my eyes, seeing you smile so happily is wonderful."

"Little brother, keep it up! From now on it's all good days!"

Liang Chao read through the comments one by one, his smile never leaving his lips.

However, amidst this sea of goodwill.

An unremarkable comment quietly popped up.

"Is it real or fake? It can't be a script, right? Sitting and waiting for the twist."