Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Pain
"Liquid... happiness?" Zhang Wenda stared wide-eyed at the murky liquid before him. "Can an emotion like happiness exist in liquid form?"
He had seen all sorts of bizarre things in this world, but liquid happiness was just too ridiculous.
Stunned, Zhang Wenda examined the liquid in the bottle. After a moment of cautious deliberation, he took a tiny sip. Instantly, a wave of happiness washed over him, diluting the anxiety in his heart.
"It really is liquid happiness?!" He was utterly stunned as he stared at the last dregs of murky liquid in the bottle.
"See? I told you I wouldn’t lie," Little Fatty said smugly, seeing Zhang Wenda’s expression.
Zhang Wenda took the bottle from Fatty and asked nervously, "Hold on, wait a second. Are you sure this is liquid—"
He stopped himself mid-sentence, then started again, "Why would liquid happiness be seeping out of the Youth Palace’s walls—"
The words were on the tip of his tongue, but the searing pain on his back forced him to clamp his mouth shut.
"Damn it, this is unbearable!" Zhang Wenda’s face flushed red as he gripped the glass bottle, holding back the pain.
"Haozi, what’s wrong? You okay?" Pan Dongzi asked, looking curiously at Zhang Wenda’s strange behavior.
Zhang Wenda took a deep breath, waved his hand, and turned his head away. "I’m fine!"
’You just wait. Once I’m out, I swear I’ll find a way to take care of you.’
Muttering curses under his breath, Zhang Wenda took the bottle and began collecting the liquid happiness from the walls.
As Zhang Wenda schemed about how to solve his problem once he got out, he watched the liquid slowly accumulate in the bottle. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in his corporate-drone brain.
’Does this mean I’ve seized the means of production for lollipops? If I can just learn how to make them, does that mean I can make as many as I want?!’
’And since the candy can heal wounds, does that mean if I make enough of it, I can counteract all the rule punishments?’ At the thought, Zhang Wenda’s eyes lit up.
He hadn’t forgotten his biggest problem—the rule-based punishments. Dealing with them was his top priority.
’Why did I even follow this bunch of students to this dump? Wasn’t it because I was afraid of the punishment for not coming?’
He had originally planned to just get through this ordeal and then figure out a way to deal with the rule punishments. He never expected the solution to just fall into his lap like this.
’Haha, you stupid rules! I bet you never expected I’d find a way to deal with you!’
’I’ll definitely give this a try once I get out of here,’ Zhang Wenda decided. ’It might not be a permanent fix, but it’s a temporary solution, and that’s better than nothing.’
Seeing Zhang Wenda fall silent as he flipped through the guide for the model airplane room, Pan Dongzi scratched his head in confusion. He didn’t say anything more and went back to collecting the liquid happiness.
"The Model Airplane Room is one of the Youth Palace’s advanced activities. Students in the interest group should be on high alert! If you notice any uncontrollable changes in your mood, please leave immediately and inform a teacher."
"Inside the Model Airplane Room, if cracks appear on the floor, please warn other students to avoid falling in."
Seeing that neither of those dangers had appeared and that they were safe for the time being, Zhang Wenda got down to business. He unleashed the full power of his practiced 996 Divine Skill, and in no time, he had collected over half a bottle.
Pan Dongzi, on the other hand, had barely managed to cover the bottom of his bottle. After shaking it and thinking for a moment, he poured his liquid happiness into Zhang Wenda’s bottle. "If you like it this much, you can have it all."
"Thanks."
"Don’t mention it. Haozi, did something happen to you?" Pan Dongzi asked, looking at Zhang Wenda with a rare seriousness.
Zhang Wenda looked at him, surprised. ’I can’t believe this carefree kid actually sensed something was wrong.’
"You probably can’t help with my problem. First off, you might not even know anything about it, and second, I can’t ask you right now." The memory of the physical pain and mental anguish made Zhang Wenda shudder.
His voice dropped. "Sigh... I’m only human. I get scared of pain, too. I can’t take it happening again and again. That feeling... it’s just unbearable. So please, don’t make me ask. I really don’t want to go through that again."
Hearing this, Fatty didn’t press the issue. "Okay, then. Just remember, I’m your buddy. If you need help with anything, just ask."
Time ticked by, and with Fatty’s help, it wasn’t long before Zhang Wenda had filled an entire bottle.
Zhang Wenda carefully put the bottle away. He glanced at his digital watch and saw that half an hour had passed. ’Is it really this hard to collect? It took two of us half an hour to fill one bottle. That’s not nearly enough.’
’Maybe I could hire my classmates to work for me? Then I’d be the boss?’ the cynical middle-aged man in him thought.
Just as Zhang Wenda was about to screw the cap on and put the bottle in his bag, the floor beneath his feet suddenly gave way. A feeling of weightlessness washed over him as his body plunged downward.
Out of nowhere, a half-meter-wide fissure had opened in the floor. Just as he was about to fall in, in a moment of life or death, he shot his hands out with lightning speed and desperately grabbed the edge, saving himself from the fall.
A few seconds later, his face beet-red, he gritted his teeth and laboriously climbed out of the fissure. He collapsed on the floor, panting heavily. "This... this is an advanced activity? Fuck, they even use sneak attacks? Fatty, you could’ve given me a heads-up!"
However, Zhang Wenda’s words were met with silence, which made his heart lurch.
"Fatty?!" Zhang Wenda scanned the room, only to find that aside from several new semi-circular fissures on the floor, Pan Dongzi was gone.
Seeing this, Zhang Wenda’s scalp prickled with fear. He rushed over, peering into each fissure.
When he spotted a green backpack inside one of the fissures, Zhang Wenda didn’t hesitate to think about what was happening. He immediately reached down to pull him out. "Don’t be scared! I’ll get you!"
RRRIP! With the sound of tearing flesh, a new wound appeared on Zhang Wenda’s wrist.
The instant Zhang Wenda’s hand entered the fissure, WHOOSH! That familiar dread washed over him, and three deep gashes immediately materialized across his back.
The sudden onslaught of pain made Zhang Wenda stagger and collapse, nearly blacking out.
When Zhang Wenda scrambled back to his feet and saw that no new wounds had appeared, he instantly understood. The rules were trying to stop him from saving Pan Dongzi.
The sudden development left Zhang Wenda stunned. He never imagined the rules could be so perverse—that saving someone was also forbidden.
Hearing the muffled sobs coming from the fissure, the memory of his own agonizing torture and the overwhelming despair that came with it flashed through Zhang Wenda’s mind.
But he hesitated for only a moment. Biting his lip hard, he plunged his hand back into the fissure. "Grab on!!"
’I’m scared of pain, yeah. I can follow the other rules. But this? No. Absolutely not!’
Countless wounds instantly erupted across Zhang Wenda’s face and hands, multiplying at a frantic pace.
But at this moment, Zhang Wenda felt no fear. With fierce determination, he shoved his arm deeper into the fissure and finally felt Fatty’s body.
But the next second, with a sickening CRACK, the arm Zhang Wenda had thrust into the fissure snapped into an L-shape.
The pain was so intense that Zhang Wenda bit his lip until it was a bloody mess. But when the agony reached its peak, it was replaced by a sudden surge of righteous fury.
"FUCK!! I was born stubborn! You tell me not to do something? That just makes me want to do it more!!"
With a low roar, a red light flashed on his arm. He yanked with all his might. A tremendous force surged through his arm, and he ripped Pan Dongzi out of the fissure as if he were reeling in a fish.
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