The entire academy was eerily quiet. The absence of any sound of reading meant it wasn't class time yet. So where had all the students gone?
Moreover, why was little Bao, such a well - behaved boy, put in detention as soon as he arrived at the academy?
Just as Su Yanke was about to use her spiritual power to locate little Bao, she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Miss Su, Miss Su, I'll take you to see classmate Ji!"
Teacher Lu was already quite old, but now he trotted over to Su Yanke on trembling feet.
The uneasiness and confusion in Su Yanke's heart grew stronger. But since Teacher Lu offered to take her to see little Bao, she didn't ask for the details. She'd wait until she saw little Bao.
Su Yanke followed Teacher Lu through a maze of twists and turns. She lost count of how many turns she took and how many doors she passed through.
The academy was indeed extremely large, which showed that this world highly valued knowledge.
Su Yanke silently thanked her lucky stars that Teacher Lu had offered to lead the way. Otherwise, she would have wasted a lot of time trying to find her way around.
Along the way, she hardly saw any students. Most of the people were older. Su Yanke could tell from the scholarly air around them that they were probably teachers.
"Here we are."
Teacher Lu stopped in front of a secluded room. The door was locked, and when Su Yanke saw the lock, she barely managed to control her urge to punch something.
Her precious little Bao had been locked up in this room like an object, deprived of his freedom. She wondered if he had suffered other forms of abuse, like being starved, denied a bed to sleep on, or not allowed to bathe... Just thinking about it made her heart ache.
As soon as the lock was opened, she couldn't wait to open the door. As the door swung open, her eyes welled up with tears.
The room was dimly lit, and the furniture was old and shabby. There was a rickety little bed covered in cobwebs, and a chair missing a corner. The wind from the open door made it sway back and forth, creaking noisily.
Little Bao was huddled in a corner next to the bed, wearing only a thin white undergarment.
Su Yanke noticed that little Bao's feet twitched when she opened the door. His small feet were frozen red, and the tips of his fingers were also tinged with red, giving him a kind of tortured beauty.
This sudden thought in her head made her pause for a moment. She quickly shook her head to dispel it.
Su Yanke slowed her steps and walked up to little Bao. She wanted to hug him.
A flash of bloodlust appeared in little Bao's eyes. Just as he was about to attack, a familiar scent surrounded him. The bloodlust in his eyes was instantly replaced by a pair of innocent, clear eyes.
"Little Bao, little Bao, sister's here. Don't be afraid. Sister's late. Are you cold?"
The first thing Su Yanke felt when she hugged little Bao was how cold he was. She quickly hugged him tighter, took off her outer robe and wrapped it around him, and rubbed his back to warm him up.
"J - Jie - jie." Little Bao's voice was nasally, sounding pitiful. Maybe because he'd been cold for too long, he stammered and his words were slurred.
Su Yanke felt even more heart - broken and angry.
Now that she'd found little Bao, Su Yanke no longer remained silent. She looked up at Teacher Lu and asked what had happened.
Teacher Lu looked at little Bao guiltily. After hesitating for a while, he finally explained the whole thing.
It turned out that after little Bao entered the academy, he was targeted by the son of Dean Duan. Little Bao was very strong, but he didn't want to argue with that person. However, that person thought little Bao was afraid of him, so he became even more insolent.
At first, it was just a minor scuffle, and no one bothered to intervene. But when that person cut little Bao's bag, little Bao finally snapped. He beat that person up severely. The person begged for mercy and had no chance to fight back. His group of lackeys saw the situation was bad and rushed to help, but they were no match for little Bao and were all knocked to the ground, wailing in pain.
It was only after the other teachers stepped in that the situation was brought under control. But when they pulled little Bao up, his eyes were a bit red, which scared the onlookers.
But he quickly returned to normal, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The teacher arranged for that person and his lackeys to be taken to another room to get some medicine and rest.
The teacher then wanted to pick up the cut - up bag, but before he could touch it, little Bao hugged it tightly. His expression clearly showed that he didn't want anyone to touch it. The teacher scratched his head awkwardly and said that they'd find a tailor to mend it the next day. Then everyone left.
Little Bao kept his head down and remained silent throughout. The teacher didn't know what little Bao was thinking, and he didn't really care. Seeing that little Bao had left as he was told, he left too.
Everyone thought this little incident was over. But the next morning, a shrill scream woke up the sleeping academy.
When everyone rushed to the source of the scream, they were horrified. Some even wet their pants in fear.
In the student dormitory, the bed of the man who had cut little Bao's bag was empty. All that was left was a human skin with a strange smiling face, and the face on the skin was that of the bed's owner!
When Teacher Duan saw his son in such a state, he fainted on the spot.
After he woke up, he kept shouting that he wanted revenge for his son and demanded that little Bao pay with his life.
This was completely unreasonable. Why should little Bao pay with his life?
Who could prove that little Bao was the murderer?
Moreover, the way Teacher Duan's son died was clearly suspicious. How could little Bao, a poor student, have killed someone like that?
Teacher Duan obviously had his reasons. He pointed out that little Bao's eyes had turned red when he attacked.
As this story spread, it gradually had an effect. Other students began to keep their distance from little Bao.
Little Bao was thus isolated.
Su Yanke felt even more heart - broken as she listened. She tightened her hold on little Bao, as if this could protect him from further harm.
But this was clearly just a psychological comfort. Teacher Lu continued to tell the following events.
After the death of Teacher Duan's son, similar smiling human - skin masks appeared again. The academy was in a state of panic.
Moreover, Teacher Duan spread the rumor every day that little Bao was the murderer. Little Bao's situation became even worse. Under the threat of fear and death, someone finally couldn't take it anymore and proposed to burn little Bao to death.
At first, few people agreed with this proposal. But as more people died, one night a group of people tied up little Bao while he was still in bed and were about to burn him in the fire. But Teacher Lu arrived in time and stopped them.
After some discussion and compromise, they finally decided to lock little Bao up, and the academy suspended classes.
So little Bao had been locked up here for some time. Since he was tied up in his bed, he was only wearing thin clothes. The others wished little Bao would die soon, so naturally they wouldn't bring him any clothes.
In this cold winter, it was a miracle that little Bao hadn't caught a cold.
After hearing all this, Su Yanke felt extremely sorry for little Bao. After feeling that little Bao's body had warmed up a bit, she said to him, "Little Bao, are you hungry? Sister will take you to eat now, okay?"
Little Bao nodded obediently in Su Yanke's arms.
Su Yanke lovingly stroked his head, picked him up, and was about to leave.
Just then, a hideous - looking old man stepped out.
"What? Are you going to let this red - eyed monster out to harm others? He should be burned to death immediately!"
Su Yanke gave the old man a cold look and said, "I think you should go see a doctor. Are you already seeing things? Yi Cheng's eyes are so bright, with clear whites and blacks. Yet you say they're red. I think you're the red - eyed monster!"
Teacher Duan was so angry that he trembled all over. After all, he had been a teacher for most of his life and didn't know what to say in return. He could only point at Su Yanke, his face turning red.
Teacher Lu beside them looked a bit hesitant. Just as he was about to say something, Su Yanke said,
"Teacher Lu, I'll clear Yi Cheng's name regarding the human - skin incident. But now he needs to replenish his energy. Please don't stop me."
Whether Teacher Lu stopped her or not didn't really matter to Su Yanke. But to avoid delaying their meal, she hoped that Teacher Lu would handle the follow - up matters properly. She didn't want those people to come in front of little Bao and spoil his appetite.
The aura emanating from Su Yanke made Teacher Lu instinctively want to believe that she had the ability to do so, and this intuition was very strong.
Teacher Lu hesitated for a second. Seeing Su Yanke frown slightly, he immediately agreed and led her to the kitchen.
Su Yanke helped little Bao tidy up his clothes. She watched as little Bao drank several big gulps of water before starting to eat slowly.
Teacher Lu was a smart man. Seeing that the clothes on little Bao clearly didn't fit, he quickly left to get little Bao's clothes and at the same time told the academy students, especially Teacher Duan, to behave.
When little Bao was almost done eating, Teacher Lu came back with the clothes.
"Miss Su, these are Ji Yicheng's clothes."
Su Yanke nodded slightly to show her gratitude and handed the clothes to little Bao to change into.
Teacher Lu wondered if he was hallucinating. He felt as if Ji Yicheng had glared at him?
Shouldn't he be thanked for bringing the clothes?
Little Bao was feeling happy in the clothes with Su Yanke's scent when he saw his own clothes. He was about to lose the familiar scent, so of course he wasn't happy.