The second world: The academic overlord and his little plasticine doll. (3)

With all his plans, Chu Shici had only been in this world for two days.

His impression of Mingzhe stopped at cute and pitiful.

Uncle Liu held him down for brainwashing after dinner, but Mingzhe didn’t seem to be affected much.

After returning to the bedroom, he played with Chu Shici for a long time.

Mingzhe’s room is very clean, and he doesn’t eat messy food outside, he must be a bit of a clean freak.

But in the face of Chu Shici, the little plasticine figure, he even touches it with his own hands, it can be seen he likes it so much.

Uncle Liu could still be heard cursing through the bedroom door, so Chu Shici looked up.

Mingzhe pursed his lips tightly, his thin body trembling slightly.

Chu Shici patted his finger: “Xiao Zhe, are you afraid of Uncle Liu?”

“Hm.”

“Does he hit you all the time?”

Mingzhe nodded slightly, and when he looked towards the door, there was some fear in his eyes.

He was sent to Uncle Liu’s house when he was ten years old. It is estimated that he has suffered a lot of beatings in the past two years, and he has already developed a stress response.

Chu Shici narrowed his eyes.

When Uncle Liu is alone, he will kill him.

Mingzhe’s emotions come and go quickly. Seeing that Uncle Liu didn’t intend to trouble him, he went about his own business.

Chu Shici was flying around the room, discussing plans with the system while Mingzhe was doing his homework.

After Chu Shici made a plan, Mingzhe began to memorise the texts.

During the period, several text messages came in, all asking him why he had not died yet.

Chu Shici floated behind Mingzhe and saw him replying with a cold face: [It’s not the appointed time, I’m still alive this week, and I have my own things to do. Don’t bother me until next Saturday.]

Text messages were still being sent, and the noisy voice finally caught Uncle Liu’s attention.

Uncle Liu’s voice came from outside the bedroom door, “Xiao Zhe, why does the phone keep ringing, who are you chatting with?”

Mingzhe paused, and said coldly: “My classmate, he asked me about my homework.”

He typed while talking, [It’s not good for us like this, I will go online tomorrow. Let’s have a meeting and talk things out.]

After this text message, the phone finally quieted down.

Mingzhe quickly deleted the text messages, and stuffed the phone into the gap between the bookshelf and the wall.

Chu Shici was poking his head to look around when Mingzhe put him in the drawer.

Before the drawer was closed, Chu Shici heard Mingzhe sigh helplessly.

The chair blocking the door did not block Uncle Liu. It took him a while to open the door, holding a freshly washed dry cucumber in his hand.

His hair had just been burned by Chu Shici, and now he looked very embarrassed.

Mingzhe looked up at the top of his head. Uncle Liu stuffed the cucumber into his hand and stroked his head, “Xiao Zhe, you have worked hard in your studies.”

He didn’t intend to leave, instead he pulled the chair and sat opposite Mingzhe.

“Xiao Zhe, do you feel that there is something extra at home recently?”

Mingzhe eats cucumbers on his own.

Uncle Liu continued: “Uncle was scratched by something last night. Lao Li helped me see it today. There are small cuts all over Uncle’s back, which were cut by a knife.”

He takes off his clothes and turns to show Mingzhe his back.

On the broad back, they are densely packed with tiny cuts.

Mingzhe didn’t expect so many injuries, he stared blankly, his eyes subconsciously drifting to the drawer.

Uncle Liu put on his clothes and scratched the top of his head, “Just now my head suddenly caught fire. There are only you and uncle at home, and there are no outsiders. This matter…whichever way you look at it, it is scary. Uncle feels that it is very evil, and I plan to stay at your uncle Li’s house for a few days. Pack your luggage, you’ll go with me tomorrow.”

Mingzhe frowned slightly, “No.”

“Uncle is doing this for your own good. It’s not safe here. It should be something dirty.”

“No.”

“Aiya this child, you…”

“No.”

Uncle Liu slapped the table hard.

Mingzhe was so frightened that he shrank reflexively.

He thought Mingzhe was an obedient boy who only went between home and school; two points and one line.

Listen to what his parents say and get the worst beatings.

No matter how sad he was, he just hid in the bed and wiped his tears quietly.

Clean, well-behaved and sensible. He is such a good boy, how could he be a frequent visitor to the underground internet cafe.

Mingzhe should be doing these kinds of things often, he knows the frequent guests in each private room, and knows the games that these gangsters often play.

From his typing speed when playing games before, it can be seen that his hand speed is slow and he is not good at technology.

Mingzhe chooses strategy, management, chess and card games, allocation of resources for those players, and writes corresponding strategies for them.

Occasionally participating in person, helping players score points, and exchanging virtual currency for cash.

Not everyone will give him money. He has been busy for more than two hours and only earned five or six yuan.

Finally, he went back to the original private room, found a few people who were drinking and playing cards, and chose a computer near the corner.

Chu Shici was shocked. It is only 2006, and online games are already so prevalent, internet addicted teenagers are still a new term.

Mingzhe only has a broken mobile phone, and there is no computer at home. Under such conditions, he could still think of selling strategies to make money.

This reminded Chu Shici of the time when he ran away from home.

Compared to Mingzhe, he found that he was really terrible at this.

The system was silent for a long time, [Why does this child have two faces?]

‘I didn’t think of it either, I thought he was just an ordinary poor little guy.’

Uncle Liu’s family is poor, and he treats the hero badly. Mingzhe should have very little pocket money, and may even have no pocket money at all.

Yesterday Chu Shici was still wondering where Mingzhe got the money to go online and whether he was cheated.

Only today did he know that Mingzhe doesn’t need money to surf the Internet, he is using someone else’s device to surf the internet.

After deducting the round-trip fare and the fees to enter the Internet cafe, he earns a net profit of 20 yuan.

Chu Shici smacked his lips, as expected of the hero, he is a genius.

___

The private room was very noisy, stuffy and hot, and there was lingering smoke everywhere.

A group of people were sitting nearby drinking and playing cards. They had colourfully dyed hair and wore flimsy clothes.

Mingzhe wore clean white half-sleeves and neat light-coloured jeans. With them, he seems out of place.

He was like a good student who strayed into an Internet cafe, sitting upright among bad boys.

The private room was dimly lit, so Chu Shici simply sat on the back of the chair and peeked at Mingzhe’s computer.

Mingzhe opened a chat software. In the list, there is only a group named [All the world unite to protect minors] and a user named [Psychiatrist of the Third Provincial Hospital Dr. Chen].

He clicked into Dr. Chen’s chat interface first, and there were several messages in it.

Dr. Chen: [Your psychological problem is very serious, I suggest we meet and talk.]

Dr. Chen: [I’m going to Z city during this time, if you have the time, let’s meet.]

Dr. Chen: [If it’s convenient, send me a photo of you, so that I will be able to find you when the time comes.]

Mingzhe replied: [It’s not convenient.]

Chu Shici looked at him with a complicated expression.

It seems that this is not good, Mingzhe added: [My phone can’t take pictures, I’m sorry. Let’s just be online friends, thank you doctor.]

There is no reply on the other side, they should be offline.

Mingzhe opened the group with a long name. There are 21 people in the group.

He sent a full stop, and immediately a bunch of insulting messages popped up.

When the news stopped flooding the screen, Mingzhe tapped the keyboard, [I thought for a long time, Lanlan’s death has nothing to do with the police, the problem is not with the police.]

Dancing little rabbit: [You are making excuses for yourself, wanting to evade responsibility. Why don’t you die, you should just commit suicide by jumping off a building.]

Mingzhe defended himself: [I tried, and I was discovered.]

Liuli Xing’er: [So you live with peace of mind? Act like nothing happened? hehe.]

Mingzhe defended himself again: [I have an older brother, he told me that suicide is wrong, and only by living can I have a chance to feel happiness. With him, I am very happy.]

I continue to be lonely: [Here it comes again, you have to speak the truth again. Your screen name is the same as that of my homeroom teacher. If we didn’t talk via phone call, I would have suspected that you are an adult pretending to be a teenager. Do you want to go to the police again, and then kill us like you killed Lanlan!]

Mingzhe didn’t reply for a long time, and the screen was full of scolding words.

Chu Shici quietly leaned over and saw Mingzhe clenched his fists, his eyes covered with mist.

He wiped away his tears and continued chatting with those people.

No matter what he said, all he got was ridicule, and in the end the topic would always be a sentence, ‘You killed Lanlan, you are a liar and a murderer. ‘

Soon it was time for gang activities, Mingzhe withdrew from the group chat.

Dr. Chen sent him a message, [I will find you.]

Mingzhe stayed on the delete friend interface for a while, but still didn’t do it.

He exited the software and returned the computer to the gangster.

On the way back, Mingzhe went to the trash can to pick up empty water bottles from time to time. He crushed it and stuffed it into his schoolbag, planning to save it up and sell it for money.

Chu Shici was squeezed among a pile of bottles, feeling extremely complicated.

___

When Mingzhe came home at night, Chu Shici flew out secretly when he was not looking.

Mingzhe put the bottle into the red bucket in the toilet, took a shower, changed his clothes and went back to the bedroom to study.

He loves reading very much, and there are many second-hand and third-hand old books on the bookshelf.

The table is full of workbooks with other people’s names written on them, and many questions that are completed.

It should be something that the seniors don’t need. He went to the trash can and picked it up for his own use.

Mingzhe didn’t spend any of the 20 yuan he earned.

He pulled out an iron box from a hidden corner behind the bookshelf, folded the change and put it in.

Chu Shici flew to his side, and there were a lot of banknotes and coins scattered in the box.

He asked curiously, “What are you saving money for? Are you going to run away from home?”

“No, this is my high school tuition. Last time Uncle Liu got drunk and asked me to graduate from junior high school and go to work with his friend. After finishing compulsory education, he won’t give me any more money.”

There was some anxiety in Mingzhe’s voice, “I want to go to school.”

Smelling the cigarettes on him and looking at the crumpled change in the box, Chu Shici suddenly felt sorry for him.

Chu Shici asked knowingly, “Where did you get the money?”

Mingzhe pursed his lips and said with red ears, “I make money by selling bottles.”

Maybe because he felt that the underground internet cafe was not the place for him to go, he refused to say anything.

Uncle Liu will not come back today, Mingzhe has been in a good mood.

He wiped Chu Shici’s body clean, and sat at the desk to read.

There are no leisure and entertainment tools at home, and reading is his only way of pastime.

Chu Shici sat on his wrist and listened to Mingzhe telling him stories in his immature voice.

Reading to the point when the prince was about to avenge his father, and have an all-out duel with his uncle, Mingzhe’s cell phone rang.

There is a new text message on the screen, [# Are you going to jump off the building today? #]

[I said it this afternoon, I am hesitant now.]

[# Coward, liar, traitor. #]

[If you keep urging me, I will call the police.]

[# You still dare to call the police, you murderer. #]

Mingzhe lowered his head and did not respond for a long time. They continue to send text messages mocking him.

Chu Shici turned his head, Mingzhe looked so guilty that he was about to cry.

He touched Mingzhe’s cheek and asked softly, “Xiao Zhe, what’s going on with Lanlan?”

The word Lanlan striked the key point of Mingzhe’s heartache, his eyes were red and he refused to say, tears rolled in his eyes.

The system beeped twice, and began to take screenshots frantically: [First, it was Yan-ge, now it is Zhe-di*. Are the current male protagonists so good at crying? Tsk, little boy, let Daddy hug you!]

*(di is referring to younger brother, ge is referring to older brother)

Yesterday Chu Shici was just like the system, tsking when he saw Mingzhe crying.

Now when he saw Mingzhe crying silently, he just felt distressed.

Mingzhe worked very hard, picking up bottles, selling strategies, and maybe other part-time jobs during school.

He is trying to survive, even though his vitality value has dropped to a negative number, he still does not give up on himself.

The chat group is still bombarding him with messages, and the notification is ringing non-stop.

Chu Shici finally couldn’t hold back his anger, lay down on Mingzhe’s phone, and made a direct call.

The person on the other side didn’t seem to expect Mingzhe to make a call, and the phone rang for a while before being connected.

To Chu Shici’s surprise, what came out of the receiver was an immature child’s voice.

“Didn’t you say it’s better not to call?”

Mingzhe wanted to snatch the phone back, but Chu Shici turned his head and burned his finger with a laser.

His condensed version of the small laser is not very powerful, and Mingzhe’s fingers seem to have been burned by a cigarette butt.

He hissed, subconsciously withdrew his hand, not even a red mark was left on it.

With just such a little effort, Chu Shici was able to talk with the person on the other side.

“Which family’s kid do you belong to who keeps harassing our Xiao Zhe?”

Chu Shici’s voice was clean and clear, and when he spoke normally, his tone seemed toend with a soft smile, but he sounded like an adult man.

The voice on the other side became even smaller, “Who are you, where is Mingzhe?”

“I’m his brother.”

“He said he didn’t…”

“Now there is.”

The kid on the other side of the phone fell silent in fright.

“What’s going on with Lanlan? What do you mean Xiao Zhe killed her? You have no evidence and only point fingers, calling him a murderer. Be careful, I will sue you for slander. The matter is very serious and the consequences are very dire. Call your parents over.”

Before he finished speaking, the phone was hung up.

Chu Shici realised later, and felt that he was bullying a child.

He felt uneasy for two seconds, and continued to bombard him with phone calls.

Mingzhe didn’t snatch the phone anymore, but lay on the table, tilting his head to look at him quietly.

After making more than a dozen consecutive calls, the phone was picked up again.

There was still a little boy on the other side, and this time there was a bit of crying in his voice.

“What on earth do you want to do, don’t call anymore, you’re annoying!”

“Ask your parents to answer the phone.”

“I will not!”

“Then I’ll call the police directly. The consequences of inciting someone to commit suicide are serious, it is the crime of intentional homicide. The maximum sentence is infinite. If you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in prison, then call your parents.”

It is useless for Mingzhe to say these words as he is a child, and he does not exert the same amount of pressure as an adult could to deter his peers. When exchanging text messages just now, Mingzhe’s tone was already cold enough, yet the other side was still aggressive.

Chu Shici is an adult, and ordinary children are afraid of adults. The topic he said was so serious that the children on the other side cried in fright.

The child was crying on the phone, but refused to call his parents.

Chu Shici felt something was wrong, Mingzhe pressed his round head and said softly: “His parents don’t want him anymore, just like me.”

Mingzhe has already stopped crying, and stared at him with light brown eyes.

Those eyes were very clean, and when he looked at Chu Shici, there was a trace of admiration in them.

He went to Chu Shici’s side, “You know more than me, can you help him? He is always beaten, he’s very pitiful.”

On the phone was the uneasy crying of a child, and Mingzhe’s soft and expectant pleading in his ears.

Seeing that Chu Shici hadn’t responded, Mingzhe was silent for a moment, looked away, blushed and called out to his brother in a low voice.

Chu Shici took a deep breath and covered his chest.

Help, help. Now. Of course.

Not to mention this is such a small matter, in fact, it is no problem at all even if he wanted his brother to pick out the stars in the sky too.

The system looked at the host who seemed to have been injected with chicken blood in disgust, [Useless.]

Mingzhe picked up Chu Shici and kissed him, “Thank you for speaking for me, gege.”

The system froze for a moment, then yelled at the little boy, and took out his wallet to buy candy.

Isn’t it just candy, it’s not unaffordable.

___

The children harassing Mingzhe are obviously not as tight lipped as Mingzhe.

After being coaxed and lied to by Chu Shici, he revealed his family background.

The boy, surnamed He, is 13 years old. His parents already divorced and started a new family. He followed his mother, but his stepfather felt that he was someone else’s seed and didn’t want to see him.

Xiao He didn’t have enough food and clothing at home, and was often beaten by his stepfather. His mother stopped him at first, but after giving birth to a younger brother, she stopped protecting him so much.

The 13-year-old Xiao He learned how to run away from home, and followed the gangsters of the society into underground internet cafes, working for internet cafes in exchange for internet fees.

During the day, he helps clean up in Internet cafes, drink other people’s leftover drinks, and buy instant noodles in the store.

At night, he would pick an empty sofa and sleep on it covered with clothes.

Doesn’t go to school, doesn’t go home. The school called his home, and his mother went to see him once. Seeing that he is still alive, she doesn’t care anymore.

A few days ago, the internet cafe was closed down by the police, and he had nowhere to go. He had been living in a gangster’s house during this time.

As for why he called Mingzhe to harass him, Xiao He spoke hesitantly, as if trying to hide something.

Chu Shici looked at Mingzhe, who was pursing his lips tightly and refusing to say anything.

While observing Mingzhe’s expression, Chu Shici asked the child on the phone, “Xiao He, how do you know that Mingzhe is going to commit suicide?”

Mingzhe reached out to grab the phone, but Chu Shici flew to the roof of the shed with his phone in his arms, and Mingzhe couldn’t reach him no matter how he jumped.

Xiao He hesitated for a while, “He said it himself, we agreed.”

“What did you say? Do you want to commit suicide too? You agreed to commit suicide together?”

Xiao He’s voice suddenly became louder: “No, don’t talk nonsense!”

Hearing his reaction, Chu Shici’s heart went cold.

Mingzhe is moving the chair, ready to grab the phone back.

He just wanted Little Superman to comfort Xiao He, and then help Xiao He by giving advice.

He didn’t expect things to develop like this.

Little Superman was determined to find out what was going on, and kept asking Xiao He.

The boy’s voice on the phone became more and more flustered, “This matter has nothing to do with you, it’s our secret. Don’t ask me any more. I didn’t steal or rob. Can’t we even have any secrets?! Don’t force me, don’t force me!”

Chu Shici saw that the boy’s emotions became more agitated, and his tone gradually slowed down.

His voice became slow and gentle, and he comforted in a soft voice: “You want to live in another place, but you have nowhere to go?”

Xiao He didn’t speak, just whimpered.

He sounds aggrieved, and he no longer sounds as aggressive as he appeared in the text messages.

“Have you ever called the police for help?”

“I dare not look for them, they will just send me home. Lanlan is dead, I am also afraid.”

Mingzhe stood on the chair, holding the clothes-drying pole in his hand, poking at the little plasticine figure flying around the ceiling.

The little superman flies so fast he can’t hit it.

When Mingzhe thought about how to get Little Superman down, Chu Shici had already coaxed their secret out from Xiao He.

Lanlan’s surname is Nie, and her name is Nie Lantian. Unlike Mingzhe and Xiaohe, her parents didn’t abuse her and treated her very well.

She is 15 years old and lives with her parents. There is no lock on her bedroom door, and her father often barges in without knocking, and doesn’t care if she is changing her clothes.

In winter, the lock on the bathroom door was broken, and a few times when she was taking a shower, her dad came in directly to use the toilet.

She complained to her mother, and her mother said, ‘Your father is your own father, what else can he do to you. We are all family, what are you afraid of, can he harm you? ‘

Lanlan has well-developed breasts, and only vest-style corsets are available at home. A schoolgirl who is at the forefront of fashion and has a good relationship with her thinks that she always only wears this. Not only will her breasts be exposed, her nipples aren’t safe either. She gave her a few of her own underwear, black lace, very hot and trendy, but comfortable to wear.

Within a few days, the lace underwear was discovered by parents. They were very conservative and felt that this thing should not be worn by girls, so they scolded Lanlan. They took her to school again and scolded that senior sister for it.

That senior sister cut off all ties with her because of this, and Lanlan was isolated in school, and continued to wear a dewy vest.

Her mobile phone can be connected to the Internet, and she has set up a chat group on the internet, and confides her pain with the people who are in the same situation.

There were 21 people in that group, all of whom were minors. Everyone chats and comforts each other every day. Mingzhe is the acting group owner, and Xiao He is the administrator.

One night in May, Lan Lan suddenly said to the group, ‘My mother made meat sausages, she wants me to go and deliver some to the uncles at the construction site.’

It was nine o’clock in the evening, and most of the children’s mobile phones in the group were not connected to the internet, except for her.

When Xiao He went online at the Internet cafe the next day, he saw Lanlan send a message after ten o’clock, ‘I told my mother that they have been staring at me. Some people praised me for eating well and developing well. She told me not to think too much. We all come from the same village, and we know everyone. There are no bad people.’

At this time, the style of texting was still the same as usual, and everyone in the group was comforting her.

It wasn’t until after three o’clock in the afternoon that Mingzhe went online.

After looking through the chat records, he directly asked Lanlan to collect evidence, and immediately asked the police for help.

The children in the group were all dumbfounded, not understanding what this kind of thing had to do with the police.

Mingzhe said that it would be dangerous to go on like this. There were all men there, and there was nowhere to escape if something happened. Maybe one day, Lanlan won’t be able to get out. If her parents don’t care, then ask the police for help, and they will take care of it.

He sensed the hidden danger, but after all, he was young and didn’t think things through.

Lanlan is the oldest in the group, but she is only 15 years old. After Mingzhe finished speaking, she also felt scared, so she responded ignorantly, and went offline to report to the police.

After that, she never went online again, and it was later discovered that she committed suicide by jumping into a river.

Her parents cried very sadly, not understanding why their daughter could think about it.

The rest of the group didn’t understand either.

After discussing and summarising, they decided that it was Mingzhe who acted impulsively and killed Lanlan. She was fine, and after being comforted by the group, she also said that she would go to the ice skating rink on Saturday.

It’s just a trivial matter, but Mingzhe insists on making it big and bringing it to the police. Well now, Lanlan is dead.

After the death of the group leader, there are only 20 people left in the group.

Among the 20 people, 19 were calling Mingzhe a murderer.

Xiao He was also one of them, even the one who scolded Mingzhe the most. Others just scolded in the group, but he had Mingzhe’s cell phone number, and sent text messages to scold him every day.

At this moment, when he told Chu Shici about this matter, his voice could not hide his guilty conscience.

Chu Shici said a few more words to Xiao He, and several men’s voices came from the background over there.

It was the gangsters who took him in, Xiao He didn’t continue to cry, and hung up the phone hastily.

Chu Shici landed in front of Mingzhe with his mobile phone in his arms.

Mingzhe lowered his head, he couldn’t see his face clearly, he could only hear his guilty sobs.

Tears fell on the chair drop by drop, he whispered: “Ge, am I really wrong?”

Chu Shici stroked his soft hair: “About telling Lanlan to call the police? You’re not wrong. Her death has nothing to do with you, in fact, you are helping her.”

Mingzhe held him in his hands, sat on the chair and sobbed silently.

Chu Shici wiped the tears off his face, “Can you tell me what’s going on?”

Mingzhe was silent for a long time, and finally revealed their secret.

21 children met online. They come from all over the country and have different life experiences.

The only thing in common is that the family environment is very bad.

That group is the only place for them to vent, where they comfort each other and keep each other company.

The group leader Lanlan’s suicide broke the peaceful cover of the group.

They lined up the order, starting from the acting group leader, and ended their lives one by one.

20 children, meeting to commit suicide.

Mingzhe is the acting group leader and the first one.

Now the remaining 19 people are waiting for him to die.

___

T/N: wtf.