Slam!
The impact echoed loudly down the school corridor, leaving a painful vibration in the passageway usually filled with boisterous voices and laughter. Shuwan felt as if all the air had been forced from her lungs. The brutal kick to her stomach sent her flying backward, slamming her into a row of metal lockers with an earsplitting boom before she finally collapsed face-first onto the cold concrete floor.
At the same time, something slipped from her uniform pocket. It hit the floor at an awkward angle.
Crack!
The phone screen, already covered in cracks, finally shattered completely, scattering tiny shards before Shuwan's blurring eyes.
“Hahaha! Look at this loser! She gets hit once and she's already dying!” someone shouted.
Laughter erupted all around her.
Dozens of students surrounded the corridor, but not one of them tried to help. Instead, they watched as though they were enjoying a circus performance.
Bo, the large student responsible for Shuwan's suffering, stepped forward with a satisfied smile on his face.
“Hey, Shuwan! Stop pretending and get up right now!” Bo shouted as he brought his foot down on Shuwan's curled-up body.
“Get up! Don't pretend to be weak in front of everyone!”
One stomp.
Two stomps.
Then a third stomp so hard that Shuwan's body barely reacted anymore.
Her consciousness slowly sank into darkness.
Her head fell to the side, right beside her lifeless phone.
“Bo... she's not moving,” one of Bo's friends whispered nervously.
“Tch, she's definitely just pretending!” Bo snapped, but the confidence on his face began to fade when Shuwan gave no response at all.
“This is bad! What if she dies?” another student muttered as he slowly backed away.
“Damn... we're screwed! Are we all going to prison? I don't want to be involved!”
The atmosphere, which had been filled with laughter, instantly turned tense with panic.
Fear slowly crept into everyone's heart—until a sharp voice suddenly cut through the crowd.
“What happened here?! Why are you all gathered here?!”
A bespectacled woman in formal clothes hurried into the middle of the circle.
It was Miss Li Na, their homeroom teacher, known for being intelligent but extremely strict.
“M-Miss Li Na... it's... Shuwan...” a female student stammered, trembling as she pointed at the girl lying motionless on the floor.
Miss Li Na's eyes widened behind her glasses.
She stared in horror at Shuwan's pale, bruised face.
“Oh my God! Why are you all just standing there?! Hurry and take her to the school clinic! Right now!”
The sharp smell of antiseptic was the first thing Shuwan noticed as she slowly opened her eyes.
The dull white ceiling above her spun for a moment before finally coming into focus.
She tried to move, but a stabbing pain immediately spread from her stomach in protest.
“Shuwan, you're such a troublesome child. Didn't I already tell you not to fight?”
Shuwan turned her head slightly.
Her mother sat beside her, looking at her not with sympathy, but with disappointment and restrained anger.
“I wasn't fighting, Mom...” Shuwan whispered hoarsely, her voice barely audible.
“They attacked me... just because of some girl I don't even know.”
“Stop lying! Your classmates said you started the fight. They said you challenged Bo!” her mother shouted, her voice echoing throughout the quiet clinic.
Shuwan froze.
The pain in her body was nothing compared to the devastating ache gripping her chest.
“So, Mom... you believe them more than your own daughter? That's just great...”
Smack!
A hard slap landed on Shuwan's already bruised cheek.
She fell silent, staring blankly at her mother.
“You good-for-nothing child! I'm sick of being called to school because of your antics! If you get into another fight, I won't even let you come home! Deal with your own problems!”
Without saying anything else, the woman grabbed her bag and stormed out, leaving Shuwan alone in the cold silence.
At that moment, her life felt like a cruel joke.
Bullied at school.
Treated like garbage by her classmates.
And now betrayed by her own mother.
Slowly, she reached for the small table beside the bed.
Her shattered phone lay there.
She pressed the power button repeatedly, but the screen remained pitch-black.
That phone had been her only escape from reality.
And now, even it had abandoned her.
“What good is staying alive?” she whispered into the silence.
Strong winds blew across the fourth floor of the school building.
The area was usually deserted because it was only used for storing things.
Shuwan stood at the edge of the low concrete barrier, staring down.
The dozens of meters below looked incredibly tempting, as though promising an end to all the pain she had suffered.
She wasn't popular.
She wasn't talented.
To the world, Shuwan was nothing more than worthless dust.
Slowly, she spread both arms, clutching her broken phone in her right hand.
Fear gripped her heart, but her desire to stop suffering was far stronger.
Goodbye, world that never wanted me, she thought bitterly.
Shuwan squeezed her eyes shut, ready to let her body fall forward.
But at that exact moment—
Bzzzt!
A sudden vibration pulsed through her palm.
The phone that had been completely dead suddenly lit up brightly.
The light was so dazzling that Shuwan instinctively stepped back from the edge in surprise.
She stared at the screen in disbelief.
Although the cracks were still there, the operating system logo appeared with an oddly clear glow.
“It turned on? This phone can still turn on?!”
In an instant, a wave of excitement overwhelmed her despair.
She let out a small cheer, completely forgetting her intention to jump.
The phone was her lifeline.
She immediately left the fourth floor and hurried home.
“Don't forget to wash your school uniform before you shower! If you leave the stains on too long, they'll be hard to clean!” her mother shouted from the kitchen as Shuwan stepped inside the house.
Shuwan said nothing.
She washed her uniform, took a shower, and then immediately locked herself in her room.
Exhausted and aching all over, she threw herself onto the bed.
She turned her phone back on.
However, she frowned.
It seemed the system damage had restored the device to its factory settings.
Using the remaining internet data she had, she began downloading a messaging app.
As soon as the installation finished and she registered her number again, a notification suddenly appeared at the top of the screen.
Caishen added you to the group “The Gods and Good Fortune.”
Shuwan blinked in confusion.
“Caishen? The God of Wealth?” she muttered.
She opened the group chat, then froze in shock when she saw the member list.
There were no names like Dao Ming or Bo.
Instead, the group was filled with names that seemed to have come straight out of ancient legends.
Caishen (Admin)
Kitchen God
Chang'e
Nezha
Erlang Shen
“What kind of group is this? A role-playing chat? Or did I just get added to a group full of lunatics?”