Shadows of the Deep Space

"Hey, hey, have you three had enough? Thinking we're just air?"

Wang Qiang flicked the cigarette butt from his mouth and pointed a wooden stick at Su Ming.

"Let's get 'em all at once!"

Su Ming took a deep breath and took the lead charging at Wang Qiang.

Mink and Chen Tong rushed forward without hesitation.

"Seeking death!"

Wang Qiang charged forward with his gang.

A thug wielding a stick smashed it towards Chen Tong, who dodged to the right, then punched the thug's nose.

However, the next second, he felt a blow to his waist.

The intense pain made Chen Tong grit his teeth and wince, but he endured it, turned around, and kicked the thug who attacked him.

But in the next second, two more sticks directly hit his back.

Chen Tong fell to the ground, his face a mix of shock and disbelief, wondering why it felt like everyone was beating up on him.

So, Chen Tong looked up at Su Ming and Mink.

To his dismay, both were already on the ground, getting mercilessly beaten.

"Fuck!"

...

About fifteen minutes later, Su Ming, Mink, and Chen Tong were sitting against the walls of the houses lining the street.

Their faces bruised and battered, they were the picture of misery.

"Su Ming, are you okay?"

Mink asked, wincing from his own pain.

"I'm fine, I'm chubby, lots of fat, can take a beating."

Su Ming replied with a wry smile.

"You two really are useless, can't even fight properly. If you guys had held up a bit longer, I could have at least taken a few of them down."

Chen Tong scolded, extremely annoyed.

"We are good students, we seldom fight, because fighting is wrong."

Mink hesitated before answering.

"Fighting is wrong my ass."

Chen Tong almost laughed out of irritation.

Su Ming had a look of helplessness; it wasn't that he was not competable, but this body just wasn't up for it.

During the fight, Su Ming saw the stick coming. He immediately tried to dodge, but his body just couldn't move out of the way, slow as a tortoise.

And his fists were soft and pale, hitting the opponent felt like giving a massage, no real strength, it hurt more himself.

Although he had started dieting and exercising, it wasn't something that could be changed overnight.

"Forget it, I really must have been out of my mind to rely on you guys."

Chen Tong said helplessly.

"Don't be mad, it was our fault you got dragged down this time. By the way, why did Su Ming's group block you? Who did you offend?"

Mink asked Su Ming, puzzled.

Before Su Ming could reply, Chen Tong spoke irritably.

"The guy leading them was Wang Qiang, a notorious local gang leader. Who else but Zhang Tai?"

"That's too much, I'm definitely going to report him."

Mink said angrily after hearing it was Zhang Tai's doing.

Su Ming, however, was quite resigned, he struggled to his feet and said.

"It's useless, we were beaten outside of school and also have no proof. There's nothing we can do against him. Let's go to the nearby hospital, I'll cover the medical bills."

"Alright."

Mink got up too.

Chen Tong stared at Su Ming, feeling like he had changed.

The old Su Ming would have probably peed himself at the sight of his blockers, not daring to fight back. Though the outcome was the same, getting beaten up, the perception was different.

At that moment, Su Ming turned to look at Chen Tong, thinking the guy was crippled since he hadn't stood up yet, and reached out his hand.

Chen Tong snorted, took Su Ming's hand, and stood up.

Three people walked forward in an awkward manner.

...

Late at night.

In room 316 of dormitory building No. 1 at Mint Middle School.

A tall boy with a face full of acne marks walked out of the bathroom carrying a stainless steel basin filled with clothes.

"Zhou Kang, it's so late, and you still want to do laundry? What if they don't dry? What will you wear tomorrow?"

Inside the dormitory, a man wearing glasses asked.

"It doesn't matter, Mr. Tang was shocked, and I guess he won't recover soon. Tomorrow will probably be a self-study session anyway, so it doesn't matter what I wear."

Zhou Kang nonchalantly walked out of the dorm, humming a tune as he headed toward the stairs to go down to the laundry room on the first floor.

At that moment, behind him, a pair of dark red eyes lit up, fixating menacingly on Zhou Kang.

The next second, the figure, staying close to the ground and moving extremely fast, dashed toward Zhou Kang.

As Zhou Kang hummed his tune and walked on, he instinctively felt something charging at him from behind, so he jumped up.

Instantly, a deformed rat, covered in black lumps, scurried right under Zhou Kang's feet.

Zhou Kang was startled and, upon landing, he frantically picked up the basin and smashed it hard on the deformed rat.

Bang~

The loud noise resonated throughout the entire dormitory building.

"Damn, are you insane? What time is it!"

...

Curses emanated from various rooms.

At this moment, Zhou Kang, not caring about the curses, anxiously lifted the now-deformed basin to see if the disgusting rat was dead.

He saw the flattened deformed rat suddenly get up and, with great speed, scurry onto him.

Zhou Kang, terrified, reached out and grabbed the deformed rat.

As he did, the rat bit into his hand, and a mass of black cells infiltrated him.

"Ah!"

A piercing scream echoed throughout the dormitory building.

On the stairs, Su Ming and his two companions, having just treated their injuries, were trudging up the steps. They had just been at the hospital for half the night, finally getting their wounds treated.

They were about to reach the third floor.

Suddenly, they heard the piercing scream and, startled, immediately rushed up.

When they reached the third-floor corridor, they saw Zhou Kang standing there, his head hanging low.

"What happened?"

...

At that moment, several students also hurried out of their rooms.

Seeing Zhou Kang standing there dazedly, a few students approached and asked,

"Zhou Kang?"

At this point, Zhou Kang suddenly raised his head, his face grotesquely twisted, covered with raised black stripes, and his eyes had turned dark red.

Su Ming's pupils narrowed sharply, and he yelled at the clueless classmates,

"Stay away from Zhou Kang!"

But it was too late. Zhou Kang immediately turned and grabbed a classmate, biting into the major artery on his neck.

"Ah~"

As blood splattered, the classmate immediately screamed.

"Run~"

The surrounding students panicked and fled.

Chen Tong, witnessing this scene, immediately rushed up and kicked Zhou Kang.

Zhou Kang was knocked to the ground but got up the next second.

Chen Tong was about to swing his fist down again.

But Su Ming quickly stepped forward, grabbed Chen Tong by the back of his collar, and pulled him back while retreating.

"What are you doing?"

Chen Tong roared angrily.