Chapter 4#
Chapter 4#
Luo Mingshan was stunned.
For a moment, he seemed unable to maintain even his fragile, panicked expression, and his tone turned bewildered and confused: “…You want to bully me yourself, like that guy just now?”
…Bully Luo Mingshan himself, like that damn gay guy?
Zhao Xing’s body stiffened too.
He felt goosebumps all over.
He stepped back, pulling his hand away from Luo Mingshan’s chin.
“What’s going on in your head? Nothing besides that kind of stuff? I’m not interested in men.”
Luo Mingshan breathed a sigh of relief.
He truly didn’t understand why so many Earth men liked to have sex with other men.
It couldn’t create life or gain power—what was the point?
It was really strange.
He had just been wondering what he would do if Zhao Xing were into that kind of thing too.
Luckily, Zhao Xing was different from those people.
Watching Luo Mingshan’s obvious relief, Zhao Xing suddenly felt annoyed.
He narrowed his eyes, staring at Luo Mingshan with a heavy gaze: “Luo Luo, aren’t you celebrating a bit too early?”
Luo Mingshan froze, looking at Zhao Xing uneasily, fear gradually creeping onto his face.
Seeing his expression, Zhao Xing felt every malicious impulse within him stir.
He pinched Luo Mingshan’s little face, snorted, and said in a low, husky, and ambiguous voice: “I’m not interested in men, but there are plenty of people outside who are interested in Luo Luo. How about this: if you make me unhappy again, I’ll sell you off. What do you think?”
Luo Mingshan’s whole body went rigid.
As if he hadn’t noticed the stiffness, Zhao Xing continued cheerfully: “I just heard about it—apparently you can trade with repentance points here. They say selling once gets you 10 repentance points. With Luo Luo looking this good, you’d easily fetch 20, right?”
Luo Mingshan stared at Zhao Xing in disbelief, his eyes reddening, his body trembling slightly, fear and anxiety almost drowning him.
He looked like a frightened little rabbit.
So cute.
If he had long ears, they’d probably droop down in fright.
Zhao Xing rubbed his fair, soft earlobe with a moderate pressure, narrowing his eyes: “So, Luo Luo needs to be good and not make me angry, got it?”
Luo Mingshan lowered his head, biting his lip, his voice trembling: “G-Got it.”
Zhao Xing satisfactionally removed his fingers from the earlobe, now red and hot from rubbing.
Though he had said it just to scare him, scaring him like this once in a while was fine.
It helped lift his spirits.
Zhao Xing chuckled softly and stood up: “Let’s go. Time to head back.”
Zhao Xing pushed open the door and strode forward with big steps.
Luo Mingshan lowered his head and followed cautiously behind.
As he walked, Zhao Xing thought about how to torment this little white rabbit.
He couldn’t just rely on intimidation.
But, he had to admit—
Though Zhao Xing wasn’t gay…
Luo Mingshan looked really good when he cried.
Just thinking about his red-rimmed eyes earlier made every pore on Zhao Xing’s body open with pleasure.
Zhao Xing was immersed in fantasies of “tormenting” Luo Mingshan, naturally missing the fact that behind him, Luo Mingshan walked lightly, his face wearing an equally joyful smile.
…Brother Axing had indeed changed a bit, but not by much.
Though his words were harsh, his heart was still soft.
Just as cute as when he was a kid.
Ah, no.
He seemed even cuter now than back then.
…
Soon after, Zhang Sheng, who had been pretending to be unconscious, crawled out of the storage room.
He gritted his teeth and cursed shakily: “Fuck… all of them are perverts!”
.
Back in the dormitory, Zhao Xing was a bit bored, so he picked up the “Repentance Behavior Handbook” from the table and flipped through it randomly.
Luo Mingshan quietly cleaned up on the side.
After flipping for a while, Zhao Xing got bored and looked up to ask Luo Mingshan: “How did you get in here?”
Luo Mingshan paused in his movements, lowering his voice: “Manslaughter.”
Zhao Xing was taken aback: “Why manslaughter?”
“…Excessive self-defense.”
Zhao Xing looked at the slightly embarrassed expression on Luo Mingshan’s face and suddenly understood.
He tossed the book aside and sighed: “This world is going to hell. How many damn gays are there?”
It wasn’t that Zhao Xing was prejudiced against the gay community for no reason—he had just encountered too many perverts.
The first gay man Zhao Xing ever saw was the male criminal who had tried to get at Luo Mingshan when they were kids.
The second gay man Zhao Xing encountered was a “friend” of his.
One day, this “friend” asked Zhao Xing: “Brother Zhao, do you discriminate against gay people?”
Zhao Xing had answered objectively: “I don’t discriminate against gay people. I think every group deserves respect. I only discriminate against perverts.”
For example, that male criminal who intended to molest a child.
That night, the “friend” staying over at his place came to climb into his bed wearing lace stockings and a skimpy dress.
It was the middle of the night, and Zhao Xing thought it was a ghost—scared the hell out of him.
Zhao Xing scowled and chased the person out. The guy still complained resentfully: “Brother Zhao, everyone else is dating girls, but you’re the only one not dating. Admit it—you’re gay.”
Zhao Xing: “…”
Zhao Xing was utterly speechless. Did those guys actually date? One today, another tomorrow—that was just playing around! Not to mention the risk of disease. Was his cleanliness a crime?
Besides, compared to women, he preferred playing with motorcycles.
Later, that “friend” disappeared for a while. When he had news again, he sent Zhao Xing a video.
The video had three main characters, the content too obscene to watch. Zhao Xing got out after three seconds.
But even three seconds were too late.
Because in the first second of the video, the “friend” was moaning “Brother Zhao, Brother Zhao” while on top of a strange man.
Brother Zhao: “…”
Brother Zhao felt sick to his stomach.
After he finished throwing up in the toilet, the “friend” sent a message: “Brother Zhao, what did you think after watching? Hard yet? Want to fuck me?”
Zhao Xing replied honestly: “Threw up.”
Then he blocked and deleted him in one go.
The third gay man he met was a scumbag like Zhang Sheng in prison.
With all this, it was hard for Zhao Xing not to be prejudiced against the gay community.
“By the way, where are the other people in this dorm?”
Luo Mingshan: “Two have moved out, and the rest went to the night shift.”
There was a night shift available—earning 0.5 repentance points every three hours. Since the pay wasn’t much, usually not many people went. The others who still lived in the dorm had all gone to the night shift today, all because of Zhao Xing.
As soon as Zhao Xing arrived, he beat up Luo Mingshan. His bad reputation spread, and with Zhou Ming spreading what he had seen everywhere, the other dormmates were terrified, preferring to stay outside as long as possible.
Two of them had already spent repentance points to move out.
.
Not long after, the remaining three dormmates came back from the night shift.
Surprisingly, two of the three were father and son: the father a thin middle-aged man in his forties, and the child looking only six or seven years old. They were on bed 5 and bed 6.
The kid wasn’t shy at all. Knowing Zhao Xing was his new dormmate, he cheerfully introduced himself and said his name was Lü Xiaofeng, and his dad’s name was Lü Zhiqiang.
Zhao Xing thought he was cute, so he tossed him a piece of candy.
The remaining bed 1 belonged to a man named Zhang Yue, about thirty-five or thirty-six, ordinary-looking, tall and sturdy, who seemed very quiet and reserved.
He didn’t say a word when he came in, just silently changed clothes and organized his stuff.
It wasn’t until Luo Mingshan came out of the bathroom, and Zhang Yue saw the bloodstained gauze on Luo Mingshan’s forehead, that he spoke his first sentence: “…I heard you’re injured. This… this is some medicine I bought.”
He opened his hand, revealing a brand-new tube of ointment in his rough, thick palm.
Luo Mingshan didn’t take it immediately; instead, he looked at Zhao Xing.
Zhao Xing narrowed his eyes but said nothing.
Summoning his courage, Luo Mingshan asked: “Brother Zhao, c-can I take it?”
Zhao Xing was actually quite pleased.
Luo Mingshan was really obedient.
No pretense at all.
Like a little slave.
But his face showed no satisfaction. Instead, he said domineeringly: “What do you need ointment for? Trying to get rid of my welcoming gift early?”
Luo Mingshan immediately understood his meaning. He smiled bitterly and shook his head at Zhang Yue, then silently brushed past him.
Zhang Yue clutched the ointment in his palm, looked at Zhao Xing, and flushed red with anger.
Zhao Xing didn’t pay any attention to the man’s rage. He beckoned Luo Mingshan over, patted his head like petting a dog, and said: “Luo Luo, be good. You did something wrong. You need to let the wound hurt a bit longer so you remember the lesson.”
Luo Mingshan trembled: “Brother Zhao, I understand.”
.
At 11 o’clock, the main lights in the dorm all went out at once, leaving only a dim nightlight.
—Since everyone lived underground, many suffered from nyctophobia, so even while sleeping, the lights weren’t completely turned off.
Just as the nightlight flickered on, the dorm door was stealthily pushed open, and a figure tiptoed in.
“Stop right there,” Zhao Xing said.
The figure immediately froze like a statue.
“Z-Zhao, Brother Zhao,” Zhang Sheng said fearfully.
Zhao Xing: “Move out tomorrow.”
He really didn’t want to see one or two homosexuals with designs on Luo Mingshan hovering around in front of him—it was an eyesore.
Zhang Sheng instantly breathed a sigh of relief.
He had already planned to move out tomorrow anyway. If it weren’t for the rule that each person could only change dorms once a day, he would have moved out just now.
He really dared not share a room with these two perverts anymore.
If Zhao Xing was a common pervert who loved violence, then to him, Luo Mingshan was an unknown weapon that could make anyone beg for mercy on their knees.
Even now, he still felt a tightness around his neck, as if someone were strangling him, as if he were one step away from death.
Zhang Sheng touched his neck and quickly said: “I’ll, I’ll swap Zhou Ming back first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Zhou Ming?” Zhao Xing frowned. “He’s noisy and has a brain problem. He doesn’t understand human speech.”
Zhang Sheng quickly added: “Then I’ll just move out directly tomorrow. I won’t swap Zhou Ming in.”
That way, this eight-person dorm would only have five people left.
Good.
The fewer people, the better. Too many people were annoying.
Zhao Xing yawned, turned over, and went back to sleep.
.
The next morning at seven, Zhao Xing was carefully woken up by Luo Mingshan.
Only the two of them were left in the dorm. Apparently, Luo Mingshan had done his best to extend Zhao Xing’s sleeping time.
After washing up, still half-asleep, Zhao Xing picked up the bread Luo Mingshan had bought from the cafeteria earlier and started eating.
Maybe because he was hungry, Zhao Xing found this ordinary bread especially delicious. After finishing it, his drowsiness and fatigue vanished.
But Zhao Xing still didn’t show any satisfaction. Instead, he strode forward, giving Luo Mingshan a rather aloof back.
Luo Mingshan lowered his head and followed.
Since they had avoided the peak commuting hours, Zhao Xing chose not to take the stairs. Instead, he took the elevator to the subsurface level and headed toward the academy.
There were academies here, and factories too.
Attending the academy didn’t earn repentance points, but skipping class deducted them.
Working in the factory could earn repentance points, and not going didn’t deduct any.
So the “criminals” here usually went to school in the morning and worked in the afternoon.
Zhao Xing planned to do the same for now.
He had no choice—he had already spent 35 repentance points just on Luo Mingshan. He needed to save up now.
.
The academy Zhao Xing and Luo Mingshan were assigned to was Academy No. 7, not far from their dorm. It was a twenty-minute walk on the subsurface level, passing through Sun Plaza to reach the academy.
It was just past seven in the morning, and Sun Plaza had already turned on its “sun.” A red lamp hung high, illuminating the surroundings brightly.
Zhao Xing hadn’t seen such a crude Sun Plaza in a long time.
C City’s Sun Plaza was a hundred times larger. Its “sun” floated in the air and changed colors with the time of day—red in the morning, gold at noon, orange in the evening.
The brochure for C City’s Sun Plaza claimed that the sun lamp there was made exactly like the real sun, even emitting heat and UV rays to help people tan. It ranked in the top ten of “simulated sun” lists.
But not many people cared whether the fake sun actually resembled the real one.
After all, humanity had left Earth over three hundred years ago.