DMMB Chapter 1

It looked like it was going to rain again that July evening.

The air was thick and hot, filled with the relentless cries of cicadas echoing through the plane trees. The electric fan groaned weakly, barely stirring the suffocating classroom air.

At the back of the second row by the door, Gou You slumped in his chair, wiping the fog off his glasses with a tone of despair.
“Yan-ge, when do you think the damn air conditioner in our class will finally get fixed? If this keeps up, I’ll die of heat before we even finish remedial classes. If all else fails, can’t you ask your mom to just get us a new one?”

The boy beside him lowered his eyes slightly and didn’t respond. His fingers moved swiftly over the phone screen tap, swipe, press and two seconds later, the screen dimmed.

[Winner winner, chicken dinner.]

“Holy shit! Sheng Yan, you’re cheating, right? I didn’t even see where the enemy was, and you already got a headshot?” Zhu Peng, sitting in front, yanked off his headphones and turned around, looking stunned.

Gou You chuckled. “Our Yan-ge is a certified national shooting athlete, you think you can compare?”

Zhu Peng rolled his eyes. “That’s not the same thing.”

“Why not? Remember that guy from India? He got obsessed with PUBG and ended up competing in the Olympics. If our Yan-ge actually cared about that kind of stuff, he’d be dazzling everyone at the next Games by now. Isn’t that right, Yan-ge?” Gou You threw him a fawning wink.

Sheng Yan couldn’t even be bothered to look at him. He leaned back in his chair, tipping it on two legs, and casually brushed back the sweat-dampened hair from his forehead.

The motion revealed a fresh, dark red cut by his brow making his sharp features look even more striking. Combined with his effortlessly careless air, he had all the arrogant poise of someone born into comfort.

Good-looking, well-off, athletic, and even great at games.

No wonder all the girls liked him.

Actually no, not just the girls. Gou You had to admit he kind of liked him too.

Especially after finding out that all the air conditioners in their school had been sponsored by Sheng Yan’s mother his admiration had only deepened.

Thinking of this, Gou You chuckled. “Then I’ll thank our mom in advance.”

“Pathetic,” Sheng Yan said lazily, turning to Zhu Peng. “You still in?”

“In, in, definitely in.”

Zhu Peng hurried to restart the game.

The final exams had just ended, and the teachers were busy marking papers. With no one supervising evening study sessions, it would be a waste not to seize the chance to boost their ranks under Sheng Yan’s carry.

Zhu Peng looked at Gou You. “You joining? My girl’s playing too we’ll have a full squad.”

“No, I’m reading,” Gou You replied, tapping the thick yellow-covered book on his desk.

Sheng Yan glanced at the cover.

After Getting the Wishing System, I Reached the Peak of My Life.

At a glance, it was obvious that book wasn’t anything serious.

Sheng Yan withdrew his gaze, uninterested. “You call that a book?”

“How is it not a book? Don’t look down on online literature,” Gou You protested, pushing up his glasses. “And I actually think this one really suits you.”

Sheng Yan didn’t even lift an eyelid.

Gou You scooted his chair closer, leaned in, and whispered, “Do you know what it’s about?”

Sheng Yan said flatly, “Say it.”

“It’s about a loser student who’s always being stepped on. Then on his birthday, he gets drunk and accidentally binds a Wishing System. After that, he beats up the top student, kicks the student council president, hugs the school beauty, gets into Tsinghua University, and reaches the peak of his life. I just got to the part where the main character sends the student council president to work at a nightclub, tell me that’s not exciting.” Gou You’s voice was low but bubbling with excitement.

Sheng Yan couldn’t help glancing sideways. “And what exactly makes you think this book suits me?”

Gou You wiggled his eyebrows. “Don’t you want to do that to you-know-who too?”

“Who ‘you-know-who’? What are you talking about?”

“Oh, come on, who else? The student council president, of course except for Qin—” Gou You was halfway through his sentence when he froze.

Something about the voice that had just asked “Who ‘you-know-who’” didn’t sound right.

It was cool and low, disturbingly pleasant but it hadn’t come from Sheng Yan. It came from above his head.

Gou You stiffly looked up.

Sure enough, there was someone standing at the back door.

Tall, lean, and perfectly proportioned. His school uniform was buttoned up all the way, his trousers pressed to perfection without a single wrinkle.

He had narrow double-lidded eyes with sharp corners, dark irises, a defined jawline, and straight lips. Under the fluorescent light, his fair skin seemed to give off a faint chill.

Pinned to his chest was a badge reading [Student Council President]. Holding a pen and a duty logbook, he stood expressionlessly in the doorway so imposing that Class 6 of Year 2 no longer needed a new air conditioner; the temperature had already dropped.

Gou You’s brain kicked into survival mode, and his unfinished sentence spun into something righteous: “Except for Qin Zigui, there’s not a single good one among them!”

Nice save.

The moment Sheng Yan heard that voice, he knew that unlucky ice-faced bastard had shown up again. He didn’t even bother to look back just sneered inwardly and drawled, “You’re right, that story really does suit me. If I ever got a system like that, first thing I’d do is wipe out every pretentious jerk in the world.”

Every word dripped with provocation.

Qin Zigui, however, acted as if he hadn’t heard. His gaze remained cold and distant as he calmly wrote in his logbook:
“Class 2-6, Zhu Peng and Gou You, violating evening study rules minus one conduct point each.
Class 2-6, Sheng Yan, violating evening study rules minus one point.
Uniform violation minus one point.
Fighting minus three points.”

“Wait a minute.” Sheng Yan frowned, raising a brow. “Which eye of yours saw me fighting?”

Qin Zigui’s eyelids lowered slightly, his gaze landing directly on the dark red cut beside Sheng Yan’s brow. “What then—cat scratch?”

Sheng Yan: “…”

Right. Like your cat could do that.

“So what was it this time?” Qin Zigui asked, his tone flat and mechanical, like an emotionless law enforcement AI.

Sheng Yan tried to catch even a hint of feeling in that voice—anger, sarcasm, anything but there was none. For some reason, that only irritated him more.

He was about to snap, “None of your damn business,” when a clear voice interrupted—

“Sheng Yan.”

He turned his head. A pretty girl with a bun hairstyle had appeared at the back door without anyone noticing.

Ignoring Qin Zigui beside her, she held out a blue box with a Doraemon design. “I just heard you got into a fight with those vocational school guys because of me. Thank you. These are bandages put one on before it scars.”

So Sheng Yan had gone out at lunch to fight for the class beauty from Class 1?

The entire back row, who had been pretending to be invisible, instantly came alive ready to gossip.

Then Qin Zigui’s cool voice cut through the air:
“Class 2-1, Lin Qian leaving class during evening study, minus one point.”

Lin Qian blinked. “?”

Expression unmoved, Qin continued, “Class 2-6, Sheng Yan instigating conflict during lunch break, minus three points.”

Sheng Yan: “??”

Qin Zigui’s pen didn’t stop moving. “All students engaging in private conversation during evening study minus one point each.”

The bystanders: “???”

Completely unfazed by the collective outrage, Qin Zigui added flatly, “By the way, for minor surface wounds, iodine is enough. Cartoon bandages like those don’t breathe well using them in summer does more harm than good.”

And with that, he turned and left with the two Disciplinary Committee members, not once looking back.

A long silence followed.

Then Lin Qian asked hesitantly, “Why do I get the feeling he doesn’t like me very much?”

Sheng Yan twirled his pen and replied lazily, “Nah, he doesn’t like me.”

That made sense.

After all, in their high school, everyone knew the two most handsome boys in Year 2 couldn’t stand each other.

One ranked first in the grade, the other dead last.
One belonged to the top class, the other to the bottom.
One was praised under the flag every week, the other was criticized under it just as often.
One was a model student, the other a spoiled troublemaker.

To make things worse, Qin Zigui was the Student Council President in charge of discipline and Sheng Yan was the one who broke the most rules.

So their mutual hostility was practically school tradition.

Lin Qian sighed. “Forget it. He didn’t confiscate your phones just now, that’s already merciful enough. If you’re not using the bandages, I’ll take them back. Go to the infirmary later.”

Sheng Yan grunted in acknowledgment.

He clearly wasn’t in the mood to chat.

So Lin Qian didn’t linger. With a wave of her hand, she said, “I’ll bring your birthday present tomorrow,” and strolled leisurely back to her own classroom.

The back of the room finally quieted down.

Zhu Peng who had almost gotten his phone confiscated and Gou You who’d been caught badmouthing Qin Zigui both let out a sigh of relief.

Zhu Peng turned around and whispered, “You went out at noon to fight because of Lin Qian?”

“No.” Sheng Yan answered lazily. “A few days ago after school, I ran into that blond idiot from the vocational school cornering her on the back street. I saw him again at the internet café today, mouthing off, so I gave him a quick lesson.”

Lin Qian was pretty, smart, and kind basically the recognized goddess of their grade.

When Zhu Peng heard that their goddess had been harassed by some thug from the neighboring school, he immediately fumed. “That bastard dared to bully one of our girls from Experimental High? Toads wanting to eat swan meat, don’t they ever look in the mirror?”

Sheng Yan didn’t have any special feelings for Lin Qian and wasn’t as indignant as Zhu Peng—he just couldn’t stand seeing a girl get bullied.

But he hadn’t expected that blond punk to actually carry a knife. If he hadn’t reacted fast, his face might’ve been slashed. Luckily, nothing serious happened just a minor injury, and the guy ran off.

Still, if that kind of scum didn’t get taught a lesson, he’d probably keep causing trouble.

As Sheng Yan was thinking that, his phone lit up. He pulled it out to see a message.

[Ran from the Internet Café]: Sheng’er, that group of punks from the vocational school came again. Sounds like they’re planning to block your friend tomorrow night. What’s your move?

The Experimental High campus was usually closed off, but since finals had just ended, only the rising seniors stayed for make-up classes so lunch and dinner were allowed off-campus.

That also meant the local thugs had more chances to show up and stir trouble.

As for his “move”…

There wasn’t much to discuss.

If words didn’t work, fists would.

Sheng Yan simply replied [Wait for me], pocketed his phone, and grabbed his bag from under the desk. “I’m heading out. Call me if anything happens.”

Zhu Peng asked, “What? We’re still in night study—where are you going?”

“Those vocational-school punks are at Ran’s internet café,” Sheng Yan said, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

The moment they heard that, Zhu Peng and Gou You perked up. “Then we’re coming too!”

“The hell you are.” Sheng Yan didn’t even hesitate. “Do whatever you want, just don’t stick your noses in.”

He threw his bag over one shoulder and walked out.

It was close to eight at night. The sky was pitch black, the campus nearly empty, and even the guards were half-dozing in the heat.

Sheng Yan knew the place well, he slipped past the hallways and the garden cameras, heading toward a small bamboo grove behind the teaching building, one of the few blind spots without surveillance. He swung his arm and tossed his bag over the wall.

Just as he took a few steps back to get a running start, a hurried voice called out from behind him:

“Yan-ge! Wait for us!”

He stopped and turned, spotting two familiar, sneaky figures crouching their way toward him. He couldn’t help frowning. “What the hell are you two doing?”

They finally made it to him, straightened up, and gave a mock salute. “Worried that the enemy has strength in numbers and our general might be outnumbered so we’ve come to reinforce!”

Sounded righteous enough.

Sheng Yan didn’t buy a word of it. “Just say you want to stand up for Lin Qian.”

“Hehe.” Zhu Peng scratched his head, not bothering to deny it. “Well yeah, kinda. We can’t just sit back while our school’s girl gets bullied, right? That’d be unmanly.”

“Exactly,” Gou You chimed in. “But don’t worry, Yan-ge, we won’t steal your thunder. Once we beat those bastards down, we’ll disappear let you shine alone in Lin Qian’s eyes.”

“Yeah, we won’t interfere with your emotional progress with Lin Qian,” Zhu Peng nodded firmly, looking utterly sincere.

Sheng Yan frowned. “What do you mean?”

Both of them blinked. “What do you mean, what do we mean?”

He scowled. “What emotional progress do I have with Lin Qian?”

Zhu Peng and Gou You froze. “Wait—you and Lin Qian aren’t secretly dating?”

“???”

“???”

Sheng Yan finally lost it. “Are you two idiots?”

Zhu Peng snapped back, “How are we idiots? Last year on your birthday at KTV, didn’t Lin Qian confess to you? You didn’t reject her, even walked her home, we saw it! Me, Gou You, even Qin Zigui! Don’t tell us that meant nothing!”

“Who said I didn’t reject her? I just didn’t want to embarrass her in front of everyone. I told her clearly on the way home that we were just friends and left it at that. How did that turn into some secret relationship in your heads?” Sheng Yan stared at them like they were mentally unsound.

The two idiots stood in awkward silence.

After a pause, Zhu Peng asked cautiously, “So… really not?”

Sheng Yan, irritated, said, “Want me to call Lin Qian right now?”

“No need, no need.”

Both of them waved their hands quickly.

Sheng Yan was known for being straightforward, if he said that, it had to be true.

They couldn’t help feeling embarrassed; they’d thought they were guarding some explosive secret for a whole year, only to find out it was all a misunderstanding.

“But…” Gou You hesitated, pushing up his glasses. “If you and Lin Qian have nothing going on, then… how did things go south between you and Qin Zigui?”

Sheng Yan: “?”

Gou You continued, “You know, everyone used to say Qin Zigui and Lin Qian were the class couple in Class One. We just figured maybe they had a thing, then you got involved, stole her away, and the two of you—once brothers—turned into enemies over love…”

Seeing Sheng Yan’s expression darken visibly, Gou You hurried to explain in a rush:

“We have reasons for thinking that, okay? Otherwise, how do you explain you two being as close as real brothers before, then suddenly falling out right after your birthday last year? If it wasn’t because of that, what else could it be?”

This time, Sheng Yan went silent.

He couldn’t exactly tell them that he himself didn’t even know why he and Qin Zigui had fallen out.

All he knew was that on his birthday that night, he’d gone to Qin Zigui happily, expecting a gift only to be met with, ‘Sheng Yan, we’re not the same kind of people. From now on, it’s better if we keep our distance and go our separate ways.’

Just thinking about it made his chest tighten in frustration. He had no desire to keep talking about it and replied irritably, “It’s not the kind of crap you’re imagining. I just straight-up can’t stand that Qin Zigui, acting all high and mighty all day, sticking his nose into everything. He’s damn annoying.”

“Well, that’s true.” Gou You recalled how Qin Zigui had acted during night study and nodded in sympathy. “But still…”

“What still?”

Sheng Yan was exasperated.

Gou You pushed his glasses up, his squinting eyes glinting with mock wisdom. “But, Yan-ge… could it be that you don’t like girls?”

Sheng Yan: “???”

“Otherwise, how do you explain being totally unmoved when someone like Lin Qian, a literal goddess, confessed to you? That’s not normal.” Gou You’s tone was deadly serious.

Zhu Peng’s eyes widened in alarm. He clutched his collar, took two steps back, and stared at Sheng Yan like facing a dangerous predator.

Sheng Yan: “……”

What the hell, you idiots.

What had he done to deserve two brain-dead friends like this?

He didn’t even want to waste another word on these morons. With a jump, he grabbed the top of the wall, hoisted himself up, and shot them a disdainful look from above.

“Relax. I’m perfectly straight. And even if I weren’t, I’d rather like that emotionless, pretentious robot Qin Zigui—”

—than either of you.

But the second half of the sentence froze in his throat.

Because when he turned to jump down, he saw a familiar figure standing right where he was about to land.

Tall, long legs, narrow inner double eyelids, pale skin with a chill undertone.

Standing there perfectly still, pen in hand, notebook open, head lowered as he wrote something.

As if sensing Sheng Yan’s gaze, Qin Zigui lifted his eyes slightly- cold, expressionless and said four calm words:

“Thanks for the affection.”

Then he lowered his gaze again and neatly finished the line of elegant handwriting in his notebook:

“Class 2–6 student Sheng Xiaoyan, verbally seduced an officer on duty, caught in the act, offense confirmed, +5 points.”

---

Author’s Note:

Qin Zigui: I only heard six words. Don’t ask which six.

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