TITCFRIBN 5

 Chapter 05

An Cheng was incredibly strong—at least, that was the impression Liu Xin and the other three had after being hit.

When the club smashed into their backs, it felt like their internal organs were on the verge of bursting. An inexplicable metallic taste of blood filled their noses and ears.

The four of them stopped and turned around, glaring at the boy behind them with furious eyes.

Through their gaps, An Cheng saw Bai Qing curled up on the ground, covering his head. His military training uniform was covered with wet footprints. His hands, clutching his head, had knuckles scraped and bleeding, contrasting sharply with his normally pale skin.

An Cheng's voice turned icy, "What do you think you're doing?"

Liu Xin had been hit hard and was already furious. "Who the hell are you? I suggest you leave quickly, or else we’ll beat you to—"

"I asked," An Cheng interrupted Liu Xin with a kick to his stomach, "what are you doing?"

The other three noticed the situation turning south. They exchanged glances, planning to gang up on him and beat him down. Even the guy standing guard at the door noticed the unfavorable situation and rushed over to join the fight.

But when the mop swept across them, none of them could dodge it, grimacing in pain as they clutched the spots they had been hit.

An Cheng walked over to Bai Qing, grabbing him by the shoulder with one hand and helping him up. "Bai Qing, does it hurt badly?"

"I'm fine, Brother Cheng. Thank you," Bai Qing's voice trembled. "Let's get out of here."

An Cheng scanned the surroundings. "Wait for me."

He led Bai Qing into a bathroom stall, letting him steady himself before letting go. "Lock the door. Don’t come out until I tell you to."

Bai Qing, a bit confused, obediently stayed inside without moving. "Brother Cheng, what are you going to do?"

As the saying goes, revenge is best served promptly. Who knows how long you might have to wait otherwise?

An Cheng gripped the mop and approached Liu Xin and his group, who were glaring at him but didn’t dare to step forward.

In his previous life, he was a general who fought battles far and wide. His weapon was a long spear.

Bai Qing still didn’t understand how all this had happened.

When he walked out of the restroom, five people were standing outside, all looking at him with ill intentions. They shoved him back in and started beating him.

He had never seen any of them before and couldn’t have possibly offended them.

If there had been just two or three, he might have been able to fight back. But with five, all he could do was endure the beating.

In the midst of the pain, he even wondered if his father’s creditors had tracked him down to the school to collect their debts.

Luckily, An Cheng arrived just in time. Bai Qing’s injuries weren’t too severe—only the initial pain was excruciating. As the pain subsided, Bai Qing’s mind cleared, and he started worrying that Brother Cheng might not be able to handle them and would get hurt.

But outside the stall, all he could hear were cries and wails. There wasn’t a single sound from An Cheng.

Brother Cheng... Is he really that strong?

An Cheng pointed the wet mop at Liu Xin. "Which school and what major are you in?"

Liu Xin had been beaten into submission, lying on the ground in agony, barely able to move without feeling intense pain. He hastily explained, "We’re not from the finance university. We just came in to use the restroom."

An Cheng sneered, kicking him in the leg with his military boots. "Were you here to use the restroom or to beat someone up?"

Liu Xin grimaced in pain, but still managed to glance around shiftily. His ordinary-looking face was filled with confusion. "How could we be here to beat anyone up? It’s all just a misunderstanding."

As they were talking, a loud commotion suddenly erupted outside the restroom. The noise grew louder and closer, and soon, people were about to barge in.

If they saw this scene, they would think that An Cheng had been the one attacking others.

An Cheng sneered internally, dropped the mop, clenched his fist, and then...

Punched himself in the face.

A crowd of people rushed into the restroom, falling silent as they took in the sight: puddles of water on the floor and six people sprawled out on the ground.

One timid student finally broke the silence by shouting, "Ah!! Someone’s dead in the finance university restroom!"

Although Liu Xin and the others were all conscious—An Cheng hadn’t hit them hard enough to knock them out—the student shouted that because he saw blood trickling from An Cheng’s mouth, and An Cheng was lying there peacefully, as if dead.

Not moving at all. Just like a corpse.

Liu Xin and his group: "..."

Suddenly, one of the stall doors swung open, and a student in military training uniform rushed out. His eyes fell on An Cheng, and for a moment, he was frozen with fear. Then, he ran over to An Cheng, knelt down, and cautiously checked if he was still breathing.

Bai Qing was nearly scared to death. His face was even paler than when he was being beaten, and his voice was shaky. "Brother Cheng..."

An Cheng, recognizing it was Bai Qing, secretly tugged at his pant leg.

Telling him: I’m not dead.

But the crowd didn’t know that, and someone frantically called for help.

"Hello? Is this the campus hospital? Hurry up and come to the restroom near the sports field—someone might be dead."

One sentence sent the doctors into a panic, making them rush out of their office and jump straight into the ambulance.

As the ambulance sped toward the sports field, many curious eyes followed the flashing lights on top of the vehicle, wondering which student had fainted again. But when they pulled out their phones during their break, they saw a headline on the forum.

"Shocking! A fight broke out in the men's restroom, and someone got killed!"

Chen He had been in a great mood, sitting on the side, unscrewing a bottle cap, drinking water, and chatting with his friends about their hopes for university life.

Until a classmate showed him their phone, and his expression suddenly turned grim.

An Cheng was quickly taken to the campus hospital.

On the ambulance, the doctor briefly examined his injuries. Aside from the punch to his face, they couldn’t find any major problems. But An Cheng wouldn’t wake up, his brows furrowed and face pale, looking as if he could die at any moment.

The main reason is that An Cheng had a handsome and well-defined face, paired with his usual cool demeanor. No one could have suspected that he was pretending to be unconscious, nor did anyone know that to make his face look pale, he had been holding his breath the entire time.

The doctor asked Bai Qing for details about the fight, but Bai Qing lowered his head in distress, his voice trembling with sobs. "Brother Cheng hid me in a stall to protect me. I didn't see anything."

The doctor, flustered, still managed to comfort Bai Qing, patting him on the shoulder. "Don't worry too much. He’ll be okay."

Liu Xin and the other four were also taken to the school hospital, but they were escorted by security guards who had rushed over. After all, there was talk that someone had died, so only one ambulance had been sent.

The five of them didn’t have any visible signs of being beaten, so the security guards assumed they had only suffered minor bumps and bruises and decided not to call for another ambulance.

Liu Xin, feeling guilty, tried to avoid going to the school hospital, saying that his injuries weren’t serious and that he had urgent matters to attend to. But the security guards, being the kind-hearted elderly men they were, insisted on escorting them. Noticing that they seemed to have trouble walking, they even called for extra help to support them.

With that, Liu Xin and the others had no choice—they couldn’t escape!

After getting off the ambulance, An Cheng was taken directly to the radiology department for a head and chest CT scan. The results came back quickly, showing no issues.

The doctor, puzzled and concerned about any possible hereditary conditions, called for a nurse to prepare for a blood test.

Sensing danger, An Cheng suddenly opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and, drenched in sweat, looked weakly at Bai Qing. "Where am I?"

An Cheng's acting was so convincing that even Bai Qing was uncertain. "Brother Cheng, this is the school hospital."

An Cheng lowered his gaze and fell silent.

He exuded a sense of melancholy, like someone who had been wronged but was too reticent to express it. In a hoarse voice, he said, "Doctor, I’m fine now. Just let me rest."

The doctor wasn’t willing to leave so easily, so they conducted another round of examinations. Only after confirming that there was nothing wrong did the doctor leave, albeit still suspicious.

Bai Qing, being thoughtful, saw the doctor out. "Don’t worry, doctor. I’ll take care of Brother Cheng."

After leaving the room, the nurse trailing behind the doctor seemed hesitant to speak.

The doctor smiled and asked, "What’s on your mind?"

The nurse replied, "That student was unconscious for so long, but now he’s miraculously recovered. I feel... uneasy."

"Nothing to be uneasy about," the doctor said, somewhat exasperated, rubbing her forehead. "That kid was faking it."

"Come on, let’s check on the others."

No sooner had they left the room than An Cheng leaped off the bed, full of energy.

Bai Qing walked over to the bed and said, "Brother Cheng, your acting is so good! You almost scared me to death."

An Cheng waved it off.

In fact, he once had a mentor who was a film emperor.

An Cheng pressed Bai Qing’s thin shoulders and guided him to sit on the bed.

Bai Qing looked confused as An Cheng crouched in front of him, opened the cabinet beside the hospital bed, and skillfully took out iodine, bandages, and cotton swabs. He even went to the bathroom to wash his hands and disinfect them.

When he returned, his palm was cool as he held Bai Qing’s wrist, inspecting it.

Bai Qing, feeling a bit nervous, lowered his head and watched as An Cheng disinfected the wounds on his hand with a cotton swab dipped in iodine.

There were several spots on his knuckles where the skin had broken. Logically, it should have hurt, but all he felt was a slight itch, and the muscles in his hand began to tingle and ache involuntarily.

Bai Qing tried to pull himself together and said in a light tone, "Thank you, Brother Cheng."

An Cheng responded in his usual calm manner, "You call me brother, so it’s my duty."

There was a hint of warmth in his simple words, like the soft sunlight streaming into the cool hospital room, gentle and peaceful.

After treating Bai Qing's hand, An Cheng looked up, his light brown eyes reflecting Bai Qing’s figure.

"Your body."

"Huh?" Bai Qing didn’t quite catch on.

"The injuries on your body. Let me take a look."

Bai Qing felt a bit embarrassed. He had never taken his shirt off in front of others before. Even during basketball games, no matter how hot it got, he never lifted his shirt. He was rather conservative in that regard.

But Brother Cheng only had his well-being in mind. Showing him the injuries wasn’t anything improper.

Bai Qing started untying the belt around his uniform.

Noticing Bai Qing’s avoidance of eye contact and the slight redness in his ears, An Cheng realized something was off.

"Bai Qing, are you gay?" An Cheng asked directly.

In novels, the main character is often forced into situations, and their sexual orientation isn’t explicitly stated. If Bai Qing is gay, asking him to undress in front of him would be like asking a girl to do the same in front of a guy.

Bai Qing’s hand tightened around the belt, and he found it hard to speak.

He lowered his head, feeling ashamed. "Yes."

An Cheng nodded. "Then have a nurse check on your injuries."

An Cheng, being a gentleman, stepped out into the hallway and asked a nurse to assist.

Bai Qing’s face remained flushed. Would he not be shy in front of a girl?

As An Cheng stood quietly in the hallway, his phone rang. It was Li Yu. "An Cheng, are you okay?"

"I’m fine."

The voice on the other end sighed in relief. "That’s good. Where are you now? Today’s incident has blown up, and the counselor wants to see you both."

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