Working Records in a Weird World - 90

 

| WRIAWW | I Don't Have a Hobby of Bullying Children | 90

All the weirds in Ankang Community deeply feared Zong Le.

This wasn't solely because of his overwhelming power, a faint brush of his aura was enough to strip them of all resistance, leaving them only trembling in terror. 

More than that, they feared Zong Le himself.

Even though he usually appeared as nothing more than a harmless, innocent-looking black-haired young man, none of the residents of Ankang Community were foolish enough to equate his true nature with his outward demeanor.

Xiao Fu still vividly remembered that night when he had forcibly assembled the three of them into a "happy family." Long after Zong Le had left, they remained huddled in the room, shivering uncontrollably, unable to recover for quite some time.

"No, from now on, we have to do exactly as the boss says. You two better not even think of betraying him, if you want to die, don’t drag me down with you." The usually sadistic, two-meter-tall butcher was now curled up on the sofa, his teeth chattering audibly.

"I’m warning you, don’t even think of defying the boss. He is definitely not as harmless as he appears on the surface. What’s hidden in his eyes... is something far more terrifying than the abyss..."

He didn’t finish the sentence, but the three weirds present understood perfectly.

Because any weird who had truly sensed Zong Le’s aura had no choice but to submit.

And that was just under normal circumstances. In Xiao Fu’s memory, their boss was someone with remarkably stable emotions, and he often has an unconscious smile on his face.

Although everyone knew about his history of mental illness, compared to the newly joined Number Two and Number Five, who occasionally had sudden episodes, none of them had ever seen the boss display negative emotions.

Which only made it all the more terrifying when someone like him truly lost his temper.

Even now, although Zong Le hadn’t said a word, his expression and tone were calm, without the slightest ripple. It was like the deceptive stillness before a storm.

Yet Xiao Fu stood frozen in place as if his neck had been seized, goosebumps erupting all over his body, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.

This was the most primal trembling in the face of an unfathomable existence.

"Okay, I’ll take you there."

It took the Xiao Fu a great effort to straighten his tongue and led the way with stiff steps.

The abandoned classroom wasn’t far, it was just a short walk down the stairs and around a corner. But to the Xiao Fu, that brief distance felt like an agonizing eternity.

"Um... Boss, he’s inside."

Finally reaching the door of the abandoned classroom, Xiao Fu’s heart was in his throat.

Unexpectedly, Zong Le didn’t let him enter. "Xiao Fu, wait here in the hallway for me."

Even though he was extremely angry, Zong Le hadn’t forgotten to shield the child from seeing the corpse.

"Ah, okay, Boss."

Watching the black-haired young man’s figure disappear around the corner, Xiao Fu finally exhaled after a long moment, slumping against the wall like a puppet with its strings cut, gasping for breath as cold sweat drenched his body.

But even in his own miserable state, he couldn’t help feeling a twisted sense of gloating in his heart.

'With the boss being furious like this, those brats who wanted to take group photos with the corpse are in for a treat.'

Fear aside, Xiao Fu was eagerly anticipating the sight of the boss getting angry.

Weirds had no concept of empathy. As long as the fire didn’t burn them, they couldn’t care less if the world turned upside down. 

In fact, Xiao Fu was hoping the boss would quickly take down the Sunshine Experiment Elementary School so it wouldn’t have to worry about exam scores anymore.

When it came to bullying others under someone else’s authority, Xiao Fu was an absolute professional.

"If all else fails, maybe I should go back to the dorm and fetch the gift first..."

Due to half-hearted effort, Xiao Fu's arts and crafts assignment had turned out poorly done.

If he handed that to the boss, it would be downright embarrassing. So instead, Xiao Fu figured this was the perfect time to coerce and bribe one of its underlings into handing over a better finished product.

With that thought, the Xiao Fu turned to leave, but before it could take more than a few steps, he spotted a robed figure standing at the bottom of the staircase.

Sensing its gaze, the silver-haired man looked up, his blue eyes behind a monocle locking onto him with undisguised scrutiny.

‘It seems like someone the boss knows? I think I saw them talking earlier.’

But then again, how did this parent-teacher meeting even manage to invite a priest...? Just standing there, his sacred aura was enough to make a weird grimace.

Xiao Fu dismissed the thought and didn’t linger.

Yet the moment he tried to slip past him, a gentle voice suddenly spoke.

"Your name is Xiao Fu, right?"

Joshua’s lips curved into a flawless smile. "Perhaps you could spare me a few minutes? Let’s have a little chat about how you became a school bully, beat up your classmates, cheated on exams... all those things you’d rather Zong Le never find out about, right?"

Xiao Fu froze mid-step, and his pupils suddenly shrank to the size of a needle.

Meanwhile, inside the abandoned classroom, Zong Le saw the corpse.

The survivor’s expression was full of fear before his death. The scattered fragments of props beneath his fingers indicated he had fought desperately before his death. Being a senior A-level survivor does not mean that he has no trump cards.

Yet even after exhausting every trump card, he had still fallen prey to the inspection team and died in fear.

But surrounding this very corpse were several children in school uniforms.

Their pupils pitch-black, and they giggled and jostled each other, utterly unfazed by the dead body. Instead, they took their watches and mobile phones to take selfies, sometimes making peace signs, sometimes pointing at the corpse, and doing various insulting gestures.

"Which class do you belong to? Instead of attending the parent-teacher meeting, you’re here insulting a corpse?!"

Zong Le’s face darkened. "Hand over your student IDs."

The children were startled.

After all, they were just elementary students, they were still instinctively wary of adults.

Especially when confronted by this imposing black-haired man in formal attire, whose stern demeanor screamed ‘senior faculty.’ They quickly put away their phones and bolted.

"Run for it!"

But Zong Le wasn’t about to let them escape.

Not to mention the elementary school students who aren't even weirds, even the most powerful weirds attending the Taikang Yongle meeting wouldn't be able to leave unscathed.

These cunning little brats tried using the escaping tactic by splitting into three groups, but against absolute power, it was utterly futile. In the end, they were all grabbed by their collars and forced to hand over their student IDs.

"Alright, you can go now." After collecting the IDs and deleting all the corpse photos from their phones, Zong Le finally released them.

Watching the children scramble away in panic didn't ease his mood in the slightest—instead, it deepened his concern for the future of Guiyi City.

In such a school environment, it was nearly impossible to ensure that the future generation wouldn't grow twisted.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on that. There were more pressing matters at hand.

He turned and walked toward the battered corpse at the center of the classroom, his footsteps unconsciously softening. Kneeling down, Zong Le gazed quietly for a moment before reaching out his hand to close the eyes of the deceased. He then found a white cloth to gently cover the body.

Although Zong Le had learned about the danger of the Infinite Space from the online forums when he joined the survivors.

In the Infinite Space, death had always been commonplace. Under such extreme pressure, human minds grew numb, and lives became as expendable as weeds. It was an unspoken consensus.

Unless they were close companions or life-and-death comrades, no one would mourn the death of a stranger.

But knowing something this was different from facing it himself. What surged in Zong Le's chest now was nothing but overwhelming fury.

This was the first time he had witnessed a fellow survivor's death since joining them.

Especially since he had grown genuinely fond of this group.

Despite the endless rumors and gossip about him on the forums, despite how few would pause for a stranger's death.

Whenever he scrolled through late-night posts and saw those documenting injuries from mission after mission just to return to the real world, those sharing survival tips, and those debating tirelessly just to raise their survival rates by 1%... Zong Le couldn't help but feel sincere, heartfelt joy.

The faint glimmers of humanity weren't just found in grand, earth-shattering historical events, they existed in every insignificant moment.

Perhaps the survivors themselves didn't realize it, as they have become accustomed as they lived under the sun. Only those native to Guiyi City, bathed in eternal night would understand just how precious such qualities were.

And so—

"Unforgivable... unforgivable..."

Zong Le rose silently.

He casually snapped off a leg from a broken desk nearby, his movements fluid as if the alloy-made object were nothing more than cheap papier-mâché.

With this makeshift weapon in hand, he closed his eyes.

In an instant, an immense perception descended silently, precisely locking onto every corner of the experimental elementary school.

An invisible "eye" swept through every corner of the S-level weird zone, gliding past flower beds by walls, classrooms, parent-teacher meetings in progress, and survivors desperately extracting information from children, before finally settling on the shadowy inspector teams without distinct forms.

Found it.

The next second, the abandoned classroom became completely empty again, with no trace of a person left.

It was a completely different case at the staircase.

Xiao Fu, having just caught his breath from Zong Le's oppressive aura, now faced the top strategist of Infinite Space. Within just a few brief exchanges, Joshua had stripped him bare of all his secrets.

Even though Xiao Fu was completely on guard.

But intelligence and information are never revealed solely through words. Expressions, demeanor... these could reveal far too much.

"It seems I wasn't mistaken. You really are all 'locals.' How interesting."

After masking his intent with casual conversation, Joshua successfully verified what he most wanted to know, and was thoroughly satisfied.

The not-too-clever Xiao Fu, having never experienced such masterful interrogation, and couldn't comprehend how someone could uncover his desperately concealed secrets through seemingly unrelated small talk.

"Don't get me wrong, you don't have to be nervous. unless circumstances demand it, I have no particular interest in bullying children."

Joshua leaned forward, and the chain of his monocle fell down.

With a faint smile, he said: "As long as you answer a few small questions for me... these secrets will remain buried forever."

 

Previous TOC Next