Chapter 38: 36

Lin Jiang Sixth High had an absurd amount of rules, and it was due to this kind of education style that Xu Sheng’s activities were a sensation within the entire school.

Most of the Sixth High’s students were solely focused on rushing towards graduation, burying their heads to read their books. Even if they were academically poor students, they were still law-abiding students—despite the fact that Zhang Feng played games during class and went to PC cafes after school, the moment he was caught, the speed he would kneel down and shout out, “I’m wrong I’ll never dare ever again” was faster than anyone else. He didn’t dare to be late, and even more so didn’t dare to skip class. 

But Xu Sheng currently had no energy to be surprised at the rebellious minds of the students in Class Seven. His fingers subconsciously twisted together and he took his gaze away from the screen.

Hou Jun suppressed his voice and said mysteriously, “Shush, be quiet. The stimulating part is coming.”

 

 

Tan Kai fell into a deep silence at the title ‘Murder Game’. After the title screen ended, when the initial actor and director credits began, he immediately slapped Hou Jun on the head. “You told me this was an action movie?! But you’re having us watch this, how is this fucking an action movie!”

Hou Jun rubbed the back of his head. “It’s all dismembered. How is this not an action film? There’s a lot of action going on.” 

Tan Kai and the others, “…”

 

Hou Jun was a film addict, and especially liked all types of crime movies.

When Hou Jun enthusiastically invited others, he would call these all “good things”, “stimulating”, and “action movies”. These hot-headed youths would have their minds full of imaginings, thinking up entire plots in their minds…

“Forget it, forget it.” Another male student made movements as if to leave.

 

Xu Sheng had some impression of him; he was deskmates with Shen Wenhao. During evening self study sessions, he would usually use the classroom computer to play music when Gu Yanwang and lao Meng weren’t there. This brother always liked to sing a few phrases along with the music. It was rumoured he had dreams of going into music, but his vocal abilities weren’t really deserving of much praise. He was always subject to other students shouting at him, “Brother, don’t open fire, we’re on your team.”

“Don’t go.” Hou Jun clung to the other. “Yuan Ziqiang, next time you sing, I’ll applaud you.”

Yuan Ziqiang, “Really?”

 

Tan Kai laughed wildly. “Hou ge, this sacrifice of yours is too great.” 

Shao Zhan had insisted on not participating in class activities, and he really just sat there, but there wasn’t a complete lack of harmony.

He sat next to Xu Sheng, his back just leaning against the iron rod sticking out of the back of the headboard of the bed. He had no reaction to the happenings on the screen across from him, to the point where his eyes weren’t even blinking.

After Xu Sheng moved his eyes from the screen, he didn’t know where to look, and finally landed his gaze on the clothing of the person sitting to his left, then the youth’s thin wrist. Shao Zhan’s hand rested upon the bedframe, very close to him.

Perhaps it was because it was too close to him. 

Xu Sheng could clearly smell the scent of Shao Zhan’s body lotion. It was the same scent as the first time he had fumbled around in the dark with his eyes closed and showered in his room, carrying a hint of coldness and mint.

It was pitch dark all around, except for the light emitted by the tablet placed on the table.

The room was filled with thriller sound effects and the discussion of a few students. “Fuck this person is definitely about to die right, I think the next one has to be him. Do you wanna bet?”

“Bet! I think it’s the woman on the side. I bet on a new game skin.” 

“…”

While Hou Jun and the others scrambled around making their bets, Xu Sheng heard another deep, cold voice in his ear:

 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“Cgf sbe kjamtlcu atf wbnlf bg kjamtlcu wf.”

Vtjb Itjc tjvc’a rjlv jcsatlcu rlcmf fcafglcu atf gbbw. Coafg mtjculcu bea bo tlr rmtbbi eclobgw, tf rja lc atf ugbeq ibbxlcu ilxf tf kjr atf bcf ktb ifv batfgr lcab vblcu yjv atlcur. Qtfc Lbe Aec tjv rffc tlw, tf tjv yffc raeccfv obg j ofk rfmbcvr; atlr kjr atf olgra alwf tf tjv rffc raevs ubv cba kfjg j rmtbbi eclobgw. Ktf qfbqif lc atf gbbw lcfzqilmjyis rffwfv ilxf atfs tjv yfmbwf tlr ujcu obiibkfgr. 

After Shao Zhan finished saying that, he tilted his head over, and coincidentally met Xu Sheng’s eyes.

Their voices on this side weren’t very loud compared to the movie sounds. Hou Jun and the others were still glued to the screen.

Being caught by the person he was staring at was rather awkward. Xu Sheng said, “I was obviously watching the movie.”

Shao Zhan didn’t agree nor deny. 

Xu Sheng said again, “Who’s looking at you.”

Shao Zhan made a noise of agreement and followed up with, “The person who was staring at me for half a minute without blinking wasn’t you.”

“…”

Xu Sheng had nothing to say to contest this and immediately grasped onto a new thought. He countered, “If you weren’t watching me how would you know I was watching you.” 

He didn’t think Shao Zhan would reply so quickly and concisely. He changed his posture, the few strands of hair in front of his forehead half-dry, his gaze ambiguous when he opened his eyes. “I admit to the first half.”

Xu Sheng was stunned.

Admitting the first half of the sentence would mean.

I was watching you. 

Shao Zhan wasn’t very interested in this kind of movie. The popular transitions, the purposely hidden plot twists, the action that was never gory enough—along with the endless chirping by his ear, everything was grating and too loud. He had lost interest, but found that his usually most talkative deskmate had fallen unusually quiet.

Not only quiet, but ever since the movie had started, he hadn’t even moved.

Shao Zhan, “You scared?”

Xu Sheng gestured that this kind of thing would never happen to his own self, what was he even joking about? “Something insignificant like this, you think that’d possibly scare me?” 

After those harsh words.

He had forcibly set himself into place.

 

Xu Sheng could only continue watching the screen in front of him. The screen was currently playing this kind of scene: The black-clad man with a black mask appeared behind the female lead, the female lead was holding a freshly baked dessert in the kitchen and had no idea that danger was currently nearby, the black-clad man slowly raised the sickle in his hand—

You are reading story Beyond The Outline at novel35.com

Fuck. 

Xu Sheng could watch any genre, except for this kind of bloody violence.

The dim, gray editing of the colors made the scene seem dirty. Along with the countless bloody scenes, it made one uncomfortable.

The root of a fear usually originated from oneself. Xu Sheng had already forgotten some insignificant things that used to strike fear in him as a child.

As a child, he had lived with Xu Yaping in a rental apartment. At that time, Xu Yaping had just brought him to C City and her job wasn’t stable. She could only rent inexpensive, simple housing. After looking through a few places, she finally rented a decent room. Xu Yaping had said happily, “It’s so much bigger than the other places, yet the price is about the same.” 

It was only afterwards that they learned the previous owner had had issues come up in their business, and after a dispute had broken up one day, it had resulted in a massacre.

Xu Yaping was often busy at work, leaving Xu Sheng at home by himself.

But they hadn’t stayed too long in that place, changing residences not even a month later.

When Xu Sheng saw this, his hand subconsciously shifted over to the side, wanting to find something to grab onto to divert his attention for a moment. Anything was fine; he grabbed at whatever was next to his hand. 

He originally wanted to grab at the edge of the bed frame, but the screen suddenly went dark. The room had no other sources of light.

So he unconsciously grabbed at something that was a little chafing, but also a little warm.

A few minutes later, the bloody scene ended, and the scene momentarily returned to tranquility.

Hou Jun slapped his thigh. “Fuck, it really was the woman. Didn’t she just lock the door, how did the man get in?” 

Tan Kai, “There was foreshadowing at the beginning, you didn’t watch carefully enough. But this isn’t important, as long as you know you now owe me a heroic skin.”

Yuan Ziqiang, “And my applause, don’t forget it.”

Hou Jun, “Shit.”

Xu Sheng put down the leg he had rested upon the side of the bed and left the world of the movie. Only then did he realise that the thing chafing against his palm was actually Shao Zhan’s knuckles. 

Shao Zhan hadn’t said anything, merely letting him hold him for almost five minutes.

“Fuck.” Xu Sheng violently let go of his hand as if he had been scalded by boiling water.

 

“You’re pretty brave.” Shao Zhan opened up his hand, and moved his wrist around a few times, saying pointedly, “Not afraid at all.”

Xu Sheng explained, “I grabbed by mistake.” 

He truly had grabbed by mistake, but Xu Sheng felt rather uneasy after saying it.

After all, no matter what he said, he had grabbed the other’s hand for quite a while.

The movie wasn’t calm for long. The second half moved towards the plotline of everyone killing each other according to the rules of the game, falling into a frenzy.

After Shao Zhan finished stretching his joints, he draped his hand by the side once again. His tone was no different than usual, but Xu Sheng felt like this person didn’t seem that inhumane anymore. He said, “If you’re scared, you can grab by mistake again.” 

Hou Jun’s tablet battery barely lasted to the end of the movie.

After the movie ended, they all went back to their own rooms. Hou Jun sent them off at the entrance of the stairs, and couldn’t resist from continuing to discuss the plot from just then. “The ending was really unexpected…right, Sheng ge.”

“Ah.” Xu Sheng had had utterly no interest in paying attention to the plot developments in the second half of the movie, and didn’t remember what had happened. He said after a few moments of blanking out, “It really was unexpected.”

Hou Jun continued to lament, “How could the murderer be him…” 

Xu Sheng watched as Shao Zhan walked in the front. The collar of Shao Zhan’s t-shirt was very wide. The windows were open on both sides of the hallway. The dry breeze in the night passed by. The back of his neck was bare and exposed. Underneath what was exposed, was that tattoo no one knew about other than himself.

Shao Zhan this person, it really seemed like, he truly wasn’t difficult to get along with.

Zhang Feng received Xu Sheng’s message in the middle of the night. He had been in the  summoner’s rift and had only just returned to reality, and was about to cover the air conditioner in preparation to sleep. “Who is it, in the middle of the night.”

Zhang Feng fished his phone over. 

S: What do you think of Shao Zhan as a person?

Zhang Feng squinted his eyes as he typed, replying: Despite the fact that it seems like there’s been something wrong with his head recently, overall there’s only one word to describe him. Cold.

Zhang Feng hadn’t really interacted with Shao Zhan before, not counting all the rumours he had heard about study god.

Zhang Feng: Isn’t study god’s cold coolness famous, why are you thinking about this question in the middle of the night? 

Xu Sheng lay in bed after returning to his room, and couldn’t fall asleep for a long time. He thought to himself: It’s my head that fucking has something wrong with it, am I going crazy.

But Zhang Feng was someone who was self-proclaimed as a man who understood many things. He didn’t need any hints and quickly thought of the most likely situation: Fuck, is it because he likes you, that you’re planning on seriously considering him?

 

S: …

Zhang Feng said again: To be honest, study god has good grades and is handsome, so it’s not like you can’t consider him. 

S: Leave

It wasn’t possible to bypass this was it.

Xu Sheng figured he might as well just throw this entire topic away.

S: Play games? 

Zhang Feng: Not playing, I just finished. Right, do you know about the military training the school has set out for us this week? It’s not military training, what do we call it, I forgot…education something?

“National defence education.”

During morning self-study the next day, Meng Guowei stood at the lecture podium, his expression loving as he initiated the military training members. “Correct, I believe everyone has been looking forward to this for a long time. In order to improve the overall quality of our students, the school will hold various activities every year. This year’s military training will start on Wednesday, and run for five days in total. In a while I’ll have Hou Jun send out the notice. Everyone let your parents know when you go back.”

nao: this entire chapter is pure gay panic. also one of my favorite chapters because the “if you’re scared you can hold hands with me again” makes me w h e e z e but don’t worry i will be wheezing even more in a (near) future chapter for reasons i cannot spoil but you will understand when we get there (at the very slow rate we are translating at we are sorry life just be sliding down a mountain slope at a 90 degree angle with no brakes)

You can find story with these keywords: Beyond The Outline, Read Beyond The Outline, Beyond The Outline novel, Beyond The Outline book, Beyond The Outline story, Beyond The Outline full, Beyond The Outline Latest Chapter