Zhou Lin

"Hey! Look who's here."

As soon as Archie put one foot on the school bus, Justin, who was sitting in the middle window seat, stood up from his seat and shouted loudly.

Obviously, Justin saw Archie standing at the station waiting for the bus before the bus stopped.

When Archie walked up, the kids in the car started hooting.

Whether they were senior students, those in the same grade, or even junior students, they all cast scornful glances at him.

Poof——

A few seconds later, Archie tripped and fell after taking only a few steps forward.

"Watch the road, loser~" The child who tripped him looked at him condescendingly and said in a mocking tone.

Archie didn't say anything, he just got up silently and reached out to pick up the paper bag that fell from his hand.

However, another child grabbed the paper bag that fell on the ground before him, opened it while talking to himself, raised it high and shouted: "Hey! Look, Archie's lunch only has two slices of dry bread and a Plum candy! Hahahaha!"

When he finished speaking, the car burst into laughter again.

While there's nothing funny about a shabby lunch, that's not the point.

Many times, when people are in a specific environment, the facts themselves will be blurred, and people's behavior will be driven by the atmosphere and position.

Just like this moment, this moment...

When all the "cool kids" and bullies in school are looking for trouble for Archie, if you show displeasure or stand up for him, you might be the next one to get bullied.

No one wanted to end up like Archie...no one.

"Hey! Kid, get out of here and get to your seat! I don't have time to waste time with you, and you all, please be quiet!"

After a few more seconds, the driver complained from the front.

As the only adult in the car, he didn't react much to these things. He thought it was just a fight between children, and he didn't pay attention or care.

Like most adults, he hates his job. The degree of hate is often directly proportional to the low hourly wage and the intensity of labor...

In short, what the driver wants is to finish the bus quickly and go to rest. Other things are not his responsibility in the first place; as long as these brats don't cause any accidents on the bus, the rest is the school's problem. .

The children calmed down a little as the driver shouted.

"Give it back to you, loser~ You're welcome." The child who stole Archie's lunch handed the paper bag to Archie and put Archie's plum candy into his mouth with a proud face.

When Archie reached out to pick up the paper bag, the child let go and threw the paper bag back to the ground.

Archie had no choice but to bend down to pick up his lunch, and quickly walked to an unoccupied corner in the last row of the school bus to sit down.

At this time, the car started to move.

What has happened so far is what Archie has to go through every morning. In fact, today is not the most miserable day. If he catches up with a bully who is in the same car and is in a bad mood, he will deliberately sit next to him. Along the way, I grabbed his hair, pushed his head, twisted his arms, etc.

How did things develop like this? This started a year ago.

Archie's name is Fang Xiangqi. Judging from his appearance and daily behavior, he is a very ordinary Asian primary school student.

A year ago, he transferred to a public school in Kitchener.

His "parents" have rarely shown up since they went through the enrollment procedures for him, citing "busy work"; fortunately, the school's teachers didn't have much enthusiasm to interview his parents, and most of the time they just went through the school. The official online communication tool communicates with parents, and this kind of "communication" is required by the school, otherwise they would not bother talking nonsense.

In the eyes of the teachers, Archie is a very annoying student; his grades are mediocre, his family doesn't have much money, and he never gives gifts to teachers during holidays... Of course, on these points, most students Same.

In a federation with a clear hierarchical system, this kind of public school serving the lower working class naturally has supporting resources for the lower class - the principal who only thinks about how to make more money before retirement every day, but at the same time wants to protect his own safety; In addition to harassing female teachers and single mothers, he is always trying to kill the dean who is the principal. He always feels that he is inferior in his position, but in fact he has no talent, and his level is very poor and he does not care about the students. Teachers and so on.

Throw a group of naughty children from various problem families and lack of correct guidance into the hands of the above-mentioned people, and the results are foreseeable.

In addition to these teacher "software", the school's "hardware" is also worrying...

Public primary and secondary schools in non-poverty areas like this receive almost zero funding from the outside world.

Whether it is buying research projects or cultivating talent pools for oneself, commercial sponsorship usually comes to institutions of higher learning; while those who donate money for "fame" are more likely to donate to primary and secondary schools in poor areas.

Therefore, the primary school that Archie attended was almost entirely funded by government funding.

Taxpayers' money has been sent, but the specific implementation of "how to spend it" is decided by a small number of people; I have just said what kind of person the principal is... the hardware he got has been From desks to blackboards, from school buses to school buildings, from decoration materials to teaching supplies...it's all hard to describe.

In short, the school Archie went to was terrible.

This "badness" is also one of the causes of his current situation.

The reason why Archie annoys teachers is that, on top of the above, he is always "getting into trouble."

So... what does "causing trouble" mean?

It's very simple. For example, two children were fighting on the playground and they were bloody. Is it troublesome? Of course it's troublesome and the teacher has to deal with it. Maybe the teacher will get scolded and have his salary deducted for it.

For another example, someone plays a prank in the toilet and filth is everywhere. Is it troublesome? It’s also very troublesome, the teacher still has to show up, and the school janitor will ask for extra money to clean up this extra mess.

There are many things like this: Archie "falled" again in the cafeteria, staining the floor; Archie's desk was thrown down from upstairs, and a set of public property was reimbursed; Archie carried a paint on his head Buckets and paint appeared in the corridor...

Do the teachers sympathize with him? A little bit, but more of it is disgust; compared to what happens to others, things that involve themselves are the focus of their attention.

For example, A jumped off a building and died in front of B. Rather than feeling sorry for A, B was more concerned about the fact that he was inexplicably splashed with blood. It was so unlucky.

Don't think this is indifference, this... is human nature.

This is how the teachers feel about Archie. Whenever Archie "gets into trouble", even if it's just a pretense, they have to find out who beat him or bullied him. But many times the person involved won't admit it or admit it. No witnesses are willing to stand up and speak for Archie, so in most cases there is no one to punish and take the blame.

Over time, the teachers came up with a way to deal with Archie.

First of all, fighting is easier to catch. No matter who is "fighting" with Archie, both of them will be punished and detained together. Anyway, asking them about the cause is useless. What is the reason why the kid fights? Even adult disputes may not be able to be explained clearly.

Secondly, regarding the "falling" in the cafeteria, since the "culprit" cannot be caught every time, let's just punish Archie to clean the floor himself, so that the cleaners will not always complain; Teacher Their logic was - if he really didn't want to clean the floor, he would be "more mindful" when walking.

There are other pranks that cause losses, they also deal with them in a similar way; they have already thought about it... If Archie's parents come to question, they will respond with "Both parties are responsible for the fight between children", After all, Archie is just a child. If he really wants to argue, can he still speak louder than an adult? Even if the PTA handles the problem, isn't it about which parent makes the most noise during the meeting?

In this way, after a year, Archie gradually changed from "a transfer student who was occasionally bullied" to "the punching bag of the whole school."

Children who still have good intentions avoid him, for fear of being related to him or becoming like him; other children regard him as a random object to vent their anger, and sometimes tease him just for fun. , because they feel that "it's Archie anyway" and "it's natural to tease Archie and there will be no consequences" has become a tacit consensus.

And all these things... Although it made Archie feel a little confused, he never had an attack.

It's not that he likes to be submissive or has no ability to resist, it's just that he has his own ideas.

He wanted to regard this experience as a kind of "training", a kind of training to strengthen his will and character.

Archie believes that adapting to life in this environment is one of the necessary conditions for survival in the dangerous "human world"; only by learning to be patient can he blend into the crowd with confidence and no longer have to worry about "the other side of his body." The "ferocious beast" will break free from suppression due to mood swings.

And today, Friday the 13th, was the most critical day of his "training".

For Archie and his "family", whenever there is a "natural abnormality", the power hidden in his body will usher in an active period. If he can survive tonight's blood moon (i.e. total lunar eclipse) and remain "unchanged" "Body", then this year's experience is not in vain.

With this thought, Archie was in a pretty good mood today. Even though he was hit, pushed, and insulted in various ways at school... he didn't care much.

Because it was Friday, public elementary schools like theirs had no classes in the afternoon, so at noon, Archie got on the school bus and prepared to "go home."

It is said to be a "home", but in fact it is an "empty shell"; the apartment where Archie lives is empty, not to mention furniture, there are no basic daily necessities, and even the water, electricity and gas have long been cut off, because...he has no basic necessities. unnecessary.

Archie didn't need a light, he could see in the abyss-level darkness.

Archie also doesn't need food and water. Although he can eat and drink human food, he can't get any energy from it and can't feel full.

As for the parents...the two people who showed up at school were actually "changed" by Archie using magic; although he was not very good at magic, he could use blindness in a short period of time.

However, there is one thing Archie still needs, he has to "sleep"; in human form, he needs to "rest" more or less. Compared with "eating", he can get more benefits by sitting cross-legged and meditating. A lot of energy, but it doesn't take a long time. Meditating for an hour will keep him energetic for the next twenty hours.

Therefore, what Archie usually does when he returns to his residence is to do homework and sit cross-legged to meditate; on those days when the school cafeteria does not provide lunch (such as school activities or half-day classes on Fridays), he will also go out to buy some Food (money was also created by him as a disguise, and it will disappear after a while, because he always goes to large shopping malls to buy things, and buys very little, so the small amount of money at checkout will not attract any attention), take it with you We serve it as "lunch" in school and show it to others.

Today, when he was on the school bus, Archie was already thinking... He would meditate as soon as he got home. After tonight, he would have completed his "entry".

In the next stage, he plans to change his "way" of dealing with others, and try to fight others in human form without changing shape.

squeak--

Just as he was thinking this, the sound of a sudden brake suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

Logically speaking, with the technology of this era, it is difficult for a school bus, which is supposed to be the most stable means of transportation, to roll over, but... "Buying a school bus" is a big deal. The bigger the deal, the more money can be squeezed out. Mr. Principal obviously made a lot of money in the school bus business, so now... there is something wrong with the suspension of the car.

In addition to the suspension, some seats inside the school bus also had problems.

99% of the sales with kickbacks are shoddy. The seats should have been made of one-piece lightweight materials. In order to save costs, they can only be replaced with heavy cheap metal materials. Anyway, just wrap a layer of glue on the outside. At the qualitative level, most people can't tell any difference.

However, due to the specifications of the materials, the screws and parts at the seat joints cannot be installed tightly. In addition, some naughty children shake the car. When the car rolls over, several seats will be directly removed from the original position. Bits separated and fell out.

One of them, so hard... hit Archie's head.

When the human body suffers serious or even fatal injuries, Archie has no way to suppress the "Qiongqi" in his body.

So, on this afternoon, Qiongqi, who had not had a "good meal" for a year, not only had a hearty meal, but also did a lot of exercise.

…………

3:40 pm, North America, Lake Huron.

Qiongqi whizzed past in the air, followed by waves on the lake.

The injuries on its body were not too serious, but it knew that it could not stop moving, because the federal satellites were definitely still tracking its signals at this moment, and the "giant" might catch up at any time.

at this time……

"Huh?" Qiongqi was surprised to find that his body had changed.

It was still flying a second ago, but a second later it suddenly turned into a human form that it couldn't even change back to, and... began to fall.

He just fell into the lake from mid-air. The moment his head touched the lake, he lost consciousness.

When he woke up, he found himself lying by the lake.

He didn't know who put him here and left a bulging backpack beside him. Judging from the self-healing condition of the injuries on his left eye and body, he speculated that he had only been unconscious for about ten minutes at most.

After taking a breath, Archie looked around and saw no one or anything unusual.

So, he opened the backpack...

There is a set of clean children's clothes in the backpack, as well as some medical supplies, which can help him cover his unhealed wounds.

In addition, there is a note and a black card.

There is a white reverse cross printed on one side of the card, and a number - "9" on the other side.

The note read: "Hello, my name is Zi Lin. It was my companion who saved you just now. Regardless of whether you are grateful or not, I want to say you are welcome first. I know you must be thinking now that you and I are strangers. Why should I help you? Did I trick you? So I would like to declare here that your transformation has nothing to do with me. The person who hit the school bus is called Yan Wushang, nicknamed "Postman". If you want revenge, you can find him. Him. By the way, the giant you fought with before can only fight for one minute. In fact, if you hold on for a while longer, he will disappear by himself, so you don’t have to worry about him chasing after you. But now... I still It is recommended that you leave immediately. Although the satellites cannot locate you after your body has shrunk, they will definitely send people to search where the signal disappears. PS: Keep the card, it will be useful in the future."