Chapter 1: The Younger Brother
[Transferring system number 0111 onto the new plane… The transfer is completed, and the launch is successful.]
[Loading the details of generated identity…]
[Name: Shen Yi.
Gender: Male.
Personal information: Divorced parents. Lives alone. From today on, a new transfer student in the first eleventh-year class of a certain high school.]
The hallways of the school were filled with students walking in twos and threes, and the atmosphere of the campus was full of vitality.
The third floor of the school building was the place where all of the third-grade classes were held. During the break, the students here still kept their voices low as they spoke, and there were even some who kept reading their textbooks and solving questions between classes. The environment could be said to be rather scholarly.
A young man lay on a desk by a window at the back of the classroom. Because this corner was relatively remote, students rarely passed by, and it was much quieter than the desks at the front of the classroom.
When system 0111 opened his eyes, he had already become this young man named Shen Yi.
His dark hair was scattered messily on his forehead, and his deep eyes swept across the classroom. He glanced down at his hands as he hooked his fingers, and his mind was still filled with all kinds of information about the character the headquarters had generated for him.
The youth was named Shen Yi, a student who was 18 years old this year and had just freshly transferred to this school because of a fight he had at his previous school a few days prior.
Based on the vague memories in his mind, the previous life experience of this kid hadn’t been very good, and it was reasonable to suspect that the staff at the headquarters were playing a practical joke on him.
A man’s indifferent voice sounded in Shen Yi’s mind, belonging to system 067 who was tasked with supervising him, [All identities are randomly generated in the process of the system transfer.]
Glancing out the window, Shen Yi rested his elbows on the desk and supported his chin on his palm, [It was just a joke, you don’t need to be so serious about every little thing.]
System, [The information of the target has been updated.]
It really didn’t know when to act cute.
A small breeze blew in through the open window, running through the scattered hair on Shen Yi’s forehead. The youth squinted like a cat.
The plane of this world originated from a novel that told the story of a man named Fu Yuhe.
Fu Yuhe was originally the young master of a wealthy family, but as the protagonist of the first novel in the ‘Sinking into Melancholy’ series, his life was predestined to end in a miserable way.
When he was young, his parents lost their lives in an unfortunate car accident, leaving nothing but him, his younger brother, and a large inheritance behind.
After the death of his parents, most of the people around him changed their faces. His aunts coveted his broken family’s property and used all sorts of means to try to coax him into handing over the company shares belonging to him when he was still a child.
But Fu Yuhe was wilful and quick witted from a young age, and with his stubborn personality it didn’t take him long to see through the intentions of these so-called well-wishers. Although he was young, he didn’t let his relatives gain any benefits, and the pretense of familial affection finally ran short after a few years of struggle.
Since the death of his parents, the people around him seemed to have turned into wolves, tigers, and leopards*, showing their previously hidden ugly and greedy faces to him, and he felt like a lone boat drifting in the boundless sea, always alone and without any support.
The kindness in his nature also disappeared little by little under such circumstances. After a while, his ruthless style of doing things became something that often evoked the scorning and cruel words of spectators.
In business, others only felt that he was a gifted talent, but throughout the years, he suffered severe losses that remained a hidden part of his black history. For example, when he was attending college, he worked on a project together with his friends, but when the project was starting to lose money, those so-called friends put all the blame on him.
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As time went on and more and more similar incidents occurred, his heart gradually grew indifferent and cold.
And Fu Cheng, his younger brother and lone survivor of his parents’ car accident, became the only glimmer of warmth in his life.
But this small speck of warmth couldn’t last too long either. Not long after Fu Cheng took his college entrance examination, he was kidnapped and used to threaten his brother.
After all, he was Fu Yuhe’s only weakness.
Unfortunately, Fu Cheng died in a car accident before the two could be reunited again.
After that, since Fu Yuhe had lost the last living relative he was willing to admit, the last bit of lingering softness also disappeared from his heart. After blackening completely, he didn’t let those people off easily, taking a ruthless revenge on them as he disposed of them one by one, trying to make them taste even just a small fragment of the pain he had to live with day by day.
At the end, although it seemed that Fu Yuhe stood at the pinnacle of the world, in reality, there was no one left to accompany him.
Shen Yi’s so-called ‘target’ was this protagonist, Fu Yuhe, and changing the end of his story was his last task as a ‘system’. After the completion of the task, his reward would be to leave the identity of a ‘system’ behind completely and spend the rest of his life in any way he wanted.
The first and foremost principle of all systems was to follow and unconditionally obey all instructions. As they slowly developed a sense of self-awareness, an ego, or an identity, this principle would naturally lose its inherent importance to them.
Shen Yi was such a system who had awakened his self-consciousness towards the later stage of his existence. This procedure was a completely natural occurrence and of vital importance in the process of his transformation towards humanity.
The character of ‘Shen Yi’ did not exist in the original plot, but after system 0111 entered the world, he naturally gained a small number of scenes in the novel’s plot.
According to his plotline, he was a student in the same class as Fu Cheng, the protagonist’s younger brother, and because he bullied Fu Cheng, he was later taken care of by Fu Yuhe.
Now, it had only been a few days since he had transferred, and the unfortunate end Shen Yi had suffered in the plot seemed but a budding mirage of the far future.
The phone in the desk buzzed a few times, and Shen Yi touched the books inside looking for it.
He rubbed his hair that had been tousled by the breeze casually. The youth’s knuckles were slender, and the careless movement of combing through the dark hair looked relaxed and lazy. He reached to take the mobile phone with his other hand before unlocking it.
There were two new messages.
[Xu Fanchao: Bro, I took that kid from your class to the toilet. Be so kind and ask for leave for him for the class, let him hang out with us for a while.]
[Xu Fanchao: Tsk, this kid can’t even smoke, what a waste.]
It seemed that not long after his transfer, Shen Yi joined a group of little ‘gangsters’, and by now, he had already mixed in like a duck in water. After all, he wasn’t only rich, but also generous, and he often liked to treat his ‘friends’ for a meal.
It seemed that many schools had such a group of boring people who liked to find a rich and good-looking person to fawn over, and apparently it wasn’t too unbearable to play the boss and lead a group of younger brothers either, even giving these little bosses a feeling of majesty and fulfilment.
Even though, in reality, they were nothing but a bunch of waste scumbags.
But who did ‘that kid’ refer to…?
Shen Yi fell into thought as he looked at the message displayed on the screen.
System, [Fu Yuhe’s younger brother is in the same class as you.]
SLAM –
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The door of the men’s bathroom made a loud noise when it was kicked open. The people inside were stunned and froze momentarily, looking at the tall figure standing in the doorway.
The young man was already good-looking with his wide shoulders and long legs when he wore an ordinary school uniform, and it was still the end of summer now, when students were required to wear summer uniforms. The youth standing at the door was no exception, and he even seemed to have a little devilish handsomeness when wearing the short-sleeved shirt.
Shen Yi scrutinized the faces of the people crowding the bathroom one by one. At a rough glance, there seemed to be five people in total. One of the little gangsters with a flattop* still had a somewhat arrogant expression, but the tone he spoke to Shen Yi in was rather familiar, “Fuck me*, do you want to die, so fierce.”
This was precisely the Xu Fanchao who had send those messages to Shen Yi before.
Shen Yi’s gaze rested on the boy who stood in the middle of the crowd with his head bowed. His expression couldn’t be seen clearly, but his bearing seemed different from those surrounding him, which only made Shen Yi more sure of his conviction that he was probably the kid named Fu Cheng.
That frail and pitiful little white flower of a younger brother.
“Sorry to bother you all.” The corners of Shen Yi’s lips rose as he spoke, and his handsome face lost some of its sharpness, making him appear a little harmless, “But…”
He closed the door conveniently and walked closer as he spoke. When he reached Fu Cheng’s side, he rested a hand on the boy’s shoulder in a casual manner. Fu Cheng felt his shoulder sink, and he could see the bright and affectionate smile on the youth’s face, “He still has to help me write my homework. Or did you guys have something else in mind?”
Fu Cheng knew who Shen Yi was. The other was in the same class as him, but he had also seen Shen Yi with these people before, so when the youth approached him, his brows tensed unconsciously, and his tightly pursed lips turned a little whiter.
Xu Fancaho saw Fu Cheng’s frown, and his agitation turned into enlightenment. He gave Shen Yi a meaningful glance, “Fine, for the sake of your face, I won’t care about this kid.”
Shen Yi looked at him with the same smiling expression as before.
Those people left shortly afterwards, and in a few moments, only Shen Yi and Fu Cheng remained in the men’s bathroom. After making sure that the little gangsters were really gone, Shen Yi took back his hand resting on Fu Cheng’s shoulder.
Fu Cheng had a slender frame and stood 1.78 metres tall, which in itself couldn’t be said to be short, but somehow, standing next to Shen Yi, he still appeared a little too thin and pitiful.
With Shen Yi’s shadow shrouding him, he felt as if he was being subjected to a great sense of pressure. Just as his shoulders tensed, Shi Yi turned around and walked towards the cubicles.
For a while, only the sound of water could be heard. Then the toilet was flushed, and Shen Yi walked over to the sink, turning on the faucet.
“What were they doing just now?”
It took a while for Fu Cheng to realise that he was asking him. He muttered, “Nothing.”
Those people just now asked him if he smoked, and when he said no, they mocked him for being overly pretentious. They stuffed a lit cigarette into his hands and said that they would teach him how to smoke. This happened right before Shen Yi arrived and kicked the door in.
Shen Yi shook off the water from his hands and walked over to him. Fu Cheng was roughly half a head shorter than him, so he had to bend down when he leant closer to him, “You smell of smoke. I’m fairly sure that smoking is prohibited here.”
“I didn’t… Didn’t smoke.” The last two words lacked confidence.
Shen Yi pinched the collar of Fu Cheng’s uniform between his slightly wet fingers. Fu Cheng wanted to lean back subconsciously, but he couldn’t dodge the hand. The cold fingers skimmed over the skin above his collarbone, and the touch felt strangely distinct.
Fu Cheng couldn’t help swallowing.
The hand felt like a soft knife hanging above his head, but fortunately Shen Yi took it away a few moments later. Fu Cheng watched the fingers beautiful like a work of art stretch in front of his eyes. “Ash. Your clothes are burnt.”
Fu Cheng lowered his head and saw an inconspicuous small black spot on his neckline that had probably been burnt by the sparks of the cigarette. He pursed his lips.
Hearing the school bell’s echo from the hallways, the boy leaning in front of him straightened up, “Let’s go.”
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Fu Cheng was stunned.
Was that it? Would he simply just… let him go like that?
Shen Yi smiled. He couldn’t help thinking that this last assignment wouldn’t be too difficult to complete after all, and he would probably be finished by the time of graduation… a year later at the very latest.
Since the origin of Fu Yuhe’s blackening was the death of his younger brother, for the time being, it would be more than enough to simply take care of this younger brother.
During math class, the classroom was quiet. Other than the drawn-out words of the teacher, only the occasional sound of pages turning could be heard, and many students were in a daze. Shen Yi played with a pen while listening to the class curiously.
Only when the two of them returned to the classroom did he realise that Fu Cheng’s seat was not far from his. The boy sat in front of him with a straight back, listening attentively.
What a well-behaved little student.
Fu Cheng felt that he was really unlucky. He didn’t know why, but he kept feeling that he was being watched by Shen Yi, who he didn’t even know when he had provoked.
He felt as if he was sitting on pins and needles throughout the morning classes, and the other’s gaze was like a thorn pricking his back. From time to time, he couldn’t help pretending to turn his head casually, but whenever he tried to glance back from the corner of his eye, he could only see Shen Yi looking out the window in a daze. It was as if the previous sensation had been but an illusion.
When it was finally time for lunch break, only a few students stayed in the classroom, and most of them left to go to the cafeteria. Fu Cheng touched the meal card in his pocket as he stood up, intending to follow the others.
Shen Yi also got up, “Are you going to eat? Let’s go together.”
“Oh.” Fu Cheng pursed his lips.
It seemed that it hadn’t been an illusion after all. There indeed was someone watching him.
“Do you have some time to spare afterwards?” Shen Yi asked him.
Fu Cheng’s fingers clenched around the meal card unconsciously, “Is there something wrong?”
Usually, when people like the youth looking at him questioningly told him that they wanted to take him somewhere to ‘talk about something’, their real purpose was never pure, and he would often end up being forced to do all sorts of things he didn’t want to do.
“Mn.” The corners of Shen Yi’s lips rose as he nodded, and the smile on his face made him seem rather warm and harmless, “There were a few questions today that I didn’t understand, and I was wondering if you could help me with them? Classmate Fu.”
“I… ah?” Fu Cheng was stunned.
“Would that be alright?” Shen Yi’s smile seemed to be the type that made others want to trust him subconsciously, and his clear eyes didn’t hold even the slightest trace of the malice usually attributed to bad students. “I’ll be troubling you.”
_________________
notes
*變成了豺狼虎豹. I was going to look for definitions but got distracted by entertainment news. the meaning is pretty evident though, I think. Also, now I’m thinking about ham sandwiches. don’t ask me how I got there.
*平頭 refers to those haircuts where the top is a straight line, usually paired with a fade.
*我靠, homophone to 我肏