[14: Nannan, Yu Zhibai has returned from the teacher's office.]

When the System thoughtfully provided the reminder, Shang Nan was still searching on the web for that car accident at Red Stone Tunnel. He learned many details, whether it was Shang Nan's mother's previous profession, name, or age.

At the same time, Zhang Hu also provided quite a bit.

"I was classmates with Yu Zhibai and Lu Yang back in elementary school. At that time, Yu Zhibai was always being bullied by Lu Yang and his group," Zhang Hu looked confused. He actually didn't understand either; Yu Zhibai was the best-looking person in the entire elementary school back then, so how could Lu Yang and the others bring themselves to do it? "I don't know what happened after elementary school graduation. Later, my house got demolished, but my family wasn't the kind of demolition household that got a lot, just a few million. My dad spent money to send me here, but I didn't expect to run into Yu Zhibai and the others again." Zhang Hu spread his hands, looking like 'this is definitely some f*cking destined fate.'

"I really didn't expect that Lu Yang's gang is still bullying Yu Zhibai, and Yu Zhibai doesn't tell anyone. But actually, everyone knows. Sometimes there are injuries on Yu Zhibai's face, and we can all see them. When the teacher asks, he also says it's nothing. I think, once he endures until university, it should be fine. By then, he can go to another city."

The entries on the webpage also made one feel uncomfortable.

"Beautiful young married woman loses life in Red Stone Tunnel..."

"Woman in red dress involved in car accident at Red Stone Tunnel, vehicle destroyed and person deceased. It is understood that the woman was once a mistress of a certain tycoon."

"..."

Zhang Hu's muttering suddenly stopped. Shang Nan turned off his phone and looked at the approaching Yu Zhi; both of them pretended as if nothing had happened.

Yu Zhibai returned to his seat and sat down, not even glancing at Shang Nan.

Shang Nan pursed his lips and rummaged for a pen from his desk drawer, planning to write a note to Yu Zhibai. What should he write? His memory was sealed, so he wasn't sure if he was originally a person good at communication.

Write 'Your eyes are really beautiful today.'

Shang Nan was still writing when he felt his back being gently poked from behind. He turned his head and met Yu Zhibai's indifferent gaze.

"The teacher asked me to discipline you."

Shang Nan blinked; he thought he had misheard. What? Discipline? Discipline who? What was there to discipline about him?

Yu Zhibai simply relayed Zhang Xueli's words to Shang Nan.

His expression was very serious.

Shang Nan felt this was a good opportunity. He nodded, revealing a delighted expression, "Okay, thank you."

And then?

14 had sealed his memory, but learning ability was already ingrained in his marrow. Shang Nan didn't find the third-year high school questions difficult; he had to play dumb in front of Yu Zhibai.

However, before that, he was more curious about another point, "Did the homeroom teacher really say discipline?"

Yu Zhibai lowered his eyes, "I think so."

......

He raised his eyes, looked at Shang Nan, and restated, "It was the homeroom teacher who requested me to help you, Student Shang Nan. If it weren't for the sake of us being friends, I would have refused."

Shang Nan was naturally clear about Yu Zhibai's nature.

Cold, gloomy, outwardly gentle and introverted. From the moment he deliberately pressed the eyeball into the socket in front of him, he knew that, as 14 said, monsters are full of malicious desires.

Yu Zhibai completely harbored a teasing mentality towards humans, which was why he didn't fight back when bullied. 'An eye for an eye' was created for humans; for Yu Zhibai, it didn't apply.

That Yu Zhibai responded to Shang Nan meant he felt Shang Nan was interesting and different from other humans.

But that was all.

Shang Nan tentatively asked Yu Zhibai, "Then how do you prepare to discipline me?"

Yu Zhibai's snow-white fingers held a fountain pen with a wine-red casing. The pen was very old. "Supervise your studies, help you review every exam paper, correct mistakes, supervise your daily living, supervise your daily interpersonal communication..."

The smile on Shang Nan's face slowly disappeared, until only a tiny bit remained. He couldn't really smile anymore.

[14: Nannan, you cannot go back on your word.]

[14: The more you interact with him, the more information I can obtain about him.]

[14: Yu Zhibai is a perfectionist. Don't be fooled by his good temper where he agrees to whatever you say. If you say something and then forget it or go back on your word, he will get angry.]

"Okay." Shang Nan agreed to Yu Zhibai.

By the afternoon, Shang Nan had swapped seats with Yu Zhibai's desk mate. Yu Zhibai's desk mate seemed very happy; not that he hated Yu Zhibai, but Lu Yang and the others always loved to trouble Yu Zhibai, and incidentally always made a mess of his desk too. Now that he could change seats, he was naturally happy.

Zhang Hu frequently looked at Shang Nan with a meaningful gaze. He dared to guarantee with the remaining demolition funds in his family that the 'friends' Shang Nan mentioned being with Yu Zhibai were definitely the kind of friends whose goal was dating. He guaranteed it, absolutely!

......

The sky was getting dark, with red clouds filling the sky.

Shang Nan bought two breads to eat later during evening self-study, one for himself and one for Yu Zhibai.

"Hey, does he eat bread?"

[14: Yes, his physiological functions are the same as humans.]

The supermarket's location was quite remote. Shang Nan took a shortcut back to the classroom. This area was originally meant for building dormitories, but later students didn't live there, so it was abandoned and became a warehouse, a place to put anything.

The small path wasn't completely dry yet; the moss was soft, making a squishing sound and oozing water when stepped on.

Not many people walked here.

The noise from the playground seemed to be getting further and further away from here.

Shang Nan raised his eyes. A small white moth flew in from the wall, circled around the top of his head a few times, and drilled into a window.

His foot slipped. Shang Nan hugged the bread tightly, supporting himself on the wall with his palm. Before he could stand steady, his other arm was dragged by someone. He was almost dragged and pulled into the space between two low buildings.

When these dormitory buildings were built, the school leaders made the decision on a whim. The project came down, designers designed the blueprints, and construction teams rushed the progress. Later, no students were willing to live there, so the project was halted. They just plastered the outer layer of the walls so that from the outside, it matched the other buildings in the school, but many unnoticed nooks and crannies were still rough concrete.

Shang Nan's wrists were pinned above his head. The back of his hands rubbed against the wall, causing raw pain as rough cement particles were scraped off.

Underfoot were large chunks of coal slag, making it impossible to stand steadily. Shang Nan's body was squeezed against the wall, the air damp and cramped.

"Zhang Gou?" Shang Nan listened to the faint breathing by his ear and guessed the person almost immediately. His impression of Zhang Gou wasn't hatred, but discomfort. This kind of discomfort, he only felt from Zhang Gou.

Zhang Gou was half a head taller than Shang Nan; he was about the same height as Yu Zhibai.

Zhang Gou sniffed Shang Nan's hair and neck. He was dressed thinly, his hands were cold, and his figure was lean, but his strength was terrifyingly great. Shang Nan had no power to resist.

"You are so well-behaved now, different from before," Zhang Gou said softly.

Shang Nan gritted his teeth, watching the sky getting darker. Holding his breath, he thought he shouldn't have stopped Meng Xiao from beating him yesterday, nor should he have pitied him and given him tissues.

"Zhang Gou, let go of me." Shang Nan felt the other person's breathing was too low and slow, almost negligible. Yet Zhang Gou was standing right in front of him. The light shining into the crack from a distance enveloped the two of them. Zhang Gou was too thin, like a thin and long strip of paper.

Shang Nan turned his head to avoid Zhang Gou's encroaching touch, exposing his neck in front of Zhang Gou.

Zhang Gou's gaze sluggishly shifted to Shang Nan's neck, and he lowered his head to bite down without hesitation.

Shang Nan completely didn't expect it. He could feel the other's teeth piercing his skin. Severe pain assailed his whole body. Shang Nan tried to struggle but felt that Zhang Gou pressing on him didn't seem like a person, but a giant rock, a giant mountain.

The pain disappeared after a few seconds. Zhang Gou, who was pressing on him, released Shang Nan. He ran away immediately, so fast that Shang Nan couldn't catch up, laughing as he ran. Shang Nan heard his laughter; it wasn't loud, but he heard it clearly.

In the night, Zhang Gou's running silhouette lengthened and shortened under the lights, finally turning into a small ball of black shadow and vanishing from sight.

Shang Nan gasped for breath, feeling suffocated in his heart.

[14: His brain isn't normal.]

"I can see that." Shang Nan covered his neck. The pain in the bitten area spread slowly, making half his neck throb with pain. Shang Nan turned around to walk back. "Let's go, to the infirmary."

There was someone on duty at the school hospital at night.

They disinfected Shang Nan's neck and applied medicine, "It might leave a scar."

Seeing Shang Nan not speaking, they said jokingly, "But this shape looks quite like a moth."

Shang Nan touched the gauze on his neck, unable to feel happy.

The school doctor took two boxes of medicine from the cabinet and handed them to Shang Nan. "Once in the morning and once in the evening. Try not to get it wet. The sooner it scabs, the sooner it heals. Bitten by a partner? Biting so hard, guess they don't like you much." For the last sentence, the doctor switched to a teasing expression and tone.

Shang Nan stuffed the medicine into his uniform pocket, "It wasn't bitten by a partner."

......

Evening self-study had already started. No teachers were present at night; students reviewed on their own, and the study commissary was responsible for managing class discipline.

Shang Nan zipped his uniform zipper to the very top. The upright collar just happened to cover the bite mark. He wasn't in the mood to check if the scar really looked like a butterfly.

"Bread I brought for you." He handed the bread to Yu Zhibai.

Yu Zhibai tapped his own neck, signaling Shang Nan, "There is the smell of blood."

[14: He can smell it.]

Shang Nan pulled his collar down, revealing a large patch of snow-white neck. The fresh bite mark was deeply engraved on Shang Nan's skin. He complained to Yu Zhibai in a low voice, "I got bitten by someone, it hurts so much." The wound was still throbbing, spreading to the back of his neck; even his collarbone felt like it had been bitten open.

Yu Zhibai lifted his eyelids. His gaze briefly lingered on Shang Nan's neck for a few seconds. He couldn't create such a beautiful neck; it was a bit of a pity.

"It will get better." Yu Zhibai's eyes showed comfort.

Shang Nan knew Yu Zhibai hadn't let down his guard yet. He stopped there and pulled his collar back up, listening to 14 report the obtained information.

[14: Zhang Gou, 18 years old this year. He's not in the same class as you; he's a student in another class. He was specially recruited by the school for charity purposes to show others. His personality is strange, he has many eccentricities, and his temper is also very weird. He often doesn't come to class, but the school doesn't bother with him. As long as his file is at the school and he graduates smoothly, that's enough.]

Shang Nan opened the bread. He plucked the sunflower seeds off the bread one by one and fed them into his mouth. When he ate bread, he ate the nuts first, then the softest part in the middle, and finally the crust. He didn't like eating the crust very much.

Hearing 14 finish, Shang Nan paused slightly and suddenly asked, "In every world, is there only one monster?"

[14: I cannot answer you with absolute certainty that every world has only one monster, but in this world, indeed, there is only the Paper Person as a monster.]

"Oh..." Shang Nan's reply sounded a bit sluggish.

"Say, is it possible that Zhang Gou isn't human either?"

[14: Regarding the data of this world—Paper Life, everything is crystal clear. The only monster is Yu Zhibai.]

Shang Nan's suspicion of Zhang Gou disappeared because of 14's explanation.

After finishing the bread, he turned his head to look at Yu Zhibai to see what the other was doing.

He was crafting with paper.

A stack of white paper cut to the same size. He held a piece of paper in his hand, folding it back and forth. Shang Nan couldn't tell what he wanted to make.

But Yu Zhibai's fingers were slender and long. His skin was whiter than a human's, and one could even clearly see the blue veins distributed under the skin.

Yu Zhibai's expression when crafting paper revealed a gentle piety. The thing in his hand was connected to him; to some extent, they were of the same kind, so he was not only pious but also held pity.

This scene was very pleasing to the eye.

"Do Paper People also have blood vessels?" Shang Nan appreciated Yu Zhibai's movements and asked softly.

Yu Zhibai stopped his movements. He slowly looked at Shang Nan. After a few seconds, he curled the corners of his mouth, "They are all fake."

"Painted too?"

"No, I was made by my grandmother," Yu Zhibai continued to lower his head to fold the thing in his hand. The prototype of wings could be seen, but the specific object couldn't be distinguished yet.

"Your grandmother?"

"En, when she was young, she was a very famous Shamaness in our area."

[14 was provided with keywords and gave information very quickly: Yu Zhibai, mother Yu She, grandmother named... Yu Changyue. Yu Changyue was a Shamaness known far and wide when she was young, able to walk between Yin and Yang, but later she washed her hands of it to focus on raising Yu She and Yu Zhibai.]

[14: Yu She died on the spot in a car accident. When Yu Zhibai was sent to the hospital, he only had one breath left. The doctor announced they could take him home to prepare for the funeral. Yu Changyue then took her deceased daughter and heavily injured grandson home. Yu Changyue made beautiful Paper Effigies and knew many crafts. Yu Zhibai became a Paper Person in her hands like this. When he first became a Paper Person, relying on that last breath, Yu Zhibai still had human perception. After that thread of soul consciousness disappeared, Yu Zhibai thoroughly became a Paper Person.]

[14: He has no relationship with Yu Changyue anymore. All of Yu Zhibai's current behaviors are partly from memory and partly imitating humans.]

[14: Nannan, don't think he is kind, don't be deceived. Since his blackening value dropped by 0.5 yesterday, there have been no more fluctuations. The aura of death on him is particularly heavy.]

Shang Nan raised his hand and poked Yu Zhibai's shoulder, "Why would you tell me this?"

"You said it, we are friends."

"For you."

Yu Zhibai gave the finished product in his hand to Shang Nan—a Paper Butterfly exactly the size of a palm.

"It should have been blue, but I don't have paint at school." Yu Zhibai didn't seem to feel his identity was weird at all.

[14: He doesn't take you seriously.]

Shang Nan accepted the butterfly, "It's very beautiful, thank you."

Yu Zhibai pressed, "What makes it beautiful?"

"..." Shang Nan stroked the wings of the Paper Butterfly, "The wings, the wings are beautiful."

If it weren't paper white, this butterfly would surely be lifelike. With wings spread, a slender body, and even two feelers protruding out, the protruding eyeballs were simply dotted with a black pen.

This Paper Butterfly came alive because of the painted eyes.

"The wings are too fragile; they break easily." Yu Zhibai said.

Lu Yang was resting his head on his hand in front, watching Shang Nan be so jubilant over such a gadget given by Yu Zhibai. He tsked. Just Yu Zhibai? What was the difference between him and a beggar on the street? Was he worth Shang Nan, an heir of a major family, treating him like a treasure?

Lu Yang yawned, looking at Yu Zhibai with increasingly sinister eyes. Just this morning, all his homework had turned into scraps. He was fairly certain that Yu Zhibai did this.

But Lu Yang had no evidence. He even went to the security department to check the surveillance in the afternoon; everything was normal.

His left hand resting on his knee slowly clenched tight. He hated Yu She. If she hadn't appeared, his father wouldn't have wanted to divorce his mother as soon as he got home, and his mother wouldn't have committed suicide by jumping off a building.

He didn't have a home anymore. He wasn't living happily, so he didn't want Yu Zhibai to live happily either.

If Shang Nan wanted to stand with Yu Zhibai, then let them die together. He had plenty of means to quietly kill this kind of young master who hadn't suffered a bit.

......

"Shang Nan, bye-bye. My grandma made beef jerky; I'll bring two bags for you tomorrow," Zhang Hu said to Shang Nan behind him while packing his things after evening self-study.

"Okay, I'll bring you food too." Shang Nan responded, simultaneously glancing at Yu Zhibai. "I'm leaving, see you tomorrow."

Yu Zhibai raised his eyes and smiled gently at him, "My friend, see you tomorrow."

Shang Nan slung his schoolbag over his shoulder. After thinking for a few seconds, he picked up the butterfly from the desk and put it in his coat pocket.

He wore a black duffle coat over his uniform. His hair had grown a bit long; whether it was the bangs on his forehead or the thin strands falling on his neck, under the bright classroom lights, it fell on the top of his head in a haze, like a naturally appearing glowing halo.

He lowered his head, putting the butterfly into his pocket with great care, his eyes full of pity, like a god.

The driver arrived at the school gate twenty minutes early. The grand and wide gate of the private aristocratic high school had a plaque engraved with "Huinanfang City Changyu High School," and a line of small characters underneath—Teaching and Educating, the Duty of a Teacher.

Changyu High School's college entrance rate could compete with Huinanfang City's Public No. 1 High School. Changyu High School not only cooperated with many domestic universities but also had close contacts with many foreign schools. Every year, one-third of the students went abroad to study. While developing arts and sports majors, the school also opened quite a few niche language classes. The monthly campus activities were full of variety. Students coming out of here wouldn't be too bad off; moreover, the classmates were either rich or noble—connections meant resources.

So every year, parents tried their hardest to send their children to Changyu High School, but the threshold was terribly high.

Changyu High School had no boarding students. The evening self-study for first and second-year students ended an hour ago, while the third-year students had to stay an hour later. Almost all the students coming out now were third-years.

Security guards were at the gate maintaining order. There were simply too many parents and students with drivers and nannies picking them up. The line of cars waiting was endless, and there were even bodyguards standing beside cars.

Li Houde arrived early and picked a good spot, watching a livestream of agricultural products being sold while waiting for his young master to finish school.

Shang Nan had already left the classroom for a while. He looked down at the message the driver sent him.

Sent an hour ago: Young Master, I have arrived.

Shang Nan held his phone, but the dismissal bell had just rung. Students from various classrooms poured out into the corridor, which was bustling with people.

He was still standing in the corridor outside the classroom. It had been so long, yet he hadn't walked out of the teaching building.

A few boys coming from behind pushed and played around, bumping into Shang Nan. They perfunctorily said, "Sorry about that, bro," turned their heads, and continued to run forward laughing and playing with their friends.

Shang Nan stood in place for a few minutes. His face was covered in sweat from the heat, his expression blank, his eyes damp as if soaked in spring water.

Although the season was already entering winter, Shang Nan had been circling in the teaching building for over an hour.

A few minutes later, he turned around stiffly. Sure enough, those few boys came pushing and frolicking all the way again...

"Sorry about that, bro!" The person who bumped into Shang Nan smiled perfunctorily at him, was embraced by the shoulder by the person next to him, and ran away laughing.

Author's

Note: A reminder from Huinanfang: For a small number of events, do not attempt to analyze monster behavior with human thinking; they have their own thought patterns.