Chapter 100: Desk Hole

The morning sunlight slanted gently into the quiet classroom.

Many students sat obediently in their seats, quietly watching the brown-haired girl who had just entered the classroom.

Sensing the subtle atmosphere inside, the girl only frowned lightly, then, as usual, ignored the strange gazes.

She quietly sat down at her desk and slid her arm into her desk drawer.

Before she could even find the textbook needed for this lesson, a sharp burst of laughter suddenly exploded throughout the classroom.

“Ha lou, ha ha ha ha ha lou…”

A few eight- or nine-year-old half-grown kids clapped their hands and jumped out of their seats.

They crowded around the girl’s desk, all wearing expressions filled with malicious mockery.

“Phee hee, Meng Wange, always pretending to be good in front of the teacher every day, now you’ve finally caught a Freak Toad, huh?”

Too impatient.

Meng Wange sighed softly.

They jumped out so early, and she hadn’t even touched anything yet.

However, since they said that, there really should be a Freak Toad in her desk.

Meng Wange cast them a cold glance.

Just as she was about to pull her arm out of the desk, they immediately exchanged looks and burst into laughter before dispersing.

After that, the teacher’s lazy voice came from the classroom door.

“All right, class is starting. Everyone take out your textbooks and get ready. There are leaders coming for inspection today, so be on your best behavior.”

Good.

The students who had been gathered around Meng Wange returned to their seats, not forgetting to make a funny face at her.

Counting this, it was already the fourth time this week they had acted like this.

The Dissection Method Five Meng Wange had learned before didn’t scare them off; instead, it only made them bolder.

Their small acts grew more frequent.

… Reporting to the teacher was useless.

They would just think it was kids playing around and wouldn’t take it seriously.

Moreover, Meng Wange was their only bullying target.

In other words, using just one person to hold seven or eight troublemakers in check might even be considered a relief for the teacher.

But Meng Wange didn’t want that.

Frowning tightly, she twirled the neutral pen in her hand and tapped the desk surface.

If she remembered correctly, there had been one time when such behavior wasn’t dismissed as mere mischief.

A sixth grader’s dorm had found a small animal with a broken forelimb.

That student was suspected of having serious psychological issues and was sent to the clinic for treatment.

The entire welfare school was then required to conduct psychological counseling for its students.

And today, the leaders just happened to be inspecting…

The young Meng Wange suddenly hatched a bold plan in her mind.

She closed her eyes, bit her lip, took a deep breath, and actively reached her hand into the desk, searching around.

Sure enough, her hand touched a cold, sticky, hard object that felt unpleasant.

The creature silently curled up in the corner of the desk.

Sensing the touch of her fingertips, its hind limbs trembled faintly.

At that moment, Meng Wange’s body felt an uncontrollable wave of disgust, and her fingers instinctively wanted to pull away.

But in the end, she controlled her instinct.

If the methods she had learned before didn’t work, then it was time to try a new method with a proven success record.

Meng Wange fought back the nausea and pressed harder with her fingertips.

Some kind of viscous liquid naturally flowed onto her palm and wrist.

Her skin began to itch faintly, then burn painfully, even producing an unbearable scorching sensation.

What if the inspecting leaders never come to the classroom?

What if they come but don’t notice her situation?

What if they find out but, like the teachers, just ignore it?

This was a gamble with a low chance of success.

Luckily, Meng Wange’s luck was usually good in such situations.

“… This student, why is your desk empty during class? Where’s your textbook? And why is your hand in the desk hole?”

An inspector with a stern expression and a clipboard walked past Meng Wange, his tone icy cold.

Hearing this, Meng Wange’s mouth twitched slightly, then she gave him a faint, dignified smile.

She lifted her arm, bringing out the textbook hidden inside the desk.

A girl’s once pristine, youthful palm was now reddened and blistered.

On her textbook lay a twisted, nearly unrecognizable creature.

“Sorry, teacher.”

Her voice was low and weighed down, as if she were worrying about something.

“… I didn’t mean to. I just didn’t want the things in my desk to scare my classmates.”

The inspector’s body trembled with anger for a moment, then he took a deep breath and shouted at the students whispering around,

“Who!? Who did this!? Everyone stand out here!”

In the end, several bad students were dragged out with the teacher’s help.

They pointed fingers at each other, each claiming the other had been too rough.

They only meant to put the Freak Toad into Meng Wange’s desk, but hadn’t expected to crush it like that.

Besides, it was just a Freak Toad—nothing serious.

That’s right, nothing serious, if their attitude hadn’t been so bad.

The school leaders deemed their psychological states in urgent need of adjustment and sent them to a specialized institution.

After that, Meng Wange never saw them at school again.

Word among the students was that upon return, they were rejected by the welfare school and sent back to the orphanage.

Their previous offenses made other schools in town unwilling to accept them as well.

Meng Wange never cared about the aftermath of the incident.

The plan was a complete success.

That was the first time in her life Meng Wange used such a method—and it would be the last.

The small Meng Wange looked at the twisted Freak Toad angrily tossed into the trash by the teacher, her heart filled with a quiet, unspoken sadness.

She hadn’t used much force; the Freak Toad had already been dead before she came to the classroom.

Its body was distorted, covered in pus, with only its hind limbs retaining weak movement.

Meng Wange only did two things: she let the sticky substance cover her hands and arms, and afterwards, she buried the creature in the soil.

Perhaps, from some perspective, she was not so different from this Freak Toad.

Just wanting to hide in a safe corner, curl up into a ball, with poisonous waves flowing around to resist contact.

Only, she wouldn’t end up like it.

Meng Wange gazed at the mound of soil where she had buried it, unsure if she was stating a fact or praying.

I will live brightly and brilliantly.

I will live respected by all.

Then, I will…

Meng Wange silently closed her eyes, feeling the warm shape inside the desk hole.

It was roughly round, seemingly wrapped in a square paper bag with a soft opening.

Is it Du Xinxin and the others?

No, she had just seen them enter the classroom.

Then, was it someone displeased with her arrogant self-introduction this morning?

Meng Wange blinked and looked at Su Wanli beside her.

Fortunately, she hadn’t woken up and wouldn’t see the furrow in Meng Wange’s brow.

Meng Wange controlled the slight upward twitch of her lips and steadied her breathing as she slowly pulled the object out from the desk.

She had imagined many things about what she might see.

But none of them included what was now in front of her.

It was a warm, tightly packed Meat Bun Sandwich, wrapped inside a pale red paper bag, itself enclosed in a transparent plastic bag.

Between the plastic and paper bag was a pale yellow sticky note with a familiar handwriting.

“Bought too many, not tasty, solve it for me.”