Administrative Building, Third Floor. President's Office.
The desk that had been imprinted with palm prints was carried away half an hour ago.
Gu She knew very well that some problems couldn't be solved just by replacing a table.
The curtains were half-drawn, slicing the afternoon sun into sharp bands of light that fell across the carpet. The office was quiet, yet not empty.
Gu She wasn't sitting behind a desk.
He stood by the window, backlit, a position from which he could survey the entire room.
Flanking him on either side were two men in black suits, standing like two silent shadows.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Not the sound of knocking.
It was the sound of heavy footsteps landing in the corridor.
Very heavy.
Thud.
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
"Enter."
The office door creaked open. A smell of burnt matter and pungent acid drilled into the room even before the figure appeared.
Lu Chen poked his head in, his steps pausing noticeably.
Not because of Gu She.
But because of the two men standing beside him.
Black suits, upright posture, broad shoulders, cold eyes. They carried a natural aura of "don't mess with me."
Lu Chen walked in with his head down, shoulders slightly tense.
"P-President, hello." His voice wasn't loud, tinged with caution.
Lu Chen walked in carrying Teacher Wang on his shoulder and the dented metal box in his hand.
He first gently placed the teacher on the leather sofa in the reception area. Then, carrying the tattered box, he walked toward where the desk used to be.
Gu She's gaze fell on the metal box in his hand.
The box was severely deformed, its edges pitted and uneven as if gnawed by something, bearing traces of strong corrosion.
"Put it on the floor."
Lu Chen, feeling pardoned, immediately complied. His movements were as light as possible, afraid of breaking anything else.
"Explain," Gu She said evenly. "What happened."
Lu Chen's Adam's apple bobbed.
"The basement... had bugs."
"Bugs?"
"Pretty big ones," Lu Chen added in a small voice. "They spit acid water."
When he said this, he was obviously guilty and a little shaken, his fingers curling unconsciously.
Gu She didn't press for details. He glanced at the person on the sofa.
That gaze behind the lenses was calm and restrained, making one instinctively afraid to make eye contact.
"I only care about one thing," Gu She said. "Will this situation happen again?"
Lu Chen took a second to realize what he was asking.
"If there are more of those things..." He hesitated. "I can handle them."
"Like this time?"
Lu Chen nodded.
Gu She didn't speak immediately.
He was calculating rapidly in his mind—not Lu Chen's combat power, but the cost required to compress the risk to the minimum.
A few seconds later, he took out his phone and tapped a few times.
Ding.
The notification sound of a transfer was exceptionally clear in the quiet office.
Lu Chen hurriedly took out his phone and looked down at the screen, his breathing visibly skipping a beat.
100,000.
"This money is for your hard work."
Gu She took a palm-sized metal badge from a drawer, placed it on the table (or rather, the side table since the desk was gone), and slid it toward Lu Chen.
"The Old Lab Building is your responsibility from now on."
Lu Chen stared at the badge, then at the balance on his phone, and nodded decisively.
Gu She nodded slightly.
"You may go."
"Um... President, if Teacher Wang wakes up and asks..."
Gu She adjusted his glasses. "Teacher Wang fainted from low blood pressure, right?"
"Right!" Lu Chen nodded immediately. "That's what I think too!"
Lu Chen picked up the badge and put it in his pocket, then said, "Okay, President, you stay busy. I... I'll leave first."
...
As the door clicked shut.
Lu Chen fished the metal badge out of his pocket. The cold touch transmitted through his fingertips. He examined it carefully under the corridor lights. On the front were a crescent moon and a shield—the school emblem.
Lu Chen's thumb gently rubbed the edge. At a specific angle, he saw a circle of hidden vine patterns carved into the metal.
"It's actually quite pretty."
Inside the office, silence returned.
Gu She didn't sit down immediately, nor did he reach for his phone. He remained standing by the window, back to the sofa in the reception area, methodically wiping his glasses.
The two black-suited bodyguards stood guard on either side like sculptures.
The silence in the air was somewhat oppressive.
Suddenly, Gu She spoke, his voice as bland as if discussing the weather:
"Teacher Wang, although the leather sofa is soft, sleeping on it too long can cause a stiff neck."
"How long do you intend to pretend?"
Dead silence.
On the sofa, the "unconscious" Old Wang kept his eyes tight shut, breathing steadily, as if in a deep sleep.
Gu She put on his glasses, turned around, a faint, unreadable smile hanging on his lips:
"It's just 'hypoglycemia,' not enough to keep someone in a coma for half an hour."
"Besides, just now when '100,000' was mentioned, your eyelid twitched."
Old Wang's body on the sofa stiffened violently.
Busted.
In fact, he had woken up the moment Lu Chen put him on the sofa.
But he didn't dare open his eyes.
Whether it was what he saw in the basement or the office guarded by two men in black, the air was filled with a terrifying "knowing secrets leads to death" vibe.
As an old fox who had navigated the workplace for years, he instinctively chose—to play dead.
Since he couldn't keep it up, Old Wang had to open his eyes awkwardly. He climbed up from the sofa "weakly," rubbing his temples with a bewildered look:
"Oh my... so dizzy... President Gu, did I... just wake up? What happened just now?"
The acting was exaggerated, but the will to survive was strong.
Gu She watched his performance without exposing him. He simply walked to the coffee table and pulled a stack of cash from his wallet.
Not much, about two thousand yuan.
He placed the money gently on the coffee table.
"Teacher Wang, this is a work injury subsidy."
Gu She's voice was gentle, but his eyes held an unquestionable chill:
"You must have heard what Lu Chen said in your dream just now, right?"
Old Wang trembled all over. He looked at the stack of money, then at the two expressionless men in black beside Gu She. Cold sweat instantly poured down.
"Heard... heard it. No no no! Didn't hear it! I heard nothing!"
Gu She smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes:
"It doesn't matter if you heard."
"It's just that the sanitation in the Old Building is poor. There was a bit of a bug infestation, and some non-compliant strong acid cleaners were used."
"Although it's not a big deal, if word gets out saying the school's mismanagement caused biochemical pollution..."
Gu She paused, his tone turning suddenly cold:
"Teacher Wang, your pension rating, and your son's admission to the affiliated elementary school next semester... might encounter some trouble."
This was a naked threat.
He had seized the middle-aged man's weak points: Pension and Child.
Old Wang was a smart man; he understood instantly.
This was hush money, and also a warning.
Keep it in his gut, and it's a work injury subsidy; speak out, and he loses his rice bowl, maybe even his life.
Old Wang grabbed the money from the table and stuffed it into his pocket, saying with a face full of righteousness:
"President Gu, don't worry! I just fainted from low blood sugar today! When I woke up, I was right here! As for bugs or strong acid, I was dreaming! It was all a dream!"
"Very good."
Gu She nodded with satisfaction and waved his hand:
"Go to the infirmary to check it out. Don't let there be any aftereffects."
"Aye! Right away! You stay busy, President!"
Old Wang, feeling like he'd been granted amnesty, moved with an agility that didn't resemble someone who had just fainted at all. He scrambled out of the office, thoughtfully closing the door tight behind him.
...
Only after confirming Old Wang was completely gone did the smile on Gu She's face vanish instantly.
He waved to the two bodyguards: "Wait outside. No one is allowed to approach."
"Yes."
The two bodyguards nodded and exited the office.
Finally, only Gu She remained in the room.
He let out a long breath and slumped into the chair. The calmness of controlling the situation collapsed instantly, replaced by deep exhaustion and fear.
With trembling hands, he took out a black phone with no saved contacts from his inner pocket.
He dialed the private line of his Second Uncle.
————
Tu... Tu...
Two rings, and it connected.
A majestic, low middle-aged man's voice came from the other side:
"Xiao She? Calling the private line at this time, did something happen?"
It was the Second Uncle of the Gu family, the figure with real power responsible for handling the family's shady business.
"Second Uncle, I want to ask something."
"Are there some things... that exist outside our normal understanding?"
The other end of the phone suddenly fell into a deathly silence.
Five seconds.
In these five seconds, Gu She could even hear his own heart pounding.
Then, Second Uncle's voice turned abruptly cold, carrying an unquestionable warning:
"Gu She, that is not something you should be concerned with."
Boom—
Gu She's heart sank violently.
No denial, but a warning.
That means it exists.
"Second Uncle, I'm at school..."
"Shut up."
Second Uncle interrupted him directly, his tone stricter than ever before:
"If there really is something in the school, do not listen, do not look, do not interfere, and do not attempt to make contact."
"That is the job for 'that group of people.' That is their world."
"The Gu family cannot afford the risk."
"..."
The call was hung up. The busy tone echoed in the empty office.
Gu She slowly put down the phone.
His gaze fell through the window onto the figure in the cheap hoodie downstairs, squatting by the flowerbed.
Lu Chen was holding that phone with the cracked screen, grinning foolishly at the balance on the screen, the corners of his mouth stretching to his ears.
Sunlight fell on Lu Chen, making him look so ordinary, so... humble.
But in Gu She's eyes, that retreating figure gradually overlapped with "that group of people" his Second Uncle spoke of.
Gu She took off his glasses, picked up a silk cloth from the table, and methodically wiped the lenses.
A crazy smile, belonging to an ambitious schemer, gradually spread across the corners of his mouth.
"Do not make contact?"
Gu She put his glasses back on, a sharp glint flashing behind the lenses.
"If one day, the sky really falls..." Gu She whispered to himself, his voice revealing the arrogance and calculation of the powerful, "only those holding the 'knife' can survive."
His gaze rested on the figure downstairs, calculating secretly in his heart:
100,000.
For him, this money wasn't even enough for a week's fodder for a purebred horse. But now, it had bought a "monster" capable of dealing with monsters.
Gu She closed his notebook, his fingertips gently rubbing the badge, a cold sneer rising on his lips:
"Although I don't know what exactly is in there, as long as it can be solved with money, it's not a problem."
"Second Uncle said not to contact 'that world'..."
Gu She looked at the back downstairs, his eyes dark.
"But if 'that world' can be bought for just 100,000... why not?"