If the World Had No Daylight - Chapter 2

The ninth-grade graduation ceremony at S City No. 7 Middle School ended very early.

Most of the students had chosen to advance directly into the school’s high school division, so they did not feel too reluctant to part. After promising to see one another again when the new school year began, they left the school in groups of twos and threes.

The blazing summer sun made everyone eager to avoid it. Before one o’clock, the ninth-grade teaching building was already empty, without even a teacher in sight.

Bai Tian, who had been summoned to the office by her homeroom teacher for arriving late, was suffering terribly. She stood with her head lowered before the balding, portly old man, listening as he ranted endlessly and sprayed saliva everywhere while silently counting how many times he had repeated the words “absolutely outrageous” so far.

“This is absolutely outrageous!”

Bai Tian silently added another “one” to her tally.

“I could overlook your usual tardiness and habit of leaving early, but do you know what day it is today? Do you even want your graduation certificate or not?”

Old Baldy Li was so angry that he picked up his teacup and took another sip. The fan in the office had long since fallen into disrepair and creaked constantly as it turned, making him even more agitated.

Someone carrying a stack of folders stood at the office door and knocked lightly before asking in a clear, crisp voice, “May I come in, Mr. Li?”

Old Baldy Li turned around, and a smile immediately appeared on his face. He put down his teacup, beckoned to her, and said, “Come in, come in. Why haven’t you gone home yet?”

His voice was as gentle as if he had just seen the principal’s daughter.

Bai Tian secretly turned her head and stole a glance before quickly looking away again.

Oh, it really was the principal’s daughter. Bai Tian grumbled inwardly, while outwardly appearing perfectly obedient and repentant, not daring to make a sound.

Old Baldy Li watched the person enter the office, neatly set down the documents, and politely bid him farewell. He acknowledged her, his eyes filled with approval.

But the moment he turned back and saw the little brat who had been causing him headaches for the past three years, his anger immediately flared again.

“Hurry up, take your graduation certificate, and get yourself home!” Old Baldy Li snatched the red certificate from the desk and held it out to her.

Bai Tian hurriedly took it, timidly thanked him, and prepared to make her escape.

Old Baldy Li looked at her seemingly weak and pitiful appearance. If he had not already seen through her after three years and learned that beneath her obedient facade lay a troublemaker who loved nothing more than mischief, she genuinely might have fooled him.

“Stop.”

Those two casually spoken words froze Bai Tian just as she had reached the doorway. She trembled, turned around, and asked pitifully, “Is there anything else, Mr. Li?”

Hearing the way she addressed him, Old Baldy Li sneered and slowly said, “When your first year of high school begins, if you’re late even once, I’ll make you raise the flag.”

Bai Tian choked but quickly recovered and smiled. “Mr. Li, you teach in the middle school division. Once I enter high school, I won’t see you anymore.”

She could no longer conceal the smugness in her voice.

Old Baldy Li responded with a warm, benevolent smile. As Bai Tian stared at his stubbled face, an ominous feeling suddenly arose in her heart.

“You arrived too late, so you didn’t hear the announcement.”

He turned off the fan as he began gathering his belongings.

“When the new school year begins, I’ll be the homeroom teacher for the first-year high school class. Although the class roster hasn’t been released yet, all the students in our class are advancing directly into the high school division, so I’ll still be in charge of you.”

Old Baldy Li stood and patted Bai Tian on the shoulder.

“Do your best, Student Bai Tian. Make sure you aren’t late for the opening ceremony.”

Bai Tian’s face turned ashen.

“Boss, just accept your fate. You won’t escape Old Baldy Li’s clutches for the next three years of high school.”

“Fatty Liu! Have you eaten so much that you’ve got nothing better to do? Say one more word, and I’ll tell your mom every place where you hide your snacks!”

Standing before the food stall, Liu Ran pulled a crumpled five-yuan bill from his trouser pocket and handed it to the owner. He did not forget to add, “Auntie Wang, don’t put vinegar in my portion.”

Auntie Wang acknowledged him, took the money, and deftly began frying the potato flowers.

He swallowed, then turned to look at the thoroughly dejected Bai Tian and comforted her. “Boss, there’s no point thinking so much about it. Unless you transfer schools, you’ll just have to behave and keep Old Baldy Li from catching you. Or do you really want to raise the flag?”

Bai Tian instantly reacted as though someone had stepped on her foot and snapped, “No way! Whoever wants to perform like a trained monkey in front of everyone can do it!”

She swung the backpack she had been clutching against her chest onto one shoulder and irritably glanced at the people passing nearby. By sheer coincidence, her gaze met that of a tall boy who had been staring at her.

He was wearing the uniform of the neighboring vocational school. Their vacation also began today, so there was nothing unusual about seeing him on this snack street, which was a favorite gathering place for nearby students.

What was unusual was the girl beside him, who was wearing the uniform of No. 7 Middle School. Bai Tian glanced at her profile and thought she looked somewhat familiar.

“Fatty Liu, who’s that again?” She tugged at Liu Ran’s sleeve and asked quietly.

Liu Ran accepted the bowl of fried potato flowers Auntie Wang handed him and eagerly took a bite. He followed Bai Tian’s gaze, only to choke and cough several times.

“Damn, isn’t that the class beauty from Class D? Boss, did you forget? She ran in the same relay race as you during the last sports meet and even made you fall flat on your—”

Liu Ran swallowed and fell silent beneath Bai Tian’s murderous glare.

The tall boy held the girl’s hand and slowly disappeared into an alley at the end of the street. That alley led to two different streets: one lined with internet cafés and the other with hotels.

Bai Tian watched them go with great interest. Resting one hand on Liu Ran’s shoulder, she gave a roguish whistle.

“Now that’s some juicy gossip.”

Hearing her tone, Liu Ran could not help shuddering and hurriedly warned her, “That guy runs with Fifth Zhang from the vocational school. Don’t provoke him. We can’t afford to mess with street thugs like them.”

“It’s not as if I have nothing better to do.” Bai Tian could not stand his nagging. She waved a hand, picked up her schoolbag, and left.

“Boss, where are you going? Aren’t you eating the potato flowers?”

“Is one bowl even enough for you? It’s vacation, so of course I’m going gaming. Don’t bother me if there’s nothing important.”

Watching her retreating figure, Liu Ran felt inexplicably uneasy. He kept staring until she passed the alley without even glancing at it and continued walking forward. Only then did he finally relax. He accepted the second bowl of fried potato flowers, held it happily in his hands, and headed home through the intersection in the opposite direction.

The back alley behind the street of internet cafés was a gathering place for bad students. Bai Tian rarely took this route. After all, although she was habitually late, left school early, and failed to hand in her homework, she knew she was a good student.

Even today, she avoided that alley and planned to reach the internet café by taking a longer route. Of course, it was not a legitimate internet café.

But Bai Tian never imagined that even though she never walked along the riverbank, she would somehow get her shoes wet today.

The sounds of punches and kicks from deep inside the alley, along with a boy’s screams and a girl’s sobs, made Bai Tian hesitate at the entrance for a long time.

There were few pedestrians on the roadside on a weekday afternoon. Bai Tian looked around before finally gritting her teeth and quietly entering the alley.

The closer she came, the clearer the chaotic sounds became. Bai Tian cautiously moved along the wall, then stood at the corner and peeked around it.

A boy was curled up on the ground as four or five young men beat him. He covered his head and screamed continuously.

Bai Tian shifted her gaze upward and saw a girl whose hand was being held by a tall young man, leaving her unable to move. She was weeping pitifully, her pretty little face covered in tears.

Bai Tian inwardly cursed. Weren’t these two the vocational school boy and Class D’s class beauty whom she had just seen?

“…I’m begging you. Please let him go. I was wrong. I know I was wrong…”

Bai Tian did not understand what was happening and did not dare act rashly. She gripped her phone tightly while constantly watching the situation in the alley.

A slender figure in a gray hooded sweatshirt remained leaning against the wall with their head bowed, saying nothing. From Bai Tian’s angle, she could only see the person’s profile. Most of their face was hidden beneath the hood, revealing only a fair chin.

Class D’s class beauty continued crying. The person curled up on the ground had already stopped moving, and the young men beating him finally stopped, leaving only the girl’s sobs echoing through the alley.

Bai Tian knew she could not wait any longer. If she delayed any further, someone truly might die.

She lowered her gaze to her phone, only to discover that her hands were trembling. Bai Tian drew a deep breath and struggled to suppress her shaking as she rapidly entered several numbers on the keypad.

The instant the call went through, every sound in the alley abruptly ceased.

Bai Tian froze, held her breath, and peeked around the corner again.

The four or five young men who had surrounded the boy had already dispersed and were heading toward the alley’s other exit. Class D’s class beauty knelt on the ground, covering her face as she sobbed, while the gray-clad figure stood straight before her.

For a moment, only three people remained in the alley. Just as Bai Tian hesitated over whether she should rush inside, that person suddenly spoke.

“Let me ask you something.” The person lowered her head and looked at the girl, who was still crying. The instant her voice rang out, Bai Tian’s eyes widened.

A strand of black hair slipped from beneath the sweatshirt’s hood. The person crouched down until she was at eye level with Class D’s class beauty.

“Are you determined to be with him?”

The sobbing girl shuddered violently. She remained silent for a long while, then suddenly raised her head. Her earlier vulnerability vanished as she shouted, “That’s right! I like him! I have the freedom to be with whomever I want! What gives you the right to do this?”

The crouching girl silently watched her without speaking. The other girl grew frightened again. She lowered her head and pleaded, “I’m begging you. Please let me go.”

After those words fell, silence descended again.

Just as Bai Tian thought the person was about to lose her temper, she calmly rose to her feet and slipped both hands into her pockets. The oversized hood slid down with the motion, revealing long, jet-black hair and an exquisitely beautiful face.

She smiled faintly and answered unhurriedly, “I only hope you won’t regret it.”

When the ambulance sped past with its siren wailing, Bai Tian was huddled inside the small convenience store at the street corner, drinking soda.

The blazing sun had already dried the cold sweat covering her body, but the chill still clung tightly to her, filling her with unease from the depths of her heart.

Bai Tian tried to placate herself with the excuse that perhaps the two merely looked alike, but that profile was etched too deeply into her mind. No matter what she did, she could not separate it from the face in her memories, even though the two shared no similarities whatsoever in expression, clothing, or bearing.

It was as though they were two different people wearing the same face.

“Old Baldy Li really ought to see what she’s like.”

Bai Tian muttered as she hugged her schoolbag and walked home.

Everyone possessed an instinct to pursue what benefited them and avoid danger. Even a natural-born rebel and troublemaker like Bai Tian knew what she could and could not do.

Reporting the incident to the police or the school would not work. As helpless as it was, the world was filled with countless wrongs that could never be righted.

Therefore, Bai Tian could only force herself to forget about it. She was merely an ordinary student. She had done everything within her power, and there was truly nothing she could do about matters beyond her capabilities.

She could not even let anyone know that she had been involved.

Especially the person concerned.

The mere thought of that face made Bai Tian’s skin crawl.

She made up her mind that whenever she saw that person at school in the future, she would take a detour and stay as far away as possible.

But as the saying went, things seldom turned out as one wished.

On the first day of her first year of high school, Bai Tian had yet to recover from the devastating blow of seeing Old Baldy Li when she discovered a huge crowd gathered around her seat, chattering noisily enough to drive her mad.

“What are you all doing? Move.” In an absolutely foul mood, Bai Tian approached with her schoolbag in hand and shouted, successfully scattering the crowd enough to clear a path for her.

The person sitting beside Bai Tian’s seat raised her head and looked over. She gave Bai Tian a gentle smile and said apologetically, “Sorry. We needed to discuss something concerning the class, so we borrowed your seat for a moment. Please wait a little longer. We’ll be finished soon.”

“Oh, Class Monitor, don’t bother with her. That’s just the kind of person she is. She doesn’t have the slightest sense of class spirit.”

The others all chimed in agreement. The seated girl smiled without saying anything more and continued filling in the information on the form.

Bai Tian gripped the strap of her schoolbag and silently withdrew from the crowd before turning around and leaving.

Liu Ran entered through the back door while eating a savory crepe and collided head-on with Bai Tian, who was walking with her head lowered.

“Whoa, Boss, watch where you’re going! Class is about to start. Where are you going?”

“I’m skipping class.” Without even raising her head, Bai Tian hurried out of the classroom and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Liu Ran stared after her disappearing figure in astonishment and muttered to himself, “Does she even know who our homeroom teacher is?”

Of course Bai Tian knew, but she resolutely skipped class anyway.

While Old Baldy Li furiously searched everywhere for her, Bai Tian hid inside an arcade and lost all the tokens she had saved over the past two weeks.

The proprietress disdainfully accepted the crumpled banknotes from Bai Tian and handed her a new box of arcade tokens. “Why are you skipping class on the first day of school? If your Third Uncle finds out, you’ll get another vicious scolding.”

Looking thoroughly dejected, Bai Tian held the box of tokens, then raised her head and asked, “Sister Hua, do you think my Third Uncle would agree if I told him I wanted to transfer schools now?”

The proprietress jumped in surprise. “What trouble did you cause at school this time?”

“Ah.” Bai Tian sighed with the weary air of an old woman, then turned around, found a machine, and sat down.

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

Who would believe that the principal’s daughter had led a group of thugs in beating up another student in an alley?

Bai Tian thought of the person sitting beside her seat and the flawless honor-student persona she portrayed. A chill surged through her heart.

Holding her head in her hands, she seriously considered the possibility of transferring schools. Then she took out her phone and called her Third Uncle.

Half an hour later, Bai Tian was dragged back into the school by her furious Third Uncle. After handing her over to the grim-faced Old Baldy Li, he left without looking back.

Bai Tian glanced at Old Baldy Li, who stood at the podium spraying saliva without pause, then looked at the girl beside her, who appeared to be listening with great concentration. Her vision went dark, and she collapsed onto the desk. Her smooth forehead struck the wood with a loud, crisp bang, interrupting the man speaking at the podium.

“Bai Tian! Get out and stand in the hallway!”