“Look, this is our trophy from that day ...”

  Jasper, sitting next to him, held the photo up to his face, making it impossible for him to look away. In the photo, Jasper was holding a lobster with a bright smile.

  He was a person with a strong desire to share; there might be an element of showing off, but Kieran knew that wasn't his true intention.

  “Hey, do you have a social media account? Let's connect ...” Jasper changed the subject, suggesting.

  “I don't use it ...” Kieran's tone was lazy, his eyes vacant; it wasn't a lie—he really wasn't using any social media.

  “No way!? Who doesn't use it these days? Even my parents have accounts ...” Jasper looked at him with a doubtful expression. Being rejected hurt him a little, but he remained undeterred. “Do you really just sleep all weekend? There must be some entertainment, right? Let me guess ... is it gaming?”

  “……” Sometimes he had to admire his sharpness. Since he had been guessed correctly, he didn't want to lie. “That's right, World of War, the game I'm playing now.” He answered the question Jasper was about to ask.

  “I'm playing it too,” his eyes lit up as if he had won the lottery, “What's your game account? Let's connect, we can play together.”

  This was Kieran's first time connecting his online self with reality.

  “You are the Nightwalker!!!?” Jasper almost jumped out of his seat.

  “... Can you stop shouting?” Kieran rubbed his aching temples, starting to regret telling him his account.

  Jasper looked at the gazes directed at them, pretending nothing had happened. He whispered to Kieran, “Let’s log on together tonight and run a dungeon.”

  After dinner, Kieran returned to his room, opened the game, and saw Jasper's friend request. He clicked accept, and a previously empty friend list now showed an account.

  Jasper was indeed playing this game; his account was max level and belonged to a guild. Kieran accepted the game invitation he sent, and they ran a few dungeons together. In the game, he was not as talkative as in real life, but he played his warrior well, much better than those deadweights in the guild.

  ‘Thank you.’

  They spent the entire evening online, and after Jasper sent that message, he logged off.

  Thank you for what? Kieran was puzzled, but unfortunately, he couldn't see his expression or gauge his aura through the screen. This was why he disliked social media; people could easily disguise themselves.

  The next day, Kieran was blocked in the stairwell by a group of people.

  “Excuse me.” Kieran said coldly, not even glancing at the people in front of him.

  But those people remained unmoved. Kieran looked up at the person blocking his way, quickly searching his mind; he was sure he didn’t know them.

  “... Is he the Nightwalker? Ronan, you must be mistaken,” one of them said.

  “If someone hadn't told me, I wouldn't have believed it either,” the person named Ronan said, pinching his chin with his fingers. “I didn't expect him to be so impressive in the game but a loser in real life.”

  The group burst into laughter, and Kieran Vale looked at Ronan coldly, as if he were an idiot.

  Ronan felt a surge of anger, his handsome face twisting slightly. “Do you think you're so great!?” He pushed hard, causing Kieran to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

  That bastard Jasper. Kieran thought, surprised that the news spread so quickly. He had been too careless; he never thought the “Nightwalker” was anything special, which is why he let Jasper know. He never expected this would bring him trouble.

  “Our Caelora High School has finally produced a celebrity; shouldn't we cherish it?” someone teased.

  Ronan unexpectedly kicked him, and Kieran instinctively protected his head, but the exposed parts of his body were met with a flurry of punches and kicks. “Celebrity... so what? Who knows him outside that game?” Bullying is something that once someone starts, others will rush in; it's a trait of lower beings, always acting collectively and blindly following others.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Kieran's mouth oozed blood, and he tasted the metallic sweetness. In his blurred vision, Ronan's figure seemed to overlap with that of his father. It was a memory he was familiar with yet feared.

  The swaying figures in front of him turned into clusters of red light, and looking deeper, he saw something pulsing rhythmically. With just a thought, he could make that thing stop beating, like crushing an ant.

  “What are you doing—”

  The direction of the staircase echoed with a woman's scream. After being discovered, Luo Nan and his little henchmen stopped their attack and scattered in another direction.

  Kieran let out a cold snort, one hand clutching his stomach while the other supported him on the ground as he tried to get up.

  “Are you okay?”

  A clear female voice came from nearby, and Kieran saw a silk handkerchief appear in front of him. He looked up to see the owner of the handkerchief, a girl with a delicate face. She had clear, contrasting eyes and long brown hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a knee-length plaid skirt and black shoes, her lively eyes filled with genuine concern.

  “Ivy Castellan, Grade 11, Class B,” she introduced herself simply, bending slightly to hand him the handkerchief again. “Here, take it. You have blood all over your face...”

  Kieran silently accepted it, his eyes swollen and unable to open, his mouth and nose filled with the smell of blood, and his body covered in scrapes and bruises. He thought he must look quite disheveled right now.

  “Can you stand up? Do you want me to take you to the nurse's office?”

  “No... don’t... meddle.” Kieran immediately refused, forcing himself to try to get up from the ground.

  Ivy stayed where she was, looking at him with a curious expression. “Why didn’t you fight back just now?”

  “It’s none of your business. The handkerchief... I’ll return it to you.” Kieran unsteadily got to his feet, picking up the scattered items on the ground and putting them into his backpack. He sidestepped past her and walked toward his classroom.

  The class bell rang, and the classroom was already filled with people as Kieran quietly arrived at his seat.

  “What happened to your face?” Jasper, who was sitting next to him, exclaimed upon seeing him.

  At that moment, he really had the impulse to strangle him. Kieran took a deep breath, pulled out his textbook, and the teacher on stage was speaking, but he couldn't hear a word.

  “Hey, speak up, who beat you up like this?” Jasper whispered.

  “Did you tell others that I’m the ‘NightWalker’?”

  “Huh? You didn’t say I couldn’t tell anyone... wait, could it be...” Jasper seemed to realize what had happened, “Listen to me, I did tell a friend about it, but I didn’t know it would turn out like this...” he hurriedly defended himself.

  The teacher on stage shot them a warning glance, and Jasper immediately shut his mouth.

  “I’m sorry...” he said quietly after a moment of silence.

  Kieran Vale couldn’t be bothered to pay him any mind; this incident wouldn’t affect their relationship, and he was still willing to play games with him. He looked at the blood-stained handkerchief in his hand, the scent of the handkerchief mixed with a faint metallic smell, stimulating his nerves.

  ‘Kieran Vale, we just received a lot of pain signals, what happened?’ Sabrina sent a message.

  ‘I was bullied, but it’s fine...’ he replied in his mind, and others couldn’t tell he was having a conversation.

  “If there are any problems, we can help you solve them.”

  Kieran reassured her again that it was fine; someone like Ronan was not enough to be a trouble. He had a hundred ways to stop him, but that came with risks. He wouldn't fight back unless it was a matter of life and death.

  During lunch break, Kieran went to the campus cafeteria to eat, and Jasper insisted on following him, as if trying to make up for his mistakes.

  Kieran and Jasper held plates with sandwiches and salad, and they found a vacant spot to sit down. "Do you know who hit you?" Jasper asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.

  "I only know one of them is called Ronan..." Kieran replied casually, the noise in the cafeteria was loud, and the pain from his wound made him inexplicably irritable.

  "It's him..." Jasper's expression was somewhat complicated. "I think we should just let this go; he's not someone we can mess with."

  Jasper's reaction made Kieran more concerned. "What do you mean by that?..."

  "Can I sit here?"

  A female voice interrupted their conversation. Kieran looked towards the source of the voice; it was Ivy Castellan, who was pointing to the seat next to him.

  "Please, have a seat." Kieran moved his plate slightly to make more room for her.

  "Uh, do you guys know each other?..." After she sat down, Jasper was the first to speak, staring at her with excitement in his eyes.

  “In the morning... thank you.” Kieran forced out the words. He came to the restaurant every day but had no memory of seeing her. She was like Jasper, from a wealthy family, well-mannered, and radiated an aura that made it impossible for him to have no impression of someone like her.

  “It's nothing, I just happened to pass by...” Ivy said casually, her gaze fixed on Kieran. “But why is Ronan bothering you?”

  Jasper showed a guilty expression. “It's my fault for leaking his privacy online.” Seeing Ivy's curious look, he turned to Kieran with an inquiring gaze. “Can you tell her?”

  “Go ahead, it's not really a secret.” Kieran sighed.

  “Ronan found out he is a well-known player in a certain game and came to bother him.” Jasper looked at Ivy with a hint of expectation. “Have you played World of War?”

  Ivy shook her head. “No, I haven't played it, but becoming a top player in a game isn't an easy feat, right?” She glanced at Kieran, her tone carrying a hint of admiration.

  “You're not wrong to say that...” Jasper was reluctant to praise Kieran too much in front of her, even though he had indeed witnessed it in the game.

  “Nice to meet you both.” After lunch, they introduced themselves, and Ivy and Jasper exchanged social media accounts.

  On the way back to the classroom from the restaurant, Jasper was in an excited state.

  “Do you know who she is? The daughter of the mayor of Caelora! We are so lucky, haha.”

  Kieran Vale, however, did not think so. In fact, he found this lunch somewhat painful; Ivy's gaze made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles. He had no idea what had piqued her interest, as if she wouldn't stop until she had dug up every last detail about him.