The muscles in my face stretched and stretched to a point at which they might break. Soft sounds of nature and voices surrounded me on all sides. Words drifted around like the pages of a book I once read, making them easier to overlook. Some of these words may have been spoken to me, though I couldn’t have noticed them at that point in time. My attention was elsewhere. Head level, and gaze upwards, One might have thought I was lost in thought gazing at the sky beyond. I wasn’t. Bright in bold red letters, two words rested just around my head. 

Vengeance Arc.

Had my face even slipped for an instant, one might have seen the shock and surprise sewn within. The Vengeance Arc. Put simply it was exactly what it said. At that point in the story, the Villain's one and only goal was to seek vengeance on all those who had done him wrong. Gone was whatever morals had held him back until then. All in all he just…snapped. The only friend he had in the sect was bedridden, beaten and bruised and he had done nothing to stop it. Despite his age and lack of ability, the young Villain still blamed himself. Things got worse and worse until- He was alone again. Luo Fang was dead. Thoughts festered and built up with no one there to keep them at bay until something changed within his broken mind. All his life he had seen death and those who mercilessly caused it. Why couldn’t he do just that? 

He killed them.

It was only one person. And then another. And another. The blood of everyone who had done him wrong, now stained the young boy's hands. Too much had happened. Too many waves had been made in the sect. Having no other choice, Bai Huiliang fled, marking the end of the Vengeance Arc. 

There was one glaringly obvious fault in this line of the story at this point. How could the Vengeance Arc have already started? I had already scared the three kids involved enough to leave me alone, and everything had already been resolved in its own way. 

How can the bullying involved in the plot happen without bullying happening in the plot? 

A hand was fastened around my upper arm. 

“Brother Lei?”

“Hm? Yes?”

My gaze came down to the girl holding onto me. Gently pulling myself out of her grasp I backed a good couple of feet away. 

“Is something the matter, Sister Luo?”

Her eyes stayed in the spot I once was, wide and blinking in what should have been shock. 

“...”

A smile quickly replaced the expression she just wore as her hands clasped behind her back. Looking ahead she pointed at the ground and cheerfully spoke. 

“I see something pretty in the mud, someone must have dropped it…” Her eyebrows scrunched up in distress. “Could you get it for me? There might be bugs in the dirt…”

“...Alright.” 

My head throbbed in annoyance. I didn’t want to touch the bugs either but as the boy here I was apparently the better option. Rolling up my sleeves I squatted down to the patch of mud she had pointed to and began searching. Dirt and grime made its way under my fingernails as I scraped and scraped away at the dirt. Shooing away a few bugs, the edges of my white robe became wet from mud. I searched for what seemed like minutes until I groaned in irritation. 

Craning my head I turned to look behind me at her, “Are you sure you saw something down…” My words halted in my throat. In front of my face was her hand, directly above where my back just was. Close enough to push me over. 

A grin spread across her face. “No, I guess it was just a rock or something.” Pressing her hand further she smiled. “Here I’ll help you up.” 

Taking her hand I was soon brought to my feet. The rest of the day beyond that proceeded smoothly for the most part. The few times I had run into Long Guowei, he and the rest of his lackeys did everything in their power to avoid me. Strangely enough in those moments the one who should have been more anxious than I, Luo Fang, was oddly calm. She who had been threatened into almost getting me killed, was completely unfazed by the ones who had apparently threatened her. 

Doubt and speculation sprouted in my thoughts. I had spent all day with her, much to my dismay. Though besides a couple of odd occurrences, nothing had happened. Nothing that would cause me to suspect her character. 

My mind spiraled out of control as I felt her presence beside me in the dining hall, hearing her voice cheerfully speak as if to negate the feelings building up within me. I was no longer comfortable being here. I didn’t want to be near her anymore. Before I or anyone else could stop me, I stood up and left the hall with my food untouched. I was going, but not to my own cabin.

If those three really weren’t going to be involved in the upcoming arc, I knew who would be. I just had no clue why.