Chu Yao was startled. She fumbled and grabbed her phone; the caller ID showed an unfamiliar local number.
She took a deep breath, her fingers trembling as she pressed the answer button.
"Hello?" Her voice was hoarse, carrying a barely noticeable tremor.
"Not sleeping yet?"
The familiar male voice came through the receiver.
It was deep, calm, steady, and in the background, there seemed to be... the sound of keyboard typing?
"N-not yet!"
Chu Yao gripped the phone tightly, her knuckles white. "Are you... the person from noon?"
"Good memory."
Fang Ming's voice held a hint of laziness. "The WeChat number is the same. Accept the friend request."
"Huh?" Chu Yao was stunned.
"Just add it when I tell you to. Why so much nonsense?"
Beep beep beep... The call ended.
Chu Yao stared blankly at the darkened screen for two seconds.
This person... why is he like this? So fierce.
But for some reason, this slightly rude attitude actually eased her internal vigilance that "the other party had malicious intentions."
If he were a villain trying to scam money or sex, shouldn't he be showering her with concern right now?
She opened WeChat.
Sure enough, a new friend request was waiting there.
The profile picture was a solitary back view, and the nickname was just a period (.).
She clicked Accept, and almost the instant it went through.
[The other party is typing...]
Immediately afterward, an orange transfer bubble popped up.
[Transfer to you: 50,000.00 yuan]
Chu Yao's eyes widened, and the phone nearly fell onto her face.
Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands... Fifty thousand?
For her, who still relied on an eight-thousand-yuan scholarship to get by, this was an absolute fortune!
Following that, another text message was sent.
[.]: "Accept the money first. This is the first living expense allowance your brother is giving you."
[.]: "Tell me if it's not enough, but don't spend it recklessly. Do you understand the principle of not showing off your wealth?"
Chu Yao looked at the screen, and her eyes instantly grew moist.
If there had been a shred of doubt before, she was now ninety percent convinced.
No scammer in the world would throw fifty thousand yuan at you before even starting their scam.
Furthermore, this tone... it was truly like the older brother she remembered, who always protected her and always liked to pretend to be an adult.
Chu Yao clicked Receive with a trembling hand.
When the small checkmark indicating "Received" appeared, the heavy stone in her heart finally dropped.
She had money now; she wouldn't have to starve.
She also wouldn't have to beg that disgusting store manager for her salary. Although she still didn't know which important figure was targeting her—powerful enough to turn both the school and her workplace against her simultaneously—this money at least gave her the confidence to survive.
[Chu Yao]: "Thank you... Thank you, and please thank my brother for me!"
[Chu Yao]: "I will be frugal with this money, and I'll keep an account of my spending..."
After the message was sent, the other side was silent for a moment... Xingfuli Residential Area.
Fang Ming looked at his phone screen and curled his lip.
"Keep an account of what for fifty thousand yuan?"
This fifty thousand yuan, of course, came from the Soldier King's Black Card. The Chat Group's function was incredibly powerful; it could directly link to a mobile phone and use system loopholes to bind the anonymous Black Card.
Not only did this make sending information more convenient, but every flow of funds was automatically concealed by the system, so there was no fear of Qin Xiao or anyone else tracking the transfer records.
He picked up a cigarette and lit it, typing with one hand.
[.]: "The act must continue. Be stronger usually, and if you encounter something you can't solve, call me."
[.]: "Also, your brother isn't able to use a phone right now, but he really wants to see what you look like."
[.]: "So, you need to send a few casual photos. Preferably recent ones, and no photo editing. Your brother doesn't like flashy stuff."
[.]: "Also, record a few voice messages. If you have anything you want to say to him, say it quickly. I'm just a relay station here, and the signal is unstable."
Fang Ming wasn't panicked at all initially, but he rushed because, in the consciousness space, the Soldier King was practically spamming the @ key... Girls' Dormitory.
When Chu Yao saw this message, she quickly scrambled out of bed. She instinctively rushed to the mirror and used the phone's dim light to check her appearance.
The next second, her movements froze.
The girl in the mirror had messy hair, eyes swollen like peaches, and a face as pale as a ghost from barely eating all day.
"No..."
Chu Yao touched her cheek, biting her lip, a wave of bitterness sweeping through her heart.
"I can't let my brother see me looking like this. He'll worry."
She didn't open the camera for a selfie. Instead, she exited the camera interface and opened her phone album.
Her finger rapidly slid across the screen, skipping past the screenshots documenting her public shaming and dismissal from the past two days, until she reached half a month ago, the day the final exams ended.
She selected three photos.
One was taken at the Library entrance, where she was holding books, the sunlight dappling her face, smiling serenely.
One was in the convenience store where she worked part-time, wearing her uniform and giving a V-sign to the camera.
The last one was a profile shot of her feeding a stray cat on the school lawn.
The girl in the photos, though dressed plainly, had light in her eyes and hope on her face—she was completely different from the girl currently hiding and trembling in the dark dormitory.
"This will do."
Chu Yao took a deep breath and clicked Send.
Then, she pressed and held the voice recording button.
She had so much to say, so many grievances she wanted to pour out.
She wanted to talk about being publicly denounced by the whole school today, about being inexplicably targeted, and about how scared she was.
But looking at those bright and cheerful photos, the words reached her mouth and were all swallowed back down.
She tried hard to steady her breathing, making her voice sound as light as possible, attempting to conceal the slight tremor:
"Brother... did you see the photos? I'm doing great, really."
"I'm studying at Rongda now, in the Foreign Languages Department. Look, I've even gained a little weight, and my grades are excellent. I get scholarships every year."
"You don't need to worry about me. You also... take good care of yourself."
"I still have that Jade Pendant. Wait for you to come back, you must come back..."
By the end, her voice couldn't help but catch with a slight sob, and she hastily released her finger.
A fifty-second voice message, along with the three carefully selected "old photos," was sent... Inside the Rental Apartment.
Fang Ming received the message and swiped his finger across the photos on the screen.
After glancing at the photo properties and the seasonal feel of the background, Fang Ming curled his lips into an amused arc.
"A smart kid."
He could tell at a glance that these weren't recent shots.
The current Chu Yao probably had eyes swollen from crying; how could she be as calm and composed as she was in the photos?
But he didn't expose her. This trick of reporting good news while hiding bad news was not just comfort for a loved one thousands of miles away, but a heavy blow.
Fang Ming saved the photos and the voice message, sinking his consciousness into his mind.
[Myriad Heavens Mutual Aid Group]
[Nameless Guide]: "@Soldier King Lone Wolf, contact has been established, and the financial issue is temporarily resolved. These are the recent photos she sent, and the message she left for you."
With a thought.
The photos and the voice file were uploaded directly to the Chat Group files with virtually zero delay.
[Soldier King Lone Wolf]: "!!!"
The group instantly fell silent.
After a few seconds of silence.
[Soldier King Lone Wolf]: "Yaoyao... she's grown up, she really has."
[Soldier King Lone Wolf]: "That's the Rongcheng University Library, right? That's wonderful, she's more accomplished than me. I knew she could do it!"