EMSD Chapter 7

The chat box was filled with popping messages.

“Whoa! She looks exactly like you!”

“For real! I was still a bit skeptical before!”

“Even her expression is the same! Who would believe you’re not Tong Yang?”

“Dang, is the world really this magical?”

“This feels pretty fun, like we’re in some kind of horror game!”

“Does that make Tong Yang the main character of the horror game?”

…

Tong Yang rolled her eyes. “You guys think this is fun?”

“Sorry.”

“My bad.”

“But seriously, this is so weird. There really wasn’t any mention of this before.”

Tong Yang paused for a moment, then said, “Maybe it’s a butterfly effect caused by the fact that I didn’t die.”

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“Isn’t June 7th the date of the gaokao? Why not just skip it?”

“No way.” Tong Yang rejected that idea without hesitation. “Are there any more details in the report?”

“I searched a bit, but there’s almost no information about the suspect or the method used.”

“If this is all because of the butterfly effect you caused, does that mean the only way…”

A girl hesitated, and Tong Yang finished her sentence, “…the only way to stop the butterfly effect is if I die?”

Suddenly, the group fell silent. They looked at Tong Yang, unsure of what to say.

If Tong Yang’s survival caused the butterfly effect, leading to the deaths of other students at Third High School, it would be a disaster for the innocent victims. Yet, Tong Yang would also be one of those victims in the terror attack.

Tong Yang’s gaze swept across the people on the screen. Her tone was calm, “First of all, I didn’t do anything wrong. Surviving isn’t a crime. Secondly, the ones in the wrong are the people who tried to kill me and the ones behind the terror attack. And finally, similar events are happening all over the country. The key is figuring out what’s going on and solving the problem at its root. I’m not overflowing with kindness, nor do I have the ability to change everything, and I definitely won’t sacrifice myself for others.”

“Damn…”

“Yeah, you’ve got a point. The ones at fault are the murderers, not Tong Yang, who’s the victim here.”

“Should we try reporting this to the police?”

“Even if it hasn’t happened yet, the police wouldn’t just ignore something like this, right?”

Tong Yang shook her head. “There are always police officers on duty for gaokao exams. Every test center will be heavily monitored, and they’ll check all facilities beforehand. It’s basically impossible for regular people to enter the school on exam day. This situation definitely isn’t simple.”

“So, what do we do?”

“We can’t just sit around waiting to die, can we?”

“Tong Yang, you’ve already experienced this once. Is there any way to avoid it?”

Tong Yang nodded, “There is: none of us take the exam.”

“What? Can we even do that?”

Tong Yang responded, “Of course not.”

“…”

“We can’t cancel the gaokao, and there’s no way I can just not take it. Even if we report it, they won’t delay the exams over something unsubstantiated. So yeah, does that mean I’m doomed?”

“That’s so scary.”

Tong Yang said, “Not necessarily. The culprits aren’t monsters; they’re people like us. With police patrolling nearby and no weapons or electronic devices allowed inside, pulling off a terror attack during the exam is no easy feat. There must be a way to stop it. We’ll take things step by step and maybe use this as a test to figure out who the attackers are. I’m starting to think they might all be the same kind of people.”

“Speaking of the butterfly effect, I looked up some incidents in the Yaocheng Old District from the past two years. Aside from the gaokao attack, there was a student suicide on June 3, 2024.”

“If we’re treating this like a game, that seems easier to handle than the terror attack. Tong Yang, do you want to test it out?”

Tong Yang frowned. “Test what?”

“A suicide? I don’t need to waste my energy on that, and it’s clearly unrelated to the other events.”

“I didn’t pay attention before, so I don’t know if that suicide was something that was supposed to happen.”

Tong Yang glanced at the time. “You guys can think about my cooperation offer. And… thanks.”

After hanging up the video call, Tong Yang grabbed a quick bite before heading to Shi Yan Elementary School. Without notifying Tong Le beforehand, she called his teacher and dropped off some snacks for him. She stood by the window for a moment, watching him from a distance before leaving.

What she was most relieved about was that neither of the incidents had involved Tong Le.

After leaving the school, Tong Yang didn’t go straight home. Instead, she headed to the milk tea shop where she used to work part-time. The old lady downstairs had fronted her the 450 yuan for her medical bills, so she needed to make some money to pay it back. The milk tea shop paid 13 yuan an hour, so Tong Yang worked until her school’s evening self-study session was over.

When she got home, she quickly washed up and lit a candle, reviewing her notes in the dim light as usual.

It seemed that either her psychological endurance was remarkably strong, or she just didn’t want to waste her energy. The recent events—both those that had happened and those yet to come—didn’t seem to have much of an impact on her life.

The next day, Tong Yang returned to school as usual.

During morning study, her homeroom teacher called her outside. He tried to convince her that, with her current grades, she didn’t need to worry about the gaokao. He told her not to stress out and not to put too much pressure on herself, reminding her not to do anything rash. He even suggested that if she felt tired, she could just sleep at her desk.

Tong Yang humored him, nodding and listening with one ear, letting it go out the other. Eventually, she just quietly recited her English vocabulary.

After morning study ended, Tong Yang went to the cafeteria to buy some steamed buns and soy milk. On her way back to class, she was suddenly blocked by someone.

“Tong Yang!”

She looked up from her bun and saw a guy about 1.8 meters tall, with a build like a muscle-bound idiot.

“Are… are you okay? I heard you took two days off, and I was really worried…” Muscle-Bound Idiot stammered, his face turning a suspicious shade of red.

Tong Yang stared at him for a few seconds before remembering. This was the same idiot who had confessed to her during the Hundred-Day Pledge Assembly. He was supposedly pretty good-looking and popular at school, which had caused Tong Yang some unnecessary trouble. But to her, he was just a brawny fool with a few screws loose. She had already rejected him outright, yet he still hovered around her like a lost puppy.

“Thanks, I’m fine.” Tong Yang stepped around him to leave.

“But if—if you need help, I’m here! You know, just as a friend…”

“Please don’t talk to me. Thanks.” Tong Yang cut him off bluntly.

His face turned even redder, looking like someone who desperately needed to be scolded. “I’m sorry, but I just…”

Tong Yang resisted the urge to roll her eyes and muttered, “Idiot.” as she walked away.

“She’s so cool…” Muscle-Bound Idiot watched her retreating figure, completely unfazed by her brush-off.

And that’s why Tong Yang called him a muscle-bound idiot—it wasn’t without reason.

As she reached the classroom door, she heard a loud crash from inside.

“Damn it… What are you acting all high and mighty for?!”

Standing at the door, Tong Yang peeked inside. Her desk had been kicked over, her books and papers scattered everywhere. The culprit was one of the lackeys in the class who enjoyed playing the “boss and subordinate” game with the local rich kid—the same one who kept causing trouble for Tong Yang thanks to Muscle-Bound Idiot’s confession.

Tong Yang’s expression remained calm as she glanced at the mess. Then, she lifted her gaze to the rich kid and said, “Three hundred. I’ll clean it up myself.”

The rich kid, a fair-skinned girl, was the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in the old district. In a school full of students from average families, she practically walked on air, always followed by a crowd of lackeys.

Ever since Muscle-Bound Idiot confessed to Tong Yang, the rich kid had been bringing her lackeys around to give Tong Yang a hard time.

Upon hearing Tong Yang’s words, a few of the lackeys snickered.

“You’ve gone crazy for money, haven’t you?”

“No kidding. Still living in Dong Yang Complex. What else would a broke parasite like her do?”

Tong Yang asked calmly, “So, are you paying or not?”

The rich kid tilted her head as if she hadn’t heard the question.

However, her silence spoke volumes—her lackeys didn’t have enough between them to scrape together even two hundred yuan.

Without another word, Tong Yang silently mourned the loss of three hundred yuan. She walked to the trash can, finished her soy milk, and threw away the container. Then, she picked up the half-filled bucket of dirty water that had been left after cleaning the windows and marched toward the rich kid and her lackeys.

“Ahhh!!!”

Before anyone could react, Tong Yang had already dumped the dirty water over one of the lackeys, and the girl’s screams filled the classroom.

“Are you out of your mind?!” The drenched girl was hopping mad, shrieking at the top of her lungs.

Tong Yang held onto the bucket, now only a third full, and looked expectantly at the rich kid.

The rich kid’s face stiffened as she stared back at Tong Yang, instinctively taking half a step back. “W-What are you trying to do?”

Tong Yang glanced at the remaining dirty water in the bucket, then at the books scattered all over the floor. “Three hundred.”

“You’re dreaming… Wait!!”

The rich kid’s mocking voice turned frantic when she saw Tong Yang lifting the bucket again, her tone growing sharper.

“It’s just a knocked-over desk! Isn’t three hundred a bit much?”

Tong Yang thought for a moment. “Two hundred and fifty, no less.”

To prevent any further haggling, she threw that in for good measure.

The rich kid, clearly having learned her lesson after several run-ins with Tong Yang, begrudgingly pulled out three hundred yuan and handed it over, her face pale with anger.

“Thank you for cooperating. Feel free to play again anytime.”

Tong Yang put down the bucket, pulled out fifty yuan from her bag, and handed it back to her.

The rich kid tilted her chin up, signaling one of her lackeys to take the change for her.

With the money now in hand, Tong Yang dutifully picked up her overturned desk and scattered books. Then, she pulled out two pieces of tissue and handed them to the lackey she had drenched.

“Thanks for cooperating. Looking forward to next time.”

The lackey, seething with rage, spat out a “crazy person” before storming out of the classroom.

“Watch your step, Miss. Don’t want to get your clothes dirty.” Tong Yang finished tidying up the mess, then carried the bucket back to its place by the trash can. As she passed the rich kid, she offered a casual reminder.

Honestly, despite the trouble they often caused, the rich kid’s generosity made Tong Yang think it wouldn’t be such a bad deal to work as her lackey—if only she had the time.

The rich kid’s face turned red with frustration. She had long believed that Tong Yang wasn’t right in the head. Bullying her never brought any sense of satisfaction; instead, it made her feel like she was the one getting the short end of the stick. Every time, Tong Yang managed to turn things around, leaving the rich kid feeling like she was doing charity work rather than getting revenge.

Why did people think bullying was fun anyway? It was just frustrating!

Back at her desk, Tong Yang pocketed her well-earned “tip.” Suddenly, something occurred to her. She pulled out her phone, opened the “Melon Eating Netizen 007” group chat, and carefully reviewed the list of victims from the June 7th Third High School terror attack.

As she scrolled through the pictures, she finally spotted a familiar face in the first row, seventh from the left—it was the beautiful, wealthy, and ever-so-charitable rich kid herself!

The rich kid, still in a sour mood, suddenly felt Tong Yang’s burning gaze from the front of the room.

It was almost as if she was being sized up like a walking wallet.

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