Episode 3 Dark Side

  "Alright, the last one is about to end!" Li Ming, as usual, was writing his long story about Jack the Ripper in the only single seat in the back row of his fourth class. He was particularly spirited today because the plot had already reached its final part. With less than six months left before the college entrance exam, he could devote himself wholeheartedly to preparing for publication after spending a few more days finishing the story.

  However, Li Ming did not know that life's script could not be written as perfectly as a novel.

  Episode 3: The Dark Side

  "I heard that a student won an award in the international essay contest and was admitted to our school?" "Yes, it's him!" A group of students gathered at the back of the classroom whispered among themselves, their eyes occasionally glancing at the boy sitting in the front row who often rested his chin on his hand, as if deep in thought, with a hint of melancholy in his eyes. This was something that happened during Li Ming's first year of high school, when he still sat near the front of the class.

  "First place, and it's Li Ming again! And this time, he's the top scorer in the entire grade. He's really amazing!" The teacher exclaimed, holding up Li Ming's test paper. Li Ming, sitting in the front row, just smiled slightly and continued to write and draw on his notebook. "Li Ming, don't you have anything to say to everyone? Let us share your experience too!" The teacher's smile seemed especially warm. "Nothing much, as long as you study hard, anyone can achieve this." Li Ming said without lifting his head. "Li Ming, what are you always writing in that notebook of yours? Is it notes or a mistake book?" The teacher's smile began to stiffen. "No, nothing much, just some fun stuff I'm writing." Li Ming still didn't lift his head, maintaining his usual calm tone. The teacher's smile disappeared from her face. She started handing out the test papers and began lecturing, no longer mentioning Li Ming. This kind of student is actually under a lot of pressure in China. They're not good at science, so their science teachers look down on them; they're too good at liberal arts, to the point where even if they don't listen in class or do homework, they can still often get first place, which makes their liberal arts teachers dislike them too. This kind of pressure deepens over time, and eventually all the teachers and most students will become your enemies. You might not care, but you can't avoid it.

  Starting from the second semester of high school, Li Ming's ranking first in exams was no longer a big deal. When teachers announced grades, they wouldn't specially praise him, and his classmates wouldn't have much to discuss about it either. Of course, praise and discussion were external things for Li Ming; as long as he maintained his grades while writing his book well, that was all that mattered. Gradually, Li Ming's seat began to move towards the back of the classroom. Every time seats were rearranged, teachers would move him further back until it was no longer possible to do so. This is a typical phenomenon in China - a group of weak individuals suppressing a strong individual into becoming weak as well, which is also one of the main reasons for China's massive loss of talent. In a class division exam during his second year of high school, Li Ming maintained his leading scores in all four liberal arts subjects but was still assigned to the worst class among all the liberal arts classes. He didn't bother to investigate the reason behind this; for him, it made no difference which class he was in because he hardly ever studied at school anyway. The three years of high school flew by as quickly as a fleeting day, with each day filled with dull and uninteresting routines - going to class, leaving class, going to school, and leaving school - making one feel like time almost didn't exist; rather than being a process of accumulating knowledge, it was more like a process of erasing human nature. Li Ming thus spent his high school years in the worst class, sitting at the very back with the best liberal arts scores.

  "Good, the last one is about to end!" Li Ming's pen tip began to tremble with excitement. After spending three years, his magnum opus was finally going to be born, and his emotions were no different from those of a pregnant woman in labor. At this time, the teacher walked up to him (he almost didn't notice), snatched away the notebook he was writing in, and the pen tip left a long mark on the paper. "What are you doing when you're not listening in class?" the teacher thundered. The whole class turned around to look at Li Ming. This was a new teacher who didn't know about the special "don't ask don't tell" rule that other teachers had formed for Li Ming. "Please return it to me, I won't write again." Li Ming said politely in response to the teacher's rudeness. "No way, let your parents come and get it, let them see what their kid is doing in school!" The teacher's tone became even more arrogant. "I don't have parents, I live alone." Li Ming said. "How is that possible? A high school student living alone! Tomorrow, bring your parents here, I want to meet them!" The teacher said and walked up to the podium without looking back. "I've been living alone since I was six!" Li Ming shouted loudly, flipping over his desk and standing up, "Return it to me, I don't want to say it a second time!" "How dare you speak to a teacher like that! What attitude is this?" The teacher also shouted angrily. Li Ming picked up his backpack with four notebooks still inside, rushed up to the podium, grabbed the teacher's collar, and said, "You don't even have the most basic respect for students, how can you talk about attitude with me!" Li Ming reached out to grab the notebook from the teacher's hand, but the teacher held on tight. "Let go!" Li Ming kicked the podium, scaring the teacher into releasing his grip. Li Ming took back the notebook, put it in his backpack, and walked straight out of the classroom door.

  The classroom was left with a traumatized teacher and a group of stunned students. They had never seen Li Ming erupt like that before. How could they have known that the long-term repression of China's education system, combined with three years of in-depth investigation and research on "Jack the Ripper", would give birth to such a creature?

  Violence is just a very small aspect of it. The dark side of human nature goes far beyond that...

  USA · New York · Manhattan

  Ruth's phone rang again, and it was that ringtone he both loved and hated.

  "Hello."

  "It's me, let's make up, okay?" It was his girlfriend calling again, another request to make up, or rather, another tease for Russ. "What do you mean?" Russ asked.

  "I...I just think we should make up." "Do you take me for a fool? If you want to break up, then break up; if you want to talk, then talk?" Russ finally spoke his mind. "Is this how you see me?... Never mind, just say yes or no."

  "To be honest, I really want to make up; I never thought of breaking up with you... There's nothing between us that can't be resolved." "Tell me, are you saying yes or no? If you say yes, we can go back to the way things were before; if not, I'll never bother you again."

  "This is a tough decision." Russ had already felt some disgust and resentment in his heart, but he still yearned for reconciliation. After all, this was the relationship he took most seriously. He was hesitant. For any question, Russ had never been decisive, and this one even more so.

  "Speak up, I'm running out of battery; just say it and I'll hang up!" His girlfriend's tone made Russ feel like she was still playing with him, treating him like a puppet on strings, not genuinely wanting to make up. However, Russ couldn't refuse her request, just as he couldn't refuse when she first leaned her head on his shoulder.

  "Okay...fine...whatever." Russ finally spoke up after hesitating for who knows how long; it was incredibly difficult for him to say those words. "No way, what's with 'whatever'? You have to say it out loud!" His girlfriend pressed him.

  "...Fine...I agree to make up..." Russ forced out the words that even made him feel nauseous. "Great, then it's settled!" His girlfriend sounded very happy and hung up the phone. Russ put down his phone, feeling dazed in his mind, as if he had been pushed off a cliff by someone and then pulled back up again; he didn't know when this person would push him off the cliff once more, nor did he know how many times he could withstand such pushes.

  "Are we really okay?" Ruru asked herself in her heart.

  Soon, time gave him an answer.

  After that day, he saw his girlfriend once or twice, and then it was very difficult to see her again. His girlfriend seemed to be deliberately avoiding him and didn't call him anymore. When Lu Si sent a text message to ask, she would only reply with a few perfunctory words. Then, the two basically had no more contact.

  This is what his girlfriend had proposed twice before, so-called reconciliation.

  Ruth didn't know whether to hate the woman or himself, which made him extremely painful. His girlfriend had told him about her ex-boyfriend's "interesting" story of being played around with when they were still dating, and now Ruth was afraid that he had become the protagonist of such an "interesting" story. Thinking of this, Ruth regretted even more for saying such a disgusting phrase from his own mouth at that time. What he believed in was that good horses don't eat grass that has been turned over, but now he not only chose to eat the turned-over grass but also didn't get to eat it. What a stupid horse!

  Men, will they always be fooled by women like this?

  Lus picked up again "Exploration of Criminal Psychology" which had been thrown under the desk by him many times...

  That night, on a certain street in New York ——

  "We've already broken up! I made it clear, I'm not interested in you anymore, don't call me again, apologizing won't work. Since we're unhappy together, why force ourselves to be together?" The blonde woman wearing high heels walked down the dimly lit street while talking on her phone. This was the route she took every day from the bar to her home, although there were few people out at night, it was still considered safe because police often patrolled the area.

  "Fine, I don't want to talk to you anymore. We're done, saying anything else is useless!" The woman angrily hung up the phone, leaving only a pitiful man who had been betrayed by his girlfriend on the other end. "Pathetic!" The woman put her phone in her purse and turned another corner, she was almost at her apartment.

  Suddenly, a pale and clean hand with no hair stretched out from the darkness behind her and grabbed her neck. "W-what...who are you...robbery? The police are nearby...if I shout they'll come..." The woman struggled, her purse fell to the ground, she couldn't breathe, and she didn't have the strength to shout for the police anymore.

  "W-what do you want...I'll give it to you...please...don't hurt me..." Her voice grew weaker. At this time, another hand stretched out from behind and ripped apart the woman's clothes, including her bra. "I want...your guts!"

  "Ah..."

  A shrill scream pierced the silent night sky. The patrol officer who was dozing off in a 24-hour supermarket on the street was almost startled to jump up, it was the first time he had heard such a frightening cry at night since he took office two years ago. He rushed out of the supermarket quickly, and a strong bloody smell hit his nose. Following the smell, the police came to the street corner. As soon as he turned around, his expression suddenly froze, with his mouth wide open and his face pale. In front of him was a blonde woman lying in a pool of blood. The woman's abdomen had been cut open horizontally, her internal organs were tangled together in a mess of blood and flesh, but there was no intestine in sight.

  "My god......this is......" The police almost threw up at the disgusting and frightening scene. The woman's purse was still next to the body, with no loss of valuables. Next to the body was another thing - a card, on which was printed a picture of Cupid holding a bow and arrow. The woman's blood stained Cupid's heart-shaped arrow, so purely red...