Good-for-nothing

Naturally, the one who spoke was Fang Jun, who had yet to leave.

Huang Haoyang and his mother whipped their heads around like cats whose tails had just been stepped on.

Upon seeing it was Fang Jun, the anger on Huang Haoyang's face instantly morphed into deep disdain.

"Hmph, just another one of Lin Mo's lapdogs."

Huang Haoyang sneered. His gaze bypassed Fang Jun and swept across the entire class with a look reserved for pathetic, fawning creatures. "As far as I can tell, this whole school is nothing but Lin Mo's personal kennel."

Beside him, his mother puffed out her chest, seemingly quite pleased with her son's bold declaration.

Finally, Huang Haoyang's gaze locked onto a figure whose back was turned, unhurriedly packing his belongings.

"Lin Mo, why do you keep so many dogs around? Is it because your parents are never coming back, so you need a pack of mutts to keep you company?"

As soon as those words fell, the air in the classroom seemed to freeze.

The whispers and the scraping of desks and chairs from just a second ago vanished without a trace.

Dead silence.

Dozens of glares, like ice-cold daggers, shot simultaneously toward Huang Haoyang and his mother.

That bone-chilling, collective hostility drained the color from his mother's previously arrogant face. She instinctively gripped her son's arm, staggering back a step in fear.

Huang Haoyang was also deeply unnerved by the intense atmosphere, but he stubbornly craned his neck, trying to put up a tough front.

Right then, Lin Mo zipped up his backpack.

He slung the bag over his shoulder in one fluid, effortless motion, without the slightest hesitation, and slowly turned around.

Lin Mo turned to face Huang Haoyang.

There was no anger on his face, in fact, there was no expression at all. He was as calm as a deep, unrippled pool.

"I can tell you hold a deep grudge against me,"

Lin Mo stated plainly, looking right at him. "Deep enough that you'd impersonate me to get close to Su Ziting, going through all the trouble to orchestrate a fake confession just to drag my name through the mud."

Huang Haoyang's heart skipped a beat, but he remained obstinate. "What... what nonsense are you spouting?! Who impersonated you?!"

Lin Mo didn't reply.

Deep within his eyes, a flicker of purple light, imperceptible to ordinary people, flashed and vanished.

Soul Seize!

Meeting his gaze, Huang Haoyang's body violently shuddered, as if struck by an invisible electric current.

His stubborn facade instantly crumbled, replaced by a state of manic excitement.

"Hahahaha!"

Huang Haoyang pointed at Lin Mo and burst into a fit of wild, shrill, and ear-piercing laughter.

"So what if I did?! That's right, it was me!"

His facial features twisted as he roared, seemingly venting all his long-suppressed resentment.

"I just can't stand you! Why?! Why do girls like Xie Yuling, Jiang Yunlu, and Chu Miaomiao follow you around all day?!"

"That's why I used your name to add girls from other classes! I chatted with them and led them on!"

"They replied to my messages instantly, fawned over me, and even asked me out on dates!"

At this point, he excitedly lunged forward a couple of steps, pointing at his own face as he shrieked at all the girls in the classroom.

"But when I used my own photos and my own name! Why wouldn't a single one of them accept my friend request?!"

"Why do they look at me like I'm a piece of trash?!"

"Why the fuck is that?!"

His final question, cracking with despair, echoed throughout the dead-silent room.

The entire class was utterly speechless.

The girls who had merely been bystanders now looked at him not only with coldness but with an indescribable layer of disgust and repulsion.

Some even instinctively scooted their chairs back, as if he were a highly contagious virus.

Huang Haoyang's mother was completely dumbfounded. Her mouth hung open, unable to utter a single word. Her face turned from pale to green, wishing the floor would open up and swallow her whole.

Lin Mo watched him silently until he finished his outburst. Only then did he release the Soul Seize and walk past him.

As they brushed past each other, Lin Mo paused for a fraction of a second and left behind a faint whisper, audible only to the two of them.

"Now do you understand why? Trash."

Freed from the Soul Seize, Huang Haoyang instantly snapped back to reality. He had no idea why he had blurted out those words; he only remembered feeling an overwhelming, irrepressible urge to spill everything.

But now that the words were out, his dark, twisted nature was fully exposed to everyone.

Then again, he was transferring schools anyway. Let it all burn, for all he cared.

With that thought, Huang Haoyang grabbed his mother's arm and bolted out of Class Eight.

However, the corner of Lin Mo's mouth curled into a faint smirk.

--System: You think you can just walk away after offending the abbot?--

Click.

The door lock clicked sharply. As the heavy wooden door was pushed open, pitch-black silence and stifling air greeted them.

"That deadbeat father of yours, who knows where the hell he is! He doesn't care about his own son at all!"

Huang Haoyang's mother fumbled along the wall and flicked the switch. A harsh, blinding white light instantly flooded the living room.

She kept cursing under her breath, carelessly tossing her designer handbag onto the entryway cabinet with a dull thud.

"Screwing around outside all day long, this house is nothing but a hotel to him!"

"If it weren't for his filthy money, I would have divorced him ages ago!"

It was her usual tirade. Huang Haoyang expressionlessly changed his shoes and drifted over to the sofa like a ghost, sinking into the cushions.

To his ears, his mother's complaints had already faded into a string of meaningless background noise.

He didn't sit there for long before getting up and heading to his room.

Closing the door felt like sealing off the outside world.

He let out a long, heavy sigh, slumped into his chair, and practicedly hit the power button on his PC tower.

Whirrrr...

The whirring of the computer's cooling fans was the only sound that brought him any comfort right now.

Playing a thrilling match of League of Heroes to blow off some steam, that was his true salvation.

At the very least, it could temporarily wash away all of today's misery.

However, just as he logged into the game client and before he could even queue up for a match, he heard the front door open and close.

Immediately after, his mother's voice spiked an octave, firing off like a cannon that had been primed and waiting.

"So you do know how to come home! Huang Guozhen! You're out screwing around every single day, why don't you just drop dead out there?!"

A heavy briefcase hit the floor with a thud.

"Screwing around? If I didn't go out to entertain clients and talk business, you two wouldn't even have shit to eat! And what about you?"

The man's voice was hoarse and irritable. "I come home and can't even get a hot bowl of soup! What the hell do you do all day besides spend my money?"

"What do I do? Have some conscience, Huang Guozhen! I gave you a son! Is that not enough?!"

"Heh. A son?"

Huang Guozhen sneered coldly, his laughter laced with ice.

"You've been harping on about giving me a son for over a decade! Aside from that, what have you actually done for this family? You won't even stir-fry vegetables because you complain about the grease and smoke!"

"And that useless son of yours! I'm humiliated just looking at his report card! And now he has to transfer schools? Guangba is already one of the top high schools in Yangcheng. Where is he supposed to transfer to? Some third-rate dump to pick through the trash?!"

Arguments like this happened every day, and Huang Haoyang had actually grown accustomed to them.

He put on his headphones, tuning out the noises coming from the living room.