Chapter 17: “I was behind the scenes, directing Rinrin.”

“…A good performance needs the audience in their seats to really shine, don’t you think?”

Lin Zhizhi’s spiked fist hovered right in front of Bai Linlin’s swollen cheek, like a cruel ticking countdown.

Bai Linlin squeezed her eyes shut. Every muscle in her body tensed, bracing for the tearing, flesh-rending agony.

The expected impact never came.

Instead, a hand reached silently from behind and to the side, catching Lin Zhizhi’s descending wrist in a firm, unyielding grip.

The hand looked slender, almost delicate—yet Lin Zhizhi’s metal-spiked fist froze mid-air as though locked in an iron vise. It could not move forward even a millimeter.

Lin Zhizhi turned her head in surprise.

Xi Ran had somehow appeared right beside her, close enough that the faint tremble of her eyelashes was visible.

Her face remained expressionless as ever. Only those pitch-black eyes stared unblinkingly at Lin Zhizhi—devoid of any visible emotion, yet the sight sent an inexplicable chill racing down Lin Zhizhi’s spine.

“Anyone other than me,”

Xi Ran spoke. Her voice was soft, yet carried an absolute,不容置疑 chill.

“is not permitted to harm Linlin.”

Bai Linlin’s eyes flew open. Seeing this completely unexpected scene, her mind short-circuited even further.

Xi Ran… was protecting her?

No—this tone didn’t sound like protection. It sounded more like a declaration of ownership. Like she was warning someone not to touch what belonged to her.

Lin Zhizhi tried to yank her hand back. The grip held fast.

For a second she was stunned. Then fury and confusion surged together.

“Ha?”

She tilted her head, staring at Xi Ran like she was looking at some bizarre creature.

“Wait—hold on. I’m actually confused here.”

She tried to make sense of the absurd situation.

“Even though I don’t get what you’re doing… Xi Ran, you’re just a broken piece of trash, a ‘victim.’ What gives you the right to get in my way?!”

She genuinely could not comprehend it. How could a long-time bullying target suddenly turn around and defend her tormentor?

“Let go! You hear me?!”

Lin Zhizhi was thoroughly enraged. Being blocked by someone she considered beneath her felt like an insult.

Her left hand balled into a fist. Without hesitation, she swung it viciously toward Xi Ran’s bloodless face!

Smack!

The punch landed solidly on Xi Ran’s cheek. Her head jerked to the side. Several strands of black hair stuck to the corner of her mouth.

Lin Zhizhi had just begun to sneer in triumph when, in the very next instant, searing pain exploded from the wrist still held in Xi Ran’s grasp!

“AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

A blood-curdling scream tore through the night.

Lin Zhizhi’s eyes widened in terror as she stared at her own right wrist.

There was nothing visible. Xi Ran was simply holding her wrist. Yet…

An invisible force had pierced straight through from the inner side of her wrist, cleanly impaling her palm in an instant!

Agony—indescribable, blinding agony!

“Argh! My… my hand!”

Lin Zhizhi convulsed in pain. The metal knuckle duster slipped from her fingers and clattered into the grass.

She looked down. A perfectly round, through-and-through puncture wound had appeared in the center of her right palm—edges unnaturally clean, no weapon in sight.

Invisible attack!

What the hell was this girl?!

Only then did Xi Ran slowly turn her head back from the blow.

She lifted a hand and delicately wiped away a nonexistent trace of blood from the corner of her mouth, movements unhurried and composed.

Then she released Lin Zhizhi’s wrist.

Lin Zhizhi immediately clutched her bleeding hand and staggered back several steps, staring at Xi Ran in shock and suspicion, cold sweat pouring down her forehead from the pain.

Xi Ran’s gaze swept over Lin Zhizhi’s gushing wound, then moved to the suspended, dumbfounded Bai Linlin, before finally settling back on Lin Zhizhi’s pain-twisted, horrified face.

Her voice was colder than the night wind in the trees—each word clear, precise, terrifying.

“Lin Zhizhi. I hope you understand one thing clearly.”

She took a small step forward. Though physically smaller and more delicate than Lin Zhizhi, her presence completely overwhelmed the other girl.

“Anyone who touches my Linlin—”

Xi Ran’s pupils looked bottomless under the moonlight.

“—deserves to die.”

My Linlin…

Deserves to die…

The words struck Lin Zhizhi’s mind like ice picks. They also hammered into Bai Linlin’s already chaotic thoughts.

Lin Zhizhi endured the excruciating pain. Her mind raced at unprecedented speed.

All the scattered clues from before…

In this instant, they clicked together with an audible mental snap, forming a single, absurd, yet horrifyingly logical picture.

Lin Zhizhi jerked her head up. Ignoring the agony in her hand, she looked from Xi Ran to Bai Linlin and back again. For the first time, true, near-horrified realization appeared on her face.

“Could it be…”

Her voice was dry, laced with disbelief.

“The real mastermind behind making Bai Linlin carry out the bullying…”

She stared at Xi Ran and voiced the impossible conclusion:

“…was you, Xi Ran?”

The night wind seemed to fall completely still.

Bai Linlin held her breath.

Xi Ran stood motionless. Moonlight outlined her slender silhouette.

Hearing the question, there was no panic or anger at being exposed on her face—only a near-placid calm.

She even tilted her head slightly, as though confirming whether Lin Zhizhi had truly understood.

Then she nodded. In a tone as casual as stating a simple fact, she said clearly,

“Yes. It was me.”

She lifted her gaze to the suspended Bai Linlin, who stared back in stunned silence.

In her eyes flowed a twisted gentleness born of absolute control.

“I was the one behind the scenes, directing Linlin.”