Chapter 20: “I don’t like any bullying except for Rinrin’s…”

“Is the strongest bully…?”

“Ha… hahaha!”

Lin Zhizhi bared her teeth in a dry, forced laugh. The motion tugged at her wounds, making the corner of her mouth twitch painfully.

“The strongest? Of course I am!”

She jutted her chin forward, eyes still burning with unextinguished fire and the reckless madness of someone whose dignity had been completely crushed.

“I’ve beaten so many people they could line up from here to the school gate! Who the hell do you think you are? Just some cheap slut! If you’ve got the guts, untie me and we’ll go at it fair and square—”

Her words were cut off mid-sentence.

Xi Ran didn’t even move.

Yet Lin Zhizhi’s throat felt like it had been seized by an invisible hand. Every curse turned into choked, wheezing gasps—“kh kh—”

Her eyes bulged. Her face turned purple. Her left hand clawed uselessly at her neck, finding nothing.

A few seconds later, the pressure released.

Lin Zhizhi sucked in air desperately, coughing violently. Tears and snot streamed down her face.

“It seems,”

Xi Ran took half a step forward. Moonlight illuminated one side of her cheek; the other remained shadowed.

“a more direct ‘reminder’ is needed.”

To the watching Bai Linlin, what followed felt both blurred and razor-sharp.

Blurred were the specifics of the process.

She only saw Lin Zhizhi’s body jerk spasmodically now and then, as though invisible needles pierced her repeatedly.

She heard the shift—from furious cursing to agonized screams, then to broken, intermittent whimpers and sobs.

Clear were the details.

Xi Ran stood motionless the entire time, expression blank.

The punishment wasn’t continuous. There were pauses.

After each pause, Xi Ran would ask the same question in that terrifyingly calm tone.

“Now?”

“Do you still think so?”

Lin Zhizhi’s answers went from gritted-teeth “Yes!” to tear-choked “…yes…” to silence, and finally to nothing but shattered sobs and averted, evasive eyes.

After an unknown stretch of time, Xi Ran stopped all movement.

Lin Zhizhi slumped against the tree. The ropes binding her had dug deep into her flesh from her earlier struggles.

She was soaked in sweat and blood. Her hair clung to her forehead. Her face was filthy.

Most noticeable was her mouth—corners split, lips swollen, and clearly missing several teeth.

Her breathing came in short, trembling gasps. Her chest heaved violently.

Her gaze was unfocused—looking at Xi Ran, yet seeming to see nothing.

She no longer looked like a teenage girl. She looked like an old woman who had been drained of all vitality—worn down by endless suffering, face etched with exhaustion and numbness.

“I’ll confirm one last time.”

Xi Ran’s voice rang out again.

“Are you the strongest bully?”

Lin Zhizhi shuddered violently.

She slowly rolled her eyes until they focused on Xi Ran’s face.

There was no trace left of arrogance, madness, or defiance.

Only bottomless terror—and a resigned, hollow emptiness.

She opened her mouth. Swollen, leaking lips moved with difficulty. Her voice came out hoarse, barely audible, slurred:

“I… am not…”

She sniffed. A mix of blood and saliva dribbled from the corner of her mouth.

“I’m not… the strongest… bully…”

Each word was forced out with excruciating effort, as though it took her last remaining strength.

“I… am trash.”

With that, she closed her eyes—as though even holding eye contact had become too much.

Bai Linlin, watching from the side, was completely stunned.

She had thought she already understood how terrifying this yandere witch was—after all, “she” had endured Xi Ran’s “punishments” before.

But only now—watching with her own eyes as Xi Ran methodically, coldly, almost playfully dismantled a loud, self-proclaimed “strongest” thrill-seeker—body and soul—crushing her into dust…

Only now did Bai Linlin feel a bone-deep chill.

She finally understood.

What Xi Ran had done to her before… was probably just “playing around.”

Was it because she hadn’t gotten bored yet?

Or something else?

She didn’t dare think deeper.

Hearing Lin Zhizhi’s answer, a faint—almost satisfied—expression finally appeared on Xi Ran’s face.

She gave a small nod.

“Good.”

That single word sounded more chilling than any threat.

Lin Zhizhi’s closed eyelids trembled.

She didn’t dare open her eyes. Using that slurred, wind-leaking voice—now laced with sobs and pleading—she hurriedly added:

“Please… please… Xi Ran… my lady…”

“This little one… this little one will never… never dare again… absolutely… absolutely will not… bully anyone anymore…”

“Really… spare me…”

She had even changed how she referred to herself.

Xi Ran looked down at this utterly abject, dirt-level display of submission. She seemed to find it somewhat amusing.

After a moment’s thought, she spoke slowly.

“Very well. Then listen carefully.”

Lin Zhizhi immediately held her breath, straining to focus.

“The fact that I had Linlin ‘bully’ me—”

Xi Ran enunciated each word clearly, making sure every syllable drilled into Lin Zhizhi’s ears.

“—you are not permitted to tell anyone. Anyone. Do you understand?”

Lin Zhizhi nodded frantically—as though granted amnesty. The ropes binding her dug deeper; she didn’t care.

“Under… understood! This little one understands! Even if you beat me to death, I won’t say a word! I’ll take it to my grave!”

“Mm.” Xi Ran seemed reasonably satisfied.

Another stretch of silence.

Only Lin Zhizhi’s suppressed, gasping breaths.

Suddenly, very cautiously—extremely quietly—Lin Zhizhi asked one final question.

The tone wasn’t really questioning. It sounded more like bewildered, humble probing.

“Xi Ran… my lady… may this little one… ask one last question?”

“Speak.”

“Why… do you not… bother this little one… to ‘bully’ you?”

Lin Zhizhi struggled to form the words.

“This little one… ‘before’… was also very good at it… If you need…”

She truly couldn’t understand.

Since Xi Ran had this kind of fetish, why choose that girl who clearly wasn’t very “professional” at all—Bai Linlin?

Why not someone like herself—more “experienced,” more “powerful”?

Xi Ran fell silent for a few seconds at the question.

Her gaze shifted—for the first time—from Lin Zhizhi to the girl sitting nearby, who had been trying desperately to make herself invisible.

That look was deep, complicated.

There was scrutiny, an almost obsessive focus, and a trace of… something possessive, beyond words.

Then she looked back at the bewildered, abject Lin Zhizhi and gave her answer.

Her voice was soft, yet carried absolute certainty.

“Because,”

She paused.

“bullying from anyone other than Linlin…”

The corner of her mouth curved ever so slightly—an arc both icy and deeply satisfied.

“…I don’t like.”