Chapter 43: The Courage of a Little Girl and the Power of Law

The little girl’s idea was not wrong; in fact, it was so right it filled me with admiration.

As an ordinary girl, utterly powerless, her decision to rely on the law stemmed from having no other recourse.

She possessed a strong sense of justice and abhorred seeing those around her suffer, yet she never imposed her will from a moral high ground, nor did she naively scold or criticize others for not conforming to her own ethical standards.

Her plea for me not to overstep was born of concern for me, coupled with a deep-seated fear of the law.

Knowing Liu Li couldn’t help her, she bore no resentment, understanding that everyone in this world faced their own unique struggles.

What moved me even more was her choice to stand up for me, despite knowing that as a top student, she could easily have remained uninvolved.

Fortunately, while she was upright and kind, she wasn’t rigid or using her virtues as a cloak for selfishness.

Given her capabilities and social standing, however, this was already the absolute limit of what she could conceive and achieve.

The rest, then, was up to me.

“Silly girl, don’t dwell on the past any longer. Those people received their just deserts, didn’t they? Good begets good, evil begets evil; it’s only a matter of time.” I just didn’t know if I truly believed it.

Yingning, with her eyelids lowered, leaned softly against my shoulder. “There’s no such thing as good receiving good and evil receiving evil in this world. Heaven is blind; ‘karma’ is merely a comfort for the weak… Xiang Ling was right, I’ve known it all along.”

“So,” the little girl continued, her voice thick with sobs, “that’s why I yearn to pick up a weapon, to become strong, to protect the people around me…”

“Someday!” The little girl gritted her teeth, her hand gripping my forearm so tightly her knuckles turned white. “Someday, I’ll protect everyone, whether it’s Gunfire Rose or Big Brother!”

What a heartbreakingly adorable little girl.

If this were a novel, she would undoubtedly be the hero protagonist, wouldn’t she?

And me? I suppose I would be the Demon Lord then…

A hero who vowed to protect the Demon Lord?

“I will definitely make Gunfire Rose flourish!”

The little girl’s expression was utterly solemn, as if she were making a sacred vow to me.

It turned out that for her, the game was truly more than mere entertainment… In this era, games represented the entirety of humanity’s spiritual world.

She was far more earnest than I had ever imagined.

“I must become strong! Strong enough to be undeniable! Even that family, Sword Wielding the World (TL Note: Likely a guild or powerful organization), won’t dare bully… Mmph!”

I unceremoniously shoved a piece of cheesecake into the little girl’s mouth.

“Talk after you’ve eaten your fill!”

At any rate, I had finally managed to coax the little girl into eating… A cause for celebration, indeed.

****

Throughout the day, many people cast peculiar glances our way.

There was a hint of pity, a dash of schadenfreude, but mostly, an overwhelming desire to steer clear of us.

Everything around us diverged sharply from the justice the little girl had dreamed of.

Yingning’s spirits plummeted further, and the greatest blow came from her meeting with the victim, Wu Ming.

“A lawsuit? No… it wouldn’t escalate to such seriousness, would it? It was just… just a beating… It’s nothing… really, nothing…”

Yingning, distraught and powerless, pressed him. “You’ve been assaulted by Xiang Ling more than once! This is truly serious! Don’t you want to seek justice for yourself?”

Wu Ming was an utterly ordinary student: ordinary in appearance, ordinary in voice, ordinary in build, ordinary in grades, ordinary in personality—ordinary in every conceivable way.

He cowered, head bowed, unable to meet Yingning’s gaze. “But it was just a beating… They’re so powerful, what can I do? What if we lose? I… I don’t want to trouble my parents…”

Yingning looked as if struck by lightning, nodding with a bitter smile before speaking hoarsely. “I understand.”

Indeed, every family has its own set of unspoken difficulties.

It seemed the law wasn’t omnipotent after all… She truly had been too naive.

“It’s precisely because of a personality like his that he gets bullied… If he had the courage to pursue a lawsuit with you, Xiang Ling and Xiang Renhe wouldn’t have singled him out. Sometimes, people use ‘being peace-loving’ or ‘having a broad mind’ as an excuse to avoid conflict, even deluding themselves into thinking they’re noble… Wu Ming is one such person, and most people in this world are like him,” I interjected, delivering a finishing blow.

“But it’s precisely because such people are the majority that this world isn’t utterly chaotic! It’s not filled with criminals harboring malicious intent at every turn!” Yingning retorted, pouting in defiance.

I narrowed my eyes and licked my lips. “Don’t get so worked up. Actually, I quite like sheep like him…”

With the victim himself lacking the will to resist and even refusing to cooperate, Yingning was utterly disheartened.

Without Wu Ming as a plaintiff or witness, our chances of winning a lawsuit, even if we pursued one, were slim to none.

Even the law, when confronted with reality, proved truly powerless…

Yet Yingning did not give up, for I was still forced to bear baseless accusations and punishment.

“Big Brother, don’t worry, I’ll definitely get justice for you!”

An unprecedented weariness, a spiritual exhaustion, had begun to etch itself onto the little girl’s face.

The little girl’s persistent insistence on protecting me as a weaker person was both deeply touching and utterly exasperating…

During the evening class, I overheard a conversation near Yingning’s desk. “Yingning, have you heard? Your big brother is going to be expelled…”

The rolled paper in Yingning’s hand instantly crumpled into a ball.

The little girl’s eyes flickered, suddenly gleaming with a resolve I couldn’t quite decipher.

Don’t worry, little girl, the results aren’t out yet.

I hadn’t done much; I simply sent nude photos of Xiang Ling and Xiang Renhe’s mother to their father, warning him that if he didn’t comply, I would submit them to certain websites… There was no other way. While Xiang Ling and Xiang Renhe were despicable, their father, a school board director, was relatively discreet in his conduct. As the saying goes, ‘flies don’t land on a seamless egg’ (TL Note: A Chinese idiom meaning a person without flaws or vulnerabilities is hard to exploit), and I couldn’t find evidence to ruin his reputation in short order.

A rare good father, yet he had a daughter who brought him trouble (TL Note: ‘坑爹’ (kēng diē) literally means ‘to坑one’s father’, implying someone who causes trouble or disappointment for their father). Don’t blame me.

The evening class was taught by the homeroom teacher, and if a verdict was to be announced, it would certainly be during this very lesson.

Xiang Ling and Xiang Renhe sat in the back row. Xiang Ling’s face was caked with thick powder, and Xiang Renhe’s right hand was wrapped in bandages. Both wore sneering smiles as they stared at my back.

“Regarding Su Shunhua…” Liu Li’s words were abruptly cut off before she could finish.

“Teacher, wait, I have something to say!”

Yingning rose to her feet, clenching her jaw. Her face was flushed with tension, and I could even see her legs trembling!

She shakily raised her left palm, used her right index finger to trace the character for ‘person’ (人) onto it, then, with a soft “umm,” swallowed the non-existent character.

Pfft… ‘Eating the little person?’ (TL Note: A traditional Chinese folk custom or childhood game where one ‘eats’ a character drawn on their palm to ward off evil or bad luck, often used to calm nerves.)

This was an old folk remedy we used as children to calm our nerves…

How nervous were you, to resort to a method so adorable it almost made me cry…

After “swallowing the little person,” Yingning took another deep breath. “This is the Faculty of Law.”

Liu Li looked somewhat startled, unsure why the usually meek girl had suddenly interrupted her and stood up. “Hmm, and so?”

“This place, it should be where evil is eradicated…” The little girl’s voice, initially hesitant, grew increasingly fluent and resonant. “But today—no, not just today—I’ve witnessed countless injustices unfold before my eyes… It turns out this place is just like any ordinary school, rife with campus bullying, and ruled by untouchable, lawless overlords (TL Note: ‘太上皇’ (tàishànghuáng) literally means ‘retired emperor’ or ’emperor emeritus’, used here metaphorically to describe someone with absolute, unchecked power, acting above the law).”

A stunned silence fell—

As those words left her lips, a dead silence permeated the room, swiftly followed by an uproar.

This incident had already transpired a day ago, and most people were aware of its full scope.

“My heavens, has this girl gone mad? She really dares to say anything!”

“This is practically burning bridges with the school administration!”

“Even if she’s the top student in the entire school, isn’t she being a bit too audacious?”

“Now this is going to be interesting.”

Liu Li’s face instantly turned ashen. “What exactly are you trying to say?”

Yingning straightened her back, her eyes devoid of any trace of confusion or tears. Her gaze was sharp and direct as she met Liu Li’s, her words slow and deliberate.

Yet her words, unimpeded, reached the ears of everyone present.

“I am trying to say that this is not the cradle of justice I dreamed of, not the academy I envisioned.”

“You…” In her shock and anger, Liu Li was actually forced to take a step back by the little girl’s sheer presence. “Are you saying you don’t want to study here anymore?”

“This is a law academy. If even here, justice does not reside in people’s hearts, then why should I remain? That’s right!”

Yingning cast a profound glance at me, then, under the shocked gazes of everyone present, she suddenly raised her slender, straight leg high, slamming the sole of her shoe heavily onto the desk!

“Bang!”

She smiled freely, like a clear sky after the rain.

“This old lady is done studying here!”