An Outburst of Fatherly Love

Wang Ning heard Boli An hang up after saying those two words.

After silently committing them to memory, she turned to look at Chloe.

“Do you want to sit up?”

As Wang Ning spoke, she saw the grey-haired girl trying to prop herself up with her arms and hurried to help her.

“Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere else?”

Chloe shook her head.

She looked at her surroundings, felt the warmth clutched in her palm, and looked down at her hand.

—She was holding the other person’s hand.

She let go abruptly as if startled, and said to Wang Ning, flustered and nervous, “I’m sorry, did I get your hand dirty? I’m sorry… I…”

“You’ve already said sorry many times,” Wang Ning sighed, then said, “You don’t need to feel sorry. You haven’t done anything wrong to anyone.”

Chloe was taken aback, then her face flushed bright red.

She said incoherently, “S-Sorry, I won’t say it again.”

Wang Ning: “…It’s okay if you can’t change the habit right away. Relax, or your wounds will reopen.”

‘Darn it, how can my daughter be so pitiful!’

Wang Ning internally wept and wrung a handkerchief.

The way the grey-haired girl looked up was truly hard to refuse, her puppy-dog eyes filled with caution and a longing to get closer!

Because the other protagonists all seemed very strong and didn’t need her to worry too much, in front of Chloe, the paternal love that Wang Ning never had a chance to show finally had its use.

Chloe had a bandage on her face, her small face half-hidden by her hair.

Both of her hands were clutching the blanket, restlessly tightening and loosening her grip.

Without the seal of her black-framed glasses, her unveiled beauty was stunning.

“Thank you. If it weren’t for you, Student Wang Ning, I might have…”

She seemed unaccustomed to such kindness, but was clumsily learning to express her gratitude.

Wang Ning felt she must have put on her gentlest smile as she said to Chloe, “It’s okay. It’s normal for classmates to help each other out.”

“If possible, I hope Student Chloe can tell me what exactly happened,” Wang Ning said seriously.

Chloe shook her head, then nodded, her face filled with anxiety and fear.

In the end, she just managed a faint smile. “I don’t want to get you involved.”

Wang Ning fell silent for a moment.

Chloe had clearly been hurt to the point of it becoming a psychological trauma, making her afraid to face her aggressors and also afraid that others would… become the next her.

But to change the plot and the ending, she had to help Chloe overcome this.

Change doesn’t happen overnight.

She could only do her best to try out other possibilities before the time came.

A phone rang.

Having learned her lesson, Wang Ning checked the caller ID this time—Blonde Senior.

– Where are you now?

Karin got straight to the point, her voice carrying an unsteady, light pant.

– I just saw a few suspicious students leaving the place you mentioned.

“I’m in the infirmary. Yes, with that classmate,” Wang Ning said after hearing Karin’s words. “You said you saw those people?”

Wang Ning described the appearance of Felice and her group.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, then Karin’s voice, tinged with a smile.

– What a coincidence.

She held her phone, standing by a fountain, her peripheral vision casually sweeping over the few people standing nervously to the side—it was indeed Felice and her group.

Karin looked at them with a half-smile.

Felice and her group shivered almost instantly, a faint fear and resentment in their eyes as they looked at the blonde president.

Then, she withdrew her gaze and said to Wang Ning, “I just happened to run into them.”

– Don’t worry, I’ll handle things from here. For you to have seen something like this, Ningning…

Her voice was still light and cheerful, but when she said this, it was tinged with an inexplicable danger.

– They really don’t know how to pick their moments.

‘People with no sense, breaking the school rules, and trespassing a boundary they shouldn’t have. They’re truly—freshmen who haven’t learned their lesson.’

Wang Ning didn’t know what the punishment for the rules was.

Worried that the punishment for those people would still be negligible, she asked, “How will the school handle an incident like this?”

Karin said, “The school will punish according to the severity and impact of the incident. Generally, it’s a simple demerit, or being ‘sent home for self-reflection’.”

To some nobles, these rules were like a mere tickle.

Wang Ning felt that this kind of punishment was practically useless.

Without a strong deterrent, those people would just go back to doing whatever they wanted.

Karin seemed to know what she was thinking, and her voice became serious.

– The rules are what they are. Whether they are effective depends on the execution.

Her laughter was hearty.

– Don’t worry, little junior. I’ll take care of them.

Felice and her group shivered.

Wang Ning knew that Karin was a very reliable and responsible person, not just as the president, but also as a royal heir.

She relaxed a little and praised her sincerely, “Thank you, Senior. You’re a really good person.”

– It’s nothing, just my duty. And thank you, Ningning, for supporting the student council’s work and for having the courage to expose their evil deeds.

Karin’s lips kept turning up as she listened.

Her golden eyes were now curved into crescents, and she made a heart shape in the air.

– Thank you, Ningning!

‘So happy.’

‘Being praised by someone is really an explosively happy thing!’

Karin had heard many people praise her—smart, strong, responsible, serious, enthusiastic, generous, optimistic, tolerant.

Those things were so self-evident that she didn’t think much of praise.

But her little junior was different.

The image of the white-haired girl appeared in Karin’s mind.

She always seemed gentle, sometimes with a cute laziness, her eyes full of life and vitality, but at certain times she would become very distant.

‘…As if she doesn’t belong to this world. Her eyes would sometimes unconsciously reveal an isolated indifference.’

‘Like a moon that can’t be caught.’

—‘She wanted this moon.’

This time, her desire was incredibly clear.

‘If I hold her in my palm, lock her in a golden cage, will I be able to see her other side? Will those eyes also shed beautiful tears?’

Such secret and dark thoughts were well hidden by her natural and generous smile.

– I’ll hang up now, little cutie.

“…Senior, please stop calling me that,” Wang Ning said, exasperated.

– It’s my exclusive nickname for my little junior.

Karin said innocently.

– This way, everyone will know it’s me calling you.

“…”

‘Fine, who told me to pick this handful of a person myself.’

Wang Ning hung up the phone, feeling as if half the weight in her heart had been lifted.

She looked at Chloe.

Wang Ning hadn’t deliberately avoided her, and she had also heard their conversation.

“Student Chloe, you can relax a little now,” Wang Ning said. “Senior is a very responsible person. Those people will get the punishment they deserve.”

Solving a bullying problem wasn’t something one person could do.

There was a limit to what Wang Ning could do, but she hoped Chloe could be a little happier.

But Chloe didn’t show the happy expression Wang Ning had imagined.

She just turned her head to look out the window and said softly, “Am I very useless?”

She had seen the smile on Wang Ning’s face when she was talking to that senior.

It was different from the cautiousness she showed towards her.

It was a relaxed conversation, even… trust.

“Do you think so too, Student Wang Ning?”

She lowered her head, her expression dim.

Wang Ning could almost see a pair of sad, drooping ears.

“No! I’ve absolutely never thought that!”

Wang Ning hurriedly comforted her.

She tentatively reached out a hand and patted her hair.

It was very soft to the touch, like a stuffed animal.

Chloe’s face turned redder, but she obediently didn’t move.

A sprinkle of starlight appeared in those perpetually depressed and dark eyes.

“You’ve helped me so much. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Chloe looked at Wang Ning with a hopeful gaze, as if eager to gain some form of recognition.

Wang Ning didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

She said seriously, “I didn’t do these things to get something from you.”

“If I really had to say something, I hope you can smile more and not get hurt again,” Wang Ning said from her heart.

This actually carried a bit of Wang Ning’s own selfish wish.

In the game, they hadn’t met many times, and every time they did, Chloe’s face was indifferent and calm.

She sincerely hoped that Chloe could be happier.

But Chloe was bewildered when she heard this—it was the first time someone had spoken to her like that.

…She could receive candy and favor without paying a price.

She felt her knuckles grow hot and itchy.

Only scratching could bring a slight relief, just like her heart right now.

Wang Ning was about to say something else, but her phone rang again, and again.

She took a deep breath and looked at the caller ID—”Xiali.”

Wang Ning: “…”

– Ningning, where are you?!

Xiali’s anxious voice came through.

– Why didn’t you answer when I called you before?

Wang Ning checked her phone again.

Good heavens, nearly dozens of missed calls.

The timestamps seemed to be when she was on the phone with Boli An and Karin.

They all showed up as busy.

– I saw some bloodstains in the restroom just now, and a clothing button… It should belong to someone else.

Xiali said calmly.

– …Ningning, did you run into some trouble while passing by?

– If I’m not mistaken, you’re in the infirmary right now, probably with the injured student?

Wang Ning: “…Yes.”

The classmates who were searching with Xiali all stretched their necks and ears, trying hard to hear the little angel’s words on the other end.

– Okay, I’ll be there soon.

Xiali hung up the phone and glanced around.

The others pretended to walk away nonchalantly again.

She gave a cold smile, then strode off towards the infirmary.

The others followed closely behind.

Wang Ning didn’t know that a large group of people was about to arrive.

She sat in the chair, scrolling through news articles, trying to find information on the “Gray Whale.”

She still hadn’t given up.

Chloe inadvertently glanced over, paused, and said, “Is Student Wang Ning looking for the ‘Gray Whale’?”

Wang Ning looked up at her and said without reservation, “Yes.”

“But I see there’s very little information about it online. The only thing is that news from two years ago.”

“Rumor has it that it carries a bewitching curse, spreading panic through the Demon Web, and can make people lose their minds and die without them even realizing it.”

Chloe fell silent.

Just as Wang Ning thought she wouldn’t get a response, Chloe slowly said, “That’s all just a legend, right?”

“In this day and age, how could there be such a large-scale magic that can erode one’s mind without being noticed?”

Wang Ning didn’t believe it either.

This was an age where magic was in decline.

Wang Ning spent her days at school and didn’t have a clear concept of this world’s magitech.

The teachers said that to ensure student safety, the school had installed magic shielding devices that could disable many enchanted weapons.

Of course, this also meant the school wouldn’t install too many magitech devices, which was why on the surface, Alice Girls’ Academy seemed unremarkable, like just an ordinary school.

Wang Ning had barely left the school grounds.

She heard there would be a holiday after the upcoming quiz, and she wanted to take the opportunity to go out and see this magical other world.

Bringing up the “Gray Whale” with Chloe was also a test, to see if she had ever come into contact with this software.

But Chloe seemed to be hiding many secrets that she was unwilling to talk about.

Wang Ning didn’t want to make things difficult for her, so she changed the subject, but she was determined to find out about the “Gray Whale.”

Dr. Ruixi walked over and said, “Student Wang Ning, there are many people outside looking for you.”