Online Game: My Decay Drives the Entire Server Crazy

Chapter 106 The End of School Bullying: The Decay Debuff Protects StudentsThe day Auntie He’s banner arrived at the studio, Lin Ye was unpacking a delivery from another province. The box was huge, filled with vacuum-sealed bacon and sausages, along with a red letter written in crooked handwriting by Grandpa Zhang. The letter mentioned he had enrolled in an anti-fraud training course at the community’s university for the elderly and was now giving weekly lectures to the local seniors on how to identify telecommunications fraud, having already completed five sessions. The last line read: ’Mr. Lin, I’m half an anti-fraud volunteer now. I’ve printed those anti-scam slogans you taught me onto small cards and handed out several hundred of them.’

Lin Ye folded the letter and put it in a drawer, then handed the bacon and sausages to Fatty Wang to take down to the kitchen. Fatty Wang muttered about steaming a pot of bacon rice as he walked away. Su Qinghan was nearby organizing this week’s order schedule, while Ghost remained motionless in the corner, staring at a screen full of code.

Su Qinghan paused when she reached the last page of the schedule. She tapped a line with her finger and handed the tablet to Lin Ye: ’This order was submitted in the middle of last night. The person who placed it isn’t the victim themselves, but the mother of a junior high student. Her son’s name is Xiao Ming, a second-year student at the city’s No. 3 Middle School, who has been bullied by several school bullies for a long time. The parents have approached the school many times; the homeroom teacher said they would handle it, and the moral education department said they would investigate, but every time the bullies were just called in for a talk and then released. The next day, they would block him at the restroom entrance as usual. Xiao Ming was so badly beaten that he was afraid to go to school; he spent three days lying at home last week pretending to be sick.’

Lin Ye took the tablet and read the notes. The notes were written by the mother at three in the morning; they were very long, with several sections where she had clearly stopped halfway to wipe away tears, making the sentences intermittent. She wrote that Xiao Ming used to be a very lively child, in the top ten of his class, and loved playing basketball. Since being targeted by the bullies at the start of this semester, his basketball shoes had been thrown into the trash three times, his schoolbag thrown from the third floor twice, and his knees were always bruised. The homeroom teacher told her that those kids came from influential backgrounds and the school couldn’t be too strict. She asked the teacher what ”couldn’t be too strict” meant, but the teacher didn’t reply.

’I’ve waited at the entrance of No. 3 Middle School twice after work, wanting to see for myself who was bullying my son. But I couldn’t catch them, and Xiao Ming refuses to tell me exactly who they are, saying he’s afraid I can’t afford to offend them. I’m only thirty-eight years old, and my son has already learned to fear that I can’t afford to offend people.’

Lin Ye returned the tablet to Su Qinghan and picked up his phone to call the mother. When the call connected, the background noise was the sound of a bus announcing stops; she was likely on her way to or from work. After identifying himself, Lin Ye asked if they could set a time to meet with Xiao Ming. The mother hesitated and said that Xiao Ming was currently unwilling to leave the house, asking if they could come to their home instead.

At three in the afternoon, Lin Ye and Su Qinghan arrived at Xiao Ming’s house. It was an old residential area with peeling walls in the hallway, but it was kept very clean. Three pairs of sneakers were placed on the shoe rack by the door, each one brushed snow-white. Xiao Ming’s mother, surnamed Liu, worked as a cashier at a supermarket. Her hands were covered in calluses from labor, and she looked ten years older than her actual age. She invited Lin Ye and Su Qinghan inside, poured two glasses of water, and then gently pushed open the door to Xiao Ming’s room.