Chapter 17: An evil, honest grin
“Ah....”
Han Shuo gave an anguished cry as the blood drained out of his face. He stared at Fanny and stammered with pain, “Master Fanny, you... you’re stepping on my hand!”
Fanny was nearsighted to begin with, and had run too quickly in her haste, without paying attention to what was underfoot. Add to that, Han Shuo’s outstretched hands were on the ground in his desire to present a convincing front, and it all resulted in this current situation.
Fanny was wearing knee high boots with skinny, high stiletto heels. She had been sprinting with a certain rush of speed when she stepped firmly on Han Shuo’s left hand. The pain on his face was not feigned in the slightest, it truly was pain that cut deep into the bone marrow.
Han Shuo hadn’t suffered any major injuries in his prolonged fight with Carey and co., but now he was suffering from agony deep within his bones.
“Ooh... sorry Bryan, I didn’t see that your hand was stretched out this far!” Fanny was horrified and hastily apologized. The boot, that had been stepping on Han Shuo’s left hand, was swiftly retracted in shock, and rapidly shunted to the left — but Han Shuo’s outstretched right hand was precisely where her foot would land.
Han Shuo was scared out of his mind upon seeing that the sharp spike was about to wreak havoc on his right hand. He withdrew his hand with lightning-like speed and wiped at the “blood traces” on his face. He pointed at the gobsmacked crew behind him and sent up a wail proclaiming his grievances, “They, they hit me!”
Fanny’s face darkened as soon as she heard these words. Although there were multiple injuries to Carey and co.’s faces, they had long since wiped off all traces of blood when they heard someone approaching. They were afraid of being questioned, and in the confusion wiped off all the blood on the weapons that they then carelessly discarded.
They had been planning to keep their mouths shut and just chalk the afternoon’s events up to bad luck. Who knew that Han Shuo would be so evil as to pin the blame on them after he’d beaten them up.
Fanny’s beautiful eyes were astute. She threw a glance towards Carey and co. and realized that although their clothes were in disarray, there were no traces of blood on their face. There were, however, traces of blood on some far flung wooden staves.
She had merely cast one glance, lowered her head to gaze at the blood on Han Shuo’s back and face, and “wisely deduced” what had happened here. Carey and co. had ganged up to beat up Han Shuo, the blood on the wooden staves was proof!
“I will inform the school authorities of this matter. All of you can await your punishment. I feel disgusted by so many bullying a thin, weak Bryan!” Fanny looked at Carey and co. coldly and said with a shrill voice.
“Master Fanny, that’s not what happened. He beat us! Jack, you saw it all, wasn’t Bryan the one hitting us?” Carey was dismayed and yelled in a panic.
Little fatty Jack’s legs were still trembling on the side, he had been completely frightened and was in awe of Han Shuo’s actions. Jack cast a far glance upon hearing Carey’s words and discovered that Han Shuo was winking at him and gesturing with his head as he lay on the ground.
His confidence bolstered, Jack stuck out his stomach and pointed a chubby hand at the group, speaking with an air of self righteousness. “Stop lying Carey, I’m not afraid of you now that Master Fanny is here. You guys hit Bryan and want me to lie for you! Honest Jack won’t do that!”
Carey and his crew still wanted to say something, but was stopped by Fanny’s upraised hand and cold snort. “Stop disseminating and wait to be punished!”
She looked at the “pathetic” Han Shuo as she turned, and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. She said tenderly, “Come, let me tend to your wounds. You’re my research topic and I can’t allow you to get injured so often!”
The fresh smell of her breath wafted towards Han Shuo’s nose as Fanny spoke, making him suddenly feel that the part of his hand that had been stepped on wasn’t in so much pain after all. His back to Fanny, Han Shuo signaled with his eyes for Jack to leave, and then smiled an honest, dumb smile at Carey and his group.
However, these guys had just been badly beaten by Han Shuo and then had all the blame pinned on them. The honest smile he was flashing them now only appeared to be the most evil, terrifying smile on this earth!
Ten minutes later, Fanny’s lab.
Apart from Fanny, Lisa had also come to Fanny’s lab under the pretext of having some questions. Along the way, her gaze when looking at Han Shuo was quite strange, making him feel ill at ease.
Fanny bade Han Shuo to lie down on the bed upon reaching her lab, and found a bottle of of medicinal solution. Just as she was about to apply it to Han Shuo, Lisa gave a light laugh and grabbed the bottle from her, smiling merrily, “Master Fanny, you’re not wearing your glasses. Let me do it for you.”
Fanny didn’t think too much of Lisa’s words and nodded, “Hmm. Okay, clean his wounds while I find some gauze. I don’t know where I’ve put it.”
Fanny talked to herself as she rummaged throughout the lab, whereas Lisa held the bottle in her left hand and applied the solution onto Han Shuo’s back with her right. She peered closely at his body and said lowly, “Eh? This injury doesn’t look like it was just formed. Why has it scabbed over on the top?”
Greatly startled, Han Shuo gave an internal cry of dismay. It looked like he’d underestimated the peculiarities of his own body. His body’s restoration abilities had been enhanced since he’d started training his magical yuan. The injury he’d suffered at dawn had already started to scab over after a short while, to be unfortunately witnessed by Lisa.
He didn’t make a sound as he knew there was no point in saying anything now. He might as well pretend to be a fool to the end, as if he hadn’t heard Lisa say anything. He kept making noises of pain with his mouth, as if the wound greatly pained him.
It was at this moment that a surge of pain traveled from him back. He immediately howled in agony and swiftly turned his head to glare at Lisa, only to be met with the glee of uncovering a secret in her eyes. He gave a silent uh oh and laughed dumbly, facing forward again after saying, “Hurts”.
“Bryan, what’s going on?” Fanny inquired after hearing his tormented scream. She was still looking for gauze on the other side.
“Oh, Master Fanny. I accidentally touched his wound just now. No big deal, I’ll be more careful this time!”
“Then be more careful!” Fanny paid no attention to what was going on after her response.
An alluring scent made its way to his nostrils followed by hot air puffing by his ear. Lisa kept her voice low, “Damned Bryan, do you think I don’t know that you’re pretending? Huh. You scared me by pretending to be dead, and then gave me the wrong method for refining medicine. If I hadn’t been smart enough to experiment on Carey and Borg, I would have suffered to death because of you.
I’ll be frank, I got to the lab before Carey and heard your conversation with Jack through a ghoul. I even saw the entire process of you beating up Carey. You’re really something now aren’t you. You even know how to scheme against others! Hehe, not bad, not bad!”
Lisa continued to apply the solution as she spoke, but obviously wanted to get some revenge as she frequently pressed down hard on Han Shuo’s wound. Han Shou had been made by Lisa and his heart was feeling topsy turvey. He had no idea what Lisa was planning, so even though the injury hurt like hell, he didn’t dare complain loudly. He could only grind his teeth in pain as he muffled his cries.
With her plump lips lowered to his ears and fragrance wafting over Han Shuo’s face, Lisa saw that he refused to make a sound. She said fiercely, “Last time at the training fields, damn, you even kissed me. And... and touched me there. I’m not letting you off that easily. I’ll be waiting for you at the fake mountains behind the classroom building tonight. You’re a dead man if you don’t show up!”
She pressed down hard one last time on his wound after delivering her lines, smiling in proud vindication when Han Shuo grimaced with a low moan of pain. She then walked to Fanny and handed over the bottle of solution, saying “Master Fanny, I’ve finished applying the solution to him. I’ve suddenly remembered that I have something to do, so I’m going to go now. I’ll ask you that question tomorrow!”
“Oh, sure go ahead.” Fanny responded diffidently, then exclaimed in astonishment. “Eh! I’ve finally found it, so this is where I put it.”
Fanny’s beautiful legs walked her over to Han Shuo after her surprise, and was about to dress his wounds when she took a closer look. She wondered in bemusement, “Eh, how come the outside of the wound has scabbed over!”
Han Shuo’s head was facing down into the bed and was worrying over Lisa’s actions. He didn’t know how to face her that night. His heart leapt in shock again when he heard Fanny’s words, thinking that not Fanny too!
Fanny frowned but then quickly smoothed her brow, sighing in knowing wonder, “Ah, the bruise on your head faded quickly when Fitch hit you last time. Is this all because you were hit with the Agony of the Soul? Oh this is simply too amazing!”
Han Shuo, “.....”
Han Shuo was speechless at the sight of Fanny’s self-satisfying thoughts. How can her imagination be so creative as to find a reasonable explanation for something obviously incredibly odd?
Fanny became absorbed in a round of wonder and thought for a while, then started dressing Han Shuo’s wounds. Her movements were extremely gentle, as if afraid of hurting Han Shuo.
Han Shuo reflected that Fanny’s movements were so much better than Lisa’s, and was about to turn his head to thank Fanny when he noticed something by the opened lab door behind Fanny. He glimpsed a tall, thin figure staring at him enviously. It disappeared upon realizing that his attentions had been noticed — Fitch.