Why Do All the Villains Look at Me Like This? - Chapter 17

The next day during the team Combat class, Meng Xuexiao still didn’t have a partner, “You… sigh”

The Combat Instructor couldn’t help but rub his forehead and sigh when he saw this situation. “I’ve already heard about your situation from the Mecha Operations Instructor. It’s true that being an F-rank makes finding a partner a huge problem, but if this continues, there’s nothing I can do. Rules are rules.”

“If you still can’t find a partner by the next class, I’ll have to deduct points according to regulations.”

Seeing Meng Xuexiao standing there motionless, the instructor felt a twinge of guilt, “I know you must be feeling bad. If I could make an exception, I would. But the Federal Military Academy has limited resources, and anyone who can’t meet the school’s standards has to be eliminated.”

Meng Xuexiao froze for a moment, then shook his head, “The school has its rules. I knew that from the moment I got my acceptance letter.”

He just hadn’t expected that the Mecha Operations Instructor, who always seemed stern, almost terrifying in his strictness, would actually speak up for him in front of the Combat Instructor.

Although he looked fierce, he turned out to be surprisingly kind. Out of respect for the kindness of the Mecha Instructor, and the sincere concern of the Combat Instructor, Meng Xuexiao promised, “I’ll try to find a partner before the next class.”

What an obedient, sweet kid. How could someone like this be ranked F?

The Combat Instructor couldn’t help but feel injustice on his behalf. He tried offering some alternative suggestions, “Why don’t you walk around the classroom a bit this class, talk to more of your classmates? Maybe someone will be willing to take you under their wing.”

Meng Xuexiao gave the Instructor a grateful smile, “Thank you!”

After the Combat Class Instructor left, the smile on Meng Xuexiao’s face gradually faded.

At the Federal Military Academy, physical ability was everything, it was also the top priority for anyone choosing a teammate. For the sake of the team’s overall performance, no one would willingly take on a burden. On the other side of the room, a heated classroom exercise was in full swing. Two squads were facing off against each other, and the final outcome of their battle would be factored into their grades.

Cheers erupted from time to time from that direction, and even Meng Xuexiao couldn’t help but glance over.

The members of both squads were clearly strong, and their progress in team training was remarkable. The fight was fierce and intense. Many students had been drawn over, forming a circle around the combat zone, and some even pulled out notebooks to take notes and analyze the battle.

Unable to resist, Meng Xuexiao took a few steps closer.

The mecha pilots moved so quickly they left afterimages behind. Various types of weapons clashed in the air—it was like something straight out of the superhero movies he’d watched before transmigrating into the book. Meng Xuexiao’s eyes widened. As an F-rank, his eyesight wasn’t good enough to clearly see the battle, but he still tried hard to follow their movements.

Powerful, cool, fearless—that was exactly the kind of person he most wanted to become.

Before transmigrating, his body had been frail—just walking a bit too far would leave him gasping for air. What he had envied most were the kids who could run, jump, and even get into after-school brawls in the woods for the sake of their “gangs.” Even when watching superhero movies, Meng Xuexiao’s eyes would always follow the red-caped Superman. Not only did he have an indestructible body of steel, but circling the Earth took him only a matter of minutes.

Whether it was helping an old lady cross the street or saving the world, it was all effortless for him, nothing posed a challenge.

Meng Xuexiao had imagined countless times, if only he could become someone like that.

If he were, then at the very least… he could have brought all the best things to the caregiver aunt before she passed away—instead of just watching helplessly as she worried, even with her dying breath, about whether he could survive.

He couldn’t help but step forward a bit more, wanting to see more clearly. It was a small movement, but enough to draw the attention of the surrounding students. They had all heard his conversation with the Combat Class Instructor earlier and assumed that Meng Xuexiao had approached because he wanted to join their team.

The student closest to him rubbed his nose awkwardly, “Uh, I just remembered—I need to get back to training!”

He clutched his notebook and quickly scurried into a corner.

The other students followed suit, laughing it off, “Yeah, what are we all standing around for? Lots to do, lots to do!”

There was no way they could afford to drag along an F-rank burden! In team cooperation, the scariest thing wasn’t a Godlike opponent—it was a teammate who was like a pig.

The once-crowded space suddenly emptied out. Even the two teams who had been sparring just moments ago relocated elsewhere, leaving only Meng Xuexiao standing there alone.

Meng Xuexiao tugged at the corner of his mouth, then turned around and walked toward the far side, away from the crowd.

Just as he had expected. He actually understood it all very well.

The first lesson the caregiver aunt had taught him was to put himself in others’ shoes.

If he were the captain of a team, and the members had been training hard just to make their group shine in class and on campus, he certainly wouldn’t want a parachuted-in F-rank student to ruin all that effort. After barely making it through the morning’s team Combat class, it was time in the afternoon to go help out at the infirmary.

The whole team-up plan for the Combat class had fallen through, and both Meng Xuexiao and Xue Chen felt a bit awkward. They didn’t cross paths during class, but now, helping at the infirmary, they had to work together. Meng Xuexiao noticed Xue Chen glancing at him several times. In fact, he had felt Xue Chen’s gaze even during Combat class, but he’d avoided it each time.

He knew Xue Chen still remembered how he had helped explain the questions during the Theory exam, but maybe that kind of connection really wasn’t suitable to continue. Meng Xuexiao caught the increasingly impatient looks on the faces of Xue Chen’s teammates. That group had always worked well together, there was no need for Xue Chen to fall out with them over this matter.

But soon, Meng Xuexiao’s attention was no longer on Xue Chen and his group, because in a corner of the infirmary, he heard a familiar voice.

It was Chu Sinian.

Although Chu Sinian was one of the most outstanding graduates of the Federal Military Academy, he was ultimately a very busy man. Occasionally, he would give the academy some face and come over for a short stay, but he would never stay long. The last time they met, Meng Xuexiao had assumed he was just unlucky. He hadn’t expected Chu Sinian to still be stationed here.

His toes twitched with the urge to turn and walk away immediately—but unfortunately, Chu Sinian had already seen him.

“Meng Xuexiao, I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. How’s your foot healing?” Chu Sinian, who had been chatting with an injured student, turned his head with a look of concern in his eyes. His demeanor was warm and approachable.

The student Chu Sinian had been talking to never looked away from him, their eyes filled with admiration and reverence. They even let out a small gasp of awe, “Dr. Chu can even remember something as small as a student’s injury so clearly!”

The infirmary environment was warm and pleasant, yet Meng Xuexiao felt a chill crawl down his spine. No wonder, in the original story, Chu Sinian had dared to handpick his prey right within the Federal Military Academy, turning the students he liked into dolls. Chu Sinian himself was like a false beacon of light, luring countless students to crash and burn like moths to a flame.

Meng Xuexiao lowered his gaze, doing his best to avoid eye contact, “Thank you for your concern, Dr. Chu. My injury has completely healed.”

In truth, Meng Xuexiao still couldn’t figure out what Chu Sinian was really after.

After their encounter in the Mecha Operation class, several medical staff had come to deliver him medicinal ointments for his wound, even including overly detailed instructions on how to apply them.

He had originally thought that tracking a student’s recovery was part of the infirmary’s responsibilities but later discovered that all those medications had been sent by Chu Sinian himself. At the time, he’d broken out in a cold sweat and quickly came up with an excuse to return them.

“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Chu Sinian replied breezily, as if brushing the matter aside.

But Meng Xuexiao clearly felt that the man’s gaze hadn’t left him just because the topic had ended. On the contrary, it swept up and down his body like a snake flicking its tongue.

In that moment, the air around him seemed to grow thick and sticky. Perhaps it was his ominous intuition acting up, but even the half-open door behind Chu Sinian suddenly looked suspicious to Meng Xuexiao. The door was ajar, the room inside very dim, with shadows stretching across the floor—shadows that eerily resembled the silhouette of a person collapsed in a pool of blood.

Had Chu Sinian already killed a student?

Was that a corpse, not yet dealt with, that Meng Xuexiao had just stumbled upon?

He held his breath, hands and feet turning cold.

Noticing the sudden paleness in Meng Xuexiao’s face, Chu Sinian paused. The memory of being avoided during the Mecha Operations class flashed through his mind again, playing over and over like a shameful loop. That memory had all but nailed him to a pillar of humiliation.

It was because of that incident that the arbiter machine had ruthlessly mocked him.

For a hunter with “max affinity,” this was his first failure and even someone like him couldn’t help but feel a bit unwilling to accept it.

“I wanted to ask this last time… Are you… afraid of me?” Chu Sinian finally voiced the question.

“How could that be?!” The student who had been chatting with Chu Sinian earlier rushed to answer. “Every year the Federal Military Academy holds a popularity vote for the medical staff, and you always come in first—this is your fourth consecutive year!”

The voters weren’t just students, but also teachers and other medical personnel. Chu Sinian’s reputation could be considered excellent. But this time, the usually mild-tempered and well-liked Chu Sinian uncharacteristically furrowed his brows, seemingly annoyed by the chatter of those around him. Then, he subtly adjusted his perfectly ironed cuff in Meng Xuexiao’s direction. Like a rabbit hesitating in fear before an eagle—unsure whether to flee or stay. But if it fled, it would expose its back to the predator.

This was a silent signal urging a response. Meng Xuexiao knew he couldn’t remain silent any longer, yet he still didn’t know how to speak.

His facial expression couldn’t possibly fool the shrewd hunter before him—he knew that his face was clearly showing…

Nervousness and fear.

Chu Sinian saw every flicker of expression on Meng Xuexiao’s face with perfect clarity. But it was precisely that clarity… that deepened his sense of defeat.

Before turning Meng Xuexiao into a doll, he felt he had to win first.

“Of course, I would never hold up your work!” The student who had always admired Chu Sinian naturally wouldn’t refuse. He tactfully walked away at a brisk pace.

“Excuse me, could you give me and Meng Xuexiao some space?” Chu Sinian politely smiled at the other person present.

Now, only Meng Xuexiao and Chu Sinian were left.

To Meng Xuexiao, this situation felt even more dangerous, it was practically a signal for the hunt to begin. The boy’s body was as tense as an overloaded bow, ready to snap at any moment. In that instant, Meng Xuexiao even considered, if he turned and ran without hesitation, found a nearby medical staff member, and begged for help, would he be able to survive?

Would the medical personnel, deceived by Chu Sinian’s perfect persona, believe him? Or would they treat him as a lunatic, a liar slandering Chu Sinian, and in the end, just hand him back into Chu Sinian’s grasp?

Meng Xuexiao felt like his heart was in free fall, a wave of intense dizziness crashing over him, his vision even starting to go black.

At that moment, Chu Sinian finally spoke, his tone as gentle as ever, “You’re here as punishment, aren’t you? I heard about it, all of this started with your test score being tampered with.”

“This is a very serious matter, so I used some of my personal connections to look into it. The one who altered your score was a student working on system data that day, and that student was acting under the orders of someone ranked second in the entire school for physical strength, Wu Zian.”

Chu Sinian didn’t want his image of “max affinity” to take a hit. He intended to offer a gesture of goodwill to stabilize his favorability score. And the “honey” he chose for this gesture of goodwill, was precisely the matter that had been troubling Meng Xuexiao most in recent days.

They say a timely help beats a lavish gift, and this was undoubtedly timely help. A glint flashed in Chu Sinian’s eyes as he looked at Meng Xuexiao, like a predator staring at prey already caught in the net.

His tongue slid over his canine tooth, and he couldn’t help but take a step forward.

Author’s Note:

Chu Sinian: Wu Zian? What thing is that? Sell it!