The next morning Xia Ping woke up refreshed. The night before, he'd spent three hours writing, punching out 60,000 characters of his story, and with the 30,000 he'd written earlier, his total had reached 90,000 characters. In just two or three more days, he thought, he could finally finish this work for good. Although that sounded like a huge workload, as a martial artist it felt like nothing to him.
After breakfast he left the house and planned to go to school, but almost instantly he noticed a crowd of neighbors — mostly aunties and uncles — buzzing with gossip nearby.
"Did you hear? Last night two perverts were caught running around naked near Tianshui City 95th Middle School. Morals really are in decline these days…" one neighbor complained.
"Of course I heard. Those two ran almost one and a half circles around the school. Someone called the police, and before long three police cars showed up with over ten officers. They arrested them right on the spot, and everyone cheered," another added.
"Good — if these perverts aren't stopped, how can society stay safe? My daughter won't even dare walk outside!" someone else chimed in.
"I heard the police said those two were actually students from the 95th," a different voice said.
"What?! Students?! Have they gone completely insane at such a young age? What kind of fetish is that? Animals!" came a disgusted reply.
"Must be the pressure from studying! The college entrance exam is only months away…" another offered — though someone else scoffed, "Pressure doesn't mean running around naked! That's a crime."
"According to the police, they violated public security law and were detained for seven days without bail," another explained.
As the crowd talked, spit flying as they argued, Xia Ping just stood there with an expression of disbelief. He was 100 % certain the two who'd been arrested were Gao Wan and Yang Wei — he never expected such bad luck, but they really had been picked up by the police.
He didn't stay to listen anymore. Xia Ping walked to school, and today it felt different — ever since yesterday's incident, he'd become something of a small celebrity in class.
From the moment he walked in, he could feel dozens of eyes burning into him. Most of his classmates had clearly heard about Gao Wan and Yang Wei getting arrested. But Xia Ping remained calm, ignored all the stares, and sat down to write. To him, writing was serious work — and this novel would soon earn him a big pile of federation credits.
When the bell rang, Class Teacher Qiu Xue walked in and immediately noticed two empty seats. A puzzled look crossed her face.
"Where are Yang Wei and Gao Wan? Why aren't they in class?" she asked.
"They were arrested," a student called out. "Said they were detained by the police for seven days and can't be bailed out."
"Arrested and detained by the police?!" Qiu Xue blinked in shock. She'd only been teaching for half a year. Sure, she'd had some troublesome students, but she never thought she'd see the day when her own students would be hauled off by the police. What on earth could they have done?
"What happened? Why were they arrested?" she asked urgently. She'd been out of Tianshui City yesterday afternoon and didn't know anything that had happened at school.
"They ran naked around the school and someone reported them," a student answered — though his face was still strange from the memory of it.
Apparently the night before, Xia Ping had actually been there when it happened. Gao Wan and Yang Wei had been treated like criminals — bound and thrown into the police car while screaming hoarsely like pigs being slaughtered. That sound stayed in people's minds for a long time. Some of the aunties had even thrown eggs and cauliflower at them, making the whole thing even more humiliating.
Qiu Xue was horrified. "They ran naked around the school?" she muttered. She remembered both boys as just average troublemakers — nothing that would make them do something so outrageous.
"Maybe the pressure was too much," Xia Ping offered casually.
"Pressure?!" everyone shot him a contemptuous look. A classmate was quick to point out, "Isn't it because you signed that contract with them? That's why they had no choice but to run around naked!"
Someone even compared Xia Ping to someone who would force an innocent girl into prostitution — all because he'd tried to excuse their behavior by blaming stress.
Qiu Xue didn't know the details, but she did think the explanation sounded oddly fitting. With the college entrance exam only five months away, that was indeed a serious pressure point in life. She even recalled holding a class meeting yesterday about exam strategies, and figured that might've added even more stress.
Realizing this was a serious matter, she finally stood up. "Everyone, since something this unexpected has happened, let's change to self-study today. I'm going to the police station to see if those two need anything," she said, then hurried out of the classroom.
The students around Xia Ping eyed him strangely — but he stayed completely calm, unmoved by their stares.
"Self-study, huh? Perfect," Xia Ping thought happily. Without class, he had plenty of time to write.
The day passed in peace. At school nothing noteworthy happened, and the Bear Tyrant, who had been beaten, seemed to have vanished without a trace — rumors said he was sent to the Tianshui City First People's Hospital and wouldn't return for a while.
But as for Yang Wei and Gao Wan — they were in police custody. And even when their seven days were up, they still wouldn't be back yet.
At home after dinner, Xia Ping returned to his room and wrote non-stop for hours, cranking out 120,000 characters in a single session. Once finished, he published the entire thing online.
He opened the Penguin Novel Network page for his book, but because it had only just been posted, the site hadn't yet recommended it — so there weren't many readers or comments yet. Disappointed by how quiet it was, Xia Ping's eyes flashed with determination.
"I can't just sit here and wait. I have to take the initiative and stir up hype — make this novel explode in popularity," he thought with a spark in his eyes.