"So, this is what the outside world is like."
Leo stood in the residential complex, taking in the scenery. He had never once left the Green Mountain Asylum.
He realized Green Mountain was actually a pretty good place.
It was quiet there.
Shaking off his wandering thoughts, he walked towards the bus stop and waited patiently under the sign.
Ding!
Bus number 666 pulled up to the curb.
Leo paid the seven-dollar fare and got on.
The bus driver, a man with a receding hairline, saw that Leo was a student and kindly reminded him, "Hey kid, if you have a student card, you can just use that."
"Oh," Leo nodded.
Beep!
"Student card."
The driver blinked, completely baffled by Leo's actions. He had already paid the seven-dollar fare, so why use the student card now?
Is there something wrong with this kid's head?
Ah, forget it.
He had just earned an extra seven dollars. The driver's mood brightened considerably.
The bus rumbled along.
Leo found a seat. Soon after, a cute little girl got on. She had her hair in a ponytail and a backpack on her back. She stood there, holding onto a handrail, her small body swaying with the movement of the bus.
"Sit here," Leo said.
The girl, who couldn't have been older than a second-grader, smiled, revealing two dimples. "Thank you, big brother."
"Mm," Leo nodded.
Time flew by. He wasn't sure how long had passed.
Smack!
"And what is our dear Yang Yang up to?"
Someone slapped Leo on the shoulder, and not gently. It felt intentional.
Leo ignored him.
He didn't know the person.
"Chen Yang, you dare to be so arrogant? You're not even going to look at me?"
Zack was annoyed. Normally, when Chen Yang saw him, he would cower like a grandson seeing his grandfather—weak, timid, and unable to say a word.
The most he could ever manage was a whimper of, "Please don't hit me, I'm scared of the pain," which echoed in Zack's memory.
Leo accessed the memories in his head and knew that the person in front of him, Zack with his trendy long hair, was one of his primary bullies.
He was a classmate who often extorted money from him and would corner him after school. If Chen Yang didn't comply, Zack would beat him mercilessly.
"Didn't I tell you to save me a seat?"
"Why haven't you saved one for me today?"
Seeing that Leo wasn't even looking at him, Zack angrily grabbed Leo and spun him around, preparing to use a furious glare to show Chen Yang that he was courting death.
But when he met Leo's eyes, Zack was startled. It wasn't that Leo's gaze was particularly terrifying, but it was too calm—devoid of any emotion.
"Chen Yang, are you sick in the head?" Zack blustered, his embarrassment turning to anger. He was supposed to be the school's top dog, yet he had been scared witless by a single glance. If anyone found out, how could he maintain his reputation?
Just then, the little girl to whom Leo had given his seat spoke up softly. "This big brother just gave his seat to me."
Of course, Zack wasn't about to argue with a primary school student.
There were also many adults around.
If an acquaintance saw him and told his father, he would surely get a beating when he got home.
Zack glared fiercely at Leo, clenched his fists, and huffed, his message clear: You just wait for me after school.
Suddenly.
A commotion erupted from the front of the bus.
"Murder!"
"There's a mental patient killing people!"
The crowded bus was thrown into a panic.
A man wielding a cleaver shouted, "I'll chop you all to pieces! I'll chop you all to pieces!"
Leo looked at the man and shook his head slightly.
Not the familiar scent. Not one of us. This man wasn't mentally ill. It seemed the people here had some misunderstandings about mental illness.
"Ah!"
When Zack saw the man with the cleaver approaching, he screamed and fell to the floor, scrambling desperately into the crowd behind him.
This is insane!
What terrible luck!
The man with the cleaver spotted the little girl and, with a ferocious expression, swung the blade at her. "I'll chop you to pieces!"
If nothing unexpected happened, the second-grader would undoubtedly fall in a pool of blood.
The surrounding passengers watched in horror.
They couldn't bear it.
Someone, please, save this adorable little girl!
Sshhh!
Everyone shut their eyes, unable to watch. But they didn't hear the expected scream. The scene before them left them stunned.
The student in the school uniform had actually caught the cleaver with his bare hand.
Drip. Drip.
Fresh blood trickled down his hand and onto the floor.
Even the attacker stared dumbly at the scene before him.
"What the hell are you doing?" Leo asked coolly.
"Let go of me!" the man snarled, glaring at Leo. But when he met Leo's eyes, he immediately looked away.
It was like a fake king meeting the real one.
An unseen aura seemed to be suppressing him.
"Doesn't that hurt?" the man asked.
"It hurts," Leo replied.
"If it hurts, then let go!" the man roared.
"What are you doing?" Leo asked again.
The bus fell into an eerie silence.
The man stared blankly at Leo, seemingly confused by his question, as if he himself didn't know what he was doing.
The driver trembled as he called the police.
"Aaaah!"
The man with the cleaver clutched his head and screamed.
"I want to kill someone!"
"Why won't you let me kill someone?"
Leo tightened his grip on the cleaver and, with a gentle pull, extracted the blade from his palm. More blood dripped down.
He tossed the cleaver to the floor.
He then helped Zack, who was still cowering on the ground, to his feet and extended his bloody right hand.
"Hello, classmate. Let's get reacquainted."
Zack's body trembled, his lips pale. He looked at Leo's emotionless face, then at his steadily bleeding hand, and a deep fear welled up inside him.
But he still slowly extended his own hand and said nervously, "H-hello."
The hand was sticky and warm.
Zack was terrified.
His heart was filled with a profound fear of Leo. Seeing the blood-covered hand, he felt a wave of dizziness, as if the sight of the blood was too much for him.
Wee-woo! Wee-woo! Wee-woo!
A police car arrived, followed by an ambulance.
The police quickly brought the situation on the bus under control and arrested the man. They immediately found a card in his clothes.
Psychiatric patient.
"Young man, thank you for your heroic actions. You saved everyone on this bus from a deadly accident. That man is a psychiatric patient. It seems his family wasn't watching him properly, and he managed to escape," a police officer said gratefully. He then noticed Leo's bleeding hand and immediately called a paramedic over to bandage it.
Leo gave the man a meaningful look. "He's not a mental patient."
The officer's eyes lit up. Could there be more to this story? "Young man, did you discover something?"
"No. It's just that he's unworthy of being a mental patient," Leo said.
The officer was a bit confused, not understanding what he meant.
Forget it.
No need to dwell on these things.
The paramedic bandaging Leo's hand said with admiration, "You're really tough, kid. Bleeding this much and not even making a sound."
Leo said calmly, "My will is strong. Pain is just a form of training. I'm used to it."
The paramedic stared at the student.
For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was very, very strange.