Olivia Turner: You should have stopped me back then [breakdown].

　　Ryan Bennett: ?

　　The other people in the dorm were chatting, but then it went silent—probably someone had fallen asleep.

　　She and Olivia Turner could only chat on their phones.

　　Olivia Turner didn’t say much, just sent over a screenshot of a chat.

　　In the screenshot, after passing the friend verification, Olivia Turner had sent a friendly “Hi.”

　　Brian Carter replied: Who are you

　　Olivia Turner: Hello, Carter, I’m Olivia Turner from Class 7, Grade 10. Can we get to know each other?

　　That “cute” cat avatar replied with four words: Don’t want to know you.

　　Author’s note:

　　double kill

Chapter 8

　　Eight guys to a dorm room, bunk beds.

　　The conditions were worse than the girls’ side—two extra beds, making it really cramped.

　　In the equally pitch-black dorm, the boys’ side was even noisier.

　　Brian Carter slept on the top bunk, half-sitting, just out of the shower, wearing his own clothes.

　　The guys had all added each other as friends to team up for games: “I’ll play top lane, Yao-ge, add me as a friend.”

　　Brian Carter called out a string of numbers from the top bunk.

　　The guy said, “Alright.”

　　After entering the number, he saw the contact’s avatar pop up and was stunned: “Your avatar… is pretty cute, huh.”

　　Brian Carter didn’t say anything.

　　He was in the middle of deleting friends. After deleting the random person who’d added him, he finally said, “Someone else picked it.”

　　“Your little sister?” With such a cute avatar, the guy’s first thought was that Brian Carter probably wasn’t an only child. “Girls do like these kinds of avatars, but if it were me, I probably couldn’t stand it for long. I’d look for a chance to change it.”

　　“Can’t change it.”

　　Brian Carter neither confirmed nor denied, just said, “She’s not very reasonable. Not only does she make a fuss, she’s quick to cry.”

　　On the other side.

　　Olivia Turner stared at the message “You are not friends with this person” and the sudden red exclamation mark, falling silent: ……

　　Olivia Turner: Great.

　　Olivia Turner: He deleted me.

　　Ryan Bennett didn’t know how to comfort her, so she just typed: That’s just how he is. Do you know what nickname I gave him?

　　Olivia Turner: What?

　　Ryan Bennett: Chi-dog.

　　Olivia Turner: Very fitting.

　　Olivia Turner: Before I came, someone on the forum warned me.

　　Olivia Turner: It was a girl who once brought Brian Carter water. She said, she recommends no one bring Brian Carter water—just let him die of thirst.

　　For some reason, even though it was Brian Carter who rejected her, Ryan Bennett felt a strange sense of guilt. After a while, she sent another message: Don’t be upset.

　　Olivia Turner was surprisingly resilient and bounced back quickly: I’m not upset. There are millions of men in the world—why bother gnawing on a hard bone? There’s a senior in Grade 11 who’s pretty handsome. I’ll try my luck with him another day.

　　Ryan Bennett: ……

　　-

　　A few days after military training, the intensity ramped up. Just standing at attention took an hour every day.

　　Maybe it’s true that whatever you fear will happen—Ryan Bennett’s class had a particularly strict instructor, with harsh demands. If he wasn’t satisfied, he’d make the whole class stand as punishment.

　　That day, their class’s marching formation was off. At noon, while other classes went to eat, theirs was kept back by the instructor.

　　The midday sun was so hot, even the military training caps were burning.

　　Olivia Turner whispered to Ryan Bennett, “Even though I always complain about the cafeteria food, having something to eat is better than nothing.”

　　After the whole contact info incident, she and Olivia Turner had unexpectedly grown closer and become friends.

　　Ryan Bennett: “I’m starving.”

　　Olivia Turner: “My stomach just growled. I hope no one heard it.”

　　After a while.

　　Emily Brooks said from the back row, “I heard it.”

　　Ryan Bennett tried to comfort herself, and them too: “I don’t think he’ll really make us miss a meal…”

　　The instructor heard voices from their side, swept his gaze over, and barked, “Who’s talking? Step forward.”

　　“……”

　　No one moved.

　　Ryan Bennett mustered her courage and took a step forward: “Me.”

　　Instructor: “What were you discussing? Say it out loud.”

　　Ryan Bennett: “Just expressing some minor opinions.”

　　Instructor: “Go on.”

　　Since she was already standing out, Ryan Bennett braced herself and said, “The body is the foundation of the revolution, so eating is very important.”

　　But she underestimated how ruthless the instructor could be. Her words had no effect, and their class still missed the meal.

　　They endured hunger until evening, and even after dinner, it wasn’t long before they felt hungry again.

　　This hunger wasn’t just from missing lunch today. It was like a breaking point—after several days of not eating well, the feeling of “not being full” hit especially hard that night.

　　That night, the dorm’s late-night chat turned into listing food.

　　“I want hotpot, I want barbecue…”

　　“Honestly, in our situation, instant noodles would be best. There’s a hot water dispenser in the hallway. Did anyone bring instant noodles?”

　　“……”

　　Silence.

　　“Alright, let’s just sleep. You can have anything in your dreams.”

　　They said they’d sleep, but in reality, no one could fall asleep.