UCS Chapter 25

Gao Gusheng learned the whole story from his classmates’ discussions.

 

Jia Qi and Sun Jun were both students from the Fine Arts Department of the Art College, and in just one week, an art exhibition was going to be held.

 

This exhibition was held once every four years for universities across the country, with a large scale and numerous participants. All exhibitors’ works would be displayed in the exhibition hall for a month.

 

During this month, the visitor flow would be enormous. Perhaps some works would catch someone’s eye, or some might go viral.

 

What was more attractive was that several highly renowned masters in the art circle would come to the exhibition to accept disciples.

 

The art exhibition being held once every four years meant everyone could only participate once in their college career.

 

Because it was nationwide with numerous participants, the entire Beijing University only secured three spots, with Jia Qi and Sun Jun each taking one.

 

These three spots were fought for through various competitions among the students.

 

Today was the deadline for submitting the works.

 

However, Jia Qi’s work was destroyed by Sun Jun.

 

In the surveillance footage, Sun Jun sprayed a tube of paint unreservedly on Jia Qi’s painting, leaving no chance for recovery.

 

“Why would Sun Jun do something so drastic? I’ve seen his painting, it’s no worse than Jia Qi’s. What was he thinking?”

 

“Who knows? It seems that even being the real son of the Sun family, after being raised in that family for nineteen years, he also… tsk.”

 

“Will Sun Jun be disqualified from the exhibition now? Sigh, wasting two spots at once.”

 

“Not necessarily. Jia Qi might still be able to produce another painting, right?”

 

“Sigh, the exhibition is just a week away. Even if he can produce another one, something hastily completed can’t compare to something meticulously prepared.”

 

…

 

“Hey, I remember that the Sun family’s head and Mrs. Sun used to favor Sun Jun. Why aren’t they even looking at him today?”

 

“Perhaps they’re completely disappointed.”

 

…

 

The surrounding discussions were buzzing. Sun Jun hugged his drawing board, standing alone in the crowd.

 

Gao Gusheng had no previous interaction with Sun Jun and had only heard bits about the Sun family when catching up on gossip. It was only today that he saw the protagonist of the story.

 

But for some reason, from the moment Gao Gusheng saw Sun Jun’s parents, he felt a strange sense of incongruity.

 

This feeling wasn’t strong; at least Gao Gusheng hadn’t figured out what exactly was wrong yet, but he could see that Sun Jun’s condition wasn’t right.

 

Sun Jun’s face was abnormally pale, with only the swollen red handprint on his face being glaringly eye-catching. His body trembled slightly under everyone’s gaze, and his pupils were somewhat dilated.

 

At first, Gao Gusheng thought he was just shocked by the Sun family’s reaction and couldn’t accept it momentarily, but now it seemed that Sun Jun’s physical condition wasn’t quite right.

 

Gao Gusheng stared at Sun Jun’s swollen cheek for a while, and a suspicion arose in his mind—could it be that Sun Jun had a concussion from Sun Langgan’s slap?

 

That couldn’t be, right?

 

How hard would the slap have to be?

 

As he was thinking this, he saw Sun Jun vomit.

 

The surrounding crowd made a buzzing sound and hurriedly backed away, which coincidentally benefited Gao Gusheng, as he went from being on the outskirts to becoming the closest person to Sun Jun.

 

Gao Gusheng took a close look – it was clearly projectile vomiting.

 

In fact, Sun Jun hadn’t vomited much; he looked like he hadn’t eaten anything for a long time, only throwing up some water without much odor and not much visual impact. But the Sun family members retreated suddenly as if afraid of being contaminated by something dirty, like they were avoiding a dangerous beast.

 

This was like the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Sun Jun swayed, about to fall, his eyes filled with despair.

 

Gao Gusheng instinctively sensed something was wrong, immediately stepped forward, grabbed Sun Jun’s wrist, and then was shocked.

 

A cold gleam flashed, and only then did Gao Gusheng see that Sun Jun was actually holding a utility knife in his hand!

 

Sun Langgan became furious the moment he saw the utility knife, shouting at Sun Jun, “As your older brother, I merely disciplined you a bit, and you actually want to pull a knife?! And then what? Do you want to stab me to death?!”

 

Gao Gusheng supported the weakened Sun Jun who was covered in cold sweat, and shouted back without courtesy, “Are you blind? Do you hold a knife backwards when you stab someone? You slapped your brother hard enough to give him a concussion, and you still say this is just ‘disciplining’??”

 

Sun Langgan, embarrassed by Gao Gusheng’s reproach, said, “This is a Sun family matter, what does it have to do with an outsider like you!”

 

Gao Gusheng rolled up Sun Jun’s long sleeve, turning to block the crowd’s view, but showed Sun Jun’s wrist to the Sun family members. Hidden under the sleeve were layers upon layers of scars.

 

“Are you really not understanding or pretending not to understand? Do you really not know or are you just acting like you don’t know?”

 

Sun Jun wasn’t trying to stab Sun Langgan; he was trying to stab himself.

 

Before Sun Langgan could react, Gao Gusheng hoisted Sun Jun onto his back, “Alright, Young Master Sun, if you think this is a Sun family matter, then go home and educate him properly, don’t block the school entrance and argue. Since you’re at school, don’t bring your Sun family methods here.”

 

“Sun Jun already has a concussion, so be quiet.”

 

Gao Gusheng carried Sun Jun on his back toward the medical office.

 

There was something strange about every one of these Sun family members; Sun Jun was the only normal one.

 

The students said that Sun Jun destroyed Jia Qi’s painting in the art studio. The classroom camera had been broken for days, and the phone that captured evidence of Sun Jun’s crime belonged to a student.

 

This opportunity was very precious. Jia Qi was suspicious and arrogant by nature. It was said that the Sun family’s eldest had bought him a studio outside the school for painting, so why would he keep his competition painting at school?

 

The origin of that student’s video was also very strange.

 

People rarely took photos in the studio as it was somewhat sensitive, let alone videos.

 

This student said that he was originally on a video call with his girlfriend when a teacher suddenly called him out. He thought he had turned off the camera, but he didn’t, and it happened to record a series of evidence of Sun Jun’s crime.

 

Setting aside the series of coincidences like “happened to be called out by a teacher,” “happened to forget to turn off the camera,” “happened to place the phone directly opposite Jia Qi’s painting,” “happened to capture Sun Jun committing the crime”—there’s just one point to consider:

 

Would a young man in the heat of love really forget to bring his phone?

 

This incident was strange in every aspect. With insufficient evidence now, Gao Gusheng didn’t intend to take sides, only feeling that Sun Jun’s current state was very bad and he needed to go to the medical office.

 

At the same time, Gao Gusheng, having grown up beside Gao Shi, couldn’t understand how there could be family members like Sun Langgan.

 

Originally, Gao Gusheng didn’t want to get entangled with the Sun family, but it was really because Sun Jun’s current state was very bad. Gao Gusheng suspected that Sun Jun definitely had more problems than just a concussion. He had attempted to cut his wrists many times; his psychological state was probably problematic as well.

 

Unexpectedly, after taking just a few steps, he suddenly heard a strong gust of wind from behind. Years of sparring experience with his father made Gao Gusheng dodge to the side sharply. However, carrying someone on his back made him less agile than usual. He barely avoided the attack but had half of his mask torn off, and his ear stung fiercely.

 

In the moment Gao Gusheng turned around, time seemed to stand still. The bustling crowd seemed to be muted as if on silent mode.

 

Breathing stopped, blood stagnated, heartbeat ceased.

 

Even the wind and sunlight silently lost their color.

 

In this world, it seemed that only the young man before them was vibrant.

 

His brows slightly furrowed, his face showing a faint anger, adding more vibrancy.

 

The summer heat distorted the space, blurring the distant view.

 

The young man was an elf born from midsummer, born in sunlight, coming with the morning sun, departing with the sunset, forever sleeping in the sunlight.

 

It was a mirage caused by the hot weather.

 

It was the oasis seen by countless people who died in the desert just before their death.

 

In this silence, Gao Gusheng vaguely heard a voice coming from Jia Qi’s direction.

 

【SSS-level conquest target appeared, please begin conquest immediately! Please begin conquest immediately! Please begin conquest immediately!!】

 

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