Chapter 1: Ate a Candy  

Dark clouds covered the entire sky and pressed down towards the ground. Vague thunder noises resonated in the sky as lightning flashed.

It felt like lightning was ready to dash through the clouds and break the sky into pieces.

“Damn it!” Hao Ren* looked at the bad weather as he sighed; he knew that a storm was approaching. He breathed in the moist air as he paced himself towards the corner store that was about 300 meters away.

If the superstore in the dorm area wasn’t in renovation, if he didn’t use three consecutive scissors in the rock, paper, scissors match, he won’t be out here in his pajamas and slippers. He was laying on his bed reading a book, but his roommates wanted to play cards.

Boom! A loud thunder sounded, and Hao Ren started to run as he tried to avoid the storm.

“AHAH…” As Hao Ren was about to speed up, he heard the scream of a girl above him.

He looked up confused. He was shocked by what he saw. A girl was falling from the sky!

That wasn’t all. That girl was about to land on his head!

“Damn…” Hao Ren took a step back and lowered his center of gravity. He then reached out his hands and formed a perfect horse stance*.

Bam!

The girl smashed into Hao Ren’s chest, and that force made Hao Ren lower his center of gravity by another 10 centimeters. The force was so strong that he almost collapsed.

This girl’s head also smashed onto Hao Ren’s lips, and that impact almost made Hao Ren lose a few teeth.

“Gulp…” Something dropped out of the girl’s mouth, and it smoothly went down Hao Ren’s throat since his mouth was still wide open due to the initial surprise.

Sweet, smooth, and small… Before Hao Ren could react, this candy-like object was already in his stomach.

However, Hao Ren didn’t focus on that. As he was freighted and his hands were numb, he looked down at the girl in his arms.

Long black lashes, short pony-tail, youthful figure, and the blue school uniform with the “LingZhao Middle School” badge … To be honest, the girl was pretty…

“Ah…” After two seconds, it seemed like she finally realized what had happened. She screamed as she opened her black eyes. She looked at Hao Ren and suddenly tried to stand back up on her own.

After getting struck by the weight of the girl, Hao Ren felt like his legs were numb, He didn’t know where this girl fell from. After all, there weren’t any tall buildings around.

After the girl stood up, she touched her body and then rubbed her lips that swelled a little. After she saw the red mark on Hao Ren’s lips, she blushed and hit Hao Ren’s neck.

“Hey… I saved you…” Before Hao Ren could finish, the girl already ran off.

“Girls now days are really tough… She seems fine after falling from such a height.” Hao Ren rubbed his neck as he watched the girl running away. “It’s not too bad. She didn’t hit me hard. Also, she didn’t hit my face.”

He then rubbed his lips. He couldn’t remember the warm feeling of kissing that he had heard about.

He was already a second-year university student, but he still didn’t have a girlfriend. “I’m such a loser…” Hao Ren thought as he patted his thighs and stood up. He looked up at the sky and suddenly found that the dark clouds were all gone and even the sun had come out.

“Damn this weather; I thought it was going to storm.” Hao Ren murmured to himself; he didn’t want to get too hung up on what just happened. He quickly got to the corner store and bought two decks of cards. After that, he promptly returned to his dorm that was located in the south end of the campus.

“What took you so long? Quick, we are all waiting!” After seeing Hao Ren, his three roommates shouted. (Universities in China has 4 to 8 people typically living in the same dorm room on bunker beds.)

Hao Ren threw the two decks of cards onto the table and said, “You guys can play, I’m not in the mood.”

“What is up? You are not happy?” Zhao Jiayi, who was wearing a white t-shirt, asked, “Didn’t we agree that whoever lost would go and buy cards?” He was the self-named dorm captain.

“I’m just a little dizzy…” Hao Ren said as he crawled up to the upper berth that belonged to him.

“Hey! We agreed on playing cards today!” Zhao Jiayi wasn’t too happy.

“Are you ok?” Zhou Liren, another roommate, asked as he was worried about Hao Ren.

“Not sure, I’m just not feeling too well.” Hao Ren rubbed his chest as he responded. “Did my organs get injured from the impact when I saved that girl?” He thought.

“Should we… take you to the infirmary?” Zhao Jiayi also got serious as he saw Hao Ren’s facial expression.

“It’s fine. I fell by accident on my way to the corner store.” Hao Ren pointed at his chin that swelled a little. It was hit by that girl’s head.

“Then get some rest. Since it is not going to rain, we are going to go to the internet cafe,” Cao Ronghua, the third roommate, said.

“Yeah, you guys go ahead.” Hao Ren waved at them. He wasn’t in the spirit.

Zhao Jiayi was still a little worried. “Just call me if you need anything,” he said.

“Ok.” Hao Ren took off his slippers and got in his comfortable, cozy little bed.

The four of them were all single. Except for gaming and playing cards, they didn’t have any other passions. Hao Ren sighed as he fell asleep; he was exhausted for some reason.

When he woke up, it was already 6 in the afternoon. There was a box of takeout food on the table; it was the dinner that the three of his roommates got for him.

Through the doors, Hao Ren heard the noise of card playing in the dorm room across from his. His roommates were afraid of being loud, so they went next door.

“Real bros…” Hao Ren scratched his head as he got down from his upper berth to get the food.

When he reached out his hand, he was shocked! His body froze in place. In the dark room, he saw a circle of green skin on his right wrist!

Hao Ren felt like his heart stopped beating for five seconds. He opened the curtain to shed more light on his arm.

A green fish scale-like tattoo covered his right arm from wrist to shoulder!

Hao Ren thought he was hallucinating. He rubbed his eyes, and it was still there. He then tried to smear this green matter off of his body, but it didn’t work as well.

Chill… Hao Ren felt a chill down his spine. He quickly undressed and stood in front of the full-length mirror. He wanted to see if there was anything like this on other parts of his body.

Creak… The door opened, and the three roommates walked in.

“Damn! Are you a pervert?” Zhao Jiayi shouted as he saw Hao Ren who was continuously turning around in front of the mirror.

“No… no…” Hao Ren quickly picked up his clothes and covered his body. “I feel a pain in my body, and I was just checking if any other parts of my body are injured,” he explained.

“If you are not feeling well, we should take you to the infirmary,” Zhao Jiayi frowned as he said earnestly.

“It’s ok. Nothing serious.” Hao Ren didn’t want to tell them about the weird thing happening to his skin. After all, he didn’t know what was going on and how to deal with it.

“I think you have a desire to run naked. How about we go to the public bathhouse tonight?” Zhou Liren came up and said to Hao Ren.

“I think it is you who has a desire to run naked!” Hao Ren said back to Zhou Liren as he got dressed and covered up his arm with the sleeve.

“I’m going to head out for a bit. You guys can chill in here now.”

“Not going to eat?” Zhao Jiayi pointed at the takeout and said, “I bought it just for you!”

“I’m not hungry yet!” Hao Ren said as he rushed out.

“Damn, is this kid in a relationship?” Cao Ronghua asked after seeing Hao Ren’s irregular behavior.

“Him? He is not as charismatic as me, he is not as fit as Zhou Liren, and he is not as handsome as you. Do you think he has a chance? If he can find a girlfriend in three years, I will give you 1,000 Yuan***!” Zhao Jiayi said firmly.

* Hao Ren also means a good person in Chinese.

** Horse stance, A.K.A Mabu pose is a martial art pose where the practitioner stays in a half squat position for a long time to train the legs.

*** Yuan is the Chinese currency.