The sun was scorching outside.

Within Astoria Institute, the leaves of the rows of plane trees on both sides of the road were drooping. Only the noise of the cicadas was constantly rattling, adding a touch of irritability to this muggy weather in July.

In the fake mountain pool in front of the teaching building, the surface of the water seemed to be steaming with heat, even the water lilies on the water surface curled up from the scorching heat. A frog, meanwhile, leaped into the water with a plop and vanished from sight.

Ring... Ring...

A piercing ring of the bell rang out, and the entire campus was immediately filled with bustling voices.

The hallway was packed with students going for their lunch. At a relatively tender age, today's college students all wanted to catch the eye of their peers, so they dressed stylishly, with some of their female peers even donning cosmetics.

Amidst the colorful and elegantly attired students, there was a tall but incredibly thin boy wandering through the throng.

The boy, named Francis Hawk, had long hair hanging over his eyebrows, and a pair of black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. On his evidently undernourished face was a stoic expression, and his head was slightly lowered. Together with his worn-out clothes, anyone could tell at first glance that he was extremely self-conscious.

Walking ahead were three fashionable girls. The one in the middle was wearing hot pants and looked incredibly sexy. With Francis's head lowered, his gaze naturally fell on the girl's long legs, and an odd sensation surged through him instantly.

Panicking, Francis quickly turned his head away, avoiding the scene that easily led his mind astray.

Suddenly, Francis felt a hard shove from behind. He let out a gasp as he stumbled and toppled forward, grasping the girl in front of him out of reflex.

Ah!!!

Everyone in the corridor was startled as a high-pitched scream resounded. Francis nearly passed out from the sharpness of this scream, which seemed to be piercing the roof.

"You pervert, filthy fella! Get your disgusting hands off me!" Francis was grabbing this girl, who was wearing shorts, and she was named Savannah Ackre. She cried out in rage as soon as she realised Francis, whom she had always detested, was clinging to her.

If Francis hadn't grabbed Savannah, he would have fallen flat on his face. It wasn't until he heard Savannah cry that he realised he appeared to have done something inappropriate. He quickly withdrew his hands, but his cheeks flushed at the delicate yet incredibly bouncing touch. Without thinking, he instinctively pulled out his hand.

"Francis, you jerk! Just look at that ugly face of yours, completely like a beggar! How dare you touch me? I swear I'll make you pay!" Savannah was quite an open-minded girl, but being touched by Francis had inflicted tremendous humiliation upon her, causing her to lash her fury at him without giving up.

"I...I apologise. I didn't do it on purpose, someone pushed me," Francis tried to defend himself with his head lowered. His voice barely a murmur as he apologised, face flushed a deep crimson.

"Someone pushed you? Cut it out! If you want to take advantage of me, just say it. I've seen so many of your kind, but I didn't expect a weakling like you dare to make a move on me. Just wait and see!" Savannah walked off in a huff after threatening Francis, her two minions following suit.

"Francis, what's going on? What did you do to piss her so much?" Nearby came the voice of Francis's classmate, Matthew Moore.

"Mat, someone pushed me." Francis sighed, speaking helplessly.

"Which idiot was it? Francis, you need to be aware. Savannah is Tony Barrack's girlfriend. She's gonna get Tony on you for sure. Come have lunch with me later." Matthew was the only person in the class who was closer to Francis. Since Matthew lived nearby, he had helped Francis on numerous occasions, for which Francis was very thankful.

"It's okay. There's no way to avoid it. I didn't do it on purpose either. He's not gonna do anything to me, is he?" Francis then added, "You better hurry home and eat."

"Francis, it was Raymund who pushed you. If you report him to the teacher, I can be your witness," the class monitor, Melissa Ball, spoke up, with an expressionless face.

"Never mind. Maybe he didn't mean it," Francis spoke meekly, unable to meet Melissa's finely sculpted, pretty face.

"You're too cowardly for your own good," Melissa muttered in irritation and walked away. She looked down on Francis, not because he was poor, but because he was too faint-hearted.

"I don't know what to say at this point either. Well, gotta go. Francis, be careful," Matthew needed to head home for lunch. After reminding Francis, he took his bike home.

In fact, Francis didn't want to be characterised as a coward. He had been an abandoned child since he was born, raised by a village bachelor named Jacob Hawk. Jacob had worked laboriously to fund Francis's education until his death from a car accident.

Jacob's distant nephew, Joseph Hawk, exploited the incident to get 200,000 dollars from the driver, promising to fund Francis's education till graduation. Being a crafty and indolent individual as he was, Joseph treated Francis like a beggar, giving him little enough food to eat after grudgingly covering his first year's tuition. As a result, Francis, even at his 1.78 m height, weighed only around 100 pounds. Due to malnutrition and weak health, he always lagged in his studies despite his best efforts, causing classmates to make fun of him behind his back.

Feeling his head spinning from hunger, Francis was about to reach the ground floor when someone suddenly grabbed his collar.

In an instant, Francis felt himself being hoisted in front of someone.

Six students, all dressed in outrageous fashion, were standing at the building entrance. One of them, with a chubby face and leaning against a tree, was Savannah's boyfriend, Tony. Savannah was clinging onto Tony's arm, looking disgustedly at Francis as if he were a foul fly.

"Bloody hell, you look like shit and you dare take advantage of my girl? Drag him into the woods." Tony majored in sports and he was the son of Dawson Barrack, the village head. Dawson was known for his power and influence across both legal and illegal circles within the district. Being a ruthless man, he had done countless bad things, especially during the demolition of the village. Growing up under his father's influence, Tony naturally became a bully at school. Tony assembled a group of his lackeys by abusing his father's influence, making it impossible for the teachers to stop him. What he didn't expect today was that the girl he just picked up was taken advantage of by a homeless-looking guy. To demonstrate his dominance, he had to, of course, teach Francis a lesson.

"What...what are you doing? It wasn't intentional," Francis retorted, looking visibly terrified. He knew the dreadful reputation of the pine forest located behind the school, which had been a graveyard since ancient times. It was a place that would make one feel chilly even entering there in a summertime like this. Francis couldn't help but wonder why Tony intended to take him there.

But Tony just shrugged him off and gave his henchman the command to seize Francis. Francis was soon hauled into the eerie pine forest behind the school.