Cats, Pigs, and Death

[Complete, finished 2.24, V] The first three chapters are the full text of a novel written by characters in the story and have nothing to do with the main story. The main story begins in Chapter 4. Full-text access costs 1.37 yuan.

Chen Yao wrote an outline for a novel.

In it, after enduring abuse at home and at school for years, a boy brutally kills his aunt and his little brother when his game console is smashed.

He says, "I didn't mean to kill anyone. I just wanted to win once."

When the novel was published, hardly anyone paid attention.

Three days later, a real boy went missing.

And he was a reader of Chen Yao's novel.

The public was in an uproar.

Some said she had written a crime that encouraged empathy. Others called her a twisted, potential abuser.

Some even whispered, "How do you know so much?"

Are you the author, or a witness?

But she didn't defend herself to anyone.

Because she remembered that in her own childhood, when she had also "wanted to win once," she had been thrown into darkness, unable to utter a single complete sentence.

She didn't make up the story.

It had always been there. She was simply the first person brave enough to write it down.

She thought she was writing fiction. Only later did she understand:

Every word she wrote was testimony to a child who could no longer go on living.

Reader's Guide:

1. This work combines a literary short story with an online novella. Chapters 1–3 are the literary short story; Chapter 4 to the ending is the online novella.

2. Chapters 1–3 are Wu Qianyu's novel. She posts a topic seeking source material on the Call app community forum while writing, prompting Chen Yao to share her experiences and leading to the crisis that follows. To be honest, though, neither Wu Qianyu nor Chen Yao caused the crisis, because everyone contributed to it.

3. Xiao Jiang, who runs away from home after imitating the novel, is fine and safe. The uproar caused by Chen Yao's novel is also resolved well in the end. Though there are some complications, the leaders of the various departments withstand the pressure and coordinate a response. The departments develop a plan to pilot a new approach in schools, and there are people on social media using short videos to speak and think constructively. All in all, it's a pretty good ending, so rest assured and read to the end!

Thanks for reading.

Theme: Exploring schools