Chapter 26: Attacked
It was another ordinary Saturday.
These days, Li Nuo spent every weekend going to band practice with An Ran'er.
However, before every rehearsal, he always had to stop by her house first.
His sky-blue long hair was tied into playful twin tails, with M-shaped bangs in front.
Every time he looked at himself in the mirror, Li Nuo felt overwhelmed with embarrassment.
An Ran'er, on the other hand, loved this look.
Whenever they walked around after he dressed up as a girl, she liked holding onto his arm.
According to her, this was how girls act with each other.
Although Li Nuo didn't fully understand it, he didn't dislike the treatment.
Still, he knew deep down that An Ran'er was actually treating him as someone else.
When they arrived at the rehearsal room, the other two members were already there.
After greeting each other, the four of them adjusted their instruments and began practicing.
After running through the songs three times, they finally stopped.
"It's still not right, Ran'er. It feels like something is missing..."
Ye Feilu lay on her drum set and sighed in frustration.
"Yuxin thinks something is missing too."
Although Li Nuo had already become familiar with The Girls' songs, they still encountered all kinds of problems during rehearsals.
"I know what's missing."
After thinking for a moment, An Ran'er turned to Li Nuo.
"Have you ever played guitar before?"
"Guitar? I've played a little before... but I'm not very good at it."
There was a reason she asked.
The songs had originally been written by the band's former leader, Yu Siying.
Besides being the lead singer, Yu Siying had also been the band's rhythm guitarist.
Because of that, most of their songs contained not only the lead guitar melody but also a secondary guitar part.
"Then let's do this."
An Ran'er immediately made a decision.
"Once you learn guitar, we'll practice together again."
"Huh? But..."
"No buts."
She cut him off.
"What's missing right now is a rhythm guitarist. I'll teach you myself. It's decided."
And so, the entire day became a guitar lesson.
An Ran'er constantly taught, while Li Nuo constantly practiced.
Ye Feilu and Wu Yuxin found it amusing to watch Li Nuo get scolded over and over again.
They happily sat nearby and watched the drama unfold.
After a while, however, even they got bored and left first.
Meanwhile, except for meals and bathroom breaks, An Ran'er spent the whole day teaching.
Li Nuo spent the whole day playing. By the time night arrived, his hands were so sore that he could barely lift them.
The fingers he used to play guitar hurt terribly.
Finally, he weakly said,
"Classmate An... can we stop now? Let's continue next time..."
Seeing how exhausted he looked, An Ran'er knew there was no point rushing things.
"Fine. We'll stop here for today."
Only then did Li Nuo breathe a sigh of relief. If he had been forced to continue any longer, he felt like he might have had a mental breakdown.
He had never imagined that joining a band would be this troublesome.
Because it was already late, and he was worried about missing the last bus home, Li Nuo didn't go back to An Ran'er's house to change into his normal clothes.
Today, An Ran'er had dressed him in blue overalls and a gray hoodie underneath.
It was a fairly neutral outfit. Li Nuo didn't mind clothes like this.
As long as it wasn't a skirt, he could accept it.
Although it was only mid-November, the weather had already become quite cold.
The recent rain made it feel even colder.
After getting off the bus, a gust of wind blew past.
Li Nuo immediately shivered. He hugged his arms tightly and tucked his neck into his shoulders as he walked home.
Although it was only nine o'clock at night, there were very few people around because he lived in the suburbs.
Only the occasional vehicle passed by.
Since the area was still under development, most residents were construction workers or freelancers.
It was also common to see homeless people wandering around the streets.
Normally, Li Nuo would already be home by this hour. He wasn't the type to go out at night unless absolutely necessary.
Although streetlights lined the road, many of them had been broken for years and never repaired.
As he walked home, Li Nuo suddenly felt as though someone was following him. He turned around several times but saw no one.
Eventually, he assumed he was just imagining things.
Still, he quickened his pace.
Beneath a broken streetlight, a ragged homeless man stared at the girl walking alone ahead of him.
A creepy grin spread across his face as he let out strange chuckles. The bus stop was less than ten minutes away from Li Nuo's home.
When he reached the point where only three minutes remained, he finally relaxed and slowed down.
But just as he turned a corner, a hand suddenly covered his mouth from behind.
Before he could react, he was dragged into the bushes beside the road.
Pinned to the ground beneath the attacker, Li Nuo's eyes widened in terror.
Using the faint moonlight, he finally saw the man's face.
His hair was greasy and messy. His face was covered with an unkempt beard. His clothes were tattered and filthy.
It was clearly one of the homeless men who wandered around the area.
The man lowered his head and stared at Li Nuo like a wild animal. His gaze was full of violent desire.
Li Nuo immediately understood.
The man had mistaken him for a girl. And now he intended to assault him.
Although his mouth was covered, his hands kept struggling.
He desperately tried to push the man away.
But his strength was far too weak.
The man wouldn't budge.
Refusing to give up, Li Nuo suddenly clawed at the man's stomach with all his strength.
The homeless man cried out in pain and instinctively released his mouth.
Li Nuo immediately tried to scream for help. But before he could, the man slapped him hard across the face twice.
His pale cheeks instantly became swollen and red.
"Don't scream!"
The homeless man grabbed Li Nuo by the neck.
"If you scream, I'll strangle you first!"
His voice was full of menace.
Li Nuo was terrified. His eyes were filled with fear. Tears streamed endlessly down his face.
"T-This big brother..."
His voice trembled.
"P-Please let me go... I'm not a girl..."
"Not a girl?"
The homeless man sneered.
"Stop trying to fool me."
Then he continued threatening him. Even after hearing Li Nuo's explanation, the man ignored him completely.
Using a knife, he cut through part of Li Nuo's clothing and forced his upper clothes down toward his waist.
At the same time, he roughly felt around Li Nuo's chest.
Then he cursed.
"Damn it. Why are you so flat?"
Humiliated and terrified, Li Nuo covered his eyes with one arm and sobbed.
"I... I t-told you..."
His voice broke between tears.
"I'm... a boy..."
The homeless man still didn't believe him. He reached lower to check for himself.
A moment later, his expression changed.
"Seriously?"
He spat on the ground.
"So you really are a guy."
Then he cursed again.
"What bad luck."
However, after staring at Li Nuo for a while, an ugly grin slowly appeared on his face.
"Whatever."
He licked his lips.
"I've been holding myself back for a long time."
His smile became even more disturbing.
"Even if you're a guy... someone who looks like you will do just fine."
Hearing those words, Li Nuo completely lost hope. His eyes became empty.
He stared blankly at the night sky while tears continued flowing.
Just as the homeless man was about to continue—
A figure suddenly rushed over.
Bang!
The homeless man was kicked away and sent flying. The person who had attacked him was a young man wearing sportswear.
His body was covered in sweat, as though he had just finished exercising.
The homeless man struggled to his feet, clearly unwilling to give up.
The young man calmly took out his phone.
"I already called the police."
His voice was cold.
"If you don't want to get arrested, you'd better get lost right now."
The homeless man looked back and forth between the two of them.
After hesitating for several seconds, he finally chose to run away.
Only after confirming that the man had disappeared did the young man turn back toward Li Nuo. With a reassuring smile, he said,
"It's okay now."
Li Nuo remained lying on the ground.
His clothes were in disarray. His eyes were unfocused.
Even the wig on his head had been pulled halfway off during the struggle.
His lips trembled as he repeated the same words over and over.
"Don't touch me... Don't touch me..."