The raucous shouting and cursing woke the occupants of the entire dorm building. People started complaining in the dorm group chat.

"Who was yelling just now? Did they see a ghost?"

"I was sleeping so soundly. Who in their right mind would scream so loudly in the middle of the night?"

"It seems to be from 501. Seriously, why are they still up at this hour?"

I had just been about to get up and turn on the light when a pair of large hands suddenly grabbed my neck.

Keith's furious roar rang in my ear. "Zachary, where are the batteries for the AC remote? Why are you so petty? Why did you hide the batteries? I'm about to melt from the heat! Do you have any idea?"

I frowned in discomfort and forcefully broke free from his grip. "What? You hid the remote in the first place. It's only fair for me to hide the batteries. What's with your double standards, Keith?"

The moment I said that, Keith got even angrier. He started violently shaking the railing of my bed in an attempt to force me into handing over the batteries.

"Hurry up and give me the batteries! I need to turn on the AC! I'm the Holy Son of Frost! Can you bear the responsibility if I overheat and melt?"

I steadied the violently shaking bed and shoved him away.

I shot back coolly, "Stop making a scene. I let it slide before because I didn't want to argue with you. This dorm belongs to all of us. Why should I put up with your unreasonable demands? Holy Son of Frost? Only able to stay in temperatures below 50°F?

"Then, why didn't you melt during the mandatory physical training under the sun? If you're some kind of deity or want to become one, go back to the heavens! None of us are obliged to tolerate you!"

After saying that, I lay back down.

Right at that moment, the dorm supervisor, Eloise Mercer, arrived and warned us not to make any more noise.

I thought that at this point, Keith would stop causing trouble. But unexpectedly, he called Yara to come over in the middle of the night.

I had just fallen asleep when a pair of hands shook me awake. When I finally forced my eyes open, I saw Yara standing by my bed with an angry expression.

"Zachary, what is wrong with you? Didn't I say during the class meeting that you should get along well with your roommates? Why are you bullying Keith?"

I didn't expect Yara to come to the male dormitory in the middle of the night. Flustered, I quickly pulled the blanket over myself.

Keith glanced at me disdainfully. "Tch! What are you being shy about? Ms. Ziegler's a woman. She's the one inconvenienced and at a disadvantage by looking at you."

Yara snorted and demanded, "Zachary, you bullied your dormmate. Get down here and apologize to Keith right now!"

I knew the two of them were close, but I never expected Yara to be so openly biased. I froze in place, trying to process everything.

Seeing that I didn't move, Keith reached out to drag me down himself. "It's all your fault. My bones are hurting. Hurry up and write me a statement promising you'll never turn off the AC again!"

He yanked me hard, and I nearly fell off the bed.

I quickly grabbed the railing and said coldly, "Ms. Ziegler, I didn't bully him at all. He set the AC to 50°F. It's so cold that we can't even sleep."

Yara frowned and argued, "Can't sleep? You were sleeping just fine a moment ago! There are three people in this dorm. Why are you the only one making a fuss? You guys are always so selfish. If you're cold, just cover yourself with a blanket."

I glanced at Liam, who was across from me. He didn't dare talk back to Yara, so he just stood there silently.

I couldn't help getting anxious as I defended myself, saying, "It's September, and he set the AC to 50°F. That's not something a normal person would do, okay?"

As soon as I said that, Keith shot me a vicious glare. "I've said before that I'm not an ordinary person. I'm the Holy Son of Frost from the heavens. If the room gets warm, I'll melt."

I stared at Yara. "You don't actually believe him, do you?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Everyone has different body constitutions. You're not him. How would you know the suffering of someone with a special condition? The dorm isn't your home. You need to respect your roommate's habits. I don't wish to see a repeat of this again.

"Ms. Mercer has already reported your argument to the school authorities. Turn in an essay of self-reflection tomorrow."

After saying that, she didn't even look at me again. She exchanged a glance with Keith and turned to leave.

Keith pushed me aside smugly and climbed onto my bed. He found the batteries and set the temperature of the air conditioner back to 50°F. He even deliberately adjusted the vents downward so the cold air blew right at my head.

"I told you not to mess with me. Don't forget to hand in your self-reflection essay!" Keith gloated.

Unable to stand it anymore, I stayed up all night writing the essay. When I was done, I sent it directly to the email of Vincent Hutton, who was our principal.

Early the next morning, Yara summoned me to her office angrily. "You've got some nerve! How dare you tattle?"

I gave her a small smile. "Tattle? Didn't you ask me to write a self-reflection essay and submit it?"

Suppressing her anger, she said, "I told you to submit it to me. Who told you to send it to Mr. Hutton?"

I snorted in response. "You said the school wanted me to submit a self-reflection essay. Wouldn't sending it directly to Mr. Hutton save you the trouble? It seems he doesn't think I should've been made to write one."

Yara's face turned livid with anger. "Well played, Zachary. Very well. If that's the case, you'd better watch out."

At first, I didn't understand what she meant. But when I returned to the dorm and saw my bedding scattered all over the floor, I suddenly realized the meaning behind her words.

I took a photo of my dirty blanket on the floor and sent it to the dorm group chat.

I wrote, "Ms. Mercer, someone threw my bedding to the floor."

In less than two minutes, Eloise came upstairs. "What's going on here? Who messed up their roommate's bed like this? Haven't you read the student handbook?"

Keith hadn't expected me to get Eloise involved. He froze for a moment before putting on a pitiful expression.

He explained, "Ms. Mercer, it was Zachary who started it. He turned off the AC in the middle of the night yesterday and almost made me melt from the heat. Today, he even went to complain to Mr. Hutton, which led to Ms. Ziegler getting admonished. I was just upholding justice!"

Eloise frowned hard and cut him off, saying, "What justice are you talking about? How can you have the AC set so low? Aren't you afraid of getting sick? It's good to turn it off for a while. Also, you were the one shouting in the middle of the night. Why was he made to write a self-reflection essay instead?"

Seeing that Eloise wasn't taking his side, Keith got anxious.

He argued, "I have a special constitution. I can only stay in environments below 50°F all year round, or I'll melt from the heat. Ms. Ziegler knows that too. Zachary is out to get me. He's trying to harm me by subjecting me to heat. Why are you siding with him?"

The dumbfounded Eloise stared at him helplessly. "Are you here to study or to fool around? Why do you sound so weird? Cut the nonsense! You dirtying your dormmate's bedding is a fact. Hurry up and clean it for him.

"From now on, don't set the AC to such a low temperature. Learn to conserve energy, understand?"

Under Eloise's stern gaze, Keith had no choice but to clean up my bed reluctantly.

I thought he would at least behave himself for a few days. But after I went out to grab a meal, I came back to find my bedding soaked. And with the cold air from the AC blowing on it, it had turned stiff and icy.

Keith looked at me smugly. "Ms. Mercer told me to clean it for you, so I did. No need to thank me."

I suppressed the urge to punch him. Left with no choice, I washed my bedding all over again.

But after that, my bedding would mysteriously get wet every so often. Even when Eloise came, it didn't help. Keith would politely say he was just helping me wash it and had simply forgotten to dry it.

He didn't stop at that. In his live stream, he even hinted that Eloise and I had something going on. He accused us of colluding to make his life hard.

Keith ranted, "I just need to use the AC because of my condition. What did I do wrong? Why are they bullying me? And who knows what he offered to the dorm supervisor to make her side with him?"

His fans couldn't stand seeing their darling being wronged. So, they started insulting both Eloise and me without even getting the facts straight. Some went so far as to dig up Eloise's photo to file complaints at our college's official website.

"This is the person making things hard for the students. She even refused to let them use the AC. That's outrageous!"

"She's just a dorm supervisor. What right does she have to make one student wash another student's bedding? Isn't this bullying?"

"People like her don't deserve to work at an educational institution. Kick her out!"

Feeling pressured, the school had no choice but to transfer Eloise to logistics. The new dorm supervisor, Fiona Perry, didn't dare to get involved in our squabble anymore.

I had run out of options. So, I went to Yara to request switching to another dorm room, but there was no response from her even after some time had passed.

It wasn't until I saw Keith using my application form as a placemat for his takeout that I realized Yara had never intended to help me.

Keith glanced at me smugly. "You brought this onto yourself, Zachary. After you found out that you can't beat me, you want to switch to another room? There's no way I'm letting you off so easily. This is college and not your home. Enjoy your miserable life here."

After saying that, he pretended his hand slipped and poured the remaining soup from his takeout all over the floor by my feet.

He jeered, "Oops, sorry! That wasn't on purpose. Why don't you go ask the new dorm supervisor to help you? But with what happened before, I doubt they'll dare to get involved in your business this time.

I had completely run out of ideas. I was about to post a plea for help on the college confessions page when I noticed a new post.

"My roommates are super wasteful. They use running water to wash their hair and even shower every day. I only shower once a week. With just the water needed to dampen a single face towel, I can clean myself from head to toe.

"What's worse is that they want to kick me out now because I made an itemized bill to share all expenses evenly. They're so shameless! They just want to take advantage of me. I'm currently looking for a great dorm to take me in."

The attached itemized bill listed the rules that his roommates had to follow in detail.

It stated clearly, "1. Each person is limited to 34 ounces of water per day for washing their face and showering. Any extra must be paid at two dollars per ounce to the other roommates.

"2. Anyone who needs to use the AC must pay one dollar per minute for electricity and 50 cents per minute as cold-resistance fees for making others consume more energy to resist the cold.

"3. Lights can only be turned on when everyone is in the dorm. Otherwise, the user must pay one dollar per minute for electricity.

"4. Personal electrical appliances cannot be used freely. Otherwise, the user must pay one dollar per minute for electricity and 50 cents per minute as usage fees."

My eyes lit up instantly.

He was the one I needed!