The start-of-term exam.
Who on earth came up with this thing?
Lin Yu was currently in his crucial senior year of high school, so whether there was an exam or not, he’d have to grit his teeth and study like crazy over winter break anyway.
Otherwise...
If this had been three or four years ago, he would’ve been jumping up and down cursing this exam.
What the hell?!
School just started—we haven’t even begun learning anything yet!
What are you testing us on?!
Huh?
Last semester’s material?
But we already took the finals for that!
What’s the point of testing it again?!
Absolute madness!
He turned in his paper.
Left the classroom.
Parched from the stuffy heat of the classroom’s radiator, Lin Yu headed to the convenience store downstairs to treat himself.
Hmm...
Should he indulge his beloved wife, Coca-Cola, today?
Or pay a visit to his long-neglected concubine, Fanta?
Ehh...
After some thought, Lin Yu decided his beverage harem was far too limited. (￣︶￣)
He ought to expand his selection of royal consorts.
Maybe the store had some new sugary drinks he hadn’t tried yet—definitely worth a taste!
He wandered lazily through the store, pacing back and forth in front of the drink aisle, unable to settle on a choice.
With so many new options, he was spoiled for choice.
Just as he hesitated, the hushed but animated conversation of a nearby group caught his ear.
Their voices dripped with shock and awe, instantly igniting Lin Yu’s gossip-loving heart.
Ears perked, he tuned in to their discussion...
“No kidding.”
“Not just them—Li Mingjun from Class 2 and Cui Ming from Class 5 got beaten up too. Heard some got it so bad their legs were smashed!”
The bleached-blonde guy kept his voice low, but his tone was thick with disbelief.
“‘Some got it so bad’? What’s that supposed to mean?”
The redhead cut in sharply:
“Their legs were smashed. Every single one of them.”
“First, they get the crap beaten out of them. Then, without fail—right leg broken.”
“You think this is some kind of joke?”
“Like they’d just rough you up and call it a day?”
The orange-haired guy beside them nodded solemnly, backing up the redhead’s words.
“Black Blood Gang ain’t the same as before.”
“Now they run the entire underworld in H City—whatever they say goes.”
“Other gangs? Squeezed out till there’s barely any room left.”
“At this rate...”
“Won’t be long before they’re the only gang left in the city.”
“No kidding,” the redhead chimed in again.
“No idea where their new boss came from, but damn—that guy’s ruthless.”
“Unreal how fast they rose.”
“Just last year, I heard Black Blood Gang was on the verge of collapsing!”
He clicked his tongue, shaking his head.
“Who’d have thought Zhao Dahu had such a badass older brother?”
“If he had someone like that backing him, how come nobody ever heard a peep about it before?”
“Dude just took two and a half years of bullying for nothing?”
The orange-haired guy shrugged.
“Who knows?”
Then, with a smirk, he joked darkly:
“Maybe Zhao Dahu’s some kind of novel protagonist.”
“Spends two and a half years getting stomped on, then—bam! His brother, the Dragon King, returns. One command, and a hundred thousand gangsters break the legs of everyone who ever messed with him.”
The joke should’ve been funny, but neither the redhead nor the blonde laughed.
The redhead just looked uneasy, muttering with a hint of relief:
“Thank god we weren’t in the same class as Zhao Dahu. Barely crossed paths, no grudges.”
“Otherwise, who knows if we’d even be standing here right now?”
The blonde, who’d first brought up the topic, frowned skeptically.
“You’re telling me every single person who ever bullied Zhao Dahu got jumped?”
“No way.”
“Nobody got away?”
“‘Got away’?” The redhead scoffed before sighing, his voice laced with dread.
“Let me put it this way.”
“You know Wang Xianghong, right?”
The blonde nodded.
Of course he knew him.
They’d hung out before—decent guy, if a bit of a loudmouth. Loved showing off, but nothing too bad. (At least, by gangster standards.)
Satisfied, the redhead went on:
“He had connections with some higher-ups. Knew Black Blood Gang was coming for him.”
“So he bolts overnight—skips town, drops out of school.”
“Guess where he is now?”
The blonde shook his head, eyes locked on the redhead, breath unconsciously held.
Leaning in, the redhead dropped his voice to a whisper.
“Hospital in Province A. Right leg shattered. Still hasn’t been discharged.”
The blonde’s jaw dropped.
“Holy sh—”
After a stunned pause, he stared at the redhead, disbelief creeping into his voice.
“Black Blood Gang did that?”
“Who else?” the redhead shot back.
“Same injury every time—right leg, compound fracture. They’re making sure these guys limp for life.”
The evidence was damning, but the blonde still struggled to accept it.
“But—Province A’s on the other side of the country!”
“Black Blood Gang’s reach is that long?”
“They’d chase a guy across the whole map just to cripple him?”
“You think it’s a coincidence?” the redhead countered.
The blonde fell silent, face darkening.
The redhead pressed on:
“And get this—Wang Xianghong never even targeted Zhao Dahu specifically.”
“You know how he is.”
“Just loves acting tough—kicking people around, slapping ‘em, like some kinda psycho.”
“Dude’s probably shoved or hit half his class at some point.”
“Well...”
“Guess he picked the wrong guy to mess with.”
“...”
The trio’s conversation wasn’t over, but Lin Yu had heard enough.
What kind of psychopathic nonsense was this?
Bullying people for fun, treating them like props to boost your own ego—and then brushing it off like it’s no big deal?
Like it’s just some casual greeting?
Why didn’t Zhao the Snake just drown these guys?
And these three idiots...
Might as well bundle them up and give the coroner a puzzle to solve.
Done eavesdropping, Lin Yu turned back toward the drink aisle.
As he walked, he couldn’t help but marvel at how unpredictable life could be.
Zhao Dahu—once the biggest pushover—had somehow bloomed into the Black Blood Gang’s second-in-command.
Looking back, it all happened in the blink of an eye.
Too fast.
lities. One day, Qi Yuan was buying groceries when he unfortunately came face-to-face with a monster. Just when he thought he was going to die on the spot, he suddenly heard the monster's thoughts... "This aura, he's definitely not an ordinary master!" "So terrifying, so terrifying." "A fight with my back against the wall, I can't take it anymore." Qi Yuan: Ah, no one told me that my awakened ability isn't telepathy, but rather the stronger my enemies imagine me to be, the stronger I truly become. PS: Zhou Hai in the first chapter is not the protagonist.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
