The stick came down as thick and fast as raindrops

In the hospital, Gu Yue pulled down the rolled-up sleeve of her left arm, covering the shocking purple bruise on her forearm. She turned excitedly to Lin Yu beside her, her dark, bright eyes sparkling like little stars, her face full of worship and infatuation as she said:

"Brother Long, it really is the best following you!"

"It's super safe!"

"And you were so cool back then!"

"Not saying a word, just effortlessly beating them all up!"

Lin Yu lay on the hospital bed. Hearing Gu Yue chattering beside his ear, he carefully shifted his gaze, trying not to aggravate the injuries that hurt even without being touched and hurt even more when they were. He gave her a sidelong glance full of resentment.

Damn it!

Was he really not saying a word?

He could hardly bear it after the first hit.

But before he could even cry out in pain, several more blows rained down, nearly knocking the breath out of him. How could he have had the mind to shout then?

It was just fortunate that what they were holding were somewhat flexible rubber batons.

Although these batons hurt when they hit, they damage the skin and flesh but not the bones.

They weren't like solid metal telescopic batons, where one hit could make you unable to even lift your hand.

Gu Yue's voice was clear and pleasant, and her chattering beside him wasn't really annoying.

Lin Yu didn't pay attention to what she was saying. He moved his gaze, looking slightly downward, finally settling on Gu Yue's left arm, covered by the sleeve of her white sweatshirt.

Not long after the chaotic fight started last night, Lin Yu was already having trouble holding on.

At first, when one or two opponents charged, Lin Yu could still handle it. But when more came, he couldn't manage.

In the time it took Lin Yu to throw one punch, at least seven or eight batons would land on him.

Those batons fell like raindrops; he couldn't withstand them at all.

After barely taking down a few, Lin Yu was done for, about to be finished.

He had already mentally prepared his posture for taking a beating—a very standard one, curling up on the ground to protect his vulnerable internal organs and head, ready for the kicking that was sure to come.

But just then, Gu Yue appeared from somewhere.

She was holding a wine bottle she had secretly taken and hidden behind her back earlier, and she smashed it over the head of an inattentive security guard.

A nearby guard, seeing his buddy attacked, immediately swung his baton at Gu Yue without a second thought.

Perhaps because he was close to the one who was ambushed, that guard was furious. The swing he took was aimed completely at Gu Yue's head.

At the time, with too many people in between, Lin Yu didn't see the situation clearly over there. He only saw a security guard raise his baton and swing it down towards Gu Yue's head.

Gu Yue let out a soft cry of pain and then collapsed to the ground.

At that moment, Lin Yu felt as if the sky were falling.

No matter where, in which country, or what place, for the vast majority of men, a woman beside them being hit is something completely unacceptable.

Especially when that woman is a cute, beautiful girl you have a very good relationship with.

Watching Gu Yue fall, the fury in Lin Yu's heart reached a near-maddening breaking point within mere seconds.

The batons hitting his body suddenly didn't seem to hurt as much. Facing the swarming security guards, the anger in Lin Yu's heart made him disregard everything else, and he began to strike with lethal intent.

He clenched his fist, knuckles protruding, and seized every opportunity to strike fiercely at extremely vulnerable pressure points on the guards' bodies.

Almost every punch could take one down, ensuring they wouldn't be able to get up for hours, avoiding an endless war of attrition.

Lin Yu went berserk, completely ignoring the number of opponents or their weapons, focusing solely on throwing punches with deadly force.

Only when a thick beer bottle shattered on his head, blood mixing with beer flowing down, did Lin Yu finally snap back to his senses.

He grabbed a rubber baton that was swinging down towards his head, countered with a knife-hand strike to that guard's neck, and then wrested the baton away.

Facing the few remaining opponents, the rubber baton finally found its use.

From then on, Lin Yu entered his second state...

...

Thinking back now, she must have raised her arm and blocked that blow with her forearm.

Thinking of this, Lin Yu stopped straining to shift his gaze. He withdrew his line of sight, silently staring at the hospital room ceiling.

Hmm.

Not bad, all things considered.

At least she didn't suffer any serious injuries.

"Brother Long, are there any second-tier universities near S City?"

"Mmm~"

"I'm thinking of transferring to follow you."

Gu Yue was still chattering away beside him.

Hearing her say this, Lin Yu gave her a sidelong glance, wanting to sarcastically mock her, but the sound that came from his throat turned into a very hoarse voice.

"What else do you want to do?"

"Do you want to become the world's richest person?"

Gu Yue pouted, somewhat unhappy.

Before she could say anything more, the hospital room door opened. Tao Yaoyao walked in holding a CT film envelope and said softly to Lin Yu:

"The test results are out. There are no problems with your bones or organs."

As she spoke, she walked to the bedside, placed the CT envelope on the cabinet, then turned to Lin Yu with a polite, faint smile at the corner of her mouth, saying:

"You should recover after resting for a while."

After hearing Tao Yaoyao's words, Lin Yu instinctively wanted to nod to show he understood, but reason quickly stopped him.

Lin Yu was clear about his current physical condition.

His chest, back, shoulders, arms—almost no part of these areas was untouched, all covered in the blue-purple bruises left by the rubber batons.

Presumably, even the slightest movement would aggravate those injuries.

After some thought, to avoid subjecting himself to a second round of suffering, Lin Yu felt it was better to just stay still.

Damn it, it didn't hurt this much during the fight. Why does it hurt so badly now?

Moving his eyes, Lin Yu looked at Tao Yaoyao and spoke softly, his voice raspy with thanks:

"Thank you."

He really owed her a lot. First, she helped settle things with the police. Then, at the hospital, she was the one running around helping—registering, getting medicine, finding doctors...

Without her, dragging his battered body around, he didn't know how long he and Gu Yue would have been struggling at the hospital to get all this done.

But...

Looking at Tao Yaoyao, a question slowly rose in Lin Yu's heart...

...

Tao Yaoyao's peach-colored lips pressed together lightly, the corners of her mouth curving slightly upward, sketching a faint smile on her pure, beautiful face. She looked at Lin Yu and said in a soft, gentle voice:

"You're welcome. We're schoolmates. Helping each other is only right. Besides, I'm the vice president of the student union; I had to get involved in this matter no matter what."

After saying this, she turned her gaze to Gu Yue, who was sitting on a stool by the bed, smiling and nodding at her as a form of greeting.

Then Tao Yaoyao lowered her head, her eyes falling on Lin Yu again, and said her goodbyes:

"Since you have someone with you, I'll head out now. If you have any difficulties later, you can message me."

After the incident last autumn when Lin Yu was injured by someone undercutting him while playing basketball, Lin Yu and Tao Yaoyao had exchanged contact information.

You have to add her. She paid the registration fee and the medical bills upfront. How else are you going to transfer the money back to her if you don't get her contact info?

Do you expect to get off scot-free?

After saying this, Tao Yaoyao turned and walked away.

She reached the ward door in just a few steps. Just as her hand was about to grasp the door handle, Lin Yu finally managed to swallow hard and spoke up.

"Wait."

Tao Yaoyao's hand froze mid-reach. She paused, then turned around, looking curiously at Lin Yu on the bed.

Unable to lift his head to see her, Lin Yu could only stare at the ceiling in front of him and asked,

"How did you know I was at the SH Bar?"