Chapter 32
“If you don’t want us to beat you up, then treat us to milk tea. You have to treat us to one week’s worth of milk tea!”
“Milk tea isn’t enough! You have to treat us to one week’s worth of breakfast! You’re too shameless, you bastard!”
Meng Chao’s classmates were indignant.
But the homeroom teacher was so happy that he was flashing a blinding, megawatt smile. He waved his hand and spoke heartily, which was something rare for him. “Alright. Meng Chao recovered, and I’m even happier than any of you when it comes to this. When you go to eat at the canteen tonight, I’ll treat all of you to milk tea out of my own pocket!”
“Mr. Wang, you’re amazing!”
The entire class cheered.
Of course, that was excluding Zuo Haoran.
He appeared to be in a daze. He stared at Meng Chao and gnashed his teeth. Only God knew what was on his mind.
1
Meng Chao’s gaze turned sharp, and he finally turned it on the class rep.
“Thank you, Mr. Wang, but I’ll treat my classmates to milk tea. It’ll be the most expensive one, and all of you can add pearls, grass jelly, or whatever you want in there.”
Meng Chao had earned more than one million last night, so he was feeling smug as was usual for those who had become rich overnight. He then stopped talking and looked around himself. “But Mr. Wang, I’d like you and all my classmates to help me uphold justice for something.”
He calmly went in front of Zuo Haoran, who seemed to be alarmed.
“Class Rep, I’m back,” he said softly. He then glared at Zuo Haoran and pointed at his nose before he started yelling at him. “Zuo Haoran, you’ve humiliated me multiple times, but I’ve always tolerated it because we were classmates. Yet I didn’t expect that you’d keep pestering me! I can’t stand it anymore today! Let’s settle this now!”
When he said these words, the entire class burst into a ruckus.
The teacher quickly came forward. “What’s going on? Don’t be rash!”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Wang. I won’t go overboard. I just want to tell you that something really bad happened to me. The class rep yelled at me!” Meng Chao put on a fierce face, placed his hands on his hips, stomped his feet, and acted as if he was incredibly wronged.
His classmates did not know whether they should laugh or cry. Meng Chao had made it sound so serious, so they thought that something bad had happened. But it turned out that the class rep had just scolded him a few times. That was nothing.
The homeroom teacher was also stunned. ‘So? You’re reporting that someone rebuked you? Are you in the third year of high school or kindergarten?’
“Is there some kind of misunderstanding? There’s no need for that, is there?” The homeroom teacher wanted to minimize the conflict.
“Meng Chao, I was just trying to motivate you, and at most, my tone was a little stern. It was for your own good. I didn’t expect that you’d be so mentally weak.”
Zuo Haoran had already regained his composure, and he scoffed.
Without another word, Meng Chao brought out… a recording pen from his pocket.
2
Click.
He pressed the switch, and Zuo Haoran’s clear voice instantly came out of the recording pen.
“Trash.”
“You’ll forever be trash!
“I’ll only attack you with one hand, trash!”
Meng Chao moved the recording pen under the class rep’s nose and waved it.
Zuo Haoran was stunned.
His classmates were also dumbfounded when they heard it.
They did not expect that their class rep, who was usually righteous and dignified, would be so mean.
Everyone’s gazes shifted to Zuo Haoran and filled up with disdain.
When they linked this knowledge to what had happened earlier, they became even more certain that he was the one who reported Chu Feixiong and nearly disbanded the study group.
The class princess, Gu Fang, covered her mouth. She did not expect that the boy she had a crush on was a person like this.
The Prince Charming in her heart instantly turned into a frog.
The homeroom teacher was shocked. “Meng Chao, that recording pen…”
“Y-You’re framing me!” Zuo Haoran reacted very quickly and retorted with a red face. “Who would bring along a recording pen on a daily basis?! Don’t believe him! Things aren’t as they appear to be!”
“That’s right. Usually, no one would bring a recording pen around, but after you humiliated me multiple times and cursed me like this around twenty times, did you actually think I wouldn’t learn my lesson?” Meng Chao’s face was calm, but there was a quiver in his voice.
When the girls looked at him carefully, they even found crystalline sparks trembling at the corners of his eyes.
7
Meng Chao held back his tears and said, “Mr. Wang, my dear classmates, I’m finally able to say this. Ever since I beat up Zuo Haoran in that monthly test in the first year of high school, he has hated me. When I was injured in the second year of high school and became weaker, he always searched for chances and cursed me behind everyone’s back. On some days, his words were even worse than what I recorded today!”
Everyone was shocked.
Getting injured during a sparring session between classmates was something normal. Even though Zuo Haoran was beaten up pretty badly at that time, there was no need for him to seek revenge for something as small as this and refuse to let it go even after two years, right?
1
Zuo Haoran was so angry that he nearly fainted.
He did indeed have malicious thoughts when he wanted to provoke Meng Chao into attacking him by trash talking him. He had wanted to use the chance to teach Meng Chao a lesson.
But while he had mocked Meng Chao over the past two years, when did he ever humiliate Meng Chao and used words that were even worse than today’s?
2
“You’re just throwing dirt at me! My dear classmates, he’s trying to put a stain on my name!”
Zuo Haoran wanted to cry out that he was innocent, but Meng Chao spoke faster than him.
“Why did I want to become a lab rat and search for the Demonically Modified Ripple Force online to train, even though it carried a high risk? Because I couldn’t stand the class rep humiliating me anymore! I-I’m a hotblooded man with a backbone! Even if I die, I will stand up and walk in front of the class rep in a dignified manner!”
Meng Chao threw his head back and roared, “But why did I not dare to tell the teacher and everyone else that I was practicing the Demonically Modified Ripple Force in secret? Because I was scared that I would become useless and that something will go wrong with the method again! I was afraid that I’d drop into an even deeper abyss and would be laughed at by the class rep! That I’d forever be trash!”
4
His classmates came to an understanding.
Indeed, if Meng Chao had mentioned that he wanted to get back to his feet but failed, the class rep would mock him even more.
Everyone was young, and all of them valued their dignity.
It was completely understandable that he hid his true strength now.
“This is too much!”
Fatty Sr. Chu Feixiong, Fatty Jr. Wang Tao, and many of the boys in class clenched their fists tightly and glared at Zuo Haoran.
The girls whispered to each other, shook their heads, and sighed. They simply did not expect that the class rep was rotten to the core despite having a good appearance.
“Fortunately, I worked hard and I was lucky. I managed to stand up once again with Demonically Modified Ripple Force. Zuo Haoran, we should settle the score between us now, what do you think?”
Meng Chao wiped away his tears, and the recording pen let out cracking sounds in his hands.
The homeroom teacher looked conflicted. “Meng Chao…”
Meng Chao said loudly, “Don’t worry, Mr. Wang. I definitely won’t make things hard for you. I know that this can’t be considered real proof, because the class rep didn’t mention any names in the recording, and his uncle is also the teaching director. I won’t be able to obtain justice with just this recording, and I regard seeking justice with this sort of method in disdain as well!”
Crack!
With force, he crushed the recording pen into pieces.
“Huh?”
His classmates cried out in surprise. The pen was key evidence, but it was destroyed just like that?
Whoosh!
Meng Chao flung his arm, and the pieces of the recording pen flew at Zuo Haoran’s face.
Zuo Haoran tried to avoid it. He was not injured, but he was reduced to a pathetic state when the pieces still landed on him.
“Zuo Haoran, do you dare to accept my challenge?” Meng Chao asked loudly.
Everyone understood clearly that Zuo Haoran had been provoking Meng Chao in the recording just now so that he would challenge him.
Yet now, Meng Chao was acting according to those wishes.
Besides, there was a rule in all the high schools in Dragon City that the strongest student in a class was to be the class rep so that he or she could enjoy the largest amount of cultivation resources. At the same time, he or she was duty bound to accept the classmates’ challenges.
Zuo Haoran gritted his teeth. “You want to be the class rep?”
Meng Chao laughed. “I don’t care whether or not I become the class rep. I’ll accept whoever in class becomes the class rep willingly, but you’re the only one who doesn’t fit that title!”
“Meng Chao…” The homeroom teacher smiled bitterly. He did not expect that things would progress in this manner.
“Mr. Wang, don’t worry. I already told you that I’m a gentleman. I won’t do something as crude as hitting someone, but it’ll be the first of the three college tests next week. Why don’t I compete against Zuo Haoran with our overall results? This won’t be against school rules, right?”
This challenge method was perfectly reasonable, and the homeroom teacher had nothing to say about it.
Everyone cast their gazes on Zuo Haoran.
Zuo Haoran had no other choice. He could only nod solemnly. “Alright, I accept your challenge.”
“Then, we’ll settle everything next week.”
Meng Chao smiled and blew off the pieces of the recording pen from his palm. He then sashayed his way back to his classmates.
When the homeroom teacher saw that the two people did not get into a conflict in public, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Everyone, please train on your own for the time being. Class Rep, follow me!” The homeroom teacher glared at Zuo Haoran, but he did not rebuke him in public. Instead, he summoned him outside.
Zuo Haoran’s face was dark, but before he went out to be scolded, he suddenly walked over and hissed, “Meng Chao, don’t say that I’m bullying you with this, but there’s still one week left. You should practice your gun technique properly!”
After he left, Meng Chao’s classmates surrounded him.
“Meng Chao, I didn’t expect that you would have gone through so much suffering in the past. The class rep is too crafty.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier? Ah… but even if you said it, it’s useless. If you don’t have proof, who would believe that the righteous and dignified class rep was actually a person like this?”
“But you were too rash just now. You should have brought the proof to the teaching director or the principal. That would have been a little more useful. Why were you so impulsive as to challenge the class rep?”
“That’s right. Did you hear his last sentence? The key is gun techniques!”
Meng Chao blinked.
He looked at the corner of his field of vision. Stated over there was the status of his gun technique.
[Basic Gun Technique: Perfect Level]
4
“Meng Chao, you’re an idiot. Even if you have Demonically Modified Ripple Force so your strength and speed are on par with Zuo Haoran, it’s useless. The first college test includes three tests: your maximum punching force, one hundred meter dash, and basic shooting. The one that will widen the gap between scores the easiest is gun technique, you know?!”
Fatty Jr. Wang Tao shook his head and sighed. He found that it was extremely unfair for Meng Chao.
In this era, the biggest difference between children of the poor and children of the rich was in their gun technique.
All the ace sharpshooters gained their skills by training nonstop with their guns. However, Dragon City was a lone army in the Other World. They were surrounded by fog, and they lacked every single resource. Sp ammunition was especially expensive.
2
Normal families would only get a limited amount of ammunition whenever they needed to fight monsters when the fog descended.
The parents were very strict with the use of ammunition. Their houses were small as well, so it was impossible for them to let the children practice their shooting skills readily.
While there were shooting courses in school, the majority of the classes were filled with explanations of theories. They only had practical classes once or twice every week, and they could only fire a pitiful number of three to five bullets each class. There was no way they could get any sort of skill from that pitiful amount of practice.
But it was different for rich people. Many of the gun clubs could provide an endless supply of bullets as long as the members were willing to spend, so the members could become elites who were at the level of superhumans. They might even gain personal guidance, and the coaches would teach them all sorts of secret techniques.
If normal children could still grit their teeth and compete with the rich children when it came to speed and strength, they did not have even a single shred of hope to compete against the rich when it came to shooting.