Chapter 269 - 266: Murder-for-Hire? The School Can’t Protect You
Chapter 269: Chapter 266: Murder-for-Hire? The School Can’t Protect You
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—
A knock on the door.
Still fast asleep, Guo Hao groggily opened his eyes.
"Who is it?"
He sat up in bed, still feeling dazed.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—
The knocking didn’t stop. Guo Hao sobered up a little before finally getting out of bed.
CLICK—
The moment the door swung open,
before he could even see who was outside, a large foot kicked its way in.
THUD! Guo Hao slammed onto the floor.
Then, several members of the Left Guard rushed in.
They pinned Guo Hao to the ground on the spot.
"Who are you people? What do you want?"
At that, Guo Hao was wide awake.
His face was filled with terror as he stared at the men who had burst in.
Once he got a clear look at their uniforms, a dreadful realization dawned on Guo Hao.
The mountain-like Shan Kui strode into the room.
He first glanced around the room,
then squatted down and smiled at the pinned Guo Hao.
"What’s your name?"
"Guo Hao..."
"Then we’ve got the right guy. You’re the one we’re looking for."
"Do you know what you’ve done?"
Shan Kui asked with a cold smirk.
Guo Hao fell silent. He was already feeling guilty, and upon seeing the character for "Town" embroidered on Shan Kui’s uniform, he knew exactly why these people were here.
Seeing his silence, Shan Kui continued, "We’re from the Left Guard of the Town Martial Department. I’m giving you five minutes to think. Confess all of your accomplices!"
"If you don’t talk after five minutes, you’ll have to face the consequences!"
With those words, Shan Kui got up and walked toward Room 2.
When he reached the door, Wu Jie—in the same groggy state as Guo Hao—happened to open it from the inside.
Shan Kui immediately sent another vicious kick flying.
Wu Jie let out a pained cry and fell backward onto the floor.
Shan Kui strode into the room again. "Town Martial Department business. What’s your name?"
"Wu... Wu Jie..."
"Good. Do you know why we’re here for you?"
"I... I know..."
Wu Jie was scared witless. He had lived in the New District his entire life.
He’d always led a privileged life. How could he have ever witnessed a scene like this?
Shan Kui’s presence alone was enough to intimidate him.
Besides, all of them had a guilty conscience, so naturally, they’d confess to anything they were asked.
"Oh? Then tell me. Why?"
Shan Kui walked over to the bed, sat down, crossed his legs, and looked down at Wu Jie.
At that moment, Wu Jie’s mind was a mess.
His heart was pounding relentlessly. They had grown up in the New District.
They knew exactly what it meant to have the Town Martial Department show up at their door.
The Town Martial Department didn’t care about evidence. Once they found you,
even if you were truly innocent, there were only two paths ahead.
You were either exiled to Jail City or executed on the spot.
Even being students wouldn’t grant them an exception.
The Town Martial Department’s heavy-handed methods terrified Wu Jie so much that he couldn’t stop trembling.
He could barely even string a complete sentence together.
"I... We... we hired someone to... to teach that Old District student a lesson..."
"Oh? Just teach him a lesson?"
A cold glint flashed in Shan Kui’s eyes, and a murderous aura began to fill the air.
If Old He hadn’t specifically ordered him to bring them back to the Town Martial Department,
Shan Kui’s personality was such that he probably wouldn’t have even bothered with questions and just killed them on the spot.
Wu Jie’s heart skipped a beat, and he quickly continued, "Yes, a lesson! We really just wanted to teach him a lesson..."
"Hah!"
Shan Kui couldn’t help but laugh.
"It stopped being ’just a lesson’ the moment you went to find Han Dong, didn’t it?"
"Don’t tell me you don’t know what kind of person Han Dong is. He’s a depraved criminal who specializes in robbing and extorting students in Jail City. You sought him out, so how could it be as simple as just ’teaching a lesson’?"
"Alright, I can’t be bothered to question you anymore. You will receive the punishment you deserve for your crimes.
Tell me, besides you and Guo Hao, who else was involved?"
"There’s... there’s Qiantu from 401, and... and Liu Qiang from 307, and... and Wang Chenggang from 405..."
After getting the other three names,
Shan Kui nodded. He then had his men haul Wu Jie up from the floor.
However, just as they were about to leave,
Shan Kui frowned and glanced back at the floor.
Right where Wu Jie had been lying, a yellow puddle was starkly visible, reeking of urine.
Seeing this, Shan Kui’s face darkened. "Fucking pathetic. And you have the nerve to call yourselves martial artists?"
Shan Kui shot Wu Jie a disgusted look and headed next door.
When he saw Guo Hao, he got the exact same answers.
Qiantu from 401, Liu Qiang from 307, and Wang Chenggang from 405.
With their names, the rest was easy.
Shan Kui personally led his men, going from dorm to dorm.
Fortunately, it all went smoothly. The remaining three
were all asleep in their rooms, just like Guo Hao and the others.
As a result, in less than half an hour,
all five of them were apprehended.
News of the incident quickly spread throughout Dormitory Zone 1.
When Shan Kui and the Left Guard emerged from the dormitory building with the five students in custody,
a crowd of students had already gathered outside to watch.
Just as they were about to get into their vehicle, Principal Tang Baichuan walked over.
After all, something this major had happened at the university.
Five students were involved in a murder-for-hire plot; it was impossible for him, as the principal, not to show up.
"Principal Tang, what are you..."
The moment he saw Tang Baichuan, Shan Kui’s expression soured.
’Is he about to go into overprotective mode?’
’Looks like he can’t just stand by and do nothing, can he?’
Tang Baichuan walked closer, ignoring Shan Kui’s stare.
Instead, he looked at Guo Hao and the others, his gaze cold as he said, "Guo Hao? Wu Jie? Wang Chenggang? You have all disappointed me immensely!"
"To think you would stoop to hiring an assassin?"
"As of today, I declare you all expelled. From this moment on, you are no longer students of Xingwu University..."
As soon as he said this,
Guo Hao and the others looked at Tang Baichuan in shock.
Expelled? To them, it felt like the sky was falling.
Once expelled, they would lose the university’s protection.
Without that protection, the Town Martial Department would have no reservations about whatever punishment they decided to mete out.
This was tantamount to being completely abandoned...
"Principal Tang, I... we didn’t hire an assassin!"
"Right, we just wanted to teach that outcast from the Old District a lesson!"
"Principal Tang, please give us another chance! We’ll never do it again!"
"Principal Tang..."
Hearing their pleas, Tang Baichuan’s expression grew even darker.
"Old District? Outcast?"
"How high and mighty of you, to even differentiate between the New and Old Districts."
"Go back three generations in your families. Which one of you doesn’t have ancestors from the Old District?"
"Do you all think being born in the New District makes you superior?"
"Even the first Martial God himself came from the Old District... yet here you are, targeting students from there?"
"You fail to realize that if it weren’t for being born in the New District, with its superior living conditions and cultivation resources, you might not even measure up to those martial arts candidates from the Old District!"
After Tang Baichuan finished speaking, he turned back to Shan Kui.
"When you get back, please tell Old He that this is my wish."
"As for Guo Hao, Wu Jie, Wang Chenggang, and the others, they must be punished severely. Show them no mercy!"
Hearing this, Shan Kui stared at Tang Baichuan, dumbfounded.
His brain short-circuited for a moment.
After a long pause, he snapped out of it and nodded hastily. "Yes, I will definitely relay Principal Tang’s message!"
"Go on, get them out of here. I don’t want to see them for another second!"
Tang Baichuan said with a wave of his hand.
Shan Kui nodded. "Get them in the vehicle!"
"Yes, sir!"
The Left Guard members quickly shoved the wailing and begging Guo Hao and the others into the vehicle.
Shan Kui bid farewell to Tang Baichuan, then got in the vehicle as well, which promptly drove away from the university.
And just after they had left,
Tang Baichuan glanced back at the secretary behind him.
"Notify the school staff. Tell them there will be a meeting in one hour."
Hearing this, the secretary nodded quickly. "Yes, Principal Tang!"
Tang Baichuan glanced toward Dormitory Building Three.
At that moment, no one knew what he was thinking.
It wasn’t until he and his secretary left that the students dared to breathe a collective sigh of relief.
A buzz of discussion erupted.
...
[Current Realm: Tier Three, Star Five]
[Qi and Blood: 29.45%]
「Noon」
Lin Yi emerged from the domain of his Star River Qi Transformation Technique.
A morning’s rest had fully restored his energy.
However, as for what had happened with Guo Hao and the others,
Lin Yi was still completely in the dark.
He first checked his realm. Just as he had guessed,
he had already broken through to Tier Three.
What he hadn’t expected was how much it had overflowed.
At this rate, he could probably break through to Star Six in less than a month.
He was even a little surprised by his own cultivation speed.
This was especially true after last night’s battles in Jail City.
Lin Yi discovered that cultivating through combat led to much faster improvement.
Strictly speaking, before Star Three, cultivation mainly relied on one’s foundation and talent.
You accumulated Qi and Blood bit by bit to break through realms.
There were no better shortcuts unless you used medicinal aids like Blood Replenishing Soup or Qi Replenishing Pills.
But the side effects were also very obvious. Long-term use could easily cause irreversible damage to the body.
This was why Lin Yi had never chosen to use them for his cultivation.
After arriving in the New District, the powerful composite potions with no side effects
had opened up a new world for Lin Yi.
They were expensive for a reason, the main one being the complete lack of side effects.
This point alone made them vastly superior to the inferior drugs from the Old District.
But after reaching Star Four, Lin Yi found that he couldn’t rely solely on potions and meditation to rapidly advance his realm.
In fact, his realm had seen a significant boost each time he returned from Jail City.
From this, Lin Yi deduced that advancing one’s realm required an accumulation of real combat experience to achieve rapid breakthroughs.
In other words, both cultivation and combat were the best ways to improve his realm.
And when the two were combined, the effect was even more pronounced.
This was the main reason why Lin Yi’s realm was able to advance so quickly.
One reason was his Star River Qi Transformation Technique domain.
Inside it, he could rely on the Power of the Star River to purify his Qi and Blood, converting it into a purer form of Origin Qi.
This would then fill the major acupoints in his body, enabling realm advancement.
Then, by relying on combat to make his Qi and Blood boil, he could achieve further breakthroughs...
’It must be like this. Once your realm reaches a certain level,’
’relying purely on meditation for improvement becomes extremely slow!’
’You need a balance of work and rest—or in this case, training and combat—to achieve a qualitative breakthrough!’
Lin Yi looked at his realm.
He considered the cultivation method he had deduced from his recent experiences.
Of course, this was all just his own speculation and not necessarily accurate.
In any case, he had made a breakthrough, and reaching Star Six was now a tangible hope.
For Lin Yi, this was naturally a joyous occasion.
He glanced at Xiaoqi, who was still sound asleep, curled up in the crook of his leg.
Lin Yi smiled, picked the little creature up, and placed it beside him.
Just as he was about to head to the bathroom,
there was a knock on the door.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—