The Key Was Gunmanship

"Fine, don't fight. Then treat the whole class to milk tea for a week!"

"How could milk tea alone be enough? He should bring us breakfast for a week too! That guy is shameless!"

The students were filled with righteous indignation.

The homeroom teacher was smiling so broadly his back teeth were about to fall out. With a grand wave of his hand, he was uncharacteristically generous. "All right, Meng Chao has recovered his health. Teacher Wang is happier than any of you. When you go to the cafeteria for dinner tonight, Teacher Wang will pay out of his own pocket and treat the whole class to milk tea!"

"Long live Teacher Wang!"

The whole class erupted in cheers.

Of course, Zuo Haoran was the exception.

He looked dazed as he stared at Meng Chao, grinding his teeth hard, no one knowing what he was thinking.

At last, Meng Chao turned his gradually sharpening gaze upon the class monitor.

"Thank you, Teacher Wang, but I'll pay for the milk tea myself. The most expensive kind—add pearls, mesona, anything you like."

Meng Chao had earned over a million just last night, and he carried the smugness of sudden wealth. After a pause, he swept his gaze around the room. "There's just one thing next. I need Teacher Wang and my classmates to uphold justice for me."

Without hurry or panic, he walked over to the soul-stricken Zuo Haoran.

"Class Monitor, I'm back."

He spoke softly at first. Then his eyes flew wide in fury, and he pointed at Zuo Haoran's nose as he roared, "Zuo! Time and again, you've humiliated me. I kept swallowing my anger for the sake of our classmates' friendship, but you just wouldn't stop! Today, I've endured all I can endure. Let's settle this once and for all!"

The room burst into an uproar.

The homeroom teacher hurried forward. "What happened? Don't be impulsive!"

"Don't worry, Teacher Wang. I won't do anything reckless. I just need to report something truly excessive. He—the class monitor—he insulted me!" Meng Chao twisted his face, planted his hands on his hips, stomped his foot, and looked utterly aggrieved.

The students did not know whether to laugh or cry. He had made it sound so serious that they thought something major had happened. It was only a few insults—what did that amount to?

The homeroom teacher was also stunned for a moment. So what? Someone insulted you, and you ran to complain to the teacher? Was this senior year or kindergarten?

"Could there be some misunderstanding? Surely it isn't that serious?" The homeroom teacher wanted to turn a major matter into a minor one.

"Meng Chao, I was merely encouraging you to improve yourself. At most, my tone was a little harsh, but that was for your own good. Your mental resilience is lacking." Zuo Haoran regained his composure and sneered.

Without saying a word, Meng Chao took out... a voice recorder from his pocket.

Click. The instant he pressed the switch, Zuo Haoran's voice rang out loud and clear from the recorder:

"You piece of trash.

"You'll always be garbage.

"I'll beat you with one hand tied behind my back, trash!"

Meng Chao held the recorder beneath the class monitor's nose and shook it.

Zuo Haoran stood dumbfounded.

The students were all stunned stupid as well.

Who could have imagined that the normally righteous and dignified class monitor could be so sharp-tongued and vicious?

For a moment, everyone looked at Zuo Haoran with utter contempt.

Thinking back to what had just happened, they became even more convinced that he had reported Chu Feixiong and nearly caused the study group to be disbanded.

Gu Fang, the class beauty, covered her mouth. She had never expected that the male god she secretly admired would be this sort of person.

The white-horse prince in the girl's heart had turned into a toad.

The homeroom teacher was dumbstruck too. "Meng Chao, this voice recorder of yours..."

"Y-you set me up!"

Zuo Haoran reacted quickly, his face flushing red as he retorted, "Who carries a voice recorder around for no reason? Don't believe him, everyone! Things aren't the way you heard them!"

"That's right. Under normal circumstances, no one carries a voice recorder. But after you insulted me again and again, after you cursed me bloody like this ten or twenty times, how could I not learn to be more careful?" Meng Chao's face was calm, but his voice trembled.

Looking closely, the girls noticed glistening moisture trembling at the corners of his eyes.

Holding back hot tears, he said, "Teacher Wang, classmates, now that things have come to this, I can finally say it. Ever since that monthly exam in our first year, when I beat Zuo Haoran until his whole face blossomed, he has borne a grudge against me. When I was injured and fell from grace in our second year, he found his chance. He began secretly insulting me all the time, and what he said was ten times uglier than what I recorded today!"

Everyone listened in stunned silence.

Sparring injuries between classmates were as common as daily meals. Although Zuo Haoran had been beaten rather badly by Meng Chao during that first-year incident, there was no need to hold a grudge over every tiny slight and refuse to let him go for two or three years, was there?

Zuo Haoran was so furious he nearly spat blood.

Today, he had indeed harbored ill intentions. He had wanted to provoke Meng Chao into attacking with trash talk, then seize the chance to teach him a lesson.

But over the past two years, sure, he had mocked Meng Chao a few times—but when had he ever cursed him, let alone said things ten times worse than today?

"You're spitting blood from your mouth! Classmates, he's spitting blood from his mouth!"

Zuo Haoran desperately wanted to cry injustice, but Meng Chao's voice beat him to it.

"Why did I become a 'guinea pig' and find Modified Ripple Force online, a technique with such enormous risks, to cultivate? Because I truly couldn't stand the class monitor's insults anymore! I—I am a hot-blooded man with iron bones. Even if I died, I had to stand back up and stand before the class monitor openly and honorably!"

Meng Chao threw back his head and howled. "And why did I secretly cultivate Modified Ripple Force without daring to tell Teacher Wang or any of you? Because I was afraid—afraid that I would be useless, afraid that the technique would go wrong again and I would fall into an even deeper abyss. Then the class monitor would mock me even more—I'd always be garbage!"

"So that was it!" The students suddenly understood.

Indeed, if Meng Chao had publicly declared that he would rally again but failed, who knew how the class monitor would have ridiculed him?

They were all young. Who didn't care about saving face?

It was understandable that he had hidden his strength.

"That's too much!"

Big Fatty Chu Feixiong, Little Fatty Wang Tao, and many of the boys in class clenched their fists and glared furiously at Zuo Haoran.

The girls whispered among themselves, shaking their heads and sighing. They truly had not expected the class monitor to be "gold and jade on the outside, rotten stuffing within."

"Fortunately, I worked hard enough, and I was lucky enough too. With Modified Ripple Force, I stood back up again. Zuo Haoran, shouldn't we settle the score between us properly now?" Meng Chao wiped away his tears and clenched the recorder until it crackled.

The homeroom teacher looked conflicted. "Meng Chao..."

"Don't worry, Teacher Wang. I definitely won't make things difficult for you."

Meng Chao raised his voice. "I know this doesn't count as ironclad evidence. After all, the class monitor never named me in the recording, and his uncle is the dean of discipline. This recording alone can't possibly win justice for me. And I disdain using such a method to seek justice!"

Crack!

With a sudden squeeze, he crushed the voice recorder to pieces.

"Ah?"

The students cried out. That was crucial evidence—he had destroyed it just like that?

Whoosh!

Meng Chao flicked his hand, sending the recorder fragments flying straight at Zuo Haoran's face.

Zuo Haoran dodged. He was not injured, but the fragments still left him in a sorry state.

"Zuo Haoran, do you dare accept my challenge?" Meng Chao shouted.

Everyone understood. In the recording just now, Zuo Haoran had indeed provoked Meng Chao into issuing a challenge.

Now, Meng Chao was giving him exactly what he wanted.

Moreover, in all the major high schools of Dragon City, the strongest student in the class served as class monitor, enjoying the greatest cultivation resources while also being obligated to accept challenges from classmates.

Zuo Haoran gritted his teeth. "You want to be class monitor?"

Meng Chao laughed loudly. "Whether I become class monitor or not doesn't matter. If anyone else in this class became class monitor, I would accept it wholeheartedly. Only you are unworthy!"

"Meng Chao..."

The homeroom teacher gave a bitter smile, never expecting things to develop this way.

Meng Chao said, "Teacher Wang, don't worry. I said already that I'm refined and scholarly. I wouldn't use such simple, crude methods as beating someone up. But next week is the first trial of the Undergraduate Three Trials. How about Zuo Haoran and I settle this with our overall scores? That doesn't violate school rules, does it?"

This method of challenge was fair and reasonable, leaving the homeroom teacher with nothing to say.

Everyone's gaze fell upon Zuo Haoran.

Zuo Haoran had no choice. He could only nod heavily. "Fine. I accept your challenge."

"Then we'll settle everything next week." Meng Chao smiled, blew the recorder debris from his palm, and swaggered back into the midst of his classmates.

Seeing that the two had ultimately not clashed in public, the homeroom teacher let out a slight breath of relief.

"Everyone, study on your own for now. Class Monitor, come with me!" The homeroom teacher shot Zuo Haoran a fierce glare. In the end, he did not scold him in public and instead called him outside.

Zuo Haoran's face was dark and sinister. Before going out to be reprimanded, he suddenly walked over and said in a low voice, "Meng Chao, don't say I'm bullying you. You have one week. Practice your gunmanship properly!"

After he left, the students all crowded around.

"Meng Chao, I never knew you'd suffered so much. The class monitor is too sinister."

"Why didn't you say anything sooner? Sigh, even if you had, it would have been useless. Without evidence, who would believe that the righteous class monitor could be like this?"

"But you were too impulsive. You should have taken the evidence to the dean of discipline, or to the Principal. It would have had some effect at least. How could you let your head heat up and challenge the class monitor?"

"Exactly. Did you hear what he said at the end? The key is gunmanship!"

Meng Chao blinked.

He glanced at his gunmanship in the corner of his vision.

"Basic Gunmanship," Perfect

"Meng Chao, you're too foolish. Even if you have Modified Ripple Force and can catch up to Zuo Haoran in strength and speed, what use is that? The Undergraduate First Trial includes three events: Limit Fist Strength, the hundred-meter sprint, and basic shooting. Of those, gunmanship is where scores are easiest to pull apart!"

Little Fatty Wang Tao shook his head and sighed, feeling that Meng Chao's sacrifice was not worth it.

These days, the greatest gap between poor children and rich second-generation kids was gunmanship.

Sharpshooters were fed on bullets, yet Dragon City was an isolated army in another realm, surrounded by mist, with all kinds of resources in extreme shortage. Guns and ammunition were especially expensive.

Ordinary families were issued limited firearms and ammunition only when the mist descended and they needed to fight monsters.

Parents kept tight control, and homes were small. It was impossible to let children practice shooting casually.

Schools did have shooting courses, but they were mostly theoretical instruction. Live-fire practice came only once or twice a week, with a pitiful three to five bullets each time. What could anyone possibly train with that?

The rich were different. At many firearms clubs, as long as they were willing to spend money, not only would they have endless bullets to use, firearms experts who had reached the extraordinary level would personally guide them and teach them all manner of secrets.

If ordinary children could still grit their teeth and compete with rich children in strength and speed—

With gunmanship, there was not even hope of competing.