Just an Accident

"..." The Discipline Office director was left speechless.

Devil Yan glanced at Principal Sun, made a round of the area, and quickly retrieved eight cameras.

Seeing that all the cameras were in Devil Yan's hands, Meng Chao added, "It's true that Zuo Haoran was injured, but I don't understand it. I only just recovered, and my limbs were still weak and powerless. How could one punch possibly have hurt him that badly? Teacher Yan, Teacher Wang, and Director Ma, please take a look in front of all these students and clear up my confusion. Otherwise—"

"Otherwise what? Would the school really wrong an innocent person?" The Discipline Office director forced himself to remain firm. "Teacher Yan, turn them on!"

Each miniature camera came with its own ultra-high-definition monitoring screen.

Devil Yan handed the eight cameras to the Discipline Office director and several homeroom teachers from the Senior Year Group. Wang Longjun also snatched one.

Chu Feixiong and the other students hurriedly crowded behind Wang Longjun, craning their necks to watch.

The fight had been very brief, only two or three minutes. In the blink of an eye, Meng Chao had first been beaten until his face blossomed like peach flowers. Then he lunged at Zuo Haoran, and immediately afterward, Zuo Haoran went flying while vomiting blood.

The ordinary students could not make heads or tails of it. Several homeroom teachers looked thoughtful, the Discipline Office director's face gradually turned pale, and Devil Yan's pupils suddenly contracted.

He gathered several cameras and replayed the final scene over and over from different angles, slowing it down three to five times.

Then he cursed viciously and strode toward Zuo Haoran on the stretcher.

"Speak. What move were you planning to use against Meng Chao just now?" Devil Yan demanded, his brows raised in fury.

Zuo Haoran's face was deathly pale, and for a long while, he could not say a word.

"Speak now! Even if you don't tell me, I can find out. But if we delay treatment because we can't figure out your injuries, that could affect you for the rest of your life!" Devil Yan thundered.

The Iron-Blooded Instructor's imposing presence was not something the severely injured Zuo Haoran could withstand. He shuddered and blurted out instinctively, "It... it was the Heart Crushing Hammer."

The moment those words came out, before the students could react, several homeroom teachers gasped sharply and jumped to their feet.

"You know the Heart Crushing Hammer?"

"This was just a sparring match, yet you used the Heart Crushing Hammer? What were you trying to do?"

"Oh, Zuo Haoran, you... you were far too impulsive!"

They were both shocked and exasperated.

The Discipline Office director covered his face, looking as though the tide had turned beyond recovery.

"Teacher Yan, what exactly happened? How was Zuo Haoran injured? We all want to know." Speaking for all the students of Class 6, Chu Feixiong stepped forward and shouted.

Devil Yan glanced at Principal Sun. Seeing that the principal gave no indication otherwise, and faced with the students' surging anger, he could only tell the truth. "During the match, Zuo Haoran used an extremely... formidable killing technique, the Heart Crushing Hammer. But he had not mastered it yet, and there was an obstruction in the release of his force. Its explosive power had all concentrated in his own spine. Just as that force erupted, Meng Chao happened to punch him in the chest, detonating the power deep in his spine and causing it to burst."

"The Heart Crushing Hammer known as 'A String of Whips, a Bone-Piercing Nail'?"

At his explanation, some well-informed students finally remembered and cried out, "That's a tyrannical killing technique specifically used against thick-skinned monsters! Its force pierces straight through the internal organs—it can practically blow the heart apart! Zuo Haoran actually wanted to use it on Meng Chao? That's too vicious!"

"So that's what happened. He reaped what he sowed!"

"So Meng Chao was acting in self-defense?"

"Meng Chao didn't injure Zuo Haoran. He injured himself. Meng Chao shouldn't be blamed at all!"

Devil Yan placed all eight cameras into the Discipline Office director's hands. "Director Ma, do you have any objections to my judgment?"

Ma Qingyun's horse-like face nearly twisted into a knot, shifting through three or four shades before he finally said viciously, "Th-then it was still caused by the two of them fighting in private. Meng Chao, why did you and Zuo Haoran go to the woods to fight in private?"

"Director Ma, let me reiterate: it wasn't a private fight. It was an accidental slip during a sparring match. Even the Heart Crushing Hammer was something Zuo Haoran had said beforehand that he wanted to demonstrate to me. Therefore, I think it would be better to define the entire matter as an 'accident.'"

Meng Chao spoke calmly. "Otherwise, it would be hard to explain. Zuo Haoran and I had, at most, a minor conflict—something that could have been cleared up with a few words. Why would he use something as exaggerated as 'A String of Whips, a Bone-Piercing Nail, the Heart Crushing Hammer'? If this really blows up, it won't be good for me, Zuo Haoran, Class 6, or our school. What do you think?"

The Discipline Office director's expression changed.

Several homeroom teachers also frowned deeply.

That was right. Student brawls were commonplace, but if someone used the Heart Crushing Hammer in a fight and it had been recorded crystal clear, then once word got out, it would be hard to control how fiercely the situation escalated.

If things went badly, Ninth High School's overall image would suffer.

Even the Discipline Office director himself would lose face for having taught such a ruthless biological nephew who had ended up reaping what he sowed. It would more or less hinder his career.

But if it had merely been a martial arts sparring match between students, with an accidental misstep, that was another matter entirely.

Just as the Discipline Office director hesitated, Principal Sun, who had remained silent all along, finally opened his golden mouth.

"Director Ma, Zuo Haoran is still lying here. Shouldn't we send the child to the hospital first? Other classes are still testing. If this keeps going and affects the children's futures, that wouldn't be very good, would it?"

The shriveled little old man spoke weakly. Missing several teeth, he leaked air when he talked and sounded even less imposing.

Yet the Discipline Office director looked as though he had been struck by a club. His arrogance immediately subsided, and he lowered his head. "Yes, Principal."

"Teacher Yan, ask Meng Chao about this matter in more detail and put together a report on how this accident occurred. Oh, and try to look a little friendlier. Don't frighten the child." Principal Sun added.

"Yes, Principal!" Devil Yan instinctively snapped to attention, as though an Iron-Blooded Instructor were facing his own Iron-Blooded Instructor.

"Very good, very good." Principal Sun smiled until his eyes narrowed, returning to his mascot-like state of dozing all day. With his hands behind his back, he headed out of the woods.

The students let out long breaths. It looked like the matter would be handled as an "accident."

Still, Meng Chao had probably struck Zuo Haoran's weak point by sheer chance, hadn't he? Calling it an accident was not wrong.

Otherwise, how could Meng Chao possibly have broken the Heart Crushing Hammer? It was completely impossible to explain!

Under their complicated gazes, Meng Chao was led away by Devil Yan.

But the two did not go to an office or the Discipline Office. They merely strolled around campus.

"How much of your strength did you hold back during the speed and strength tests this morning?"

Walking ahead at an unhurried pace, Devil Yan suddenly asked a strange and seemingly unrelated question.

Meng Chao had no intention of hiding it. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Twenty or thirty percent?"

That was twenty or thirty percent now. In a few days, it might be another story.

"Why?"

"There was no challenge. It couldn't stir my interest."

"Heh, only the 'Golden Target' can stir your interest? Your marksmanship is pretty good. Who taught you?"

"My dad. He used to be a sharpshooter in the army. A few days ago, a Ghost Eye Golden Winged Flame Beetle invaded Tianfu Garden. My dad blew its head apart with one shot."

"I see." Devil Yan suddenly stopped and turned around. "What happened today was deliberate."

Facing the suddenly bayonet-sharp gaze of the Iron-Blooded Instructor, Meng Chao did not avoid it. Instead, he stepped forward, like someone meeting a bayonet charge head-on. "Yes. Deliberate."

Devil Yan said, "I want an explanation."

Meng Chao shrugged. "Self-defense, that's all."

Devil Yan said, "Self-defense, or striking first? If you hadn't cast the bait, Zuo Haoran might not have touched you."

"Should I entrust my fate to someone else's 'might not'?"

Meng Chao sneered. "Teacher Yan, if there were a fierce and monstrous beast standing beside you and your family right now, would you carefully distinguish whether it was hungry, whether it might let you off, whether it had some hidden hardship, whether it was a kind monster, and whether there was a safer way to deal with it?

"I'm only a high school student. I can't handle everything flawlessly. All I can do is dig a pit, fill its bottom with sharp knives, then stand behind it and watch whether it jumps. If it doesn't jump, fine. If it insists on jumping, what can I do? Kneel and beg it not to?"

Devil Yan stared at Meng Chao for a long time before finally saying, "Fine. I can accept that explanation. Leave all the trouble that follows to me. You just focus on preparing for the exams!"

Meng Chao relaxed, his smile radiant. "Thank you, Teacher Yan. I knew you were the fairest and kindest good teacher in the entire school."

Devil Yan waved a hand. "Stop flattering me. If you really want to thank me, have you considered applying to Military Academy?"

Meng Chao shook his head without hesitation. "Fei Xiong wants to become a great general, sword in hand and horse beneath him. Please help him more. As for me, forget it."

A sharp glint flashed in Devil Yan's eyes. "Why? I don't think you hate war."

Meng Chao had spent ten years as a Harvester in his previous life and had picked up some occupational habits. He curled his lip. "Soldiers are too crude. Every time, they use machine guns, artillery, and tanks to turn monsters into a complete mess. Out of ten parts of resources, seven are ruined. That kind of simple, brutish approach isn't my style."

Devil Yan laughed. "Oh? Then what style do you like?"

"Delicate, precise, elegant."

As Meng Chao reminisced, his hands began moving unconsciously, as though he held invisible scalpels and dissecting knives. "I like to carefully cut open a monster's skin, slice across its blood vessels, gently caress its internal organs, collect every drop of blood, peel away every organ without damaging a single hair, and place them in containers filled with all kinds of medicinal fluids. In the end, a ferocious monster becomes one exquisite work of art after another. That is the art of harvesting, and I want to become that kind of artist."

The intoxicated expression on his face made even Devil Yan shudder.

Were high school students nowadays all this deranged?

"One last question."

Devil Yan took several more steps forward and asked casually, "That day, did you really dream that I died?"

Meng Chao froze for a moment before remembering that Devil Yan meant the day he had been reborn.

"Uh, Teacher Yan, dreams are the opposite of reality. You aren't really bothered by that, are you?" He scratched his head.

"Heh, I'm not bothered in the slightest. On the contrary, I hope it comes true."

To Meng Chao's astonishment, Devil Yan said, "I was once a member of Dragon City's regular army, the Crimson Dragon Army. Though I've retired now, once Crimson Dragon Army, Crimson Dragon Army until death. For a soldier to die peacefully in bed from old age is the greatest humiliation. Since everyone must die eventually, I hope I can be buried in a monster's belly and use my final bone to stab straight through its heart—this is the best death for every Crimson Dragon Army soldier.

"So thank you, Meng Chao, for dreaming of my death in battle."

"..."

This time, Meng Chao was the one left speechless.

Devil Yan laughed heartily and strode forward.