On the Arena, Only Victory and Defeat Matter, Not the Reasons

The crowd below erupted in an uproar!

"These beasts! They actually used that thing!"

"I always thought Jiang Youwei was a bit strange, I never expected..."

"Damn it! How could they treat human lives so carelessly!"

Gasps and curses washed over the entire arena like a tide.

Many students from commoner backgrounds had fire in their eyes, the humiliation and anger they felt surging in their chests. Jiang Youwei's fate seemed like a cruel microcosm of their own. In the eyes of the powerful, their bodies, wills, and even lives were merely playthings to be manipulated at will!

However, the situation wasn't over yet.

Jiang Youwei, collapsed on the ground, trembled violently. He stared fixedly at the floor, his eyes unfocused, muttering brokenly, "It's all your fault, all your fault! You should have just let me swing the sword!"

As he spoke, he suddenly flipped over. His entire face contorted from extreme pain and humiliation, tears and blood mixing into a mess. "Mom! I'm sorry, your son has embarrassed you!"

With that, under everyone's horrified gaze, he used his last ounce of strength, gripping the hilt of the sword tightly with both hands, pressing the tip against his own throat, and violently thrusting his head forward!

" Thwack —"

Although the Synthetic Training Sword was not sharpened, under such resolute force, it still plunged deeply into his neck!

Time seemed to freeze.

Gasps caught in everyone's throats. The referee beside him turned pale with shock, his body shooting out like lightning. He instantly arrived beside Jiang Youwei and kicked his hand away. "Medical team, quickly!"

But it was too late.

Jiang Youwei's body convulsed twice. His vacant eyes stared at the sky, filled with endless regret and release, before finally losing all life.

The seething arena fell into a deathly silence. Only the object that had fallen to the ground continued to crackle with electricity.

The next second, this silence was completely ignited.

"He's dead! He's dead!"

"They forced him to die! They drove him to his death!"

"Look at this so-called Quota Competition, the last chance for commoner students?"

Su Xiaowan's shrill voice pierced the sky, tears streaming down her face, "You all saw it! This is what some people do!"

The commoner students' anger, like a long-suppressed volcano, erupted! The crowd surged forward wildly, the human wall formed by the disciplinary team swaying precariously. The scene spiraled out of control once more!

Just then, a slightly overweight man with a buzz cut, a round face, and a full beard, sitting next to Zhao He, stood up.

"Everyone, have you perhaps misunderstood something!?"

"Jiang Youwei did sign an Agreement with my Li Family, but no one forced him to do anything. It was all his own will!"

He then suddenly produced a stack of IOUs with thumbprints and displayed them to everyone. "Jiang Youwei's father is a gambler. Most of the resources the Li Family provided him went to fill the holes of his gambling debts! Not only that, they also owed a huge amount of money!"

"My Li Family, seeing his potential, felt some pity and kept helping him..." He scanned the crowd, his tone growing more sorrowful. "But helping is kindness, not an obligation. In fact, a month ago, my Li Family had already severed ties with him. These IOUs were our last act of help when we did so!"

"With his family drowning in debt, if he couldn't pass the Quota Competition, he would lose his chance to practice martial arts! That's why he was so fearless of death today!"

"As for that thing, I have no idea what it is either. Perhaps it's a tactic by one of his creditors? It has absolutely nothing to do with my Li Family!"

These distorted words caused a brief silence in the boiling arena. However, the people present were not foolish; their eyes still held doubt and scrutiny.

Just then, more than ten commoner students in the audience stood up in unison.

"I can testify! Jiang Youwei has indeed severed ties with the Li Family!"

"His dad really is a gambler, and he still owes me three thousand yuan!"

"His family really does have many creditors. Just in our school, there are no less than twenty. Just because he signed an Agreement with the Li Family doesn't prove anything!"

"I'm Jiang Youwei's roommate. He was truly pushed to the brink. If he didn't get the spot, he'd have to leave the Martial School!"

Hearing these overlapping "testimonies," the crowd below clearly fell into confusion. The previously one-sided anger began to waver. Many people exchanged glances, their murmurs becoming chaotic and hesitant.

A hint of imperceptible triumph flashed in the eyes of the man surnamed Li. He took a step forward, his tone sounding even more pained:

"Why don't you go question Lu Jue? Jiang Youwei begged him so much, why was he still so indifferent!?"

"Jiang Youwei had already lost his fighting ability, why did he still hit him so hard? To completely humiliate him?"

The silence in the arena was broken, and waves of suppressed whispers spread like a tide, all eyes now focused on Lu Jue.

Most of the audience frowned, their gazes darting back and forth between Lu Jue and the man surnamed Li.

This matter was indeed strange, difficult to discern truth from falsehood, and they found it hard to judge for a moment, so they could only observe in silence, unwilling to be easily incited.

However, not everyone could maintain this composure.

"He, he could have stopped just now!" a tearful female voice rang out from the audience.

"If it hadn't been for that punch, Jiang Youwei wouldn't have committed suicide!"

"Senior Student Jiang clearly begged him like that!"

A short-haired girl became even more agitated, trying to grab Lu Jue's collar: "Why couldn't you just let him go?"

Lu Jue stood in place and slowly raised his eyes.

"Let him go?"

"On what grounds!?"

These three words silenced the entire venue instantly.

"If I let him go, who will let me go!?"

"Save your cheap sympathy! You don't understand anything!"

"But you had already won!"

A girl, holding back tears, her voice trembling, retorted, "Why did you have to throw that punch?"

Facing these successive questions, Lu Jue remained silent, abruptly turned around, and under everyone's watchful eyes, strode towards the waist-high stone statue at the edge of the arena.

He suddenly clenched his right fist, his arm muscles instantly tensing like iron, and under everyone's astonished gaze, he fiercely smashed his fist into the stone statue—

"Boom!"

As stone fragments flew, the entire statue shattered, and crushed stones poured down like a torrential rain. Dust billowed into the sky, and even the arena floor trembled.

The entire venue fell silent.

The girls who had been crying earlier were so startled that they stumbled back several steps, their hands covering their mouths trembling uncontrollably.

"Come on! Keep shouting!"

"Bullying the weak and fearing the strong, aren't you!?"

"Just because that guy surnamed Li is powerful and influential, you don't even dare to question him!?"

Lu Jue slowly withdrew his fist, his icy eyes sweeping across the entire venue. Wherever his gaze fell, no one dared to meet it directly.

"I'll say this here and now"

"No matter how difficult your family situation is, no matter how much your father gambles away!"

"No matter if you have to commit suicide after losing!"

"Since you stepped onto this stage, standing opposite me"

He crushed the gravel under his toes, his voice echoing in all directions:

"Either surrender! Or"

"You'll be carried out horizontally!"

"On the stage, only victory and defeat matter, not the reasons behind them!!!"