Danger

"I'm leaving, Zhou En, Wang Rui." Su Lin waved at the two of them.

"Bye-bye." After saying goodbye to Su Lin, Zhou En looked at the chubby boy beside him.

"Are we going straight to the cafeteria, or going back to the dorm to order takeout?"

The chubby boy said listlessly, "Let's go back to the dorm and order takeout."

"Mm." Zhou En agreed and pointed toward the woods beside them.

"Let's take the shortcut. It'll be faster."

As soon as Zhou En finished speaking, the two of them headed toward the woods.

Whenever they had nothing else to do, Zhou En and the chubby boy liked to cut through the woods.

It wasn't because the scenery was particularly beautiful. Rather, every time they passed through, they would see couples engaging in all sorts of secret activities.

As excellent single losers, Zhou En and his chubby classmate always enjoyed the show.

Today, clearly, taking a shortcut was just an excuse. They had entered the woods to watch couples kiss.

Unfortunately, their luck seemed to be bad today. Zhou En and the chubby boy swept their surroundings with four eyes like searchlights.

Yet they failed to find a single lovey-dovey couple, which left them deeply disappointed.

Even their good mood from joining the club had been completely ruined.

"Today is really unlucky." The chubby boy couldn't help complaining.

"Heh, you're right." The chubby boy froze when he heard that reply.

That voice didn't sound like Zhou En's.

He turned to glance at Zhou En beside him. At that moment, Zhou En was also staring at him in astonishment.

What the hell? Is this a ghost?

The two of them turned around at the same time. They had no idea what they were looking at until they did—and then they were startled.

Dozens of people stood packed together behind them, completely blocking the path.

"What the hell is going on? Did I somehow transmigrate to Hong Kong?" Zhou En's lips twitched.

"Run. They mean trouble." The chubby boy tugged at Zhou En's sleeve and spoke in a low voice.

Zhou En cupped his fists and said, "Gentlemen, we're only passing by. We didn't hear anything or see anything."

Meanwhile, the chubby boy beside him had already begun quietly backing away, showing no loyalty whatsoever.

"You're Zhou En, right?" one of the men at the front asked.

"That would be me." Zhou En hurriedly cupped his fists in greeting. If I make the big brother in front of me angry, I'll be carried into the hospital.

"Heh, it's not impossible for me to let you go. Just hand over all the money you have on you."

The leader crossed his arms and spoke mockingly.

Zhou En hesitated when he heard that.

He had the thousand yuan he had won from the bet that morning in his pocket. That was the fruit of his hard work.

If it were robbed, wouldn't he regret it until his guts turned green?

Seeing the hesitation in Zhou En's eyes, the young leader grinned. "What? You don't want to hand it over?"

Zhou En glanced at the dozens of people before him and gritted his teeth. Compared with his money, his life was obviously more important.

"I'll hand it over." Trembling, Zhou En took out a twenty-yuan note from his pocket.

It was the change left over after treating the chubby boy to lunch.

"Kid, you think twenty yuan is enough to fool me? Do you take me for an idiot?" The young leader slapped the twenty yuan from Zhou En's hand and spoke unhappily.

Seeing his two ten-yuan notes slapped onto the ground, anger surfaced on Zhou En's face.

They said poor children matured early. In PZH, a fourth-tier city, twenty yuan was enough to eat three meals in the school cafeteria.

Zhou En said solemnly, "Classmate, there's a saying: if you take someone's money, you should help them out of trouble. Isn't it better to have one more friend than one more enemy?"

The leader looked at Zhou En with disdain and said mockingly, "Zhou En, I know you played dumb to catch the tiger this morning and won a thousand yuan."

"Hand it over now, and I might still spare your life."

Those words struck Zhou En's heart like a heavy hammer. As a miser, he valued that thousand yuan more than his own life.

Just as Zhou En was about to retort, the chubby boy tugged at his sleeve and whispered, "Zhou En, forget it. You can't beat them."

The chubby boy's words were like a basin of cold water splashed over Zhou En's face.

For someone receiving formal combat training for the first time, the first session was always the most exhausting.

The tearing pain radiating from Zhou En's chest and triceps told him that he had little fighting strength left.

"Run." Zhou En and the chubby boy exchanged a glance, then nodded in unison and quickly ran backward.

They believed that they would be safe as long as they reached a crowded area.

No—as long as they reached the school's surveillance cameras.

As long as there was evidence, Zhou En and the chubby boy believed that the people behind them wouldn't dare attack.

Unfortunately, there were no cameras in these woods. Otherwise, it wouldn't have become a favorite meeting place for couples.

The thugs behind them showed no sign of pursuit. They merely stood with their arms crossed, coldly watching Zhou En and the chubby boy's backs.

They resembled leopards watching rabbits that were about to fall into their grasp.

"Zhou En, they aren't chasing us." The chubby boy glanced back at their pursuers. Seeing no one behind them, he spoke to Zhou En.

Zhou En also curiously turned around.

When he saw that no one was pursuing them, he stopped as well.

To be honest, he was exhausted today. He felt as if his entire body were about to collapse.

He stopped at once, braced his hands on his knees, and gasped for breath.

The chubby boy was even worse. He plopped directly onto the ground without caring whether it was dirty and began panting heavily.

Anyone who didn't know better might have thought the fat boy was doing aerobic exercise.

"Why aren't they chasing us?" the chubby boy asked intermittently. He decided that after returning, he had to weigh himself. He had definitely lost forty pounds today.

"I don't know," Zhou En said between breaths.

"They have...&... Damn, you scared me." The chubby boy couldn't help cursing under his breath.

"Wait. They definitely wouldn't just let us go." The chubby boy's words instantly enlightened Zhou En.

"We're exhausted after training. At our speed, any one of them could easily catch us."

"But they didn't chase us. What does that mean?" Zhou En looked at the chubby boy in horror.

"Clap, clap, clap."

Just as Zhou En finished speaking, clear applause rang out in front of them.

"They actually blocked us from the front. There should be nearly twenty people in total. They really think highly of us." Zhou En smiled bitterly, but the smile abruptly vanished.

It was like a rooster whose neck had been squeezed shut.

The reason Zhou En reacted that way was because he saw someone at the very front—someone he had never expected to see.

"Yue Hua." Zhou En ground out the name through clenched teeth.

The person at the front was Yue Hua, who had lost to him in the sparring match that morning.

Zhou En had never expected Yue Hua to be so petty. After losing the match, he had actually gone and found people to deal with him.

Yue Hua seemed to see through Zhou En's thoughts and kindly offered an explanation.

"It's not that I sent people after you. It's that you offended someone you shouldn't have."

"Who?" Zhou En asked.

"Our boss, Li Hui." Yue Hua spoke each word clearly, his undisguised pride gleaming in his eyes.

Zhou En trembled violently when he heard that.

He remembered the sinister gaze he had seen when leaving the club, as well as Su Lin's words.

"Zhou En, whatever you do, don't provoke Li Hui."

Zhou En asked bitterly, "As far as I remember, I never provoked your boss. Why would he send people after me?"

"Ha." Yue Hua shook his head disdainfully.

"You've already qualified to compete for the position of an official club student, so our boss won't allow that possibility to exist."

Yue Hua shrugged indifferently. "So we can only eliminate you."

Those words shattered Zhou En's mental defenses. To be honest, it would have been a lie to say he wasn't afraid when facing twenty people eyeing him hungrily.

"But if you hand over the thousand yuan you won, I might still let you off." Yue Hua changed his tone again.

Zhou En clenched his teeth. To a poor college student, a thousand yuan was extremely important.

Yet compared with his life, that thousand yuan suddenly seemed less important.

Zhou En took out every Mao Zedong bill in his pocket and placed them on the ground. His face was filled with pain.

"Can you let us go now?"

Yue Hua slowly walked over, picked up the bills, and counted them.

"Why is one missing? Do you think I can't count?" Yue Hua asked unhappily.

"I ate a big meal at noon and spent a hundred yuan. This is all I have left."

Zhou En looked helpless. He shrugged and continued, "That's all I have."

"Who would've thought you knew how to enjoy yourself?" Yue Hua mocked.

"Since you're being so sensible, I'll let you off this once." Yue Hua snorted coldly.

Those words sounded like heavenly rain to Zhou En's ears, and his eyes lit up.

Resisting the urge to look at the bills in Yue Hua's hand, Zhou En grabbed the delighted chubby boy and tried to walk around Yue Hua's group.

"Hold it." A tall man in the crowd reached out and blocked their path.

Zhou En's heart sank.

He turned to Yue Hua. "What? Are you going back on your word?"

"Heh, when did I ever go back on my word?" Yue Hua asked in surprise.

"Didn't you say we could leave after handing over the money?" Zhou En said, forcibly suppressing his anger.

"Exactly. Look, I didn't stop you when you tried to leave." Yue Hua wore an expression of confusion.

This made the brothers behind Yue Hua burst into mocking laughter. They stared at Zhou En and the chubby boy as if they were idiots.

Zhou En's heart sank to the bottom. He finally understood that Yue Hua and his group had been treating them like monkeys.

"Zhou En, let's split up and run." The chubby boy grew serious as well, losing his usual world-weary expression.

Zhou En glanced behind him and saw the dozen or so people there slowly approaching.

In an instant, the people on both sides surrounded them like the layers of a sandwich.

"We'll run in opposite directions. You take the left, and I'll take the right."

That was the only plan Zhou En and the chubby boy could come up with.

"Go!" Zhou En shouted. The two fled in opposite directions along the woodland paths.

Yue Hua was slightly stunned when he saw them split up, then sneered.

"They only trained for an afternoon today. They're already exhausted and can't have run far."

Under Yue Hua's orders, the more than twenty people quickly split into two groups. One group chased the chubby boy, while the other chased Zhou En.

Zhou En ran with all the strength he had, but the scant glycogen in his blood immediately filled him with deep exhaustion.

The quadriceps and biceps femoris in his thighs screamed at him to stop this foolish act.

"Hang in there." Zhou En gritted his teeth and encouraged himself.

"How is this kid so fast? Logically, he shouldn't have much strength left after training. How can his burst of speed be so terrifying?"

Yue Hua was secretly shocked from behind. Then his eyes narrowed slightly.

"I absolutely can't let this kid become an official student."

"As long as I keep chasing him relentlessly, I don't believe he can maintain that burst of speed for long."

A dozen seconds later, Zhou En clearly felt his speed dropping. His breathing also gradually became more labored.

After noticing his physical condition, Zhou En secretly groaned.

He clearly couldn't hold on any longer.

He wanted to speed up, but his feet felt as heavy as if they had been filled with lead.

When he saw the sunlight ahead, Zhou En's spirits rose.

He was about to escape the woods.

"Hey, kid, you're pretty fast."

Just as Zhou En was about to celebrate escaping the clutches of his pursuers, a large hand landed on his shoulder.

Zhou En's heart instantly sank to the bottom.

Before Zhou En had time to react, the man who had spoken earlier kicked the back of Zhou En's right knee with his right foot.

Zhou En instantly lost his balance and slammed into the hard ground.

Mud mixed with several blades of foxtail grass filled Zhou En's mouth.

"Ptui." Zhou En hurriedly spat out the foxtail grass in his mouth.

He looked at his arm. Blood was steadily flowing from the torn skin.

The anger in his heart instantly overwhelmed the last remnants of reason in his mind.

"You actually dared to hit me?" Zhou En immediately leaped up and swung a vicious right straight punch at the young leader.

"What are you doing?"

"You still want to hit my brother?"

"Are you tired of living?"

Just as Zhou En's right straight was about to strike the leader, the thugs behind him immediately exploded.

They shouted angrily and kicked Zhou En one after another.

The surge of adrenaline temporarily made Zhou En forget the pain, but the overwhelming force still drove him backward again and again.

When Zhou En saw the situation clearly, his heart grew even heavier.

In the short time that had passed, all the thugs who had been behind him had caught up and surrounded him completely.

Only by growing wings could he escape this situation.

"Don't force me."

Zhou En made one last futile threat.

"Li Hui, hurry over and train." As soon as Coach Liu Yu returned to the club, she saw Li Hui standing there and couldn't help giving him a soft reprimand.

"Mm, all right." Li Hui agreed, watching her slender figure walk away. He couldn't help secretly swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

Li Hui hadn't joined this club to become a Combat Champion. He was here to get his hands on this enticing little beauty.

Thinking of that fiery figure, Li Hui couldn't help secretly swallowing again.

"Achoo."

"What's wrong, Zhou En?" In a luxurious suite, Chubby looked at Zhou En in confusion.

Of course, the word "luxurious" was merely their own opinion.

Zhou En put the last bit of tomato beef from his plate into his mouth and said with a pained expression,

"This meal cost me over a hundred yuan."

Chubby shook his somewhat oversized head and said, "All right, I'll go with you to register at the club later."

Zhou En had planned to go straight to the club to register after eating. As for calling the number on that pink business card—

he still felt somewhat embarrassed. After all, he had never had any experience picking up girls.

"Let's go." After Zhou En paid the bill, he and Chubby headed toward the club.

When they arrived at the club, it was already past three in the afternoon. He saw the classroom with the words "World Combat Club" posted on it.

Zhou En couldn't help feeling emotional. He remembered that the first time he came, he had been mocked as a martial-arts novice.

But this time, he regarded himself as a potential contender capable of defeating Yue Hua.

Although he was still a martial-arts novice, at least he was a novice wearing a tiger's skin.

Thinking this, he knocked on the classroom door.

Bang, bang, bang.

"Who is it? Damn it, didn't you bring a key?" The tone from inside the door conveyed the owner's impatience.

As the door was opened, a college student wearing black sweatpants and a khaki hoodie walked out.

"Excuse me, is this the World Combat Club? I'm a student here to register," Zhou En said politely.

The college student was stunned when he heard this, then split his mouth in a loud laugh.

"Listen, buddy, did you take the wrong medicine? Registration closed yesterday."

"I was invited by your coach, Liu Yu, to join the club," Zhou En kindly explained.

When Zhou En had fought Yue Hua, this unfortunate fellow had still been training bitterly at the club.

So he knew nothing about Zhou En defeating Yue Hua.

"Hahahaha." The college student was stunned at first, then burst into unrestrained laughter.

Who was Liu Yu? She wasn't some so-called pretty figurehead, but a beautiful coach who had once been a national coach.

To date, the only person she had invited was the club captain.

And this kid...

"Brother, having dreams is a good thing, but failing to distinguish dreams from reality is your own fault." The college student's mouth stretched so wide it nearly reached his eyes.

"Qiyu, what happened?" At this moment, some club students who enjoyed watching the fun noticed what was happening.

They came over one after another to ask about it.

Qiyu explained what had just happened to everyone with a smile, which once again drew loud laughter from the crowd.

"Kid, this isn't a place you should be coming to. Go back wherever you came from." The Qiyu who had spoken earlier had been relatively polite, but this person's words were much more biting.

"Yeah, student, stop daydreaming."

"Moron, do you really think you can get an invitation from Coach Liu Yu? What a pipe dream."

Various mocking voices followed.

"Hey, hey, did you ask Coach Liu Yu before spouting nonsense?" Chubby couldn't stand it any longer.

As the saying went, one had to respect the owner even when beating a dog. These people clearly didn't take Zhou En seriously at all.

If Zhou En had known what Chubby was thinking, he would have strangled him to death.

"Hahahaha."

Chubby's words once again provoked a wave of laughter from the crowd. To them, there was no way such a thing could happen.

"Hey, I know you. You're the guy who lost to Yue Hua during yesterday's registration."

Just as everyone was laughing loudly, a little girl suddenly spoke from behind them.

Clearly, she was the little girl who had handled registration the day before.

The little girl remembered Zhou En not because he was especially handsome, but because his Moonlit Peach Snatch from the previous day had been so lecherous.

The little girl's words immediately sent the crowd into an uproar.

"Damn, so he was rejected during registration and came here to cause trouble?"

"Brothers, get him! Teach this ignorant brat a good lesson."

The little girl's words instantly set off the entire scene. No wonder he had dared to tease the instructor—he had come to challenge the club!

When Zhou En and Chubby saw a large group of men charging toward them menacingly, their expressions changed slightly.

"Whoa, help!"

Chubby turned and ran. At a time like this, who still cared about brotherly loyalty?

Hadn't they heard the saying that brothers were like limbs and women like clothes?

Whether limbs or clothes, they were all external possessions. In a crisis, anything that needed abandoning should be abandoned, and anything that needed cutting off should be cut off.

Just as Zhou En and Chubby were preparing to run, a chilly voice rang in everyone's ears.

"What are you doing?" Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried an unmistakable authority.

Everyone looked toward the voice and saw the beautiful coach approaching with an irritated expression.

Her tight sports crop top accentuated the mountains before her, making them appear even more magnificent. The hot pants on her lower half further stirred the primitive desires of countless males.

Everyone who looked at the beautiful coach instinctively swallowed.

"Hello, Instructor." The men all greeted the beautiful coach.

Liu Yu responded faintly, then turned to the little girl.

"What's going on?"

The beautiful coach was already extremely displeased by what was happening outside the club.

After all, a good mood had a tremendous impact on training.

These people were loudly chattering outside, which would obviously affect the athletes' training.

"Sister Liu Yu, this boy came to our club to challenge us." The little girl pointed at Zhou En with her tiny finger and spoke aggrievedly.