Burn My Calories!

"Bastard, what did you say?"

Li Congxin's words struck a raw nerve, and Gorilla's blood surged. His eyes reddened as he lunged forward, ready to throw down: "I'll beat you into pulp, you yellow monkey!"

With Gorilla's roar, the surrounding students immediately flocked to the commotion.

"Oh, God, what am I seeing? Clark actually went and provoked Gorilla!"

"Does he have a death wish?"

"My God, this has to be the most mismatched fight of the year. I can't bear to watch..."

"This is just brutal!"

Received +1 Impression Points from Chris Owen!

Received +1 Impression Points from Blake Valen!

Received +1 from...

An unexpected bonus?

Li Congxin's eyes lit up. It seemed this was another great way to collect Impression Points!

As for the Gorilla charging at him with murderous intent, Li Congxin thought his suggestion was pretty good!

Just a little verbal jab had netted him 9 Impression Points. If he left some lasting memories on his body too... hehehe.

Seeing Gorilla about to pounce without a second word, Li Congxin was already ready for battle. His eyes met Gorilla's without flinching, while his right leg muscles tensed, a groin kick poised to strike.

Can't fight head-on, gotta play dirty!

Gorilla might be a school bully, but he only had an athlete's potential—not even a real athlete, let alone a professional fighter.

Since he wasn't a pro, winning a brawl wasn't just about base stats, not even the most critical factor. Compared to that, ruthlessness and dirty tricks were what decided amateur scraps.

If that kick landed true, no matter how tough the big guy, he'd be out cold in an instant!

Victory or defeat hung on this one move.

If he won, he'd rake in a wave of Impression Points.

If he lost, no big deal.

After all, this was a school campus. What could Gorilla really do to him?

More importantly, as long as he stirred up trouble, he'd get Impression Points. The difference between winning and losing was just how many he'd collect. So why be scared?

Roll up sleeves and go for it!

Li Congxin's motto was: act against reason!

Just as a campus brawl unsuitable for minors was about to erupt, a sudden voice stopped it all: "Stop right there, you two bastards!"

Hearing that voice, both of them froze. Turning to see who it was, they both cowered.

Even the bystanders felt a chill when they saw the speaker, parting to clear a path to the "arena."

"Vice Principal William!"

"You two, picking a fight on school grounds, as if school rules mean nothing! Now, run 20 laps around the track. If you don't finish, or if you finish last, apologize to the one who finishes first."

Vice Principal William announced this fifty-fifty punishment without asking for the facts, simply because he disliked both of them.

Back in that indescribable country before his transmigration, a student like Li Congxin—who didn't cause trouble, didn't show off, and had good grades—would be a top priority for teachers and the school. In a conflict with a troublemaker like Gorilla, almost every teacher would side with him.

But this was America in the Marvel world, where kids weak in sports and social skills were looked down on in high school.

Good grades meant nothing!

Of course, Vice Principal William didn't like Gorilla either. Being outgoing and good at sports was fine in America, but that didn't mean you could stir up trouble.

Anyone who liked causing problems was hard to look at.

With a seemingly "fair" punishment, he disciplined two students he disliked, with the severity tailored to his own satisfaction. Vice Principal William felt incredibly clever, even mentally giving himself a thumbs-up.

Hearing the punishment, Gorilla's eyes lit up, and he locked onto Li Congxin with a taunt: "You're finished!"

Li Congxin just shrugged indifferently. He couldn't defy the vice principal's decision yet, but running? Who was afraid of that?

Snapping his fingers, "New Jack, let's go!"

Received +1 Impression Points from Susanna David!

Received +1 Impression Points from Morrison Leonard!

Received +1 from...

Received +1 from scattered Impression Points rounding up!

Thanks to Vice Principal William's punishment, Li Congxin and Gorilla became the school's center of attention. Especially Gorilla's homeroom teacher, who, upon hearing the news, immediately brought the whole class out to cheer him on.

Even though they were cheering for Gorilla, they were also indirectly paying attention to his opponent, Li Congxin.

Since they noticed him, that meant there were Impression Points to be collected.

Running with the wind to the music of "Calories," his ears filled with the "God-Tier BGM System" chiming out notifications of Impression Points increasing, Li Congxin only felt how wonderful life was, how fresh the air was...

In the blink of an eye, half an hour had passed. Gorilla had run ten laps, and Li Congxin had also run nearly ten laps. But Gorilla's mood was far from as beautiful as Li Congxin's.

At the very start of the race, Gorilla, relying on his innate advantage as a sports-specialized student, hadn't taken Li Congxin seriously at all. He took off at a hundred-meter sprint pace, then blazed ahead. By the time he reached the fifth lap, he had already lapped Li Congxin by a full lap. He was riding high on that glory.

However, what he didn't expect was that after five laps, his stamina had already started to decline, while Li Congxin continued running at the same unhurried pace as before.

"Burn my calories! Bye-bye, donuts, bubble tea, instant noodles..."

The annoying music sounded from behind him. Gorilla knew Li Congxin had caught up again. The advantage he had built up at the start was gone.

Received from Joe Cook: Impression Points +9!

As one of the parties involved, Gorilla could provide Li Congxin with noticeably more Impression Points than the surrounding bystanders—a solid 5 points at once.

Watching Li Congxin overtake him from the side, not forgetting to shoot him a smug glance, Gorilla seethed with resentment inside.

But after running this long, he had also calmed down and started to reflect on his mistakes.

The track around the school playground was about 500 meters long. Twenty laps made 10 kilometers—a distance already close to his limit. Yet, to show off in front of others, he had blasted off at full speed from the start, causing his stamina to drain rapidly. That was very unwise.

Still, the race was only half over. He still had a chance to turn things around.

As long as he let go of his restless emotions, slowed down now to conserve energy, he could still manage to finish the remaining ten laps. As for Li Congxin, who was temporarily ahead, he didn't believe a shut-in's stamina could sustain that pace all the way through a 10-kilometer long-distance run.

With that thought, Gorilla began to steady his emotions, reduce his speed, and control his energy expenditure.

But then a change occurred that completely disrupted the strategy Gorilla had just worked out.

It turned out that when Li Congxin's homeroom teacher saw him go from being lapped at the start to catching up and even gaining a slight advantage, the teacher didn't want to miss this chance to bring honor to the class. So, following the example of Gorilla's homeroom teacher, he led the entire class out of the teaching building to cheer Li Congxin on.

This move didn't affect Li Congxin much, but it severely provoked Gorilla.

Seeing his crush come out to watch his race, Gorilla could no longer care about conserving stamina. Gritting his teeth, he once again picked up his pace and chased after Li Congxin at an even faster speed.