Taking the Second Step in Resisting Tyranny

No matter how viciously these students cursed in their hearts, they did not dare show it. They could only put on their Iron Clothes with miserable expressions and prepare to run laps.

"Students, could you spare me one minute to hear me out?"

At that moment, Qian Chaoguang stepped forward.

For no other reason—if only to disgust Zhou Yi, he could not let a single person be eliminated.

Face life and death with indifference. If you refuse to accept it, then fight.

"I believe none of you want to be eliminated, right?"

Hearing Qian Chaoguang's words, the students who had been about to start running instinctively looked at him.

The eight people he had "saved" that morning looked at him with faint anticipation in their eyes.

"Teacher Zhou said the last-place student would be eliminated. So here's the question: if all of us run the same number of laps, then there won't be a last-place student, right? That way, no one will be expelled."

Most of their eyes lit up.

Especially some of the students whose cultivation and physical condition were relatively weak—their eyes practically shone.

Wang Dong said irritably, "You're being way too naive. How can you guarantee everyone runs the same number of laps at the same speed? If even one person runs an extra lap, won't that ruin everything for all of us?"

Nice. What perfect support.

Qian Chaoguang took advantage of the moment to pull a massive boulder taller than half a person from his Storage Ring. He tossed it high into the air, then casually threw a punch. The boulder shattered into chunks that filled the sky, smashing onto the ground—and onto quite a few people.

It hurt. It was real stone, and its quality was damn impressive.

"Why? Because of this fist as big as a sandbag. I don't think there are any selfish, twisted students like that in our class, right? If there are, then one punch from me will guarantee that you're the one eliminated today."

As he spoke, his gaze swept over several "lawbreakers" in the crowd who had intended to pull some tricks. These people had achieved a little success with their strength and had initially dismissed Qian Chaoguang's words.

After one punch, they all behaved.

No one doubted the truth of his words.

Everyone still vividly remembered his terrifying strength that morning, when he had run twenty or thirty laps around them in ten minutes.

After considering which was harder—their heads or that boulder—they decisively abandoned certain little ideas.

Qian Chaoguang moved his lips while actually sending a group transmission through Divine Sense. "Don't doubt my motives. The students from this morning all know that I simply don't like our head teacher."

"With this kind of pure physical training, I can crush everyone in seconds, including my sister Huo Yutong and Wang Dong. I'm also the least likely person to be eliminated. So I hope everyone can cooperate with this thankless task of mine. You don't want to live in fear of a lunatic every day either, do you?"

The moment he said that, Freshman Class One, Wang Dong included, immediately united as one.

Damn it, you should have said so earlier!

We've disliked Zhou Yi for a long time too!

They were all Chosen Ones, raised with silver spoons in their mouths and pampered by their families. Even if they had received excellent discipline at home, what did that matter? Who didn't have a temper?

"Brother Guang, just tell us what to do!"

"Yeah, yeah, we'll all listen to you!"

"Brother Zhaoguang, you're being far too modest. How could this possibly be thankless? We'll all remember your kindness!"

"That's right!"

"..."

Listening to the crowd's righteous indignation, the corner of Qian Chaoguang's mouth curled into a tiny smile.

"Then I'll assign everyone now. Based on my observations this morning, Peng Qingwei is Support Type and also the student with the weakest physical condition in our class. We'll run at her pace. Wang Dong, your physical condition is the strongest aside from mine. When the time comes, we'll..."

Freshman Class One began running.

They formed a deliberately adjusted formation and ran forward in synchronized steps to Qian Chaoguang's cadence of "One, two, one, breathe—in—out—".

At first, their steps were somewhat disordered, and some people even instinctively wanted to speed up.

However, Qian Chaoguang moved along the edge of the formation, using his Divine Sense to monitor every person in the ranks.

Whenever anyone fell out of rhythm, he promptly reminded them, maintaining the formation's order and designated pace.

At the same time, while running, he still had enough energy left to take out a huge vat. No one knew what it contained. It seemed to be some kind of liquid, transparent, colorless, and odorless.

With "piss off Zhou Yi and get the whole class through" drilled into their minds as their central principle, these eleven- and twelve-year-old boys and girls erupted with tremendous enthusiasm. They quickly fell into sync, helping and coordinating with each other.

Zhou Yi watched from afar with a frown, but said nothing.

Qian Chaoguang seemed to have organized and united Freshman Class One. He had some kind of plan, but...

It seemed a little different from the result she had expected?

By the time the class reached their fourteenth lap, the group with the weakest cultivation and physical condition had already begun to show signs of fatigue.

The longer it went on, the more obvious the effects of the Iron Clothes became. Even Wang Dong and Huo Yutong had beads of sweat on their faces.

Drops of sweat began to dampen the plaza's ground.

When nearly two hours had passed, Qian Chaoguang assessed the state of the entire group. The weakest students were already nearing their limits.

No matter how much they conserved it, their Soul Power had been completely drained.

Bearing thirty jin of weight with their own bodies was truly more than they could manage.

So he decisively gave an order.

"Everyone, halt! Switch positions! Rehydrate!"

Under Zhou Yi's puzzled gaze, Freshman Class One stopped together and changed positions within the formation with astonishing discipline.

At the same time, they each used their own cups to scoop water from the huge vat Qian Chaoguang had set down and drank it. (Thank the Storage Soul Tool.)

It was salt water.

Zhou Yi had only said they had to keep running. She had not said they could not drink water while running, right?

If they were forced to run for two hours without replenishing anything, the damage to their bodies would be far too severe. Even if a Soul Saint treated them afterward, it would be impossible to completely erase all the aftereffects.

People had heard of treating injuries and illnesses, but never of treatment allowing a patient to skip meals or replenishing lost nutrients and salt.

Even marathon runners on Blue Star had to replenish enough energy during a forty-two-kilometer long-distance run.

Bananas, for example, were excellent natural energy bars. Unfortunately, there were none here.

Qian Chaoguang controlled each person's water intake, silently thinking, It's a shame there's no way to heat it. Warm water would be better.

From afar, the sharp-eyed Zhou Yi noticed that the students who had drunk water seemed to be arranged according to some pattern.

Students with poor physical condition were always surrounded by students with strong bodies.

Qian Chaoguang stood in the front row. On either side of him were several of the weakest students, who were practically about to collapse to the ground.

If he had not needed to control their speed, standing in the middle would actually have worked better.