First Taste of Power

Time seemed to freeze.

The cafeteria entrance was terrifyingly silent, with only Zhao Hu's intermittent, wheezing groans echoing in the oppressive air, each one grating harshly against the eardrums and nerves of the surrounding students.

A heavy scent of blood mingled with the stench of spoiled food from the overturned meal carts, creating a nauseating aura of death.

For the first time, Su Qingxue's usually calm eyes lost their composure. They clearly reflected Zhao Hu's horribly deformed right arm, with bone fragments piercing the flesh, and his face contorted in agony.

Beside her, Zhou Xiaoya was so terrified her face had gone ashen. She clutched Su Qingxue's sleeve tightly, her body trembling like a leaf in a cold wind.

Fatty Wang's mouth hung open, wide enough to fit an egg, his eyeballs nearly popping out of their sockets. His brain had completely short-circuited.

What had just happened?

What had Brother Xiao done?

He had clearly seen Zhao Hu about to stomp down!

All eyes, as if drawn by a magnet, focused on a single spot – the center of the filthy mess – with extreme confusion, fear, and incomprehensible shock.

Lin Xiao lay on the cold, greasy, watery ground. Every breath sent a tearing pain through his chest and arms.

He felt like a tattered rag doll, ripped apart and reassembled. The taste in his throat was like rusty, sweet blood.

The sense of dying despair from moments ago still gnawed at his nerves like a persistent maggot.

But now, another, more surging and burning emotion was erupting from the deepest part of his soul like volcanic lava, accompanied by the lingering echo of that cold prompt in his mind!

That wasn't an illusion!

That faint blue screen... that crimson cross... the instantaneous backlash when his consciousness touched it...

It was real!

A wave of exhilaration, lingering fear, disbelief, and a tremendous tremor of suddenly wielding the power of life and death coursed through Lin Xiao's entire body like an electric current!

This sense of power even temporarily overshadowed the physical pain!

"Hk... hk hk..."

He let out a hoarse, nonsensical chuckle. On his face, smeared with blood and grime, his clear black and white eyes, hidden by his messy hair, suddenly blazed with a heart-stopping ferocity, like a hungry wolf spotting its prey!

An opportunity! A once-in-a-lifetime chance!

Zhao Hu was crippled! At least his arm was temporarily useless!

The intense pain had robbed him of most of his combat ability, and more importantly, he was mentally stunned by this incredibly bizarre backlash!

Strike while the iron is hot!

The fierce and rogue nature of Lin Xiao, a street punk suppressed for too long, was ignited at this moment by the instinct for survival and the ecstasy of tasting power for the first time!

Zhao Hu was writhing in agony from his right arm, on the verge of fainting. Large beads of sweat mixed with blood rolled down his pale face.

He heard movement and struggled to lift his head, his bloodshot eyes filled with extreme pain and bewilderment.

When he saw Lin Xiao, whom he considered trash and should have been stomped to death, shakily standing up and staring at him like that, an absurd sense of dread seized him!

"You..." Zhao Hu tried to roar, to question, but the excruciating pain only allowed him to gasp, his voice hoarse and distorted, filled with unbelievable horror.

Lin Xiao grinned, revealing teeth stained red with blood. The smile looked particularly ferocious on his dirty face.

He ignored the stunned gazes around him, ignored the searing pain in his arms, and with heavy steps, dragging himself through the filth and pungent stench, he walked slowly and steadily towards Zhao Hu, who was kneeling on the ground.

Each step felt like it was pounding on everyone's heartbeat.

"Thump... thump... thump..."

The heavy footsteps, mixed with Zhao Hu's pained gasps, became the only sounds in the silent space.

Finally, Lin Xiao reached Zhao Hu.

He lowered his head slightly, looking down at the school bully martial artist who, just minutes ago, had been as arrogant as a demon god.

Zhao Hu instinctively tried to retreat, to struggle, but the weakness from the pain and blood loss left him unable to move. He could only watch as the blood-smeared, grinning face loomed larger before him.

Lin Xiao raised his right foot, the same one covered in filth, his worn-out sneakers.

Without a hint of hesitation!

"Bang!"

With a fierce, cathartic force, Lin Xiao's right foot stomped down hard on Zhao Hu's only remaining intact left shoulder!

The immense force made Zhao Hu, already kneeling, sag violently. His left shoulder groaned under the unbearable weight of the bone!

"Ughhh—!"

Zhao Hu let out another agonizing cry. The overwhelming sense of humiliation instantly overshadowed the physical pain. His eyes bulged, bloodshot, staring intently at Lin Xiao, wishing he could devour him alive, "Lin Xiao! I'll fuck your..."

"Shut up!"

Lin Xiao roared sharply. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a palpable, cold killing intent, honed by his brush with death!

He applied pressure with his foot, grinding down. Zhao Hu's remaining words were choked back by the intense pain, leaving only painful whimpers.

Lin Xiao bent down slightly, bringing his face, smeared with blood and oil stains, close to Zhao Hu's contorted face, twisted by pain and anger. Their noses were almost touching.

He could clearly smell the bloody breath and the scent of fear emanating from Zhao Hu's mouth.

His lips curled into an even more exaggerated, roguish smile, filled with endless mockery and wildness.

"Brother Hu?"

Lin Xiao's voice was deliberately drawn out, laced with a cynical tone. Each word was like a poisoned ice needle, piercing Zhao Hu's ears and the hearts of every bystander.

"Weren't you so imposing just now? Crushing me like an ant?"

He pressed down again with his foot. Zhao Hu's left shoulder let out a sickening crunch. Trembling violently from the pain, veins bulging on his forehead, he couldn't even scream, only managing choked gasps.

"Why aren't you calling out now?"

The smile on Lin Xiao's face vanished instantly. His eyes turned as cold and sharp as a deep, frozen pool, fixing on Zhao Hu's gaze, which was filled with venom and fear. He spoke word by word, his voice not loud, but carrying clearly to the silent entrance of the cafeteria.

"Lying on the ground, like a sick cat with a broken spine!"

The words "sick cat" were like two invisible slaps, striking Zhao Hu's face and the hearts of all the students who had once feared him like a tiger!

Zhao Hu's body jolted. A humiliation and rage far greater than his broken arm, a feeling of his "dignity being utterly trampled," surged to the top of his head.

He let out a beast-like growl from his throat. His remaining left hand shot up, fingers forming a claw, imbued with his last shred of ferocity, and grabbed fiercely at the leg Lin Xiao was using to pin his shoulder.

"You're asking for death!"

Lin Xiao's eyes sharpened!

This was what he had been waiting for!

The instant Zhao Hu raised his left hand, Lin Xiao's right foot, which was on his shoulder, pushed off. He hopped back half a step, narrowly dodging the grabbing claw.

At the same time, forcing down the tearing pain in his right arm, his left hand shot out like lightning!

It wasn't an attack!

Instead, it precisely and brutally grabbed the exposed, bloody, bone-splintered stump of Zhao Hu's right arm!

"Ah—!"

A scream, ten times more piercing than before, as if from the deepest pits of hell, erupted from Zhao Hu's throat!

The sound was so sharp it threatened to pierce eardrums, filled with indescribable, extreme agony!

Lin Xiao's fingers dug into the mangled stump, where bone fragments jutted out from the bloody flesh!

He could even feel the cold touch of the broken bone and the tearing of muscle fibers beneath his fingertips!

The pain hit like a tidal wave, instantly crushing all of Zhao Hu's will!

The bit of ferocity that had just risen within him was utterly pulverized. His body convulsed violently, as if all his bones had been removed. His eyes rolled back, saliva mixed with blood foam dribbling uncontrollably from his mouth. He was on the verge of passing out completely.

"Trash!"

Lin Xiao spat out the two words coldly, his gaze devoid of any warmth.

He suddenly let go. Zhao Hu's twisted, severed arm hung limply. The whole person slumped down like a pile of mud, completely losing consciousness, only his body still twitching involuntarily.

Having finished, Lin Xiao slowly straightened up.

He shook his left hand, which was covered in blood and viscous tissue, his face showing no discomfort, only a near-cruel calmness.

He scanned his surroundings, his gaze sweeping over the faces filled with terror, shock, and disbelief.

When his gaze passed Su Qingxue, it paused for a moment.

Su Qingxue's usually clear eyes were now filled with indescribable complex emotions – shock, wariness, and even a hint of inquiry?

Zhou Xiaoya, standing beside her, had already squeezed her eyes shut in fear.

Lin Xiao's lips curved again into that signature roguish smile, with three parts amusement and seven parts cynicism, as if the person who had been as cold as an Asura moments ago wasn't him.

"What are you looking at?"

He spoke lazily, his voice hoarse from the life-and-death struggle, yet it reached everyone's ears with exceptional clarity. "Haven't you seen someone beat a sick cat before?"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Zhao Hu's few equally stunned lackeys, their faces pale. His eyes suddenly sharpened, like tangible blades scraping across them. "Why aren't you carrying him away? Waiting to collect your Brother Hu's corpse?"

The chilling aura made the lackeys shiver. Snapping back to reality, they scrambled over and fumbled to lift the mud-like Zhao Hu, his arm twisted, completely unconscious.

They didn't even dare to utter a threat, fleeing the scene like stray dogs, leaving behind only a mess and glaring bloodstains.

Only after Zhao Hu was carried away and disappeared from sight did the suffocating tension that had enveloped the cafeteria entrance seem to dissipate slightly.

Fatty Wang finally found his senses. He scrambled to Lin Xiao's side, his voice cracking. "Brother Xiao! Brother Xiao, are you okay? Your arm! And what happened just now?"

He looked at Lin Xiao's unnaturally hanging right arm and his blood-soaked body, his voice trembling with fear.

Lin Xiao didn't answer him.

He didn't have time.

Because the moment Zhao Hu was carried away, the faint blue light screen in his mind reappeared silently!

In the center of the screen, new, clearer glowing text flickered:

[Target: Zhao Hu - Status: Severely injured, unconscious.]
[Combat settlement complete.]
[Source Energy Points: +1.0 (Target threat neutralized).]

[Current Source Energy Points total: 1.5.]

The cold prompt sounded like a clear spring flowing through his burning consciousness.

Source Energy Points! 1.5 points!

Although he didn't know what these "Source Energy Points" were or what they were for, it was this very thing that allowed him to turn the tables in that life-or-death moment!

This was definitely something more important than money or power!

It was the source of strength!

A surge of immense, indescribable ecstasy instantly washed away all of Lin Xiao's fatigue and pain!

He felt his heart pounding wildly, his blood surging through his veins!

Strength! This was the feeling of strength!

The feeling of controlling his own life and death!

He subconsciously "looked" at the light screen in his mind.

Besides the settlement information, the light screen seemed to have gained something more.

At the bottom edge of the light screen, there appeared to be several extremely dim, nearly gray icons or outlines of options, faintly visible, as if shrouded in mist, unclear.

What was that?

Lin Xiao's heart leaped, and his desire for greed and exploration grew like wild grass!

"Brother Xiao? Brother Xiao, say something! Don't scare me!"

Fatty Wang's tearful shout pulled Lin Xiao back from his ecstatic thoughts.

Lin Xiao took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the excitement that was about to burst from his chest.

He glanced at Fatty Wang, whose face was filled with anxiety and fear, then cast a look at Su Qingxue, who was still standing in the distance, her expression complex and unreadable.

He grinned, revealing a smile mixed with exhaustion and searing pain, yet filled with boundless wildness and excitement, his teeth flashing with a blood-stained glint in the setting sun.

"Can't die."

His voice was hoarse, carrying the exhaustion of survival, yet it also exuded an indescribable exhilaration, "Fatty, help me up. Damn it, I lost big this time, but..."

He paused, his gaze shifting towards the direction Zhao Hu had disappeared, then seeming to pierce through the void, landing on the faint blue light screen that only he could see. His smile deepened, becoming more profound and dangerous.

"It was worth it!"