Justice

No. 9 Middle School, Martial Arts Arena.

Today was match day. No. 9 Middle School was hosting First Middle School, the powerhouse ranked first in the Dongjiang Middle School Martial Arts League.

Han Yang, in particular, was hailed as Dongjiang's number one middle school student. He was formidable in the extreme.

Gao Wu had defeated two Advanced Martial Artists in a row the week before last, and his fame was at its height. Many people said he was even stronger than Han Yang.

Now, fans from both sides were at each other's throats online.

Today's clash between the two Martial Arts Teams would settle the matter once and for all. This match had also become the focal battle of the Middle School League.

The Dongjiang Middle School Martial Arts League organizing committee's official homepage was broadcasting this very match.

Yet Gao Wu did not appear.

Coach Huang Hai merely said that Gao Wu had something to do, but he could not explain the specifics. This left the teachers and students of No. 9 Middle School deeply disappointed.

The members of the visiting Martial Arts Team were also very disappointed. They were all quite interested in Gao Wu, especially Yang Ru, who had wanted to defeat Gao Wu in the ring and show Han Yang what she was capable of.

By two-thirty in the afternoon, Gao Wu still had not appeared. No. 9 Middle School sent Zhou Yi up first. He was an Intermediate Martial Artist, usually quiet and reserved, with a solid foundation in martial arts. He was just too stubborn by nature, making him very unpopular.

If the Martial Arts Team had not been short on people, Zhou Yi would never have been chosen as the vanguard.

First Middle School sent out Yu Rulong. With ape-like arms, a wasp waist, and a head of white hair, he was rather handsome. Standing at the center of the ring in a black martial arts uniform, he looked full of high spirits.

In appearance and bearing alone, Yu Rulong completely crushed Zhou Yi.

Less than three moves after they began, Yu Rulong struck Zhou Yi on the chin with White Ape Offers Fruit, knocking him unconscious on the spot.

The teachers and students of No. 9 Middle School, who had been cheering Zhou Yi on, immediately fell silent.

Yu Rulong then defeated three more people in a row. Huang Long entered as the fifth competitor and the team's main general.

Seeing that Huang Long was their main general, Yang Ru said disdainfully, "Seriously? Gao Wu doesn't even dare show his face? What a coward!"

Song Minglin chimed in from the side, "It would have been one thing if that brat just didn't step into the ring. He doesn't even dare come to the venue. His character is truly awful!"

Han Yang shook his head slightly. "His fighting style seemed quite fierce to me. It shouldn't be that. It really shouldn't."

Although he was confident he could defeat Gao Wu with certainty, he could also see how formidable Gao Wu was.

Yang Ru, Song Minglin, and Yu Rulong were all Advanced Martial Artists with their own exquisite inheritances, but it would be difficult for any of them to defeat Gao Wu.

Judging from Gao Wu's past performances, there was no way he would avoid a fight.

It was only a middle school martial arts league match. Losing was nothing, but not daring to step into the ring was a tremendous disgrace.

"Second Brother, you don't understand. People from the bottom are just this despicable and cunning..." Yang Ru said.

Han Yang did not want to discuss this. Changing the subject, he said, "There's no need to care about such trivial matters. Our goal is next April's Qilin Cup. Our opponents are the elite geniuses from the cities of Beizhou..."

"Brother Yang, only by not coming does Gao Wu have an excuse to wriggle out of it. If he came but didn't compete, that would prove he was cowardly and guilty..."

Song Minglin thought very little of Gao Wu, who had suddenly risen to prominence. He had originally been holding back his strength, waiting to deal with Gao Wu, but Gao Wu had not shown up at all. This made him both angry and contemptuous, convinced that he had seen through Gao Wu's cowardly nature.

Han Yang smiled. Though he did not agree with that view, it would not be appropriate to refute Song Minglin. They were teammates, after all, and he had to leave the other man some face.

As for what exactly had happened to Gao Wu, it was not important.

In fact, many people shared Song Minglin's opinion. Most of the teachers and students of No. 9 Middle School at the venue thought the same way.

When they saw Huang Long, the last competitor, take the stage, many students began whistling or booing. Quite a few also shouted, "Gao Wu! Gao Wu..."

Others cursed loudly, "Gao Wu, coward! Gao Wu, coward!"

These cries drew responses from many people, growing ever more uniform and louder by the moment...

The school leaders of No. 9 Middle School looked somewhat grim. Whether they won the match was not important. This match had drawn enormous attention in Dongjiang, yet the students at the venue were behaving so improperly that it left the leaders with no face.

Vice Principal Jiang Tao went to find Coach Huang Hai and ask about Gao Wu's situation.

Huang Hai shook his head. "I can't reach Gao Wu. I don't know what happened to him."

The various viewers watching the online livestream were also extremely dissatisfied with the absence of Gao Wu, the central figure of the match. Countless people were cursing him, and viewership was plummeting.

At Anjing University, ten thousand miles away, Shang Qingjun was also frowning tightly. She knew Gao Wu very well. For such an important match, even if his legs were broken, he would crawl to the Martial Arts Arena. He would never give up so easily.

Gao Wu's absence could only mean one thing: something had happened to him.

Shang Qingjun sent Gao Wu a Feixin message, but received no reply. His phone could not be reached either. She was truly becoming worried, hesitating over whether she should ask her grandfather about the situation.

Her beautiful roommate leaned over and asked curiously, "Why isn't our little brother competing? Isn't this match against Dongjiang's number one?"

"I don't know what went wrong..." A trace of worry appeared in Shang Qingjun's gentle, water-like eyes.

Her beautiful roommate felt a little heartache at the sight. She put an arm around Shang Qingjun's shoulders and comforted her softly, "What could possibly happen? Don't scare yourself."

Shang Qingjun forced a smile. She was truly worried, yet she feared Gao Wu might be handling some private matter. If she asked her grandfather, it might be bad for Gao Wu...

Shen Yue, watching at the venue, was the most anxious of all, because the insults from the surrounding students were extremely unpleasant.

Many people knew he was Gao Wu's friend. Seeing that Gao Wu had not competed, quite a few asked him what was going on, while others mocked him outright.

Shen Yue did not know what had happened to Gao Wu. Surrounded by people questioning and cursing him, he felt as though he were sitting on pins and needles.

He took out his phone and sent Gao Wu no one knew how many Feixin messages, but he never received a response.

On the ring, Huang Long was being beaten back step by step. Yu Rulong suddenly used Single Whip Hand, swinging the back of his hand like an iron whip and striking Huang Long squarely behind the ear. Huang Long's entire body instantly stiffened, his eyes rolled white, and he stood there frozen.

The referee hurriedly stopped Yu Rulong. The battle ended there. Yu Rulong had fought five in a row, ending every match and claiming a sweeping victory.

Yu Rulong raised both hands high to acknowledge the surrounding audience, but a wave of boos unexpectedly rose from the entire venue, followed by every kind of curse directed at Gao Wu.

They were all teenagers in their mid-teens, their love and hatred simple and direct. Gao Wu's failure to take the stage at such a crucial moment had caused No. 9 Middle School to lose face, filling its students with tremendous malice toward him...

Just as Shen Yue was feeling miserable, a Kuaiyin notification suddenly arrived. When he opened it, he found that it was a message from Gao Wu's alt account: Forward the video.

The abrupt, contextless sentence left Shen Yue utterly baffled. He sent a string of question marks, but received no response.

The video was titled "Where is Justice?!" which left Shen Yue even more confused.

When he opened the video, Shen Yue saw Gao Wu confronting a tall man in black. Both men held longswords in their hands.

The overhead footage was slightly distorted, but its wide angle captured the mountains, the swirling snow, the distant city, the two opponents facing off, and the cold gleam of the swords in their hands.

The mountains stretched vast and indistinct, snowflakes danced wildly, and the distant city stood quietly amid the gloom. The two men facing each other were like swordsmen from an ancient duel, filling the scene with tension.

As a semi-professional editing expert, Shen Yue felt that this needed a piece of background music, preferably traditional instruments like a xiao or xun. Their notes would be low and lingering, perfectly heightening the atmosphere.

The video quickly switched to a first-person perspective. The black-clad man's large face, covered in pus-filled boils, was magnified considerably, making him all the more horrifying.

The man in black shouted, "Little brat, I'll let you die knowing why!" Yet Gao Wu's reply was very polite, even friendly. He even reminded the man to go to the hospital.

Gao Wu could not be seen from this angle, but Shen Yue was exceptionally familiar with Gao Wu's low, hoarse voice and knew his manner of speaking even better. He was certain that Gao Wu was the one talking.

By this point, he already had a bad feeling. Had something happened to Gao Wu?

Then the man in black prayed to the Demon God. His body swelled larger as he raised his sword and slashed fiercely at Gao Wu.

"Demon God Believer!" Shen Yue immediately felt that things were bad. Demon God Believers had no reason left. This was bad!

After capturing the high-speed sword blade, the action camera automatically activated high-speed recording, filming the descending blade with remarkable clarity.

The falling sword blade tore through the freezing wind, and the wildly flying snowflakes churned and shattered beneath it. The microphone recorded the piercing, savage shriek of the blade cutting through the air.

Through the first-person perspective, viewers could fully experience the terrifying might of this sword stroke that could split mountains and shatter rocks.

Shen Yue was not skilled in martial arts, but even he could see how terrifying that strike was. His heart clenched sharply. Was Gao Wu going to die?

The two swords collided, and a broken blade flew away. The video switched to a bird's-eye view, showing both sides crossing paths before each drew their sword with a backhand motion.

After charging forward several steps, the man in black suddenly paused. Mosaic censorship abruptly covered his body.

Even with the mosaic obscuring him, Shen Yue could see clearly that the man in black had been severed diagonally into two halves...

"Fuck!" Shen Yue could not help crying out.

Several lines of text appeared on the video: A youth was forced to kill a Demonic Cultist, yet was detained on charges of intentional homicide. Where is Justice?

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