The Acceptance Letter Finally Arrived

Zhao Rui put the bottle back where he had found it and continued searching the room.

In just a few minutes, he had made quite a haul. He found more than fifty thousand yuan in cash and an old-fashioned-looking steel dagger, along with a scabbard etched with intricate dragon patterns.

Besides those two things, there were several condoms, two bottles of aphrodisiacs, and a set of electric... tools for women to use at night.

"Fuck!"

Zhao Rui couldn't help cursing under his breath. The more good-for-nothing and aimless a man was, the more women he seemed to have.

This was fucking ridiculous!

After searching around and finding no Qi Guiding Pills, Zhao Rui decided not to linger. He turned and left the room.

He sprang onto the roof and leaped away in a few bounds.

Moonlight spilled like liquid mercury, drifting slowly through the clouds and occasionally falling over the world below with the chirping of cicadas.

In a desolate little alley, several thuggish men each had an arm around a young woman. Reeking of alcohol, they stumbled their way inside.

"Brother Tiger, can you really give my little brother a talent for martial arts?"

In the arms of the broad-nosed young man at the front, a girl with above-average looks and exaggerated makeup gazed at him expectantly.

"Of course. When has Brother Hu ever lied to anyone?"

The broad-nosed young man didn't answer, but one of his lackeys behind him spoke on his behalf.

"Once you become our sister-in-law, forget just giving your little brother a talent for martial arts. He'll be able to walk all over everyone at school."

Hearing this, the other lackeys burst into laughter and chimed in. As they laughed, they didn't forget to give the women beside them a few squeezes.

Some of the girls were happy to go along with it and responded with coquettish smiles. Others knitted their brows, their faces full of fear.

The group laughed and joked without a care, drawing a chorus of barking dogs from all around.

Before long, they reached a small house with a courtyard along the street and staggered inside.

Seven or eight minutes later, the sound of a woman begging and shouting rang out from within, mixed with a man's contemptuous curses and the thud of blows.

"Brother, let me go! My parents are waiting for me at home!"

"Brother, stop hitting me! Please!"

"Fuck, why are you pretending to be pure? Don't tell me you're still a virgin. If anything, that just means I can't let you go."

The girl's refusal seemed to make the broad-nosed man lose face in front of his lackeys. He began punching and kicking her.

"And what about you lot? Don't tell me you're all virgins too? Those damn girls sure know how to surprise me."

The broad-nosed young man's words made the other men in the room roar with laughter. They began feeling up and teasing the women around them.

The girls were instantly trembling with fear. They huddled on their seats, not daring to move.

Even those who had been promiscuous in the past didn't dare show it now. Once anyone sparked his interest, it wouldn't stop after one or two rounds.

Besides, Brother Hu was beating the girl on the floor. There was no need for them to draw attention to themselves!

"You didn't even bother asking around? I'm Brother Hu. Who in this neighborhood dares defy me?"

The broad-nosed young man leaned over arrogantly and reached out a tattooed arm toward the battered girl, groping for the full breasts straining beneath her clothes.

Just then, several sounds like bullets tearing through the air shot in from outside.

Before the young men could react, stones struck their acupoints, and they immediately went stiff as logs, unable to move.

Brother Hu knew martial arts. Though he heard the wind and tried to dodge, he only managed to move once before a second stone struck him.

He let out a howl and fell to the ground.

The others were merely immobilized, but the stone had struck him directly in the calf, leaving a gaping wound that spurted blood.

At the same time, another stone shattered the lightbulb in the room, plunging everything into darkness.

"Which big brother is that? Is there some kind of misunderstanding? Spare me, spare me!"

Ignoring the pain of his wound, Brother Hu struggled to crawl behind the coffee table.

He considered himself "cautious" by nature and never picked fights with martial artists. How could a master have come after him?

Before he could finish speaking, a figure floated down from the courtyard wall like a drifting cloud and landed by the doorway.

Beneath the moonlight, the figure stood tall and straight as a pine, with cold light shining in his eyes beneath his sword-like brows.

"Where are the Qi Guiding Pills?"

"The Qi Guiding Pills? B-big brother, you're a martial artist. Why would you want those? They're, they're not properly tested."

Brother Hu wasn't stupid. The other man had named the Qi Guiding Pills right away, so he must have a use for them. If they were used on someone close to him and something went wrong...

"You know they're not properly tested, yet you still sell them? Are you looking to die?"

The black figure's face was hidden behind a mask, but his tightly furrowed brows made it clear he wasn't in a good mood.

"Big brother, I'm not the one selling them. It's all—ah!"

Brother Hu was still trying to explain when the black figure planted his foot on the wound in his calf.

The man who had been swaggering around moments before let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"I'll get them! I'll get them!"

A wise man knew when to yield. Brother Hu didn't dare talk back anymore. Limping, he made his way into the bedroom.

Before long, he took a bottle of Qi Guiding Pills from a hidden compartment. He also brought out every last bit of the fifty thousand yuan in the cabinet.

"Big brother, this is everything I own. Please spare me this once. I won't dare do it again. I really don't know how I offended you. Please be the bigger man..."

Seeing Brother Hu, who had been so arrogant just moments ago, reduced to this, the girls hurried to huddle in a corner, too frightened to make a sound.

The black figure looked at the money and couldn't help swallowing. As expected, if you wanted to make money fast, you had to rob people...

Ahem, uphold justice!

He didn't respond to the broad-nosed young man's words, instead reaching straight for the bottle.

Just as his hand touched it, with Brother Hu barely a foot away, a flash of cold steel burst from Brother Hu's hand and stabbed straight toward the black figure.

Brother Hu's face, which had been full of fear and pleading moments before, suddenly twisted into a vicious grin.

"Go to hell!"

Brother Hu was a Level 3 Martial Artist, after all. At this close range, and with the attack so unexpected, even a martial artist two levels above him could fall for it if caught off guard.

His dagger was sharp enough to cut through iron. He had treasured it for years, and now that he had suddenly thrust it out, he could pierce anything—not just someone using Iron Body techniques, but even a lump of solid iron.

"Ah! Spare me!"

Just as he congratulated himself, certain he would land a direct hit, he felt his wrist sink into a quagmire. The dagger had advanced less than half an inch before it could move no farther.

At the same time, the black figure's cold, murderous eyes appeared in his own.

Unfortunately, before he could utter another word of pleading, his vision went black, and he sank into endless darkness.

Looking at Brother Hu sprawled on the floor, the black figure silently picked up the dagger, then took the bag of money and the Qi Guiding Pills as well.

Once he had everything, he didn't even glance at the girls in the corner or the motionless lackeys. He walked straight out of the courtyard and vanished into the boundless night.

"Everyone, run! None of us say a word about what happened today!"

Only after the black figure had been gone for a while did the girls exchange glances, work up the courage, and rush out of the courtyard.

At the same time, several streets away, Zhao Rui was riding home at a leisurely pace along a bustling road. He wore blue-and-white shorts and a T-shirt, with a backpack slung over his shoulders.

He wouldn't kill someone outright, of course, but that didn't stop him from using a few techniques to block Brother Hu's meridians and leave him an idiot.

Scum like that preyed on students with bad reputations to lure junior and senior high schoolers who were devoted to martial arts into buying his Qi Guiding Pills at exorbitant prices.

He not only swindled them out of their money, but left them to fend for themselves.

Zhao Ke had been lucky to receive help in time. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

The government didn't ban things like Qi Guiding Pills. After all, their purpose was clear, and those who took them did so willingly.

But neither did it let them circulate freely on the market.

Compared with the Qi Guiding medicine developed by the government, Brother Hu's Qi Guiding Pills were clearly lower quality and more dangerous.

"Too bad I'm not strong enough."

Zhao Rui shook his head to himself. He wasn't a Grandmaster, so he didn't have the ability to trace the problem back to its source.

His bicycle sped along the curb, and before long he was back home.

"I heard that a lot of schools have already sent out their acceptance letters. Why hasn't yours arrived yet?"

As soon as he entered, Xue Wenhui asked anxiously.

"Dongqi University always sends them late. It should be here soon."

Zhao Rui put his backpack in his bedroom, then went over to the coffee table in the living room, picked up a peach, and took a bite.

Mm, it was nowhere near as good as the ones at Tian Yaru's house.

Expensive fruit really did taste better.

"August's nearly half over. If your acceptance letter doesn't come, how are we supposed to host a celebration?"

Xue Wenhui couldn't help complaining.

"Mom, if I didn't get in, then we wouldn't have to host a celebration, right?"

Zhao Rui chuckled.

"You little rascal, what kind of nonsense is that?"

Xue Wenhui raised her hand and pretended to swat him.

Zhao Rui dodged with a grin. "Don't worry. It'll be fine."

After chatting in the living room for a while, Zhao Rui returned to his bedroom and opened his backpack.

Inside lay a set of black clothes and several stacks of bright red banknotes, impossible to miss.

One hard-working summer break earned less than a single night of punishing the wicked.

It just wasn't fair!

No wonder this world had order and chaos side by side, civilization shining alongside violence.

Whoever possessed such formidable strength would be willing to spend their whole life as someone else's beast of burden, doing manual labor?

Unless martial artists were given a special class of their own, there was no way to reach a compromise.

That was also why so many students devoted themselves to becoming martial artists and breaking into that circle.

Zhao Rui stuffed the money into an opaque plastic bag and tucked it, along with the dagger, into the bottom of his bookcase.

Once he had hidden everything, he tidied up, climbed into bed, and sat in meditation to rest.

The night passed without incident.

The next day, Zhao Rui went to Tian Yaru's house for tutoring as usual.

As soon as the girl saw him, she immediately asked how he had handled things.

Zhao Rui flicked her on the head and said irritably, "I'm not a hitman. What was I supposed to handle?"

"Huh?"

"What do you mean, 'huh'? Get back to studying. Today we're doing Chapter Ten of the second-year high school math book..."

Zhao Rui put on a stern face, picked up the textbook, and began teaching her the new semester's material.

At the same time!

In an alley near Lincheng No. 1 High School, Brother Cannon approached the gate of a house uneasily and peered inside.

A few lackeys with brightly colored hair followed behind him.

"Brother Hu!"

"Brother Hu?"

Brother Cannon called out twice. When no one answered, he finally dared to walk in.

"Where is everyone? Why's nobody here?"

Brother Cannon looked around the empty courtyard in surprise. He was about to shout again when Brother Hu emerged from the house.

"Brother Hu, you're here!"

Brother Cannon hurried over with a fawning smile.

Before he could reach him, a string of foolish giggles came from Brother Hu's direction.

Brother Cannon looked up in surprise and saw Brother Hu staring at him like an idiot, drool running from his mouth. He looked utterly miserable.

There was also a wound on his right leg, apparently from being struck by a blunt object. The blood around it had long since dried.

Brother Cannon was so shocked that he fell to the ground. His lackeys rushed to help him up.

Then the whole group bolted for the exit.

After running several dozen meters, Brother Cannon suddenly came to his senses. He frowned. "Where are the others?"

His eyes darted around before he waved them over. "Come on, let's go back and take another look!"

With that, he led everyone back to the courtyard.

"Brother Hu, it's me, Cannon. What happened to you?"

Brother Cannon cautiously edged closer and asked, his eyes narrowed.

Brother Hu was out of his mind and didn't recognize Cannon or anyone else.

He only knew how to giggle stupidly.

Greed instantly flared in Brother Cannon's eyes. He signaled to his lackeys, then quietly circled around the dazed Brother Hu and went inside.

The moment they stepped through the doorway, Brother Cannon and the others gaped in shock. The house had been turned upside down, with everything thrown into disarray.

"Fuck, we got here too late!"

Unwilling to give up, Brother Cannon searched the house twice. Apart from two boxes of condoms, he found nothing.

"Let's go!"

Brother Cannon waved his hand and hurried away from the courtyard with his lackeys.

After they had run a mile or two, Brother Cannon called them over and said, "Brother Hu must've offended someone. We need to be careful from now on. Don't get involved with the Qi Guiding Pills anymore. I bet that's what caused this!"

Brother Cannon wasn't much of a student, but he wasn't stupid. The only thing that could have gotten him into trouble while running with Brother Hu was the Qi Guiding Pills.

As for fighting and battling over territory, that had nothing to do with him as the leader of a gang of student punks.

"Yes, boss!"

After giving everyone their instructions, Brother Cannon finally calmed his rattled nerves and led them to the billiards hall.

The madness of a single gangster couldn't stir up the slightest ripple in this world. Even the Patrol House couldn't be bothered to investigate.

Another week passed in the blink of an eye.

Zhao Rui's acceptance letter finally arrived, just as the middle of August was drawing to a close.

When Zhao Jincheng and his wife saw the four gilt characters "Dongqi University" written on the letter, they were so moved they nearly burst into tears.

Even Zhao Ke, who rarely said much, took the rare opportunity to congratulate his older brother. "Congratulations!"

This was one of Dongqi Province's top universities. Graduates from here would have a much easier time finding work or passing civil service exams.

And Zhao Rui was a Martial Arts Student, no less!

"Huh, this major?"

While everyone was still celebrating, Zhao Jincheng suddenly noticed what was written in the major field of the admission letter: "Accounting!"