Green with Rage

That plague!

At the sound of his voice, Xiong Batian's face darkened. He'd wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible to avoid the shameless bastard, but he hadn't expected the guy to spot him anyway.

And now the guy had called him out in front of everyone. How was he supposed to leave now?

Gao Wan and Yang Wei were about to lose their tempers, but when they saw Xiong Batian there too, they froze. Xia Ping had some nerve—was he really planning to pick a fight with Xiong Batian too?!

"I thought they said your injuries would take at least a month to heal. Which hospital did you go to?" Xia Ping asked curiously, looking Xiong Batian up and down.

Under normal circumstances, Xiong Batian's injuries should have taken at least a month to heal. But only a week had passed, and he was already full of energy. Clearly, he hadn't received ordinary treatment.

The bastard was insane! He was the one who'd sent Xiong Batian to the hospital, and now he actually had the nerve to ask where Xiong Batian had gotten better. He was obviously trying to rub salt in the wound and bring up Xiong Batian's humiliation. Wasn't he afraid Xiong Batian would blow up?

Gao Wan and Yang Wei were both stunned. Seeing Xia Ping this brazen somehow extinguished most of their anger too.

"That's none of your business," Xiong Batian said through gritted teeth.

Xia Ping smiled. "I heard you're representing your class in the Fighting Tournament too. You'd better be careful. If you accidentally run into me and I don't know my own strength, you'll end up back in the hospital."

Good grief! The students were dumbfounded. This bastard was unstoppable. People said not to expose someone's weaknesses or hit them in the face, but this guy went out of his way to find people's sore spots. He was practically begging everyone to hate him.

Sure enough, Xiong Batian's face flushed with rage, and he looked ready to explode. But he held himself back. If he started a fight here, he might damage the tournament venue and would definitely be punished severely.

He gritted his teeth. "Fine. I'll wait for you to send me back to the hospital."

With that, Xiong Batian turned and left, his face deathly pale. He was clearly on the verge of losing it.

"That bastard's unbelievable. Is he a demon? Does he want everyone to hate him?" Yang Wei was dumbstruck. Xiong Batian was the school's little tyrant, and Xia Ping had still dared to provoke him like that. He was way too arrogant.

"He's definitely crazy. We'd better not cross a lunatic. He's completely unhinged." Gao Wan's face twitched. With a personality like his, Xia Ping would get himself killed sooner or later—and maybe they wouldn't even have to do it themselves.

He actually held back?!

Xia Ping was surprised. He hadn't expected Xiong Batian to change so much after his hospital stay. He'd even managed to endure Xia Ping's taunts without throwing a punch.

He'd hoped to use this opportunity to earn Hate Points, but it looked like he'd have to try something else.

Just then, their homeroom teacher, Qiu Xue, walked over. "Line up at once. The tournament is about to begin." She waved for the students scattered around to get into formation.

At her words, Xia Ping and the others lined up according to their student numbers.

Before long, the School Fighting Tournament began. Several school administrators sat onstage and gave speeches, followed by the principal. Each of them spoke for only a minute, so it didn't take long.

"Finally, let's welcome the student representative, Jiang Yaru, to give a speech," the host announced loudly from the stage.

Jiang Yaru stepped out from backstage and walked straight to the front of the stage. Her appearance immediately set off cheers throughout the school.

"She's gorgeous! That's our school goddess, Jiang Yaru."

"She really lives up to her reputation. She's beautiful, elegant, and has a great figure. If I could marry a woman like her, my ancestors would have to be smiling down on me. I'd be unbelievably lucky."

"Stop dreaming. She already has a boyfriend. I heard she's pregnant too."

"Good grief, that can't be true! Who's her boyfriend? I'll go kill him right now."

"I heard he's her classmate, and they've known each other since they were kids. That beast managed to get his hands on her."

"I heard her boyfriend's a total scumbag. He's dating more than a dozen girls at once, and he's got girlfriends at other schools too. Jiang Yaru is just one of them. Apparently, several of the others are pregnant too and are discussing whether to get abortions."

"What a beast! Her boyfriend's worse than an animal. He got the school goddess and still wasn't satisfied—he's dating more than a dozen girls at once and wants high school girls to get abortions. How does he even pull it off? Are all those girls blind?"

"Exactly. I heard he comes from an ordinary middle-class family. His father's just a city-management officer, he's nothing special to look at, and his grades are average. I can't make sense of it at all."

"Of course you can't. If you could, you'd be a master of romance. Let me tell you, men like that are the most dangerous. They look ordinary and completely harmless. That makes beautiful women lower their guard and think he'd never cheat on them, so they fall for him. They don't realize that men like that are the most dangerous."

"That makes a lot of sense. Handsome guys have a big advantage, but when women see one, they can't help thinking he might be a player. They instinctively put him on their blacklist. So in that sense, being handsome is a disadvantage too."

"Good grief, that means ordinary guys like me have a chance too."

"Ahem. Well, for a guy with a chin as big as yours, your chances are pretty slim."

"Cut the nonsense. Who exactly is Jiang Yaru's boyfriend?"

"I think his name's Xia Ping. He's the guy who beat Xiong Batian earlier."

"So it's that bastard. Let's get some guys to ambush him after school."

The students chattered among themselves, all harboring resentment toward Xia Ping. Some even wanted the scumbag to disappear for good. A goddess like Jiang Yaru shouldn't be defiled by a beast like him.

Meanwhile, Xia Ping was standing with his class when he suddenly heard the system repeatedly announce, "Negative emotions toward the host detected nearby. Some even harbor murderous intent. Hate Points +1, Hate Points +1..."

"What's going on? I haven't done anything, so how am I attracting hate?" Xia Ping looked frustrated. This was bizarre. He was catching all this resentment through no fault of his own.

Right, Jiang Yaru. She must be the reason. Xia Ping suddenly remembered what had happened a few days earlier. Rumors about him and Jiang Yaru had spread everywhere, making plenty of people hate him.

"Sure enough, trash-talking is out of date. Picking up girls is the best way to attract hate." Xia Ping stroked his chin. It seemed his chance to earn a huge amount of Hate Points lay with Jiang Yaru.

A few minutes later, Jiang Yaru finished her speech, and the host announced that the School Fighting Tournament had officially begun.

With a ding, Xia Ping's phone suddenly received a message from the school. It contained the schedule for that day's Fighting Tournament, including the matchups between contestants.

"What?! Xia Ping versus Zhou Tai'an in the first match!"

The news swept through the entire school in an instant, including Class 16 of Grade 12.