The First Match

"My first match is against Zhou Tai'an?!"

When Xia Ping saw the match schedule, his pupils constricted. He'd known he would have to face Zhou Tai'an sooner or later, but he hadn't expected him to be his opponent in the very first match.

The school's Fighting Tournament followed the same format as the Tianshui City High School Fighting Tournament: single-elimination, with the winner of each match advancing.

There were twenty-seven classes in the senior year, and each class had selected ten students to compete. A dozen or so had withdrawn due to unexpected circumstances, leaving exactly 256 participants.

The first round would pit all 256 against one another. Winners would advance, leaving 128, then 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, and finally the champion.

To win the whole tournament, he'd have to fight eight matches.

Yet out of more than two hundred participants randomly matched against each other, he'd ended up facing Zhou Tai'an in the very first round. It was an almost unbelievably unlikely coincidence.

"Xia Ping's first match is against Zhou Tai'an? What bad luck. He's out before the tournament's even started."

"Being knocked out wouldn't be a big deal, but do you remember what happened last Friday? Zhou Tai'an clearly wanted to teach Xia Ping a lesson. Now he's finally got his chance. Xia Ping's in for it."

"Exactly. The moment they step into the ring, Xia Ping'll probably get beaten so badly he'll be rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment."

"The referee can stop the fight in time, sure, but even a one-second delay is enough. One punch could leave Xia Ping crippled. It's happened before."

"But it really is a coincidence that Xia Ping and Zhou Tai'an got matched up in the first round."

"It's no coincidence. I heard Zhou Tai'an has connections at school. He probably pulled some strings and asked the teacher managing the tournament data to make a small adjustment. It's no surprise the matchups turned out this way."

"True. They only had to change the fight order a little, and it's just a school tournament. It wouldn't be hard."

The students in Class 16 of Grade 12 discussed it among themselves, looking at Xia Ping with pity. They thought he was incredibly unlucky to have offended Zhou Tai'an.

"Serves him right. That bastard deserves it."

Gao Wan and Yang Wei exchanged glances, delight showing in their eyes. Damn, someone had finally stepped up to deal with that shameless Xia Ping. Heaven had finally opened its eyes.

Who knew how badly Xia Ping had bullied them? He'd even gotten them sent to prison, and their reputations were worse than dog shit. That very morning, old ladies by the roadside had thrown eggs at them on their way to school.

After suffering through such a nightmare, it was easy to imagine how much they hated that shameless bastard Xia Ping. They'd dreamed of seeing him get what was coming to him and taste the humiliation they'd endured.

Now Zhou Tai'an, the school's reigning king, had set his sights on him. Even if Xia Ping survived this, he'd lose a layer of skin. Gao Wan and Yang Wei felt thoroughly satisfied.

They'd already decided that once Xia Ping was beaten badly enough to land in the hospital, they'd put on an act and visit him. They'd sneer at him to his face, and even bring dog shit to throw at him, just to show him what they were capable of.

Rumble~

The moment the school announced the start of the fighting tournament, a fleet of black heavy-duty trucks drove onto the track, carrying a huge silver box. They set it down on the ground.

With several clicks, a staff member nearby pressed a button. The enormous silver box transformed like something out of Transformers, unfolding into a small ring ten meters long and ten meters wide.

Tiered spectator stands appeared beside the metal ring, with room for two or three hundred people. High-definition cameras were installed all around it as well.

Even those who couldn't watch in person could use the high-definition cameras to see everything from every angle. The technology was remarkably advanced.

There were 126 of these small metal rings. The school had rented them from other companies for the tournament, and they were now scattered all around the sports field.

The school's sports field was enormous, so it had plenty of room for all the rings.

In just half an hour, the staff had finished setting up the entire venue. That was the power of technology: it took hardly any manpower or resources.

"Competitors, please proceed to your rings immediately. The matches will begin in fifteen minutes. Anyone who misses their match will be considered to have forfeited," announced the sweet voice of the school's broadcaster.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

At the announcement, students and competitors across the field sprang into action, heading for their assigned rings. Each one had its own clearly marked number, making it easy to find.

"I'm at Ring 88, I think. That's a lucky number." Xia Ping checked the match information, then ambled over to Ring 88.

He immediately noticed that a huge crowd had gathered there. It wasn't just students from Class 16 of Grade 12; students from other classes had come too, along with a large number of girls.

They surrounded the ring several layers deep, packed together as they chattered and shouted. At the other rings, only a handful of spectators had gathered, making them look rather deserted.

Most of the spectators seemed to have been drawn here. That was only natural, considering one of the competitors was Zhou Tai'an, the heartthrob of the 95th Middle School. Countless girls had a crush on him. He was practically a school idol, and wildly popular.

And then there was Xia Ping, the rumored boyfriend of Jiang Yaru. This was practically a battle between romantic rivals. In terms of buzz and excitement, no other match could compare.

Many students wanted to see for themselves what was so special about this so-called scumbag—the bastard who'd gotten the school beauty pregnant, dated more than a dozen girls at once, and started fooling around with women at the age of nine.

"He's here! Zhou Tai'an's here!" a girl shrieked, setting off a chorus of cheers from the other girls.

A young man approached from the distance, dressed in a white suit. He was handsome and debonair, his hair slicked with pomade. He looked every bit like a prince charming.

It was Zhou Tai'an.

Dozens of lackeys followed behind him, making an imposing procession. Compared with ordinary students, he stood out like a crane among chickens, dazzling beyond compare.

"Move."

Zhou Tai'an spoke coldly to the crowd in front of him. The people around him immediately parted like soldiers, opening a path for him to reach the ring.

The students nearby admired him all the more. He truly was the school's reigning king. His imposing presence was beyond anything an ordinary student could match, and the girls shrieked excitedly.

With a thud, Zhou Tai'an gave a light hop. The ground shook beneath him, leaving two distinct footprints. The concrete cracked, forming more than a dozen fissures, and the force sent him soaring over ten meters into the air.

With a boom, he landed in the ring, making it look effortless and as light as a feather, as though nothing had happened.