Scavenging

In the small woods behind the school, Zhang Tie had only been wrestling with the person on the ground for a short while. He hadn't fully gained the upper hand, having only managed to land a couple of punches after getting on top of the guy, when a tremendous force suddenly hit his back. Zhang Tie was kicked flying off the person he was pinning.

The immense force struck him, and Zhang Tie rolled forward with the momentum, then sprang to his feet with a nimble carp flip. As soon as he stood up, two people simultaneously lunged at him from either side. Zhang Tie kicked out at the one on the right. The guy on the right was tough; he sidestepped, lifted his leg, and managed to avoid a blow to his waist, taking Zhang Tie's kick on his thigh instead. While grimacing in pain, the man grabbed Zhang Tie's right hand with both of his. Zhang Tie's left hand had just started to move, throwing a punch, when it too was caught by two hands after he took a punch himself. As he tried to struggle, he received a heavy kick to the lower abdomen, which instantly incapacitated him.

The entire fight ended in less than thirty seconds. When everyone's basic strength was roughly equal, fighting six against one, with one side completely unprepared and the other launching a premeditated surprise attack, this was the inevitable outcome. Moreover, compared to the attackers, Zhang Tie, with his yellow skin and black hair, was noticeably smaller. At 15 years old, Zhang Tie was 1.75 meters tall, while the shortest of his assailants was about the same height, and the tallest was over 1.8 meters, weighing about one and a half times what Zhang Tie did. This was a difference in race.

Zhang Tie, bent over and retching, was pulled up by two people twisting his arms. The group who had just ganged up on him were all gasping and rubbing their sore spots, closing in with malicious intent. The guy Zhang Tie had been beating up earlier also stood up. He felt a salty wetness in his mouth, and when he touched it, he found his nose was bleeding. His hand was instantly covered in crimson, and he became enraged. He took two quick steps forward and punched Zhang Tie squarely on the nose. Zhang Tie saw stars, his nose instantly felt sore and painful, and a salty, fishy liquid flowed from his nasal cavity into his throat, choking him and making him cough. Damn it, Zhang Tie cursed inwardly, this debt is being repaid too quickly.

Immediately after the blow to his nose, a barrage of punches and kicks from the surrounding group rained down on Zhang Tie without mercy, landing over ten blows in quick succession. If he hadn't been held up, Zhang Tie would have been lying on the ground long ago. Even so, at this moment, Zhang Tie could only gasp for air. He felt like a fish thrown onto the sand, struggling to breathe, unable to even move a finger.

The guy wanted to hit Zhang Tie's nose again, but his hand was suddenly grabbed.

"Alright, Doug, if you hit his nose again, his nasal bone will completely shatter, and he'll be disfigured. It'll be too much trouble!"

"Yeah, we agreed to just beat this kid up today to let off some steam. A few punches each, but don't kill him. Damn it, I was pulling my zipper too fast this morning and ripped out some hairs, it still hurts..." said the person holding Zhang Tie's right hand.

"Big Head here usually seems ordinary during sparring, but today, when he fought desperately, if it were just the two of us, we might not have been able to stop him!" said the one with acne, the one who had greeted Zhang Tie that morning and invited him to enjoy themselves. This was Barry, the most lecherous fatty in Zhang Tie's class, the originator and organizer of the "masturbation club" in the classroom, and one of the notorious scoundrels among the graduating class of Seventh National Boys' Middle School. At twelve, he had stolen money from his father to find a prostitute and gloriously ended his virginity, proudly bragging about it to everyone.

Doug, with a nosebleed, busied himself stuffing tissues into his nostrils to stop the bleeding. He tilted his head up, pointing to his injured nose with grief and indignation, "Try it yourselves, damn it, try it yourselves! Six of us here, how could I be so unlucky..."

As Doug spoke, he angrily landed another punch on Zhang Tie's stomach. This blow caused Zhang Tie's already churning stomach to erupt. The lunch he had just eaten surged out of his mouth like a fountain, drenching Doug's head and face with a large, wet, steaming mass of partially digested food. The surrounding people were instantly stunned, watching Doug, with tissues stuffed in his nostrils, stand there dazed, covered in vomit. Their faces twitched as they fought the urge to burst out laughing. The two guys next to Doug even stepped back a couple of paces, covering their noses, while the two holding Zhang Tie's arms quickly let go, afraid Zhang Tie might turn around and give them the same treatment. They would have truly cried without tears, utterly disgusted.

"Ah..." the unlucky Doug let out a strange cry and, abandoning any thought of hitting Zhang Tie again, ran off at an unprecedented speed, presumably to clean himself up.

Seeing Doug disappear, the remaining five guys burst into unrestrained laughter. After vomiting, Zhang Tie actually felt a surge of clarity. Gasping for breath, he struggled to get up from the ground. Seeing him rise, the two closest to him even took a cautious step back, fearing that Zhang Tie, who could barely walk, might launch another indiscriminate slime attack on them...

Zhang Tie, standing unsteadily, snapped to attention. He looked at the bear-like figure who had appeared behind the group at some point and forced a smile onto his face, "Captain Colin..."

"Haha, trying to attack us again while we're turned around, Big Head? Do you think we're idiots? Or have you been reading too many low-level knight novels?"

"Do you want us to beat you up again!"

"Haha, that move is too childish. I haven't used it in years..." the fatty Barry said with a shameless laugh, his shoulders shaking, his ample flesh jiggling with mirth.

"Is that so!" the voice from behind them said calmly, instantly freezing the five triumphant individuals like quails in ice. First, their bodies stiffened, then their faces changed color, followed by sweat on their brows, and then their calves began to tremble uncontrollably. This sudden transformation made Zhang Tie marvel at how these guys could perform such a series of difficult actions and expressions in such a short time. Hearing Captain Colin's voice, Zhang Tie's expression remained unchanged, but his mind raced.

One-Eyed Dragon, the most terrifying figure in all of Black Flame City, emerged slowly from the small woods behind the group, arms crossed. His single eye gleamed like a wolf spotting a chicken, and he swept his gaze over their faces with a condescending scrutiny.

"Cap... Captain... Captain Colin!" The tongues of the five people were now tied.

"What's going on here?" Captain Colin asked, tilting his head and looking down his nose at them.

"We were just..." Barry stammered, about to speak, but was interrupted by Captain Colin's rough reprimand.

"Shut up, did I ask you to speak?" Colin glared at them, then turned to Zhang Tie, who looked utterly pathetic, and pointed a club-like finger at him. "You tell me, what's going on here?"

Hearing Captain Colin ask Zhang Tie, Barry and the other four turned pale, almost scared stiff. They stared at Zhang Tie with wide, terrified eyes, full of pleading and despair. If Zhang Tie were to tell the whole story, Barry would bet his virginity that Captain Colin, hearing his beloved goddess being so desecrated by a few students, would ensure they would never be able to desecrate women again for the rest of their lives—under the special educational system and certain special courses, Black Flame City allowed a few casualties each year from the National Boys' Middle Schools without any repercussions.

"Reporting, Captain Colin, we were making a bet..." Zhang Tie made up his mind. If students in the boys' middle school didn't fight, were they still boys' middle school students? He had gotten into his fair share of fights over the years, and although he had taken a beating this time, it wasn't a big deal. Didn't his father always tell him to be magnanimous when possible, but they still had to pay a price?

"A bet..." Captain Colin frowned slightly, then looked at Zhang Tie, who appeared calm. He then turned back to Barry and the other four. "He says you were making a bet, is that right?"

A bet? If they dared to say it wasn't, the five heads instantly nodded like hungry chicks who hadn't eaten rice for three days.

"What kind of bet? What were the stakes? Do you think you can lie in front of the wise Captain Colin?" Captain Colin looked at Zhang Tie, as if to say, Don't think you can fool me.

"We bet that they would team up to beat me up. If they couldn't make me completely surrender, then I could beat them up in return, and they would have to give me all the money they had on them today! They've already lost, so please, Captain Colin, be our witness..." Barry and the other four looked at Zhang Tie. Some breathed a sigh of relief, while others looked pained. This kid, even now, he's not forgetting to get some compensation from us to save face.

As Zhang Tie spoke, he wiped his bloody nose and walked over. In front of Captain Colin, he punched each of them in the nose and kicked each in the stomach, instantly making them bleed from the nose and hang their heads so low they almost touched the ground, gasping in pain. But not a single one dared to retaliate.

After the five men stood up again, Zhang Tie extended his hand in front of them, rubbing his thumb and index finger together in a universally understood gesture...

Beating people up and then demanding money, at this moment, Zhang Tie felt that such a life was truly wonderful.