A Person of Influence

"Brothers, are you all really willing to endure the oppression of these few people forever? Are we going to back down just because Gelis is a Level 2 Battle Soldier? Is Gelis more dangerous than the beasts outside the city walls that we have to face in a week? Since we dare to face challenges with our own lives, why should we shrink back here and let these few people trample our dignity under their feet? What are you afraid of?" The person standing on the table spoke with spit flying, his body language inciting the animals in the cafeteria to become increasingly agitated. "Those of you who have been bullied by these guys before, do you dare to stand up? Those who don't want to be bullied by them, do you dare to stand up? There are four of them, and there are at least 400 of us. Why should we be afraid of them? Why should we be oppressed by them? As long as we unite, can they beat us? Can the four of them withstand a single charge from us? Let's all work together to drive these people who don't respect order, these people who trample on our dignity every day, out of our cafeteria with our fists. From now until we graduate and leave this school, if they ever dare to retaliate against any of us, we will all retaliate against them twice over. Are you willing to unite with me and drive these annoying guys out of the cafeteria? Men of the Seventh Middle School, show your courage! Teacher Daina is watching us..."

The animals were incited to a fever pitch. Those who were usually bullied by Gelis felt old grudges and new hatreds welling up in their hearts, and they joined in the clamor.

"Beat them to death..."

"Beat these bastards to death..."

"Beat them to death..."

"We've had enough..."

"Fuck them..."

Everyone in the graduating class cafeteria was filled with righteous indignation as they moved step by step to surround Gelis and his group.

Zhang Tie and Barry exchanged a look. Barry whispered only one sentence: "Work with everyone to beat them to death..." Zhang Tie thought for a moment, then nodded. After the seven members of the Brotherhood looked at each other, they also nodded.

Looking at the student standing on the dining table inciting the crowd, Zhang Tie suddenly understood what Tang De meant when he said, "A soft tongue can break hard bones."

However, before he could think too much, Baghdad from the Airplane Brotherhood had already rushed over, flying into the air to kick one of Gelis's sidekicks, Sha Long, to the ground. This kick from Baghdad was like a fuse, instantly detonating the already boiling emotions of the animals in the cafeteria. Seeing someone start, hundreds of animals roared and swarmed forward, and a chaotic brawl broke out...

As everyone rushed toward Gelis, Zhang Tie took a moment to glance at the boy standing on the table, who had previously been unremarkable in the grade. He happened to catch a fleeting, inexplicable smile on that person's face. This smile, combined with the way he had used Teacher Daina to incite everyone, made Zhang Tie feel vaguely uncomfortable.

Facts proved that even a Level 2 Battle Soldier, when forced to hold back, would soon be drowned by a sea of rookies who hadn't yet attained the status of Battle Soldier. If Gelis had the strength to let go and fight everyone fiercely, the crowd might have had to pay a considerable price to take down the Gelis quartet. But Gelis wasn't a fool. He dared to block and beat someone up after school, but if he were to seriously injure or maim a large group of students under such public outrage, what awaited him wouldn't just be a simple whipping. Even his old man couldn't smooth that over.

With a bench press of 290 kg, a squat of 380 kg, a maximum right-hand explosive force of 510 kg, a maximum left-hand explosive force of 340 kg, a maximum leg explosive force of 780 kg, and an endurance of 13, Gelis could only try his best to protect Sha Long, Zu Haier, and Jia Naier by his side. But with dozens of hands and feet striking from all directions at any given moment, Gelis and his group were beaten into a sorry state. Except for Gelis, his lackeys were all screaming in pain.

Having been just a step slower than Baghdad, the other six members of the Brotherhood couldn't even squeeze in once the brawl broke out, and could only watch the sorry state of Gelis and his group from behind a thick wall of people.

Finally, after being hit several times in the face and stomach, Gelis couldn't take it anymore. He let out a roar, performed a defensive charge to knock back the people behind him, grabbed Sha Long, who was being beaten by the crowd, and finally protected his battered accomplices as they fled the cafeteria.

"We beat Gelis away! We won..." The animals in the cafeteria cheered as they watched Gelis and his group, who had fled in front of the power of the crowd for the first time, no longer possessing their usual prestige...

This Friday, with only one week left in the school term for Zhang Tie and the others, a previously unknown student in the graduating class named Bulwick suddenly became a prominent figure in the entire Seventh Middle School, completely overshadowing Gelis. During the physical fitness test in the afternoon, the strength Bulwick suddenly displayed as a Level 1 Battle Soldier after igniting his Divine Palace Bright Point made him an overnight sensation, becoming the second student in the school's graduating class after Gelis to possess the strength of a Battle Soldier. Although Gelis's physical and combat stats still surpassed Bulwick's at this moment, everyone knew that Gelis's glory had become a thing of the past. In two consecutive days, first he was knocked unconscious by Captain Colin for violating school rules, losing face in front of the entire school, and this time he was beaten into a frantic retreat by all the animals united together. In an instant, Gelis became a pariah and a synonym for a joke in the school.

In the past, every Friday afternoon, everyone would look at Gelis's performance on the field with awe, watching him refresh one record after another. But today, when it was Gelis's turn, even though his physical indicators and combat power were still indisputably number one, he was met with boos and mockery from all around. Throughout the afternoon, Gelis remained silent with a face as dark as a pot, listening to everyone's praise for Bulwick, occasionally casting hateful glares at Zhang Tie.

Seeing Gelis's hateful gaze, Zhang Tie became secretly vigilant and kept an even lower profile. He vaguely felt that the enmity between him and Gelis had grown deeper for no apparent reason.

Zhang Tie kept a low profile in the afternoon, trying his best to make it look like he was giving his all in all the test items, similar to before, but in reality, he was still holding back. The improvement in his physical qualities after the Divine Palace Bright Point was ignited was fully manifested in the afternoon, especially in the 100-meter dash. In the past, every time Zhang Tie gave it his all, he would be trailing at the back of the pack. This time, as the whistle blew, Zhang Tie exerted force with his feet and shot out with a "whoosh." Both his explosive power and reaction speed had tangibly improved by a notch compared to before. Halfway through the run, Zhang Tie felt his body light and nimble, not at all as heavy as before. Seeing the few people running at the front with him, he slightly eased his pace and ended up finishing in sixth place. Although he still didn't have a record, Zhang Tie was exceptionally satisfied because this was done while holding back some of his strength. If he had gone all out, Zhang Tie felt his 100-meter time could probably break under 11 seconds. For the other items, under Zhang Tie's deliberate suppression, the results were as follows:

Bench press--140 kg.

Squat--180 kg.

Explosive punch power--Right hand 260 kg, left hand 200 kg.

Maximum leg kicking explosive power--320 kg.

Maximum continuous armor-piercing spear thrusts--52 thrusts.

This was the strength Zhang Tie displayed in the afternoon. There was nothing unusual about it. Except for himself, no one cared about his data. Compared to last time, it had only improved slightly and didn't attract anyone's attention.

This should make people feel more at ease, Zhang Tie thought self-deprecatingly. Everything that happened in school today made Zhang Tie deeply understand a truth--this is an era where everyone is struggling for their own survival. No matter where you are, don't become a target for others, because you never know if among those guys around you who are watching you silently, there is more than one person calculating when to use means to step on you or take you out. Gelis's failure lay in his self-righteous pride and arrogance. So what if he was a Level 2 Battle Soldier? In the last two weeks of this semester, which were also the last two weeks of his entire school career, Gelis, who had been proud for years, fell from the heights and was labeled a loser. That guy named Bulwick, whom everyone had never noticed before, had stepped on Gelis's head today and climbed up to become the rising star of the whole school...

"Compared to Bulwick, Gelis is just an idiot with muscles but no brains!" During the afternoon break, Barry sat under a shady tree and said to Zhang Tie cautiously, "Your incident yesterday and our Brotherhood's incident this morning were both utilized by that guy. The timing he chose to make a move against Gelis and the others was perfect; he didn't give them any chance to turn the tables. I suspect that guy has been waiting for this day, using everyone's hatred for Gelis and this special timing to take Gelis down, and then using the threat of Gelis to unite everyone around him. This guy is too terrifying. He is clearly a Level 1 Battle Soldier, yet he deliberately hides his strength. My intuition tells me that he is a dangerous guy, not as righteous and sunny as he appears. You need to be careful of him in the future!"

Zhang Tie nodded. In his mind, he saw the fleeting smile on Bulwick's face when everyone was surrounding Gelis at noon...

A clamor of exclamations came from afar. Without looking, Zhang Tie knew that the exclamations were for Bulwick. Surrounded by a large crowd, Bulwick was demonstrating the gap in physical fitness between a Level 1 Battle Soldier and an ordinary Battle Worker, drawing envious shouts from a bunch of animals. Among that group, the big guy Baghdad was very conspicuous!

This afternoon, Baghdad also followed Bulwick and had his moment of glory...