Emergency

When he entered Class Five, all the students had already arrived. They were sitting cross-legged on their chairs, diligently cultivating.

Gao Teng tiptoed to his seat and joined them.

It was an utterly ordinary day. By the time school let out that afternoon, he had gained only nine points of cultivation, along with a negligible amount of proficiency in his cultivation techniques and martial skills.

As for his physical and mental attributes, their values had barely changed.

Improving those two attributes required not only taking pills to nourish the body and spirit, but also training with body-tempering techniques to strengthen the bones and meditating to temper one's thoughts and will. It was an arduous process that took a long time to show results.

"Cultivating martial arts is so hard."

Gao Teng couldn't help sighing. Just as he walked out of the classroom, he suddenly heard the urgent wail of a siren.

He looked toward the sound. An ambulance with flashing lights came roaring over and stopped beneath the teaching building.

Immediately afterward, its rear doors flew open. Several medical staff rushed into the teaching building, carrying a stretcher and looking frantic.

Gao Teng looked surprised. Who needed emergency treatment?

He headed downstairs and saw several medical staff hurry into Class Eight, Grade Three. A short while later, they emerged at a brisk pace, carrying Zhou Xing.

Zhou Xing's eyes were rolled back in his head, and his body was convulsing uncontrollably. Blood kept pouring from his mouth. He looked as if he might die at any moment.

Gao Teng's heart clenched. He hadn't yet made Zhou Xing suffer the punishment he deserved, and now the guy was about to die?

Couldn't he be a little less fragile?

"Make way! Quickly, make way!"

The medical staff shouted urgently as they ran down the corridor. The students watching scattered to either side, their eyes following Zhou Xing on the stretcher.

Gao Teng glanced at the people in the corridor, then walked over to his former deskmate and asked curiously, "Zhu Hong, what happened to Zhou Xing?"

Zhu Hong curled his lip, looking gleeful. "He took too many drugs and suffered a backlash.

"Think about it—how could anything Zhao Dapeng recommended be any good? Sure, it was cheap, but the side effects were terrible.

"Zhou Xing must've lost his mind. He'd already met the admission requirements for a key university. What was he in such a hurry for?"

Gao Teng couldn't help laughing. How could Zhou Xing not be in a hurry?

His strength was dropping every day, and even piling on pills couldn't stabilize his cultivation. It would've been strange if he hadn't panicked.

He clicked his tongue. "I saw Zhou Xing had lost control of his bowels and bladder. I wonder if he'll even survive."

Zhu Hong snorted, his face full of disgust. "If he dies, that'll be justice from the heavens. He's always bullied people. He deserves this!

"But it'd be even better if he became a cripple and spent the rest of his life being bullied. Now that would be satisfying!"

"Mm."

Gao Teng replied and rested his hands on the wall as he looked downstairs.

Zhou Xing had already been loaded into the ambulance and was being rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment amid the wail of its siren.

He looked away and said to Zhu Hong, "All right, I'd better go. I still have to work and pay off my debt."

Zhu Hong nodded. "Sure, go ahead."

"By the way, how are things in Class Five?

"I heard you even went to the principal to report Zhao Dapeng. That took guts."

Gao Teng replied helplessly, "I had no choice. Otherwise, wouldn't Zhao Dapeng have bullied me to death?

"Now that I've transferred to Class Five, things are much better. Teacher Chen is wonderful and takes her teaching very seriously. She treats every student equally and doesn't judge people by their status."

Zhu Hong said enviously, "I want to transfer classes too, but my family is too poor to afford pills from the big pharmaceutical companies.

"Zhao Dapeng is a real bastard, but at least he can get me medicine I can afford, which saves me a lot of money.

"Alas, everyone knows the big companies' pills are more effective and have fewer side effects, but I can't afford them!"

Gao Teng understood that predicament all too well. It was also why Chen Yan, despite being such a dedicated and responsible teacher, had so few students.

Martial arts training was incredibly expensive, and the admission standards for universities rose every year. Without relying on pills to accelerate cultivation, students would be eliminated.

For students from ordinary families, it was incredibly difficult.

Even if pills from small pharmaceutical companies were less effective and came with serious side effects, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and buy them. At least they were cheap and could save a lot of money.

Gao Teng's gaze softened with sympathy. If he couldn't improve his strength by stealing cultivation, he'd have to live the same miserable life, taking low-quality pills every day.

He might even have it worse. He was buried in debt and probably couldn't afford even the shoddy pills from small pharmaceutical companies!

"Once I reach the top of this world, I'll change things for good."

Gao Teng secretly made up his mind.

But the thought only flashed through his mind. Right now, getting into one of the five top universities was what mattered most. It was too early to think about that.

He said goodbye to Zhu Hong and left the school at an unhurried pace.

He swung onto his bicycle and rode toward Mercy Hospital.

He wanted to make sure Zhou Xing was all right. If he'd survived, Gao Teng would have to go to the hospital in the morning and steal his cultivation.

After riding for over an hour, Gao Teng arrived at the gates of Mercy Hospital.

He parked his bike in a corner of the courtyard, locked it, and hurried toward the emergency building.

Before he even entered the lobby, a sharp siren wailed behind him. An ambulance sped over and screeched to a halt outside the emergency building.

Then its rear doors were flung open, and several medical staff rushed out carrying a stretcher. A student lay on it, covered in blood.

Seeing this, Gao Teng immediately stepped aside and watched as they rushed into the resuscitation room.

"Looks like Zhou Xing wasn't the only one."

Gao Teng thought to himself that, with the college entrance exams approaching, plenty of people would misuse drugs to improve their strength, eventually pushing their bodies to the breaking point and landing themselves in the hospital.

He glanced around the lobby and walked over to the information desk.

"Hello, I wanted to ask: about an hour ago, was a senior from Fifth Middle School brought here for emergency treatment?"

The nurse immediately understood. "You mean Zhou Xing?"

Gao Teng nodded repeatedly. "Yes, that's him."

The nurse looked troubled. "He's been such a handful. As soon as we resuscitated him, he started demanding to be discharged. He said he didn't have much time left and insisted on going home to cultivate."

Gao Teng breathed a sigh of relief. Zhou Xing was still alive. That was great.

"So he went home?"

The nurse said, "No. How could we possibly let him leave?

"His meridians are badly damaged. He needs to rest properly in the hospital. If he takes more pills recklessly, he'll definitely die."

After a pause, the nurse added, "I wonder which company made the Meridian Opening Pill he took. His meridians were on the verge of bursting, but he didn't even feel it. It must've been packed with painkillers.

"If he hadn't suffered brain damage, he would've been completely crippled and never able to practice martial arts again."

Another nurse couldn't help chiming in, "Your school is so irresponsible. How could it recommend such shoddy pills to students?

"To cut down on side effects and get people to take more pills, the companies that make them stuff them with all sorts of things. How could anyone's body withstand taking too many?"