Lin Yun's Lackey

Ye Xiao stopped eating and looked up.

He looked at the bowl of soup, then at Sun the Lackey's face.

"Put the soup down."

His voice was calm, as if he were commenting on the weather.

Sun the Lackey froze for a moment, then grinned even more broadly.

He turned to Zhou the Lackey and said, "Did you hear that? He told me to put the soup down."

Zhou the Lackey laughed too. "Then go ahead and put it down."

"Fine, I will."

Sun the Lackey loosened his grip.

The bowl dropped onto the table. Egg-drop soup splashed everywhere, spattering Ye Xiao's sleeve.

The cafeteria fell completely silent.

Everyone watched.

Some people sucked in a sharp breath. Others excitedly pulled out their phones, while a few secretly messaged beneath the table—

"Come see! Lin Yun's guys are messing with that Martialist!"

Ye Xiao lowered his head and looked at the soup stain on his sleeve.

It was his only long-sleeved T-shirt. He had washed it so many times that its color had faded to gray.

His adoptive father had left him an old backpack containing two changes of clothes, but both had holes in them.

He looked up at Sun the Lackey.

"I told you to put the soup down."

Sun the Lackey felt a little uneasy under his gaze, but there were three people behind him and dozens of onlookers around them. He couldn't back down.

"I did put it down." He pointed at the soup on the table. "Look, isn't it sitting right there?"

Zhou the Lackey chimed in, "What, got a problem with that? If you do, hit me. Come on, I'll stand right here and won't move. Try it."

He slapped his own cheek, grinning obnoxiously.

"Hit me here. How strong can a Martialist be? A hundred pounds? Two hundred?"

"If you hurt me, it's on me. I won't fight back."

Someone in the cafeteria laughed, then quickly stifled it.

Ye Xiao looked at him and said coldly, "Did Lin Yun send you to mess with me?"

Their expressions changed at his words, but they quickly replied:

"Hmph, we just can't stand a nepotism case like you!"

"This has nothing to do with Brother Yun!"

"Even if Brother Yun hadn't said anything, we'd still want to teach a nepotism case like you a lesson!"

"..."

Ye Xiao heard them and gave a scornful laugh.

"So Lin Yun did send you to mess with me."

The three of them were instantly dumbstruck.

They realized they had said the wrong thing.

They were just about to explain themselves.

Then Ye Xiao stood up.

His chair scraped across the floor with a harsh squeal.

A powerful presence surged from Ye Xiao.

It sent a chill down everyone's spine.

Sun the Lackey and Zhou the Lackey instinctively took a step back. When they realized they had retreated, their faces darkened.

Ye Xiao didn't look at them.

He calmly slid his tray farther in, as if to protect it.

Then he fixed his calm gaze on the three of them.

"How are you planning to mess with me? You three cowards."

Sun the Lackey froze, his face turning red and then white.

Ye Xiao's sudden rise had frightened him into retreating.

In front of dozens of people, he had backed down from a Martialist.

"Did you just fucking call us cowards?"

He rushed forward and reached for Ye Xiao's shoulder.

Ye Xiao stopped.

He didn't turn around. He merely glanced down at the hand resting on his shoulder.

"Move it."

Sun the Lackey's hand was trembling, but he didn't move it.

"You motherf—"

He didn't get to finish.

Ye Xiao moved.

He didn't turn around or throw a punch.

He simply lowered his shoulder slightly, and then—

An enormous force surged through Sun the Lackey's palm, as if a hammer had smashed into it.

His entire arm went numb. He staggered backward uncontrollably for three or four steps, crashed into the table behind him, and toppled over with it in a clatter.

Gasps rang out across the cafeteria.

No one saw what had happened.

They only saw Sun the Lackey reach for Ye Xiao's shoulder. Ye Xiao's shoulder shifted, and Sun the Lackey went flying.

Zhou the Lackey's face turned pale. "You—"

Ye Xiao turned to face him.

"Still want to fight?"

Zhou the Lackey looked at his fallen companion, then at the other two behind him.

They had three people.

Ye Xiao was alone.

He gritted his teeth. "Let's take him together!"

All three rushed at him at once.

Zhou the Lackey charged from the front, while the other two tried to flank him. Screams rang through the cafeteria as tables and chairs went crashing about.

Ye Xiao stood still.

Zhou the Lackey's fist reached him first—a full-force blow from a B-rank profession, Vajra Arm, carrying roughly three or four hundred pounds of force. It could break an ordinary person's bones.

Ye Xiao raised his hand.

He didn't throw a punch. He simply raised his hand.

His palm was like an iron gate, catching the fist firmly.

The repeated compression and tempering of one hundred and twenty levels in the Mud Embryo Realm!

It had made Ye Xiao's physical foundation incredibly solid!

Zhou the Lackey froze.

His fist was caught as if in an iron vise. He couldn't move it.

He was a Second Realm, Eighth Stage expert!

And yet he was being effortlessly restrained by the trash in front of him, who was only in the First Realm!

"You—"

Ye Xiao tightened his fingers.

Crack!~

The sound of a bone breaking.

Before Zhou the Lackey could even scream, Ye Xiao had already let go. He stepped forward in the same motion.

He crossed two meters in a single step and slammed straight into the person on his left.

That man felt as if a truck had hit him head-on. He flew backward and crashed into a dining table two meters away, sending soup and food flying everywhere.

The person on Ye Xiao's right was already dumbstruck, his fist raised in midair but unable to come down.

Ye Xiao turned to look at him.

"Do you still want to fight?"

The man's knees gave way, and he dropped straight to the floor.

"N-no, I don't..."

The cafeteria fell into deathly silence.

Of the three men on the ground, one clutched his shoulder and groaned, another held his wrist and screamed, and the third knelt there, trembling.

Ye Xiao stood among them without a single bead of sweat on him.

He lowered his gaze to his fist. A faint golden light on his knuckles was fading away.

The students around them took out their phones to snap pictures and record videos.

The three men were still writhing in pain on the ground.

Ignoring their pain, they shouted angrily.

"No pictures!"

"Put your fucking phones away!"

"Anyone who records this is going to regret it when we come after you later!"

"..."

Some of the students were intimidated by their threats.

They silently put their phones away.

But others were bold—or simply wanted to see the situation get even worse.

One student recorded a video and uploaded it to the school's online forum.

It didn't take long.

Footage of Ye Xiao beating up the three men went viral.

Soon, students all over the school were watching it!

Meanwhile,

Fatty Wang had just returned with a fresh serving of food.

He stared at the scene before him, dumbfounded.

"Good grief!"

"Ye Xiao, you beat up Lin Yun's lackeys?"

Ye Xiao smiled faintly.

"They started it. I didn't have much choice but to fight back."

Fatty Wang gave him an admiring thumbs-up.

"That's awesome!"

"Those guys definitely deserved it!"

Just then,

the person in charge of the cafeteria hurried over after students informed him about what had happened.

When he saw that a fight had broken out and that tables had been damaged, disrupting other students' meals,

his face immediately darkened with anger.

The power of an Eighth Realm expert burst forth, pressing down on everyone in the cafeteria.

The noisy scene fell silent in an instant.

"Who said you could fight in the cafeteria?"

"Everyone who took part in the fight, get over here!"