The midday sun was a little harsh, and the campus was bustling with people, alive with the clamor of youth.
Dai Mubai, Tang San, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun had almost fully recovered from their injuries and were back to their usual arrogant selves.
They were seething with pent-up anger and were about to leave campus to find somewhere to blow off steam. For the past few days, they'd been too busy nursing their injuries and stewing in anger to go bar-hopping and pick up women. The brothers were practically bursting at the seams.
But fate had other plans.
They hadn't even left the campus gates when they ran straight into Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, Ning Rongrong, and Bai Chenxiang on the main road.
The four girls walked side by side, smiling and laughing.
They had just come from Qin Chuan's Claw Machine Shop, where they'd helped clean up, organized the shelves, and even thoughtfully brought Qin Chuan lunch.
After a busy morning, each of them had earned only four or five points of membership experience, but they were enjoying themselves, feeling that they were one step closer to leveling up again.
Xiao Wu was wearing the same pink gauze dress as ever. Her Scorpion Braid swung back and forth as she practically radiated energy.
Beneath Ning Rongrong's blue miniskirt, her legs—wrapped in white stockings—were long and straight. She walked like an elegant swan.
Zhu Zhuqing's black leather outfit accentuated her curvaceous figure to perfection, drawing frequent glances from the boys who passed by.
Bai Chenxiang, meanwhile, was like a well-behaved girl next door, following behind the other three as her twin ponytails swayed gently with each step.
When they saw their four "enemies," Dai Mubai and the others instinctively wanted to lower their heads and sneak around them.
"Stop." A cool voice rang out, devoid of emotion. It was Zhu Zhuqing who had spoken.
Dai Mubai and the others froze in their tracks and had no choice but to stop.
Dai Mubai raised his head and met Zhu Zhuqing's icy gaze. For some reason, his heart began to pound.
"Have you forgotten our bet?" Zhu Zhuqing's voice wasn't loud, but everyone nearby heard her clearly. "Call me Grandma."
Dai Mubai's face instantly turned liver-purple, and his fists clenched at his sides with a crackle.
"What, trying to weasel out of it?" Xiao Wu walked over with her arms folded, watching him with a grin. "There were so many people watching at the sports field that day. Surely Young Master Dai isn't such a sore loser? Why are you getting so mad?"
Students had already stopped to watch, pointing and whispering about them.
Dai Mubai's cheeks burned. He knew that today, he was going to have to call her "Grandma," whether he liked it or not.
He took a deep breath and forced the three words through clenched teeth: "...Grandma."
His voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"I can't hear you!" Xiao Wu cupped a hand to her ear, pretending to listen. "Louder! Didn't you eat?"
"Grandma!" Dai Mubai practically roared, the veins in his neck bulging.
"That's more like it!" Xiao Wu nodded with satisfaction.
Ning Rongrong and Bai Chenxiang covered their mouths, trying not to laugh aloud, but their crinkled eyes gave them away.
Zhu Zhuqing remained expressionless. After Dai Mubai had shouted, she merely glanced at him, then turned and walked away with her friends.
Watching them leave, Dai Mubai and the others stood rooted to the spot, feeling like four clowns who'd been stripped naked in public and thrown to the ground for everyone to humiliate.
"Let's go! We're drinking!" Dai Mubai snarled through gritted teeth, then turned and headed for the campus gates.
Without a word, the four of them went straight to the most luxurious bar on the academy's East Street: the Fallen Angel.
The deafening music pounded against their hearts like a heavy hammer, and the kaleidoscope of lights made their eyes swim. The air was thick with the decadent mix of alcohol, perfume, and hormones.
They found a booth and ordered the most expensive liquor.
The icy spirits slid down their throats like knives, but for the moment, they numbed the humiliation and fury in their hearts.
Before long, several scantily clad women with alluring figures came over. They were regulars here and naturally recognized Dai Mubai and the other rich young masters, who were always generous with their money.
"Young Master Dai, what's wrong today? You look like you're in a bad mood." A woman with wavy hair sat right on Dai Mubai's lap. Her soft body pressed tightly against him, and her full breasts brushed his arm, seemingly by accident.
Dai Mubai wrapped an arm around her waist and buried his face in the crook of her neck, breathing in her strong perfume. "Don't ask. It's been a lousy day!"
He picked up his glass and downed it, then roughly gripped the woman's chin and kissed her hard.
On the other side, Oscar already had a woman in each arm. His hands roamed over their bodies while he blew smoke rings and told dirty jokes, making both women tremble with laughter.
Ma Hongjun had also pulled a petite girl close and was pouring drink after drink down his throat, his eyes glazed.
Only Tang San sat alone in a corner, silently drowning his sorrows. Several empty bottles already sat in front of him.
As the alcohol went to their heads, they grew more talkative.
"Damn it! Why should we put up with this?" Dai Mubai shoved the woman in his arms away and slammed his fist onto the table, rattling the glasses. "I'm a Level 68 Soul Emperor, and a Level 62 girl beat me until I was begging on my knees! Then today, I had to call her Grandma in front of all those people! I can't swallow this!"
"Exactly!" Ma Hongjun shouted, his face flushed and his tongue thick with drink. "Bai Chenxiang definitely used some kind of sorcery! A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring! I saw it with my own eyes! Are those old fogeys at the academy blind? They said I was hallucinating!"
"And my tooth..." Oscar pointed to the gap in his front teeth. "That little bitch Ning Rongrong definitely did something! How could my Mushroom Sausage turn into stone by itself? It makes no sense!"
The women listening were utterly bewildered, but they had the sense not to interrupt. They simply kept pouring drinks and softly comforting the men.
"Third Brother, say something!" Dai Mubai turned to Tang San, who had remained silent the whole time.
Tang San raised his head. A dangerous light glinted in his bloodshot eyes. He drained the last of his drink, then slammed the glass down on the table.
"We can't count on the academy." His voice was hoarse and icy. "There must be an expert advising them!"
"Then what do we do? Just accept it?" Dai Mubai asked bitterly.
"Accept it?" Tang San sneered. "I, Tang San, have never suffered a loss like this in my life."
He stood up and staggered to the middle of the booth, looking around at his three brothers.
"We'll settle this ourselves!"
His gaze finally fell on the window, in the direction of Spirit Academy. The venom and madness in his eyes sent a chill through the bar girls beside him.
Tang San couldn't swallow his anger. He made a decision.
"In a bit, I'm going back to the Clear Sky Sect."
Dai Mubai lifted his head from the woman's embrace, his eyes lighting up. "Right! Get some help! Third Brother, bring a few experts from your sect! I refuse to believe that even a Titled Douluo can't handle those little girls!"
Tang San nodded, then shook his head. "We need to be strategic about bringing in help. If we send our elders to beat up a few students, it'll be the Clear Sky Sect's reputation that suffers when word gets out."
He pondered for a moment, and an even more vicious—and far more satisfying—plan slowly took shape in his mind.
"I don't want simple revenge," Tang San said, his voice edged with coldness. "I want them to pay back the humiliation we suffered today tenfold, a hundredfold!"