If you don't pay, I'll kill Liu Long!

Wang Sheng, standing nearby, saw that familiar expression on Qin Qi's face and heard those familiar words; he immediately clamped his legs together!

A gentle breeze blew by, bringing a faint sense of sorrow with it!

"I said I agree to a one-on-one with you!"

Liu Long, completely caught off guard, looked at the approaching Qin Qi and shouted out, feeling quite considerate.

"Oh."

"Bang!"

The moment the word "oh" left Qin Qi's lips, his leg moved as well. It was the same kick to the crotch, but faster and more ferocious than before!

"!"

Liu Long's mind went completely blank in an instant. His muscles tensed instinctively, and his hands gripped his lower regions tightly.

It is common knowledge that if you still have the strength to scream, it means the injury isn't severe; it is only when you lack even the strength to scream that you have truly been dealt a critical blow. At this moment, Liu Long had suffered such a blow, nearly fainting on the spot!

The surrounding male students watched Liu Long, who was curled up on the ground like a shrimp, and couldn't help but feel a phantom pain of their own.

"You, you ambushed him! You don't follow the rules!"

"You are despicable and shameless!"

"You are utterly shameless, we don't accept this!"

The Formal Students all clamped their legs together and shouted loudly.

"You don't accept it?"

Qin Qi took two steps toward them.

"Hiss!"

"What are you doing!"

"Don't come any closer, we aren't afraid of you!"

"If you come any closer, we'll all jump you at once! I don't believe you can take us all down!"

The Formal Students couldn't help but gasp, then collectively took a step back, their voices trembling as they spoke.

As the Formal Students retreated, the Work-Study Students followed suit and took a step back as well.

Wang Sheng, in particular, felt the phantom pain with startling realism!

"I'm not going to hit you; I want to reason with you."

"You just said I ambushed him. I cannot accept such slander!"

"We country folk can endure anything, but we cannot endure being slandered!"

Qin Qi's expression was extremely serious, his eyes even carrying a hint of grievance.

"You, you still want to quibble? Everyone saw what you just did!"

"That's right! Not only did we see it, but the Work-Study Students saw it too!"

"We aren't slandering you; we are speaking the truth!"

The Formal Students shouted back.

"What is the truth? Think carefully about what just happened!"

"First, you wanted to fight, and I stepped out to say I would fight. That's correct, right?"

Qin Qi shouted loudly.

"Y-yes, that's right, but then you pretended not to hear and launched a sneak attack!"

"Wrong! I really didn't hear clearly. To be sure, I even asked again if Liu Long wanted to fight me one-on-one!"

"What did he say then? He said he agreed to the one-on-one!"

"Then I said 'oh,' the battle began, and I attacked. That's no problem, right? It follows the rules, right?"

Qin Qi stated.

"This, this..."

The Formal Students were momentarily unable to process this. If they followed Qin Qi's logic, he had already notified them of the duel.

Liu Long had agreed to the duel, then the two began, and Liu Long hadn't reacted in time and was defeated.

That didn't seem to be a problem.

"No, that's not right!"

"You attacked while Liu Long was talking! That's still an ambush!"

Someone shouted.

"You're talking nonsense again. The final response was clearly mine. Liu Long said he agreed to the duel, and I said 'oh.'"

"The last person to speak was me, not Liu Long!"

Qin Qi had exploited the human instinct for cognitive processing; when one person finishes speaking and another hears the sound, the brain prioritizes processing the information carried by that voice.

Launching a sneak attack at that exact moment is devastating.

With the eyes unable to see and the ears occupied by the previous sound, a person becomes completely defenseless for that split second.

Sneak attacks also require method and technique, and as it happens, the Tang Sect specialized in exactly that.

They even turned this process into a children's game, one that Qin Qi had played plenty of times in the past.

"This..."

The Formal Students looked at one another, unable to come up with a rebuttal for the moment.

Qin Qi's sophistry had completely disrupted their logic, making it impossible for them to grasp the point of the matter.

"So, I didn't sneak attack at all; I defeated Liu Long through sheer strength!"

"But because I'm a Work-Study Student, you started acting shamelessly and slandering me!"

"I'm just an honest country boy, and I can't stand this injustice!"

Qin Qi shouted at the top of his lungs. As long as the voice is loud enough and the expression firm enough, one can argue for three parts of reason even when they have none!

Especially when the opponents were just a group of underage children.

"Fine, fine, let's just say you won. We lost this time."

"Take Liu Long and let's go."

The Formal Students didn't want to get tangled up any further; they just wanted to slip away.

"Wait... you haven't paid up yet, where do you think you're going!"

Qin Qi shouted loudly.

"Pay? Pay for what?"

"The fee for the duel."

"What fee is there for a duel?"

"Others might not charge, but I do. Are you going to pay, or do I need to give this kid Liu Long another kick?"

"No! We are not people who bow to threats!"

Without wasting words, Qin Qi kicked Liu Long directly in the backside, the vibration of which pulled at his injuries in the front.

"Pay! Just pay them, damn it! Consider it a loan!"

Liu Long was in so much pain he started cursing, his heart roaring in fury. If they aren't going to pay, why are you hitting me!

Go hit them instead!

"Liu Long, don't be afraid of him. Even if he beats you to death, we won't yield. This is the backbone of us Formal Students!"

Someone spoke up with resentment.

"You won't yield even if he beats me to death... you, you, you!!"

Liu Long looked at those bastards, so angry he nearly vomited blood. Is that even human language!

I haven't offended you in the past, have I? Is it necessary to do me in like this!

I can endure the heavy blows of an enemy, but the backstabbing of my teammates cuts me to the core!

"You're doing pretty poorly for yourself, aren't you? Not a single person is willing to pay to protect you."

"Sigh, you're a tough guy, I'll give you that. Forget it, I'll just take your money and call it a day."

Qin Qi sighed and reached out to 'loot the corpse,' taking all the money Liu Long had on him.

"As expected of a young master, you're loaded. Your pocket money alone is more than the combined savings of all the Work-Study Students in Dorm Seven."

Qin Qi looked at the shiny coins in the wallet, his heart racing uncontrollably.

He tucked it into his own pocket and prepared to go get something to eat.

"Clashes in the arena are fraught with danger; one misstep is the difference between life and death."

Qin Qi patted Liu Long on the shoulder, sighed, and turned to walk away, projecting the weary air of a man standing under the setting sun.

"This guy is actually kind of reliable."

Xiao Wu stood in the distance, watching Qin Qi's retreating back, his words echoing in her mind.

For some reason, she felt that Qin Qi's stature had grown a little taller.