None of the students beneath the ring disagreed with Qin Shuyu. If anything, they thought she made a good point.
After all, Zhou Yuhu had placed third in the University Fighting Tournament. Even some of the fighting instructors had praised him to no end, saying he had what it took to make a name for himself in the city tournament. Teaching the scrawny Shi Feng a lesson would be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
"He's sure talking tough now. I bet Shi Feng will be on his knees begging for mercy in a minute."
"Obviously. Do you even know who Zhou Yuhu is? I bet Shi Feng will be flat on his back in less than ten seconds."
The boys in the class whispered about what would happen to Shi Feng, then burst out laughing.
"What's wrong with all of you? How can you treat your own classmate like this?" Zhao Ruoxi looked at her classmates and demanded angrily.
The students fell silent, but their eyes showed nothing but disdain for Zhao Ruoxi.
A flashy girl curled her lip and muttered, "Tsk. She's just pretty. If it weren't for Feilong, who would listen to her?"
The other girls nodded along. They didn't take their class monitor seriously at all.
The girl had spoken softly, but everyone present had heard her clearly. Lin Feilong, standing nearby, had heard her too, and he looked positively delighted.
Fuming, Zhao Ruoxi turned away and stopped looking at them.
Lin Feilong walked over and said in a refined manner, "Ruoxi, I know you have to get involved because you're the class monitor. But Shi Feng brought this on himself, so you can't blame everyone else. Besides, with a body like his, no one believes he can win. You might as well be throwing your money away. I'll talk to Brother Hu in a bit and tell him not to take your money. Shi Feng can pay it all back himself."
"I did help Shi Feng because I'm the class monitor, but I never expected to get the money back." Zhao Ruoxi glanced at Lin Feilong and replied coldly, "You took the recommendation slot that should have gone to Shi Feng. Now you won't even help him, and instead you stand here making snide remarks. Aren't you afraid people will condemn you for it?"
"And how can you call this a match? One fighter placed third in the entire school, while the other doesn't even know any fighting techniques. You're not embarrassed to say that?"
Every word Zhao Ruoxi said struck home. Her elegant, otherworldly beauty only made her words hit harder, and Lin Feilong's face paled with anger. He had nothing to say.
Just as Zhao Ruoxi had said, every class had a certain number of recommendation slots, and only students ranked in the top twenty academically could get one. But he had worked hard to earn the right to compete in the city tournament. If anyone found out that he, the great Lin Feilong, was a university student without even one recommendation slot, he'd be humiliated beyond belief.
The school had considered the embarrassment this could cause, so it had ruled that the top five students could get recommendation slots even if their grades were poor. But he had only placed ninth, so naturally he hadn't qualified. That was why he'd made the suggestion to the school. Since Lin Feilong was ranked thirtieth, not too far from twentieth, the school had agreed to his request, on the condition that someone else was willing to give up a slot. As for how he got someone to give one up, that was up to him.
He had planned to use the class's collective interests and his own strength to pressure the weakling Shi Feng. It should have been easy, and he could have tossed him a small favor to settle the matter. He hadn't expected Shi Feng to react so differently from how he'd imagined, as if he didn't take Lin Feilong seriously at all or care about his threats. Now Zhao Ruoxi was mocking him too. His anger felt like it could never be quenched, no matter how much water the world held.
"Fine, it's not an even match. But can you blame anyone for Shi Feng being weak? Who agreed to the match? You can't blame me for that."
Lin Feilong's bloodshot eyes flicked toward Zhao Ruoxi. If she hadn't been so beautiful and alluring, he would have slapped her long ago. But he held back. Using force would be a stupid move, and Zhao Ruoxi came from an influential family. If anything went wrong, he'd be finished for good. Besides, the thought of having his way with her someday calmed him down a little.
"You made me look like a fool, kid. Just you wait," Lin Feilong swore silently, glaring at Shi Feng on the ring.
Shi Feng felt Lin Feilong's hostility and gave a disdainful smile.
Still, he had to admit that Lin Feilong was right about one thing.
This wasn't an even fight.
In his previous life, he hadn't had the physique of a top fighter, but he could still take them down. That was thanks to the life-and-death battles he'd fought in God's Domain. What did it mean to be a battle-hardened hero? If you survived a hundred battlefields, becoming a hero among experts was practically inevitable.
It was like how many martial arts masters trained on the edge of towering cliffs, using the feeling of having their lives hang by a thread to push themselves and improve. But training that way was far too dangerous for ordinary people. They could easily lose control and die.
After so many lifelike battles to the death in God's Domain, his combat experience and technique had improved by leaps and bounds. He was on a whole different level from the fighters in the national tournaments.
Ten years from now, any melee player with a little reputation could easily defeat the current fighting champion of Jinhai City. And Shi Feng had been the leader of Shadow Studio.
The school's fighting tournament was child's play to him. What was more, his physique now surpassed even what he'd had ten years later. Taking on five or six Lin Feilongs would be a piece of cake.
"You've got a lot of nerve, kid, looking around like that. I'll show you what happens!" Zhou Yuhu charged at Shi Feng as he spoke, swinging a slap toward Shi Feng's face to humiliate him.
Shi Feng saw it coming and didn't move. Facing an opponent stronger than himself, he simply threw a punch at Zhou Yuhu's face, not caring in the slightest about the incoming slap.
Zhou Yuhu hadn't expected Shi Feng's punch to be so precise, aimed directly at his face. Instinctively, he raised both hands to block it.
Seeing Zhou Yuhu's reaction, Shi Feng's lips curled up. He swiftly chopped at Zhou Yuhu's neck with his hand, moving as fast as lightning. Zhou Yuhu couldn't react in time. Shi Feng's hand struck his neck, slicing across the carotid artery with surgical precision.
Zhou Yuhu's vision blurred. He felt as if he couldn't breathe, and weakness washed over his entire body.
Shi Feng gave him no chance to recover. He punched Zhou Yuhu in the side of the abdomen. Zhou Yuhu tried to block, but his body wouldn't obey. His stomach twisted as if a knife were turning inside it, and a mouthful of yellow fluid spewed from his mouth. His vision blurred, and he couldn't even scream.
Zhou Yuhu instinctively tried to fall, but Shi Feng gave him no chance. He landed punch after punch in Zhou Yuhu's side, then struck his ribs several times. After a rapid barrage of ordinary straight punches, Zhou Yuhu vomited up all the sour fluid in his stomach and collapsed on the ground like a dead dog.
The whole crowd fell silent. The place was utterly still.
It had all happened so fast that no one had even had time to react.
Only then did the fighting instructor, who was acting as the referee, come to his senses. He immediately called the match, declaring Shi Feng the winner, then hurried over to check on Zhou Yuhu.
He couldn't believe that Zhou Yuhu, who had just placed third in the school, hadn't lasted even one move against this scrawny young man.
It wasn't that Zhou Yuhu was weak. It was that the scrawny young man walking away was too strong. The instructor had watched several of Zhou Yuhu's matches. Zhou Yuhu was unquestionably strong, and even he would have had trouble dealing with him.
After checking Zhou Yuhu's injuries, the fighting instructor was stunned. Shi Feng's technique was terrifying. Every move had been perfectly measured. Zhou Yuhu had only broken two or three ribs, and hadn't suffered any serious injuries, though his chest would hurt for more than a month before it healed.