Can you even do it, skinny dog?

"During these past few days of registration, has anyone gotten into a fight?"

Zhou Yi's voice was hoarse and cold.

The air in the classroom seemed to freeze all at once.

It was so quiet that only slightly heavy breathing could be heard.

At those words, Wang Dong's body visibly stiffened, and a bead of cold sweat nearly appeared on her smooth forehead.

She turned her head and glanced at Huo Yuhao, who was sitting beside her, from the corner of her eye.

This bastard.

Why wasn't he reacting at all?

Huo Yuhao rested his chin on one hand, his gaze calm as he looked at the blackboard. He sat as steady as a mountain, as if he had heard nothing at all.

Seeing how unflappable he was, Wang Dong gritted her teeth and forcibly pulled back the leg she had halfway extended.

If no one else was worried, why should she be?

At worst, they would get scolded together.

At a seat not far away.

Xiao Xiao was silently observing the two of them.

When Teacher Zhou had asked that question just now, she had clearly sensed Wang Dong's expression waver greatly.

But Huo Yuhao was truly steady.

He did not move an inch.

His skin was even thicker than Bright City's walls by a good margin.

Zhou Yi stood at the podium and waited for a moment.

When no one still stepped forward, a clear flash of disappointment passed through her eyes. Then she suddenly slammed her hand down on the desk.

Bang!

The muffled noise made quite a few freshmen flinch in unison.

"What a bunch of cowards."

Zhou Yi coldly swept her gaze across the class, her sharp, caustic voice echoing through the classroom.

"More than a hundred people, and not one of you dares to cause trouble."

"Those who don't dare to cause trouble are mediocre."

"Monster Academy doesn't need obedient little good children like you. We only want real monsters."

A string of utterly hypocritical rebukes came crashing down.

The students in the class were scolded until their faces turned red, yet none of them dared to speak up in rebuttal.

Huo Yuhao was left speechless.

He sighed inwardly.

Was this teaching and nurturing students, or raising bandits?

But on second thought.

Huo Yuhao felt that it actually made perfect sense.

Douluo Continent looked peaceful on the surface, and it even had a so-called supreme educational institution like Shrek.

But in reality?

The underlying logic of Douluo Continent was fucking all about the strong being respected. Whoever had the bigger fist had the final say.

Morality did not even rank in this damned place.

So these soul master academies of Shrek were not places that seriously spread ideas at all.

At most, they were cold-blooded screening machines, plus training camps for high-level thugs.

If he forcibly applied the teacherly ethics of imparting knowledge and guiding students from his previous life to someone like Zhou Yi.

That would be like using a Ming Dynasty sword to behead a Qing Dynasty official.

It was absurd beyond absurdity.

Even though he understood that logic, Huo Yuhao still held a critical attitude toward it.

Understanding was one thing, but he had no respect whatsoever for this twisted culture of banditry.

"Everyone, stand."

Zhou Yi shouted.

"All of you, go to Shrek Square and run one hundred laps."

"You have one hour. Anyone who fails to finish, pack your things and get out!"

After dropping those icy words, Zhou Yi turned and walked straight out of the classroom.

The entire class immediately erupted into an uproar.

One lap around the square was roughly two hundred meters. One hundred laps meant a full twenty kilometers.

And they had to finish it within an hour.

How was this running?

This was practically trying to take half the freshmen's lives outright.

Everyone complained bitterly, but no one dared remain in the classroom. They could only line up and head outside with their heads hanging low.

In the corridor.

The freshmen formed two disorderly lines and trudged downstairs with heavy steps.

Huo Yuhao walked with his hands in his pockets, neither hurried nor slow.

Honestly.

This amount of exercise was no different from an after-dinner stroll for his current physique.

Back in that little courtyard, he and Ye Guyi had trained the Heavenly Origin Art under the extreme pressure of the Gravity Soul Tool.

That was what truly felt worse than death.

What was a half marathon without weights?

Just then.

Wang Dong squeezed over from behind at a brisk pace and bumped Huo Yuhao's arm with her elbow irritably.

"Hey."

Wang Dong lowered her voice. A spark of unwillingness to lose ignited in her beautiful pink-blue eyes.

"What?"

"Let's compete."

"Compete over what?"

"See who finishes these hundred laps first."

Wang Dong raised her chin, gave a cold snort, and said through gritted teeth, "Let me make this clear first: I absolutely won't lose to you again this time."

Looking at how fired up she was.

Huo Yuhao suddenly wanted to knock her down a peg.

He turned his head and looked at Wang Dong strangely.

"Why should I compete with you?"

Wang Dong froze.

"What?"

"There's no wager if I win. What's the point?"

Huo Yuhao spread his hands, then thoughtfully drove the knife in deeper.

"Besides, a defeated opponent like you isn't even worth me putting in any effort."

With a boom.

Wang Dong's entire face visibly turned red.

A faint blush spread from her fair neck all the way to her ears, making her look like a high-pressure boiler about to explode.

"Huo Yuhao!"

She gritted her teeth. If looks could kill, that bastard would already have been cut into a thousand pieces.

But although what he said was infuriating.

She seemed unable to refute it.

The words "defeated opponent" directly pinned Young Master Wang's proud self-esteem to the ground and rubbed it back and forth.

The track.

The sunlight was somewhat glaring.

The moment they reached the starting line, Wang Dong grabbed Huo Yuhao's sleeve and forcibly dragged him to the inner lane.

"You have to compete even if you don't want to!"

Wang Dong glared at him viciously, as if she would pounce on him and bite him the instant he dared say no.

The next second, the instructor's whistle sounded.

Wang Dong shot out like a lit rocket, instantly seizing the lead.

As she ran, she turned her head and taunted Huo Yuhao behind her while running backward.

"So slow. Your stamina's not much either, huh?"

Her voice carried undisguised delight.

Then she abruptly turned back and desperately continued charging forward.

Since they were competing.

She had to take first place and crush this bastard's arrogance.

Watching that puffed-up figure ahead of him.

Huo Yuhao sneered inwardly.

He did not rush to sprint. Instead, he maintained an even breathing rhythm as his stride frequency silently began to increase.

Since they had agreed not to use martial souls.

He could not cheat with soul power either.

They would compete using only their most basic physical abilities.

Twenty laps.

Forty laps.

Sixty laps.

As time passed, by the time they had run more than seventy laps, most of the freshmen were already panting like dogs.

Fine beads of sweat had appeared on Wang Dong's forehead as well.

Her face gradually flushed red, but she still stared fixedly at the track, gritting her teeth to maintain a slim lead of two or three meters over Huo Yuhao.

Just then.

A calm, almost infuriatingly steady breathing sound suddenly drew close from behind and to the side.

Before Wang Dong could figure out what was happening.

Huo Yuhao's figure swept past her and directly overtook her.

He was so fast that even the wind from his clothes brushing past swept across her cheek.

Wang Dong's eye twitched wildly.

What was this guy even made of?

They had run more than ten kilometers, and he could still speed up?

Wang Dong bit down hard on her lower lip and swung her arms with force.

She forced herself to take larger strides, trying to make up the gap from the outer lane.

One step.

Two steps.

But she soon discovered in despair.

No matter how she pushed herself to her limit and accelerated.

That seemingly unruffled back ahead of her was like it had activated cruise control.

It remained steadily two meters ahead of her.

No matter how she tried, she could not pass him.

A huge blaze of frustration burned in Wang Dong's heart, while the air in her lungs felt increasingly thin. Even her breathing became ragged and heavy.

Time passed bit by bit.

Finally.

When the white line marking the end of the hundredth lap appeared before them.

Huo Yuhao crossed it with ease.

Half an hour.

For an eleven-year-old freshman, that speed was already terrifying.

Huo Yuhao came to a stop and casually rolled his shoulders where he stood.

From beginning to end, he had neither flushed nor panted.

It was as if he had merely gone to the backyard to admire the scenery.

More than ten seconds later.

Wang Dong charged across the finish line.

She was the second person to complete the task, but the moment she crossed the line, her entire body nearly collapsed to the ground.

She braced both hands tightly against her knees and gulped down air.

Her powder-blue short hair was soaked through with sweat, several strands plastered to her pale, flushed cheeks.

Her stamina really was not this poor.

But she had insisted on forcing herself to keep pace with that freak Huo Yuhao.

She had wrung every last bit of strength from herself.

Just as Wang Dong began questioning her life choices,

the third person also finished the full course.

It was Xiao Xiao.

The little girl had merely kept her speed under steady control the whole time. Though her face was crimson, she was clearly in far better shape than the bedraggled Wang Dong.

Huo Yuhao walked over.

He stopped in front of Wang Dong and, without the slightest courtesy, raised his hand and gave her heaving shoulder a hard pat.

"Not good enough, young master."

Seeing how she looked ready to roll her eyes back, Huo Yuhao could not help laughing.

"You're panting after running such a short distance. Why are you so weak, like some little girl?"

"Can you even do it, you skinny runt?"

Wang Dong abruptly raised her head.

Though she was still gasping for air, a near-murderous blaze instantly flared in her eyes.

She stared at Huo Yuhao's infuriatingly smug grin.

Wang Dong could not help baring her teeth fiercely.

This damn bastard!