They Were... Afraid?

The stench of Fierce Beast grime was pungent and hard to remove. Li Qingshan could only apply body wash over and over again.

Outside the bathroom stall, it gradually grew livelier as the other students returned to the Rest Room to change.

After a while, the voices faded away.

"Brother Shan, I'll wait for you outside." Zhao Hongzhou's voice came from beyond the door.

Li Qingshan answered, sniffed himself from side to side, and after confirming there was no smell left, turned to pick up the Chopping Knife leaning against the door and rinsed it beneath the showerhead.

Under the rush of water, the grime quickly vanished, and the 1.2-meter blade once again gleamed with metallic luster.

Li Qingshan brushed a hand over the blade and smiled in satisfaction.

Earlier, Wan Keshan had used it to shatter the Alloy Iron Cage with a single strike, yet it did not bear even the slightest scratch.

"Fine blade!"

Perhaps because of its material, there was no lingering odor on the blade after being rinsed.

Li Qingshan quickly changed clothes and walked out of the Rest Room.

Zhao Hongzhou stood at the entrance with a scabbard tucked in both arms. Upon seeing him, he tossed it over.

"Brother Shan, the teacher told me to bring this to you."

"Alright. Let's go eat at the cafeteria."

The long blade returned to its sheath, and the two headed toward the cafeteria.

It was lunchtime, and students from the entire No. 1 High School had gathered in the cafeteria, making it immensely lively.

After Li Qingshan and Zhao Hongzhou got their food, they casually found an empty table in a corner and sat down.

"Li Qingshan? Li Qingshan came to the cafeteria too."

Fifty meters away, over twenty students from Class 7 occupied several tables, Jia Jiang among them.

When someone noticed Li Qingshan, everyone except Jia Jiang turned to look over.

"Why are Li Qingshan and Zhao Hongzhou sitting in the corner?"

"Yeah, why aren't they sitting over with the Martial Arts Class?"

Someone voiced their confusion and turned to look toward the other side of the cafeteria, where more than a dozen tables stood.

Other than local students like Jia Jiang, nearly all the martial arts students who had come from other schools were seated there.

What stood out most was a small table in the center of the crowd, where a man and a woman sat facing each other as though surrounded by stars paying homage to the moon.

"They must be the elite students of this Martial Arts Class, right?"

Several students who had previously given up on applying showed envious looks and deliberately muttered by Jia Jiang's ear.

Jia Jiang ignored them, focusing only on his meal.

Unable to press him further, they turned their gazes toward the corner again.

"Tell me, why does Li Qingshan have to do this? He just had to squeeze into the Martial Arts Class!"

"You have to talk about circles wherever you go. Looking at it now, he hasn't even managed to squeeze into the Martial Arts Class's circle."

"Heh, what do you know? He's planning to soar into the heavens in one leap. Our tiny Class 7 can't contain someone like him."

"We're classmates. Don't put it like that. Li Qingshan won't be able to stay in the Martial Arts Class for long anyway. He'll have to come back eventually."

"Hehe, when he slinks out of the Martial Arts Class with his tail between his legs, he'll know what it means for honest advice to grate on the ear and bitter medicine to cure illness."

Snickers rose and fell, and mocking remarks came one after another.

An empty tray slammed heavily onto the table, interrupting this "grand gathering."

Everyone paused and looked at Jia Jiang.

"I'm done eating."

Jia Jiang wiped his mouth and looked at the classmates who had kept talking.

They were the ones who had given up their Martial Arts Class applications at the very last moment.

After two years as classmates, Jia Jiang naturally knew them well.

But now, they seemed exceptionally unfamiliar.

He did not understand.

There had clearly been no conflict of interest whatsoever. Li Qingshan had merely acted according to his own wishes, yet these onlookers could harbor such immense malice?

Jia Jiang turned to look at the Martial Arts Class "circle" and said,

"The two seated in the middle are Yu Lei and Hong Qian. Both are at the Body Tempering First Level."

Yu Lei's punching strength was still a little short, but there was no need to explain that much to these people.

"The Body Tempering First Level? They were already at the Body Tempering First Level when they just entered the Martial Arts Class?" Everyone around them widened their eyes.

But Jia Jiang was not finished.

"Li Qingshan is also at the Body Tempering First Level, and his results are even better than theirs. He's the top student of this Martial Arts Class."

The words stirred up towering waves.

The first reaction of the Class 7 students present was disbelief.

"What? Impossible!"

"Li Qingshan is a publicly supported student. What gives him the right?"

"Absolutely impossible. Jia Jiang, quit joking around!"

A joke?

Jia Jiang shook his head, picked up his empty tray, turned, and left.

At least one thing those people had said earlier was right.

There were "circles" everywhere.

He no longer wanted to remain in Class 7's "circle."

Watching Jia Jiang's retreating back, someone spoke hesitantly.

"Jia Jiang... he was just joking, right?"

"Bullshit, you actually believed him?" The speaker wore a disdainful expression and pointed toward the corner.

"If it were true, would he and Zhao Hongzhou be sitting in the corner?"

"Exactly, exactly!"

The people around them nodded in agreement and looked toward the Martial Arts Class "circle."

"Those Martial Arts Class students aren't blind. There's no way they'd ignore the top student in the class, right?"

As soon as the words fell,

They suddenly realized that all the Martial Arts Class students who had been eating had stopped moving and were looking in one direction.

The others turned in confusion and followed their gazes.

In the corner, Li Qingshan was holding a bowl and drinking soup.

All the Martial Arts Class students were looking at Li Qingshan? How could that be?

The thought flashed through their minds, and the Class 7 students swiftly turned their heads in disbelief.

Yet they discovered that the Martial Arts Class students who had been looking over all shuddered, lowered their heads, and sped up their eating.

The Class 7 students' eyes widened, their faces full of confusion.

Just then,

The man and woman at the center of the Martial Arts Class "circle," Yu Lei and Hong Qian, as Jia Jiang had called them,

Stood up with their meal trays and walked toward the corner where Li Qingshan sat.

"What Jia Jiang said was true."

The Class 7 area fell silent.

Everyone looked at one another. In the end, they rose sheepishly and quickly left the cafeteria.

In the corner, Yu Lei and Hong Qian had already reached Li Qingshan and Zhao Hongzhou.

"You don't mind if we sit here, do you?"

"Go ahead."

Li Qingshan smiled, set down his soup bowl, and gestured for them to sit.

Bzzzz!

The four froze and looked toward their wrists.

Their Communicators vibrated incessantly, red light flashing along their frames.

Not just theirs,

The entire cafeteria instantly fell silent as everyone lowered their heads at the same time to look at the Communicators on their wrists.

"Patrol Bureau announcement!"

Li Qingshan and the others exchanged looks. Not overly surprised, they quickly opened the message.

"Last night, Evil God Cultists appeared in Luoying City and completed a Sacrifice in the outskirts. Two citizens were killed."

"Based on the victims' genetic data, the Patrol Bureau has identified them. Their photographs are now being released. If you have any information, please contact the Patrol Bureau."

"The criminals have not yet been apprehended. Citizens are advised to remain vigilant."

After the brief lines of text, two photographs appeared.

The two faces he had seen only last night appeared on the Light Screen.

"Blondie?"

Li Qingshan's pupils contracted. He swiped with his finger and reread the written announcement.

"There were only two victims!"

After confirming the number of victims, Li Qingshan's eyes flickered.

"There were clearly three people traveling together, yet only two 'blondies' died?"

"Hiss!"

Purple-red wavy long hair flashed through Li Qingshan's mind, and he sucked in a sharp breath.

Fortunately, he had held firm to his bottom line last night.