He grabbed Zhang Di by the collar and punched him in the eye.
Zhang Di fell to the floor under the blow, covering his swollen, bruised eye with his left hand. "You fucking dare hit me!"
He roared.
Gao Chao's eyes were bloodshot as he straddled Zhang Di, slamming fist after fist into his head.
He looked like he had gone mad.
Everyone around them froze in shock.
Zhang Di shouted, "Help me! Someone help me!"
Only then did the lackeys he had brought snap out of their stupor.
In the end, Gao Chao was outnumbered, and they dragged him off by his arms and legs.
He was like a bull, panting heavily, while Zhang Di stood before him like a hunter taunting him with a red cloth.
His crimson eyes stayed fixed on Zhang Di, as though he was determined to tear him open.
"Has this guy lost his mind?"
His face battered and bruised, Zhang Di turned to a lackey beside him in disbelief.
"Fuck, just you wait! I'm fucking going to kill you!"
He threw out the threat, then fled in a panic.
Only when Zhang Di was far away did the lackeys holding Gao Chao hastily let him go, shunning him like the plague.
The man at the center of it all, however, was now crouched on the floor, sobbing his heart out.
Yin Chao wondered if Xu Qianqian could be Gao Chao's younger sister.
With the mood like this, he could hardly ask. He turned and quietly sat beside Linmu, who had stayed out of the whole affair.
Alarm bells went off in Linmu's head. He stared warily at Yin Chao, along with Midnight, who had followed him over.
Yin Chao smiled at him.
Up ahead, someone had already gone to help Gao Chao off the floor.
Linmu seemed completely indifferent, but his eyes kept drifting toward the crowd.
Yin Chao leaned closer, his mouth almost touching Linmu's ear.
"Why did you kill Xu Qianqian?" he asked.
Linmu rolled his eyes at him. "Why would I kill Xu Qianqian?"
"Because she had ties to Gao Chao? And you hate Gao Chao, so you started with the people around him."
Yin Chao laid out his reasoning confidently.
All he got in return was a quiet laugh. "You're overthinking it."
Yin Chao was about to ask more when a female teacher suddenly appeared at the classroom door, interrupting him.
"What's going on? Why are you all gathered together?"
A student replied, "Teacher, Zhang Di came to our classroom just now."
The teacher frowned deeply. "I see. Stay away from him and focus on your studies."
As she spoke, the battered Zhang Di returned. This time, his lackeys weren't the only ones behind him. Several older teachers were following him too.
A student spotted them from a distance and called to Teacher Li, "Teacher! Zhang Di's back! And... and the principal..."
The teacher's expression visibly darkened.
Zhang Di had already reached the classroom door. His earlier thuggish manner was gone as he pointed at Gao Chao, who was slumped over his desk.
"It was him, Uncle Zhang! He's the one who hit me. All of us saw it!"
The lackeys behind him nodded frantically.
The vice principal stood in the doorway with his hands behind his back, his expression unreadable.
Another teacher beside him spoke first. "Teacher Li! What is going on with the students in your class?"
Teacher Li was the young female teacher.
Unsure how to handle the situation, she forced a smile. "Director, they're just children fooling around..."
"This is a serious incident. If Teacher Li can't manage the students in her class, I'll take over for her."
Teacher Li still wanted to salvage the situation.
The vice principal settled the matter. "Li, it's understandable for young people to lack experience. Let Director He show you how it's done."
With that, he beckoned the others to leave.
Before leaving, Director He added a warning to the entire class. "A country has its laws, and a family has its rules. If you do something wrong, you must accept your punishment. I hope you all learn from this, settle down, and focus on your studies..."
"Tch. It's not like he beat anyone to death. The vice principal's nephew, though? He drove that girl to her death."
The speaker was Zhao Guojun, holding his pinky delicately raised.
Director He's face turned livid. "You need evidence to back up what you say and do, young man."
Then he turned to Teacher Li. "Teacher Li, the students in your class really do need disciplining!"
Teacher Li hurriedly agreed and escorted Director He out with a smile.
The farce ended there, and an announcement of Gao Chao's punishment soon came over the loudspeakers.
"Gao Chao, a senior-year student, participated in a group brawl. Due to the severity of the incident, he is hereby expelled."
Yin Chao had already returned to his seat.
He watched every movement of everyone in the class. Some were indignant at the injustice, some looked indifferent, as though it had nothing to do with them, and others looked sad and reluctant to see Gao Chao go.
Only Linmu kept his eyes on Gao Chao the entire time.
After Gao Chao left, Teacher Li asked the class what had happened.
The students poured out the whole story in a babble of voices. Even Wang Li tearfully said she hadn't meant to do it and didn't know who had told Zhang Di.
Teacher Li remained silent for a long time after hearing them out.
She had always thought people like Gao Chao, with his poor grades and penchant for trouble, were nothing but disgusting insects living off a great tree.
Only now did she realize that the true parasite was someone else.
Just then, a thud came from outside the window, as though someone had thrown something from a height.
The sound drew everyone's attention, and they all looked outside.
The students by the windows were the first to see what had fallen.
"Ah!!! Gao... Gao Chao!"
At that cry, every student still seated got to their feet.
Gao Chao lay in a pool of blood, dressed in his school uniform. The large signature on his clothes was unmistakable.
"It really is Gao Chao..."
Yin Chao murmured.
Thick blood continued to seep from beneath the body. His limbs were twisted at grotesque angles, and his eyes remained wide open, staring toward the classroom building, unable to close even in death.
Screams from other classes rose one after another in the corridor.
"Aaaah! Someone jumped off the building!"
"Someone's dead! Aaaah!"
With trembling hands, Teacher Li pulled out her phone and dialed 120, only to find that the call wouldn't go through.
She stared at the cross over her phone's signal indicator, puzzled.
I paid my phone bill, didn't I? Could my phone be broken?
As she wondered, students who had secretly brought their phones began whispering. "Why don't I have any signal? Check yours."
"Holy shit, mine too..."
The loudspeakers crackled twice, then began playing "Für Elise."
The players present instinctively assumed the charred corpse was about to attack again and readied themselves.
But after the music had played for a while, nothing around them changed.
"All students, please return to your seats... crackle... do not... crackle... remain quiet... crackle..."
A teacher was speaking over the broadcast.
Accompanied by electrical static, the voice kept repeating the same sentence, making its tone impossible to discern.
Dark clouds filled the sky. The gloomy surroundings, coupled with the looping broadcast, made everyone's skin crawl.
Before long, the muffled announcement was replaced by that familiar voice, neither male nor female.
"Now, Battle Royale begins."
The announcement came over the loudspeakers.
Yin Chao looked around and found that nothing had changed.
He looked at Linmu again, only to find him looking just as clueless.
The voice continued over the loudspeakers,
"Rule one: you may not leave the classroom. Rule two: every ten minutes, you must choose one person to be the scapegoat. Otherwise, boom! You all die. Rule three..."
The voice suddenly broke into a giggle. "I'll tell you when I think of it. Enjoy the taste of death."
Before you continue