"No, no, no."
Ryze raised a finger and wagged it, the smile at the corner of his mouth deepening.
"Your intentions will certainly come to nothing, but my plan won't necessarily fail."
Du Kao froze for a moment. "Teacher Ryze, what do you mean?"
"Do you still not understand?"
Ryze paced over to him and looked down at him.
"I need a pawn to divert Lieyang's attention. And you're the one."
"You're joking, right?"
Du Kao's expression changed.
"How am I supposed to divert Lieyang's attention in this state? Besides, why me? I don't have strength like Morgana and the others, or status like Rena. Surely I wouldn't be the one you picked?"
"If you had strength like Morgana's, Lieyang wouldn't dare act so brazenly."
There was a cold rationality in Ryze's voice.
"As for Rena, Lieyang has already abandoned that foolish child. Even if we tried to use her, Lieyang wouldn't bite."
"Then what do you want me to do?"
"It's simple."
Ryze's gaze suddenly sharpened, and in that instant, his gentle scholarly facade shattered completely.
"I need to borrow your body!"
The moment he finished speaking, he seized Du Kao by the throat and lifted him bodily out of his wheelchair.
Du Kao clutched Ryze's wrist with both hands, trying to pry away the fingers choking off his breath, but their grip was like an iron clamp and would not budge.
His face flushed crimson, veins bulging from his neck all the way to his temples, his eyes bloodshot from lack of oxygen.
Behind them, A Jie instinctively stepped forward at the sight.
But at that very instant, Ryze's cold gaze swept toward him.
There was no extraneous emotion in that look, only an indifference that said, try moving if you dare.
At that, A Jie instantly stopped