Jiang Si was in no hurry to skip class and find Limp.
If the other guy really wanted to fight, he wouldn't leave easily. There was no rush. Jiang Si would use these Chinese and English periods to concentrate on reviewing, barely listening to the teachers.
When it came to studying, he had always considered obediently listening in class the least efficient method, especially in Chinese and English, where there was something suspiciously repetitive and time-wasting about it.
Memorizing this material on his own was the most efficient approach. He only came to school three or four times a week and attended very few classes, but he earnestly used every period to memorize material he had forgotten. By now, he had actually reached the third-year curriculum.
His progress was much faster than that of the students who obediently listened in class. Of course, he had already learned all of it once, so reviewing more efficiently was only natural.
As for physics, chemistry, biology, and math, biology was the only subject he hadn't been very good at in his previous life. Memorizing a few key points to keep it from dragging his score down would suffice. He had already finished reviewing the third-year material for the other three.
Getting into a first-tier university shouldn't be difficult. BH City's papers were clearly much easier than the ones he had taken in his previous life, probably around the level of Beijing's papers.
During the break, the PE teachers led the students around the track for two laps. It wasn't really PE. There were no group exercises on Saturdays, but the school didn't want the students sitting idle during the break, so it had replaced them with group running.
Plenty of students grumbled and swore. Many would rather sit doing nothing at school than come out to run. The weather had heated up again lately, and even two laps made them sweat.
Especially since No. 4 Middle School's field was huge. Two laps really were murder.
For Jiang Si, those two laps weren't even enough for a warm-up.
He could finish reviewing the third-year material in today's four periods. After that, there wouldn't be much point in coming to school. He could concentrate on training at the Azure Cloud Sect, ask Bingtang for a few predicted exam papers before finals just in case, then have the principal arrange his college entrance exam afterward.
His training had hit a bottleneck lately, too. He needed to buy some supplements, then try the Azure Cloud Sect's magic power fusion experiment again. Altering the properties of his magic power would let him use it to temper his body further.
Although he had failed before, he could feel the magic power penetrating deeper, and his seed had stirred somewhat. However, the experiment was fairly dangerous, so he needed to optimize the procedure some more.
As long as he could complete it, even if his body couldn't advance to early new sprout, he could break through his current half-step bud great perfection and reach half-step bud ultimate great perfection.
"Jiang Si, that guy keeps staring at you..."
After the run, the teachers didn't hurry the students back to class, instead letting them walk around the field and rest.
Li Yi ran over to Jiang Si.
Although their classrooms were on the same floor, Li Yi was actually a first-year. No. 4 Middle School assigned floors by grades rather than year groups. Jiang Si's class brought up the rear, so it had been assigned to the first-years' floor.
If Bingtang hadn't insisted on following Jiang Si, she probably wouldn't have been assigned to this class. Her position as top of their year was ironclad. No one could challenge her.
But aside from Bingtang and Jiang Si, hardly anyone in the class had the potential to meet the first-tier university cutoff, and Jiang Si himself frequently missed exams. Their class's overall results were easy to imagine...
Although Yinlian also ranked among the best first-years, she fell a little short of Bingtang. She could only consistently stay in the top five, occasionally taking first.
Even so, with her looks and personality, those results were enough to make her a focal point among the first-years.
Her approach inevitably drew quite a few eyes.
Jiang Si clearly heard the girl behind her, presumably Yinlian's friend, call out in a trembling whisper, "Come on, Li Yi! You'll get hit!"
Li Yi merely waved to signal that it was fine.
Some boys also casually edged closer.
If Jiang Si dared lay a hand on Li Yi, they would probably swarm him.
They all wanted to show off in front of a girl. If they charged together, even if they couldn't beat him, they could wear Jiang Si to death.
As for Jiang Si, he was still silently reciting his third English passage.
He wasn't particularly good at English composition, so he used a brute-force method: memorize the English passages he had studied, then break them apart and piece them together for his essays.
His scores generally wouldn't be low.
Usually, three or four passages with little overlap in grammar and vocabulary were enough.
He had memorized all of them in his previous life. A little familiarization brought those memories back, so it didn't take much time.
Naturally, he had no time to concern himself with his surroundings. When Yinlian-or rather, Li Yi-came over to speak to him, he merely glanced at Limp, who was clutching the railings outside the school and staring fixedly at him. "Ignore him."
"I can help you deal with him."
Li Yi lowered her voice. "After I transform, I can make him hallucinate. Then he won't be able to find you."
"Be careful not to expose yourself."
"Don't worry! I've got the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau behind me. Nobody will find out!"
No, it's precisely because it's the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau that I can't feel reassured at all.
The fact that you're a magical girl is public knowledge in the Azure Cloud Sect.
Jiang Si still shook his head. "Magical girls shouldn't bully ordinary people."
"I-it's not bullying. He's looking for trouble. I'd just make him hallucinate..."
"He's only here to spar with me."
Jiang Si said evenly, "It's a sparring exchange, not looking for trouble."
As if.
Watching Jiang Si head back to class by himself without another thought, Li Yi immediately felt annoyed.
Did he like fighting that much? Sparring, indeed. Those thugs outside school never knew how to hold back. She knew this Limp. He had once slashed the principal's son with a knife. He was vicious and unbelievably brazen.
No matter how much Jiang Si trained or how strong he was, getting stabbed would still be dangerous.
Still, Jiang Si's cold attitude left her feeling a little unhappy.
I was showing concern for him...
Her deskmate waited until Jiang Si was far away before hurrying over and grabbing her. "What were you doing, Li Yi? Suddenly talking to a bad student like that is dangerous. What if he'd hit you?"
"He wouldn't. There are so many people at school. He wouldn't dare," Li Yi said confidently. "I'm not afraid of him, either."
"Don't get too close to bad students like him. It'll affect your studies."
Li Yi was somewhat speechless at her deskmate's concern.
How could exchanging a few words affect her studies?
She glanced at the thug outside again. Something about him felt strange, but she couldn't say what.
It was because she had sensed danger from him that she had specifically gone to warn Jiang Si and offer him a hand.
Only to be ignored like that.
Hmph. You dare give me so little face? I, Yinlian, am no pushover either.
Once you get beaten up and suffer a little, Jiang Si, I'll step in and help.
But she also worried a little that he might think she was petty and held grudges.
Torn like this, Li Yi didn't take in either of the next two lessons.
Zhang Song had been in a terrible mood lately. Terrible.
So terrible that he had actually begun hoping a Calamity Beast would appear at school one day and smash the place to pieces.
He had heard that the nearby junior middle school had suffered a Calamity Beast attack. Even its dormitory building had been smashed up.
Why hadn't it happened at No. 4 Middle School?
If only it would smash No. 4 Middle School to pieces. Ideally, it would smash the principal and Jiang Si to death, too.
Everyone said Calamity Beasts were incarnations of resentment. With all his resentment, why couldn't he give birth to one...?
He had put in all these years and was about to be promoted to director of academic affairs, but because of Jiang Si, he got no merit awards each semester and no bonuses. That foul sticking plaster couldn't be shaken off, and none of the other classes would take him.
The principal wouldn't agree to expel him, either. That old bastard talked him around, trying to make him accept Jiang Si, but did absolutely nothing about the bonuses and merit awards Jiang Si had cost him!
Zhang Song knew that with Jiang Si in his class, the other classes would object if he received a merit award, and his promotion to director of academic affairs wouldn't convince anyone. But what did that have to do with him? The principal had made him suffer this badly and wouldn't help him at all!
Damn him!
When school let out at noon, he came out of the office and saw the students crowding around the school gate.
He immediately bellowed, "What are you doing? What are you doing? Why are you crowding around here instead of going home?"
As he made his way through the students, he saw the student who infuriated him beyond measure again.
Jiang Si.
That thug from outside school seemed to be called Limp or something. He couldn't remember.
How many street punks ever amounted to anything? They were all useless trash, and would remain garbage their whole lives.
Zhang Song had always looked down on them. All they did was bully students every day. What the hell were they?
As a teacher, he naturally regarded these hopeless minors as worthless students, too. Pushing forward, he barked, "What are you all doing? Who let you come to the school gate? Don't you know outsiders aren't welcome at No. 4 Middle School? Security! What the hell are you doing?"
From the security office, the guard said, "I've already called the police. Stay out of it..."
In truth, once outside the school gate, the guards didn't dare provoke these thugs, either.
They were security guards. Quite a few guards who had liked meddling in the past had been ambushed and clubbed.
Why risk their lives for a few thousand a month? Calling the police was the right choice.
"Then what do we need you guards for? I'll have the principal fire you when I get back!"
He advanced, cursing. Limp was saying something to Jiang Si, and he could actually make out fragments of it.
"Aren't you a great fighter? Today, either you beat me to death, or I beat you to death..."
"We're not fighting at the school gate. This isn't a suitable place. Let's go to the alley..."
"Who the fuck is this? So fucking noisy. Can he shut up...?"
Still roaring as he advanced, Zhang Song reached out to push Limp, intending to pull Jiang Si back.
Then, the very next second.
Limp whipped around and slapped Zhang Song hard enough to lift him slightly off the ground!
His glasses struck the curb beside them. Zhang Song fell to the ground, then spat blood from his mouth.
The students standing at the school gate immediately screamed.
"I fucking told you to shut up! Didn't you hear me? Huh?"
Limp's roar was so loud that it drowned out the students' cries in an instant.
The middle-aged man struggled into a sitting position, clutching his swollen right cheek. His expression was somewhat blank. That slap had left him dazed.
"You..."
He wanted to say more. As a homeroom teacher who had managed students for long enough, he was accustomed to looking down on children this age and ordering them around. After a moment of confusion, pain and humiliation surged up, and his first reaction was anger.
He wanted to ask where his parents were.
But when Limp turned that savage gaze on him, he instantly fell silent.
The methods he used against students didn't work on thugs outside school...
When he suddenly realized this, he finally felt afraid.
Clutching his face, he laboriously crawled aside and picked up his glasses, whose lenses were slightly cracked. He put them on with trembling hands, no longer daring to speak, and merely looked up.
Jiang Si, the student he had scolded and hit before, who had never fought back, stood there expressionlessly. He wasn't looking at him, either. He paid him no heed at all.
He was only watching Limp in front of him.
"Come on, come on!"
Limp's tone carried excitement, anticipation, and a measure of wariness.
Limp was afraid of Jiang Si...
When Zhang Song realized this, he swallowed a mouthful of bloody saliva, his emotions momentarily complicated.
Seeing Jiang Si about to follow Limp into the alley, Zhang Song still climbed to his feet, took two steps forward, and called, "Jiang Si..."
Jiang Si looked back at him with a frown. Zhang Song immediately recoiled a step in fright.
Limp's slap had turned him into a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring.
"Get lost. Stay out of the way."
But Jiang Si didn't hit him. He merely spoke curtly.
Back at school, those words would certainly have driven him mad with anger.
He would never have been satisfied without kicking Jiang Si a few times.
But now, he couldn't muster the slightest anger.
This was outside school. Faced with Jiang Si's words, he had no confidence whatsoever to argue.
He didn't even have the courage to answer.
Once Jiang Si had followed Limp into the alley and disappeared from view, no one dared follow them.
Zhang Song glanced back. Every student crowded around the gate was watching him.
"What... what are you looking at?"
He had meant to roar as he always had, to vent his anger on these students.
But suddenly, fear kept him from erupting in anger as easily as before.
"Get going. Go on. Don't get involved in this sort of thing."
He stammered, clutching his burning right cheek.
A few students were secretly laughing. He saw them.
Shame mingled with anger, but his earlier fear kept those emotions from erupting too violently.
He had already lost face. Even an outburst would only give the students another spectacle to laugh at.
So he merely waved, dispersing the students. "Go, go, go! All of you, get going! Be careful on your way home!"
School was the students' ivory tower. Students sheltered inside it had never suffered society's brutal beatings. They were naive and immature.
But the same was true of teachers.
Zhang Song limped toward the teaching building, rubbing his slightly reddened eyes.
So even a teacher like him, with decades of teaching experience, was someone protected by the school's ivory tower...
As far as Limp was concerned, of course he couldn't fight Jiang Si at the school gate.
He still had to deliver him to the great personage who had bestowed power upon him, so it had to be somewhere they wouldn't easily be seen.
The alley opposite No. 4 Middle School had once been a hotspot for thugs cornering students. It was secluded enough and offered plenty of escape routes.
But ever since Jiang Si had started looking for people to practice actual combat against, hardly anyone came here anymore.
Students didn't dare come this way for fear of being cornered by thugs. Thugs didn't dare come this way, either, for fear of being cornered by Jiang Si.
Limp still remembered his first fight with Jiang Si. It had been right here. Back then, he had just unified the area around No. 4 Middle School, with dozens of underlings behind him, riding high.
Then Jiang Si had cornered him here and, in front of a dozen of his brothers, repeatedly struck his face and trampled his head.
Even when he turned vicious, even when he drew a knife, no matter how he roared or went berserk, the other boy had remained like a mountain, utterly unmoved. He had merely pinned him to the ground and kicked him like a dead dog until he couldn't breathe.
Past humiliation and anger rose in his heart, and the seed on his forehead began stirring again.
Endless power spread throughout his body!
He laughed wildly. "Jiang Si! Hahaha! You never imagined it, did you? I'm different now!"
Looking at the seed on his forehead, Jiang Si took off his schoolbag, casually tossed it aside, and asked, "How?"
"You'll find out in a second!"
Limp stomped his right foot against the ground and shot forward like a cannonball!
Facing Limp's charge, Jiang Si neither dodged nor retreated. He twisted slightly, gathered his strength, and brought his right leg chopping down hard at him head-on like a blade or an axe!
The seemingly unstoppable Limp was sent flying with a thunderous crash, slammed into the alley wall, and slumped limply to the ground, spitting blood as he stared blankly at Jiang Si.
Brushing the dirt off his trouser leg, Jiang Si lowered his right leg, rolled his neck, and asked again, "What's different?"
"Let's hear it."