When the class rep spoke, no sign of anger or savagery could be seen on his face. His standard upright look was on his heroic face.
The students saw him from a distance. They thought that he was encouraging the backward student who was at the last place in their class.
But they did not know that Zuo Haoran was actually saying "You're thinking about getting into college? Do it in your next life!"
Meng Chao seemed like he wanted to say something, but he did not say it.
Zuo Haoran continued smiling. "Oh? You can't accept it? Do you want to hit me? I'm giving you a chance to fulfill your dreams, so don't go around saying that I'm not letting others hit you. You're injured, so I'll only attack you with one hand. Do you have the guts to hit me, trash?!"
Chu Feixiong strode over.
A thought appeared in Zuo Haoran's mind. He patted Meng Chao's shoulder and said loudly, "Meng Chao, it's your turn. Good luck, we'll all support you!"
He then left with a smile.
His elegance allowed him to regain some of his image in his classmates' eyes.
"What did Zuo Haoran say to you?" Chu Feixiong frowned. He knew that if the class rep came over, he definitely said something bad.
"It's nothing. I'll handle it on my own later. Is it my turn?" Meng Chao could not be bothered to remove his coat, but he slowly exercised his limbs.
"Meng Chao, good luck!"
"We're all supporting you! Don't fail Class 6 now!"
"Work hard and fight! You'll definitely be able to get into a higher vocational college!"
Just now, he had defended them, and all the students appreciated his kindness, so they started cheering for him to boost his morale.
"I'm not in a good condition today." Meng Chao acted gloomy.
But he wasn't lying. He was indeed in a bad condition.
The previous night he had fought against monsters for an entire night, and he was exhausted. His limbs were weak, and his hidden injuries were not completely healed yet. At most, he could only deliver fifty percent of his strength.
His classmates snickered. 'When have you ever been in a good condition over the past year?'
"It would have been great if you stayed and learned Super Reckless Bull Force with us. But if you work hard now, you can still make it! I'll teach you personally during our self-study period in the afternoon!" Fatty Jr. encouraged him loudly.
He just broke his personal record, so his confidence was off the charts.
"Don't you know Super Reckless Bull Force?" Chu Feixiong asked softly.
Meng Chao thought about it. If he used Reckless Bull Force right now, he would definitely appear to have been… pretending to be weak all this while, right?
"I just researched the theory, but have not used it myself. Super Reckless Bull Force is very tough and fierce. My body is weak, so I can't handle it," he said softly.
"Ah! There's only one week left! You won't be able to make it!" Chu Feixiong was so anxious that he stomped on the ground.
"Come! Meng Chao is about to try one hundred meter dash now! Everyone, clap for him!" Zuo Haoran said loudly and started clapping.
Scattered claps rose around him.
Some people found that the class rep was being a little sarcastic, and they did not know whether they should clap or not.
"I'm seriously not in a good condition. Stop clapping. The more you clap, the more anxious I become." Meng Chao pouted.
"Don't worry, Meng Chao. Everyone knows about your condition. What's important for a person is to win against themselves. Don't compare yourself to us. If you can become stronger even by the slightest compared to yourself in the past, it'll be a great result." Zuo Haoran smiled brilliantly.
"Alright, I really can't use Reckless Bull Force, but I've been using Ripple Force to treat my wounds in the past year, so… I guess I'll try using Ripple Force?" Meng Chao mumbled and walked to the starting line. He knelt down on one knee.
Most of the students did not have any sort of expectations toward him. They were only watching as a show of courtesy.
The homeroom teacher did not look at Meng Chao either. His eyes were stuck on a tablet while he observed his top students with glee. Their results were about the same as the average scores of the rocket class.
Zuo Haoran crossed his arms over his chest with the ghost of a smile on his lips.
At that moment, wind rose up.
But the window of the testing room was clearly not open. Even so, the people could feel a gust of wind brush past their faces.
No, it was not just a simple gust. There was more than one, and each one was stronger than the last!
The astonishing gusts were like ripples that spread out from beneath Meng Chao's feet.
"This is…"
The students were all shocked. They looked at the source of the ripples and found that even though Meng Chao's legs were on the ground, they were a little blurry, and that was because his muscles were vibrating at high speed. There were fine afterimages around his legs.
"Class Rep, step aside. I'm about to move," Meng Chao said faintly.
Ripple Force, future version, Specialist Level, activate!
Whoosh!
The students on the sides of the running track, including Zuo Haoran, felt a bone-chilling wind blow at them. It irritated their eyes so much that they closed them. It was as if a tidal wave had blown past their faces.
When they opened their eyes, Meng Chao's legs had already conquered half of the running track.
'What a powerful Ripple Force!' The entire class was shocked.
The homeroom teacher jumped up as well, and his tablet crashed on the floor.
Meng Chao's stance was a little strange. He was unlike the others pushing forward like a bull. He looked to have been pushed forward by a huge wave and even left several afterimages.
"Beep, beep, 9.59 seconds!"
Even though Meng Chao had clearly become slower during the second half of the track, he still managed to get an astonishing result by relying on his ridiculous starting speed. He was ranked among the top three in class, right next to Zuo Haoran and Ace Student Zhao, whose speed had increased drastically.
For a period of time, the atmosphere in the class was strange. Not a single sound was heard.
Meng Chao gradually slowed down and massaged his feeble legs while smiling wryly.
He knew that he had not been pretending to be weak. He was really not in good shape.
'Damn it. This body is still too weak. I've neglected practice for an entire year, and it's not something that I can make up for in just one day.
'9.59 seconds! My one hundred meter dash is just 9.59 seconds! Compared to the king of short distance running on Earth, I'm slower by 0.01 seconds!
'I can't even surpass Usain Bolt's record! I don't have the right to get into college!'
Meng Chao punched his legs fiercely while looking upset.
Then, he realized that the atmosphere was a little strange.
When he looked up, he noticed that everyone, including the homeroom teacher, the class rep, the class princess, and his bestie, were all staring at him with shocked expressions.
"What's wrong?" Meng Chao was puzzled.
"Your speed…" Chu Feixiong said in disbelief.
"I know. I was pretty slow. I feel really vexed about it." Meng Chao sighed.
The students sucked in really, really deep breaths. Then, with great effort and through great difficulty and great pain, they squashed down their urge to kill the fraudster for pretending to be weak.
"M-Meng Chao!" The homeroom teacher was the first to regain his senses. He was so worked up that he jumped in shock. "Have you recovered from your wounds?"
Meng Chao had been the top in class during his first and second year of high school. If he had not been injured, he would definitely have been the ace of Class 6.
If the ace recovered, the homeroom teacher would become rich because of him, Chu Feixiong, and Zuo Haoran!
"I haven't recovered fully, but I've been practicing Ripple Force hard over the past year. I found some new styles and learned from them, so I suppose I got a blessing in disguise," Meng Chao said.
"If you want it, I can teach it to you as well. You can pay me according to the standard you pay to Chu Feixiong. Just give me some gene medicine, high-grade nutritional fluid, cell growth fluid, monster materials, or give me a discount on stuff. I'm okay with anything."
The homeroom teacher and the students sucked in deep breaths.
They could have two upgraded versions of force execution techniques! It meant the entire class' scores were bound to soar!
Zuo Haoran felt that his face had been slapped by Meng Chao and Chu Feixiong, on both sides, loudly. His cheeks were swollen now.
Meng Chao could not be bothered to look at him. He just went to the punching force gauge.
"I-Is your maximum punching force just as ridiculous as your one hundred meter dash?" Chu Feixiong asked.
"No way. Do you think I'm a monster? My punching strength is sloppy and average. Besides, I harvested monsters for an entire night with my dad, and my arms are so numb that they're almost completely useless," Meng Chao said honestly.
Harvesting monsters was a heavy physical work, especially when one had to continuously remove the sturdiest parts of shell-type monsters from their bodies—their shells.
When Meng Chao ran into poison sacs or other fragile organs, he had to pay attention to the details like a surgeon when they performed surgery. His muscles and nerves had to tense up tightly, and it was very taxing to the mind.
Meng Chao was barely able to raise his arms.
After calming his breathing for a long time, he finally raised his fist toward the gauge.
When everyone saw how tormented he looked and that he did not seem to be pretending, they came to believe that his punching force was probably normal and nothing special.
"Meng Chao's speed is among the top three in class. Even if his punching strength is only at 180kg, as long as his shooting skills don't drag him down too much, he will be able to get into the class' top ten. Ah! Then, he'll have the chance to pass the test in school!"
His classmates made some calculations and cried out in surprise.
He had been at the last place in class, but now, he might achieve outstanding results during the test in school. That was clearly sorcery!
"Can't say. Do you remember that his maximum punching force was around 150kg or 160kg when we last tested our punching strength? This will be a little difficult. You have to know that Ripple Force isn't suitable for the instantaneous output of force." Someone shook his head.
Before his voice could fade away, Meng Chao exploded.
His fist, arm, and body all turned into a blur. Waves of increasing strength surged into the punching force gauge. It did not produce the loud, thunderous bang that would be created when someone used Reckless Bull Force. Instead, it was more similar to waves crashing on a shore. They overlapped with each other as they struck the machine. The hidden force combined and exploded.
The numbers on the monitor screen rose by stages. In the beginning, it was just 120kg. Then, it jumped to 150kg, and later on, 180kg. But even when it reached 200kg, it showed no signs of stopping. It only stopped at 218kg!
"…"
Meng Chao's classmates were shocked again.
Chu Feixiong's maximum punching strength was 233.5kg, Zuo Haoran's was 225kg. Ace Student Wu, who was famous because of his punching force, had a maximum punching strength of 223.6kg. At 218kg, Meng Chao's punching strength was now ranked fourth place in their class. It was higher than Fatty Jr.'s by 2kg, and he had learned Super Reckless Bull Force and overcome his bottleneck!
Most importantly, no one could usually reach a high score for both their maximum punching force and the one hundred meter dash at the same time.
Only rich men's sons like Zuo Haoran could practice both at the same time, because they had a lot of resources.
Chu Feixiong, Ace Student Wu, and Fatty Jr. were strength type fighters. Their maximum punching force was incredibly high, but their speed was somewhat lacklustre.
Ace Student Zhao was a speed type fighter. He was very good at one hundred meter dash, but his punching force was a little weak.
Meng Chao, however, was the same as Zuo Haoran. He showed the unique attribute of both his speed and strength being at equal level. If they did not include his shooting skills, his overall results were at second place in class. He was only behind the class rep!
"Isn't this… ridiculous?"
"Is Meng Chao even human? Without a single sign, he recovered to the point of being so powerful. He didn't even give us time to prepare ourselves mentally for this. Oh gosh, he's terrifying!"
"Our strongest from last year has returned!"
"Sob… I thought that you and I were elites in the world of pretending to be weak, Ace Student Zhao, but today, I saw Meng Chao, and I finally understand the principle of there is always someone better than you. I lost! I completely lost!"
While his classmates were staring at him in surprise, envy, and anger, Meng Chao exhaled and walked away from the punching force gauge.
"Feixiong, I didn't lie to you, right? I'm seriously not good at Reckless Bull Force. The punches I threw with Ripple Force are really weak. They don't have any strength at all," he said with a wan smile.
He used every ounce of his strength, and his maximum punching force only reached the maximum punching of Mike Tyson, the boxing king of Earth. Aside from smiling wanly, Meng Chao could not put on any other expression.
"..."
Chu Feixiong sucked in a deep breath. Suddenly, he raised his hand. "Mr. Wang, could you go out for five minutes? I want to hit Meng Chao!"
All his classmates raised their hands as well. "We want to hit Meng Chao as well! We'll kill this fraudster!"