Logan was feeling quite helpless, extremely helpless. He looked dejectedly at the number tag on his chest, feeling a deep sense of sadness in his heart, 'How the hell did it become like this?'
Obviously, the current situation is that Logan had the honor of becoming a participant in the fun sports event, replacing David's original position.
"Student, hurry up and get to your designated spot for the competition!" The middle-aged female teacher, wearing glasses, urged the dawdling Logan.
'Fatty, you coward, you better watch out.' Logan secretly cursed his unreliable best friend in his heart, and approached a row of prepared desks. Five darts were placed in a plastic box, with two targets positioned five and ten meters away.
That morning, when Logan arrived in the classroom, he was surprised not to see David. After asking the class monitor, he found out that David had taken a leave of absence. Logan was puzzled, but he could understand the strategy of taking a Friday off to enjoy a long weekend.
In the afternoon, as the fun sports event was about to begin, the teachers and students rushed to the field in high spirits. Logan blended into the crowd, planning to sneak away later since he had taken on a job for the Blue Gang's thug business.
However, a gentle hand caught him.
…
"Logan, has David arrived yet?" It was past noon, and Diane's gentle face was filled with anxiety.
"No, I haven't seen him." Logan replied, glancing at the hand tightly gripping his sleeve. He noticed there's fine layer of sweat on her fair skin.
"Sigh, what's going on with him? The event is about to start and he's nowhere to be found." Class representatives in middle and high schools are usually quite responsible, and Diane was clearly worried that a mistake would affect the entire class.
"Yeah, he's really unreliable." Logan agreed, silently despising David's lack of integrity, especially seeing how it had worried the girl.
"Sigh, what should we do now..." The physical education teacher was already on stage, speaking into the microphone, and Diane didn't know what to do.
Logan couldn't offer any help and was about to leave when his phone, hidden in his pocket, vibrated. Seeing that no teachers were paying attention, he took it out and saw a message from David.
"Logan, it's really an emergency! I'm going to a comic convention to meet a girl I've been chatting with for months. My happiness for the rest of my life is in your hands. If there are any problems, please cover for me. Please, please!"
Logan silently read the text message, silently put away his phone, and silently looked up at the sky, 'A comic convention? Really? And meeting a girl? That lie was so unconvincing. How could a shut-in like you have a girlfriend? Watching anime all night and fantasizing about figurines is more like you. Someone who doesn't even bother to dress up for gaming is not going to impress anyone...'
'And now you want me to cover for you… Don't you know I'm very busy?' Shaking his head, Logan turned around elegantly, ready to complete some high-stakes tasks like replacing underground forces, educating gangsters, and ending the dreams of wannabe delinquents.
But that gentle little hand caught him again.
…
The targets stood quietly at five and ten meters away. Logan quietly weighed the darts in his hand. For ordinary people, this distance is guesswork, but for him, it was just child's play.
"Student, are you going to throw or not? If you don't, you'll be disqualified immediately!" The middle-aged female teacher was very displeased. There were so many people lined up behind Logan, and it was swelteringly hot, but Logan still looked like in a daze.
Logan stopped dwelling on his thoughts. Facing the bullseye targets, which even academy kids could hit easily, he struck an awkward pose and casually flicked the darts.
"Six rings, seven rings, four rings, three rings, three rings." The female teacher read out the results, and the helping students quickly wrote them down.
"All that buildup, and that's all he can do? And such an ugly stance..."
Vaguely hearing the female teacher's complaining murmur, Logan's lips curled up slightly. He then walked away as the next boy eagerly stepped up.
He really tried his best to throw it awkwardly, but his ingrained ninja skills prevented him from missing the target.
"Sigh." Logan, who was at the back of the queue, sighed.
Diane pitifully asked for his help. And David was his only good friend in the class. It was just a trivial matter, so he accepted the request to make up the number of people.
" Buzz-buzz-"
Under the slanting sunlight, the phone in Logan's pocket vibrated. Shielded by the crowd, he took a quick look. It was a message from the gang.
"Little brother, we're already here. When will you arrive?"
Logan raised his head. The boy in front of him had just thrown the darts and got dismal results. Then, he came down dejectedly. The schoolyard buzzed with activity, with students cheering energetically for their classmates and friends.
"I'm throwing darts, please wait a moment."
…
Outside Mural District, a few blocks away in a restaurant at the edge of Blue Gang's territory, dozens of burly men filled the place. This group of normally noisy gang members stood in silence at this time, the tension palpable. No one spoke in the entire restaurant crowd. The restaurant owner stood timidly behind the cashier. The restaurant owner, nervously sweating behind the cash register, had been warned about today's gathering by a regular thug but hadn't expected such a formidable group.
The restaurant owner stole a glance at the man in the center, who is surrounded by muscular guards. The man's stern face and well-tailored suit starkly contrasted with the setting, radiating an undeniable authority.
"I'm throwing darts, please wait a moment."
Damian's face twitched.
"Boss Light, how is it? Has the foreign aid arrived?" A sturdy man with a piercing gaze, who is sitting beside Damian, asked softly.
"Not yet. Let's wait a bit longer."
Two hundred meters away was one of the main bases of the Sand Down Society. Damian kept his composure, flipping his phone face down on his thigh, maintaining a calm expression.
…
"Friend, is it over?" Logan grabbed a boy who had just returned from the front of the crowd, looking like he was about to leave.
"The first round is over. There's still the second round." The boy said, with a hint of disappointment on his face, "I was eliminated. Darts are so difficult, I can't throw them right..."
Logan offered no comment on this.
"By the way." The boy scanned Logan's number tag, "Are you No. 109? I saw you were on the list for the second round. Congratulations on making the cut."
'WTF?!'
The boy walked away with a trace of envious melancholy, leaving Logan dumbfounded, 'I advanced to the second round? I had been trying his best to throw poorly. What are those guys doing?!'
"109...109, is No. 109 here? The second round is starting!"
The familiar urging voice of the middle-aged female teacher came from the front.
At this moment, Logan took out his phone and checked the time, 'This won't do, it seemed like I had to change my strategy.'
"Tsk, it's this student again." The middle-aged female teacher still had an impression of Logan, but she didn't expect that Logan's top-notch amateur posture allowed him to reach the second round. She adjusted her glasses and said, "You can throw them now."
Then, 'whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh', five nearly simultaneous sounds of darts cutting through the air was heard. The force of the throws even stirred her hair. She looked at the target without much reaction at first, and then, the glasses she was holding on almost fell off.
At the ten-meter target, five darts were embedded precisely in the center of the bullseye, clustered together like a dense feather.