"What?" Liu Yang looked utterly surprised."I said, are you done talking?"
Ye Yun turned his body, lifted his head, and stared at him. In his pitch-black pupils, it seemed like something was about to be ignited.
Liu Yang was intimidated by Ye Yun's gaze, and instinctively took a step back. For a brief moment, he felt as though he were a sheep being eyed by a lion.When he came to his senses and saw the surprised looks of those around him, a rush of frustration immediately filled him up, threatening to spill over.
How could I, a person with no background or power, be intimidated by someone like this?
Despite Ye Yun's fragile appearance, he was actually a fighter who had been battling since he was a child.Life in the orphanage wasn't as easy as outsiders thought. Sometimes, just over a piece of candy, conflicts would arise, and they could escalate into full-on brawls.If you didn't want to be bullied, you had to throw your fists at those who picked on you—you had to learn how to be vicious.
"If all you're going to say is this kind of nonsense, then I'm not sticking around. It's so boring."Ye Yun turned and began walking towards his part-time job. He had already wasted too much time.
"Catch him! I'm going to teach this guy a lesson!" Liu Yang shouted furiously, pointing at Ye Yun.
"B*st*rd, how dare you disrespect Brother Yang! He's asking for a punishment!"Wang Meng, who had a strong build, immediately charged forward, aiming to take down Ye Yun and claim credit. He moved as quickly as an unstoppable truck.
Compared to Wang Meng's muscular frame, Ye Yun looked like a mere twig. Wang Meng stretched out his massive hand, aiming for Ye Yun's shoulder.
In his mind, Ye Yun was definitely no match for him, and he would surely grab him without a problem.
But before Wang Meng could get close, a gust of cold wind, laced with snowflakes, rushed toward him.
He was closer, closer—Ye Yun's shoulder was within arm's reach. But before Wang Meng could even grin,Ye Yun, who was mere inches away, suddenly disappeared? He grabbed nothing but air.
Where did he go? Wang Meng hadn't reacted in time. Could Ye Yun have awakened a spatial movement ability?
"Idiot, look out below!" shouted Ge Dawei and the others from behind, their voices filled with panic.
Below? Wang Meng instinctively looked down and saw a rapidly growing object heading straight for him—an old and stuffed item.
"A backpack?" Wang Meng muttered in confusion.
Before he could finish his sentence, the backpack, weighing nearly twenty pounds, slammed into his face, and the immense force knocked him to the ground, knocking him unconscious.
It turned out that just before Wang Meng closed in, Ye Yun had ducked to avoid his attack, and in the moment Wang Meng got distracted, Ye Yun had grabbed his backpack and swung it right into his face.
"It would've been easier if you'd just done this from the start. You've already wasted three minutes of my time," Ye Yun said as he held the heavy backpack."Do you guys know how much Wang Fatty is going to deduct from me if I'm late?"
This was ridiculous. Wang Fatty had said that if he was even one minute late, he'd deduct fifty HuaCoins.
Ge Dawei and the others were all staring at Ye Yun in shock. They knew that Ye Yun was an orphan, and had gotten into school with top marks for free. He looked so thin and frail, with little presence on a daily basis—but who the hell could tell me that this person, this skinny guy, is actually a brawler?
What was supposed to be an easy task had suddenly turned into a tough one. This was the reversal? The counterattack?
Ye Yun suddenly extended his right index finger toward Ge Dawei and the others, a smile appearing on his face.
"One minute," Ye Yun smiled faintly, the corner of his mouth lifting. "I'll deal with all of you in one minute, that way I won't be late for work."
"What nonsense are you talking? He's just one person, and you're a bunch of useless fools. If any of you hesitate, I'll make sure you can't stay in this school!"Liu Yang's eyes turned bloodshot as he screamed, completely losing his previously calm demeanor.
What a joke. Ye Yun, that waste, just a civilian with a slightly sharper mind, actually dares to disrespect Liu Yang, the young master.
Ye Yun, I'm going to ruin your life completely, Liu Yang's mind was screaming, like a rooster that had its feathers plucked.
Facing the group rushing towards him, Ye Yun let out a light laugh, completely unafraid. Time seemed to rewind to that moment, back when fighting was just part of his daily life.
He threw his heavy backpack to the ground—right now, it was just a burden.
Instead of retreating, Ye Yun lowered his body and shot forward like a hunting cheetah, dodging Ge Dawei's punch aimed at his face.
"Wow! Don't hit the face, don't you know that?" Ye Yun said dramatically, but without hesitation, he clenched his fist and, with a swift movement, punched Ge Dawei square in the face.
The intense pain on his face caused Ge Dawei to lose all ability to fight back.
Ye Yun blocked a punch from a thug with his left arm and then, with a quick move, elbowed him in the back of the neck, dropping him to the ground, unable to rise.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through Ye Yun's back. He frowned and turned to look behind him—two thugs had taken the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.
"What's so impressive about a sneak attack?" Ye Yun roared, quickly retreating a few steps to avoid one thug's grab.
"Washing clothes in the winter is so cold, you idiot!"
The veins on Ye Yun's forearm bulged from the exertion as he grabbed the elbow of one thug trying to block his movement.
With a rapid shift, he took advantage of the position and, before the thug could react, forcefully slammed him onto the ground with a flawless shoulder throw.
Thud!
The sound of his body hitting the ground echoed—without a doubt, this guy wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.
Ye Yun turned his gaze to the last thug, his eyes cold and fierce, like a hungry lion.
"Ah! Don't come near, don't come near!"The thug's face turned pale with fear, and in a panic, he turned to flee, even losing one of his shoes in the process.
"This is boring, you guys can't even last a minute?" Ye Yun flexed his wrist, clearly unsatisfied. It had been a long time since he'd fought, and now that he finally had a chance, he hadn't even enjoyed it.
Liu Yang was staring, dazed. How is this possible? This guy isn't even an awakener, and yet he can take on five of us?
"Only you left, Liu Yang!" Ye Yun said, his expression calm as he looked at Liu Yang, who was still in a daze.
"Don't come near! Do you know who my dad is? He's a school board member! If you offend me, you won't be able to stay in this school!"Liu Yang shouted, still trying to hold onto hope, though his legs were shaking, betraying his fear.
He suddenly couldn't bear to look into Ye Yun's eyes. Those dark, deep pupils were like an abyss, as if they could s*ck in a person's soul.
"Such things don't matter. I didn't plan on hitting you, but since you dared to lay a hand on my sister, you're asking for death."
Ye Yun's voice was calm, but the anger behind it was like a storm churning beneath the surface of the ocean.
With a swift right hook, Liu Yang, the pampered young master, couldn't handle it and collapsed to the ground.
"I... I won't... let you off! I'm... I'm the son of a school board member!"Liu Yang, lying on the cold ground, stammered. His right cheek was swollen, so much so that speaking was difficult.
"I don't care, as long as you can do it."Ye Yun patted the dust off his clothes, picked up his backpack from the ground, and said to the still-dazed Liu Yang.
"If you weren't lying on the ground while saying that, maybe it'd be a bit more credible." Ye Yun turned around without looking back, giving Liu Yang the finger.
Liu Yang stared at Ye Yun's retreating figure with dark, swollen eyes, a flicker of madness flashing in his gaze. "Ye Yun... this... you forced me to do this!"
Liu Yang tremblingly pulled out a small, finely made scroll from the chest pocket of his shirt.
"It's you... it's you who forced me!" Liu Yang's eyes were bloodshot, resembling a gambler who had lost everything at the betting table.
He struggled to turn over, his right hand tightly gripping the crimson scroll. As the son of a school board member, it was impossible for him not to have some kind of self-defense item. The reason he hadn't used it earlier was that he had underestimated Ye Yun's combat ability. He never expected him to be so strong.
Just as Ye Yun was about to turn and walk past the alley, Liu Yang's crazy laughter came from behind.
"Die, Ye Yun!"
The crimson scroll was torn apart, and a fiery ball the size of a human head suddenly appeared out of nowhere, speeding toward the unprepared Ye Yun at an incredibly fast pace.
First-level Fire Element Magic Scroll: Fireball.
"Magic?" Ye Yun turned in horror and looked at the fast-approaching fireball. He couldn't dodge in time. In the split second before impact, he barely managed to grab his backpack and held it in front of his chest as a shield.
Boom!
A deafening explosion followed, and the intensely hot fireball engulfed Ye Yun in an instant. Fragments of textbooks and notebooks flew into the air, fluttering down like snowflakes.
Thick black smoke rose and quickly dissipated. When the smoke cleared, Ye Yun lay motionless on the ground, his body scorched black. The backpack he used as a shield had a large hole blown through it, and it was now in tatters, draped over his chest. Blood flowed beneath him like a stream, staining the snow. He looked like a lifeless corpse.
"Hahahaha, Ye Yun, you deserve this, you deserve it!" Liu Yang, leaning against the alley wall, laughed maniacally. He looked at Ye Yun's pitiful state and felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction in his chest.
"Boss, Ye Yun... he's not dead, is he?" Wang Meng, who had a swollen face like a pig's head, walked toward Liu Yang. Since he was stronger physically, he was the first to recover. Looking at Ye Yun, lying motionless on the cold ground, a sense of fear began to rise in his heart.
Though he disliked Ye Yun, he had never considered killing him.
The cold snowflakes hit Liu Yang's face, and the biting cold extinguished the rage in his mind. He finally regained some of his rationality. Looking at Ye Yun, still unmoving on the ground, Liu Yang started to panic. What should he do? If it was discovered that he had intentionally killed someone, his life would be over!
"Ye Yun still has a pulse. He's not dead," Wang Meng felt Ye Yun's body, then turned to Liu Yang in surprise, "Boss, we just need to ask the patrol police for help. Ye Yun will definitely survive, and we won't be guilty of murder."
"Idiot!" Liu Yang slapped Wang Meng across the face. "If we do that, it'll expose the fact that I used magic in a public area. The high school entrance exams are the day after tomorrow! Are you trying to ruin my life?"
"You know nothing!" Liu Yang turned around, grabbed Wang Meng by the collar, and yelled at him, "You didn't go to block Ye Yun after school today. You went straight home, understand?!"
Looking into Liu Yang's bloodshot, furious eyes, Wang Meng suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of fear, as though it was the first time he had truly understood who Liu Yang was. Was he trying to conceal the truth?
But at this point, he had no choice but to follow Liu Yang. Otherwise, he knew Liu Yang would make him suffer. If he didn't agree, he might even be silenced!
"Y-yes... I understand," Wang Meng stammered, but the fear in his eyes only grew.
"Then... what do we do about Ye Yun?" Wang Meng pointed at Ye Yun, still lying motionless on the ground.
"Don't worry about him. A guy like Ye Yun, an orphan, even if he dies, no one will care. Besides, this alley is secluded, no one knows we've been here," Liu Yang said, his mind surprisingly quick in this moment. "Forget about him. Call the others and let's leave quickly. We can't let the patrol cops find out about this."
"Oh, okay."
After a chaotic few moments, the alley returned to its eerie silence.
The sky began to darken, and the snow continued to fall, the temperature dropping dangerously low. If no one happened upon the alley and found Ye Yun in time, the freezing cold alone would likely be enough to kill him.