Chapter 2
The group stood in bewilderment for a few seconds. Huang Mao finally caught on and dropped the iron pipe in his hand, cursing, “Are you playing with me?!”
Sheng Yuan innocently replied, “Wasn’t it you who asked me which gang I belonged to?”
“Alright, I see it now. You’re not here to save this guy, you’re here to accompany him in getting beaten up.”
Huang Mao cracked his knuckles.
“That’s not it either.”
Huang Mao: ?
Sheng Yuan firmly refused, “I don’t consent to you beating me.”
Huang Mao: “…”
Damn, this guy is crazy. He thinks he needs my permission to beat him?!
Sheng Yuan looked at Brother Dog, who was barely recognizable in his motionless state, and clicked his tongue.
It must hurt like hell.
“Alright, that’s enough. This guy has already been beaten to this extent. Stop it.”
“You think you can just tell us to stop? Who the hell are you?!”
“Sheng Yuan.”
“…”
A smooth self-introduction.
Given Sheng Yuan’s personality, the system assumed he was merely here to watch the spectacle, but it turned out he was actually getting involved.
[System: The provocation and battles between delinquents follow certain rules. I advise you to stay out of it.]
Sheng Yuan suddenly realized, “Is that so?”
[System: Of course, if you don’t understand the rules, you’ll have to learn the hard way. So I suggest you leave now.]
However, Sheng Yuan stood there motionless.
[System: Why aren’t you leaving?]
Sheng Yuan replied, “I don’t listen to advice.”
[System: …]
It wasn’t about heroism for him; it was simply the education he had received that made him unable to turn a blind eye.
His gaze was resolute.
‘Sheng Yuan…’ Huang Mao repeated the name in his mouth several times. There is no famous person called Sheng Yuan in this area.
However… Huang Mao looked at Sheng Yuan again.
He seemed quite impressive.
If he could come alone to play the hero—then he wasn’t simple.
“Are you one of Chu Weitian’s people?”
Sheng Yuan spoke honestly, “No.”
Huang Mao felt scared, and hesitated before asking, “Are you… a member of Yu Zuojin’s gang?”
The response came crisp and decisive.
“No.”
‘Damn, none of them.
Then why the hell are you acting so arrogant?!’
Among the most famous delinquent leaders, those two were the top ones.
‘Since you belong to neither of them… then you’re not interested in seeing tomorrow’s sun.’
Seeing Sheng Yuan’s arrogant demeanor, “Truly Ambitious,” could not help but ask.
[System: What makes you so arrogant?]
Sheng—Life Instructor—Yuan uttered lazily, “Confidence is self-given.”
[System: …]
The evening sun was gradually setting on the horizon, signaling that it was almost time for evening self-study. Sheng Yuan lifted his left wrist and glanced at the black electronic watch on it. There were still ten minutes.
Sheng Yuan lazily bid farewell to the group:
“Alright, let’s call it a day here. Everyone disperse and go home for dinner, or your mothers will be sad.”
“Who the fuck wants to go home for dinner.”
Sheng Yuan gave an “oh” and looked at Huang Mao with a new perspective. “Are you also planning to go back to school for evening self-study?”
Huang Mao: “…”
If you don’t go home and be a good son, then you have to go back to school and be a good student.
The six delinquent youths stood there, watching Sheng Yuan.
This guy was truly arrogant!
Huang Mao clenched his teeth, “Who the hell do you think you’re looking down on?! I think you’ve had enough of living!”
He approached with long strides, reaching out to grab Sheng Yuan’s collar.
Sheng Yuan, who was taller than him, raised his hand to block the action, speaking in a gentle and pleasant tone, “My fellow student, I have no intention of having a conflict with you.”
“Scared now?” Huang Mao deliberately widened his eyes. “It’s too late!”
Sheng Yuan shook his head and pointed to the unconscious Brother Dog on the ground with his slender fingers. “I just want to take him away.”
Huang Mao sneered. This person was making big claims, “If you want to take him away, fine, but only if you can beat our group.”
“Alright,” Sheng Yuan reluctantly agreed.
Huang Mao motioned with the back of his hand, using his index finger to gesture toward the five people behind him, prompting them to come over and catch Sheng Yuan off guard.
Then he pretended to pick up the iron rod from the ground and handed it to Sheng Yuan, saying, “Take a weapon, otherwise, if word gets out, they’ll think I’m bullying you.”
“I appreciate your kind gesture,” Sheng Yuan declined, “but I have my own. I don’t need it.”
Huang Mao: ?
He has his own?
In the next moment, Sheng Yuan pulled out his phone.
Huang Mao was dumbfounded. “What are you doing?”
Sheng Yuan replied, “Defeating all of you.”
Huang Mao retorted, “What kind of weapon is a phone?”
“A legal weapon.”
In front of everyone, he dialed 110 on the numeric keypad.
Huang Mao mocked, “Are you not ashamed of yourself?”
[System: Are you not ashamed?]
Sheng Yuan: “…”
Why does the elbow still turn outward?
*”Why does the elbow turn outward” is is used figuratively to express surprise or disbelief when someone makes an unexpected or unconventional choice or decision /questioning why someone would go against the norm or take an unusual approach.
Who calls the police in a delinquent fight?
Leaving aside how long they would be ridiculed, just by speaking out, it’s uncertain if anyone would believe it.
But, being entangled with the police is troublesome, and Huang Mao’s face twitched.
In the delinquent circle, whether it was reporting to the police during a fight or being caught by the police, it was extremely shameful.
After all, some people take pride in playing around with the police.
The area around the school needed traffic management, and it was almost 6 p.m., the peak hour. It wouldn’t be surprising if plainclothes officers appeared on the next street.
Last time, he almost got caught by the police. When he was running away, he slipped and fell like a dog, and he was laughed at for a long time.
Huang Mao gritted his teeth, took a step forward, and almost touched noses with Sheng Yuan.
His finger pressed hard against Sheng Yuan’s shoulder, “You remember this, kid. I won’t let you off easily.”
Sheng Yuan acted as if nothing bothered him, “It’s alright, I don’t seek handouts.”
Huang Mao: “…”
‘Fuck! Fuck!!!’
“Let’s go!” Huang Mao glared fiercely at Sheng Yuan, leading the five others to leave.
Sheng Yuan walked into the alley, crouching in front of Xia Zhiqi. He lightly shook his shoulder and asked, “Hey, can you hear me? How are you?”
Xia Zhiqi’s face was covered in blood, his facial features swollen, almost unrecognizable.
He dialed 120, avoiding touching Xia Zhiqi anywhere else other than the shoulder to prevent exacerbating any serious injuries through contact or movement.
Using the medical knowledge he possessed, he assessed Xia Zhiqi’s condition.
As the person regained consciousness, he struggled to open his eyes, but they were swollen shut, only a small slit remaining.
Sheng Yuan felt a bit better.
“How are you? Can you move?” he asked.
Xia Zhiqi’s entire body felt like it had been dismantled. He moved his eyeballs from side to side to indicate that he couldn’t.
Sheng Yuan replied, “If you can’t move, there’s nothing I can do. I’ve already called 120 for you. Stay here.”
He took out ten yuan from his pocket and handed it to Xia Zhiqi.
“I only have this much,” he said.
He wanted to keep more for himself to spend.
Sheng Yuan stood up in front of Xia Zhiqi, patted his pants, and walked out of the alley, basking in the radiant glow of the sunset, then disappeared from sight.
Sheng Yuan’s figure was deeply imprinted in Xia Zhiqi’s eyes.
After taking a few steps out of the alley, Sheng Yuan suddenly started running, almost sprinting.
[System: Why are you running?]
Sheng Yuan: “I’ll be late for self-study.”
The system looked disdainful.
‘Late for self-study?
It’s embarrassing for a delinquent to attend self-study.’
[System: Then why didn’t you start running from the alley?]
Sheng Yuan: “If you’re going to show off, you have to go all the way.”
[System: …]
The sunlight illuminated Sheng Yuan’s eyes, making them clear and transparent. Looking at the boy running under the sunset, the system spoke again.
[System: Your meddling earlier has angered those guys. Aren’t you afraid they’ll cause trouble for you later?]
Sheng Yuan’s expression remained unaffected. “Doesn’t matter, I can disguise myself.”
As he spoke, he took off his glasses, took out the ten yuan sunglasses from his pocket, and put them on his face.
Disguise complete.
[System: …]
‘Don’t be too absurd, kid!’
Sheng Yuan entered the classroom. As expected, there were only a few scattered students in the class, three boys and four girls, and with Sheng Yuan, it became an even split between genders.
Almost every class had delinquent students, but Class Six seemed to have an unusually large number.
With a large-scale truancy of delinquent students, the school struggled to manage them. Especially since there had been numerous conflicts between teachers and students on campus before.
Sheng Yuan returned to his seat. His desk mate was a slightly chubby girl. Someone suddenly sat down beside her, and she was startled.
She lowered her body, discreetly turning her head to look, and was taken aback.
“May I borrow the math textbook?”
The voice was familiar. The person’s hair had changed, and their appearance seemed to have become more attractive. However, she was afraid and didn’t say anything, simply pushing the math textbook towards them.
Sheng Yuan said, “Thank you. If you also need to study, I will return it to you.”
The girl didn’t speak. How could she dare to?
Every day in this class, she trembled with fear, afraid of offending the delinquents in the class with any wrong move.
Sheng Yuan took out a piece of paper and began to calculate. In the his mind, the system kept sighing.
“Why the sighs?”
[System: It’s hard for me not to sigh when I look at your current state.]
“Because I’m studying?”
[System: Of course.]
Sheng Yuan understood, “I see.”
[System: Exactly.]
“Then go ahead and continue sighing.”
[System: …]
‘You bastard!’
Sheng Yuan had no intention of becoming a delinquent. Even in this different world, he wanted to be true to himself.
Ever since he was a child, his unique brilliance had shielded him from self-doubt. He knew exactly what he wanted.
[System: What’s the point of studying? Being trapped in a classroom is dull and tasteless. Even if you have vast knowledge now, ten or twenty years later, you’ll still forget, not everything, but at least one-third.]
Sheng Yuan said, “You have a point. I used to recite phonetic rhymes flawlessly in kindergarten, but now I can’t go beyond ‘ah, bo, ci, de, ge, he.’”
[System: Then why do you still study?]
“But some people and things are meant to be cherished. The past version of myself is no exception.” Sheng Yuan continued, “Do you know how I was when I was a child?”
[System: What happened when you were a child?]
Sheng Yuan replied, “I was very adorable.”
[System: …]
‘Then why did you end up being such a dog man?’
The system felt deeply distressed.
Before it was assigned to the host, the main god told it that its host had an extraordinary learning ability. It had no idea how many systems were envious of it, and it secretly reveled in its superiority.
But now, watching Sheng Yuan diligently writing, his thirst for knowledge was as repugnant as eating feces, leaving the system speechless.
The main god’s casual remark was clearly a precautionary measure.
[System: Being associated with a delinquent student makes me unable to hold my head up in the system world.]
Sheng Yuan said, “How many years have you been a system?”
[System: This is my first year, and you’re my first host.]
Sheng Yuan replied, “That’s normal. Remember, I’m the first beating you have receive now that you have stepped into society.”
[System: …]
Can I change hosts? Seriously?