"Mufeng, how can you talk to me like this? Apologize right now, or I'm never speaking to you again."
"Please do. The less you bother me, the better."
"You!"
Gan Lijing instantly snapped. In the past, she had always held herself above him while Mufeng groveled and fawned over her like a dog.
Yet today, the tables had completely turned. She had spent the entire morning running around taking care of his paperwork, only to be humiliated in return. It made her look like an absolute doormat, while Mufeng impatiently told her to drop dead.
How could he treat her this way? How dare he?
"Mufeng, you good-for-nothing trash, you self-righteous weakling! You're nothing more than a piece of shit, you make me sick!"
Gan Lijing began screaming like a termagant, cursing at the top of her lungs before bursting into tears and running out of the classroom.
She felt utterly and completely humiliated. If Xie Dahaio hadn't asked her to handle Mufeng's paperwork, she wouldn't have even glanced at him, not even if he got down on his knees and begged.
Gan Lijing felt so wronged, her heart breaking as she cried harder and harder. She ran all the way to the school team lounge to find Xie Dahaio and complain tearfully about Mufeng's atrocious behavior.
"Useless!"
"Yeah, Mufeng's completely useless!"
"I'm talking about *you*. You can't even handle the simplest task. I'm in here orchestrating the big picture, everything is ready except for the east wind, and look at you—you can't even manage the easiest chore, forcing me to go do it myself. Get out, get out, get lost!"
After listening to her, Xie Dahaio didn't offer a single word of comfort. Instead, he chewed her out thoroughly before rushing out the door in a panic to find Mufeng.
Time was running out. The exhibition match was about to begin, and for the sake of the Xie Family, he had to take action.
Left behind in the lounge, Gan Lijing felt like her whole world was collapsing. She covered her face and wept, utterly heartbroken.
...
"Psycho!"
Mufeng cursed at the direction Gan Lijing had gone, then calmly sat back down at his desk.
His deskmate, Lu Lixin, stared with his jaw hanging open. Seeing how unbothered Mufeng looked, he sighed in amazement, "Mufeng, you're an absolute legend! That's Gan Lijing, the class flower! Didn't you used to be totally obsessed with her?"
"I am no longer the person I used to be," Mufeng replied calmly, shaking his head.
"I know you're an elite class now, that you're not the same as before. But the way you treated Gan Lijing today—I have to say, well done! I never could stand her stuck-up attitude. Does she really think she's some kind of goddess? She's nowhere near as pretty as your sister."
"Huh?"
Mufeng shot Lu Lixin a hostile glare.
"Were you peeping at my sister?"
Lu Lixin squirmed under Mufeng's stare, feeling an intense wave of pressure coming off him for some strange reason.
"The day you met your sister at the school gates, lots of people from our class saw them from afar. Your sister is drop-dead gorgeous!"
"Oh, is that so? Well, lucky you lot, then."
Lu Lixin forced a dry laugh, momentarily at a loss for how to reply.
At that moment, Xie Dahaio hurried over and said, "Mufeng, today's the closing ceremony, and the school wants our school team to hold an exhibition match. I specifically recommended you to be on my team. Members of the winning team always get a thousand-yuan scholarship every year—it's a rare opportunity."
"Oh?"
Mufeng, who had previously been entirely indifferent to the school team or whatever else, suddenly perked up at the mention of the scholarship. The plump face of Muyun popped into his mind, and he muttered repeatedly under his breath:
*808080...*
"Fine then, lead the way."
Even though he knew Xie Dahaio was up to something, he didn't believe Xie Dahaio had the strength to threaten him.
Right now, all four of his core stats were above 16 points, which already counted as exceptional among Tier 1. You had to remember that anyone whose four core stats were all above 10 points was qualified to trigger the trial to advance to Tier 2. His stats were already comparable to a somewhat weaker Tier 2 professional.
And if he factored in his skills—hehe, just invoking the Third Brother's power alone would be enough to make this entire bunch of school team members drop to their knees.
By comparison, Muyun was much harder to handle. Money really did make a hero bow!
Xie Dahaio led Mufeng into the school team training building, an entire facility dedicated exclusively to the team.
Linjiang No. 1 High School was a key high school in Linjiang Province, and the school team essentially comprised the students with the most potential. To even join, one had to be at least an elite class professional.
Inside the lounge, Xie Dahaio introduced the other six members who would be participating in the exhibition match.
Most of these people were similar to Xie Dahaio—come from wealthy backgrounds. Since childhood, their families had provided them with stat-boosting foods and potions, and when changing classes, they had been able to farm nightmare difficulties multiple times. Their starting point was naturally much higher than ordinary people.
All six of them looked at Mufeng with playful smirks. They already knew the plan for later and were looking at Mufeng as if he were a fun new toy.
Mufeng naturally felt their gazes and sneered inwardly: *Just as I figured, there's something shady going on. Since they're so eager, I'll stick around and play with them today.*
The exhibition match was split into two teams. The captain of Mufeng's team was Xie Dahaio, while the captain of the opposing team was Lin Ningyang. Knowing what today's mission was, Lin Ningyang deliberately stepped forward and said in a flippant tone:
"Mufeng, now that you've joined the school team, we're all going to be friends. Why don't you introduce your sister to me? My ears have practically grown calluses these past few days listening to news about her. Is she really as pretty as the rumors say?"
"What kind of garbage are you? You think you're worthy of knowing my sister?"
Lin Ningyang had originally planned to provoke Mufeng; no matter whether Mufeng agreed or refused, he intended to keep pressing the matter of Mufeng's sister.
Only, what Lin Ningyang hadn't expected was that Mufeng had zero intention of playing nice with him, instantly turning hostile right out of the gate.
Though he had easily achieved his goal, Lin Ningyang was beyond pissed. Mufeng didn't even show him the barest minimum of respect.
*Who the hell does he think he is?* Lin Ningyang thought to himself. *Someone wealthy, powerful, and with a bright future like me is doing him a favor by talking to a lowlife like Mufeng. I can provoke you to achieve my goal, so who the hell are you to provoke me first? Just wait and see how badly I torture you in a minute.*
"Damn it, how are you talking to Brother Yang? Brother Yang is debonair and dashing, and wanting to get to know your sister is doing her a favor. Don't be ungrateful."
"Exactly, what the hell are you, Mufeng? Who are you acting all high and mighty for?"
"That's right, hurry up and get on your knees to apologize to Brother Yang."
Three of Lin Ningyang's teammates closed in around him to back him up.
Mufeng looked at them with icy eyes.
Seeing that his objective had been achieved, Xie Dahaio brought the other two over to pretend to break up the fight, while feeling ecstatic inside. He hadn't expected it to go this smoothly—Mufeng was way too easy to provoke.
That way, even if they ended up crippling Mufeng later, the school would still find it acceptable when investigating because Mufeng had been the one to start the conflict.
"Mufeng, you just wait for me. I'll show you what's coming during the match."
While pretending to be pulled apart by the peacekeepers, the four of them glared indignantly and shouted threats, putting the final touches on the buildup for the match that was about to start.
Soon, the broadcast chimed, calling for the exhibition match members to get ready as the match was about to begin.
Mufeng followed Xie Dahaio out, casually drawing a training sword as he walked toward the exit tunnel.
With a sword in hand and the Sword Heart skill buff active, even his basic attacks would enjoy a 50% bonus to both attack power and attack speed.