Compared to the warm and harmonious atmosphere on one side, the other side was already rubbing their hands together in anticipation. Damn it, they thought, did we come here for a fight, or to be force-fed “dog food” (public displays of affection)? Is there no humanity left?!
The tension between the two groups spiked instantly. Chen Jingmo’s expression darkened. “Bai Xi, even though this was your choice, Jiang Zhiya said she wanted to protect you earlier. I can’t just ignore her wishes. How about this: we’ll keep it light—just a spar. I won’t personally get involved. What do you say?”
“I, Bai Xi, don’t need anyone to do me any favors.” Glancing at the baseball bat lying next to Chen Jingmo, Bai Xi raised an eyebrow. “Pick up your bat. And don’t talk to me about ‘keeping it light.’ Everyone here takes responsibility for their own injuries today. Don’t tell me anything about showing mercy—the word ‘mercy’ isn’t in my dictionary.”
Since Bai Xi had put it that way, Chen Jingmo stopped being polite. He had done what Jiang Zhiya asked, but if Bai Xi wouldn’t accept the gesture, Chen Jingmo wasn’t the type to force kindness on someone who didn’t want it.
He twirled the bat in his hand, his expression turning cold and stern. “Go!”
At his word, the thugs—armed with steel pipes and iron rods—rushed forward impatiently. Those who had been beaten by Bai Xi before were especially eager, charging ahead of the others, emboldened by their superior numbers.
The corners of Bai Xi’s mouth curled into a smirk. She glanced at Ye Ying beside her and charged headfirst into the crowd. With a swift over-the-shoulder throw, she snatched an iron pipe from the first man to reach her, then pivoted with a backhand block to parry a wooden club swinging toward her from behind.
Grabbing the wooden club, Bai Xi kicked the sneak-attacker away. She spun the club in her hand and tossed it to Ye Ying, who was busy dodging. “This is for you. Protect yourself!”
Ye Ying caught the club mid-air and used the momentum to move closer to Bai Xi. Although she had seen Bai Xi fight once before, it was clear that while last time relied on technique, this time Bai Xi was using a much more brutal, head-on style.
Watching Ye Ying approach, Bai Xi wasn’t particularly happy. After all, Ye Ying was a girl. Chen Jingmo’s subordinates still had a shred of decency; only a few unarmed guys were half-heartedly trying to engage her. But Bai Xi’s side was different—everywhere she looked there were steel pipes and iron rods, and they were simply outnumbered.
“If I hurt someone, who’s responsible?” Before Bai Xi could tell her to leave, she saw Ye Ying cleanly and decisively knock down a blonde-haired thug with a single strike.
Bai Xi let out a delighted laugh, her eyes sharpening. “Forget hurting them—even if you kill them, it’s on me.”
Ye Ying’s tone was relaxed. “Then I’m relieved.”
In the span of a few sentences, the two fought side-by-side before splitting apart. Ye Ying’s movements became noticeably more ruthless, leaving the opposing side somewhat stunned.
“Sss—” While Bai Xi was checking on Ye Ying’s situation, she was momentarily distracted. By the time she noticed the club swinging toward her back, it was too late. She took a heavy blow straight to the spine. Her temper flared; dropping the playful attitude, she delivered a side kick followed by a club strike, sending the attacker flying.
As the situation reached a fever pitch, Chen Jingmo—who had been watching from the sidelines—finally began to take the usually sickly-looking Bai Xi seriously. He hadn’t expected her to be this fierce. Despite bringing so many brothers, nearly half of them were now lying on the ground.
Flexing his hand, Chen Jingmo realized that if he didn’t step in now, he was truly going to lose face today.
“Bai Xi, let’s go.” His silver baseball bat blocked Bai Xi’s iron rod as he spoke to get her attention.
Retracting her arm, Bai Xi gave a light sneer. “Come at me all at once. I’m afraid you’ll look too pathetic if you lose alone.”
It had to be said that Chen Jingmo’s reputation as the “Boss of Nanluo” wasn’t for nothing. Once he joined the fray, the group that had been pinned down by Bai Xi and Ye Ying managed to scramble back into a stalemate. Bai Xi, too, began to sustain some minor injuries.
Raising her arm to block a blow aimed at the back of Ye Ying’s head, Bai Xi turned a murderous gaze toward the blonde thug holding the club. Her other hand swung back with a strike, sending a spray of blood and two teeth flying into the air.
“I’m protective of my own!” Not satisfied with just that, Bai Xi abandoned her fight with Chen Jingmo, lunged forward, and delivered a follow-up kick to the blonde guy, sending him to his knees, unable to get back up.
“Bai Xi, isn’t that a bit much?” Seeing that Bai Xi was truly no longer holding back, Chen Jingmo frowned. This was a school, after all.
“A bit much?” Bai Xi wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. “Don’t you know what would have happened if I hadn’t blocked that hit? If he dares to make a move, he’d better be prepared for the consequences.”
Because of what happened to the blonde guy, the attacks on Ye Ying decreased significantly. It was a joke—the guy who had successfully sneaked up on Bai Xi only got kicked once, but look at the blonde guy; he’d be lucky to leave the hospital in two weeks.
With the thugs hesitating to attack Ye Ying, she found an opening to intercept most of the small-time punks, greatly reducing the pressure on Bai Xi as she faced Chen Jingmo.
Even if Chen Jingmo had been fighting since he was a child, that was only ten-odd years of experience. But Bai Xi had also been fighting since childhood in her past life—and her younger self was much more ruthless than Chen Jingmo. Even after inheriting the family business, she never stopped training. Her combat experience was more than double Chen Jingmo’s. If it weren’t for the sheer number of opponents, she was confident she could have pinned him down within five minutes.
While Ye Ying handled the remaining thugs, Bai Xi didn’t waste any time. Spotting an opening in Chen Jingmo’s side after a missed strike, she feinted with her iron rod to draw his attention, then landed a heavy kick to his waist. As he stumbled, she followed up with a backhand strike of the club, knocking him to the ground. Given that Chen Jingmo hadn’t been too over-the-top in his actions earlier, she held back about twenty percent of her strength.
Once Chen Jingmo was down, Bai Xi turned to help Ye Ying with the rest. However, when she looked over, she saw Ye Ying with her foot planted firmly on the face of a massive, bear-like thug who stood over 190cm tall. Ye Ying swung her club in a stylish arc, leveling the last standing thug.
Bai Xi silently withdrew the foot she had just stepped forward.
Bai Xi: I truly underestimated you. My apologies!
Tossing her iron rod aside, Bai Xi looked down at Chen Jingmo. She maintained a profound, aloof expression, but internally, she was desperately haggling with the stingy System 002.
[Bai Xi: Keep my ‘Constitution’ buff active for a bit longer! You can’t let me collapse here like last time! There are so many people—if I fall, your Female Lead will be in danger!]
[002: Have you no shame? You’ve already scammed over two hours of Constitution out of me just for a brawl, and now you want more? Do you have any idea how many cookies Yu Mo fed me while I was stuck in that classroom?!]
Bai Xi: …I just said that in passing, I didn’t think Yu Mo would actually feed you.
[Bai Xi: Think about it—that was the Male Lead feeding you. And I’m keeping this Constitution for the sake of the Female Lead. We’re both doing this for the plot, right?]
[Bai Xi: Besides, look at my injuries. If you swap me back to the original body’s weak constitution now without the support of my previous strength, I’ll be sent to the ICU in minutes. If they can’t resuscitate me, tsk tsk, the plot is dead.]
[002: …You started the fight and you still think you’re right! Why did I get stuck with such a troublesome host? Other people transmigrate into campus novels to fall in love, but she goes and solos the school bully! What a suffocating set of maneuvers…]
In the end, 002 couldn’t bear to let Bai Xi “exit” early. It temporarily allowed her to keep half of her enhanced constitution. After all, if they kept it at full power indefinitely, the plot points Bai Xi had earned wouldn’t be enough to cover the cost.
Once the agreement was reached, Bai Xi felt a wave of dizziness and her body swayed. She pinched the bridge of her nose, determined to finish things here quickly.
“Hey, you…” Bai Xi pointed at Ye Ying. She knew Ye Ying needed to maintain her “good girl” image, so she wanted her to leave as soon as possible before anyone else saw her.
When Bai Xi’s blurry vision finally focused, she realized that Ye Ying had already removed her foot from the bear-like Jin Zhong’s face. She had picked up her schoolbag, taken out a mirror to fix her hair, and gave a little wave. “I’m leaving first!”
Bai Xi: …Speechless.
But it was for the best that Ye Ying left. Bai Xi let her hand drop weakly to her side, then crouched down and patted Chen Jingmo’s face. “Hey, you still alive?”
“Won’t die,” Chen Jingmo muttered, his eyelids flickering. He was feeling a bit reclusive now—he’d been a tyrant for years and had never been this humiliated!
“Listen up, everyone here who isn’t dead,” Bai Xi said, picking up a steel pipe and tapping it against the ground. “If anyone dares to touch that girl who just left, or speaks a word about her involvement today, don’t blame me, Bai Xi, for leaving you no way out. Do you hear me?”
The crowd lying on the ground groaned and whimpered. Hearing her words followed by the clank of the pipe on the floor, they immediately tensed up. “We hear you…”
So heartless, they thought. We get beaten up and we’re not even allowed to talk about it. Sigh.
“Good. And for the record, I don’t really like fighting,” Bai Xi said with a straight face.
[002: Bullshit!]
Nearly losing her composure at 002’s remark, Bai Xi paused, blinked, ignored the system, and continued: “However, if anyone comes looking for a fight, I’ll play along. As a courtesy, let me remind you: when I was leading gang wars, you lot were still playing with mud in some ditch. I was happy to play with you this time, but there might not be a next time. I’m not always this patient or kind. Understand?”
“Understand…” Weak, scattered responses echoed from every corner of the rooftop.
Bai Xi nodded in satisfaction. While she didn’t mind a fight, she didn’t want to be constantly provoked by idiots. It was better to nip it in the bud.
Standing up, she stretched. Although she ached all over and had a cut on her refined, high nose, she felt invigorated. It had been a long time since she had felt the thrill of a real brawl. In two words: Pure satisfaction.
Before she could finish her stretch, she heard footsteps coming from the rooftop entrance. Who would be coming now? Bai Xi’s gaze swept over as she saw Ye Ying running back up, looking around like a thief and checking behind her every few steps.
“Why are you back?” Bai Xi asked, bewildered.
Ye Ying clutched her backpack to her chest and crouched by the door. Without answering, she glanced back at the stairwell again. She pointed at Bai Xi, then at Chen Jingmo, and mouthed silently: “Put your foot on him.”
Chen Jingmo, being pointed at: …Why are you still stepping on me!
But Bai Xi didn’t care about Chen Jingmo’s feelings. She looked down, obediently placed her foot on Chen Jingmo’s stomach (though she didn’t apply pressure), and turned a confused gaze back toward Ye Ying.