Xue Chengyi, who was nearby, was caught in the same manner. Jiang Xing tried to scramble up from the floor, but before he could even steady himself, he made intimate contact with the ground once again, letting out a heart-wrenching howl.
At this point, even an idiot could tell something was wrong. Even if Wu Hongzhou had suddenly mastered martial arts overnight, it would have been impossible for him and Song Xingqiu to effortlessly flip the three of them one by one!
“Who the hell are you?” Song Wenyue’s face was pressed firmly against the floorboards as he struggled to let out a roar.
Just then, new footsteps echoed in the hallway. Song Wenyue strained his eyes toward the door. He saw Song Xingqiu strolling in unhurriedly, followed by Wu Hongzhou.
Song Wenyue’s eyes widened. If Song Xingqiu was at the door, then who was the person pinning him down?
Song Xingqiu raised his eyebrows in surprise. He looked down at the three people on the floor, checked the room number on the door, and finally confirmed, “It is indeed my dormitory. For a moment, I thought I had walked into the wrong room. Nephew, why are you here?”
He finished with a tone of undisguised schadenfreude and mockery. Before the words had even faded, Song Xingqiu reached out and flipped the wall switch. With a click, blinding white light flooded the room.
The brilliant glare illuminated the darkness, and Song Wenyue and his two lackeys finally saw the situation inside the dormitory. It turned out that the people who had attacked them were not Song Xingqiu at all, but three burly, muscular men. In front of these three giants, the trio was like weak little chicks, completely incapable of putting up a fight.
Wu Hongzhou, walking at the back, showed a slight flicker of emotion. After dinner, Song Xingqiu had led him to the gate to pick up three bodyguards. When Wu Hongzhou first saw them, he felt as if the wrinkles in his cerebral cortex had all smoothed out. Everything became clear!
He had been wondering how Song Xingqiu would deal with Song Wenyue. Various schemes had run through his mind repeatedly, only to be dismissed as impossible to implement. Upon seeing the three hulking men, he realized he had been overthinking.
Did this even require thought? Since Song Wenyue wanted to launch a sneak attack, Song Xingqiu let him. All he had to do was neutralize them. If you cannot win a fight yourself, you call for backup. If no one in the school dared to help Song Xingqiu against Song Wenyue, he simply looked outside the school. Song Xingqiu had called in three professional hitters. How could Song Wenyue possibly be a match for professionals?
Wu Hongzhou had spent too much time in the academy, immersed in the self-contained rule system constructed by the students. His thinking had been completely confined. He was always trying to use internal forces to deal with internal people. In reality, the world was vast; once the school gates were opened, one realized the campus was just a tiny corner. There were plenty of people outside.
If even Wu Hongzhou felt this sense of enlightenment, it was nothing compared to the shock Song Wenyue and the others felt. Song Wenyue was utterly stunned, only realizing after a long moment that these men were not from the school.
Song Wenyue flew into a rage and roared, “Song Xingqiu! You broke the rules!”
Song Xingqiu looked even more surprised. He walked over to Song Wenyue until the tips of his shoes were almost touching the boy’s face. If he wanted to, he could step right on Song Wenyue’s face. This realization was a massive blow to Song Wenyue’s ego.
From this angle, Song Xingqiu looked down on him like a god looking at a pile of trash. This was the same angle Song Wenyue usually used to look at scholarship students. As the King of Axellonia Academy, he had always stood at the top of the pyramid. He never imagined that one day he would fall to the same level as a scholarship student!
His uncontrollable rage seemed weak and incompetent at this moment. Without looking closely, Song Wenyue could sense the mockery in Song Xingqiu’s eyes. Song Xingqiu leaned down slightly, his voice as steady as if he were discussing the weather. He softly repeated the word, “Rules?”
His tone was composed. “What rules?”
Song Wenyue choked. The so-called rules he spoke of were nothing more than unspoken understandings within the academy, a twisted product built on privilege and bullying. How could they ever be recorded in black and white? If word got out, the entire Axellonia Academy and the beneficiaries of this system would be finished!
Although never explicitly stated, every student tacitly obeyed these invisible shackles, even treating them as sacred. Over time, they had almost forgotten that these so-called rules did not actually exist. Song Wenyue was suddenly speechless.
Song Xingqiu folded his arms leisurely and said sarcastically, “I do not know if I have broken any rules, but I know you have.”
Song Wenyue did not expect Song Xingqiu to turn the tables like this. Today, his meticulously planned scheme had been ruined. Forget beating Song Xingqiu; they were now the ones captured by bodyguards and pinned to the floor, facing the possibility of a beating themselves!
His mood was already terrible, and the sense of humiliation was crushing. Hearing Song Xingqiu say this pushed Song Wenyue to the brink of a breakdown. He decided to go all out. He screamed hysterically, his voice cracking, “What rules did we break?”
Song Xingqiu sneered, finding the question hilarious. “This is my dormitory. You entered my room sneakily without my consent. Your actions of trespassing and intentional injury are written clearly in the criminal law. Oh, I misspoke. This is not called a violation of school rules; it is called a criminal offense.”
Song Xingqiu stopped smiling and looked at them coldly. “Now, shall we talk about the terms of a settlement?”
The situation had taken a sharp turn. Song Wenyue and his two friends froze. They had never imagined that someone would step outside the academy’s unspoken rules and use the higher dimension of the law to judge them!
In the past, they left no traces. The students they bullied did not dare to report them, nor did they have evidence. To avoid being expelled and to secure an Axellonia diploma, everyone would swallow their pride until graduation. This was the first time they faced the deterrent power of the word “police.”
What truly terrified them was not the police themselves, but the fact that if this became a major issue, Song Xingqiu’s status would inevitably involve their families. Just imagining that scenario made their skin crawl. Song Wenyue was certain his parents would take his side, but he was not sure what his grandfather would think. Furthermore, his step-grandmother, who was the same age as his mother, would certainly use this as an excuse to cause trouble! He was the one in the wrong, and he would undoubtedly face a harsh scolding.
Xue Chengyi and Jiang Xing were already drenched in sweat. It was no joke; Song Wenyue and Song Xingqiu were family regardless. If they had to call their parents to confront the Song family head-on, the mere thought made their legs weak. Song Wenyue and Xue Chengyi’s brains stalled; they were dumbfounded.
Only Jiang Xing refused to give up. His usually stagnant brain went into emergency overdrive, and he actually thought of a way out! He shouted desperately, “Who says we were trespassing! We came to see Jiang Baixie! Do you know Jiang Baixie? He lived here before you did! This dormitory does not belong to you alone. What right do you have to say we are trespassing?”
As soon as Jiang Xing spoke, Song Wenyue and Xue Chengyi felt as if a light had been switched on. That was it! There was still this move. Why did they have to admit they were there to cause trouble for Song Xingqiu? They could say they were there to see Jiang Baixie. The key they used to open the door belonged to Jiang Baixie anyway.
If they had actually beaten Song Xingqiu, it would be one thing. But they had not succeeded yet; they had not done anything. What evidence did Song Xingqiu have to say they were trespassing or intending to do something bad? Words alone were not proof.
Xue Chengyi immediately raised his voice to help. “That is right! Stop making false accusations! I am warning you to let us go immediately, or I will sue you for illegal detention and intentional injury!”
Song Xingqiu tilted his chin, gesturing with his eyes to the burlap sack in Jiang Xing’s hand. With such a large sack right there, he was hardly blind.
Jiang Xing fell silent. Xue Chengyi and Song Wenyue were also speechless. Jiang Xing tried to hide the sack, but the man pinning him down was far too large and strong. He could not move at all, and after a few futile struggles, he failed.
Song Wenyue was so angry his vision went dark, and his teeth chattered. Jiang Xing! It was that useless, bungling idiot again!
A spark of inspiration hit Xue Chengyi, and he came up with a new explanation. He said stubbornly, “We came to help Jiang Baixie move his things. This is the bag we brought.”
Standing in the back, Wu Hongzhou could no longer listen. He turned his head away. He suddenly felt that even if he had not partnered with Song Xingqiu for his family business, switching to Song Xingqiu’s side was still a good idea. Otherwise, he would be one of the people pinned to the ground talking nonsense. The image was too much to bear. He would have lost all face for a lifetime.
Song Xingqiu went along with their words, looking around with feigned concern. “In that case, may I ask where the Jiang Baixie you speak of is? You came to help someone move, yet you cannot even enter the bedroom door? He specifically invited the three of you to crawl around in the dark in the middle of the night just so you could put a burlap sack over me in the living room? Surely the thing you intend to move is not me, a living person?”
The outer door of the Axellonia dormitories used an old-fashioned lock that required a key, but the inner doors of the individual bedrooms used a digital code lock. This ensured maximum privacy and rights for each student.
The trio fell even more silent. The key had been stolen, and Jiang Baixie was still in the Federation. They wished Jiang Baixie would return as late as possible, so where were they supposed to find him now?
Song Xingqiu walked over to Song Wenyue and gestured to the bodyguard holding him. The bodyguard understood and lifted Song Wenyue like a piece of cargo, dragging him roughly in front of Song Xingqiu. Song Wenyue, completely controlled by the massive bodyguard, tried to struggle, but he could not break free. When had he ever suffered such hardship? His face darkened immediately.
Song Wenyue’s expression was grim, and fury burned in his chest. Just as he was about to explode, he saw Song Xingqiu unhurriedly rotating his wrists, his joints making a crisp clicking sound, before stretching his shoulders.
Song Wenyue’s eyelids twitched violently. The grim look on his face instantly turned into panic, and his voice trembled uncontrollably. His previous ruthless aura had vanished completely.
“What are you doing?”