Chapter 43 Murder!

The gold-digger guy was unfazed by the multitude of staring eyes. Fixing his gaze on the Chinese language teacher, he declared, "I refuse to change my seat. Sitting with Michelle is just fine!"

Teacher Wang waved his hand, signaling him to sit down, and swept his gaze across the classroom. Jiang Meili’s hand was raised high, but the teacher pointed at another female student instead and barked, "You, stand up and speak."

She rose, and only then did I clearly see it was Mei Linlin. Average-looking with short black hair, standing one hundred and sixty-two centimeters tall, she wore a white school uniform and sneakers. Shifting her gaze to my face and then looking around at everyone, she said, "I want to sit with Trent."

Teacher Wang told her to sit down and felt it necessary to clarify things for the class: "Re-arranging seats is a pedagogical necessity, not targeted at any specific student. Therefore, personal opinions are overruled! I have a list here; whoever is called will move immediately!"

Of course, the students had objections, especially Jiang Meili, who was terrified of being assigned to some other seat...

Things weren't that simple. Teacher Wang made all the students stand up at the front, called them out in pairs, and assigned their seats...

The most depressing part was that the gold-digger guy actually ended up sharing a desk with me, while Jiang Meili and Mei Linlin, Mini Ni and Bi Juanyan... After the massive reshuffle, sighs of disappointment echoed everywhere...

Teacher Wang stood at the podium, facing the class, and said, "I know you won't be used to sitting with new partners right away; there is a certain adaptation period. We will make adjustments later based on needs."

The bell rang for the end of the period. In this Chinese class, nothing academic had been taught at all. Teacher Wang scooped up his books and walked out...

The students buzzed with gossip, turning the conversation entirely toward me: "Some people just want to act like the big boss of this class, showing off everywhere and trying to be cute as if they're someone special!"

Another student chimed in, "Who doesn't know how to show off? The problem is you need the capital to back it up."

A female student took a completely different stance: "Trent has every right to be the boss of this class! If anyone has the ability, why not challenge him and find out? Strength is strength; don't judge a gentleman with a petty mind!"

In truth, the words of this last female student were music to my ears. What I loathed most were those who whispered behind others' backs—lacking the guts to stand up and confront me face-to-face, yet eager to inflict wounds with malicious gossip. Jiang Meili was already furious about being separated, and when she heard someone still muttering, her eyes blazed with fury. She slammed her desk and roared, "Stop acting like goddamn cowards! If you've got the guts, get your ass out here!"

The tall guy finally lost his patience. Deliberately slapping his desk and looking away, he spat angrily, "I just don't accept it! You, goddamn Trent, trying to play the big boss—get lost!"

I had been ignoring the tall guy all along, but I remembered that on my very first day back from the hospital, he was the one frantically scrubbing the blackboard into a messy blur with an eraser. So those stupid scribbles up there had been left by his dog paws! He really wanted to test me? Not even one hundred and eighty centimeters tall, and they called him "Big Guy"? I stood one hundred and eighty-two centimeters, and my fists were bigger than his. I shouted right in front of the whole class, "State your worthless name! Today, you're a dead man!"

The students burst into roaring laughter. "You don't even know his mutt-name, and you've been in this classroom for over a year?"

A male student yelled out loudly, "His dog-name is Ugly-Pipi!"

"Shut the hell up! Whether I'm Ugly-Pipi or not is none of your damn business!" The tall guy didn't even look at the speaker; he recognized the voice instantly.

Jiang Meili pulled a grimace and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Trent, pound him! Let's see if he dares to run his mouth again!"

The tall guy glared at Jiang Meili and sneered, "Get lost! Even a dyke dares to yelp now? You won't even know what hit you when you die!"

Sparks were practically leaping from my eyes. Insult me all you wanted, but you couldn't say a single half-word against Jiang Meili. The bastard was asking for a beating! With a spring of my legs, I vaulted into the air, cleared a distance of four meters, and delivered a flying kick straight to his neck.

Trapped between the desks, he had nowhere to dodge and took the blow full-force—his eyes rolled back, his body convulsed a couple of times, and he collapsed onto the desk, thrashing violently until he knocked the rear desk askew before sliding down limply to the floor like a corpse!

I landed steadily on the desk in front. Terrified, the students scattered in all directions, someone screaming at the top of their lungs, "Someone's been beaten to death!"

The female students trembled all over, paralyzed with fear, staying far away...

I jumped down from the desk without sparing him a glance, spat heavily in his direction, and cursed viciously, "Serves you right for getting killed! With that pathetic attitude, how dare you mouth off to me!"

Panicked, the students crowded closely around, some shrieking hysterically, "Ugly-Pipi is dead!"

Jiang Meili appeared right in front of me, shouting to the crowd, "Serves him right! Big talkers deserve to be taught what real power looks like! Watching him cower like a whipped dog before the top student, yet still daring to nag Trent—does he have any idea who he's messing with? Trent can take down four top students single-handedly, breaking arms and legs along the way, and you thought he'd spare an Ugly-Pipi? He totally deserved this!"

The students muttered and debated among themselves, but not a single person dared to pull him up...

The warning bell for class rang. In a panic, the students scrambled to shove their desks and chairs aside and sat down, while Ugly-Pipi remained sprawled out motionless on the floor, leaving them no choice but to shove him into the middle of the aisle with their feet.

The math teacher walked in carrying a stack of books, stood by the podium, and demanded, "What's going on here?"

Naturally, someone rushed to answer, "He got into a fight with Trent!"

The math teacher glanced at me, gestured with a hand, and called out, "Stand up and speak."

I jerked upright like a complete idiot, my mind wandering in a daze, and told the teacher, "I didn't provoke him; he started cursing first..."

After listening for a long time without understanding a thing, the math teacher looked around and called out, "Gold-digger, stand up and tell us what happened!"

I glared at him with a threatening look, and one glance at my expression made everything clear to him...

Cowering in fear, he squeaked, "Teacher Zhen, I—I don't dare say!"

"The goddamn bastard is asking for a beating! I knew I should've stopped him from running his mouth, but I never expected the villain to lodge a complaint first..." I gritted my teeth tightly in front of everyone...

Anyone who wasn't blind could see that all eyes were fixed on me.

Teacher Zhen knew very well she couldn't call upon any other student to answer; otherwise, her authority would crumble entirely and she wouldn't be able to step down gracefully. She raised her voice and commanded, "I am right here. You speak!"

Riding a tiger and unable to dismount, forced into a corner, the gold-digger glanced around at his classmates. Someone secretly gave him a supportive nod and wink; this gesture undoubtedly bolstered his courage, and he finally blurted out, "Everyone saw it! Trent leaped through the air and kicked Ugly-Pipi right in the neck, and then he ended up like this!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, Teacher Zhen was terrified out of her wits! In a blind panic, she told Mini Ni to go fetch the head teacher, while she herself rushed to Ugly-Pipi's side...

Mini Ni bolted frantically out the door, and the students crowded in closer...

I stayed rooted in my seat, completely motionless, acting as though none of this had anything to do with me.

Teacher Zhen dropped to her knees and shook his body vigorously with both hands, shouting, "Ugly-Pipi, wake up..."

The students could see it with crystal clarity: Ugly-Pipi's entire body was limp, his face deathly pale; no matter how violently he was shaken, he wouldn't budge at all...

Judging him to be dead, Teacher Zhen turned pale with fright, struck dumb and utterly clueless about what to do next.

Even then, I still had no inkling of what consequences might follow. I firmly believed I was in the right—even if he was dead, he had brought it upon himself!

Mini Ni rushed back through the classroom doorway accompanied by the head teacher, pushing directly through the ring of onlookers. A moment later, Teacher Wang's panicked voice rang out: "Ugly-Pipi, Ugly-Pipi..."

He even gently patted the boy's face, yet there was no response. A knot tightened in my chest; could he really be dead?

Unable to wait any longer, Teacher Wang fished his cell phone from his jacket pocket, pressed it to his ear, and listened. A minute later, an automated voice replied, "I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is powered off!"

How infuriating! Teacher Wang fixed his gaze on me and barked, "Come with me!"

I had no idea what he meant. Go where? What was the big deal anyway? I followed closely at his heels, expecting to be given a severe tongue-lashing, but to my surprise, not a single word was spoken.

Teacher Wang led me into the school administration zone. The sign hanging above the doorway bore the words: Director's Office; Vice Principal's Office.

I stared straight ahead as we entered the principal's office; the chair was empty. We moved on to the vice principal's office, but it was the same story.

Breaking out in a cold sweat of anxiety, Teacher Wang pulled out his phone again, dialed, and pressed it to his ear, only to hear the same powered-off prompt.

Immediately, an administrator wearing a red armband stepped forward to stop us: "Phone calls are not permitted here!"

"Where is the principal?" Teacher Wang asked in passing.

Naturally, the administrator knew: "Don't disturb them unless it's urgent; they're in a meeting!"

This was driving him crazy! Unable to hold it in a moment longer, Teacher Wang blurted out uncontrollably, "Trent has beaten someone to death!" Fearing some accident, he kept his eyes glued to me until he saw I had no intention of bolting, at which point he calmed down slightly.

The administrator, hypersensitive to such matters, took the stairs two steps at a time...

Unable to grab my hand, Teacher Wang resorted to shouting, "Keep up!"

We reached the doorway of the conference room just in time to see the administrator burst inside, facing the densely packed attendees and yelling at the top of his lungs, "A major disaster has happened! Trent..."