Chapter 25: You Guys Are Pathetically Weak

Strange sounds echoed in the office. Thirty seconds later, the secretary stood up, coughing violently. She licked her lips and swallowed before pouting, "You made me choke, Mr. Ye... What happened? Maybe I can help you think of a solution."

Ye Xiang sighed in satisfaction, buckled his belt, and recounted the day's events.

"You want to take over the slum, huh?" The secretary smiled lightly. "That's easy. Li Xiaofei killed Dugu Que, which means he's more valuable than Dugu Que. As long as we control Li Xiaofei, we can still complete the slum plan."

Ye Xiang's eyes lit up, but he shook his head. "That little bastard is extremely murderous and hard to control, not to mention that lunatic Chen wants to protect him."

The secretary wiped the corners of her mouth with a tissue and giggled, "This is too simple to solve. Everyone has weaknesses. Li Xiaofei, a thug from the slum who prides himself on loyalty above all, is actually easy to deal with. For example, we could capture his friends and family. If he doesn’t comply, we can just kill a few. If we mix threats and incentives, he’ll eventually obey. If he truly can't be controlled, then put a bounty on his head and kill him. We can always find another agent to control the slum."

She continued to analyze the situation, "That lunatic Chen is even easier to handle. Mr. Ye, you only promised not to trouble him yourself. You can't guarantee that other members of the Ye family won't. Do things discreetly, and he won't even notice."

Ye Xiang's eyes brightened and said, "That makes sense. Let's do it." He immediately called the hotel's security manager and gave him detailed instructions.

***

Three days later.

The weather was clear with a gentle breeze when Li Xiaofei arrived at Red Flag High School’s gate as agreed. The school spanned sixty thousand square meters, with reinforced concrete buildings that had stood for a hundred and thirty years. They showed their age as the elements wore away at them.

"Hey, who are you? Are you sneaking around here looking for someone?" asked an elderly man wearing a security uniform and reading glasses as he stepped out of the guardroom.

"I'm looking for Principal Chen Fei," Li Xiaofei said as he walked closer. "He asked me to come here today to complete enrollment procedures."

"You are Li Xiaofei?" The old man put on his reading glasses, looked Li Xiaofei up and down, nodded, and said, "Principal Chen took the school battle team talents out for field training today, but he mentioned you before he left. Follow me."

He led Li Xiaofei into the school. The campus grounds were all paved with concrete, with hardly any greenery in sight. In fact, the entirety of Liuhe Base City was like this due to severe water shortages; vegetation was nearly nonexistent. The air was dry and dusty.

"What's your last name, sir?" Li Xiaofei asked casually.

"My last name is Qin." The old guard replied without looking back. "You can call me Grandpa Qin."

"Grandpa Qin, when will Principal Chen be back?" asked Li Xiaofei.

"He left the city yesterday afternoon, so he probably won't return until tomorrow morning," replied Grandpa Qin.

"That long? Isn't it said that the outskirts are full of star beasts and very dangerous?" Li Xiaofei continued asking questions.

"The Liuhe Base City High School War God League will begin in half a month. If they want to achieve good results, the battle team must undergo trials and venture into truly dangerous environments to stimulate their potential."

"High School War God League?"

"Yes, it's a city-level league that a total of thirty-two teams participate in. The resources the school receives depend entirely on the team's performance in the league."

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"How did our school's team perform?"

"First place."

"So strong?"

"From the bottom."

"Uh..." Li Xiaofei didn't know how to respond.

So Red Flag High School was this bad?

It seemed like Chen Fei had tricked him.

"Why don't I see other students around the campus?" He changed the topic.

Grandpa Qin said, "Students from Qishen Academy came to challenge today, so everyone went to watch."

Qishen Academy? The name sounded familiar. After a moment of thought, Li Xiaofei remembered it was the elite school where Zhong Ling studied. "Grandpa Qin, can we go and watch too?" He was slightly interested.

But Grandpa Qin shook his head and said, "No, you have to complete the enrollment procedures first. Only then will you be officially recognized as a student of Red Flag High School and allowed to watch."

Li Xiaofei quickly got his student ID, light-core laptop, school uniform, and other daily necessities as he followed Grandpa Qin. The student ID had an embedded chip that served as a meal card, access card, dorm key, and shopping card for the school store. It could also be used as an ID outside the school, allowing Li Xiaofei to move legally beyond the slum.

"Grandpa, aren't you the security guard? Why are you handling enrollment procedures?" Li Xiaofei asked curiously after changing into his school uniform.

Grandpa Qin removed his security badge and replaced it with another one, saying, "Let me formally introduce myself. I’m Qin Dewei, Dean of Red Flag High School."

Li Xiaofei looked at the Dean badge glinting on Grandpa Qin's chest and fell into deep thought. Something didn't seem right. The feeling that he'd been duped grew stronger.

"Grandpa, have I been tricked?" he asked sincerely.

Grandpa Qin replied just as sincerely, "It seems so."

"Can I still drop out now?"

"Heh, once you've enrolled, you're one of us for life, no matter if you’re alive or dead."

"Grandpa, cut me some slack."

"Impossible. Chen Fei worked hard to bring in a student. If you run away on my watch, I'd become the school's biggest disgrace."

"Grandpa, how many students does our school have?" Li Xiaofei asked, eagerly wanting to know.

"Our school covers sixty thousand acres and has fifty classrooms, including four large light-core computer rooms and four level-three biology dissection labs..." Grandpa Qin ignored his question and started introducing the school to him.

"Grandpa, my question was, how many students do we have?" Li Xiaofei asked again.

"Oh, right. There are also two level-three national standard training grounds, three hundred and fifty-one student dormitories, and four cafeterias."

"Grandpa, do you need a hearing aid? I'm asking how many students we have."

"Sigh, you still don't get it? If we had many students, would I be working this hard to dodge your question?"

"Damn..." Li Xiaofei was surprised.

"Swearing in front of the Dean will get you demerits."

"Sorry."

"No problem. Let's go, didn't you want to watch the challenge match?"

"Okay... So how many students are there exactly?"

"Counting you, sixty-one."

"Damn, that few?"

"Swearing again? This time, I'm really deducting points."

"Sorry."

They were soon at the southern training ground. The training ground was vast and well-equipped, with half of it covered in concrete and the other half in special hardened rubber, with various training apparatuses placed in different zones. Although the facilities appeared aged, they were well-maintained.

At the center of the concrete section was a sunken circular arena with descending concrete steps that formed twenty-one tiers of seating for spectators.

At that moment, students from two groups were seated on the southern and northern steps. On the southern side, there were fifty-two students wearing Red Flag High School's black and white cotton uniforms. On the northern side, there were nine fully equipped students dressed in all-white specialized battle attire. These were clearly the elites from Qishen Academy.

Among them was a familiar face. Zhou Yiyou, the handsome young man who had taken Zhong Ling away that day, was leading the Qishen Academy team. However, there was a battle going on in the fifty-meter-diameter arena in the center.

"Go, Senior Sister Wang!"

"Come on, you can do it!"

The students from Red Flag High School were shouting themselves hoarse as they cheered for their representative. But the situation in the arena was grim. Wang Yuting, who was representing Red Flag High School, was being toyed with like a cat with a mouse by her younger opponent. Starforce flames flickered and burst as explosive sounds echoed from the arena.

Bang.

Wang Yuting fell heavily to the ground with a dull thud and couldn't get up again.

Across from her, Qishen Academy's Qi Yiqian looked disdainful, "Is this the strength of Red Flag High School's substitute team? Haha, it's really too weak. Pathetic. You’re all laughably weak."