The boy who charged at her was much more burly than Jin Xianhui. His muscles bulged, straining the thin fabric of his school uniform shirt. With a buzz cut dyed gold, he stormed out from behind the door, fists swinging.
He’d intended to punch Song Shi the moment she entered, making a fool out of her in front of the whole class.
But what he didn’t expect was that Song Shi hadn’t stepped inside the door at all. His punch landed too early, hitting nothing but air.
Song Shi, in contrast, stood a step behind the door, watching him with a faint smirk.
A flicker of surprise crossed his face, quickly replaced by a flare of anger for looking like a fool.
His jaw clenched tightly. He grabbed the door handle and slammed the door flat against the wall, half out of frustration, half to make noise and intimidate.
The metal handle struck the wall with a loud BANG, far louder than the school bell. Students from other classes, who were sprinting down the hallway trying to see what is happening and glanced over instinctively.
When they saw Song Shi standing at the classroom door, their expressions changed. Without a word, they looked away and continued into their own classrooms.
The bell had already rung.
The hallway quieted down.
The blonde buzz-cut boy scoffed coldly and cracked his neck, the popping of his joints echoing in the silence.
Song Shi kept her eyes fixed on his movements. At the moment his fist flew out, she visualized the trajectory it would take and stepped aside. The punch narrowly grazed her neck.
His left punch hadn’t yet retracted when his right came flying in. Song Shi bent backward, just barely dodging it.
The buzz-cut boy was clearly trained—his movements were fast, accurate, and brutal.
Song Shi stayed focused, treating the situation with the utmost seriousness.
After missing twice, he lashed out with a sweeping kick.
His legs, clad in tailored uniform pants, were muscular and fast. Song Shi didn’t have time to dodge. She bent her knee and met the kick head-on.
【Pain Tolerance Progress: +1%】
The force flung Song Shi straight into the doorframe. Her back slammed against the raised edge, and she heard a sickening crack from her spine.
Her knee was so numb it might as well not exist.
But the buzz-cut boy wasn’t left unscathed, his leg trembled slightly from the impact.
Still, his muscles weren’t just for show. He quickly recovered, lifted his leg again, and aimed a vicious kick at Song Shi’s waist.
Song Shi, leaning against the door, didn’t move. The boy mistook her stillness for fear and hesitated, a flash of excitement crossing his face. He added more power to his kick, intending to knock her flat in one go.
But just before the blow landed, Song Shi vanished from the doorframe in a flash.
The boy’s pupils shrank. His kick had too much momentum, it was too late to pull back.
CRACK!
The crisp, bone-snapping sound was so sharp that even Song Shi, already inside the classroom, winced.
“AAAHHHHH!” A pig-like screech came from behind. The buzz-cut boy was clutching his leg, drenched in sweat from the pain.
【Counter Abuse: +2%】
Song Shi didn’t even glance back. Her eyes scanned the back of the classroom.
Jin Xianhui stood near the back row, second to last, looking meek and submissive. Next to him sat another boy, arms crossed, lounging in his chair, watching her intently.
Their eyes met. The boy raised his right hand, outfitted with a cybernetic bracelet, and pointed at her with a long, slender finger.
Immediately, five people stood up from the back row—three boys and two girls.
Song Shi took a step back, her heel touching the edge of the podium.
She tilted her head slightly, noting the empty teaching platform. Class had already started, yet no teacher was in sight.
Coincidence? Or had someone gained the power to keep the teacher away?
The five students stepped out from their seats, slowly surrounding the podium. One cracked their knuckles. Another casually snatched a thick book from a desk and rolled it into a club-like shape.
The student who lost their book didn’t protest—like a puppet, silent and lifeless.
In fact, the entire classroom felt like a room full of puppets. No one moved. No one spoke. Their expressions were eerily calm, as if they were about to watch a movie they’d seen a thousand times before.
The most excited of all was Jin Xianhui. He still held his neck, eyes gleaming with suppressed glee as he watched Song Shi surrounded.
She stepped up onto the podium, gaining a better view.
That’s when she spotted it, the side window that faced the hallway had a reflection. A head was peeking through. A middle-aged man with a receding hairline and thick black-rimmed glasses. The moment he noticed her gaze, he ducked out of sight.
Given the height of the window, Song Shi could imagine the man squatting awkwardly just beneath it.
At this time of day, who else would be outside the classroom besides a teacher?
Her gaze dropped. She completely abandoned the idea of seeking help.
No backup. No escape.
Song Shi looked directly at her attackers, now forming a half-circle around the podium.
The first to strike was the girl with the book. She raised it like a club and swung it straight at Song Shi’s head.
Song Shi instinctively ducked and reached for the girl’s wrist to grab the weapon.
Just as her hand wrapped around the girl’s wrist, she heard a whoosh in her ear. In this sealed classroom, where did that wind come from?
She immediately tilted her head to the right. A fist whizzed past her ear, close enough that it left her outer ear ringing with pain.
She didn’t even have time to catch her breath before BANG! A solid punch landed on her shoulder and back. Song Shi staggered forward. Another punch came from her left.
Gritting her teeth through the pain, Song Shi ignored the incoming blow and focused on grabbing the weapon. She twisted both hands, yanking the girl’s wrist like she was wringing out a rag. A sharp crack echoed as the girl cried out in pain, dropping the book.
Song Shi snatched it mid-air without missing a beat and used it to block the punch from her left. The fist tore through the book cover with a ripping sound.
No time to check what kind of book it was, Song Shi swung it backward like a weapon.
It slammed into the face of the person trying to sneak up behind her. The force made him stumble sideways, crashing into the head of the person next to him.
Song Shi didn’t stop. Gripping the book by its spine, she brought it down on their heads again.
BAM! SMACK! THWACK!
With reckless attacks, she swung the battered book like a madwoman, ready to injure even if it meant hurting herself tenfold. She struck anything that moved.
The book’s cover was shredded. White pages tore loose and filled the air like snow, scattering across the podium.
But even that didn’t stop the fists coming through the gaps.
Her back was taking the worst of it. No matter how fast she moved, she couldn’t block them all.
One punch after another. Each one landed hard.
It felt like her bones were breaking apart. A metallic taste filled her throat.
She swallowed it down, choking back the taste of blood.
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