Who was Zhuo Tai?
Zhuo Tai was famous among the second-year students.
Last year, when he entered the university as a freshman, he advanced from a martial disciple to a martial warrior in a short span of three months.
He became the number one freshman last year in a single leap.
After that, many people followed his lead. Naturally, they weren't willing to stay below him.
What happened if they were unconvinced?
Fight it out.
Challenges came one after another. However, Zhuo Tai remained undefeated. His situation was a little similar to Wang Teng's.
For the entire first year, Zhuo Tai remained at the top of his cohort. He was the leader of this year's second-year students. If no accidents happened, he would probably maintain his status in the third and fourth years, all the way until he graduated.
At that time, Zhuo Tai would undeniably be the number one of his batch.
If he graduated with this identity from Huanghai Military Academy and entered the battlefield or held a certain important position in important departments, his future was limitless.
Thus, he wouldn't allow any mistakes to happen during this crucial period.
However, no one expected the ultimate dark horse, Wang Teng, to appear among this batch of freshmen.
First, he kicked him out of his Third Section Room No. 1 on the first day of school. This already gave him a sense of urgency. He felt that he was going to lose his position.
Then, Wang Teng defeated more than ten second-year students. There were many outstanding students among them.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Although these people were defeated by him too, times had changed. Wang Teng was just a first-year student, but he managed to achieve something he had only completed half a year after he entered university.
This comparison caused his value to plunge down.
Even a freshman was stronger than him. How could he remain the number one of his batch?
He felt that in the hearts of his instructors and president, Wang Teng had a higher position than him.
However, Zhuo Tai wouldn't admit defeat so easily. He wanted to prove to everyone that he was able to suppress Wang Teng, the number one of the freshmen.
…
The collision between the number one of the freshmen and the number one of the second year.
The news spread like wildfire. The hype was being built up to an all-time high. In the cafeteria, along the paths… everyone was talking about this matter.
It swept through the entire school like a tornado.
In the martial arts club.
The martial arts club took an entire building. There were many facilities inside, like training grounds, office areas, resting areas, and many others.
Everything here belonged to the martial arts club.
There were five levels in the building. At this moment, in a meeting room on the highest floor, a few young figures were gathered together.
"Old Zhuang, why did you gather us together when there's nothing?" asked a rough-looking young man casually.
"That's right. If you're free, why don't you go and complete a few missions?" Another pretty young lady with a hint of viciousness in her gaze opened her mouth.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})A refined-looking young man wearing a pair of glasses tried to smooth things over. "Alright, the two of you, stop talking. Since Old Zhuang called us over, he must have something to discuss."
"Tsk, that fellow likes to follow behind Old Zhuang and bootlick him." The rough-looking Cheng Wu pouted in disdain.
"Pfft!"
The people in the room tried their best to suppress their laughter. However, some of them failed in their attempts and burst out laughing.
The young man wearing glasses, Fan Bowen, frowned instantly. His expression was ugly. Although he knew that Cheng Wu was a gangster and had a big mouth, flames of anger still flared in his heart when he heard his words.
This bastard was so irritating!
The young man sitting on the host's seat was resting with closed eyes. He slowly opened his eyes and glanced at Cheng Wu calmly. Cheng Wu shrunk his neck uncontrollably.
"Cheng Wu, if you don't shut your mouth, I will drag you to the actual combat room for a good training session."
"Hehe, I think Cheng Wu has forgotten the past lessons. He wants to get a beating again," everyone teased.
"Damn it, you are the one who wants to get a beating. Your entire family is asking for a beating…" Cheng Wu immediately flared up in anger when he heard this. However, the next second, he looked at Zhuang He guiltily and scratched his head. "Old Zhuang, I'm just joking to liven up the atmosphere. I won't do it again. Don't you have something to say since you called us all over today? Go ahead, go ahead."
"Cheng Wu, aren't you unyielding? Why are you scared now?" The lady who spoke before didn't forget to poke a finger at him.
"Bullshit, I'm just following my heart. Don't you know what following your heart means?" Cheng Wu started talking nonsense without blushing at all.
"Cough, cough!"
When he noticed that the people below were still bickering, Zhuang He coughed.
"Hey Old Zhuang, you're coughing. Your body is a little weak. Why don't you train your physique with me? You can have a body full of muscles like me." Cheng Wu gave a bodybuilder pose and raised his eyebrows at Zhuang He.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Disgusting!
This was too disgusting!
Everyone felt their hair standing when they saw Cheng Wu's expression. If they could, they wanted to push that disgusting face on the ground and rub it…
"Cheng Wu, when the meeting ends, stay back. It looks like I haven't educated you for too long. How dare you climb on top of me," Zhuang He said indifferently.
The moment Cheng Wu finished speaking, he regretted it. He couldn't control his mouth.
When he heard Zhuang He asking him to stay back, his heart dropped. He felt goosebumps on his body, and his eyelids kept jumping.
He slapped his mouth and said hurriedly, "Don't. Boss Zhuang, Brother Zhuang, you know my big mouth. I can't control myself. Please be benevolent and forgive me…"
"Hmph."
Zhuang He replied with a snort. Then, he ignored the boorish fellow and glanced around the room. "This time, I called you over to take a look at the freshmen recruitment list done by Chen Su and Yang Lin. We will make a decision together."
He pointed at Chen Su and Yang Lin with his chin.
Chen Su distributed the photocopied versions of the name list to everyone.
Everyone turned quiet. They started looking through the list together.
Zhuang He wasn't in a hurry. He sat on his seat quietly and placed his elbow on the handle. He rested his chin on the back of his hand and waited lazily for the people to finish reading.
Around ten minutes later, everyone put down the name list one after another.
"These freshmen are all very talented." Fan Bowen was the first to speak.
Chen Su said, "They are all students with good potential. Some of them are still a little uncertain, so we need to examine them again."
"There are many factors to consider for the recruitment of the martial arts club. We can't do things haphazardly. The two of you did a good job," Zhuang He nodded and said.
"However, is the top student of the freshmen cohort really so impressive?" Cheng Wu pointed to the first page of the list. It was Wang Teng's information.
"He has already defeated 16 second-year students. Soon, he will be challenging the number one second-year student, Zhuo Tai. I feel that he is strong enough to enter our martial arts club. There's no reason for us to reject the freshmen with the most potential, right?" Yang Lin asked.
"Look at how agitated you are. I didn't say that I don't want him. This is my first time seeing such a fierce freshman, so I'm a little curious." Cheng Wu shrugged.
Xia Qiu, the pretty lady with a vicious gaze, said, "I recently heard of this freshman, and I'm a little curious too. Isn't he going to fight with Zhuo Tai? Let's go and take a look, shall we?"
"Include me." Cheng Wu smiled.
"We want to take a look too."
"He's just a freshman. What's there to look at? Why don't we just go and do missions? That Zhuo Tai is looking for trouble out of nothing. Why is he challenging a freshman? Isn't he lowering his status? No matter who wins, he will be the one getting embarrassed."
"That's not true. Almost all the outstanding second-year students were defeated. If Zhuo Tai doesn't act, others might think that he's afraid of Wang Teng. This will harm his reputation even more."
"All in all, the second year couldn't resist the temptation of the military title. That's how things got to this state. In the end, they just couldn't take care of the matter and end it properly," Xia Qiu said in contempt.
"If I was a 1-star soldier-level martial warrior, I'd not be able to control myself either. I'd have challenged him too!" Cheng Wu said.
"The president dug a bottomless pit for the second year!"
"Hmph, the president probably didn't expect things to end up in this state either."
…
At the same time, at the dean's office, a similar discussion was ongoing.
Tong Hu, Su Jing, and the other three heads, as well as the first-year instructors, were all gathered here.
Everyone expressed their astonishment at Wang Teng's performance.
They had never seen such an outstanding freshman who was able to defeat the second-year students until they couldn't retaliate at all.
"Zhuo Tai is the top second-year student of our battle faculty. Last year, he was way ahead of his batch. The appearance of Wang Teng is a huge threat to him," one of the instructors of the battle faculty said.
"Be content. Wang Teng belongs to your battle faculty too. You must be secretly happy that a freshman with such huge potential entered your battle faculty," an instructor from the command faculty said with jealousy.
The instructor from the battle faculty sighed. "That's why I find it a pity. When two tigers fight, one is sure to lose."
"If Zhuo Tai loses, the blow to him might be bigger," an instructor from the dan faculty said.
"I don't think so. I feel that this is where Wang Teng's winning streak will end. He can't defeat Zhuo Tai," chimed in an instructor from the smithery faculty.
"That might not be the case," the head of the battle faculty, Tong Hu, suddenly jumped in. A sly look flashed in his eyes, and a smile appeared at the corner of his lips. He seemed very interested in Wang Teng.
"This Wang Teng hides his ability really well. He even fooled the president." The head of the command faculty, Su Jing, sniggered. Then, he shook his head in pity. "Don't mind me. Someone with such good potential should come to my command faculty. Look at how many people he fooled. It shows that he's full of wits and wisdom. He's really compatible with my command faculty."
Then, he couldn't help but sigh. The bitterness on his face showed how much regret he had for losing a talent.
"What do you mean by full of wits and wisdom? Do you mean scheming?" The other four heads immediately scoffed.
"Hahaha, I like this fellow more and more. Good people have short lives, but bad people live much longer. The longer you live, the further you can go and the stronger you can become. He definitely belongs to my battle faculty." Tong Hu laughed loudly. His laughter was deafening, and he sounded very proud.
…
The next day, past 9 am.
The freshmen had just ended a round of training and were resting in the stadium.
There were a bunch of students gathered around Wang Teng and were chatting continuously.
"Brother Teng, are you confident about your battle in the afternoon?" Hou Pingliang couldn't help but ask.
"This is not about having confidence or not. I defeated most of the second year. If I don't defeat their last hope, they won't let me go," Wang Teng said proudly.
"Erm… you're right." Hou Pingliang realized that he didn't know how to reply to him.
"Many people said that Zhuo Tai is very strong. Ever since becoming a martial warrior, he has never suffered any defeat. Brother Teng, it might be a difficult battle for you," Lu Shu said.
"I'll only find out about that after I fight with him. There's no use thinking about it now. We will cross the bridge when we come to it." Wang Teng laid down on the grass and looked up at the sky. He was a little helpless. He felt that ever since he entered Huanghai Military Academy, he was always led by the nose. It was frustrating just thinking about it.
Do they really think that I'm weak? I don't care if you're the president or not. If you provoke me, I will flip the table you've prepared. Wang Teng thought furiously.
All of this was happening because President Peng Yuanshan had dug a hole for him. He didn't know what the president's intention was, but he was very unhappy.
Time passed. Soon, it was 12 noon.
The stadium was packed with people. This time, even more spectators had come.
Zhuo Tai was a famous guy, and many people had high hopes for him. As for Wang Teng, he was a promising youth and was astonishing too.
The battle between these two would definitely attract everyone's attention.
It wasn't just the second-year students. Many third-year and fourth-year seniors were here.
Cheng Wu, Xia Qiu, and many people from the martial arts club came to the stadium. They occupied a corner of the spectator stand. From above, they were able to see the situation in the arena clearly.
Some instructors were also interested in this battle. They were at the stadium.
"It's Mr. Liu from the battle faculty. He came."
"That's Mr. Chen from the command faculty and Mr. Lin from the smithery faculty… Huh, is that Zhuo Tai's instructor?"
"Which one? Which one?"
"That one, the one in white who looks around 40 years old. I think he's Zhuo Tai's instructor. I heard that he spent much effort to groom Zhuo Tai since he was in his first year. He treated Zhuo Tai as the biggest glory of his instructor career."
As they were talking, they turned to look at the middle-aged instructor walking over from outside the crowd. There were three other instructors behind him. They looked like they were here to create trouble.
"Why is Zhuo Tai's instructor here?" one of the first-year instructors on the spectator stand frowned and said.
"It looks like he cares a lot about this battle."
"Even so, as an instructor, it's inappropriate for him to interfere with the battle between the students."
"Since he's already here, there's no use talking about this anymore."
…
"Zhuo Tai has already come. Why isn't Wang Teng here?" Impatient voices were ringing in the crowd.
"Maybe he's scared?"
"Nonsense. If you don't know what to say, then don't speak. Wang Teng defeated almost all your second-year students. Why will he be afraid?"
"Are the freshmen now all so arrogant? Shall I teach you what respect is? Do you think that you can step on top of me just because you have Wang Teng?"
One second-year student frowned angrily. He glared at the freshman who just spoke.
"Why can't I say it? If you're so powerful, go and look for Wang Teng. Why are you targeting martial disciples like us?" The freshman was a little guilty, but he still raised his chest and stepped forward. Even if he lost, he mustn't lose his dignity. Who was afraid of who?
