Chapter 54 — It Was a Sensational Fight (Part Two)

With Brother Black Panther down, Zhong Yongliang was dumbstruck; Gao Xiaofu was dumbstruck; Zhang Naipao was dumbstruck; even Brother Black Panther's two underlings were dumbstruck. But the most dumbstruck of all were Zou Ruoming and his crew.

Zou Ruoming stared in disbelief at what had just unfolded before his eyes. Brother Black Panther, brought down just like that? Others might not know what Brother Black Panther was capable of, but Zou Ruoming certainly did. Brother Black Panther could really fight—word was that even his own boss was no match for him. And yet a tough character like that had been dropped by Wei Zhao with such ease, without the boy even breaking a sweat.

"Fuck, that works too?" one of Zou Ruoming's men said, eyes wide. "This kid must have the luck of the devil! What a stroke of fortune!"

But Zou Ruoming shook his head. He was no fool—quite the opposite, he was reasonably sharp—and he did not believe Wei Zhao had floored Brother Black Panther through sheer luck. What sort of man was Brother Black Panther? A man who treated brawling like mealtime! For years he had been rolling around in the mud and blood of the "battlefield." How could he be felled by a fluke? If that were possible, he might as well have quit the game long ago—he would have died in some accident by now!

So skill was skill, plain and simple. Now Zou Ruoming understood: that basketball to the head this morning had not been undeserved. Brother Black Panther had it far worse than he did; from the look of him, he probably would not be getting up anytime soon.

Sure enough—Wei Zhao had not meant to take Brother Black Panther's life, but neither had he intended to let him off lightly. So when that kick landed, the man's pelvis did not explode, but it was certainly fractured, and a month or so in the hospital was a foregone conclusion.

"Brother Black Panther!" Brother Black Panther's two underlings had not expected Wei Zhao to be such a handful. He had put their boss on the ground the moment he arrived, and now their eyes went red. The two of them advanced on Wei Zhao together.

Wei Zhao was thoroughly annoyed. Today was the first day of morning exercises, and he had been looking forward to learning the routine properly—only to have these clowns ruin it for him.

"Kill him for me!" Brother Black Panther struggled a few times, but the searing pain in his lower body kept him from rising. Still, he gritted his teeth, a murderous glint in his eyes. In all his years, he had never taken such a loss—and now he had taken a grievous one at the hands of a student. This he could not tolerate!

Today it was either Wei Zhao's death or his own. If Wei Zhao was allowed to walk away smug and unscathed, then Brother Black Panther might as well hang up his spurs for good!

Brother Black Panther's hysteria finally provoked Wei Zhao. He had not meant to do the man any real harm, but this creature simply did not know when to quit, and was still screeching that he would kill him. Wei Zhao frowned and planted a foot on the man's cheek. There was a crack, a scream of agony—and Brother Black Panther's entire jaw was knocked out of place.

Wei Zhao's action froze the two underlings who had been about to close in on him. Both were newcomers Brother Black Panther had taken in not long ago, greenhorns who had never seen a real fight. He had brought them along today to broaden their horizons and bolster their nerve—after all, beating a student who could not fight back was supposed to cultivate in them a taste for violence.

But now the situation was exactly the reverse: the one who could not get up was Brother Black Panther—a figure who, in the minds of these two underlings, was practically a god! Wei Zhao's brutality made their knees go weak.

So this was how hard the underworld life really was—at every moment the risk of being crippled, nothing like the glamour they had imagined! Today a student could beat Brother Black Panther to the ground; tomorrow they might run into someone even more vicious... They dared not think further.

By now the two of them were already minded to retreat. Fearing that Wei Zhao might vent his anger on them, they could not help shrinking backward...

"Motherfucker! Nobody's getting out of here alive today!" Brother Black Panther suddenly shot out his right hand, pulled a black-mouthed knockoff pistol from his pocket, and leveled it at Wei Zhao!

The knockoff pistol, commonly known as a "spitter," was the kind not turned out by any licensed arsenal but cobbled together in small illegal workshops and sold on the black market. Its accuracy and safety fell far short of a proper handgun, yet it remained highly prized among the underworld crowd—after all, with a piece like that tucked at your waist, who would dare make a reckless move when you pulled it out at the critical moment?

This was the pistol Brother Black Panther carried on him for emergencies. But he had never imagined he would draw it here—in a school, of all places, the one setting where it should be least likely to appear.

The commotion on Wei Zhao's side had already drawn the school's attention. Several PE teachers were conferring about going over together to drive Brother Black Panther and his lot off campus. After all, committing violence against students in broad daylight, right under the teachers' noses, was a slap in the face to every one of them! The burly PE teachers in particular were raring to go.

"What on earth is going on here?" Wang Zhifeng had also hurried out to the field. Seeing the crowd of teachers buzzing with discussion, he walked over at once to ask.

"Director Wang, it looks like Zhong Yongliang from Class Five, Grade Twelve, has brought some thugs from outside onto campus to make trouble..." The speaker was Zhang Xiaohua of the PE department, who taught that very class. He knew Zhong Yongliang—this spoiled rich kid who never studied and spent his days brawling and causing trouble—and thoroughly detested him, though there was nothing he could do about it. Getting to badmouth him in front of Wang Zhifeng now felt thoroughly satisfying.

"Zhong Yongliang?" Wang Zhifeng frowned and looked up toward the crowd of troublemakers not far away... Just then the situation took another turn: Brother Black Panther was sent sprawling face-first by a kick from Wei Zhao, his head slamming into the ground.

And at that moment Wang Zhifeng also got a clear look at the one who had kicked Brother Black Panther, and the corner of his mouth twitched. Why, it was that brat again! Originally Wang Zhifeng had thought Wei Zhao quite polite—though he had been introduced by the shareholder Gu Pengzhan, there was none of the spoiled-rich-kid air about him. He wore a clean school uniform and gave off a sunny impression.

But now... well, still waters run deep... And yet Wang Zhifeng could not afford to offend this particular gentleman. Never mind Gu Pengzhan behind him—even Wang Zhifeng's own little indiscretions, if Wei Zhao were to let slip a word about them, would leave him unable to walk away unscathed.

"You few from the PE department, go over and take a look—don't let any of our school's students get hurt!" Wang Zhifeng ordered the PE teachers, his words carrying his own meaning between the lines: those thugs from outside, you may handle however you like—but our own students, you make sure to protect them well!

The PE teachers could of course hear what Wang Zhifeng was driving at. Though Wei Zhao now held the upper hand, they too had to go over and press that advantage home.

But just as the few of them were about to step forward, they beheld a scene that left them stunned!