No cameras, and you still dare to act so arrogant?
Xie Litang threw a punch straight toward Li Ruoxi's cheek.
Two of Li Ruoxi's molars went flying on the spot, and half her face instantly swelled up like a balloon.
【CLANG~】
【Vitality +0.36.】
Xie Litang felt so euphoric she was practically flying.
Was there anything in this world that sounded sweeter than that crisp CLANG?
After two days of work, her current Vitality was already higher than Xue Qingyue's.
Compared to these girls whose Vitality averaged sixty or seventy, hers was a whole forty to fifty points higher.
Beating up people was more than a hundred times more satisfying than swatting mosquitoes.
What was more, in her vision, a health bar lit up over Li Ruoxi's head.
With Li Ruoxi sitting at around 70 Vitality, Xie Litang's physical attack combined with the true damage from a Steel proc took out nearly half of Li Ruoxi's health bar with just one punch.
Li Ruoxi shrieked, clutching her face in disbelief. “Y-You actually dare hit me?”
Cracking her knuckles, Xie Litang sneered, “You're damn right I'm hitting you.”
Li Ruoxi had never suffered such humiliation in her life; her face burned with pain, while her heart was gripped by shock and fury.
Consumed by rage, she let out a shriek and waved her hand, ordering her friends to swarm her.
Hearing that, the other girls' expressions turned hostile, and they quickly boxed Xie Litang into the middle.
One of the girls possessed the C-Grade ability Flame Manipulation. Raising her hand, she began conjuring a small fireball, fire elemental energy gathering in her palm—yet before even a spark could fully form, Xie Litang drew her wooden sword.
“Steel Tempest.”
The blade whipped up a light gust of wind, slashing across the girl's chest with blinding speed.
【CLANG~】
【Vitality +0.36.】
The girl wailed and flew backward.
Before her little fireball could even manifest, she was already sprawled flat on the ground.
Taking advantage of the others' momentary shock, Xie Litang lunged forward.
The wooden sword thrust repeatedly, moving so fast it left only afterimages. Dealing with them didn't even require waiting for Heartsteel's cooldown.
Before the remaining girls could react, Xie Litang had already knocked them all to the ground.
The girls lay sprawled across the dirt, groaning and wailing in pain.
Xie Litang glared down at them. “Get lost.”
Li Ruoxi shuddered, venomous hatred flaring in her eyes. Staggering to her feet, she snarled, “Xie Litang, do you have any idea who I am? Cross me, and believe me, I'll make sure you can't survive in Jianghai City!”
Before she could finish her sentence, Xie Litang threw another punch.
【CLANG~】
【Vitality +0.37.】
Li Ruoxi's eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed in a dead faint.
The remaining girls shrieked in terror and hastily hauled her away, fleeing as fast as their legs could carry them.
Xie Litang furrowed her brows, spat on the ground, and muttered, “Who cares who you are? If not for my current strength being lacking and this being inside the city, I would've slaughtered you long ago.”
It wasn't that she hadn't considered cutting weeds at the roots, but the city had too many eyes and ears, and the peacekeepers weren't pushovers.
As for who Li Ruoxi actually was, Xie Litang couldn't even be bothered to look into it; at the end of the day, they were just a bunch of students with wealthy families.
With that, she didn't spare them another glance.
Stacking Steel on these people was honestly more trouble than it was worth.
After an entire brawl, her Vitality had only increased by a little over one point. This kind of efficiency didn't even hold a candle to swatting mosquitoes.
Feeling secretly thrilled, Xie Litang glanced at her status panel.
【Name: Xie Litang.】
【Ability: Teammate Sacrifice, Uses: 0.】
【Class: Swordmaster, Wind-Style Swordsmanship (Beginner).】
【Vitality: 121, Spirit: 45.】
【Equipment: Heartsteel.】
Xie Litang nodded in satisfaction.
When it came to stacking Steel, she had never disappointed.
If only she had a teammate to sacrifice, doubling her stats before going out to stack Steel—that would be even better.
Shaking the can of insecticide in her hand, Xie Litang began another round of joyful Steel stacking.
There wasn't much left in the can; she would have to buy a couple more tomorrow.
There were plenty of foul drainage ditches in the west district, and she planned to scout every viable spot in the area.
【CLANG, CLANG, CLANG...】
Vitality +0.39.
Vitality +0.4.
Vitality +0.5.
As the night deepened, the silhouette beneath the streetlamp never once stopped moving.
Only when her arm ached with exhaustion did she finally sheath her sword.
Over the course of the night, her Vitality had surged by another massive leap.
While Xie Litang was having the time of her life stacking Steel, Li Ruoxi's severe injuries and hospitalization couldn't be kept under wraps.
After being frightened and questioned, the other girls exaggerated the story with colorful embellishments, spilling everything that had happened.
Four against one, and all four had been turned on and slaughtered—by a publicly recognized piece of trash who had been kicked out of school, no less.
Jianghai High School erupted into an immediate uproar.
【Didn't Xie Litang awaken a useless E-Grade ability? How could she possibly beat Li Ruoxi and the others?】
【Did you guys forget her ability is sacrificing teammates?】
【Are you saying she murdered someone?】
【Who knows for sure?】
【With her pathetic skills, she probably latched onto another sugar daddy or backer.】
【Is there a chance she was actually playing the pig to eat the tiger all along?】
【Impossible. E-Grade is E-Grade. I bet she definitely used Teammate Sacrifice.】
【Murder! Call the police immediately!】
【If you ask me, Li Ruoxi and her bunch were just too useless.】
【Whatever the case, Jianghai High School's face has been utterly dragged through the mud by them.】
An expelled student had slapped the faces of the elite class—who wouldn't be furious?
All sorts of conspiracy theories spread like wildfire.
The post was bumped higher and higher, its reply count breaking a thousand in the blink of an eye.
Even the school's faculty were alerted. No matter how poor Li Ruoxi's combat skills might be, she still possessed a B-Grade Elemental Affinity. How could someone they kicked out the door beat her into the dirt just like that?
This wasn't just a slap in Li Ruoxi's face; it was a resounding slap across the face of the school's entire leadership.
BANG!
Inside the office, Principal Xue Haipeng slammed a palm onto the desk, bellowing in fury, “Who's in charge of the school forum? Suppress this right now, immediately!”
Beside the desk, the dean of students lowered their voice and asked, “Principal, Xie Litang doesn't seem quite so useless after all. Should we invite her back?”
Hearing this, Xue Haipeng flushed red in the face and neck, shouting, “There's no way we're readmitting her! We made those statements right in front of all those reporters. If we recruit her back now, wouldn't that be admitting we were completely blind?”
The dean of students asked softly, “Then what do you propose, Principal?”
Xue Haipeng gave a cold laugh. “Students' matters should be resolved by students themselves. But remember to send members of the Student Council's Martial Arts Club. I refuse to believe a useless piece of trash like her can overturn the heavens.”
Gradually, the wind on the forum began to shift.
Students claiming to be from the Student Council's Martial Arts Club made posts, vowing to seek justice for Li Ruoxi.
Xie Litang couldn't care less about any of that; all she cared about right now was Steel.
She was even contemplating whether she should buy up a bunch of mosquitoes and flies.
Crossing one arm over her chest and stroking her chin with the other hand, Xie Litang muttered, “Once I get rich, maybe I should set up a mosquito farm—especially breeding mosquitoes that can survive through the winter. That's a must.”
Since mosquitoes were scarce in winter, running a greenhouse breeding facility would let her stack Steel all four seasons of the year.
Still, that was a matter for later.
Stacking Steel wasn't something to rush, but it couldn't be neglected either.
There was nothing that a single Steel proc couldn't solve; if there was, then hit them with another Steel proc.
She believed that as long as she stacked enough Steel, one day she would pierce straight through the heavens and earth.
For now, though, it was time to wash up and go to sleep.
After carrying Chen Linling into bed, Xie Litang yawned, rolled over, and said, “Good night.”
Lying back-to-back with her, Chen Linling replied softly, “Good night, Sister.”
The computer inside the room was still glowing, the chatter on the forum raging incessantly.
Streams of data flashed across Chen Linling's eyes, and text began to automatically type itself into the forum on the screen.
Anyone who cursed her sister...
She was going to flame every single one of them right back.
Rate on N.U.
