He thought he had some reputation on the streets of Northern Mountain City, yet here he was, being openly mocked by some punk. Bald Head naturally couldn't stomach the insult. Seething with anger, he yelled at his underlings to teach Chen Fei a painful lesson.
"Don't worry, Boss. Watch me." As soon as Bald Head roared, a man with a pockmarked, weaselly face immediately swung a steel pipe at Chen Fei's head.
"Damn it, kid, be careful!" the tattooed driver, another burly man, yelled when he saw the pockmarked man swinging the pipe at Chen Fei's face.
He knew the head wasn't something you could just mess with. If something serious happened, especially in his van, he sure as hell didn't want to take the fall for it.
But at that moment, a dull thud echoed inside the van. The pockmarked man who had been about to strike Chen Fei let out a pained scream, wobbled, and collapsed.
Just as the pipe was about to hit its mark, Chen Fei had driven a ferocious kick into his attacker's stomach. It was no light blow. It knocked the pockmarked man senseless, leaving him twitching on the floor and frothing at the mouth.
Chen Fei had always been strong. He was used to brawling from a young age, and an ordinary person wouldn't have been able to withstand a single kick from him.
HISS!
The van fell utterly silent. The pockmarked man writhed in agony on the floor. The expressions on everyone else, including the towering Bald Head, changed completely. They shrank back, trembling, never expecting a refined-looking young man like Chen Fei to be so vicious.
"Well, kid, I didn't see that coming. Turns out you're a trained fighter. No wonder you dared to act so brazenly in front of me, Bald Head!" Bald Head blustered, trying to sound tough.
"Excuse me, but weren't you the ones who told me to get in the van? What, now you're blaming me for being arrogant?" Chen Fei retorted with a mocking look. Honestly, with the fighting skills he'd used to dominate his hometown, taking on ten guys at once was no problem. From the very beginning, he hadn't seen these small-time thugs as a threat. Did they really think his money was so easy to take?
"Damn it, you think you're so tough? Get him!" True to his street-hardened nature, Bald Head's explosive temper ignited at Chen Fei's audacity. Ignoring all consequences, he snatched a steel pipe and prepared to strike.
But in the next instant, his expression changed drastically. His face turned pale, and his previously ferocious eyes now filled with fear.
"Do you really want to do this?"
Chen Fei looked at him with an amused smirk. The steel pipe that had belonged to the pockmarked man was now in his hand. As if it were made of foam, he had casually bent it.
"You… you…" Bald Head's voice trembled. The other men broke out in a cold sweat.
That was their pipe. They knew it was a genuine, solid steel pipe, yet this guy had bent it so easily. How much strength would that take? Damn it, what kind of freak was this guy?
"B-Big Brother, we were blind. We failed to recognize an expert," Bald Head stammered, sweat pouring down his face.
"Alright. Everyone take out your bags, leave yourselves ten bucks for cab fare, and we'll call it even," Chen Fei interrupted him, waving his hand impatiently. His opponents had targeted him, so the matter couldn't just be dropped. At the very least, they needed a punishment to leave a lasting impression.
"Ah, what?" Bald Head and the others yelled. What did he mean? Was he robbing them?
"What's wrong, Bald Head? Are you unwilling?"
Chen Fei watched as Bald Head's expression began to turn vicious again. With a sharp SNAP, he bent the steel pipe in his hand a second time.
The sound sent a shiver down Bald Head's spine, like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head. Gazing at the mangled corpse of the steel pipe, he forced a smile uglier than a grimace. "Th-This brother, you misunderstood. Of course, we're willing! We're willing!"
Only then did he truly comprehend what a monster he had provoked. Bending a steel pipe with his bare hands… was this guy even human? If that had been their hands or necks, wouldn't he have twisted them into pretzels?
"What are you idiots still standing around for? Hurry up and take out your money!" Bald Head cursed himself for being stupid enough to provoke such a freak while ordering his men to pull out their wallets and hand them to Chen Fei.
The underlings didn't need any urging. They scrambled to pull out their wallets, terrified of ending up like the bent steel pipe.
"Brother, the total is seven hundred thirty yuan and fifty cents," Bald Head said, respectfully handing over the collected cash.
"Seven hundred thirty and fifty cents? Seriously? You guys run these streets and this is all you have?" Having recently come into a five-figure windfall, Chen Fei naturally didn't think much of a few hundred yuan. Still, following the principle that every little bit helps, he grumbled as he pocketed the money.
Then, his gaze drifted to the shiny Jade Pendant dangling from Bald Head's neck.
At this, Bald Head's face contorted into a smile uglier than a grimace. He began to remove the Jade Pendant to give to Chen Fei.
But Chen Fei shook his head and said flatly, "Forget it. I'm not interested in your crappy jade. It's worthless." Having inherited the memories of that Cultivation World expert, he was quite familiar with materials like jade, which were once used as currency. He could tell at a glance that the quality of the pendant was terrible and it wasn't worth much.
"Worth-worthless?!"
Now it was Bald Head's turn to be stunned. He had spent a pretty penny on that Jade Pendant at a jewelry store, and now it was being called worthless? This…
"Don't believe me? Go get it appraised. If it's worth more than five hundred, I'll cover the difference," Chen Fei said with a sidelong glance.
"Wh-what? Five hundred?" Hearing this, Bald Head's expression turned foul with fury. He had spent thousands on that Jade Pendant, and now Chen Fei was saying it was only worth five hundred at most.
"Damn it, that old crook dared to cheat me, Bald Head? I'm going to smash his shop to pieces!" Bald Head fumed, his eyes blazing with rage. Damn it all! Daring to cheat him, Bald Head! He wouldn't consider himself a man until he'd smashed that old bastard's jewelry store to bits!
"Alright, Bald Head, is it?" Chen Fei spoke again.
Hearing Chen Fei call him brother, the hairs on Bald Head's body stood on end. He quickly said with a fawning expression, "No, Big Brother, just call me Bald Head."
"I'm Chen Fei."
"Brother Fei, Brother Fei," Bald Head said respectfully.
"You see, I'm actually a very reasonable person, so let's just leave today's matter at that. Of course, if you really can't let it go and want to come looking for trouble or get revenge, I'll be waiting," Chen Fei said slowly and deliberately.
"We wouldn't dare! We wouldn't dare! Brother Fei, we'll never dare again," Bald Head said, his face a mask of misery. Damn, with a freak like this, how could they even think of revenge?
"Now, take me to Northern Mountain University," Chen Fei said with a lazy stretch, no longer bothering with them.
"Yes, yes, Brother Fei! I'll take you there right away!"
This time, the driver didn't even wait for Bald Head's order. He stomped on the gas pedal and sped toward the famous Northern Mountain University.
Northern Mountain University, just a stone's throw from the third-tier university Chen Fei had graduated from, was a prestigious national institution. It was consistently ranked among the top three colleges in Jiangnan Province and was one of the few key undergraduate universities in the province, attracting a wealth of talent.
The reason he wanted to go there was because it had the largest library in Northern Mountain City, which housed many abridged copies of ancient Chinese medical classics. Having just inherited the medical knowledge of that Cultivation World master, he wanted to see if he could now understand those ancient texts that would have previously seemed impossibly profound.
Northern Mountain University was some distance from the city's job market, but with the tattooed driver flooring it, the van arrived in under twenty minutes.
WHOOSH!
The moment he stepped out of the van, he heard the roar of the engine as the van sped away and vanished, as if terrified he might chase after them.
Chen Fei shook his head with a laugh, not giving the thugs another thought. He leisurely strolled onto the Northern Mountain University campus.
Like all well-known, key institutions across the country, Northern Mountain University had an imposing gate and expansive grounds. Due to the hot weather, glimpses of fair, shapely legs and the subtle outlines of curvaceous figures were everywhere—a veritable feast for the eyes.
That was the great thing about universities. An endless, pulse-pounding show of "spring scenery." Even if the quality varied, the sheer quantity more than made up for it!