"You've messed up, you bitch. Seriously messed up," Tian Yu muttered, his voice low and venomous.
Chen Yi didn't respond. He kept dragging Xu Haoran toward the stairs, blood from both of them trailing behind them like a silent threat.
Behind them, the red-haired thug coughed, clutching his ribs. The other two boys looked at Tian Yu uncertainly, waiting for instructions.
"What the hell are you looking at me for?" Tian Yu snapped, shoving one of them aside. "Help me up, idiots!"
"But… boss, are you going to get revenge but how the new guy is strong and we have not also deal with our first problem" Red asked
He didn't get far.
Whack!
A shoe smacked him square on the head.
"You piece of shit. You think I don't know that? Of course they haven't seen anything yet. But they will," Tian Yu growled, eyes wild. "This time, we're going to ask hell itself for help."
"You mean… the First Rank? Or maybe Fifth?" one of them asked nervously.
"Will they even help?" Red rubbed his head. "You know they're all gunning for higher positions. They'd rather watch you fall than lift a finger and they won't help you now especially now that you rank submits stable the nine rank won't help you now talkess of the first or fifth rank ."
Tian Yu's eyes narrowed, his tone colder than ever.
"That's why I'm not going to ask. I'm going to tell them. Everything. And they'll help—not because they care—but because they'll want to prove themselves to Jun Hao my boss ."
"Jun Hao?" Red blinked. "The leader of Red Rank?"
Tian Yu's mouth curled into a vicious grin. "Exactly. And just imagining if he hears what happened… if he thinks this incident might ruin his reputation among the Four Scar Leaders… he'll bury them before word even spreads."
Red let out a low whistle. "Damn, boss… that's overkill."
Tian Yu chuckled darkly. "But it's effective."
---
Meanwhile…
Chen Yi helped Xu Haoran into the school clinic, careful not to jostle his injuries. Xu's eyes fluttered open, weak but grateful.
"Thanks… for helping me," he whispered, voice barely audible.
Chen Yi simply nodded. He wasn't in the mood for thanks. His brain was spinning, not from the fight—but from what he had walked into.
"it didn't seem like a normal bullying they were ready to kill which kind of school is this "
He had no intention of getting involved.
With quiet steps, he left the clinic and returned to class.
---
The classroom was already in session. The teacher faced the board, chalk scribbling on it as if nothing in the world could interrupt him.
Chen Yi tried to sneak in.
Thunk!
A piece of chalk smacked him on the forehead.
"New kid," the teacher said without turning. "You think this is your father's house? You come and go as you please?"
The class erupted in laughter.
Chen Yi opened his mouth. "Sir, there was a problem. That's why I came late—"
"Oh! A reason!" the teacher said with exaggerated interest. "Wonderful! That means you can reason out why you're a fool."
The class roared again.
The teacher turned, face calm but eyes sharp. "Five thousand words. On my desk. Tomorrow morning about why you are a fool."
Chen Yi stared. "But—"
"Since you have such strong reasons and won't to explain yourself," the teacher cut in, " another essay make it ten thousand words. This time, explain why you're a fool and how you plan to try being a normal student."
Someone snorted.
Chen Yi clenched his jaw ready to argue.
"Oh, and one more," the teacher said, as if remembering a grocery list. "Twenty thousand words on why you should obey your teacher. Also due tomorrow. Or you'll be clearing the back field until your fingers fall off so countinue to argue."
Chen Yi shut his mouth and walked silently to his seat.
The class was still laughing—until the teacher looked up again.
Silence.
He wrote something on the board, then paused. "Good. Now that comedy hour is over, let's begin."
....
Scene: Red Group Private Room – Inferno Club
The door to the private room slammed shut behind Tian Yu, sealing him inside a world soaked in sin.
Red velvet curtains covered the tinted windows, swaying from the vibrations of deafening bass. The room was dim, lit only by pulsing LED lights and the burning ends of cigarettes. Glitter dust clung to the air, mixing with smoke, perfume, alcohol, and something darker—sweat and desperation.
A girl with smeared eyeliner stumbled across the floor laughing, a bottle of liquor in one hand, her bra discarded on the arm of a broken couch. In another corner, two students—barely recognizable as such in their expensive clothes—were locked in a drunken kiss, surrounded by friends cheering and recording. Someone had thrown money in the air just moments ago, and a few girls were still crawling on the floor trying to gather it up.
Glass clinked, something shattered.
A boy screamed in delight, pouring vodka on a girl's chest before licking it off while others laughed and egged him on. The floor was sticky, the air thick, and even with the AC blasting, it felt like the walls were closing in from all the heat and madness.
Amidst this chaos, nine figures sat on a leather semicircle couch—like kings watching a gladiator match. These were the Nine Ranks of the Red Group, notorious even within the Scar Gang's bloody hierarchy. They might've worn school uniforms by day, but in this room, they were predators in expensive designer fangs.
At the center of them, resting lazily like he owned the entire underworld, was Ren Jialun, 1st Rank. His eyes were half-lidded, but sharp. A girl leaned on his lap, blowing smoke toward the ceiling, but he didn't react. His fingers drummed against the glass in his hand, the ice already melted.
"Look who finally grew the guts to show up," said Rank Five, sneering as Tian Yu stepped into the dim light.
Tian Yu's collar was damp with sweat, his pulse loud in his ears. He bowed slightly. "There's been…a problem."
Ren Jialun's head tilted just a little. The room quieted—not entirely, but just enough that the chaos blurred into background noise. His voice was cold and low.
"You're saying the goods are gone?"
Tian Yu nodded, then forced a tremble into his voice. "They're not gone yet. But they will be—if we don't act. Han Yu is targeting the route."
That name snapped a few of them out of their intoxicated haze.
"Han Yu?" repeated Rank Two. "That bastard from Yellow?"
Rank Four cursed. "One of the Scar Gang's leaders—coming for our line? Has he lost it?"
Ren Jialun stared at Tian Yu. "And what exactly makes you think this is Yellow Group's doing?"
Tian Yu hesitated, then said, "I followed a trail. Saw two kids around the exchange point—Chen Yu and Xu Haoran. They aren't just playing around. They're either working for Han Yu or…being used."
The silence in the room wasn't calm—it was heavy with hunger. The kind that made monsters out of men.
Rank Eight slammed his drink down. "If we catch them first, we can make them spill everything before Jun Hao hears about it."
"Jun Hao won't be pleased if we act without proof," Rank Three warned, but his voice lacked conviction.
Ren Jialun chuckled darkly. "He won't be pleased if we don't act and Han Yu snatches our line out from under us."
His eyes glittered like knives. "I want their names, their school records, their weaknesses. They're just students, right? Then we'll start at school."
The rest stood straighter, sobering in an instant. Not out of fear—but anticipation.
Tian Yu lowered his head, masking the glint in his eye. Let them tear Chen Yu and Xu Haoran apart. That's the revenge he wanted—and no one would ever suspect the truth.
Ren Jialun raised his glass lazily. "To Han Yu's little spies."
The others laughed cruelly and drank.
The hunt had begun.
----------------------------------------------------------
Back at Chen Yu's house…
The moment Chen Yu got home from school, he slumped at his desk and started writing the dreaded essay, skipping dinner entirely. His stomach rumbled in protest, but he kept scribbling until the ache in his wrist matched the emptiness in his gut.
Eventually, he gave in and dragged himself downstairs. Halfway through the hallway, a strange dragging sound made him freeze.
Skrrr...thump...skrrr...
He blinked. "Nope."
He took one step forward—skrrr...thump!—and stopped again. His imagination fired up instantly. Faces from every horror drama he ever watched flashed across his mind like a cursed highlight reel. A cold chill ran down his spine.
"This is how people die in movies," he muttered and slapped his cheeks. "Get it together, Chen Yu."
Grabbing the biggest kitchen knife like a mini samurai, he tiptoed toward the back storage room where the sound had come from. He counted to three, kicked the door open—and immediately got blinded by a flashlight beam straight to the face.
"Aaahhh!!"
"Aaahhh!!"
Screams overlapped like a bad horror duet before a hand smacked his forehead.
"Ow—what the hell?!"
The light flipped on. There stood his sister, Xiao Hua, in a robe, slippers, and the most terrifying thing of all—a slimy, green face mask.
Chen Yu blinked twice and recoiled. "What in Shrek's name is that?! Are you filming Swamp Princess: Return of the Rat?!"
Another slap landed on his head.
"It's a face mask, you idiot!" Xiao Hua rolled her eyes. "And I came down to get water, but there was a rat. I chased it off, then you appeared looking like a zombie! Why are your eyes so red? You look like you've been possessed."
"I've been writing three different essays. Total? Thirty-five thousand words." Chen Yu said it like a soldier declaring war casualties.
Xiao Hua stopped in her tracks and turned to him slowly. "Thirty-five what?! What did you do—murder the teacher's cat?"
He sighed deeply and explained the whole classroom drama while making himself a sandwich, his voice dead inside. By the time he was halfway through, Xiao Hua was wheezing from laughter, nearly dropping her cup.
Chen Yu ignored her, munched on his sandwich like it held the meaning of life, and trudged back to his room. He stared at his screen, picked up his pen... and flung it across the room.
"To hell with this. I'll just clear the field."
He face-planted into his bed and knocked out instantly, the war of words postponed for another day.