The actions were too fast. Not only Maizi and the others didn’t react in time, but everyone in the cafeteria also looked shocked and dumbfounded. Maizi got a plate of braised tofu dumped on him by me, yellow oil trickling down his eyebrows, and tofu pieces scattered all over the floor. As expected of a big shot from Chenggao, he remained steady and unfazed, immediately saying, "You two, go help Hong Li. I’ll deal with Wang Hao!"

The two students with Hong Li finally reacted and hurriedly scrambled to grab Gong Ning and the others. But Ye Zhan had already led his men over, splitting into two groups to attack Maizi’s two buddies. The scene instantly became chaotic. Ye Zhan’s men were much tougher than Gong Ning’s, knocking those two to the ground with just a few punches and kicks, leaving them on the floor holding their heads and wailing. Maizi wiped the oil off his face and roared, "Ye Zhan, you don’t want to survive anymore? How dare you side with Wang Hao against me?"

I grabbed two more bowls of rice from the table and dumped them on Maizi’s face, cursing, "Idiot, your opponent is me!"

Maizi was completely enraged, but unfortunately, a dining table stood between us. He leaped over the table and pointed at the dazed Guy No. 1 and Guy No. 2 beside him, saying, "Hurry back and call for reinforcements, get these bastards!" Guy No. 1 and Guy No. 2 immediately turned and ran, but Ye Zhan’s men, now freed up, surrounded them and overwhelmed them with punches and kicks.

"Wang Hao, I’m going to kill you today!" Maizi roared, charging at me furiously.

I turned and ran towards the back door of the cafeteria with all my might. Maizi, in his extreme anger, didn’t think of anything else and chased after me. I felt the wind whistling past me, my legs moving as fast as lightning, using every ounce of my potential, running, running. The crowded cafeteria parted for me, allowing me to successfully burst through the back door.

"Let’s see where you can run today!" Maizi angrily shouted, taking big strides as he followed me through the back door.

Beyond the back door of the cafeteria was a secluded little garden, and further south was a wall. Beyond this wall was the vocational college. I stopped at the wall and turned to face Maizi. Maizi also stopped, slowly walking towards me.

"Run, why aren’t you running anymore?" Maizi’s face was smeared with cooking oil and rice, but it didn’t affect his aura as a big shot from Chenggao, his whole body exuding intense anger.

"Maizi," I sighed, "who do you think will be lying here today?"

"Are you joking?" Maizi said darkly, "Even if I give you one arm, you couldn’t beat me."

I shook my head, "You’re too arrogant."

Although Maizi’s steps were slow, he finally reached me.

"I really want to know how you have the audacity to challenge me. I promise, from today on, neither you nor Ye Zhan will have a good day at Chenggao!" Maizi said, raising his fist the size of a cooking pot to hit me.

At this moment, a shadow flashed, and someone jumped down from the wall behind me, stabbing Maizi in the abdomen.

Maizi’s eyes widened in disbelief. He looked at the person in front of him, then at the knife in his stomach, sweat dripping from his forehead. The top fighter in Yu Chengfei’s gang, with spiky hair, Yuan Shao, grinned at Maizi.

"Brother Maizi, I advise you not to talk anymore," Yuan Shao said. "Stabbed in this spot, you know, you’re pretty much dead."

With that, Yuan Shao pulled out the knife and continued to smile, "Save your strength for the ambulance!"

Maizi collapsed weakly to the ground, clutching the hole in his stomach, blood still seeping through his fingers.

Yuan Shao tossed the knife aside, "Haozi, I’m off!" He then quickly climbed over the wall and disappeared on the other side.

Almost simultaneously, sirens blared across the campus. I couldn’t tell if it was an ambulance or a police car, probably both. Looking up, I saw a large group of people running towards us, led by the director of academic affairs, Slap King, followed by a dozen security guards in uniform.

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The sirens got closer, and vehicles followed. Indeed, both an ambulance and police cars arrived.

Slap King rushed over, first crouching down to check on Maizi, then looking at me standing nearby.

"Where’s the weapon?!" Slap King demanded.

I nodded towards the ground, and a security guard went to pick up the knife.

"Don’t touch it!" Slap King ordered. "Someone got stabbed, this is serious, let the police handle it!"

The ambulance and police cars pulled up, and the paramedics efficiently placed the groaning Maizi on a stretcher and into the ambulance, while several policemen pinned me to the ground and handcuffed me, carefully placing the knife into a plastic bag.

More and more students gathered around, many pointing at me. I believed they all knew my name, Wang Hao, now. As I was escorted into the police car, I glanced back at Slap King. He was ordering the students to return to their classrooms, with a righteous air, "Students, go back first, the school will handle this matter seriously!"

That bastard never mentioned the police coming. Turns out, he arranged for both an ambulance and police cars, clearly planning to get rid of me completely. This incident escalated to the police; did I still expect him to protect me?!

Suddenly, I realized Yu Chengfei was indeed foresighted. No wonder he rose to become the top dog at the vocational college in just a year.

Sitting in the police car, looking through the window at this familiar campus, I felt no waves in my heart. Was it because I knew I’d be safe, or because I already had nothing left?

Xia Xue left me, Tao Zi lost trust in me, and Slap King was completely using me.

Now, here I was, miserably sitting in a police car, being treated like a criminal. Who could be more pathetic than me?

The police car started slowly. The students stood on both sides, as if they were welcoming me. Some were excited, some were shocked. No one, behind those unfamiliar faces, cared about what would become of me. In the crowd, I suddenly spotted Su Xiaobai. He stood in the sunlight, smiling gleefully, full of schadenfreude, with Ye Qianqian standing next to him, also smiling.

The police car started slowly. I saw Ye Zhan and his group standing in the crowd, looking at me in the police car with stunned expressions. I wanted to wave at them, but my hands were cuffed behind my back, so I could only smile at them. The police car was considerate enough not to have tinted windows, so everything was clearly visible inside and out. Ye Zhan and his crew would be fine, they had just beaten up Hong Li and his men, at most they would face some disciplinary action, so I wasn’t worried at all.

The police car started slowly. I unexpectedly saw Brick and Peach. Brick had a serious look on his face, while Peach was clutching his arm, looking anxious, nervous, and worried. I felt a surge of emotion; even though Peach had seen me with other girls, even though she had lost trust in me, she still cared about me, still worried about me.

The police car started slowly. I closed my eyes. There was still someone I was thinking about, wondering where she was at this moment. If she knew I was taken away, what would she think? Would she worry about me, would she be anxious for me? With a "bang," someone seemed to throw themselves against the car window. I opened my eyes in surprise and saw Xia Xue! She was running alongside the police car, pounding on the window and shouting, "Wang Hao, I’m waiting for you to come back. I’m not with Su Xiaobai!"

Several teachers rushed over to pull Xia Xue away. I stared in shock at the screaming Xia Xue, my mind buzzing. Just a few minutes ago, I thought I had lost everything, but now I realized life wasn’t that bad after all!

Neither Peach nor Xia Xue had left me because of Su Xiaobai’s provocations! My heart was filled with gratitude and excitement, to the point where tears started to flow unknowingly. Life was still beautiful, life hadn’t abandoned me!

"Now you’re scared? You shouldn’t have stabbed someone in the first place. Just a kid, stabbing people," a policeman beside me said coldly.

"You don’t know shit," I replied, wiping away my tears.

"What did you say?!" The policeman lunged at me, pinning me down in the police car and twisting my arm painfully.

The pain was excruciating, and I cried out in agony. Fortunately, the other policemen in the car quickly pulled him off me, repeatedly advising, "Alright, alright, why argue with a kid? His life is already ruined anyway."

Only then did the policeman let go of me, spitting and cursing, "Scum!"

Fearing he might hit me again, I didn’t respond. The police car finally left the school, and I saw the ambulance heading in the other direction. I was taken to the police station, while Maizi was headed to the hospital. It seemed like neither of us was the winner.

At the police station, after the paperwork was done, I was taken to the interrogation room. The policemen who brought me in sat down, and the one who had clashed with me earlier arrogantly said, "Tell us, what exactly happened?"

According to Yu Chengfei’s plan, I was supposed to say that I didn’t stab Maizi, that it was someone else. They could check the fingerprints on the knife or wait for Maizi to confirm after his surgery. Once everything was clarified, I could stroll back to school and face Slap King confidently.

But now, after seeing Peach and Xia Xue’s reactions in the police car, I suddenly had hope for life again. I hoped Slap King hadn’t lied to me, that he really would protect me, help me get out, and support me in becoming the next big shot at Chenggao.

I hoped human nature wasn’t that dark, and that Su Xiaobai was the last despicable person I would ever meet.

With this thought, I decided to keep my mouth shut, patiently waiting to see if Slap King would come to save me.