“Serves you right!”

After Lin Qing heard his annoying deskmate's voice, one of the students standing nearby immediately spat in contempt, clearly disgusted.

Looks like not only had the incident where Li Dong hurt someone been exposed, but Wang Fanran's role in egging him on had been discovered too.

“Lin Qing, you probably don't know this, but Li Dong didn't suddenly decide to kill you. It was that fat bastard Wang Fanran egging him on… The two of them used to be classmates in middle school, and they were plotting to kill us!”

As soon as someone brought up Wang Fanran, Zhou Lin got in on it too, quickly giving everyone the gist of what had happened.

Thinking about Wang Fanran's vicious scheme, Zhou Lin angrily slapped the doorframe. He wanted to go in and beat the fat bastard up himself, just to blow off some steam.

But welcoming Lin Qing was more important than dealing with that fat pig.

“Huh? That happened too?”

When they heard Zhou Lin explain, the students nearby let out surprised exclamations. Clearly, they hadn't expected there to be more to the story.

Hearing their questions only got Zhou Lin more worked up. He launched right back into his explanation.

“Of course! During PE, Wang Fanran offered to take Li Dong to the nurse's office… But they never went. They found somewhere else to plot how to hurt people!”

If it had just been a grudge between Li Dong and Lin Qing, Zhou Lin wouldn't have been this angry. He would've treated it as gossip to pass the time.

But once he was involved, he couldn't just stand by and watch.

Sure, Li Weiqiang and the others from Class One had been the main ones bullying Li Dong, but Zhou Lin had stolen Li Dong's pocket money a few times himself, so he automatically counted himself among the victims.

“How do you know all that?”

But when the student who'd asked first heard how much Zhou Lin knew, they had another question.

How did Zhou Lin know all this???

“A friend of mine skipped class and was hiding out with his girlfriend, getting all cozy, when those two interrupted them. He was going to rush out and teach them a lesson, but when he saw Li Dong covered in blood, he decided not to get himself into trouble.”

“Uh…”

“Still, my friend thought they were just talking big, so he didn't take it seriously. Who knew it was actually true!”

After Zhou Lin finished explaining, his anger only grew. He still wanted to beat that fat pig Wang Fanran up.

That bastard!

After hearing the whole story, even the delinquents from Class One couldn't sit still anymore.

Some hotheaded students had already gone into Class Six and joined in beating Wang Fanran.

Even more people gathered to watch, pointing at Wang Fanran as he got beaten. They kept covering their mouths to snicker, their glee plain to see.

Lin Qing entered the classroom with an armful of snacks, following the others. He watched as a crowd surrounded Wang Fanran and beat him until his face was bruised and swollen, with snot and tears smeared all over it.

He looked pathetic and ridiculous.

And kind of disgusting.

Lin Qing simply watched in silence, feeling perfectly calm.

Wang Fanran had brought this on himself.

If it weren't for Wang Fanran, Su Yao wouldn't have noticed him.

Lin Qing didn't understand. What was wrong with wanting to live an ordinary life? Why did Wang Fanran keep hounding him like a hyena?

Why not go after someone else?

Why only him?

“Lin Qing, I didn't mean to! Tell them to let me go!”

Lin Qing hadn't stood out before, but surrounded by everyone now, he was impossible to miss.

That was how Wang Fanran spotted him at once. Weeping and wailing, he quickly crawled over to Lin Qing's feet, reaching out to grab his leg and beg for mercy.

Wang Fanran knew that asking Lin Qing for help probably wouldn't make the delinquents stop beating him.

But he had nothing to lose by trying. Lin Qing was a hero who'd saved someone now, so his words carried some weight!

They were deskmates. Lin Qing couldn't just stand by and let him die!

Those bastards were really going to beat him to death.

If he'd known his role in egging Li Dong on would be exposed, he never would've come to school today just to get beaten.

But when Wang Fanran crawled toward him, Lin Qing quickly stepped aside, refusing to give him a chance to grab his leg.

He looked at Wang Fanran with cool eyes, showing not the slightest sympathy.

He'd brought it on himself.

There was no need to feel sorry for him.

Lin Qing wasn't some saint. If he hadn't spent ten years imprisoned, he would've been nothing more than an ordinary high school boy.

Wang Fanran had provoked him again and again. This wasn't accidental anymore—it was deliberate targeting.

He thought of the time fear had left his body completely out of his control, and Wang Fanran had falsely accused him, leading Zhou Lin to toss him onto the ground.

Then he thought of Wang Fanran's plan, and Li Dong charging into the locker room with a knife…

At that moment, no matter how brutally Wang Fanran was beaten, he deserved it!

When Lin Qing deliberately moved away, Wang Fanran froze. He couldn't believe Lin Qing was distancing himself now. Did he really want to watch him get beaten to death?

That bastard.

He'd always known Lin Qing was no good!

Tch!

Did Lin Qing think he was in the clear now?

Not a chance!

Wang Fanran remembered what he'd seen in the locker room yesterday and glared viciously at Lin Qing. Even if he got beaten half to death today, Lin Qing wasn't getting off easy either!

He'd expose Lin Qing and Su Yao's relationship to everyone!

“You fat pig! What are you looking at? A piece of trash like you should just hurry up and die!”

Just as Wang Fanran was preparing to expose Lin Qing, Zhou Lin snapped, clearly fed up. He'd wanted to beat Wang Fanran for a while now, and he couldn't hold back any longer.

As Zhou Lin spoke, one of his feet got in on the action too. He kicked Wang Fanran hard in the butt.

He didn't hold back at all.

“Zhou Lin, you can't hit me! Chen Sen clearly told you… You're not allowed to touch me!”

But after Zhou Lin kicked him, Wang Fanran suddenly spoke up.

He wasn't afraid of Zhou Lin at all.

Wang Fanran could only take it meekly when the others hit him, but Zhou Lin was a different story.

Wang Fanran and Chen Sen had made a deal that Zhou Lin wouldn't lay a hand on him again.

Remembering that, Wang Fanran looked smug. He still had Chen Sen backing him up!!!

“Chen Sen? Who's that? Even if the King of Heaven himself showed up, I'd still beat you!”

But when Zhou Lin heard the name Chen Sen, he looked confused. He had no idea what trick Wang Fanran was trying to pull this time.

Now he was suddenly bringing up some guy Zhou Lin didn't even know.

Brother Liu had said yesterday that Wang Fanran was off-limits, but that was then and this was now. That fat bastard could take his beating!

“You can't hit me! Ah, don't…”

Wang Fanran hadn't expected his words to provoke Zhou Lin. They only made Zhou Lin beat him even harder.

Each blow landed harder than the last.

Wang Fanran's fat body lay sprawled on the ground as Zhou Lin punched and kicked him, drawing pained cries from him. He tried to shield his head with his hands, but he was too fat to cover it completely.

He furiously cursed everyone in his heart. They could all just die, die, die!

“Brother Liu, you're finally out of the little black room!”

Just then, while the students in the classroom were watching Wang Fanran get beaten, someone suddenly called out in surprise.

Zhou Lin stopped beating him and turned toward the doorway, his face lighting up with delight.

Liu Hong, who'd been sent home to reflect after beating someone badly enough to land them in the hospital, smiled and waved at everyone, showing that he was really back.

Then Liu Hong walked over to Wang Fanran and looked down at him.

“You're the one Chen Sen was talking about?”