Chapter 157: Beat Down
Translator: Cynthia Editor: Pranav
Looking at Ai Hui’s friendly face, Li Hai displayed his unabashed contempt and scorn. “Haha! He is just a jellyfish! How can such a guy lead us?”
Then, when he saw Fatty, who was gazing at him with eyes full of admiration, he couldn’t help but sneer. “Poor wretch! Never seen this before, huh? Come on; I’ll let you touch it. I bet you have never seen such high-level equipment in your whole damn life. Hahaha!”
Seeing the veneration in Fatty’s eyes, Li Hai laughed out even more wantonly.
He Qiuming was more or less relieved. He was worried that if Ai Hui had also insisted, Shi Xueman would be unable to solve this embarrassing problem. If they were on opposing sides, it would be tough for them to fight against Shi Xueman and Sang Zhijun, too. Moreover, even if they really did not need to fight, if Shi Xueman and Sang Zhijun were willing to follow that guy, there was nothing they could do.
Now, it seemed that it was not yet the worst situation.
He Qiuming glanced at Shi Xueman, whose face was inscrutable. It appeared that she was not very attached to that guy; otherwise, Shi Xueman, who was usually so irritable, would have already initiated a fight.
But why did the goddess have such a strange expression?
Ai Hui was speechless when he witnessed the response of the guy in front of him. He has so close to him, but that guy was still looking at girls with such fascination. Guys like this would have died a thousand deaths on the battlefield. Clean up their mess? Stop kidding…
“What suggestion do you have...”
Before he could finish his sentence, He Qiuming suddenly felt his vision blur, and before he could even react, his abdomen was heavily attacked. His expression suddenly froze.
His gaze was fixed on Ai Hui as if he still could not believe he was attacked.
Ai Hui could feel the fluctuations of elemental energy on the silk clothes. Evidently, He Qiuming’s clothes had either high protection capabilities or other unique functions.
If it were the Wilderness, he would have killed him without hesitation.
What a pity…
Although Ai Hui didn’t use his elemental energy at all, the punch was still powerful. He Qiuming’s body was arched like a shrimp. He wanted to say something, but no words could come out.
Meanwhile, Fatty, who had been fascinated by the armor just now, suddenly had a change in expression. His fingers shot to the slits of Li Hai’s armor, and he abruptly grabbed it and lifted Li Hai’s body, which was massive and tall, with one hand, like a furious brown bear.
Sensing his feet leave the ground, Li Hai was dumbstruck, and his unruly laughter abruptly stopped.
Fatty grabbed the shield with the other hand and clapped his hands hard, causing Li Hai to heavily dash against the wall-thick Ironwood Shield. A muffled sound could be heard.
After such a strike, Li Hai was limp and feeble, and Fatty threw him away like a rag.
“You are looking for trouble!”
“What are you doing?”
“Are you crazy?”
The other four panicked and cried out in reproach at almost the same time.
Idiots!
Ai Hui didn’t even want to make a comment. These fellows were just threatening in manner but cowardly at heart. It truly was hilarious that their first reaction towards an attack was to reprimand instead of to fight back.
In the blink of an eye, Ai Hui flashed to another person who stood nearby.
Staying so close to one’s enemy without any self-protection was tantamount to suicide. The closer the distance was, the lesser the time the opponent had to react, which was obviously more advantageous to Ai Hui.
Ai Hui rapidly invaded into the other guy’s field of vision, causing him to scream and step back subconsciously. However, he was now somehow trapped, and he lost his balance and fell backward. He struggled to stay steady, but the next second, he saw Ai Hui’s leg smashing towards him from high above like a hefty axe.
No!
He subconsciously crossed his arms in front of his face for self-protection. His elemental energy was surging within his body.
With a frightening whistle, Ai Hui’s leg smashed onto his arms heavily.
Bang!
The guy was like a floating gourd ladle that was suddenly attacked and sank into the water.
His arms were aching, and under the tremendous force, his back hit the floor hard. Severe pain shot through his body as his mind went blank.
A wisp of sand slipped away from his feet.
It must be admitted that there were some people in the world who could become friends quickly. Then, they would gradually become more and more alike before beginning to act harmoniously in collusion with each other.
For example, Lou Lan, who initially knew nothing about combat, had perfectly copied Ai Hui’s fighting style within such a short period of time. When Ai Hui had been walking towards the boys, Lou Lan had already transformed into a wisp of sand and had crept like a snake in the grass.
The other three students wanted to keep away from Ai Hui, but they found their ankles to be already tangled by the sand.
The sand was not very powerful, but at this point in time, it played a pivotal role.
The Ironwood Shield that Fatty was wielding was like a thick and solid wall. In such a narrow area, the whistling shield could cover all the three guys, whose faces immediately turned pale.
Almost by instinct, they used their best defensive moves.
There was no cooperation between them. Everyone was defending independently, and they evidently had no trust in the others. If any one of them were to put up a fight with Fatty, however, he might be able to win some buffer time for the other two.
When Ai Hui was at the dean’s office, he had been considering how he could lead the two teams well. Now, though, he did not want to take them with him at all.
The only thing in his mind was to get rid of them.
In the growling whistling sound of the shield in Fatty’s hand, Ai Hui arched his back and rushed forward like a ghost to the student standing farthest from him, who was protected by three flames that kept circling around him.
Between the flames. Ai Hui stabbed at him with his Dragonspine Inferno, like a snake in the dark.
Just as the Dragonspine Inferno was about to get him, the flames suddenly exploded, and everything was shrouded in a dazzling light.
Ai Hui could see nothing but white light. In the midst of the student’s scream, he stepped forward, and with a powerful jerk of the Dragonspine Inferno, Ai Hui hit him as if the Dragonspine Inferno was a whip.
The student gave out a shrill cry and flew backward across the air.
The sudden flash temporarily blinded everyone, yet the gap in the strength of the two sides had already determined the result of the fight.
Fatty didn’t withdraw. In such a circumstance, the power of the shield was not influenced at all.
And when Ai Hui whipped the student with his Dragonspine Inferno, he had heard his scream, and at that moment, the whistle of the Ironwood Shield and the scream of the student revealed their location.
They were behind him!
Without any hesitation, Ai Hui stepped hard on the ground and jumped backward like a flying arrow.
The moment he felt his back touch something, he used [Arching Fish Back] boldly.
An overwhelming power passed from Ai Hui’s back to the one behind him.
Ping!
Something broke into pieces like glass, and he could feel the absence of any resistance. He then slammed into the other guy’s body.
Pang!
There was a muffled sound, and the guy was hit by a strong force—it was like hitting a beast running wildly towards him, and he was flung away. Ai Hui didn’t need to check to know that he had lost consciousness. The [Arching Fish Back] could create a significant dent in the walls of the Suspending Golden Pagoda, and Ai Hui was not sure if he himself could bear the entire force of the [Arching Fish Back] he just used without being injured.
Anyways, as long as Lou Lan was here, any injury could be healed. It would be alright as long as nobody was dead. As for possible revenge in the future, Ai Hui didn’t want to spare time to think about it.
He wasn’t even sure whether he could leave Central Pine City alive, so for the moment, he did not want to think about what would happen in the future.
Bang!
The deafening crash of metal was piercing to the ears.
Suddenly, Ai Hui felt sympathetic toward the student who confronted Fatty with his Ironwood Shield which was 175 kilograms.
As one of only two survivors out of two thousand people who escaped from the Wilderness, Fatty definitely had his own particular advantages.
He was timid and vigilant. As long as there were any signs of danger, he ran away faster than anyone else.
And the other advantage was his incredible strength—one could compare in anything with Fatty but strength. If it weren’t for his massive strength, how could he earn his living by helping others carry things, or how could he carry the unconscious Ai Hui on his back and keep running with the hunting group for days?
Fatty used to use the shield when they were in the Wilderness. This had been impressive to Ai Hui. It was a pity that Fatty was cowardly, or he could be a natural born shield bearer.
But whether he was a coward depended on who his enemy was. When faced with elementalists and wild beasts, Fatty was, of course, a coward. But it wouldn’t have been possible for him to escape the Wilderness if he didn’t even dare to fight against these students. There had been many battles in the Wilderness where they could not hide.
Ai Hui believed that Fatty was definitely not afraid of these guys. They were just prodigal kids, who only dared to bully the weak but fear the strong.
As he expected, Fatty became excited during the fight.
Bang—Bang—Bang!
The crashes became louder and louder.
By now, the white light had dispersed, and Ai Hui’s vision had returned to normal. He saw the last student staggering around like he was drunk.
He said peacefully, “Okay, Fatty, enough.”
The ruthlessness in Fatty’s eyes dimmed down. He had just been like a furious brown bear, but now, he laid down on the ground like a dead dog.
“Oh…this is so tiring. I can’t feel my arms. Ai Hui, I can’t move now. Let me have a rest.”
But, even at this time, he didn’t throw his shield away.
Seeing the dizzy student stumble involuntarily, Ai Hui acted as if he didn’t hear what Fatty said and asked Lou Lan, “Lou Lan, how many sets are left for Fatty?”
“Three hundred and twenty-two.” Lou Lan instantly returned a precise number.
Ai Hui said, “Guarantee that he finishes all the sets, or he cannot eat anything.”
“No problem, Ai Hui!” Lou Lan answered happily.
Fatty was so angry that he jumped up from the ground, “The one with the surname Ai! I just fought along with you, and now you are kicking down the ladder! I’m so disappointed. How can you…”
“We will have our meal in one hour.” Ai Hui reminded Fatty.
“You!” Fatty got so furious that when he noticed the staggering student nearby, he rushed forward and slapped him away with his shield to vent his rage. Then, he reluctantly turned back to practice in anger.
“Keep going, Fatty!” Lou Lan shouted.
Shi Xueman and Duanmu Huanghun stared blankly at the students lying on the ground in disarray.
There was dead silence; as Fatty wielded the shield, only the sound of the wind could be heard.