In the VIP viewing area.
Su Mu rubbed his temples. From these two arena matches, he could see that Wang Hao's adaptability was extraordinary. Even when facing opponents far stronger than himself, he could rely on his quick wits to turn the tide with ease. For that, he was thoroughly pleased and overjoyed.
But did he really have to stoop to such underhanded, low blows? Wasn't this a little beneath his status?
"Senior Su, what do we do about this…" Principal Zhongli asked, gritting his teeth and bracing for the worst.
Su Mu spoke softly, "While Wang Hao's methods are a little… unrefined, his opponent showed not a single shred of vigilance, and has no one but himself to blame for his loss. What's more, the referee's words directly misled the contestant. We can't pin this entirely on Wang Hao."
"Yes! Yes! You're absolutely right, Senior Su! Rest assured, I'll hire only professional, qualified referees from now on." Principal Zhongli nodded hastily, breathing a sigh of relief. He could see plain as day that Su Mu was siding with Wang Hao, though that was only to be expected, given the boy's relationship to the old man.
Besides, if Wang Hao was eliminated now, wouldn't that force Su Mu to use his authority to pull strings and get the boy into Tianbei University through the back door?
"Precisely. We must learn from this lesson and only employ professional referees moving forward." The principals of the other high schools were all shrewd old foxes, and they quickly nodded in agreement.
"An unprofessional referee like that, with a loose tongue and a habit of misleading contestants, has no place in this arena."
"A referee's only job is to call the match and declare a winner. They should keep their mouths shut otherwise."
"A referee who misleads contestants is utterly disgraceful."
Su Mu sighed quietly to himself. If Wang Hao's identity wasn't so sensitive, if he didn't fear drawing the attention of the nobles, he wouldn't have to go through all this trouble. He'd simply take the boy under his wing and teach him everything he knew, personally.
"This can't go on. I need to find a way for Wang Hao to step into the spotlight openly and honorably." Su Mu stroked his beard, deep in thought.
Moments later, the referee on the arena received a message from Principal Zhongli, ordering him to keep his mouth shut in the future, and to declare Wang Hao the winner, advancing him to the semi-finals.
When the referee, his face thunderous, announced that Zhao Xunwen was unable to continue the match, and that Wang Hao had successfully advanced to the semi-finals, the students below the arena erupted into an uproar.
"Are you kidding me? He sucker-punched the guy and still gets to advance to the semi-finals!?"
"Rigged! This whole thing is absolutely rigged!"
"That degenerate Wang Hao must have slipped the principal some Passion Burst! That's the only way he got away with this!"
"Holy shit! Where'd you hear that!?"
"Hear it? It's obvious! Wang Hao's a broke nobody. What else does he have to offer besides Passion Burst?"
"That makes sense! No wonder when Wang Hao skipped class, they publicly punished him by making him carve a statue, but secretly fed him three days of luxury meals! They've been in cahoots this whole time!"
"Your analysis is spot on. Who knew the principal was that kind of man?"
"No wonder the old principal's got a gorgeous long-legged secretary. Now it all makes sense."
"When there's work to be done, the secretary does it. When there's no work to be done, he does the secretary. The old man's still got fire in his belly!"
"He's nothing but a lecherous old goat! Pair that with the degenerate Wang Hao, and Number Eleven High School's reputation is about to be dragged through the mud!"
Hearing this, Principal Zhongli nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. The wild imaginations of these little brats were absolutely absurd.
Worse still, the other high school principals were now looking at him with amused, knowing smirks, and even Su Mu was giving him a rather odd look. A single thought even crossed Su Mu's mind: had Wang Hao turned out like this because a fish rots from the head down?
Wang Hao nodded in satisfaction. Sure enough, there were people with sense who could see he'd punished Zhao Xunwen for his unpaid debts, upholding justice in the process. Though if everyone was saying the principal still had fire in his belly at his age, he'd definitely need to gift him two vials of Passion Burst next time they met. Otherwise, if his future acts of justice—no, his righteous deeds—were met with misunderstanding, it would put a real damper on things.
Principal Zhongli wanted to cry but had no tears. His spotless reputation, built over a lifetime, had been completely destroyed by this little bastard Wang Hao. He could even feel the title of education world legend slipping further and further away with every passing second.
…
On the arena stage, Wang Hao paid no mind to the endless jeers and accusations being hurled at him. Instead, he grinned from ear to ear as he listened to the stream of system notifications ringing in his ears.
"Ding Dong. Congratulations to the Host for landing a kick that could leave a man sterile for life. Your level of depravity is truly appalling. Awarded 10,000 Villain Points."
"Another ten thousand points in the bank. That brings my total to over 41,000 points. It's about time I strengthened myself again." Wang Hao tapped open his smart bracelet, and a smile spread across his face when he saw that the one million credits Gao Damei had promised him had already been transferred to his account.
Once the four semi-finalists had been confirmed, the school announced the end of the day's matches, with the semi-finals scheduled for the following day.
With no more matches to fight, Wang Hao left Number Eleven High School and headed straight for the city's largest apothecary. He planned to use the one million credits he'd just earned to buy herbal ingredients, and mix up a batch of enhancement elixirs to help him break through to the next cultivation level.
Of course, he couldn't forget the two vials of Passion Burst for Principal Zhongli. He'd need to hand those over soon, or his future endeavors might not go quite so smoothly.
What Wang Hao didn't notice, however, was the shadowy figure following silently in his footsteps the second he left the school gates.
And what that shadowy figure didn't notice was that his every move was being watched closely by Su Mu from the VIP viewing area.
Su Mu spoke quietly, "Little Zhong, follow them. See what's going on."
Principal Zhongli turned his head, and the second he sensed the unique aura of the DY Terror Organization clinging to the figure following Wang Hao, his face turned grave and serious in an instant.
The DY Terror Organization was an infamous, bloodthirsty criminal syndicate across the entire Interstellar Federation. They dealt in arms trafficking, money laundering, trained assassins, launched armed insurrections… there was nothing these monsters wouldn't do for profit.
But why was a member of the DY Terror Organization following Wang Hao? Had they been hired to assassinate him? Or were they trying to lure him into their ranks?
Either way, it was terrible news for Wang Hao.
The second Principal Zhongli left, Su Mu narrowed his eyes, his mind racing with unspoken thoughts.
…
Gaoxiong Electronic Technology Group, one of the top financial conglomerates on Earth.
Not only did it boast immense financial power, it was backed by a powerful, established family, granting it unparalleled influence across the entire planet.
At that moment, Gao Xiong, the group's CEO, was in the middle of an emergency shareholders' meeting.
"All of you are shareholders in this group, and uncles to my daughter. So I'll get straight to the point." Gao Xiong slammed his fist on the table, his face contorted with rage. "Today, Lin Tingbai of Lin Technology committed a despicable, dishonorable act against my daughter, and now he's trying to weasel out of taking responsibility! I may be a rough, uneducated man, but this is my daughter's honor and reputation on the line. I need all of you to stand with me and see justice done for my little girl."
The shareholders around the table rolled their eyes. They'd already heard every detail of what had happened on their way to the meeting. While they all thought forcing Lin Tingbai to marry Gao Damei was more than a little unfair, they knew all too well that Gao Xiong had gone gray with worry over his daughter's marriage. He'd hounded every single one of them at every meeting, asking if they had sons, grandsons, or even distant nephews they could set her up with. Now that a fall guy had landed right in their laps, there was no way they'd pass up the chance to support him.
"Rest easy, Gao Xiong. We watched Damei grow up. As long as we're here, no one gets to take advantage of her and get away with it."
"That's right! We'll head back to our offices at once. We'll have Lin Tingbai married to Damei within three days, guaranteed."
Gao Xiong's face lit up with joy, and he clasped his hands together in a grateful salute. "Hahaha! Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart! You all must drink your fill at my daughter's wedding!"
"Of course! We wouldn't miss it for the world!" The crowd exchanged a few hollow pleasantries, then quickly filed out of the meeting room.
Within hours, every single industry and business owned by the Lin family found itself hit with a devastating, industry-wide boycott…