Qin Tianxiong was livid.
He, a lieutenant, no less, had been kicked by a student in broad daylight. He could barely contain his shame.
"Flowers, my ass! You little bastard, you dare kick me? Fucking hell, I'll cripple you!" Forcing back the pain, Qin Tianxiong threw a punch at Gao Neng.
Gao Neng had, after all, broken through the first human limit. If he were his old self, he probably wouldn't have landed the kick. Because of this, he could roughly gauge the force of Qin Tianxiong's punch.
Although he was in a fit of rage,
he wasn't actually trying to kill him.
'He's probably just venting.'
At this thought, Gao Neng gritted his teeth and turned to run, but he didn't escape.
BAM! With a muffled thud, Gao Neng was sent flying nearly ten feet high, like a kite with a snapped string, before slamming into the ceiling.
Then, SPLAT.
He lay sprawled on the floor.
Qin Tianxiong was stunned for a moment. 'I didn't use that much force, did I? Are this kid's bones that light? How was he sent flying so high?'
"..." The other soldiers were also stunned.
'Lieutenant Qin's attack...'
'Was it really that vicious?'
Gao Neng felt bitter as well. The punch to his back didn't actually hurt that much. It was just... he'd used the force to fly a little too high and had unfortunately hit his head on the ceiling lamp.
'The misery!'
'But since I've already hit it, I can't let it be for nothing.'
As he fell to the ground, he quickly fumbled inside his shirt, pulled out the small amount of blood left over from yesterday, and emptied it into his mouth.
"BLECH!" Gao Neng's body convulsed, and he spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood.
"..."
"Gao Neng! Are you okay?!" Zhang Dafan immediately rushed forward when he saw this. He had been in the conference room the whole time, and though he hadn't spoken, he hadn't left either.
"Kid, you're playing dead, aren't you? I barely used any force in that punch..." Qin Tianxiong's previously suppressed anger ignited once more.
"That's enough, Lieutenant Qin!" Li Qingping's expression turned grim. "You've already beaten Gao Neng into this state, and you still won't stop? Do you intend to keep beating on an innocent student? Even as a member of the Military Department, you should understand that you need evidence for everything!"
"That's right! If there's no evidence, we won't stand for it!" Zhang Dafan chimed in.
"This kid went to the Golden Grand Hotel to get a room in the middle of the night! His intentions are obviously suspect. Isn't that the best evidence?!" Qin Tianxiong's face was livid, and he could still feel the stinging pain from the kick.
"Getting a room is evidence now? Lieutenant Qin, that sounds a bit unreasonable, don't you think? Besides, are you sure Gao Neng even knew who was staying in the room next door?"
"Gao Neng didn't know... When I told him, I said Lieutenant Qin was staying next door..." the waitress, who had been silent until now, spoke up timidly.
"..." Qin Tianxiong's gaze turned cold as he shot a look at the waitress.
The waitress immediately shrank back.
But when her eyes fell on Gao Neng's perfect face, now pale with fright, her gaze hardened with resolve once more. "The truth is the truth! I can vouch for Gao Neng!"
"Lieutenant Qin, did you hear that? Gao Neng didn't know. What evidence do you have now? If you can't find any other evidence that Gao Neng had ulterior motives for getting a room at the hotel, then on behalf of all the students of Third Senior High School, I demand that you release him now!" Li Qingping nodded, his entire being radiating righteousness.
"..."
"Captain!" Just then, the conference room door was pushed open.
"What is it?!" Qin Tianxiong was in a terrible mood.
"Tang Weiwei and the one called Ah Si are awake."
"So they're awake. So what? I'll deal with those two brats after I sort things out here!" Qin Tianxiong waved his hand dismissively.
"But... Captain, they both said that Gao Neng was already in the room before they entered..." The soldier hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"Hmm?!" Qin Tianxiong's eyes narrowed.
He had handled the case of Tang Weiwei and Ah Si personally. Combined with the discovery of the knockout smoke and the many soldiers present at the time, the matter was essentially an ironclad case.
Qin Tianxiong was no fool.
He wasn't thinking of clearing Tang Weiwei's name right away.
His plan was to proceed step by step.
He would first introduce a "third party" into the matter. Then, he would slowly shift the focus, framing Gao Neng as the "mastermind," Ah Si as the "accomplice," and Tang Weiwei as merely an "immature accessory to the crime."
That was why he originally felt that until Tang De had communicated this plan to Tang Weiwei, there was no real point in Tang Weiwei waking up.
But now, things were different.
Tang Weiwei and Ah Si were claiming Gao Neng entered Shen Ning'Er's room before them? Did that mean the one who had truly "hurt" Shen Ning'Er wasn't Tang Weiwei and Ah Si, but Gao Neng?
But how was that possible?
'That guy is so weak and cowardly...'
'Could he really hurt Shen Ning'Er? How did he manage it?'
Even with his thirty years of life experience, Qin Tianxiong couldn't figure it out. But he still made a quick decision. "Since Tang Weiwei and Ah Si are awake, our subsequent handling of this matter will require the three of you—Principal Tang, Principal Li, and Teacher Zhang—to excuse yourselves."
"Heh heh, of course we should. With something like this happening in my Tang Family, I've lost face as well. Old Li, Old Zhang, let's go. We trust the Military Department, and we trust Lieutenant Qin, right?" Tang De chuckled as if this was no surprise at all and was the first to walk towards the door.
"Stepping aside is no problem, but you must at least be impartial! Until this matter is settled, I absolutely will not allow my student to suffer any physical punishment!" Li Qingping shot a venomous glare at Qin Tianxiong.
"Principal Li, rest assured. I promise I will not lay a hand on Gao Neng again." Qin Tianxiong nodded.
"Good. Lieutenant Qin is a soldier. I trust the Military Department!" Li Qingping said no more and turned to leave.
Zhang Dafan glanced at Gao Neng but ultimately said nothing. Just before he left, he gave Gao Neng a helpless smile.
"The Military Department is handling this now. You hotel staff should leave as well." After Li Qingping and Zhang Dafan had gone, Qin Tianxiong turned his gaze to the other three hotel employees and the waitress.
"Yes, yes, of course. We'll leave right away." The three nodded in unison, then dragged the somewhat reluctant waitress out of the conference room.
"You lot, go bring Tang Weiwei and Ah Si here. And guard the door!"
"Yes, sir!"
Three soldiers left the room.
Soon, only Qin Tianxiong and Gao Neng were left in the conference room.
"Student Gao Neng, let's just wait a little while," Qin Tianxiong said, seating himself on a chair. Surprisingly, he didn't lash out at Gao Neng again.
Gao Neng understood. 'This is probably because Shen Ning'Er is watching on camera from outside.'
Except, right now, he was a little stunned.
'Tang Weiwei actually woke up? What a fucking coincidence! I flew through the air, I coughed up blood, I was *this close* to clearing my name, and *now* Tang Weiwei wakes up? You couldn't write a story this contrived!'
'What do I do?'
'Is this it? Am I screwed?'
"Ding! Host's heart rate detected at 139 BPM. Would you like to unlock a side quest to calm your nerves?" a mechanical voice rang out at that moment.
"Unlock your..."
"Side quest function successfully enabled! (Side quests are triggered only under specific circumstances. There are no difficulty selections or mission hints. Rewards upon completion are random.)"
"Side Quest Unlocked: Confront!"
"In this world, there is more than just cowering in a corner; there is also confrontation! The mission of youth is to be bold! Burn, young man! You can no longer just cower. Facing challenges with passion is what you should be doing!"
"Mission Requirement: Within twenty minutes, loudly shout, 'I'm the real culprit who took down Shen Ning'Er! What can you do to me?!' to successfully complete the mission."
"Penalty for failure: Lose one level."
Gao Neng didn't even have time to mentally finish his curse when a string of mechanical notifications rang out. Then, he saw a countdown timer appear before his eyes.
20:00
19:59
19:58
...
TICK, TOCK. TICK, TOCK.
Just wonderful. A very "understanding" system!
Gao Neng tilted his head back, staring up at a forty-five-degree angle.
'I'm not panicking at all. I don't even want to curse anyone. I just want to use my talents as a top student to compose a poem.'
'Oh, pitter-pattering rain, you fall with a SPLISH-SPLASH. Oh, child of the golden autumn, running on the ridges of the fields of hope, your little feet sink into the mud, one deep, one shallow, one deep, one shallow, one deep, one shallow...'
Aaaaaah...
Waaaaah...
'My plot armor?!'
'Where the hell are you? AAAAAAAAAH... Where the hell are you?!'
(Sob sob... acting cute and begging for recommendation votes!)