A sharp light flickered in Xu Mo’s eyes.
The boy was kneeling on the floor, his body shaking like a leaf. His eyes had rolled back into his head, and the veins in his neck were beginning to bulge with an unnatural, greenish-purple hue.
With a flash of movement, Xu Mo delivered a swift kick to the boy's chest.
Thud!
The boy was sent flying, tracing an arc through the air before slamming into the mats in the corner of the training hall.
The kick was perfectly calculated to knock him out of the range of the Gaze of the Ancient One without killing him.
Once outside the range, the boy opened his eyes blankly, having no idea what had just happened.
“You’re out,” Xu Mo said nonchalantly, continuing to weave through the crowd like a foreman inspecting defective products.
The screams in the training hall continued. Trapped in their hallucinations, the students remained oblivious to what was happening around them.
However, as time passed, more and more people began to show signs of instability.
Just as a short-haired girl’s eyes started to roll back, Xu Mo was already in front of her, raising a leg for another kick.
Thud!
“You’re out too.”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A series of dull impacts echoed through the hall. Xu Mo was like a person kicking around soccer balls, sending every student suspected of juicing flying across the room.
Finally, after kicking out about a quarter of the class, Xu Mo stopped.
He raised his hand and twisted the bracer. The mental pressure and hallucinogenic effect blanketing the room slowly dissipated.
The training hall fell silent.
The students who had been wailing and screaming just moments ago were now slumped on the floor, their faces deathly pale as they gasped for air.
A few girls still had tear streaks on their faces, but they were too exhausted even to sob.
Everyone felt as if they had just woken from a nightmare. They all turned to look at “Bai Feifei” with the same expression—as if they were looking at a demon.
“Awake?” Xu Mo smiled warmly. “Your physical and mental fortitude is quite lacking, isn’t it?”
Hearing his mockery, no one had the strength to argue. The legendary tempers of these Inner City young masters and ladies had been completely shattered.
Ye Yu was in the best condition, but even her legs felt weak.
She leaned against the wall to stand up, her gaze toward “Bai Feifei” filled with complexity.
She was still so powerful, her strength seemingly bottomless...
Last time, she had protected her with such warmth in that coal mine. Only now, facing the sharp edge of her power, did Ye Yu truly feel the staggering gap between them.
“I have an announcement.”
Xu Mo looked around the room and pointed toward the group he had kicked into the corner.
“All of you can leave. As of this moment, you are no longer students of the Elite Class.”
The words left the group stunned for a heartbeat before the room erupted.
“What?!”
“On what grounds!”
“We are students of the Elite Class! The academy decided this! What right do you have to disqualify us?”
The group in the corner finally snapped out of their terror, staring at “Bai Feifei” in disbelief.
A boy scrambled up from the mats, his face flushed with indignation and a desperate, fragile bravado.
“Who are you to decide?”
“We were already students of this class before you were even a teacher! How long have you even been here?”
“We are the Elite Class, not you!”
Xu Mo raised an eyebrow at the outburst and turned toward the burly student.
He looked the boy up and down, a smirk playing on his lips.
“I made the rule. What are you going to do about it?”
The burly student’s momentum faltered, but he kept his neck stiff and retorted, “You...”
Before he could finish, Xu Mo’s wrist flicked, and a longsword appeared in his hand.
The blade spun in a beautiful flourish, and amidst the flash of silver, a piercing killing intent instantly enveloped the boy.
The student saw only a flash of cold light. In the next second, the tip of the sword was pressed against his throat.
The boy’s knees buckled instantly. He stumbled back two steps, nearly falling into a kowtow.
The bloody aura emanating from that sword was too real—so real that he didn’t dare doubt for a second whether she would actually drive it through him.
“You want to die?” Xu Mo asked with a faint smile.
The burly student shook his head frantically.
“Then get out.”
The longsword was retracted, the tip vibrating in the air with a sharp whistle.
One girl hesitated, biting her lip before speaking up with a trembling voice.
“I... I want to ask...”
“Speak.”
She swallowed hard. “What is the reason for our disqualification?”
Xu Mo glanced at her, then swept his gaze over the ashen-faced group in the corner.
“Did all of you inject certain... strength-enhancing potions?”
The expressions of those in the corner changed simultaneously.
Not just them—even several students who hadn't been disqualified instinctively lowered their heads.
But after a moment, someone in the disqualified group seemed to realize something was off and spoke up.
“So what if we did?”
“Even if we all injected them, what of it? Who doesn’t juice during their growth phase?”
The more he spoke, the more agitated he became, his voice rising in volume.
Drug assistance was something people didn't usually talk about openly, but it had long been an accepted unspoken rule.
It wasn't as if these things were banned, so what was the problem?
“Our families have money and can afford them. Why wouldn’t we use them?”
“What does that have to do with being disqualified? I bet they’ve all used them too!”
He pointed toward the students who were still part of the class.
Among those who remained, though their expressions were awkward, many showed signs of agreement.
Under the collective gaze of the room, Xu Mo actually froze for a rare moment.
His expression was that of someone who had just discovered something entirely new.
Holy crap.
They’re actually this self-righteous about it?
What do you mean, 'who doesn’t juice'?
He had seen the drug tests at the assessment grounds earlier and assumed it was some kind of illicit, underground thing.
It turned out it was a normalized unspoken rule?
This was something he hadn't expected.
In his previous playthroughs, his relationship with everyone in Dawn City had been terrible; no one had ever sat down to chat with him about these kinds of social norms.
Students embracing Nine Dragons' Power starting from their teens... damn, this generation was really something.
How much gear were they on?
“Have you injected them too?” Xu Mo suddenly turned and asked Ye Yu.
Seeing “Bai Feifei” address her, Ye Yu’s face flushed instinctively. She lowered her head and whispered, “I... I’ve taken related supplements, but as for injections... those are quite rare for me.”
Seeing the look on “Bai Feifei’s” face, she quickly added, “Taking supplements is considered very normal. It’s just nutritional support. That... that shouldn’t count as cheating, right?”
“Even for the Graduation Show, it’s not prohibited.”
Xu Mo didn’t answer.
He simply felt that the Lord City Lord of Dawn City was a truly fascinating person for giving him such a perfect job!
In that case, he was naturally going to take this opportunity to stir the pot as much as possible!
The corners of “Bai Feifei’s” mouth curled up as she looked across the room.
“You’re right... you’re absolutely right...”
He suddenly spread his arms wide as if to embrace the world, his grin widening.
Inside her mind, Bai Feifei watched “herself” strike this pose and felt an overwhelming sense of familiarity.
Whenever this guy came up with some outrageous idea, he always made this bizarre gesture.
“Then let me announce something!”
“For everyone left in the Elite Class, no more juicing!”
“From now on, we are going to practice... natural bodybuilding~.”
Rate on N.U.
