Wang Bin put down the chopsticks he was using to slurp his noodles. Taking a bite of the grilled snail meat skewer delivered by the robot, his eyes lit up. The meat was tender, spicy, and slightly sweet—a completely different kind of delicious. Taking a bite of the grilled snail meat and then slurping a mouthful of snail noodles, this was truly a life better than the immortals!
Glancing up, he saw an aggressive group of students wearing uniforms from another school marching toward Gan Lan’s stall. The red-haired guy leading the pack suddenly paused, cursed, and hastily pulled out a mask to put on. He then turned and ordered the brothers behind him to do the same.
Wang Bin could tell at a glance that they weren’t here for the food. He quickly finished his last few bites of noodles, devoured the rest of the grilled snail meat in two or three bites, and stood up to head toward the group.
The customers leisurely slurping noodles in their seats also noticed these noticeably malicious outsiders—after all, they had all pulled out batons as soon as they approached the stall.
"Looking at their setup, are they here to cause trouble?"
Hearing this, a person nearby reluctantly put down their chopsticks and shouted at a distant robot, "Waiter, keep an eye on my noodles!" They also stood up and walked toward the hostile group.
The others followed suit, setting down their chopsticks and instructing the robots to guard their bowls before swarming toward the troublemakers.
"Looking for trouble? You’ve got some nerve coming to Mingzong to cause a scene!" a tall, sturdy young man shouted at the group.
The red-haired man ignored these Mingzong weaklings. He took people’s money to do their bidding. That woman had told him that once the job was done, sixty million would be immediately transferred to his account. A ten million deposit had already been paid. It was just smashing a stall; if he beat up the stall owner, she would add another ten million.
For a poor guy like him, this was a massive sum. Gritting his teeth, he had brought his brothers, split them up, and snuck over the wall. Since Mingzong had the Food Street, people from other schools came every day out of admiration, and the guards were already used to it. They had strolled in without breaking a sweat.
Waving his hand behind him, the red-haired man pointed at Gan Lan’s stall. "Brothers, smash it! Beat up that short stall owner! Let’s make this quick!"
The fifty-odd people behind him rushed into Gan Lan’s stall and grabbed chairs to start smashing. Another group charged straight at Gan Lan.
Gan Lan was shocked to see a dozen people rushing at her.
A baton swung straight for her forehead. Her body reacted faster than her brain, dodging to the side to avoid the first strike, but a second one followed immediately. Fortunately, the robot Yi arrived right on time, taking the second blow for her. The other four robots formed a circle around Gan Lan, ensuring the attackers couldn’t touch her.
Seeing this, the Mingzong alumni were infuriated and all charged forward, brawling with the troublemakers. How could they tolerate this? Absolutely not. Both those eating noodles and those waiting in line joined the fray.
For a moment, it was total chaos—smashing chairs, throwing punches, trading kicks and slaps.
The red-haired man had brought over fifty people, all of whom were minor thugs with some fighting skills. On the other hand, most of the Mingzong students were delicate scholars. Hundreds of them fighting against fifty could only be considered an even match.
Leading the charge were Wang Bin, Wen Ningyue, and Wu Mingyu.
Wen Ningyue grabbed a stool and swung it with fierce momentum, keeping everyone at bay. Who would have thought this frail-looking woman had such immense strength and ferocity!
Wang Bin had also trained before, so taking on two opponents at once was no problem for him. Wu Mingyu was even stronger, kicking people away like children. It was completely unexpected that this narcissistic, seemingly fragile guy could fight so well!
As for the other delicate scholars, they teamed up, several against one, adding to the chaotic scene.
While fighting, the red-haired man shouted at the retaliating Mingzong students, "I’m just here to smash a stall and beat someone up! I’ll leave as soon as it’s done. It’ll only take a minute. Brothers and sisters, let’s not get angry over nothing!"
Wu Mingyu delivered a swift kick to the red-haired man. "You actually want to hit our junior! Who gave you the nerve? Coming all the way to our school to bully people!"
The kick riled up the red-haired man. With a backhand swing, he slammed his baton into Wu Mingyu’s thigh. "Buddy, you can’t beat me. The rest of these weaklings can’t beat my brothers, either. I was the one who told them to hold back." He threw another punch and kick at Wu Mingyu, then took a step back. "I’ll give you guys one more chance. We’ll leave as soon as we’re done beating her up. Otherwise, don’t blame us for not holding back!"
Wu Mingyu spat out blood from his mouth, his expression filled with disdain. Without a word, he lunged forward and resumed his fight with the red-haired man. It was infuriating! How dare this guy hit his beautiful face? He was definitely going to cripple him today!
The surrounding Mingzong students had clearly heard the threat as well. They spat in contempt and continued to fight valiantly.
Seeing them fight with even more vigor, the red-haired man also got angry. He shouted, "Stop holding back! End this quickly!"
In an instant, the troublemakers increased their combat power. The weaklings from Mingzong School fell to the ground one after another. However, the Food Street was entirely populated by Mingzong students; as soon as one fell, another quickly took their place.
Gan Lan had sent the other robots to help, leaving only Yi by her side. Yi was struggling a bit to fend off a few attackers. Seeing this, several alumni with clearly better stamina ran over to surround her.
They even patted their chests and confidently assured her, "Don’t worry, Junior, we’ll protect you! If you get hurt, we won’t have any good food for the next few days."
"That’s right! If they want to hit you, they’ll have to step over our dead bodies first!"
Hearing these heartwarming words, Gan Lan’s eyes grew red. She didn’t know how to fight and had never seen such a scene before. Panic-stricken, she hastily called the security office to handle it.
Watching familiar faces get bruised and battered just to protect her and her stall made the tears she had been holding back instantly fall. She felt both moved and worried.
What had she done to deserve this? She hated that she couldn’t be like those transmigrated protagonists in novels, with maxed-out combat power, capable of fighting off a hundred people and slaughtering enemies left and right. She was just a weak little chicken who knew how to cook a bit.
Raising a hand, she wiped her tears. She could do nothing. The incident was happening right in front of her, yet she was powerless. It felt truly agonizing.
Although the people protecting her and her stall only suffered superficial wounds, their grimacing faces and the way they lay groaning on the ground made Gan Lan’s heart ache. Her tears flowed uncontrollably.
"Principal, do we really not need to send someone over to stop this?" Ye Lanyu asked, her tone laced with worry.
Ye Lanyu had just received Gan Lan’s call while she happened to be in the principal’s office. She had wanted to lead a team to resolve the issue but was stopped by the principal.
"There’s no need. These children can solve it themselves. The school hasn’t been this lively in a long time. This is a good opportunity for the students to learn and recognize their own shortcomings. Even delicate scholars have grit. As long as they unite, there is no difficulty they cannot overcome," the principal said. Looking at the monitor feed, he smiled and pointed at one of the screens. "Look, they’re even using a war of attrition. One falls, and another takes their place. Oh, the hot-blooded passion of youth!"
Ye Lanyu was speechless. What the hell did he mean by hot-blooded passion? His students were getting beaten up right now! However, seeing on the screen that Gan Lan was being well protected, she breathed a sigh of relief.
The massive brawl on the Food Street continued. Seeing that the school still hadn’t sent anyone to intervene after so long, the red-haired man fought even more ruthlessly. The injuries on Wu Mingyu’s body were increasing. The red-haired man was just about to kick Wu Mingyu over and retreat.
They had delayed for far too long and caused such a huge commotion; the consequences would be unimaginable.
However, his raised leg was intercepted by someone with long legs, blocking his attack. Looking up, he saw someone from the neighboring First Military Academy. The person looked somewhat familiar. He frowned, suddenly recalling who this person was. He was just about to shout for a retreat when this person kicked him to the ground twice before he could even make a sound.
The tide of the battle quickly turned with the addition of Yan Yifei and his two companions. This was a true display of fighting a hundred against one.
These fifty-odd people couldn’t withstand a single blow in front of real martial artists, not to mention that all three were prodigies from the military academy.
Even though Gao Haiyang was from the Manufacturing Department, he could easily take on ten opponents at once. Let alone Yan Yifei and Lu Ziyu, whose combat power was off the charts.
It took them less than three minutes to deal with the fifty-plus thugs.
Lu Ziyu kicked down the last Shrimp and scoffed. "Noobs. You dare come smash a place with just this little bit of skill? Next time, find out who’s protecting Goddess Lan before you start smashing!"
After saying that, his expression shifted, and he ran over to Gan Lan with a grin. "Junior, are you okay? I was worried to death!"
Sniffling, Gan Lan shook her head. "I’m fine. The ones who aren’t fine are my fellow students. I’m doing great."
Yan Yifei also walked over and handed Gan Lan a tissue. "Next time you encounter something like this, call my communicator directly. I’ll definitely arrive in time."
Taking the tissue, Gan Lan wiped her face and smiled. "Thank you. I didn’t expect you guys to be so amazing." She looked at the three of them with admiration.
Gao Haiyang scratched his head and chuckled somewhat shyly. "Dealing with this kind of Shrimp is very easy!"
The injured Mingzong crowd fell silent. It turned out they really were that weak. Even the Manufacturing Department of the neighboring school was this formidable! No! Their junior belonged to Mingzong; she had to be protected by Mingzong’s people!
They would enroll in physical combat classes tomorrow! The next time someone dared to cause trouble, they would be able to protect their junior.
As for Wu Mingyu, he was feeling a bit depressed right now. He had the most injuries. If he had known, he would have gone to the neighboring military academy. He only avoided it because he didn’t want to be too tired and endure too much hardship, but now he couldn’t even beat Gao Haiyang.
Seeing that Gan Lan was fine, he turned around and headed toward the infirmary. Gan Lan shouted loudly at Wu Mingyu’s retreating back, "I’ll treat everyone to good food tomorrow! Thank you all, go apply your medicine quickly!"
Upon hearing Gan Lan’s promise, the crowd instantly felt their wounds stop hurting. Feeling like they could fight another round, they laughed, joked, and headed to the infirmary in groups of three or five.
Wen Ningyue and Wang Bin waved at Gan Lan before also making their way to the medical wing.
The crowd was still discussing what delicious food there would be tomorrow. Meanwhile, the usually quietest infirmary welcomed a massive influx of wounded patients.