Chapter 183: My Holy Sword! My Holy Sword!

Sun Zhicheng's words were like a nuclear blast, detonating in the brightly lit classroom.

In an instant, the whole class fell silent.

You could hear a pin drop.

Jiang Nian and Li Hua almost simultaneously stood up as if triggered by some spectator passive skill. The two snapped to attention like soldiers, eyes locked precisely on the scene of the incident.

The next second, more than half the class turned around, watching the back rows like rubbernecks.

Discipline inspector Cai Xiaoqing sprang up almost in a flash, just still not fast enough.

Cai still needs more practice.

After a moment of shock, Yang Qiming's face flushed red in an instant. The explosion lasted only a heartbeat before he leaped up roaring and lunged at Sun Zhicheng across the aisle.

"You f—king—!"

Boom— they went at it.

Yang Qiming and Sun Zhicheng grappled, and the whole class instantly erupted. The crash of desks and chairs being shoved aside, cursing, and peacemaking all tangled together.

"Stop fighting! Stop, please stop!"

"Tsk tsk, Sun Zhicheng really blew up, killing the heart of a sand person!"

"Hey hey, don't muddy the waters here, it's just mutual attacks, but my bro Sun is a notch above." Jiang Nian mixed in, speaking up for Sun Zhicheng.

There are bad people in the class too, deliberately steering the rhythm. Luckily, some warm-hearted passerby—someone surnamed Nian—stepped in just in time to pull the rhythm back on track.

If the situation tilted one way, how would anyone get to enjoy the show?

"To be fair, my good son has a point." Li Hua attempted to flip heaven and earth upside down. "This makes us reflect—does having heavy firepower really mean being wrong?"

The Crown Prince Li Hua is playing the overused reflection meme too, but the flavor is a bit off. Missing the "City No. 2 High's air is sweet" line, for the first time he felt the breath of freedom.

Lin Dong was actually the slowest to react—by the time Sun Zhicheng had been shoved onto him. He watched his phone fly out of his hand before realizing something was wrong.

"Hey hey!! What are you doing!"

"My holy sword!!"

Smack—the phone hit the floor, and Lin Dong was about to cry.

The farthest distance in the world isn't between life and death, but you standing here while your phone smashes its head on the ground.

If it were any other day, fine, but tonight was his big upgrade day. That scam-ass app is basically hot potato—time is money.

Afraid of entering a day late, also afraid of leaving a day late.

Got both? Then go hang yourself from the southeast branch.

What did the wool party ever do to anyone!

Lin Dong couldn't get up, pinned beneath the two grappling figures.

Tears at the corners of his eyes, he felt he was completely past caring, didn't want to struggle anymore. In his heart he thought, if the phone wasn't broken, he would be saintly as a Buddha.

This grudge of the smashed phone would be laughed off.

But if it was broken, then tomorrow during break he'd pee right into their mouths while they slept!

Forget living, let's all die together.

The farce lasted nearly three minutes, until discipline inspector Cai Xiaoqing left her seat. After a round of stern warnings and scolding, the two finally separated, unwillingly.

Shaking with cold rage—don't tell me no boys stepped in to break it up?

What a trash class!

And really there weren't any—clearly two people fighting, yet they pinned Lin Dong down while grappling. The innocent bystander became the biggest victim, who the hell would dare step forward to meddle.

"Oh no, done for, Cai Xiang is angry." Li Hua sighed.

"Logically speaking, where does Old Liu fit in?" Jiang Nian, on the front line of spectating, asked curiously, "Is he the Emperor, or the Retired Emperor?"

"Neither really, Old Liu is honestly pretty much a lapdog." Li Hua gave a sharp review. "At most give him the title of, hmm… Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial."

Good good good, all of this is being recorded.

Unlike Li Hua's group munching melons and laughing it up, Lin Dong's group was as quiet as if holding a funeral.

Since it was a fight, it counted as a serious disciplinary violation. Sun Zhicheng and Yang Qiming had already been taken to the office by Cai Xiaoqing, and what awaited them was Old Liu's wrath.

Chen Yunyun turned around and glanced at the dazed Lin Dong.

"Group leader, please accept my condolences."

Wang Yuhe, upon hearing this, leaned in for a look at his desk. On the desk lay a phone in pieces, cracks spreading like a spiderweb—enough to make anyone's heart jump.

"Is it the tempered film that broke, or the screen?"

Lin Dong trembled, in utter despair.

"The screen."

After evening self-study ended, Jiang Nian strolled over to watch the fun.

"Oh, swapped the screen for a Spider-Man-style screensaver?"

Open that little mouth, and out comes eternal joy.

Lin Dong was so heartbroken he didn't even want to go to the bathroom, sitting motionless like a withered husk.

"The inner screen is busted."

At her seat, Chen Yunyun had originally planned to lie on the desk and nap for a bit, but hearing Jiang Nian's voice she propped herself up again, turned around, and with great interest joined the chat.

"Isn't replacing an inner screen expensive?"

"Not necessarily, if you do it yourself it's not expensive." Jiang Nian, in full rubberneck mode, pointed and gestured. "Buy the screen assembly online, should be around a hundred bucks."

"Can you replace it?" Chen Yunyun asked curiously.

"Yeah, it's pretty simple." Jiang Nian said casually. "Besides mainboard repairs being a bit complicated, things like swapping the battery or screen—you just open it up and replace it directly."

"If you fix it yourself, won't you break it?" she asked.

"Just pay attention to your technique, there are detailed tutorials online." Jiang Nian said. "But if you're not sure, I'd still recommend going to an offline phone shop."

"Phone shops are such scams!" Wang Yuhe turned around and joined the conversation, angry: "My screen broke before, and my phone cost over a thousand— the shop owner wanted five hundred from me."

"Maybe they replaced it with an original screen?" Chen Yunyun said.

"No, I didn't replace it back then—I heard about it later," Wang Yuhe frowned. "That shop owner didn't use an original screen! He cheated students with inferior parts."

"What?" Chen Yunyun was stunned. "Won't that ruin his reputation?"

"Running a repair shop costs next to nothing— if things get bad, just move locations," Jiang Nian said. "On that phone street downtown, shop owners change locations all the time."

Lin Dong listened to their conversation, his heart dead.

What pained him wasn't the phone, nor the screen replacement—after all, the repair money was covered by those two BYDs. What worried him was tonight's plan to scam free stuff.

If he missed this chance, he'd really be in dire straits!

He thought of borrowing a phone—Yang Qiming? No, better to find Sun Zhicheng. The instigator must take responsibility.

Just as he thought this, he heard Chen Yunyun speak.

"I heard from Class Two that there's a parent-teacher meeting this week."

Hearing the words "parent-teacher meeting," Lin Dong momentarily pulled himself out of his despair.

"Will your parents come?"

"Unless something unexpected happens, they probably will," Chen Yunyun answered without hesitation. But as soon as the words left her mouth, she unconsciously glanced at Jiang Nian. "What about your parents?"

Jiang Nian thought for a moment. "They won't. I doubt they'll show up for any future coming-of-age ceremonies either."

"Why?" she was slightly startled. "Too busy with work?"

"Not exactly. Back in middle school, they were called in once—it was embarrassing enough. They just stopped caring. Left me to fend for myself."

Wang Yuhe chimed in: "My parents won't come either. Probably only half the class's parents will show up."

Hearing this, Chen Yunyun felt both relieved and slightly disappointed.

During third-period evening self-study, Sun Zhicheng and Yang Qiming returned to the classroom one after another.

Both looked pale, and the air still crackled with tension. A few nearby students instinctively pushed their desks back, afraid they'd start fighting again.

Still, most of the class were just here for the show—no matter how hard they fought, it was just entertainment.

Sun Zhicheng kept his head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone. In the brightly lit classroom, his body was taut like a drawn string.

He pretended to write, but his eyes had no focus.

In an instant, the classroom's noise faded away—he reached the state of unity between heaven and man. As his body and mind relaxed, his mind began replaying the events.

Sure, he'd been wrong—but one harsh word should've been enough. What grudge could possibly justify chasing him down like this?

So, it wasn't his fault.

Then he began regretting it—why hadn't he fought better?

Just then, he sensed a pair of resentful eyes entering his vision. Lin Dong had stretched his head from the other side of the desk, slipping into the gap between Sun Zhicheng and his desk.

Sun Zhicheng lowered his head—and found himself staring directly into Lin Dong's face, upside-down.

"Holy shit!!!" Sun Zhicheng was so startled his entire body tensed—he leapt backward violently.

The desk behind him was shoved hard, and the person sitting there yelped.

"Are you crazy?! What the hell are you doing?!"

The commotion drew the attention of half the class again—this time, even more heads turned. They thought a fight had broken out—turns out, it was just a prank.

Spontaneous nonsense? Then it's fine.

The discipline committee member glanced over impatiently, his tone sharp.

"Quiet down. The homeroom teacher's coming soon."

Two sentences silenced every troublemaker in the class.

The classroom slowly fell silent.

Sun Zhicheng exhaled, sat back down, and stared blankly at Lin Dong. "What the hell are you doing, Dongge?"

Lin Dong silently pulled out his shattered phone, grinning widely.

"A phone's life is a life too."

Sun Zhicheng saw the spiderweb-cracked screen and understood the whole story.

Sun Zhicheng saw the spiderweb-cracked phone and understood the whole story, start to finish.

"What else?" Lin Dong gave him a mournful look. "I had a big plan tonight—if I miss it, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. But hey, it won't stop me from showing up on time tomorrow."

"On time for what? Class?" Sun Zhicheng was confused.

Lin Dong instantly leaned in, his face pressed against Sun Zhicheng's, speaking in a chilling whisper.

"On time to hang myself from your front door, you little shit!"

"Dong-dong-dongge, don't talk like that!" Sun Zhicheng instinctively reached for his phone. "I'll pay you! I'll cover the repair cost!"

"Dong dong dong, Brother Dong, don't be like this." Sun Zhicheng instinctively reached for his phone. "How about I pay you back? I'll cover the cost of fixing the phone."

"Scan your mom's head! My phone's been crushed into Spider-Man already!" Lin Dong lost his temper and punched him. "Damn it, I need a phone right now!"

Their voices were loud enough to draw Yang Qiming's attention across the aisle.

"Do you even have the right to pay for this?"

"What?" Sun Zhicheng frowned, turning to Yang Qiming.

He was no longer the timid Sun Zhicheng—he'd fought a battle and become a mature man. Since the face was already torn, there was no point giving the other side any courtesy.

"Lin Dong's phone was broken by me. If anyone's paying, it's me," Yang Qiming shot back. "You're hesitating—fine, if you can't pay, let me handle it."

Jiang Nian and Li Hua stood up again, their faces simultaneously lit with the same amused grin.

"What are they arguing about?" Li Hua asked.

Jiang Nian thought for a moment. "Bridal dowry."

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, then said, "Let's talk about the bride price."

This is still catching up from yesterday.

Note: the five extra chapters for monthly ticket boosts will be marked in the chapter titles; they haven't been added yet.

The good news is, my schedule is back to normal hours, so let me finish today's regular update first and try to bankroll some extra chapters.