Chapter 223: Trade and Long‑Held Wishes

The lobby was dead silent.

Lei Hu's pupils contracted to the size of a needle tip.

He recognized him.

It was that spiky‑headed Xu An!

But then he could not recognize him at all.

The frail boy who had never dared to breathe a sigh under his command now exuded an evil aura that chilled his very bones.

Especially that mouth stitched together with black lines, like a malicious curse branded on his face; just looking at it made Lei Hu's scalp tingle.

Fear.

An unprecedented fear clenched his heart.

But the habit of long‑standing tyranny quickly turned that fear into a fierce yet inwardly trembling rage.

In his eyes, the kid was merely pulling a cheap trick of feigning the supernatural!

Lei Hu activated his electric baton, hunched slightly, and prepared to charge forward to subdue Xu An.

The principal and several teachers behind him mustered courage; though their calves trembled with fear, they still glared viciously at Xu An.

However.

Xu An showed no reaction.

He merely tilted his head, and in those hollow eyes there was no emotion.

He slowly raised the Red Wood Ruler in his hand.

Then, toward Lei Hu's direction, he gently swung it down.

The motion was light and airy, as if brushing away dust.

Thump!

A muffled thud.

Lei Hu's snarling face froze instantly, replaced by extreme contortion and pain.

He didn't even see what happened; he only felt an indescribable excruciating pain at his knees.

He looked down.

His two legs bent backward at a bizarre angle, and beneath the pant legs, stark white bone fragments pierced the flesh, exposed to the air.

His kneecaps were utterly crushed by an invisible force!

Ah—

The agony made him instinctively open his mouth to scream, yet no sound could emerge from his throat.

Because Xu An raised a finger at him.

It was the silencing gesture.

A firm force sealed Lei Hu's throat.

Lei Hu's legs gave way, and he knelt heavily onto the cold floor tiles.

The surviving Instructors and the fat principal's complexion drained clean in an instant, each looking like a chicken with its throat strangled, eyes bulging as if about to pop out.

They even forgot to breathe.

At that moment.

Rustle......

The broadcast on the wall sounded again with that cold, merciless synthetic voice.

New School Rule, Article Two.

A heartbeat exceeding one hundred beats per minute is considered noise.

What?

Heartbeat?

Everyone froze.

Then a chill ten times stronger than before surged from each person's coccyx straight up to the Heavenly Spirit Cover!

What kind of rule is this?!

Can a person control their heartbeat?!

Dong dong! Dong dong! Dong dong!

An Instructor instinctively covered his chest.

He could clearly feel his heart pounding wildly in his chest, as if trying to break out of the rib cage prison.

He tried to slow it down.

But the more he thought that, in this extreme terror, the faster and wilder his heartbeat became!

His expression shifted from terror to despair.

He pressed his hands hard on his chest, gasping heavily, trying to calm down, but it was all futile.

Fear was accelerating his death.

Puff.

A faint pop sounded from within his chest.

The Instructor's body suddenly stiffened, and the spark in his eyes dimmed quickly.

He slowly lowered his head, looking at his intact chest, his face full of bewilderment.

Then his whole body collapsed softly.

His heart, inside his chest, was violently turned into a puddle of meat.

Puff!

Puff—

The chain reaction has begun.

The successive bursts of explosions rang out in the hall.

The remaining few Instructors, like toppled dominoes, fell one after another.

Their faces still wore expressions of sheer terror, but their bodies had already lost the breath of life.

In the blink of an eye.

Only two people remained in the hall.

Kneeling on the ground were Lei Hu and the principal, who was so terrified he was wetting himself.

Xu An seemed to have deliberately left them, not letting the Rules take effect on them.

The principal looked at the corpses strewn on the ground, and his mental defenses completely collapsed.

He dared not utter a sound, and could only desperately kowtow toward Xu An.

One... two... three...

The plump head slammed into the hard floor tiles, emitting a dull thud, and soon the head was cracked open, blood gushing.

Tears and snot smeared his face; he looked utterly disheveled.

Xu An moved.

Barefoot, he stepped through the viscous blood, step by step, silently walking up to the principal.

The principal lifted his head and looked at him with an almost pleading gaze.

Xu An looked down at the man who had once stood so high above.

He raised a finger and placed it before his sewn lips.

He made a "shh" gesture.

The principal's pupils dilated sharply, and he read the meaning in that gaze.

It was the utmost mockery.

Because the principal himself had once, when punishing students, made that same gesture toward them.

The next second.

The ruler sliced a black afterimage.

Pfft—

A plump head, smeared with blood and tears, shot upward, tracing a parabola in the air, and finally rolled to the corner with a "gurgle".

The headless cavity spouted a half‑meter‑high fountain of blood, shook twice, and crashed to the ground.

Now, only Lei Hu remained.

Lei Hu knelt on the ground, his whole body trembling like a leaf in the wind.

He stared at the "demon" slowly walking toward him, a wet heat in his crotch, and a foul, fishy stench spread.

"Don't… don't kill me…"

He finally regained his voice, but he trembled so badly it was unrecognizable.

"Xu An… no… An Ye! I'm wrong! I'm really wrong!"

"I'm not human! I'm a beast! Let me go… I'll be your ox or horse…"

Xu An stopped in front of him.

He did not act immediately.

He simply lowered his head, and with those eyes devoid of any emotion, quietly stared at Lei Hu.

From that gaze, Lei Hu saw the pleasure of judgment.

Suddenly, Xu An lifted his foot.

He kicked Lei Hu's chest with one foot.

Lei Hu let out a miserable grunt, his whole body fell backward, and the back of his head slammed hard onto the ground.

Immediately after, he felt his body convulse violently out of control.

Muscles spasm, bones grind.

That familiar pain of a strong electric current coursing through the whole body surged again!

He tried to scream, but only a hoarse, leaking sound escaped his throat.

He tried to beg for mercy, but his tongue was tied.

He was nailed to the spot, enduring an invisible electric execution, watching Xu An inch closer with his eyes wide open.

Xu An walked to his side and crouched.

He reached out and patted Lei Hu's face, twisted by excruciating pain.

Then, he stood up, lifted his foot, and precisely stepped on Lei Hu's throat.

His foot pressed down, gradually increasing force.

"Creak... creak..."

It was the sound of the laryngeal bone being crushed inch by inch.

Lei Hu's eyes bulged, bloodshot, and his hands futilely clawed at the air.

The feeling of suffocation drowned his final consciousness.

In the last moment of his life, what he saw was Xu An's sewn mouth, lifting a faint upward curve.

Finally.

All sounds vanished.

Xu An slowly stood up.

The whole hall, apart from the whimpering wind outside the windows, had not a single other sound.

He turned around and looked at his own blurred reflection on the glass door.

No expression could be seen on that sutured face.

He lifted his hand and gently brushed the rough suture line on his mouth.

He knew.

Revenge and judgment were only just beginning.

He raised his head and gazed beyond the building at the deeper, heavier darkness.

Every correction institution like this, and every cruel, vicious parent.

All must face judgment.

This is the price he pays for grasping the ruler without it turning against him.

It is also his long‑standing wish.