Consequences of Fury

“Waaahhh! Owww!”

Pan Yao clutched his head, letting out a pained shriek after my strike.

Yet, his cries did nothing to deter me. Instead, I forcefully lifted my leg and kicked him to the ground.

“Pan Yao, today I’m taking your life!”

The stick had not sated my fury, nor had it quenched the inferno raging within me. With a flick of my wrist, I tossed the weapon aside. I straddled Pan Yao, and began to rain down punches directly onto his face, one after another.

‘Damn him, how dare he harass Xiao Yu.’

‘How dare he lay a hand on her.’

‘How dare he make Xiao Yu cry so miserably!’

At that moment, my mind was consumed by the image of Xiao Yu’s helpless face, her eyes glistening with tears. I was absolutely seething, and the only thought that remained was to make this beast, Pan Yao, regret ever being born into this world.

—*Thud!*

—*Thud!*

Punch after punch, I relentlessly hammered down, each blow connecting squarely. Even as Pan Yao’s blood smeared his skin, my rage showed no sign of abating. I felt like a programmed automaton, capable only of repeatedly unleashing furious blows.

I lost all sense of time. Pan Yao’s protests morphed into screams, then into desperate pleas for mercy. Gradually, his cries faded, until silence finally reigned. Only then, breathing heavily, did I finally cease my assault.

Pinched beneath me, Pan Yao had lost consciousness. Though his hands were clasped over his face, his entire visage was a mosaic of purple and blue. A trickle of crimson blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

“Brother, stop, please stop! The guy’s already knocked out!”

“Yeah, Yan Ge, don’t hit him anymore. You’ll kill him!”

Witnessing Pan Yao’s gruesome state, my fury slowly subsided. Hao Yinjian and Lei Chao, who had initially intended to join me in pummeling Pan Yao, now gripped my arms from either side. Their gazes, as they looked at me, were filled with palpable apprehension.

“Huu, huu, huu…”

Patting my chest, I slowly rose to my feet.

I surveyed my surroundings. Despite it being lunchtime, Pan Yao’s agonizing screams had drawn a massive crowd of third-year students. The entire grade, it seemed, had been alerted. What was typically a fairly wide corridor was now packed shoulder-to-shoulder, completely impassable.

“What are you looking at? What are all of you staring at! Get back to sleep! The college entrance exams are coming soon; how can you study without proper rest!”

A furious roar suddenly echoed from the direction of the stairwell. The surrounding crowd instantly recoiled, scrambling back to their respective classrooms.

A few boys, eager for more drama, cautiously peeked their heads out from classroom windows. However, a tall, slender figure, striding past from the stairwell, swiftly pressed their heads back inside.

“Still looking? All of you who keep watching will get a demerit! Now get back to sleep!”

Following that final roar, the surroundings fell into complete silence. The corridor, moments ago teeming with people, now held only four individuals… and the battered, unrecognizable form of Pan Yao.

“You three, what grade are you in?”

The Disciplinary Director, clad in a black uniform skirt and unanimously dubbed ‘Iron-Blooded Hot Mama’ by the students, approached us with a stern expression.

Despite her fearsome moniker, she had only recently turned thirty. Her appearance and figure were undeniably exceptional. Were it not for her fiery and volatile temper, I suspected that many of the male students, tormented by the throes of adolescence, would harbor rather different fantasies about her.

“Hey, I’m talking to you three. Did you not hear me?”

Seeing that no one responded, the ‘Hot Mama’ immediately flared up.

“Not going to talk, huh? Fine, fine, you’ll regret this today! Beating up a classmate in the corridor in broad daylight? All of you, call your parents here first!”

The ‘Hot Mama’ strode over, cast a cold glance at Pan Yao lying on the ground, then pulled out her phone and dialed 120.

“You had better pray this guy isn’t seriously injured,” the ‘Hot Mama’ said, turning to glare at me. “Otherwise, you’re all over sixteen, which means you can be held criminally responsible!”

Soon after, doctors and nurses arrived in a hurry, lifting Pan Yao onto an ambulance. Hao Yinjian, Lei Chao, and I were then escorted to the ‘Hot Mama’s’ office, where we awaited our parents to come and claim us.

My parents were both on a busy business trip abroad at the time. Therefore, upon learning that I had injured someone at school, my father scolded me over the phone. He then quickly contacted an old friend, asking for their help in handling the situation at school.