Chapter 92: Fear and Helplessness
As exam day drew nearer, the entire freshman class of the Chemical Institute was in a state of frantic chaos, cramming from dawn to dusk.
The same went for Liu Shang.
Although he had a natural advantage in English, advanced mathematics, and several of his professional courses and thus had little to worry about there, there were still many other subjects he was not good at.
Compounded by his zero for attendance and the poor impression he had made on his teachers, it would be extremely difficult for him to avoid failing.
In contrast, students from other colleges and majors were much more relaxed.
Before the exams, their teachers had already outlined the scope of the tests and even hinted at specific questions. Combined with the increasingly lax management style, most students could pass smoothly just by studying for a few days beforehand.
Students like Song Jia, who was exceptionally smart and well-liked by her teachers, felt no pressure at all about the final exams.
After the incident with the laptop, however, Song Jia's mood had been extremely poor.
She even went home, a place she usually loved, far less frequently than before.
In her spare time, she preferred to get together with her group of good friends to plan where they would go for a trip after the exams were over.
One evening, as night fell and the city lights came on, Song Jia, Lu Kai, and two others were heading back to campus after a hot pot dinner. As they approached a relatively remote side entrance, they were suddenly surrounded and blocked by a group of tall, imposing guys from off-campus.
"Damn it, Lu Kai, you got some nerve, don't you?"
"Dare to come after one of my guys on our turf?!"
"Alright, let's settle the score today!"
Seeing their menacing appearance, Song Jia had a bad feeling.
This group was mostly freshmen from Fengcheng University, and the leader was a guy named Yuan Hui, the top dog in their Fengcheng social circle.
In terms of status and influence, he was a cut above Tan Feng, and even more so than Lu Kai.
Song Jia knew about the fight Lu Kai had with a freshman from their university.
But she hadn't expected to be so unlucky today, getting cornered by them when her own group was at its smallest.
If those two idiots, Tan Feng and Zhou Liang, hadn't been holed up in their dorm cramming for finals, their presence alone might have been enough to prevent a fight.
But now...
Seeing the other group's posture, Lu Kai took a step forward with bold defiance, showing no fear.
"Heh, you guys really think highly of me, bringing a lineup this big!"
"You got me cornered here today, I admit it. Come at me if you've got the guts!"
"Just leave me alive, and I'll get you back for this sooner or later."
"And another thing, don't you dare touch my friends."
Seeing Lu Kai's defiance, the eight or nine burly youths on the other side closed in menacingly.
The ones who had been beaten by Lu Kai's group before brandished the sticks they had prepared.
It looked like they were ready to jump Lu Kai at any moment.
If a real fight broke out, Lu Kai, all by himself, would be lucky to get away with just a few broken bones.
Under this frightening and overwhelming pressure, the two students from the University of Oil with Lu Kai and Song Jia didn't dare make a sound, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
For them, this kind of scene was a battle between two rival factions.
But at this critical moment, Song Jia, though slender, stepped forward with an astonishingly powerful aura and stood directly in front of Lu Kai.
She positioned herself between the two groups.
"Yuan Hui, have you no shame? Ganging up on Lu Kai with this many people?"
"If you really want to fight, fine. We'll do it right, once we've gathered all our people!"
Song Jia's sudden appearance froze the tense atmosphere.
One of the guys opposite them, who had a personal grudge with Lu Kai, spat on the ground and shouted impatiently.
"Who the hell is this girl?"
"This is none of your business, get the hell out of here!"
This guy was just an ordinary student from the university's physical education department. He assumed Song Jia was just Lu Kai's girlfriend, so his attitude was naturally hostile.
Hearing his foul language, Song Jia stared back at him like a little tigress, her eyes fierce.
"If you dare say one more dirty word to me, believe me, I'll have all your teeth knocked out before sunrise."
Under Song Jia's intense aura, the guy actually faltered. Then, feeling he had lost face, he prepared to curse back to regain his footing.
"Shut up!"
But at that moment, Yuan Hui, the leader, shot him a hard glare, silencing him instantly.
Yuan Hui took a deep breath, frowning as he looked at Song Jia and Lu Kai.
"Jiajia, you're a girl. Don't get involved in this, okay?"
"It's normal for guys to have fights."
"And this time, it was Lu Kai and his friends who came after our people first. We're just returning the favor, right?"
"And you, Lu Kai!"
"What are you, a coward?"
"Hiding behind a girl?"
"If you admit you're a woman today, we'll call it even!"
"No matter how petty I am, I won't pick a fight with a woman, will I?"
As expected, Lu Kai couldn't stand the taunt. He pushed past Song Jia to stand in front of her again.
"Fuck you! You're the coward, your whole family are cowards!"
"I'm right here, come and get me if you've got the nerve!"
At this, Song Jia cursed Lu Kai in her head for being such a simpleton, falling for such an obvious provocation.
When she tried to stop him, it was already too late.
While all this was happening, the guy who had been beaten up by Lu Kai before, the one with the most resentment, seized the opportunity. As Lu Kai stepped forward, and before Yuan Hui could say a word, he rushed out, swung the wooden stick in his hand in a wide arc, and brought it down on Lu Kai.
Seeing the ferocious attack, one guaranteed to break bones, Lu Kai flinched and subconsciously recoiled.
But at the same instant, Song Jia, desperate to protect him, lunged forward.
With the two of them switching places, the heavy stick was now undeniably going to strike the fragile Song Jia.
In that split second, the same thought flashed through everyone's mind: This is bad!
For Yuan Hui's side, this would blow things way out of proportion.
How could a girl like Song Jia withstand a blow like that?
If she was seriously injured, her father, Song Guangyuan, would go ballistic. The entire city of Fengcheng would be shaken!
Yuan Hui would be in deep trouble with his family, and the idiot who threw the punch would be lucky to get away with just having his legs broken.
At this moment, it was too late for Lu Kai to rush forward again. His mind went completely blank.
As for Song Jia herself, having been cared for and protected by her parents and family her entire life, she had never known true fear or suffering.
Seeing the wooden club whistling through the air toward her head, a wave of extreme terror instantly flooded her entire being.
In that moment, she was panicked, scared, powerless, and utterly helpless.
She wanted to cry, to scream out in grief, and she missed her father's strong, stalwart, and safe presence more than anything.
The inevitable was about to happen.
The wooden stick, swung with all the attacker's might, smashed down fiercely.
Then, with a loud 'BANG,' the thick wooden stick unexpectedly broke in two.
However, it was not Song Jia's fragile body that fell screaming as the stick shattered.
At the last possible moment, a strong and tall figure had arrived, just in time to pull Song Jia into his arms, blocking the brutal blow for her.
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