Chapter Eighty: Not Suitable for Children!

The doctor said, “There’s nothing seriously wrong with Classmate Tang Fei’s body. He was simply too agitated, and the collapse was caused by exhaustion. He only needs a good long rest.”

“All right. Thank you for your trouble, Doctor,” said Phoenix.

“What trouble is there? We’re only doing our duty,” the doctor replied modestly. “If there’s nothing else, we’ll take our leave.”

“I’ll see you out.”

“No need, no need. Please, don’t be so courteous.”

After Phoenix saw the doctor off, she returned to find the fat boy sprawled at the bedside, howling, “Brother... Brother, wake up... Brother, you can’t die... Brother, how am I supposed to live without you, Brother...”

Phoenix patted the fat boy on the shoulder and tried to soothe him. “Stop crying. Your brother is fine.”

“You’re lying to me. My brother’s arm was severed. How could he be fine?” The fat boy refused to believe it.

His brother had been gravely injured. How could he possibly be all right?

He had seen with his own eyes how his brother’s arm was cut off and his heart pierced.

True, it had happened in a virtual world, but the pain in reality was said to be the same.

That meant Tang Fei had endured the agony of having his arm severed and his heart run through.

Phoenix pinched the soft flesh at Tang Fei’s waist and said, “How long are you planning to keep this up? Do you want the fat boy to cry himself to death?”

Only then did Tang Fei open his eyes with a grin. “The doctor’s gone?”

“He’s gone.”

“There aren’t any cameras in this room, are there?” Tang Fei asked nervously.

He had been reluctant to “wake up” because he was worried there might be surveillance equipment in the room.

If there really had been a camera, wouldn’t all his earlier performance have been wasted?

Not only that, but it would leave him with the impression of being sly and treacherous.

He wanted to take the same honest, straightforward path as the fat boy. People like that were easier to trust and to like.

The fat boy had merely gone to the gravity chamber and broken a few stones, and a whole pack of teachers had fought to take him on as a student. In the end, he was even taken in as a closed-door disciple by Shang Xiulin.

Meanwhile, Tang Fei had been battling with all his might in the virtual combat room, spilling blood and sweat everywhere, and still he didn’t know whether he had earned himself a ticket to university.

Look at that—what a difference there was between people.

“No,” Phoenix said, rolling her eyes at Tang Fei. He was actually quite cautious, wasn’t he?

She added, “I checked as soon as I came in. There are no cameras in the ward. They need to give injections, change dressings, change clothes, and so on in here. How could they possibly install surveillance?”

Only then did Tang Fei relax. “Good.”

The fat boy still had tears on his face. He stared at Tang Fei in dumbfounded delight and cried out, “Brother, you’re really all right?”

“I’m fine.” Tang Fei patted the back of the fat boy’s hand. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I’m great...” The fat boy tried to stand up to show off his blubber, but his knees went weak and he sat back down in the wheelchair.

At first, the doctor had not agreed to let him get out of bed. He had raged and struggled like his elder brother had just died, making an uproar. The doctor had no choice, and after consulting Phoenix, they arranged a wheelchair and pushed him over to Tang Fei’s ward.

But his foundations had already been hollowed out long ago, and he could not recover his strength in such a short time. The moment he tried to stand, he nearly fell flat on the floor.

“All right, all right, I know you’re fine.” Tang Fei did not want to hear the sound of a mountain of flesh hitting the ground, so he coaxed him gently. “You heard what the doctor just said. I’m fine too. Hurry back and rest for a while.”

“Brother, I want to stay with you,” the fat boy said.

He did not want to leave.

What if he fell asleep and something happened to his elder brother?

He had come to send his brother off, but not this soon.

“I don’t want your company.”

“Why not?” the fat boy asked.

Tang Fei glanced at Phoenix and said, “I want to talk to your Sister Phoenix about a little private matter.”

“What private matter? Can’t I listen? We’re family.”

“No.” Tang Fei refused. “Besides, you wouldn’t understand—it’s not for children.”

“Oh.” The fat boy nodded blankly.

What private matter did Brother want to discuss that he couldn’t hear and wouldn’t understand?

“Don’t listen to your brother’s nonsense,” Phoenix said, her cheeks slightly red. “There’s no private matter. Your brother just wants you to get some proper rest. Come, I’ll push you back so you can lie down.”

The fat boy obediently agreed. “All right. If anything happens to my brother, you must tell me at once.”

“I promise, your brother will absolutely be fine.”

After Phoenix sent the enormous human lantern away, she leaned back against the door, crossed her arms, and looked at Tang Fei. “Classmate Tang Fei, what private matter did you want to discuss with me?”

“Didn’t you just say it? I only wanted the fat boy to rest well. What private matter would there be?”

“...”

Phoenix’s folded arms somehow seemed to thicken by an inch.

“We’re still in the martial arts hall, you know. Should I press the call button and have the doctor come check you again?” Phoenix smiled brightly, but her words made the air turn cold. “I’ll tell them your condition isn’t very good and your emotional reactions are a little too strong, so they should push you into the medical pod for an examination once every hour.”

“I’ll confess to anything you want to know,” Tang Fei said immediately, surrendering at once.

Being sent into those machines again and again for full-body examinations was a feeling worse than death.

“You were clearly fine. Why did you pretend to be unconscious?” Phoenix asked. “What are you afraid of?”

Tang Fei lay on his side in the hospital bed, admiring Phoenix’s graceful figure, beautiful face, and those eyes that seemed half-smiling, half-chiding, as if they were always whispering something teasingly intimate to him. He said, “Don’t you already know the reason?”

“Playing the victim?” Phoenix asked. “The more wronged you are, the greater the compensation you receive?”

“That’s only one aspect,” Tang Fei said. “By the way, what compensation did I get?”

Since he had pretended to lose consciousness, the medical staff had immediately wheeled him off to the infirmary for treatment, and he had not heard the rest of what Shang Xiulin said.

“Dean Shang flew into a thunderous rage and expelled Shen Qingping on the spot, throwing him out of the academy,” Phoenix said bitterly.

Shen Qingping had received the punishment he deserved, but she still did not feel satisfied.

Because this had originally been a simple assessment, and it should never have escalated into so much trouble.

For Shen Qingping to use his superior realm as an assessor and crush Tang Fei from a higher dimension was cheating, and it was also a matter of character, something deeply dishonorable.

Fortunately, Tang Fei’s strength was considerable, his combat experience abundant, and he had that ferocious streak of reckless ruthlessness that would let him drag even the emperor down from his throne; only then had he managed to turn the tide.

If not for that miraculous patch of black mud, Tang Fei would have been eliminated in the very first round.

After all, there was a fundamental difference between a second-tier spiritual cultivator and a top-tier spiritual cultivator.

The Shen family’s secret manual, Ghosts Shudder, truly did possess extraordinary merit...

What exactly were these people trying to do? Was it merely to block Tang Fei’s path into the academy?

Was this Shen Qingping’s own idea, or had the jade-tree scion of the Shen family instructed him to do it?

What role had the Shen family played in this matter? Or rather, what role would they play after this incident?

Tang Fei might not need to think about such things, but Phoenix could not help but consider them on his behalf.

Her thoughts were a tangled mess.

“What else?” Tang Fei asked.

He had not expected Shen Qingping to be expelled.

It seemed this Shang Xiulin truly had a great deal of courage, and he was upright and impartial indeed—worthy of being the dean of the Empire’s First Military Academy.

“Also, you’ve been admitted to the Empire’s First Military Academy. And because of the school’s mistake, which caused you serious injuries during the virtual battle, all your tuition and living expenses during your studies will be waived. You may freely choose your class and your teacher.”

“Additionally, you can use the training equipment in the martial arts hall without time limit. I think that’s the most practical part. You know, martial practice is flourishing throughout the empire, and the training equipment in the martial arts hall is limited. It simply can’t meet the students’ daily needs.”

“Especially the gravity chamber, the virtual combat room, the star command pod, and the rehabilitation equipment... all of these normally require advance booking, and then you have to redeem them with points from your student card before you can use them. You won’t be restricted by any of that.”

“Do you need to book in advance too?” Tang Fei asked curiously.

“I don’t. My family has one.”

“...”

“Oh, and there’s one more thing you’re sure to be very interested in,” Phoenix said.

“What is it?”

“Because of your outstanding performance on the primitive forest map, Dean Shang proposed using your battle as a teaching model. In the future, all newly enrolled students of the ancient martial arts department will be required to watch the match. As for students from other departments, they may also watch and study it on demand.”

Tang Fei stared wide-eyed at Phoenix. “Dean Shang has a grudge against that fellow Shen?”

“As far as I know, no,” Phoenix said, shaking her head.

“Then why use such a vicious and poisonous method against him? This isn’t merely defeating him—it’s repeatedly humiliating his corpse. Every time it’s played, it’s another beating of the corpse. Shen Qingping is finished. He’ll never wash away this stain.”

Not only could he not wash it away, but as the number of viewers kept increasing, it would grow filthier and filthier, until he became the supreme king of filth...

“Yes,” Phoenix said, nodding, thinking that Tang Fei’s first reaction was exactly the same as her own.

By rights, Shang Xiulin and Shen Qingping could not possibly have a grudge.

Shen Qingping was not worthy.

Could it be that Shang Xiulin had a grudge against the Shen family?

Otherwise, why would he use such a ruthless move?

This strike was not merely a slap to Shen Qingping’s face; it was a slap to the entire Shen family’s face. It was pressing the Shen family’s dignity to the ground, again and again, and grinding it into the dirt.

And then he would have the students write analysis reports and reflections afterward. Tell me, was this angle of humiliation accurate? Was there an even better way to humiliate them?

But before, no one had ever heard of such a thing. What past grievance could there possibly be between them?

Still, it was an event worth paying attention to.

Perhaps by now, after this matter came to light, countless people throughout Phoenix City had already begun to investigate and ponder it.

“What? You’re not happy?” Phoenix asked.

“Of course I’m happy. I’m happier than I can say.” Tang Fei could not help grinning.

He was a refugee from the old soil. Why should he repay grievances with virtue?

He wished all those who had bullied him would die.

Although his performance on the virtual map had been somewhat mad, that was a true reflection of his inner self.

He knew very well what awaited him and the fat boy, two refugees from the old soil, as they entered the world of the new star on a whim, and how many people would want to step on them or bite them.

When the princess shielded them, the two of them could live in peace. But the moment the princess showed even the slightest dissatisfaction with them, countless people would rush over and gnaw them down to the bones.

At that thought, he could not help glancing at Phoenix’s thighs.

They looked delicious.

He had to hold on tight.

But when the princess grew too close to them, the people who had once wanted to get close to the princess would likely turn hostile toward them instead.

Take Shen Qingping, for instance.

He had no doubt at all that Shen Qingping had come because of Phoenix.

If not, then what else?

Could it be jealousy of his handsomeness, or of the fat boy’s figure?

Phoenix laughed too, and reminded him, “Keep your voice down. If you startle the doctor, he might think your brain has been stimulated...”

Tang Fei quickly lowered his voice. He really was afraid the doctor would come in and say this student’s head doesn’t seem quite right—let’s send him back in for another examination.

“Just now, Director Chen Bing came to see me. On one hand, she apologized and said that because of her negligence at work, she failed to verify Shen Qingping’s realm level again, which led to the cross-realm incident...”

Tang Fei nodded. “I believe that. Even if she had wanted to deal with me, she wouldn’t have made it this obvious. Dean Shang was standing right there watching. She had originally arranged for another student, but Shen Qingping replaced him.”

“Of course, the main reason she explained it to you was that she was worried you might misunderstand. A woman’s heart is like the deep sea—who knows whether our noble princess would retaliate against her?”

“Hmph, what do you take me for?”

“Then have you thought about retaliating?”

“I have.” Phoenix nodded honestly. “If she really did it, then that director would never get to keep her position.”

“See? So in the end, women understand women best.”

“Tang Fei...” Phoenix bit her lip lightly and said in annoyance.

I’m doing this for whom? Wasn’t it only to help you vent your anger?

How dare they bully someone of mine? Do they have no regard for this imperial princess at all?

When someone does not fear your power, then you must make them feel its majesty.

“All right, all right, I know you’re doing this for my sake.” Tang Fei stopped teasing her. After all, this little princess was quite proud and stubborn.

“Of course I’m doing it for your sake,” Phoenix said. “Would I do it for myself?”

“Then who am I doing this for?” Tang Fei said with a chuckle, deliberately feigning nonchalance, speaking in a casual tone. “When the phoenix falls upon West Rest Mountain... what kind of mountain is West Rest Mountain?”

“Huh? You know that saying too?”

“I heard it before the match,” Tang Fei said.

“In truth, it was only a joke,” Phoenix explained. “Because my nickname is Phoenix, and the Shen family’s ancestral home is on West Rest Mountain, my father made a jest and said it looked as though our family’s phoenix would one day land on West Rest Mountain.”

“Your father said that?” Tang Fei asked.

Phoenix nodded. “Yes. It was only a joke, so don’t take it to heart.”

“That old schem—”

“What did you say?” Phoenix raised her brows sharply, her tone threatening.

“I said I was praising your father. Our empire’s sovereign soars through the nine heavens like an eagle, looking down upon every inch of the imperial realm. Wherever he sees a worm, he swoops down from the sky and swallows it in a single bite.”

“Then I’ll eat you first,” Phoenix threatened. “You’re just a little worm hiding in the empire.”

“Your Highness, this is a grave injustice. Other worms steal money or seize power. I’m a good citizen. I haven’t done anything at all.”

“You’ve done too little, you mean?”

End of Chapter