Chapter 79: Time to Show Some Skills

To be honest, this gene warrior was indeed hideous—his neck was thick, his face broad and speckled with freckles. He had a burly build, yes, but that only served to make his ugliness more pronounced. It was a remarkable kind of ugliness, extraordinary in its own right.

How could Tang Shen possibly endure being insulted to his face like this? It was time to show off some skills!

“Hey, you brat, stop right there!” Tang Shen shouted, one hand gripping the awakening serum, the other raised without hesitation.

His voice thundered across the hall—so loud, in fact, that every soul present heard him clear as day.

In that instant, the entire scene fell into a silence so profound that the drop of a pin would have echoed like thunder.

The principal was dumbstruck, the teachers were dumbstruck, and the students as well! Even the gene warriors assigned as escorts stared in disbelief.

There stood this strikingly handsome young man, pointing at the back of a gene warrior and bellowing, “Brat, stop right there.”

An ordinary person and a gene warrior—let’s put it this way: if a conflict were to arise between the two, even if a gene warrior killed the ordinary person over some dispute, the government’s standard departments wouldn’t have the authority to detain the gene warrior directly. Specialized agencies would be required, and representatives from the major gene martial arts halls would have to be called in for a proper trial and sentence.

In other words, unless a gene warrior was actively looking for trouble, even homicide would result in little more than a monetary settlement at worst.

And now, in the eyes of everyone present, Tang Shen was most certainly looking for trouble.

Even though he was the top student in the school, clutching a first-grade awakening serum, he was still just an ordinary person. In the presence of any gene warrior, he was expected to show deference, to act with humility at the very least.

But here Tang Shen was, openly cursing at a gene warrior.

“What did you say?” The gene warrior froze, his face a mask of disbelief that quickly twisted into fury. Blaze-like anger rose within his chest, and as he turned his head, a chilling, murderous gleam flickered in his eyes.

He had always looked down on pretty boys. Back before his own awakening, he had liked a girl—not beautiful, simply plain, but they were childhood friends. He believed that once he succeeded in awakening, she would be his, loving him sincerely. Indeed, she did go to him after his awakening, and for a time he was happy. But one day, returning early from a mission, he found her in his home, tangled with another man—a pampered pretty boy living off the money he had earned in blood and combat.

It was a catastrophe, a bolt from the blue. Consumed by rage, he stormed in, confronted them both, caught them in the act. The girl’s words cut him anew: she knelt, begging him to spare the pretty boy, claiming her love for him was genuine. The worst part was the pretty boy himself, who began to plead and spill the details of their affair. It turned out the two had been together before she ever got with the gene warrior—she’d only been with him for his money, for his status as a gene warrior.

All his illusions were shattered. That very day, he killed both the traitorous woman and her lover. Afterward, the courts found him not guilty; he paid a small compensation, nothing more. Yet the incident left his heart twisted and deeply scarred.

So when he overheard the whispers just now, he immediately pegged Tang Shen as another pretty boy. Especially after seeing Tang Shen’s face, he was convinced.

But he never imagined Tang Shen would actually have the audacity to insult him to his face—a mere ordinary person!

His deep-seated loathing for handsome men surged up again, the urge to kill nearly uncontrollable. He wasn’t some great master, true, but he was a bona fide C-class gene warrior, trained and blooded in combat.

And here was an ordinary person, pointing at his nose and calling him a brat.

Especially after hearing that this pretty boy had no background at all, was nothing but an orphan.

Everyone thought Tang Shen would surely apologize, fall to his knees and beg for mercy. In a situation like this, a gene warrior could tear him apart in a rage and likely not even be held responsible.

Bai Xue was anxious, not yet awakened herself, and she nearly rushed forward to intervene.

“What’s wrong, ugly? Don’t understand human speech? Deaf, are you? Or just stupid?” Tang Shen’s gaze was icy; he was never one to swallow insults. If someone dared curse him to his face, why should he endure it?

Besides, this man didn’t give him the slightest sense of danger. Tang Shen found him weak—there was no reason to hold back. One of the most humiliating things in life is letting someone weaker than you shout in your face while you remain silent.

And when it came to trading barbs, Tang Shen had never lost. Fully unleashing his scathing sarcasm, he sneered, “Then let me repeat myself, since your grandpa has to spell it out for you: I’m saying you’re my grandson. You look like a damn ball, with buck teeth and a face full of freckles. How do you have the nerve to show that mug in public? Couldn’t the gene martial arts hall send someone halfway decent? If you were just ugly, that’d be one thing, but you can’t even keep your mouth clean. What, didn’t brush after eating shit yesterday? Is your hall that short on people? Do you have any idea who we are? We’re the blossoms of the nation, the future of tomorrow. It’s one thing to scare others, but what if you frighten us, the country’s precious flowers? If you’re so ugly, why not spare us the embarrassment and dig yourself a hole? Bury yourself and at least you’ll enrich the soil a bit. Tell me, am I right, grandson?”

Silence.

Utter silence.

A silence so complete, a dropped pin would have sounded thunderous in the gymnasium.

Everyone felt as if their breath had stopped, their hearts frozen in their chests.

The few students who had been watching Tang Shen with mocking amusement now looked as if they’d seen a ghost.

The students in the audience gaped, staring in disbelief as their school’s heartthrob pointed at a gene warrior and unleashed a barrage of insults.

And what insults—so venomous they could make a person cough up blood.

Gallons of it, at that.

It was the first time any of them had seen someone curse with such mastery.

Especially when the one doing the cursing was their usually cold and aloof idol, the legendary ice prince.

My God! Silent as stone for so long, only to stun everyone with a single outburst.

Everyone was absolutely dumbfounded.

It was rare enough to see such savage wit, let alone from an ordinary person standing up to a gene warrior. And this ordinary person was truly without background, while the gene warrior was the real deal.

Everyone felt as if the world had gone mad, or perhaps they’d simply gotten out of bed the wrong way this morning. How else to explain such a crazy spectacle?

The principal and teachers were equally stunned, staring blankly at the scene. They all knew Tang Shen’s circumstances and character, but they’d never seen this side of him.

Tang Shen’s homeroom teacher had recently witnessed his shameless side, but this invincible stream of ridicule was something entirely new, even to her.

It seemed anyone would be driven mad with rage by such taunts!