Duel

Dong, dong, dong! The sound of knocking echoed through the hall. The dormitory supervisor's voice called from outside, "Ethan, are you alright? What happened?"

Zelio and Yuander both looked towards the bed, but it was Ethan who emerged from beneath it. The two were taken aback. Why was he sleeping under the bed? Did he know what Bennett was planning to do? Of course, Ethan had no such foresight; it was merely his caution. Plus, during his time surviving on the surface, he had always slept in small, confined spaces. Now, sleeping on a large bed felt unfamiliar.

Ethan glanced at Zelio and Yuander without a word and turned to open the door. The dormitory supervisor entered, followed by other students who had been awakened by the commotion and had come to see what was happening.

As soon as the supervisor stepped in, he saw the gruesome sight of Bennett's decapitated body. He quickly closed the door, but not before many students caught a glimpse of the bloodstains on the floor. The supervisor surveyed the room, his gaze lingering on the bloodied wire hanging in mid-air and the dagger in Bennett's hand, before asking, "What happened here?"

Zelio, regaining his composure, pointed at Ethan and blurted out, "Teacher, Ethan killed someone!"

Yuander joined in, "Yes, yes, Ethan killed Bennett. We saw it with our own eyes!"

Ethan scoffed, "With your own eyes?"

"Then tell me, which hand did I use to kill Bennett?"

Zelio and Yuander were at a loss for words but quickly retorted, "The wire!"

"You set up a wire and cut Bennett's neck with it!"

The supervisor looked at Ethan, who calmly responded, "Where is the wire?"

Zelio pointed out, "Obviously, it's right here!"

"Yes, the wire is by the window."

"Not by the door."

"So why would Bennett not use the door and instead crash through the window?"

Ethan then gestured to the dagger in the corpse's hand, "He even brought a weapon, clearly with malicious intent. He got what he deserved."

Zelio and Yuander were speechless again. The supervisor turned to them, "What were you saying Bennett wanted to do?"

The two stuttered, "Bennett was humiliated by Ethan during the academy test and held a grudge."

"He drank too much tonight, got heated, and wanted to teach Ethan a lesson."

"Teacher, we tried to stop him."

"But we couldn't hold him back."

"We never expected..."

The supervisor said coldly, "Is that so?"

"If I find out you're lying, the academy will punish you severely!"

Zelio turned pale but insisted, "We're telling the truth."

The supervisor then said, "Go back for now. The academy will handle this matter. Keep your mouths shut."

Zelio and Yuander nodded and left through the broken window, heads bowed. The teacher then asked Ethan to move to another dormitory and covered the body with a bedsheet.

After settling into his new dorm, Ethan didn't go to sleep right away. A smirk crossed his lips. He had finally understood what the fiery red glow represented. When Bennett broke through the window that night, Ethan's instinctive activation of the 'Gaze of Qi' from under the bed had already revealed Bennett's presence. He saw a ring of fiery red glow around Bennett's gray aura, displaying the number '127'. But as Bennett's head was severed by the sharpened wire, the red glow quickly dimmed, and the number dropped to zero.

"Blood qi, or perhaps life..."

"That ring of fiery red glow represents the life force of a living being!"

Pleased with his newfound understanding of the fiery red glow, Ethan felt a sense of accomplishment. It meant he had gained further insight into his mutated vision. He then thought of Bennett.

"Did he really come after me because of what happened during the day?"

Recalling Zelio and Yuander's reactions, Ethan quietly turned off the room's lights.

...

After returning to their dorm, Zelio and Yuander looked uneasy.

"That Ethan is terrifying."

"No, he's a madman."

"Who sets up such traps in their dorm?"

Shaking his head, Zelio said, "Yuan, I think we should stay out of Brother Luo's business."

"I agree."

With consensus reached, they turned off the lights and went to bed. After some time, Zelio felt someone tapping his face. He opened his eyes groggily, "Who is it?"

Suddenly, he jolted awake. Someone was sitting at the head of his bed, a phone's screen glowing in their pocket. And he felt a cold sensation on his neck—a wire wrapped around it.

He nearly wet himself with fear, then heard the person at the head of the bed say, "Who put you up to this?"

Recognizing Ethan's voice, Zelio pleaded, "Ethan, don't do anything rash."

"No one put us up to it."

"It was just Bennett being foolish."

After speaking, Zelio felt the wire around his neck tighten. He remembered Bennett's headless corpse.

"Ethan, what are you doing?"

"Stop, stop..."

The wire continued to constrict. Zelio felt its cold embrace as he saw the call of the reaper.

A madman. Ethan was a madman!

He broke down.

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you."

"It was Bryce. Bryce made us do it."

"He sent Bennett to kill you, it's not our fault."

"His father Lionel is running for the next city lord."

"His biggest competitor is Commander Victor, who recommended you to the academy!"

With the truth revealed, Ethan said no more and tightened the wire around Zelio's neck. Zelio struggled but soon bulged his eyes and died on the spot. Ethan did the same to Yuander and cleaned up the scene before leaving.

Moments later, back in his room, Ethan called soldier Lion. When the call connected, Lion was surprised, "What's happened so late?"

Ethan simply stated, "Bryce planned to kill me. His men entered my trap and died."

There was silence on the other end before Lion said, "Wait a moment," and hung up.

Not long after, Ethan's phone rang again. He answered to hear Victor's voice, "Do you have evidence?"

Ethan played a recording. He hadn't forgotten to record his 'interrogation' of Zelio and Yuander.

After listening, Victor said gravely, "I'll warn the Luo family. You can sleep peacefully."

"Warn?" Ethan was not entirely satisfied.

Victor sensed his tone, "What are you thinking?"

Ethan replied calmly, "You said if someone wanted to kill me..."

"I could act first and report later."

"The two from earlier have been dealt with by me."

"How should Bryce be handled?"

Silence followed, then Victor asked, "Do you want to kill him?"

"I don't like being targeted," Ethan answered truthfully.

Victor decisively said, "Alright, you kill, I'll clean up."

"But you can't just go and kill him directly."

"This is still not the surface."

"The academy has its rules."

Ethan inquired, "What rules?"

Victor explained, "In the academy, to settle personal grievances, you can set up a duel."

"The arena has two types: martial or death."

"In a martial duel, no weapons or potions are allowed, and you must be inspected by the academy for a fair fight."

"But a martial duel only determines the winner, not life or death."

"After the fight, all grudges are settled."

"A death duel has no restrictions, fight to the death."

"But even if you win, you will be penalized and lose credits!"

Ethan didn't hesitate, "Fine, I'll fight a death duel."

"Don't underestimate Bryce," Victor warned.

"His father Lionel is the owner of Qiming Heavy Industries."

"A big shot in Guangling City."

"If you fight a death duel, he will surely provide his son with ample resources to squander."

Ethan said calmly, "No matter."

"You won't let me lose."

Victor chuckled over the phone.

"I've sent you Bryce's information via text message."

"There should be some helpful details for you."

After hanging up, Ethan received a series of texts. Reading the information, he narrowed his eyes and formulated a plan.

The next day, after breakfast, the students gathered in the hall. They were then led to a tiered classroom. Marshal, the director of teaching, arrived with a male teacher.

"This is Teacher Xiao Shi, who will be in charge of your general knowledge classes. Get ready, he will start teaching soon."

"Also, there were some accidents last night."

"Some students won't be able to attend classes."

Bryce's delicate-looking roommate asked, "Teacher, was it really an accident?"

He glanced at Ethan, "Or was it someone deliberately killing?"

"Or is it because he was recommended by Commander Victor?"

"So even if he kills someone, it's as if nothing happened."

"That would be terrifying."

Ethan remained still, listening to the young man's words. The students began whispering among themselves.

"If that's true, then the academy is too biased."

"No, it's not just bias."

"It's complicity."

Bryce smirked inwardly. The night before, when Zelio and Yuander reported back, he was shocked to learn of Bennett's death. But it was an opportunity to stir up the students and smear Victor using Ethan's actions. The plan was successful. Many students had seen bloodstains in Ethan's room and even saw the academy's security carrying a body away from his dorm.

Now, everyone looked at Ethan with fear, distancing themselves from him. The only ones who didn't move were two people: a man and a woman. The man was Eliot, the clean-cut youth who had wanted to team up with Ethan the day before. The woman was wearing headphones, absorbed in her book, seemingly indifferent to the classroom's events.

Marshal frowned, knowing what had happened the night before and that Yuander and Zelio, who were involved, had 'committed suicide.' Victor had informed the academy overnight, providing the recording. The academy had made a decision but had not yet announced it. Now Bryce was using it to his advantage, which displeased Marshal.

He was about to speak when another voice interrupted.

"Bryce, is that all you've got?" Ethan said without moving or turning his head. "You only dare to hide behind the scenes, doing things that can't see the light of day."

"With such a small mindset, no wonder Lionel values your brother Luo Nanxing."

"There's no helping it."

"If I were Lionel, I wouldn't set my sights on a waste either."

Bryce, who had been smugly satisfied, twisted with rage at Ethan's words. The delicate-looking young man beside him jumped, knowing that Luo Nanxing was Bryce's taboo. Mentioning Luo Nanxing in a positive light in front of Bryce could result in insults or a beating.

As expected, Bryce couldn't contain his rage upon hearing Ethan's words and stood up to shout, "What did you say?"

Ethan replied indifferently, "Don't tell me you don't know."

"In Guangling City, everyone knows Lionel values Luo Nanxing as a treasure."

"As for you, Bryce, heh."

"You're just a joke."

Ethan rarely spoke so much, but today he made an exception to provoke Bryce.

"You're asking for it!" Bryce lost all reason and was about to pounce when the delicate-looking young man desperately held him back, "Don't fall for it, Brother Luo. He's deliberately provoking you."

Bryce regained a bit of sanity and pointed at Ethan, "You slander me; I won't let this go."

"I challenge you to a duel, a duel to the death!"

Hearing 'duel to the death,' many students looked confused. Marshal frowned slightly, knowing what Ethan was planning. Ethan then looked up, a slight smile on his lips.

"Good."

"Let's fight now!"

Bryce chuckled, "No need to be so hasty. We can fight in a month."

"By then, I'll make sure you die a clear death."

He needed time to prepare. Plus, although he had issued a challenge to Ethan, Bryce didn't guarantee he wouldn't do anything in the meantime. If Ethan had an 'accident' and died, unable to fight in the arena, he wouldn't mind.

After considering, Ethan looked at Bryce, "Your word is your bond."

So the matter was settled.