"Big Bro, should we continue?"
Ma Feifan took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and waved at the group. "Keep going!"
The freshmen knelt in a circle again, about to recite the oath of brotherhood—"Though born not on the same day, we swear to die together"—when...
"Ha ha ha..."
Another burst of mocking laughter cut through the air.
This time, everyone snapped.
Having their ritual interrupted twice wasn’t just a provocation—it was like being stomped on over and over.
"Damn it! Who the hell is that?!" A few hot-tempered freshmen jumped up, rolling up their sleeves, ready to throw hands.
But the moment they saw who it was, they froze in place.
Xie Dong.
The real kingpin of the vocational college.
Xie Dong swaggered over with a dozen thug-like lackeys in tow. Though dressed casually, the vicious glint in their eyes made it clear they were no strangers to brawls.
"Oh, swearing brotherhood, huh?" Xie Dong tilted his head, smirking. "That’s some outdated crap. You still doing that these days?"
He sauntered up to Ma Feifan, eyeing the freshman leader up and down. "So you’re Ma Feifan?"
Though nervous inside, Ma Feifan kept his composure. "Yeah, that’s me."
Xie Dong’s reputation was well-earned—he’d ruled the vocational college for two years straight. A little fear was natural.
Suddenly, Xie Dong leaned in, whispering into his ear: "Not bad. In all my time here, you’re the first dumbass brave enough to lay hands on my boys. So, how do we settle this?"
"What do you want?" Ma Feifan shot back, steeling himself.
"Simple." Xie Dong held up two fingers. "Twenty grand in compensation. Then we’re square."
"Twenty grand?!"
"You robbing us?!" Ma Feifan blurted out.
Most of these freshmen scraped by on 500-600 yuan a month. Even pooling all their money, it’d take over a month of starvation to gather that much.
Xie Dong dug at his ear with a pinky, feigning nonchalance. "You beat up my guys, and I’m only asking for pocket change. Unreasonable?"
Ma Feifan stayed silent, glaring.
Xie Dong scoffed at the lack of response. "Guess you’re dead set on not paying. Fine. School’s out tomorrow—let’s settle this off-campus."
"Of course, if you chickenshits don’t show, I promise you’ll regret every step outside these gates."
He punctuated the threat by patting Ma Feifan’s cheek. "Trash! You in or not? If not, crawl through my legs like the bitch you are."
Ma Feifan’s face burned red.
In their world, pride was everything. Backing down now would mean the end of his "big bro" status—his newly formed crew would crumble instantly.
His freshmen couldn’t take it either.
"Bro Fei, fight him!"
"Bro Fei, say yes! We’re not scared!"
"......"
Ma Feifan inhaled sharply. "Fine. You’re on. Name the place."
Xie Dong smirked. "Ballsy. Eastside park, near the university district. Remember—stand me up, and I’ll bury every last one of you."
With that, Xie Dong and his gang strutted off.
If not for the risk of causing a scene on school grounds, he’d have thrown punches right then.
Once they were gone, someone tentatively asked, "So... do we still swear brotherhood?"
Ma Feifan gritted his teeth. "We do."
For the third time, they knelt to resume the ritual.
Just as they prepared to chant the oath, someone suddenly gasped, "Whoa, the moon’s so bright!"
Everyone: "???"
"What moon? It’s broad daylight!"
Then they saw it—the dean’s gleaming bald head, shining under the sun as he loomed over them with a stormy expression.
"Oh shit! Run!"
"What about the brotherhood thing?"
"Next time!"
"........."
The dean watched the scattering freshmen and sighed.
When would this damned school ever calm down?
Every year it was either fights or trouble—now they were even imitating gangster rituals.
If someone could just rein in these delinquents, he’d agree to anything.
He hadn’t intervened earlier because, frankly, he was powerless. As the dean, he’d been ambushed with sacks multiple times. The last few strands of his hair? Yanked out by expelled students.
In these times, teachers getting beaten by students wasn’t even surprising.
Some brazen kids even thought a criminal record made them cooler.
So seeing these freshmen play at being gangsters gave him a headache.
At least freshmen still feared him somewhat. If it were Xie Dong’s crew, they wouldn’t bother running—they’d probably mock him instead.
"Dean, been a while since your last haircut, huh?"
The vocational college’s chaos was a chronic issue.
In the past timeline, it took a decade of education reforms and mergers before the school improved. Twelve years later, rebranded as Pearl College and upgraded to a second-tier institution, it finally shed its reputation as a "juvenile delinquent farm."
-------------
News of the vocational college’s freshmen vs. upperclassmen showdown spread fast.
Normally, students at the neighboring finance university wouldn’t hear about it—their academic culture was worlds apart, and campus rules were stricter.
But some caught wind quickly.
That evening, Li Xiaohui burst into the dorm, shouting, "Yutong! Yutong! There’s a crazy show tomorrow—wanna go?"
Liu Yutong, organizing notes at her desk, didn’t look up. "What show?"
Li Xiaohui leaned in conspiratorially. "The vocational college freshmen are fighting Xie Dong’s crew! Rumor says over a hundred people total. Epic scale!"
She grew more animated. "Last time I heard of something this big was ages ago. And now it’s really happening! We’ve only seen this in movies—real life’s gotta be wilder, heh heh..."
Liu Yutong: "......"
She closed her notebook, sighing. "Why would you go near something so dangerous? What if you get caught in it? With those twig arms, you wouldn’t outrun anyone."
Li Xiaohui pouted. "True... Ugh, sucks to miss such a good show!"
