"Useless! You can't even do the most basic movements right! You're not eating tonight, stay here and practice until you pass!"
Her slowness finally provoked the instructor's impatience, and he lashed her with his whip into the mud beside her, splashing mud all over her face.
Zi Xi froze in fright, tears welling up instantly, but she bit her lip tightly, afraid to cry out.
Even a fool like her knows that here, tears won't bring any pity, only more punishment.
After training ended, the crowd dispersed, exhausted and numb, leaving Zixi alone standing on the empty, muddy field.
The rain gradually intensified, its cold rays striking her thin clothes.
She repeated the movements the instructor had just demonstrated, falling down, getting up, and falling down again and again.
His knees and elbows were already scraped and bruised, covered in mud and blood, making him look utterly wretched.
Several boys who usually liked to bully the weak and fear the strong did not leave immediately. They crossed their arms and watched Zi Xi's extra training with great interest, their faces showing malicious smiles.
"Hey, you little idiot, are you trying to make the enemy laugh to death with that move?"
A blond-haired boy shouted in a strange voice.
"You can't even walk properly and you want to learn to run? I think you should just stick to being a punching bag!"
Another short, chubby boy picked up a small stone and threw it at Zi Xi, hitting her on the calf.
Although the pebble was small, it stung the wound.
Zi Xi stopped moving, looking at the people who had surrounded her with a blank and frightened expression.
"What are you looking at, you idiot!"
The blond-haired man stepped forward and shoved her hard.
Zi Xi was already unsteady on her feet, and this push sent her tumbling backward into the muddy water, the cold mud instantly soaking through her clothes.
"Hahaha! Look at her stupid face!"
"I heard that Master Li said not to touch her? I think he just said it casually. Who would want a fool like that?"
"Exactly, how could someone like Master Li really protect a burden..."
The group laughed and moved closer, seemingly planning to tease them even more.
Some people raised their feet as if to step on her hand, while others reached out to pull her already disheveled hair.
Zi Xi curled up, closed her eyes, and prepared to endure the impending pain.
But the expected pain did not occur.
Instead, there was an extremely brief scream, as if it had been choked in the throat, followed by a series of teeth-grinding cracking sounds of bones dislocating.
Zi Xi opened her eyes, trembling.
The short, chubby boy who had tried to step on her hand was now lying on the ground in an extremely contorted position.
His wrist was pinned down by a foot wearing a black military boot, visibly bent unnaturally, clearly broken.
And the owner of that foot was, of course, Shen Li.
Shen Li appeared there at some unknown time, and the low pressure emanating from him was even more suffocating than the cold rain.
He didn't even look at the person screaming on the ground; his icy eyes were slowly sweeping over the other few terrified teenagers.
There was no human emotion in those eyes, only pure killing intent.
"How dare you touch my things?"
He spoke, his voice not loud but clear enough to pierce through the rain and reach everyone's ears.
The boys were deathly pale, trembling like leaves in the autumn wind, unable to even beg for mercy.
Chen Li's gaze finally landed on the blond-haired man who had pushed Zi Xi.
"Master Li! I was wrong! I'll never do it again! I didn't know... I didn't know she was you..."
Huang Mao was so frightened that his legs went weak and he knelt down on the muddy ground.
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