I sat on my bed, watching as the tea leaves slowly unfurled in the transparent teapot, the water gradually changing colour. A thin stream of steam rose from the spout, while the bitter aroma created an almost meditative effect.

  I needed to calm down.

  I was a little anxious. Not because I had beaten the crap out of Tariq in front of everyone, but because the penalty points still hadn’t come through. Enough time had passed. Last time, Liang Shi deducted them within minutes of the incident.

  What did this mean?

  I was already prepared for my balance to go five to seven points into the negative. Hell, even ten! But nothing was happening, and the waiting was getting on my nerves. In a way, this was worse than waiting for the fight itself. At least in a fight, I had some control.

  I checked the interface again.

  0 new messages. 0 points on my account.

  I turned back to the teapot. The tea had taken on the colour of diluted piss—time to drink. I had brewed some cheap Gunpowder. It would have been a waste to use Clear Thoughts for this. Just a hot, bitter drink to pour down my throat and distract myself.

  I picked up my cup and poured a serving. Then, I set out two more cups on the table—for Marlon and Denis. I didn’t know how long their fitting would take, but I doubted it would be long.

  I had already finished my first cup and poured a second when the door swung open.

  "Sullivaaaan!" Denis drawled with a grin. "I heard you’ve been keeping yourself entertained!"

  I calmly poured him a cup.

  Marlon followed in after him, rolling his eyes.

  "That wasn’t very smart. You’re going to get a ton of penalty points." He grabbed his cup and held it out for me to fill.

  Denis flopped onto my bed, snatched up the mace, and gave it a few test swings. He didn’t touch the gloves.

  "Why a mace?" he asked. "Why not just stick with the gloves?"

  "I don’t have any techniques, and a stick is a stick. See?" I said to Marlon. "I did use my brain."

  "You could’ve done it in private."

  "I could’ve, but then it wouldn’t have had the same impact. This way, I made a statement—so they know not to mess with me."

  Denis let out an impressed whistle.

  "Dude, walk me through it! Did you charge them, or did they come at you first?"

  I opened my mouth to start telling the story, but at that moment, the door swung open again.

  Liang Shi.

  The room fell silent instantly.

  The block supervisor stood in the doorway, his already narrow eyes squinting in displeasure, fingers tapping a restless rhythm against his thigh. His gaze flicked to the mace in Denis’s hands, then to me.

  Denis tensed immediately. Marlon straightened up as well, clearly expecting nothing good.

  Liang Shi slowly scanned the room before taking a few steps toward Denis. He extended his hand, and Rein obediently placed the mace in his grip.

  "Out," the supervisor ordered calmly.

  Denis and Marlon exchanged glances.

  "He didn’t—" Denis started but stopped as Liang Shi cut him off with a look.

  Marlon grabbed Denis by the elbow and dragged him toward the corridor.

  Now it was just the two of us.

  Not wanting to make things worse, I stood up.

  "Tea?" I offered.

  Liang Shi’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he quickly regained his composure, spun the mace in his hand, and gave a small nod.

  I pulled a fourth cup from the locker and poured him a serving.

  "Nothing special, I’m afraid," I said.

  Liang Shi took a sip, swirled the liquid around his mouth, then nodded again. I had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

  The supervisor glanced around once more, tossed the mace onto Denis’s bed, and sat down.

  I remained standing, clasping my hands behind my back to hide my nerves.

  For a few minutes, Liang Shi simply sat there, drinking his tea and watching me. Then he gestured toward the bed.

  "Sit."

  I obeyed.

  "Drink your tea before it gets cold," he added.

  I followed that order, too.

  "Why?" he asked after another minute.

  His cup was empty. He set it down on the table but didn’t let go of it.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  I refilled it.

  "To avoid bullying problems in the future," I answered.

  "That might work. But you’ve created problems for me."

  "I hope they can be solved with a nice hefty penalty or some public punishment," I said.

  Liang Shi smirked.

  "You asked for it yourself," he said.

  His eyes unfocused slightly, as if he had turned his attention to his interface.

  I exhaled with a hint of relief. Finally, this was getting settled.

  I was expecting a ten-point penalty.

  Instead, a notification popped up before my eyes:

  Assembly. Immediately!

  "Let’s go," Liang Shi said, downing the rest of his tea in one gulp.

  I followed him out, my mind already racing with thoughts of what was coming next. Obviously, it would be exactly what I had suggested myself—a public punishment and some mental flogging.

  Not long ago, the supervisor had claimed he wouldn’t drag us into pointless assemblies as long as we behaved. I’d bet anything he had just been waiting for someone to give him an excuse to break that promise.

  Cadets were already starting to gather. Not all of them—some were still at their armour fitting, and others were probably busy elsewhere on campus. But there were enough people in the corridor for the tension to be palpable.

  Liang Shi stopped in the middle and waited as the cadets lined up in two rows along the walls.

  I took my place near our room next to Denis and Marlon, now standing in formation and facing the cadets opposite us.

  Liang Shi walked slowly between the rows, his cold gaze scanning everyone. Finally, he stopped and crossed his arms over his chest.

  "I promised not to call pointless alignments if you didn’t give me a reason," his voice was calm but carried an unmistakable edge. He had definitely been waiting for an excuse! "But some of you can’t control yourselves. And now we’re here."

  The cadets remained silent.

  I could feel the weight of countless stares on me but didn’t react.

  Liang Shi let the pause hang before continuing.

  "The culprits: Tariq, O’Hara, Kim, Tinubu, Sullivan, Rein, Kay."

  Denis muttered a curse under his breath. Marlon just sighed.

  But then Liang Shi named one more.

  "Sun."

  The same bastard who had fined me in the showers. But he was one of Liang Shi’s own men. That was unexpected.

  "Step forward," Liang Shi commanded.

  I stepped forward without hesitation.

  Denis and Marlon followed, though neither looked happy about it. Tariq’s two lackeys, looking like they were being marched to their execution, did the same. The last one was missing—just like Tariq himself.

  Sun Hao hesitated but finally stepped forward under Liang Shi’s glare.

  The supervisor scanned us all before turning to Sun Hao first.

  "You are here because you failed to assess the situation. As the supervisor’s representative, your job was to prevent conflicts from escalating, not to fuel them."

  Sun Hao’s mouth opened slightly, then shut again.

  I noticed a few cadets exchanging surprised glances. Clearly, they hadn’t expected one of the supervisor’s lackeys to get punished. Hell, I hadn’t expected it either.

  "Three penalty points," Liang Shi declared, shocking the crowd even more.

  "Everyone else, except Sullivan, gets one point. If any fight happens involving at least two of you—no matter which side—you’ll get double the penalty each time it happens."

  Shit! We won’t even be able to stand up for each other anymore!

  Although… this was smarter than it looked. Liang Shi had just dismantled Tariq’s gang. They wouldn’t be able to terrorise anyone now either.

  The supervisor stepped up to me, a nasty smirk curling his lips as he met my eyes.

  "Sullivan! … Tariq has a broken jaw, six fractured ribs, two dislocated joints, and eight teeth knocked out. He’ll be in the recovery capsule for five days, and it’ll take another week to regrow his teeth… Ten penalty points."

  I clenched my jaw.

  Screw it. Worth it.

  But Liang Shi didn’t move away. He didn’t dismiss the cadets. He just stared at me. The silence quickly became uncomfortable, yet he kept drilling into me with his gaze.

  That’s not all? A chill ran down my spine.

  "I’ve been told about your inspiring speech on justice and you lecturing my assistants on how they should handle discipline."

  I blinked. What the hell had his lackeys told him?

  He definitely noticed my reaction.

  "That didn’t happen? … Answer me!" he ordered.

  "I didn’t lecture them how to do their job," I countered. "Though I was unhappy with how my situation was handled. Not this one—the previous one."

  At least, that’s how I remembered it.

  Even though the events had happened less than an hour ago, some details were hazy from the adrenaline rush. Maybe I had said something?

  "Really?" Liang Shi turned to Sun Hao.

  The man immediately shrank under his gaze. To add to the pressure, Liang Shi took a slow step toward him. Sun Hao visibly panicked, eyes darting around for an escape.

  "Care to explain?" the supervisor asked.

  "I… He told me how I should have judged him!"

  "That’s not true!" I shot back firmly. "I said that yesterday you didn’t give a shit about who was in the right, or who set up the ambush, but today I’m the only one getting penalized."

  Sun Hao turned bright red, staring at the floor. He opened his mouth a few times but never managed to get a single word out.

  "Minus five points," Liang Shi said.

  The crowd murmured in shock.

  "I hate being lied to, Sun Hao. Do that again, and you’ll need to find yourself a new job. Understood?"

  "Yes, sir!"

  "Yes, supervisor. Save ‘sir’ for the staff."

  Liang Shi spun back to me.

  "Sullivan! Tell me—was your punishment fair? Any objections?"

  "No, supervisor."

  "Oh, come on, Sullivan. What do you really think about your punishment?"

  "I think Rein and Kane shouldn’t be included. They weren’t even there. Neither was the fourth member of Tariq’s gang."

  I didn’t give a damn about the fourth guy. But if I only pushed for fairness when it benefited me, that would be too suspicious.

  "Hm… Fair enough," Liang Shi said unexpectedly, his smirk returning.

  Something twisted in my gut.

  That was a bad sign.

  He took another step toward me and, in a mockingly pleasant tone, announced:

  "Such a strong sense of justice shouldn’t go to waste! And as it happens, I’m one assistant short—since Bao Feng landed in the infirmary. Even when he recovers, he’ll be behind in his training and won’t be able to fulfil his duties properly. Congratulations, cadet. You’re taking his place."

  My jaw nearly hit the floor.

  Several cadets’ jaws actually did.

  Fuck!

  That meant I’d have to stick my nose into every damn conflict, investigate everything. I wouldn’t be able to just hand out fines like the others.

  "Uh… I already have a job at the Fist Garden, supervisor," I tried to protest.

  "Oh, I’m sure you’ll manage both just fine," Liang Shi stepped back. "Feel free to bring all your problems to Cadet Sullivan… Dismissed."

  Ohhh, shit.