98: Chapter 98 You are all liars, big liars

The roar pierced through the courtyard walls, traveling straight into every corner of Shrek Academy, startling Zhao Wuji in the yard into standing up instantly. The newly purchased wine jar in his hand smashed onto the ground with a "clang," spilling wine and mud everywhere.

He released his Spirit almost instantly. Dark bear fur covered his entire body in a flash, and seven spirit rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black—rose abruptly from his feet, the pressure of a Spirit Saint surging out uncontrollably.

"Damn it! Which blind fool is daring to trespass on my territory again!"

Zhao Wuji roared, striding towards the courtyard gate. The anger in his heart had been pent up for three days.

First, his wine had been spiked with vinegar, then Flender and Yu Xiaogang had been humiliated to the point where they dared not go out, and now someone actually dared to smash the academy's plaque. Wasn't this just slapping him in the face?

He yanked open the courtyard gate latch and violently pulled the two broken wooden doors open. Just as he was about to unleash a roar at the people outside, his entire body froze in place the moment he saw the scene before him, the curses on his lips stuck firmly in his throat.

Outside the gate, hundreds of people stood in a dense crowd, blocking the entire path completely.

Leading them, Shi Lei was stepping on the shattered plaque, glaring at him with hostility. Behind him stood dozens of men and women with expressions of grief and indignation. Further back were the commoners of Soto City who had come to watch the commotion, along with a group of young people with their arms crossed, their faces filled with expressions of eager anticipation for a good show.

These were precisely the group of Transmigrators who had paid to hire Bu Le and his two companions.

What made his blood pressure soar even higher was that in the very front row of the crowd, three familiar faces were standing in a slouching, insolent manner. They were none other than Bu Le, E Kao, and Tian Ya, who had tormented Flender and Yu Xiaogang to death's door. The three of them even waved at him cheekily, smiling with lewd expressions.

Zhao Wuji's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot instantly, but looking at the formation of hundreds of people before him, he dared not take action directly.

He was a Spirit Saint, it was true, but he couldn't just lash out at a group of unarmed commoners in front of so many people.

He had to remember that he was still a wanted criminal of Spirit Hall and an enemy of several other factions.

If he really took action, where could he hide next time?

Besides, who knew if there were hired thugs hidden among them?

Moreover, the few people leading the crowd looked familiar; they were clearly students who had left Shrek in years past.

"You son of a bitch, Zhao Wuji! Do you still recognize me!"

Shi Lei took a step forward, staring daggers at him, the fury in his voice almost erupting.

"Twelve years ago, in the Star Dou Great Forest, you and Flender abandoned us five students and ran away. Three died, and I barely escaped with half my life. Have you forgotten?"

Zhao Wuji's pupils constricted. He instantly recalled the events of that year. His expression shifted, and his tone weakened slightly: "Shi Lei? You... how did you come here?"

"How did I come here? I came to reclaim the future you ruined for me! I came to seek justice for my three brothers who died in the Star Dou Great Forest!" Shi Lei roared, and the dozens of victims behind him immediately joined in shouting. The roar was so loud that the entire Shrek courtyard was trembling.

Just then, Flender and Yu Xiaogang also hurried over.

The moment the two saw the formation outside the gate, their faces instantly turned pale. Especially when they saw the shattered plaque on the ground and hundreds of pairs of angry eyes, Flender's legs couldn't help but tremble.

When he saw Bu Le and his two companions in the crowd, Yu Xiaogang stiffened completely. Subconsciously, he shrank behind Flender, all the color instantly draining from his face. He hurriedly clutched his backside, the humiliation of that night surging up again, and he didn't even dare to lift his head.

"What do you want?"

Flender forced himself to remain calm, putting on his airs as Dean, and shouted sternly: "In broad daylight, smashing the plaque of my academy and blocking my gate—do you want to rebel?! Zhao Wuji, drive them all out for me!"

"You dare!"

Shi Lei stepped forward, staring intensely at Flender: "Just try touching us today! We are all victims who have had half our lives ruined by this lousy academy of yours! Today, we are here to demand an explanation. If you dare to take action, we will shout about how Shrek swindles money and harms people all over the Heaven Dou Empire!"

"Swindling money and harming people?"

Flender's face flushed red, and he roared with a fierce expression but a cowardly heart: "Nonsense! My Shrek Academy is the top Monster academy on the entire continent. We only accept Geniuses and Cultivate them meticulously. When have we ever swindled money or harmed people?!"

"Cultivate them meticulously?"

Shi Lei acted as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world and suddenly burst into loud laughter. As he laughed, tears almost came out. He violently tore open his shirt, revealing a hideous scar on his chest: "Flender! Open your eyes and look! This is your so-called meticulous cultivation!"

"Back then, I had Innate Soul Power rank nine. At twelve, I was a rank twenty-nine Spirit Grandmaster. Spirit Hall Academy and the Empire Royal Academy were fighting over me! It was you who took your lousy admissions brochure and tricked me, saying Shrek could make me a Titled Douluo! My parents sold everything they had, scraping together over a hundred gold coins for tuition to send me in. And what was the result?"

"We lived in broken houses that leaked rain, ate coarse rice mixed with sand, and there wasn't even a single hair's worth of Cultivation resources! We had to fight and scramble for everything ourselves! You called it 'honing our will,' but to put it plainly, your lousy academy was broke and only knew how to swindle people!"

His words were like lighting a powder keg; the victims behind him instantly erupted.

"That's right! I paid fifty gold coins in tuition back then, and only after I got in did I realize that the so-called top-tier faculty just consisted of teachers drinking and playing cards all day, and our Cultivation relied entirely on us fumbling around blindly!"

"When I was fifteen, I went to hunt for my third spirit ring. The teacher leading the team ran away halfway through. I was injured by a Spirit Beast, which damaged my Foundation, and I'll never be able to reach Spirit Ancestor in this lifetime! Flender just dismissed me with a single word: 'Trash'!"

"My son died in the Star Dou Great Forest, and you wouldn't even tell us how he died! You dismissed us with a single phrase: 'He didn't have the ability to survive'! Are you even human?!"

The white-haired old woman, supported by others, walked to the front. Holding her son's Spirit Master manual, she cried out to the surrounding onlookers: "Fellow townsfolk, come and judge this! My son entered Shrek at thirteen, and he was gone in less than half a year! When I went to the academy to demand an explanation, not only did they refuse to give me one, they even set dogs on me! This isn't an academy; this is a place that eats people!"

The old woman cried heart-wrenchingly. The surrounding onlookers immediately began to discuss it, their eyes filled with disdain and anger as they looked at Flender and the others.

"My god, so this is what Shrek Academy is really like? I actually thought it was some kind of top-tier academy!"

"That's too immoral! Charging such expensive tuition and not even caring about the students' lives—isn't that just swindling money?"

"No wonder they came to demand an explanation. If it were me, I'd fight them to the death too!"

Listening to the discussions of the surrounding commoners, Flender's face turned alternately red and white. He stood there at a loss, unable to utter a single word of defense.

He wanted to refute it, but these things were all true, and every single incident had evidence that could be traced. He had no way to deny it.

Just then, Bu Le in the crowd suddenly stepped forward, cleared his throat, and spoke in a cheeky voice loud enough for the whole crowd to hear: "Oh, Dean Flender, Great Master Yu, how have you been? The other night, did the three of us have a good time playing with you two?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole scene went quiet for a moment, and then a deafening roar of laughter erupted.

Who in Soto City didn't know about the embarrassing incident from a few days ago?