Won Henry

Upon hearing Mo Shu's words, everyone was taken aback. Instructor Hou's face had become as black as the bottom of a pan, and the students dared not look him in the eye directly. Even the adjacent class could feel the atmospheric pressure from their side. "Are you serious?" Instructor Hou asked in a deep voice. "Of course." As Mo Shu spoke, she took the wristwatch from her pants pocket and put it back on her wrist in front of Instructor Hou. This was undoubtedly a stark provocation. Instructor Hou's eyes darkened a few shades. The students dared not breathe, feeling every minute and second like an agony. Finally, Instructor Hou spoke, "Fine, I'll race you." Instructor Hou and Mo Shu stood side by side with a meter's distance between them, facing the dormitory building. Their commotion caught the attention of the instructor from the adjacent class, who looked over and asked, "Old Hou, what's all this about?" Ignoring his comrade, Instructor Hou told Mo Shu, "I'll give you a one-minute head start." "There's no need." It's already insulting enough, thought Mo Shu. What audacity, thought the instructor, clearly she's been spoiled rotten at home, never having suffered blows in the real world. Just because she's a little faster than the average person, she's become so arrogant. It's indeed time we took her down a peg, otherwise she won't behave for the next few days. If we don't teach her now, someone else will when she steps out into society. "Hmph, she really knows how to draw attention. She probably thinks she has four legs." Li Shiyin rolled her eyes. Several girls echoed each other, comparing themselves with the military instructor, a way to make themselves feel relevant. "Well, at least she dares to compete with the instructor. Her courage is commendable and winning or losing is no longer important. But if it's you guys, well..." The boys spoke up for Mo Shu. "Looking at how eager you all are, as if you've never seen a woman before, speaking for her. She doesn't even know who you are. All you have is a face and it cannot be eaten," Li Shi Yin scoffed. "It can't be eaten, but it can make you jealous. Just now, someone was indignantly criticizing her for pretending to know the way, but in the end, they followed her." "Exactly, if it weren't for her, could we have found the dorm and the playground first?" The students chattered away. Suddenly, a whistle sounded, startling them. Before they could get a clear view, they saw two figures shooting out like bullets. By the time their gaze caught up, the two figures were already tens of meters away. "Holy sh*t, holy sh*t, holy sh*t! What did I just see?!" "She's actually running ahead of the instructor!" "She's left the instructor behind! She must have some fake limbs or something!" "No, this must be the legendary 'Feather Legs'." Gasps and exclamations mixed together, going back and forth. From time to time, there were sounds rife with the richness of Chinese heritage. In the blink of an eye, the two figures, one in front and one behind, had disappeared from sight. "Darn, can we really win this?" "We must win, didn't you just see it? The instructor was left far behind, badass! Why even bother with the Capital University? Straight to the national team! This is a global sweep, to grab gold!" "Damn, I want to go back and get my phone to record this!" After more than ten minutes, the two had not returned. The students craned their necks in anticipation, some instructors from nearby classes even sneakily peeked in their direction from time to time. "Hey, they’re back! Look!" Everyone collectively looked up. A couple of hundred meters away, the two were walking back, one in front of the other. It was Mo Shu walking leisurely in front, hands tucked in her coat pocket. Their grim-faced instructor trailed behind. "Did we win?" "We probably did." The two drew closer amid the discussion, and everyone could finally see their expressions clearly. The one at the front looked calm, as if she had just strolled through a flower garden. The one behind... his face was so dark that they dared not look directly. Mo Shu walked back to the playground. Under the gaze of many admiring and envious eyes, she reached into the basket, retrieved her phone, and put it back in her pocket. "Holy crap! We won!" "If only I could skip through my life this way!" "Hush, hush, hush, the instructor is back." The instructor, his face as still as ink, returned to the field, casting his gaze one by one over the students who wanted to look but didn't dare to. Then he blew a whistle: "Count off." "One." "Two." "Three..." After the students counted off, the instructor's gaze fell on Mo Shu in the line. "What's your name?" the instructor asked. "Mo Shu." As her name was spoken, whispers once again stirred up the scene. "Mo Shu? The genius who scored full marks, 690, on a language composition test that she didn't even bother to write?" "I heard our principal personally went to her house to snatch her from other schools!" "Is it really her? I've seen a video interview of Mo Shu. She was much fatter, but her eyebrows and eyes do look alike." "There's only one Mo Shu in our class, who else could it be!" "Damn it, which moron told me yesterday she weighed 150 jin! He lacks frickin' virtue!" The tutor captured the discussions among the students. After hearing it clearly, he said, "Silence!" Then he took another look at Mo Shu. Military training officially began. Stand at attention, stand at ease, face front and back; these drills seemed like child's play for Mo Shu, who had suffered through brutal training since her childhood as an assassin. Each class always had a few dimwits who couldn't distinguish front from back, left from right. The instructor came on full fire, correcting mistakes while teaching. Everyone quietly endured the wrath of the instructor. The bitterness was indescribable. Nevertheless, Instructor Hou always managed to spot the most standard one among dozens of students, finding no flaws at all. After moving front, back, left, and right for more than half an hour, they practiced military posture. Under the scorching sun, the students secretly grumbled. A few physically weak female students had already begun to complain about feeling unwell, but Instructor Hou remained stone-faced and unfeeling. They practiced again for a while, and the instructor's mood seemed to calm down a bit. So he ordered them to jog around the playground to loosen up. Seeing that Instructor Hou was spare, a few instructors from other classes also ordered their students to run, then came over to gossip with Instructor Hou, saying, "What happened earlier? Did you lose a race?" "Don't tell me it was that little girl who beat you. She can barely run properly. You were once part of the 'Inferno' special forces team. Although your arm got hurt, your leg's unhurt." "Old Hou, come on, spill the beans. What's going on? I'm dying out of curiosity," one of his comrades urged. Facing their comrades' gossip, Instructor Hou kept his lips sealed, his eyes never leaving the tiny figure running in the distance at a consistent pace. "No big deal, just a brat," Instructor Hou finally replied. "A brat, that little girl?" His comrades were astounded after hearing Instructor Hou's words. Who would have thought the daredevil from the "Inferno" special forces of years past would now refer to another as a daredevil. Has this daredevil gone too far? Instructor Hou's mind wandered back to when he raced the girl. To what extent was he lagging behind her then? He wasn't clear, mainly because he was totally outpaced, only aware that when he arrived at the building downstairs, it was tranquil upstairs, free of any footstep sounds. By the time he reached upstairs, she was already waiting by the dormitory entrance, her breathing normal and face calm. Compared with her, his panting breath stood out as a stark contrast, utterly humiliating. What raised his concern was: he had no clue how long she had been waiting for him! From the exercise field to the dormitory, say a distance of a kilometer, how long would it take to run? According to the army's standard, he would be considered excellent if he made it in ten minutes. But how long did it take her? Instructor Hou did not know, but he was certain that no one could outrun her. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would never believe that a petite little girl could run so fast! "Instructor Hou, a classmate has fallen and can't get up due to the pain," a student hastily ran over. Instructor Hou snapped back to reality and hurriedly went over. Pushing through the crowd, he saw Li Shiyin howling from the intense pain, sitting on the ground. Her pants were rolled up, revealing a large, purple bruise on her calf, rising in a noticeable swell. After squatting down and examining, Instructor Hou found the situation quite serious. "How could she have fallen so badly?" This clearly wasn't a simple fall. "It was her, she deliberately tripped Shiyin," Tang Xiaoguo pointed at Mo Shu. Instructor Hou frowned and looked at her. Mo Shu hands were tucked into her pockets and her complexion was calm, betraying no signs of panic. She looked down at the howling Li Shiyin and said, "Could it be that you aimed to trip me and ended up tripping over yourself?" Li Shiyin's calf had been kicked by Mo Shu. Mo Shu then looked at Tang Xiaoguo. Her tone was indifferent but with a hint of coldness, "You were quick to retract your foot. A bit slower, and you would have joined her on the ground, crying."