Chapter 46: The Intelligence Was Flawed

"Young man, would you like to buy one?"

The vendor flashed Lin Tian a kind and amiable smile.

Seeing this, adhering to the principle that one should never strike a smiling person, Lin Tian gave a soft nod. "Please give me two dough sticks, three steamed buns, a tea egg, and a cup of soy milk."

"Coming right up!"

The vendor deftly packed the items into a bag and handed them over to Lin Tian.

After paying, Lin Tian ate as he walked away.

By the time he had gone some distance, the vendor, who had just worn such a benevolent smile, suddenly morphed into a gloomy expression. With a sneaky demeanor, he picked up his mobile phone and made a call.

"Hey, that guy you showed me yesterday just bought breakfast from me and headed east. Yeah, right, it's still not too late to come over now."

At that exact moment, Lin Tian, currently enjoying his breakfast, felt his eyelid twitch involuntarily.

"Strange, what's going on?"

Without dwelling on it, he kept walking. But no sooner had he gone a little further than the surrounding area grew eerily quiet.

His sharp ears caught the sound of approaching footsteps closing in from the front, back, left, and right.

At this, his guard went up, though he continued to walk.

His pace remained steady and powerful, his gaze calm and resolute, as if the bustle of the world could not disturb his composure.

Suddenly, a group of people swarmed out from all directions. Every single one of them wore a menacing look, dressed in tattered leather jackets with bleached yellow hair tied into bizarre little braids, cigarettes dangling from their lips—the quintessential street thugs.

They surrounded Lin Tian tightly, triumphant grins plastered across their faces, as though they already viewed him as fish in a barrel.

Lin Tian came to a halt and swept his gaze around. There was not a trace of panic or fear in his eyes; instead, they radiated a piercing, bone-chilling coldness.

He knew these people were here to pick a fight, but he had no intention of asking who had sent them, because that was entirely irrelevant.

To him, the only thing that mattered was dealing with the trouble right in front of him.

Seeing that Lin Tian had not fled and instead wore an indifferent expression, the thugs were instantly consumed by fury and lunged at him with flying fists.

Lin Tian shifted his stance, effortlessly evading their attacks. At the same time, his fists struck out like lightning, landing with pinpoint accuracy on the chins of two thugs. Sent flying backward, they crashed heavily to the ground with a dull thud.

Seeing this, the remaining thugs grew even more bloodshot with rage, brandishing their fists as they rushed toward Lin Tian.

Lin Tian remained unhurried, his form weaving through them like a nimble serpent. Every punch he threw was dead-on, striking their vital points. His movements were fluid and seamless, devoid of any sluggishness, and every single motion was imbued with both power and aesthetic grace.

One thug, intimidated by Lin Tian's terrifying prowess, tried to bolt, only to be grabbed by Lin Tian, who spun him around and struck him with a backhand punch that left his face covered in blood before collapsing to the ground.

The rest of the thugs were struck with sheer terror. The person who had sent them had merely claimed the target was an ordinary student with no combat skills at all—nobody had mentioned that this student could fight like this! Yet, finding themselves riding a tiger, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and press the attack.

Lin Tian's gaze grew even sharper, as though he could pierce straight through their minds.

Bolstered by his heavenly vision, his movements grew increasingly fierce. Every strike carried an overwhelming momentum that pressed down heavily on the thugs, suffocating them.

Fear began to grip them, and their movements slowed, turning sluggish and feeble.

Finally, with one heavy blow from Lin Tian, the very last thug crashed to the ground, unable to get back up.

Lin Tian stood in place, breathing slightly, a trace of utter disdain in his eyes.

He glanced around at the groaning thugs scattered across the ground, a cold sneer forming at the corner of his lips.

Now, it was time to ask a few questions!

"Who sent you?"

At these words, the thugs raised their heads to look at Lin Tian, their eyes filled with dread.

Never before had they encountered a youth of such tender years with such formidable martial prowess. Their once arrogant and domineering demeanor had completely vanished, replaced by profound fear and awe.

They knew this person before them was not someone they could afford to cross; his strength vastly surpassed their own. Without hesitation, they spilled everything.

"So you're saying your boss sent you to teach me a lesson just to vent his girlfriend's frustration?"

Having figured out the cause, Lin Tian said coldly.

He truly had not expected Zhou Xiaoli to be unhinged enough to hire outsiders from beyond the school to teach him a lesson.

"Since you chose to disregard any considerations of schoolmate camaraderie first, I have no need to show any courtesy or loyalty!"

With that thought, he silently logged this debt in his mind.

Paying the thugs no further heed, Lin Tian turned and continued on his way, leaving behind a trail of utter wreckage and the terrified gazes of the thugs.

He knew there would always be people in this world who loved to bully the weak, but as long as he, Lin Tian, drew breath, he would never let anyone walk all over him again!

Only after he had departed did the group of thugs dare to drag themselves up, muttering complaints to one another:

"What is going on here? The intel was completely wrong! Weren't we told he was just a frail, helpless student? This is miles off the mark! This guy has nothing to do with that description."

"You think the boss gave us the wrong info?"

"I reckon that's likely, though the boss wouldn't intentionally screw us over."

After chattering amongst themselves for a while, they ultimately resigned themselves to bad luck and limped back to report.

Meanwhile, after walking for a stretch, Lin Tian suddenly realized something.

"How did they know I was here?"

He did not believe that this bunch of people would stake out the place all night just to ambush him.

Besides, this group was not the same one he had encountered yesterday.

"Could someone have been acting as an informant, passing along my whereabouts?"

With this thought, his mind naturally drifted to the breakfast vendor from earlier. "Looks like I'll have to give him a wide berth from now on."

After wandering around for the entire morning, Lin Tian finally returned to his small room, flopping casually onto the bed. He stared blankly at the ceiling, as if trying to decipher the mysteries of the universe from its plaster.

Reality, however, soon delivered a sharp awakening as he suddenly remembered it—homework, that towering "mountain."

He struggled to his feet like a cornered cat, dragging himself reluctantly toward the desk.

The aged desk was piled high with various textbooks and reference materials spilling from his schoolbag, as if mocking him in silence.

Lin Tian took a deep breath, opened his Chinese textbook, and let his gaze linger on the questions for a long time. Suddenly struck with inspiration, he picked up his pen and began scribbling wildly across the paper. His handwriting was so illegible that even he couldn't decipher it, but that didn't stop his "creation."

"Hmm, 'Spring slumber passes unnoted in the dawn,' so the next line must be 'everywhere mosquitoes bite,' right?"

Lin Tian muttered to himself, a triumphant smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

It didn't matter if it was utter nonsense; as long as something was written down, it was fine. He was nearing the third year of high school anyway, and none of the subject teachers would pay much mind to a mediocre student like him.