Afterward, having briefly checked on the injuries of Genevieve and Jett Gale, Fly, 'Emperor' Valerius, Mr. Carter, and Dean Sterling returned to the school together.

  The news just now had sparked a strong interest in Fly regarding Lysander Thorne's past. As soon as he returned to his dorm, Fly turned on his computer and began searching for information related to Lysander Thorne online.

  Suddenly, the doorbell of the dorm rang.

  "Mr. Carter? Or Vic?" Fly asked aloud, then stood up and walked towards the door.

  He had performed excellently in this Freshman Invitational and had ostensibly become the absolute main force of Star City High. With The Jade State League about to start, Fly didn't find it strange that the two teachers would come to find him privately to discuss competition matters.

  But unexpectedly, when Fly opened the door, what met his eyes was a stranger's face.

  He looked the visitor up and down. The man was wearing a sharp, crisp suit and leather shoes, but his hair, meticulously dyed and permed, spiked up towards the sky in tufts. This combination of formal wear and excessive "individuality" looked rather incongruous and nondescript.

  "Excuse me, are you Mr. Ansel?" the visitor asked.

  Seeing Fly's confusion, the man continued, "Hello, I am the Vice-President of the Student Council, Lance Wolfe. Nice to meet you."

  Lance Wolfe curled the corners of his mouth upward and extended a hand towards Fly in a friendly manner.

  However, hearing the title of Student Council Vice-President, coupled with this somewhat bizarre attire, Fly instantly became vigilant.

  Fly ignored Lance Wolfe's outstretched hand and asked directly, cutting to the chase, "I wonder what brings Vice-President Wolfe to my door?"

  Seeing Fly refuse the handshake, Lance withdrew his hand resentfully, though a smile still hung on his face. "The matter with Forrest Banks before was all a misunderstanding. I came today to clear up that misunderstanding and, incidentally, to give Student Fly an explanation."

  As soon as the words fell, Lance clapped his hands. Forrest Banks, leaning on crutches, slowly limped over from the stairwell. His eyes were filled with terror, and his face was black and blue with bruises, looking quite gruesome.

  "Ansel... Mr. Ansel..."

  Forrest slowly came before Fly, supporting himself with one hand on the crutch and clutching his scar-covered face with the other. He said tremblingly, "The last incident was my own unauthorized action; it had nothing to do with the Student Council. I offended Master Fly, and I hope you can be the bigger person and forgive me this time."

  "I am sorry!"

  Forrest leaned on his crutches and bowed with difficulty. It looked extremely strenuous, and his hair appeared wet from sweat.

  Fly could tell at a glance that the wounds on Forrest's body were all fresh.

  Presumably, after he won the Freshman Invitational championship, the people from the Student Council wanted to recruit him again but didn't want to use forceful means. Thus, they resorted to this "staged act of contrition," attempting to win a reconciliation, right?

  Looking at Forrest, the fear and repentance revealed in his eyes were not because he had truly realized his mistakes.

  It was because he didn't want to suffer any more physical pain.

  Although Forrest bringing people to cause trouble before had made Fly very unhappy, Fly understood that the hierarchy within the Student Council was strict. This Forrest Banks was nothing more than a pawn executing orders from above, just like Marshall. The real villain was the high-level management of the Student Council—this Lance Wolfe.

  "Do you think you're very clever?" Fly withdrew his gaze from Forrest and turned to look at Lance Wolfe.

  The two locked eyes. Lance, who already lacked confidence, was instantly stunned by Fly's gaze. "What does Mr. Ansel mean by this?"

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Fly sneered and said, "I mean exactly what I said. Regarding the contract, Forrest indeed came to find me, but without clear instructions from above, I don't think Forrest, a mere department head, would dare to come and trouble me on his own initiative, would he?"

  "In the end, Forrest is just a pawn; you are the puppet master behind the scenes, aren't you?"

  If it were anyone else seeing this scene, they might have chosen to forgive Forrest.

  At least on the surface, they would give Student Council Vice-President Lance Wolfe an out, allowing this matter to be turned over.

  But Fly was, after all, a transmigrator who had lived two lives; how could he be hoodwinked so easily?

  It was clearly an instruction from the Student Council's higher-ups, yet now they wanted to push the problem onto the person who executed it, beat him up, and hope the matter would be forgotten just like that?

  So, when there are benefits, the credit all belongs to the superiors;

  When things go wrong, it's the subordinate's fault.

  This practice of the Student Council was truly rotten to the core!

  Given this, Fly naturally wouldn't give Lance Wolfe any pleasant looks.

  Lance stood frozen on the spot for a moment.

  Similar things had happened in the past; after all, Star City High had had some maverick "favored geniuses" in previous years. The Student Council's way of handling the aftermath was always the same: beat the pawn severely, then have the leader personally come to apologize.

  Usually, when things reached this stage, even if the two sides couldn't reconcile, it would at least alleviate the tense, antagonistic atmosphere.

  But he didn't expect...

  This Fly was truly straightforward and unyielding, not giving him any face at all!

  Forrest, who was on the side, was frightened badly by Fly's words. He hurriedly threw aside his crutches and fell to his knees before Fly with a thud.

  "Senior Forrest, the conflict between us is in the past; you don't need to do this." Watching Forrest act like a beaten dog, having lost all his previous arrogance, Fly sighed. The look in his eyes held a few more traces of pity.

  When useful, he was the high-and-mighty Minister Banks; when useless, he was trash that could be discarded at will.

  The way this Student Council treated its own people went to such extremes!

  "There's nothing for you to do here anymore. Go do whatever you need to do." Lance kicked Forrest, speaking with utter disgust.

  "This..." Hearing this, Forrest froze on the spot for a moment, somewhat at a loss.

  "Why aren't you scrambling yet?!" Only when Lance raised his volume did Forrest pick up his crutches and run away tremblingly.

  "What a nuisance," Lance didn't forget to add a remark as he watched Forrest's retreating figure.

  Fly, witnessing this scene, felt his disgust for the Student Council deepen. He looked at Lance and said coldly, "If Vice-President Wolfe has nothing else, forgive Fly for not entertaining you further."

  After speaking, Fly put his hand on the doorknob, preparing to close the door and see the guest out.

  At the critical moment, Lance used both his hands and feet to press firmly against the door, stopping it from closing.

  "Mr. Ansel, don't be in such a rush to show me out. Apart from wanting to resolve the conflict between you and Student Forrest, I have one more matter I hope to chat with Mr. Ansel about." Lance said with a forced smile while pushing against the door with all his might. That appearance, simultaneously smiling and straining with a ferocious expression, was truly somewhat comical.

  Although Lance kept showing goodwill on the surface, in his heart, he wished he could punch Fly twice.

  He was the Vice-President of the Student Council; in Star City High, he could be said to rule the roost. Even teachers had to give him some leeway. Except for needing to bow his head before President Preston York, when had he ever been this humble?

  Only this Fly dared to give him attitude!

  What made it even harder for him to accept was...

  It would be one thing if he just got attitude, but he still had to—under the pressure of President Preston York—swallow his pride and force himself to suck up to Fly.

  If Harford University hadn't sent an email, if President Preston York hadn't just talked to him, why would he need to suffer such grievance?

  But there was no helping it...

  The party on the other side was from Harford University, and his own cultivation resources depended entirely on their liaison. If he could successfully enter one of The Eight Elite Universities of The Tulip League after graduation, he would inevitably need the care of those seniors.

  Thinking of this, Lance forcibly suppressed his anger, put on an even friendlier expression, fished out a bank card from his breast pocket, and shouted loudly while waving it: "Fly, don't be in a rush to close the door yet, look at this first!"

  "What is the meaning of this?" Fly indeed stopped the action of closing the door, sneering. "Trying to bribe me?"

  "It's not what you think, Mr. Ansel. This is... a small token of our Student Council's appreciation. We hope you will kindly accept it." Lance said pleasantly.

  "After all, your contribution this time was great. You led our Star City High to win the championship of the Freshman Invitational, bringing glory to the school. Our Student Council naturally ought to give you some reward."

  "How much money is in this 'token of appreciation'?" Fly asked, cutting straight to the chase.

  "A bit more than the prize money for this competition," Lance said with a smile.

  "Alright then, come in." Fly looked at the bank card in Lance's hand, then immediately took a step back, clearing the path to enter, and spoke with a serious face.

  Lance thought hatefully in his heart.

  Although he successfully entered Fly's dorm room, Lance felt increasingly unhappy.

  He, the dignified Vice-President of the Star City High Student Council, actually had to swallow his pride and deliver money just to get a chance for someone to talk to him.

  If word of this got out, wouldn't he be laughed to death?

  Lance's resentment towards Forrest grew even deeper in his heart.

  If Forrest hadn't recklessly messed things up, would he have needed to be this servile now?