There was a shabby restaurant by the playground, with some tables and chairs set up outdoors. Ethan Bennett ordered a Coke and sat down, drinking gloomily.

Suddenly, he noticed at a table not far away, five people were pointing and gesturing at him. Looking closely, he recognized one of them as the hundred-meter sprinter from earlier, William Carter.

Ethan Bennett expressionlessly shifted his gaze elsewhere. But the group didn’t let it go; the five of them suddenly stood up and walked over toward Ethan Bennett.

Ethan Bennett remained indifferent, sipping his Coke unhurriedly. The five were already standing in front of Ethan Bennett's table, but Ethan Bennett still acted as if he hadn’t noticed anything.

“Hey!” one of the five called out.

Without looking up or even blinking, Ethan Bennett asked softly, “What is it?”

“What’s your name?”

Playing dumb, Ethan Bennett thought to himself, but still answered, “Ethan Bennett.”

“Kid, you’re pretty cocky!” The other party was clearly losing patience.

But Ethan Bennett remained unfazed: “Your tone is pretty cocky too.”

“What did you say!” the other roared, and to show off, slammed his palm hard on the table.

With a loud “crack,” all four legs of the table suddenly broke at once, collapsing on the spot. At the same time, the Coke Ethan Bennett had placed on the table flew up and splashed mercilessly onto the man’s face. The man looked bewildered, dumbly staring at his right hand, letting the cold Coke run down his neck.

Ethan Bennett was silent for a moment, then nodded and said, “Nice palm technique.”

With that, he stood up, hands in his pockets, and turned to leave. The group made as if to chase after him, but the restaurant owner had already rushed out from inside at the noise, blocking the five and roaring, “What the hell are you doing? Which department are you students from? Don’t even think about leaving today if you don’t pay for my table.”

William Carter smiled apologetically at the owner, waving his hands, “Sorry, we’ll pay.”

The one with Coke all over his face was still in a daze, muttering, “Am I really that strong?”

William Carter shot him a look and said, “Strong, my ass.” He bent down to inspect the table carefully, but after a long time couldn’t figure it out, muttering, “This table doesn’t even look broken!”

Someone nearby immediately jumped up and said, “If the table’s not broken, why should we pay?”

“Who said my table’s broken!” The owner rushed out again at the sound, holding a wok in his left hand and a kitchen knife in his right, with three apprentices following behind.

Seeing this, William Carter and the others didn’t dare say anything more, quickly pulling out their wallets, pooling money together while glancing at Ethan Bennett's receding figure, feeling lost and bewildered.

Ethan Bennett walked alone on the way back to the dorm. Suddenly, two people appeared, one on each side. The person on the left said, “That was a fast knife hand! The force you used to flick the Coke cup was pretty good too.” Ethan Bennett looked—it was Brian Young.

On the right, Grace Bennett also spoke up: “But it wasn’t exactly precise. If not a single drop of Coke had spilled, that would be impressive.”

Ethan Bennett snorted, wondering how these two suddenly ended up together. He didn’t say anything, just walked away silently, leaving the two behind.

The two looked at each other. Grace Bennett called out, “Hey, it was just a joke about being your sister, no need to be so petty!”

Ethan Bennett didn’t slow his pace at all. Grace Bennett caught up to him and whispered, “For the sake of me teaching you a couple of moves.”

Ethan Bennett turned his head, staring at her expressionlessly.

Grace Bennett felt a bit unnerved by his gaze and tentatively asked, “How about... I treat you to a meal?”

Ethan Bennett's icy face suddenly turned into a picturesque smile, and he replied, “Sure!” Then he turned and continued walking, tossing back, “Pick a place and see you tonight.”

Brian Young and Grace Bennett were both stunned. Brian Young hesitated and said to Grace Bennett, “You might have been tricked. He wasn’t angry at all.”

Grace Bennett was also crestfallen: “Got it wrong again, this guy doesn’t care about these things at all.”

Brian Young wondered, “Then why was he so gloomy?”

Grace Bennett said, “That’s not gloom, he just wasn’t smiling, trying to act cool. Damn, it’s so frustrating to get tricked into buying him a meal like this.”

Brian Young chuckled, gave his phone number, and said, “Call us tonight!” He emphasized the word “us,” then left with his head held high.

Grace Bennett was stunned, then furious. She hadn’t expected to be played by this guy too, letting him get a free meal for nothing. Her anger kept burning, but unfortunately, after Brian Young caught up with Ethan Bennett, the two of them disappeared in an instant.

That evening, the group met at a small restaurant in one of the countless alleys outside the south gate of the campus. The place was carefully chosen by Grace Bennett; at first, she’d planned to treat Ethan Bennett to something nice, but after witnessing the shamelessness of Ethan Bennett and Brian Young, she was so angry that she deliberately picked this seedy alley, and then chose the dirtiest restaurant in it.

The place was so filthy that even Grace Bennett was a bit scared, so she dragged along the other three girls from her dorm. As a result, two of them ran away as soon as they saw the restaurant, and the third tried to escape too, but Grace Bennett was quick and caught her. Facing Grace Bennett, there was no chance of winning a fight, so the poor girl had no choice but to bravely go along, albeit very unwillingly.