Especially the boy leading the group, Robert Brooks, who was twenty years old this year, the son of the school’s dean of discipline, had repeated two grades, and still hadn’t managed to get into college.

“Hurry up, Emily Carter!” At this moment, the class monitor Jason Bolton spoke up. Michael Bolton frowned—at a time like this, the class monitor wasn’t protecting his own classmate, but instead was siding with these guys. No wonder there were rumors that they were all the same kind of people.

Olivia Reed’s two beautiful eyebrows also knitted together, and there was a hint of disdain in her eyes as she looked at Jason Bolton.

At this moment, a girl wearing a somewhat faded school uniform, with long hair covering most of her face and thick glasses, timidly stepped forward.

Michael Bolton recalled that she was a rather unremarkable girl in their class. The only thing that had ever caught his attention was her dedication to studying, which made Michael Bolton feel deeply ashamed. Compared to Michael Bolton, who had just coasted through three years of high school, this girl’s hard work made him feel utterly embarrassed.

Of course, sometimes hard work doesn’t always translate into good results. Although this girl worked extremely hard, it didn’t seem to pay off very well, or maybe she hadn’t found the right approach. In any case, her effort—which even someone like Michael Bolton, who usually ignored things like diligence, found impressive—only earned her average grades in the class.

Aside from her extreme diligence and her name, Michael Bolton had almost no other impression of her!

Suddenly, Michael Bolton slapped his forehead as he remembered that very important thing—the thing he had forgotten all about. It was this: after Emily Carter was taken away by Robert Brooks and his group, she came back a completely different person, quickly went downhill, and then dropped out of school.

At the time, Michael Bolton had been buried in his novels, and since Emily Carter dropped out not long after, he hadn’t paid much attention.

It was only later, when chatting with a few high school classmates, that the incident came up by chance. They said that Emily Carter’s family apparently owed a lot of money, and she was forced to work as a hostess at a nightclub.

Chapter 5: The Group Fight Incident (Part 1)

When this was mentioned, some classmates still sighed with regret. Maybe there were reasons for it, but in the end, it wasn’t a good thing!

And at the time, none of them expected things would get so serious. But even so, they probably wouldn’t have had the guts to step up, because those guys had been acting like kings at school for a long time, leaving everyone with a psychological shadow!

But for the current Michael Bolton, it wasn’t a problem at all. Even though he was back to being seventeen, his mind was still that of an adult. As for these little punks who acted like tyrants in high school, he wouldn’t say he looked down on them, but at least he wasn’t afraid. Besides, Michael Bolton had joined the Sanda club out of boredom in college—not that he was a real expert, but dealing with a few punks was no big deal.

“Hurry up! Do you want Big John to wait for you? You know what will happen!” Robert Brooks shouted, immediately making many students who wanted to stand up hesitate. This Big John was a well-known local thug, and most people really didn’t dare mess with him.

It was said that Robert Brooks had taken a local gangster as his big brother outside of school—apparently, that was Big John.

Emily Carter trembled all over, a look of misery flashing across her face, and she had no choice but to quicken her pace and head for the door.

“That’s more like it!” Robert Brooks said smugly, as if proud of his own intimidation.

Michael Bolton put down his pen and calmly said to Olivia Reed beside him, “Could you please stand up for a moment?”

Olivia Reed looked at Michael Bolton in confusion, not knowing what he was up to. If it had been before today, Olivia Reed probably wouldn’t have bothered with him, but now, the calm look on Michael Bolton’s face made her feel as if something was brewing, like the calm before a storm. She instinctively moved aside, as if Michael Bolton’s words were an order she had to obey.

Although Michael Bolton hadn’t been a very successful business owner in his previous life, he had still developed a bit of a boss’s authority, which would sometimes show unconsciously—what people jokingly called “the aura of a king.”

At this time, the classrooms at No. 3 High School still used long benches as student chairs. Michael Bolton always wondered where all the money the students paid each year went.

Even if some of it was embezzled, surely a little should have been used to improve these teaching conditions!

Michael Bolton pulled out a bench and walked toward the classroom door. Instantly, his classmates gasped—many had already guessed what Michael Bolton was planning, and their blood began to boil.

David Thompson and William Harris, the two die-hard friends of John Parker, immediately jumped up from their seats, more or less guessing Michael Bolton’s intentions.

Robert Brooks, who had already turned around with Emily Carter, heard the low exclamations from the class and turned back to see what was happening.

Suddenly, there was a sharp whooshing sound as a long bench came crashing down, landing squarely on Robert Brooks’s shoulder.

With a dull thud, the tall and sturdy Robert Brooks was knocked to the ground in shock and fear, his dark face making intimate contact with the hard cement floor.

Michael Bolton looked coldly at the wailing Robert Brooks on the ground, slightly out of breath, and said, “Idiot, you think you can just come into our class and take someone away? So what if your dad is the dean of discipline!”