The middle-aged man took his badge and immediately turned to leave. “You"re following me to the academic affairs office.” He began to walk as he spoke.
Huo Yuhao was momentarily stunned. This guy"s a little insensitive. Does he think I"m just some loser trying to get free food?
“Please wait. I don"t think I have the time,” Huo Yuhao hurriedly stood up and followed him.
“Why don"t you have time?” The middle-aged man frowned, and his face was still as cold as ever.
Huo Yuhao forced a laugh and said, “I"m here to partic.i.p.ate in the Sea G.o.d"s Fated Blind Date!”
The middle-aged man"s expression was full of disdain. “You? You are to partic.i.p.ate in the Sea G.o.d"s Fated Blind Date? You"re going to follow me to deal with this issue of freeloading. I don"t care if you were once a student from the inner courtyard. At the very least, you aren"t considered one now. I have never seen you before. And even if you were, coming back to the inner courtyard to get free food goes against the Academy"s rules. Follow me to be investigated, and if I find out that you"re here often to freeload, even if you were once a student from the inner courtyard, I will cancel your status as a student and take away your graduation certificate.”
“Ah?” Huo Yuhao was astonished. He couldn"t help but ask, “Is it this serious just for a meal? Furthermore, I"m still a student from the inner courtyard!”
The middle-aged man laughed coldly. “The Academy has been too lenient. That"s the reason why villains like you have thrived and succeeded. Food in the inner courtyard is so precious; how can it be given to a person like you who rips people off just like that? Just look at how much you"ve eaten. Do you know how much this food is worth?”
This middle-aged man had stopped Huo Yuhao, and his voice wasn"t soft at all. Wu Feng, Xie Huanyue, Ning Tian, Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu all heard him.
Their expressions were all a little strange at this moment. However, even Wu Feng, who was never friendly towards Huo Yuhao, didn"t have a s.a.d.i.s.tic look on her face. This teacher was going a little overboard. Even if a student who had graduated from the inner courtyard came back for a meal, how could that lead to his graduation certificate being stripped? Since when did Shrek Academy become so tyrannical?
Huo Yuhao heaved a sigh. He would probably have reacted angrily if he hadn"t been in Shrek Academy. However, he had always treated Shrek Academy as his home! He respected every single one of Shrek Academy"s teachers, and so he forced down the fury in his heart as he lowered his voice and said, “Why don"t we do this: I"ll pay for the food that I"ve just eaten. I really can"t afford this delay.” He had already promised his eldest senior sister, and would probably run into big trouble if he didn"t hurry over in time. What if his eldest senior sister didn"t let him graduate?
“Pay? You"re thinking of paying now?” The middle-aged man instantly felt like he had grabbed onto Huo Yuhao"s tail. “Where were you earlier? Furthermore, how do I know if this is the first time that you"ve been freeloading from the Academy? Follow me back to be investigated. We"ll revisit this once the investigation is complete.”
He turned to walk out as he spoke.
“Please wait, teacher,” Ning Tian strode over and blocked this middle-aged teacher"s path. “Why haven"t I seen you before, teacher? I can vouch that he"s part of the inner courtyard.”
The middle-aged man was momentarily stunned. “I"m a new teacher who handles discipline. You don"t know me, but I know you. Your name is Ning Tian, and you come from the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect. You can vouch for him? Are you sure? If you"re covering for him, then you will also be punished.”
Ning Tian frowned and said, “Teacher, he"s often not around because he"s usually outside carrying out missions. That"s the reason why you"ve never seen him. Even though you"re responsible for enforcing discipline, you can"t be so unreasonable. You haven"t even asked his name, so how do you know he"s not part of the inner courtyard? If there"s someone who is most worthy of eating in this canteen right now, it"s not me, and it"s not anybody else here. It"s not even you. It"s him.”
The middle-aged man was already convinced when Ning Tian stood forward to vouch for Huo Yuhao, but he erupted furiously when he heard her words. “Does that mean a student has a higher status than me, as a teacher? Do you know I can punish you for humiliating a teacher for what you"ve said, according to the Academy"s disciplinary rules?”
“Bulls.h.i.t!” Huo Yuhao and Ning Tian were both holding back because they were concerned about the Academy, but there was someone here who didn"t have a good temper!
Wu Feng wouldn"t have said anything if this middle-aged man was targeting Huo Yuhao, but she wouldn"t have it if he was targeting Ning Tian! Her fiery temper immediately exploded as she arrived beside Ning Tian in a flash.
“You suspect our ident.i.ty as students in the inner courtyard, but we"re starting to suspect your ident.i.ty as a teacher. We"ve never seen you before, so what do you have to prove that you"re a disciplinary teacher? Since when has Shrek Academy said that former students can"t eat in the Academy? When have we had this rule? You"re embarra.s.sing yourself! Detain all of us if you can!”
The man was infuriated when Wu Feng talked back to him. “Alright, then I"ll take every single one of you away! I want to see what else you all have to say in front of the Academy"s rules!”
“Teacher, we have to be reasonable, and that"s required even for a teacher. I think you were probably hired from outside, and you must"ve had a hard time pa.s.sing the Academy"s test. Don"t ruin yourself!” Xie Huanyue said grimly as he stood up as well.
He wasn"t the only one. Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu walked over slowly, and they circled around this middle-aged man from the other side. The other students from the inner courtyard all stood up and surrounded him. Everyone had a black look on their faces.
Of course, students weren"t allowed to offend teachers. However, this was Shrek Academy"s inner courtyard, and the students from the inner courtyard had a different status compared to students from the outer courtyard. In Shrek Academy, even students from the inner courtyard could become teachers if they were willing to go to the outer courtyard.
The middle-aged man"s words had already incurred public anger. Even though most of these students didn"t know who Huo Yuhao was, they all had sentiments attached to their Academy"s canteen. If everyone who wanted to come back for a free meal like Huo Yuhao did would be punished by the Academy, and might even have their graduation certificates confiscated, that made everyone conflicted. Even though they didn"t say anything, they still surrounded this teacher from the inner courtyard.
“Stop this, everyone. This is just a misunderstanding,” Huo Yuhao hurriedly interjected. He glanced at Ning Tian, and a grateful look appeared in his eyes. Ning Tian had been the first to step forward.
Ning Tian smiled faintly and said, “We have never thought about offending and talking back to our teachers, but shouldn"t teachers respect us students, as well? Yuhao, you should take your leave because you"re busy. We"ll deal with this. Wu Feng, can you please look for Dean Cai? I"ve just seen her, she should still be in the inner courtyard. Please ask her to come and deal with this. If we are really wrong, then we will admit our mistakes and let the Academy punish us however they like. Otherwise, we must ask the Academy for an explanation!”
Huo Yuhao nodded in Ning Tian"s direction and said, “Alright, sorry for the trouble.” That was the most appropriate way to deal with this matter. He didn"t dare to stay any longer and hurriedly walked out.
“You may not leave!” The middle-aged man suddenly reached out and grabbed at Huo Yuhao"s arm. The aura on his body flared up at the same time, and soul rings swiftly rose from beneath his feet. They suddenly emanated soul power and immediately pushed everyone around him a few steps backward.
“Eh?” Huo Yuhao didn"t expect this teacher to be so dissatisfied with the result that he would actually decide to make a move against him. The teacher"s palm contained a formidable soul skill, and eight soul rings had risen from beneath his feet. Being able to become a teacher in Shrek Academy"s inner courtyard meant that he was quite strong.
However, his eight soul rings weren"t in the optimal combination. He had two yellow, three purple, and three black soul rings. Even though it was considered good, it wasn"t considered much within Shrek"s inner courtyard.
A cold light flickered in Huo Yuhao"s eyes. He had been holding back again and again, but this man just didn"t know when to stop. Even the nicest people had a threshold, not to mention Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao raised his left hand, and his palm immediately became jade-green in color. He didn"t release his martial soul, but he pressed his hand toward the middle-aged man"s palm just like that.
The middle-aged man grabbed Huo Yuhao"s palm. He had thought this through, and displayed his cultivation rank as a Soul Douluo to intimidate these students from the inner courtyard. Just as Xie Huanyue had guessed, he was an external staff member who had just arrived recently.
One often felt good about becoming a teacher at Shrek Academy, and that was the reason why he naturally felt a little arrogant. Today, he had witnessed Huo Yuhao eating in the Academy"s canteen without his uniform, while he was also in charge of discipline. He immediately wanted to stamp his presence among the inner courtyard students, but who knew that doing so would incur resentment from so many students? He had thought this through. He would detain the first perpetrator before he would intimidate the other students. Then, he would leave to prove whether this student in white clothes was guilty or innocent. When that happened, he would have a chance to push forward or to retreat.
As he grabbed Huo Yuhao"s hand, it gave him a very warm and damp feeling upon contact, but just as he wanted to gather his strength to channel his soul power into Huo Yuhao, he realized to his fear and surprise that Yuhao"s hand had become as tough as steel. He couldn"t move Huo Yuhao no matter how much strength he used.
“Teachers cannot attack students in the Academy. Shrek is an Academy, not a prison,” Huo Yuhao stated in a low voice.
The middle-aged man felt a wave of intense chill come from Huo Yuhao"s palm, and his entire body shivered from the cold. In the next moment, he could see that Huo Yuhao"s eyes had become extremely deep and profound, and he felt like his entire soul was being sucked into them.
Huo Yuhao shook his wrist lightly and flung the teacher"s hand away. However, he still didn"t attack. Instead, he took a step forward and planted his feet in front of the man as the formidable aura of a Savage Beast erupted from his body!
Huo Yuhao controlled this aura, and only the students in a small radius around him could feel it. That included Wu Feng, Dai Huabin, and the others, who swiftly stumbled backwards with frightened looks on their faces.