Chapter 96: Conflict

The next two days were relatively calm, as Li Mochen again lived a routine life between campus and his apartment.

On Thursday, the law firm of Pearson-Darby-Spector had formally filed a lawsuit with the Atlanta District Court. However, Li Mochen didn't need to appear for now; according to Mike Ross, this case might not even require a court hearing.

Spector's strategy was to delay, waiting for the reaction from the media and the public. It was expected that the longer the case dragged on, the worse it would be for Cajalen Law Firm and Allen Appraisal Company.

In fact, they had already leaked the information to major newspapers and TV stations in Atlanta. But Cajalen and Allen had countered, temporarily suppressing public opinion.

However, with their resources, these two companies couldn't control the situation for long.

Mike Ross predicted that within ten days at most, they would be forced to compromise and hand over the 5 million gold shields.

Meanwhile, negotiations with the Schlova Group were proceeding in an orderly manner.

The other side had readily agreed to the conditions proposed by Sunrise Company, meeting all demands except for not guaranteeing the recovery of goods from the pirates.

The only sticking point was the price. The Schlova Group had raised their offer to 8.2 million gold shields and then held firm, refusing to budge.

Li Mochen knew he would have to compromise eventually, because given the current situation, they simply couldn't afford to drag things out. When one's strength is inferior, what can be done? It wasn't possible to actually sell the Archibald Apartment project to Antonio.

That would be unbearable not only for the original Li Mochen but also for himself.

Notably, on Thursday night, Li Mochen sensed a violent surge of magical energy from the southern part of the city while asleep. He immediately got up and went to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking toward the source, but found nothing. He only noticed that a residential area there was completely dark, experiencing a massive power outage.

Li Mochen guessed it was another battle between outlaws, involving no fewer than ten participants. The difference from the big fight a few days ago was that this time, both sides had pulled the battlefield into the Dark World from the very beginning.

This confirmed for Li Mochen that beneath the surface of Atlanta, there were indeed undercurrents and hidden dangers, with swords and shadows.

The overt and covert struggles among various forces in the southern part of the city had clearly slipped beyond government control. The situation there could spiral out of control at any moment.

On Friday afternoon, Li Mochen boarded the school bus arranged by the school again.

Since most members of the Cold Weapon Combat Club had been completely eliminated in the third round, there were only a dozen or so people on the bus.

Li Mochen was still isolated, with only William Yake sitting beside him.

However, neither of them was in the mood to chat. Their attention was drawn to a conflict happening outside the window, because one of the parties was familiar to them—their grade advisor, Richard.

The other party in the conflict was a student, also a classmate of theirs. Li Mochen vaguely remembered his name as Samson.

By the time they noticed, Richard was furiously punching Samson in the face, while the latter was covered in tears and snot, offering little resistance.

So Li Mochen wasn't too worried; he saw that Richard was exercising restraint, not using full force. He was just curious about what was going on. Richard wasn't the type to bully students without reason.

In fact, he wasn't the only one surprised and puzzled. Everyone on the bus was watching the scene.

"What's going on? Is that Richard, the tenth-grade advisor? Am I seeing things?"

"By the Light God, does he want to get expelled? The school board won't let this slide. He's a good man; I don't want to lose him."

"That guy is Samson? Ha, I think I know what's happening."

"What's really going on? If you know, spill it. I'm curious."

"Samson is a B-class honors student with a GPA above 3.5, but he bombed this midterm. He got no higher than a B in all four required courses and five electives."

"Wow, but Richard wouldn't beat someone up over that, would he?"

"I heard this guy started using drugs. His parents are illegal immigrants without green cards, and they spent a lot to scrape together his tuition for Linden. You know, with his status, even good grades can't get him a scholarship."

"God, he's fallen into hell. No wonder Richard is so furious."

"Bloodfang and Hancock, those bastards! They're the ones who brought drugs and ecstasy into our school."

"I hate those guys. If anyone kills Hancock now, I'll worship them. They'll be my idol."

Li Mochen frowned, then looked meaningfully at Louise Linden. She was also pale, watching the scene outside with anger brewing in her eyes.

"Those Bloodfang guys are insane!"

William Yake was also furious: "They dare to reach into our B-class. Do they think they can run wild just because Black Prison Skull has fallen?"

At that moment, the bus slowly started moving, and the two outside were pulled apart by several teachers who had arrived. Li Mochen looked away and asked without much hope, "William, do you know where Hancock is? I haven't seen him at school these past few days."

"I don't know either. I've been training these days and haven't paid attention to them."

William Yake added thoughtfully, "Strange. His few lackeys at school have been lying low lately. Last time I saw them in the hallway, they even avoided me. What's up with that?"

Li Mochen naturally knew the reason: "Simple. I broke their legs not long ago, so they'd be more careful."

"Haha, A-Mo, why do you always like to brag? Honestly, that's not funny. Forget it, let's not talk about Hancock. It's annoying!"

William Yake shook his head: "Let's talk about the upcoming matches. Are you ready, A-Mo? We might meet in the losers' bracket."

"You said that last time."

Li Mochen chuckled: "I don't think that's likely."

"But you're really unlucky this time."

William raised an eyebrow: "He's only a fourth-level swordsman, but in the last MOS competition, he made it to the top 64 with his superb swordsmanship, defeating two fifth-level opponents. They say his close combat ability is rated 4S."

However, when their bus arrived at Storm Stadium, everyone from Linden Academy was once again stunned.

They saw that on the schedule, Li Mochen's opponent had been crossed out with a black line again.