Whoosh.
A pebble sliced through the air, trailing a gust of cold wind.
It struck Buck Niu right on the lower leg.
Bang.
Buck Niu hadn’t even managed to stomp on Lynn Chen when, suddenly losing his balance, his right leg buckled and he crashed sideways to the ground.
"Why did he suddenly fall over?" Lillian Wang blinked, confused as she stared at Buck Niu lying on the ground.
"What just happened?" Maggie Ma was just as baffled.
"It was like, all of a sudden, he just collapsed." Cathy Li glanced at Simon Li, who looked just as clueless.
Rachel Liu frowned slightly, her elegant brows knitting as she looked toward the back of the crowd.
Buck Niu whipped his head around, snarling, "Who did that?"
"Better not mess with people you shouldn't touch. You'd better be ready to face the consequences."
A lazy voice drifted over from the back of the crowd. Maggie Ma and the others paused, then turned to look behind them.
At the back of the crowd, Evan Lin walked forward with an indifferent expression, cutting through the group to stand beside Jason Zhao.
Jason Zhao was still sprawled on the ground, clutching Lynn Chen’s arm, keeping her in front of him like a human shield.
Lynn Chen looked up, meeting Evan Lin’s gaze—he was staring down at her from above, his face completely indifferent. For some reason, that cold detachment made her heart twist with complicated feelings.
"Evan Lin?" Buck Niu paused for a moment, surprised to see Evan step forward.
Buck Niu slowly got up off the ground, glaring at Evan Lin. "Looks like that slap at school didn’t knock any sense into you. You just keep popping up, don’t you?"
"What, you planning to stick your nose in again?"
Buck Niu shifted his right foot, his eyes flickering with suspicion as he stared at Evan Lin.
Just now, all he’d felt was a sudden, powerful force slam into his leg, making him instinctively twist to the side—before he knew it, he’d lost his balance and hit the ground.
The force behind that flying stone just now was nothing to scoff at—but could it really have been Evan Lin who threw it?
No way.
Buck Niu quickly came to a conclusion: if Evan Lin could really throw a stone like that, then a few days ago there’s no way Buck could have knocked him out cold at school with a single slap.
So, the most likely culprit is...
Buck’s gaze shifted to Summer Mu, who was standing next to Evan.
Summer Mu, already in college and standing at six feet tall, looked more mature than Evan Lin. Next to him, Evan seemed a bit scrawny.
"That guy—feel free to beat him however you like."
Evan pointed at Jason Zhao, who was lying on the ground. Jason’s face darkened and he slapped Evan’s hand away: "What did you just say?!"
"Evan Lin, you'd better watch your mouth! Don't go looking for trouble!" Liam Li shot Evan a cold glare. Evan's move just now was a huge insult to Jason Zhao.
"Yeah! If you can't talk properly, just shut up!" Simon Li jumped in, glaring at Evan Lin, but didn't dare step forward.
Just seeing Evan Lin made him remember the time Boss Long and his crew stomped him at Imperial Grand, and his head started to ache instinctively.
"What a bunch of nonsense." Evan muttered, then planted his foot right on Jason Zhao’s face.
Liam Li and the others’ faces changed.
"Stop!" Maggie Ma shouted at Evan, her face pale.
"What are you doing?!" Lillian Wang blurted out, anxious.
"Are you crazy? Nuts? Beating up your own side!" Cathy Li glared at Evan Lin, her eyes full of disgust.
Evan couldn’t be bothered to waste words on them. He bent down, grabbed Lynn Chen—whose face was still full of complicated emotions—and pulled her up, then gently pushed her toward Yolanda Fang.
For a moment, Lynn Chen felt like her body was out of her control. By the time she came to, she was already in Yolanda Fang’s arms.
"Why’d you rush out there?! You wanna get hit?" Yolanda Fang scolded Lynn, angry and protective.
"I... I didn’t really think about it." Lynn Chen mumbled, then turned to look at Evan Lin.