--- Chapter 22 ---
'Are you dumb?' Baek Ain was speechless.
With his current condition, Baek Ain couldn't move too much because his Healing Factor is still healing everything. He told Alicia to transport every kind of healing pill in his inventory and ate them at the same time.
[Ding! You have consumed Tier-4 Body-Mending Pill]
[Ding! You have consumed Tier-5 Recovery Pill]
[Ding! You have used Tier-5 Three Stages Blooming Flower Pill]
[Ding!]
[...]
[...]
Baek Ain's recovery fastened but was not instantaneous.
He lifted his tanto with great difficulty and watched Xiao Yan punching him with an enormous force.
"OCTADIC SMASH!"
[Parry]
Baek Ain swung his weapon and launched like a cannonball at the corpse of magical beasts. He tried to stand up, but some loose bones caused him to kneel with a painful expression.
Blergh!
'Stupid protagonist!'
He scowled at Xiao Yan and shouted, "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
"WHY DID YOU ATTACK ME, HUH?!"
"SHUT UP, MONSTER! HOW DARE YOU KILL MY THIRD UNCLE!" Xiao Yan quickly responded with venom.
Baek Ain wanted to respond, but Xiao Yan relentlessly attacked without giving him a chance to open his mouth. A hateful sensation grew in Baek Ain's heart because he didn't deserve this treatment.
He looked at Wu Tan City's gate and saw none of these people stopping Xiao Yan. Even the formerly warm and wise Xiao Clan's Leader only stood with a solemn look on his wrinkled face.
'Why?'
'Why??'
Crack!
Baek Ain lifted his injured body out of spite and indifferently caught Xiao Yan's hand. He stared at Xiao Yan with bloodshot eyes and smashed his annoying face with his crooked hand.
BAM!
Xiao Yan slammed onto the ground, and the people at the gate suddenly moved as if they saw Baek Ain as a threat.
"Young man, just surrender. Let's discuss this calmly." A woman in Jia Nan Academy's robe arrived on Baek Ain's side. She appeared in her late twenties with a gentle face, long brown hair, and green eyes.
Rou Ling stared at Baek Ain and added, "Can we?"
BAM!
"No." Baek Ain stomped Xiao Yan's head mercilessly.
"JUNIOR BAEK!"
Xiao Zhan roared while marching forward and stood before Baek Ain with a disappointed look. "Please, let's settle this peacefully."
"Peacefully?"
"Haha..."
"HAHAHA!" Baek Ain laughed, spewing another mouthful of blood.
He wiped the blood off his mouth and commented, "What I've seen when this annoying son of yours attacked me is you guys just stand there on the gate, observing him hurting me."
"Don't you think it's unfair?"
"You guys don't even hear my explanation, no?"
"This is self-defense because he attacked me first."
He faced Xiao Zhan fearlessly and continued, "And you know what's funny about this situation."
"While you guys are busy protecting the banquet hall. I'm the one who cleaned this fucking city from monsters and defended it from a few thousand magical beasts."
"Yet you guys treated me like shit."
"So judgmental... No, I just realized the kindness and politeness you've shown me at the banquet is fake."
"It's not-!" Xiao Zhan wanted to refute Baek Ain's statement, but the injured young man wouldn't let him.
"You're such a disgusting two-faced man, Xiao Clan's Leader..."
"SHAME ON YOU!" Baek Ain shouted while pointing at the beheaded head of Beast Tamer.
"That guy is the source of all this problem. And he's from your Xiao Clan."
"He came here with two powerful 4-Rank magical beasts. TWO! And I fought them all alone."
"PFFT! So much for being your savior."
"I'm not the evildoer in this situation, but you make me feel more humiliated than him. At least that guy isn't insincere..."
"Shame on all of you!"
The atmosphere becomes tightened and uncomfortable as they realize what Baek Ain said makes sense. There aren't many magical beasts in the city because he has slayed them all.
Looking at this piece of destroyed land, he also handled them by himself.
And what did he get afterward?
Someone blindly attacked him because of a misunderstanding.
All while being soaked with the magical beast's blood, injuries, and overall harmful condition.
Even Rou Ling, who proposed to talk calmly, could only hang her jaw awkwardly.
Some people drew out their weapons when seeing Xiao Yan get attacked, including Gu Xun'er.
But now?
They felt horrible about this situation as if dirt and mud got shoved into their mouth. Regret is not enough to describe the disappointment toward themselves.
They have failed this young man.
They have failed this young hero.
Baek Ain staggered and was about to fall.
Xiao Zhan wanted to grab him, but Baek Ain indifferently shouted, "Don't touch me! Don't touch me with your filthy hands."
"I'm fine by myself." Baek Ain grabbed his right shoulder and fixed the dislocated bones, creating a cracking noise on the field.
Crack!
This bone-cracking noise makes them realize what Baek Ain has to go through. He obviously experienced a lot, and they barely knew about his pain.
"..." They gritted their teeth in guilt.
"AIN!" A feminine shout appeared.
Lan Rou ran past everyone and hugged Baek Ain tightly. She joyfully cried when finding he was alive and coldly questioned the people surrounding him, "What's the meaning of this?"
"Why are you surrounding him like he was a criminal!"
"If any of you touch Ain, I'll do everything to make your life miserable."
Lan Rou's aura exploded and revealed her 4-Rank Dou Spirit Cultivation, making everyone except Gu Xun'er have a pale complexion.
"Calm down, Rou." Another voice appeared, which some of them recognized immediately.
Xiao Zhan turned around and saw Yafei standing amongst the crowd with a small smile. It's not a warm smile they used to know from attending the Auction House, but a fit of cold anger suppressed by her noble aura.
"Xiao Clan's Leader, you should explain something to me..."
"Why did my beloved fiance end in such a situation?"
"From the shouts I heard, he sounds betrayed."
"You didn't attack him, right? If you did, Miteer Family would cut business ties with the Xiao Clan. And ask for compensation." A smile on Yafei's face disappeared immediately.
"We'll also ask the Xiao Clan to return every support we transferred in the last four months... No dime less than what I had given to you."
"W-Wait-!" Xiao Zhan responded hurriedly.
"This is a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding... What if the role is "suddenly." reversed? What if your son is the one who got treated like this?" Yafei returned calmly.
"You want justice for him."
"Don't say no because you'll sound exactly like what my fiance said before..."
"Rou, bring Ain back to the compound. We will leave this city tomorrow to heal his wound." Yafei turned her back on them.
"This city doesn't deserve him."
Lan Rou glanced at Xiao Yan and everyone in the area before following Yafei to the Miteer Family Branch's Compound. Many residents of Wu Tan City questioned what happened outside the west gate, but the truth made anyone who heard it fall into disbelief.
Soon the Xiao Clan will become a source of mockery.
More so, Xiao Yan and his father, they labeled as blind-hearted father-son. They have eyes but can't see the truth.
And the Beast Tamer being part of the Xiao Clan makes the situation worse for them. Now almost everyone in Wu Tan City despises the Xiao Clan.
Jia Nan Academy was about to reject Xiao Yan from entering his entries after he displayed such a rash personality and actions, which could be harmful to society.
However, a protagonist always has a way.
Gu Xun'er requested the Jia Nan Academy's representatives to let Xiao Yan through because he could be a better person in the future. He's still young, after all.
...
...
Miteer Family Branch's Compound.
In the recuperation room, Yafei and Lan Rou stared at the sleeping Baek Ain worriedly. Their beloved Ain doesn't deserve this.
"Cut every tie we made with Xiao Clan."
"Return all the pills Xiao Yan made for us. And abolish the business contract."
"Also, spread my words... Miteer Family won't let Xiao Clan slide."